Mattel Wild Hearts Crew Cori Cruize Doll Review

I finally found another doll besides Jacy Masters at my local Walmart. At first, I had just been thinking about grabbing Jacy, even though I wasn't particularly fond of her outfit. But then I saw someone post on Instagram that Jacy was not a rebody candidate, as her neck is noticeably thicker than even the Curvy Barbie necks, so I decided to wait, in case I did choose to rebody.

There were still only three of the dolls available at my Walmart last week. Apparently, available in early July means "If you're lucky, you'll find some at your Walmart, and if not you can pre-order and get it whenever." I really liked Charlie Lake the best, from the pictures, but I didn't want to wait forever to get this review done, as other people have managed to get their hands on several of these dolls and reviewed them already.

According to Mattel's website, Cori Cruize is a musician, who creates her own songs. However, her full paragraph description is actually Charlie Lake's. You can absolutely see the care Mattel took with this new line. Anyway, you can tell Cori is a musician, because she has a Walkman. No, really, it looks like an actual old school tape cassette. Isn't she just so cool and rad?

Part of Cori's hair is done in cornrows, which are really hard to see from most positions.

Underneath her jacket, Cori wears a sleeveless unitard. Her accessories include earrings, a necklace, a belt, shoes and her cassette player. Her given motif is flames, which are on many of the items that come with her.

I know many of you were interested in her body type, so let's get into that. It appears that there are at least a couple of different body types in this new line, but as I said, finding all these dolls was impossible, and I wouldn't want to buy them all anyway. They all are decently articulated, having bending elbows and knees, as well as the usual shoulder, hip and neck movement that standard Barbies have nowadays.

Cori definitely has a fuller figure than the Made to Move dolls. However, she has a much thinner waist, proportionately, than the Curvy crew. I didn't get exact numbers, but Cori's bust, waist and hips are all smaller than Curvy's measurements.

The other big question is often clothes swapping. After all, our girls can always use more clothes, right, even if they get "stolen" from another doll? Sadly, none of the different variations I tried were very successful. I couldn't even get Cori's unitard past Curvy's thighs. However, even though Made to Move is slimmer proportioned, the unitard didn't work for her either. It didn't close in the back, and her torso is slightly longer, so that the unitard pulled up rather awkwardly.

I decided to try a Curvy dress on Cori, and although it looked acceptable from the front, where it hit on Cori's backside was rather... unfortunate. I imagine a tee and an elastic-waist skirt might work better.

I decided to try clothes on Cori that fit my older Barbie dolls, since they had larger busts and hips than some of the current Barbies. Yes, the dotted skirt is from a Made to Move doll, but it is currently being worn by a Fashion Fever Teresa, so it works for older Barbies too. For Cori, not so much. The blouse technically fits, except for being very loose at the shoulders at the back. The skirt went over her hips, but wouldn't close completely.

Lastly, Mattel made Cori's feet a completely new type, because what else does Mattel do? I was hoping the feet would at least be similar to a Curvy body with arched feet, and while the Curvy shoe does mostly fit, Cori's foot is slightly longer.

Since I still have Mattel's Ginny Weasley outfit lying around, I tried one of her shoes on Cory, and it does slide on completely, but was a bit loose, and the arch is not the same.

I have quite a few thoughts on this doll, compared to previous Mattel lines, but first I would like to ask if you now feel some of Mattel's other recent dolls are overpriced, considering this doll sells for only $14.97 at Walmart. Yes, she doesn't have articulated ankles and wrists, but she does have more accessories than you get with many standard Barbies. And how much of a mark-up should wrists and ankles be, anyway? Maybe I'm off base about this.

This new line is touted as being the next in the Monster High/Ever After High mode. One article says the dolls are "offering a new bridge between kids, tweens, and adult collectors alike." Hmm. Didn't know Mattel acknowledged that adult purchasers mattered at all for playline. Anyway, I don't even like Monster High, but I call absolute nonsense on the WHC being successors. For one thing, Monster High had an engaging storyline with the dolls right from the start: they were different from the world around them, because they were monsters. They turned into bats or were sewn together or had lupine characteristics. I don't remember any monster dolls being available in the playline market before. The WHC girls are different because: Mattel tells us so. They wear their hearts on their sleeves! They're into music and photography and skating and dreaming! HashtagDaretobeDifferent!

I'll admit that I'm cynical. I'm old enough that I've seen cycle after cycle of "it's okay to be different/be yourself even if you're different" messages aimed at kids roll around, not that I disagree with the sentiment. As I've pointed out up above, MH dolls really were quite different to the playline doll scene. And my beloved Ever After High did at least offer a new take on fairy tales, with the children of fairy tale characters. I mean, that's been done for ages in literature and movies, but not very much in doll lines. Plus, even though there were plot holes galore, the idea of whether or not the EAH characters should follow their parents' tales, or not, made for a storyline with a little appeal to  it.

Also, I personally liked the MH/EAH clothes a lot better than these new outfits. At least at the beginning of their respective launches, those outfits had more details, and painted accessories. Of course, they were more money, but all of a sudden, everything you got in those doesn't look so bad price-wise. Weren't they close to $20 US?

The doll line I would compare the WHC to, is My Scene. They were "edgier" than your standard Barbie. They had bigger heads. They wore more contemporary clothes. They had slightly fleshed out interests. Fifteen years from now, some doll company will probably produce a whole new line of doll friends that are completely different to these, and yet exactly the same. I guess I shouldn't be too negative about this; it's hard to make a group of dolls that absolutely stand out from any dolls made before. I think that I'm just reacting to the hype around these dolls, and maybe it's also related to the fact that I am that much farther away from the "just setting out to find yourself" stage in life than I was when my kids were into My Scene.

Some of my underwhelming feel for these dolls, though, I lay at the feet of Mattel. The WHC base outfits do not have the care and detail of My Scene, Monster High or Ever After High. The individual outfit packs, from what I've seen, are even worse. *One* item of clothing, a couple of small accessories, shoes that are recolored versions of existing ones, and some temporary tattoos for you and your doll. Hard to see tweens or adults getting excited about those.

I have seen people on Instagram excited about this line, and lucky you if you like it, I guess. They are something new from Barbie after Barbie after Barbie, or even release after release of Disney Princesses. But this group doesn't have a lot to draw this adult collector in, right from the start. It just feels like another gimmick line that will be discontinued in five years or less.

What do you think? Do you like them? Will you buy some? Were you only interested in taking their stuff for other dolls? Are they comparable to past dolls? Since I'm not interested in Cori as a rebody candidate, I'm going to try to sell her here for $7.00 to recoup some of my expense. Without her box, I can probably ship her in the continental US cheaply enough that she'll be close to the $14.97 plus tax that you would pay at Walmart. If you're outside the US and want her badly enough to pay for the higher shipping costs, let me know. I hope you enjoyed this review!

Jointed Doll Body From AliExpress

Ms. Leo bought the same doll body that I have, and has already reviewed it. She used hers for the Asian Babysitting Skipper. I used the new body for my 2003 Barbie Princess of Japan doll. I also bought another, that I think is the same body, later. I paid $6.74 for one, and $3.58 for the other. You'll see how I rebodied the second one later on. Both bodies have extremely pale skin. Fortunately, the skin color suited Princess of Japan, as the legs of her original body were extremely discolored. Hoshiko, as I'm going to call her, was the first Barbie Dolls of the World Princess doll to use the Teen Skipper body. But if I wanted to dress her in anything but the kimono that she came in, that body really had to go.

Hoshiko's new body is also smaller than the standard Barbie body, which I think works out well. I currently have Hoshiko in an outfit that Fashion Fever Teresa originally wore. I think the colors work with her face paint, even if the dress is a little large in the bust for her. The sweater helps cover that. Her feet are a little smaller than the standard Barbie feet, but she is wearing shoes from a Fashion Fever outfit pack that work for her, and the dress.

The head really is a pretty good match with the body. And if she can't touch her face, well, it's better than the straight-armed, three-click knee body with the discolored legs that she was previously on.

As you can see in the picture above, her hands do have fairly visible seams. She also has a few issues on her lower legs. I'm wondering if I could use sandpaper very lightly to sand some of the problems out.

For $6.74, or for whatever around that amount you find these bodies on AliExpress, they're definitely worth it. While this body is not as articulated as the MtM dolls, it's far better than the old school Barbie body, at a lower price than buying a MtM for a rebody. The only issue here, outside of lower quality, is that these bodies usually only come in super pale colors, because they're made for Asian standards. A quick look over at AliExpress did find a couple of sellers who had doll bodies similar to Hoshiko's, with fairly dark skin. The only thing those dolls didn't have was a waist joint, or an under-the-bust joint. Hoshiko has a waist joint. Yes, you'll get to see what Hoshiko's body looks like without clothes, in my next review. I put the other body with the red-headed Petite Barbie, who will definitely have a name by the time I do that review! I'm not so sure how I feel about Petite Barbie with her new body, but since I have her on that body for the moment, I wanted to show you in case you want to do a switch yourself. I also should see how Hoshiko fits in her original kimono and geta. So stick around!

Star Darling Sage, with EAH Raven and Farrah

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.

Teen Skipper and Teen Courtney in Fashion Avenue

Remember when Mattel vaulted Skipper's age from 12 or so, to 16? Only to magically de-age her again? I do like the Teen Skipper dolls, even if I like Skipper to be her younger age. Whatever happened to cousin Francie, though? Did she head off to England in her quest for all things mod? Anyway, I just got a Teen Skipper outfit off eBay, so I'm showing my Teen Courtney in that outfit, and Teen Skipper in another Fashion Avenue outfit.

I need to get some sort of backdrops for my photos. We'll pretend the girls are sitting along a picturesque river walk, talking about fall classes, fall clothes, and keeping that brat Susie from being elected Homecoming Queen.

Here's what the outfits look like without the overshirt and jacket. Courtney's outfit is tagged for Teen Skipper, while Skipper's outfit is tagged for Barbie. I'm pretty sure this dress wouldn't fit Barbie. I think I'll see if I can find this outfit online.

The Fashion Avenue and Fashion Fever lines were great for clothes; shoes were rather meh. Our girls wear the same style shoe, in colors that match their outfits. The molded seam line is at least a nice touch.

The other type of shoe Teen Skipper usually got in her fashion packs was this one with the flower, again coming in several colors.

In addition to the outfits and purses that you see above, Courtney's outfit also came with matching sunglasses. They're cute in that they resemble vintage Barbie cat's eye frames. They're goofy in that they are a uniform color. Are we supposed to believe Courtney can see out of these?

Does it matter if I wear these at night? Can't see out of them either way.

Are you on the hunt for Fashion Avenue/Fever outfits?

J-Dolls in Fashion Fever

After so long lamenting that the good old days of Fashion Avenue and Fashion Fever are long gone, imagine my surprise! I bought two Fashion Fever outfits off of ebay, only to find that just one clothing piece actually fit my Fashion Fever Teresa! I have to wonder now if that was often the case. But even though the tops were way too small on Teresa, they did at least fit my J-Dolls, so it wasn't a total loss. And the purses are cute. The outfits also came with sunglasses, but they are not being modeled today.

Here we see Lindsay modeling her new top. It's made to look like a blouse with a v-neck, long-sleeved shirt over it.

I love the purse that goes with it. No, it doesn't open, but the way the handles look vaguely like vines of plants is cool.

Next we have Melanie showing off her new top. It's meant to look like a gold tube top with a peach sleeveless overblouse, or at least I think that's the intended style.

Her purse doesn't open either, but the little zipper pull is a nice touch, even if it's not connected to a zipper. It's nicer than it appeared in the box, anyway.

Here Melanie models the short lacy jacket that goes over her top. I think the two shades of peach look nice together.

And lastly, here are our two models sitting on the bench that seems to be a favorite place for the girls to soak up a little sun on these fall days.

The skirt is an attempt at making a J-Doll skirt that didn't quite work out, and the shorts are from Mattel's original Stacie. They're a little short, but I don't have a lot of pants or skirts for the J-Dolls to wear at the moment.

I'm sure at some point Fashion Fever Teresa, or at least the denim pants that came with the peach tops, will make an appearance. I've ordered a couple of more Fashion Fever pieces, so we'll see if any of that actually works with the belly button body.

Fashion Fever Doll, and a Fashion Avenue Outfit

Today I have pictures of a Fashion Fever Teresa in her original outfit, and a regular doll on a Shani body, who is wearing a Fashion Avenue outfit.

I love the Teresa face mold

I love the Mackie mold as well, although her lips are an interesting color.

I understand why some people prefer fabric purses to plastic ones. However, I much prefer Teresa's purse versus the one this Fashion Avenue outfit came with.

I like the positioning of Teresa's hands as well, although perhaps one should have been palms to side. These rather remind me of Monster High and Ever After High hands.

Here Teresa stands up to show you her whole outfit, including those shoes! I could never walk in those things, even in my size! :D

I forgot to get a good picture of the buttons on her cardigan -- the edges keep wanting to turn inside out. But you can see the threads sewing them on. :)

The pattern of this sweater really makes it special. Mattel could have gone with a plain stitch, but they didn't. The knitter in me admires the tininess of it.

The same thing goes for the waffle weave of this shirt. It makes the entire outfit a stand-out.

Lastly, the dolls model some doll-sized storage bins that I bought at Michael's. They were $1 each. I also saw them at Office Max. I would imagine they're in other stores as well.