First off, let me say that I blame my latest doll purchase on
Doll Dimensions, although I was already feeling a bit of a twinge for not picking up any of the Disney Star Darling dolls when they went on clearance at my Target. But her recent
review of Wishworld Scarlet pushed me into taking a special trip to my local Wal-Mart to see what they had left of the line. They didn't have any Scarlets, but I did end up coming home with Sage. She was marked down to $11.00, but when I got to the register, she rang up at $9.00. Woo hoo! Minus the stand, this is the same doll that the Toy Box Philospher reviewed, so you can go
there if you want to see all the nitty gritty details. This doll has already been out for awhile, so I didn't plan an in-depth review. I really love Star Darling dolls for their inset eyes, and their fashions, anyway. Let me get out of the way here, that these dolls were produced by Jakks Pacific for Disney.
I've already said that I love her inset eyes. They look kind of freaky from the side, but who cares? She's adorable to look at straight on! Her hair is very silky, except for the curls at the ends of tresses, which are crunchy with gel. Also, I can see now why the eyebrows on the more basic dolls seem to be trying to creep up into the hairline. On these "fancy" dolls, the eyebrow placement makes more sense, because they're placed above the sparkly eyeshadow that she's wearing. I wish they would have done the basic dolls' facial screening differently.
She had already lost her star necklace by the time I took this picture. It really doesn't stay on very well. Her star headband is still attached with a rubber band, so I don't know how well it would stay in. Oddly enough, that rubber band curls down and around her neck/chin joint. I think that would have been very difficult to get a picture of.
This Sage does not have a normal human skin tone, because she is in the form she has when she lives with the other Star Darlings on their planet or wherever. I took a picture of Sage with Farrah Goodfairy from Ever After High, because Farrah also has slightly odd colored skin, being a fairy, I guess. In the comparison picture, I think Sage just makes Farrah's skin look almost normal. Maybe that's because Farrah's skin is not as shiny and translucent looking as Sage's. (By the way, what kind of a name is Farrah Goodfairy? Yeah, The Fairy Godmother does not really give one a base for good name matches, but I need to find a better name than Farrah.)
I knew Sage wouldn't fit into Ever After High clothes, but I wanted to see how Sage's clothes fit Ever After High! I chose Raven as being the best model, based on her coloring.
This also gives me a chance to show Raven's new boots. I read on an Ever After High bulletin board, that Bratzillaz shoes fit Ever After High. I bought a fashion pack to try from Amazon, which had the shoes that I wanted. From the front, they look like granny boots, but I don't think grannies wore stiletto heels. :) They still suit Raven wonderfully. As usual, the stilettos are a thin plastic which bends easily.
I tried Raven's top and pants/leggings on Star Darling Sage just to see what the fit was like. The leggings fit just barely, although I'm afraid Sage would stretch out the waist if she wore them for very long. Raven's top came nowhere near closing on Sage.
However, Raven rocks Sage's outfit! The waistline of the leggings is a bit loose, but they stay up. Raven's boots were a tight fit over Sage's leggings, so I left them off.
As on Sage, the sleeves are just a bit long for Raven's arms. Also, the sleeves still have a good bit of the seam allowance left on the inside of the sleeve, which makes the fit awkward. I'm not sure the picture I took shows this well. I wonder if the prototype Sage outfit was gathered tighter on the sleeves than the gathers on the actual top she wears. That would have pulled up the sleeves a little. You can also see that a lot of the edge finishings are large serger seams. I would care more if Sage wasn't just a play doll to me. Although it makes her original price ($19.99, I think) seem a bit iffy.
Sage's boots are darling, but far too small for Raven. A little silver paint on the buckles would probably look great. Like I don't have enough things I want to paint.
I forgot that Doll Dimensions wondered if Liv high heeled shoes would fit the Star Darlings. I have a pair, so I'll check, and post about it. I have some doll shoes that just came today, that I want to blog about, so I'll throw the Liv shoes in that post.
Two more things:
1. My backdrop was a room scene for Barbie made by Mattel during the Fashion Fever era. I threw some scrapbook paper down on the floor. The only problem is the walls are glossy and tend to reflect light.
2. I still want that Scarlet doll! She's still at Toys 'R Us, for full price. However, she is only $14.99, being a more basic doll, so hopefully I'll pick her up soon. I don't want to wait too long, in case she disappears completely.
Hello Barb! I haven't seen those Starling dolls in my local shops yet, but they're cute. I'm usually not into Disney stuff, but I'd love to get some Descendants dolls, specially Evie, but in my country they're quite expensive for playline dolls.
ReplyDeleteI'm not crazy about the name Farrah Goodfairy either, but I can't think of a better name for her.
I loved your review, by the way!
I wonder if the show connected to these dolls was available to watch in your country? There were also books of stories about the dolls. Maybe if your country didn't get the show, the dolls might not be sold there. :( I'm not really into Disney stuff either, but aren't exactly "Disney."
DeleteDoes your country add something like a VAT to your purchases?
I'm glad that you liked the review!
You mean like a tax? We do pay taxes, but those dolls are more expensive compared to other dolls that are charged the same VAT. Usually the prices in my country are more expensive than the prices in USA, but depends on the doll line. Barbie Fashionistas are more or less the same price, but some Monster High lines are much more expensive.
DeleteI do pay an extra tax if I buy from USA or any non-european country, so I only buy from there if the doll is a real bargain and also depending on the exchange rate.
I haven't seen the Star Darlings TV show in my country, but I have seen Ever After High on TV and also on Netflix Spain. Despite that, the Ever After High dolls seem to have disappeared from the spanish stores, aparently because they weren't selling well. It doesn't surprise me, as in most of the stores they had hundreds of signature Ravens and Apples but one (or none) Blondie or Cerise. Also, some lines, like Thronecoming, were outrageously expensive, and after a year on the shelves they were still retailing them for 35€ (almost 40$).
I'm interested the doll collecting habits and opportunities of other countries. The price differences are confusing; I guess companies like Mattel and Hasbro have a reason for what they do, even if it isn't a good reason and doesn't work out.
DeleteMattel flooded the market with Ravens and Apples here too. I don't know what their thinking behind that was. I just bought a signature Apple at my local Wal-Mart yesterday, actually. She ended up being super marked down, although that wasn't indicated on her box or on the shelf. Mattel seems to have learned a lesson from that, although in my opinion, they are still making mistakes.
A year ago I wrote a post (kind of a rant) about certain difficulties to find certain dolls in my country if you are interested in reading it. http://themonstercrafts.blogspot.com.es/2015/08/the-odyssey-of-finding-doll-in-spain.html
DeleteSome of the things writen in there are not true now, as I could find the New Scaremester Wave 2 dolls a few weeks ago. Too bad I had already bought them 2 years ago from UK.
I went back and read your post. It must be frustrating to have such obstacles in what should be a fun hobby.
DeleteI really like that purple and blue hair combination - I'd like to see that pop up on some other dolls (or maybe I should think about a wig project in those colours) - they go well together.
ReplyDeleteIt took me a minute to get the Farrah-Fairy connection since all the Farrahs I know IRL pronounce it "fah-rah", but I suppose whoever came up with it must be used to people who pronounce it "fair-uh". I guess to them it must sound like a natural play on the names!
In the US, Farrah Fawcett was an iconic model and actress, the "It" girl of the 1970s, and she pronounced her name Fair-uh. That's probably where the Mattel designers got the name.
DeleteI like Sage's hair colors too, although I don't think that would have been enough to push me to buy her. I didn't know you made wigs!
With their similar coloring, Sage and Raven look like they might be distant cousins! Or part of club that loves purple.
ReplyDeleteSage and Raven do fit together nicely. I love purple too, although it's not my favorite color, so maybe that's how they ended up in my collection. :)
DeleteI actually got one of the basic Scarlet dolls, and I didn't know Jakks Pacific did it. I always wanted one of their dolls to see the quality, and what can I say? DON'T GET THE BASIC DOLLS. You know, the ones that come with casual clothes.
ReplyDeleteI don't know how are the ones that portray the transformation, but tyhe basic ones are BAD. Like, very very bad. My Scarlet loses her lower arms when I try to move her, her knees are all over the place, rolling out of control, her head is always looking up because there's no articulation to allow her to look down, the color of the body is darker than the face (quite a lot), and her hair, while silky, is out of control most of the time. In fact, she came with part of the hair curled around, and I had to cut it out a bit because it looked bad. Good thing tho, when I cut it I made her look cuter, so that's a plus.
Here's the doll I have: http://www.toysrus.com/graphics/tru_prod_images/Disney-Star-Darlings-Basic-WishWorld--pTRU1-21929261dt.jpg
Zilkenian, I have one of those basic Scarlet dolls too, and she has worked out well for me, although I haven't done much more than pose her. Perhaps if I had been moving her around more, her limbs might have issues now as well. I did notice that the plastic the dolls are made of are not as nice as other dolls.
ReplyDelete