Quick Review of EAH Ballet Holly O'Hair, With an Appearance by Signature Holly

I'm not in favor of the direction that the Ever After High dolls seem to be moving in. Too many of them have next to no articulation, and molded bodices and legs. While the newest Signatures are similar to the original waves, even there the new dolls are missing several items, like earrings, that were included with older dolls. But since the new ballet line, featuring Apple, Holly and Briar, is quite inexpensive, at $5 a doll, I sprung for Ballet Holly and Briar just to get the new faces. Just so you know, the ballet dolls do NOT come with stands. I used one just to make picture taking easier.

Basic, basic, basic. Holly's arms don't even move out to her sides.

Holly's molded on bodice follows her theme with the flowers and braided trim.

The molded legs are gorgeous, but bending knees would have been nice.

Her hair isn't a bun so much as a roll.

She can't even sit well, not just because of how her legs stick out, but because her torso and legs can't quite make a 90 degree angle.

These new faces have appeared at the same time as the new faces for Monster High. I don't think there's as much difference between the EAH faces as between the new MH faces, though. Here's signature Holly with Ballet Holly.

Our ballerina's head is smaller, and she wears less makeup. Honestly, I think Mattel would only have had to put a little more curve at the sides of the lips on the molds they already had to give our EAH girls a smiling face. Maybe little girls also liked the smaller head when they did market research?

These dolls are fine for play by very young girls, and the price reflects the simplicity of the doll. I just hope the entire line doesn't go this route. After all the time and money Mattel has put into the storylines and the "themes" for each doll, it seems a waste to dial these dolls down for the younger set. The new signatures are okay, although lacking some of the details that the earlier waves had, that made them stand out. They're also lacking the diaries that came with every doll, which makes sense if the target age can't read very well yet, or read at all. In some ways the new Epic Winter line is an Epic Fail, though. Molded leggings (although with bending knees), less jewelry and fewer painted details make these dolls compare poorly to waves like Spring Unsprung or even Dragon Games. If Mattel makes more money overall selling to a younger age group, though, simpler is how it will be. I guess older EAH collectors will have to pick up older dolls they haven't bought yet, and/or work on customization.

Speaking of ballet, my youngest daughter the Dancer expressed an interest in Ballet Holly. Since I was already planning to do a head swap, the Dancer will get a new Spring Unsprung Holly's head on the ballet body. She also loves her Misty Copeland doll, which she received on Sunday. Misty is going to stay in the box.

Misty Copeland Doll

When the Misty Copeland doll first came out, there was a huge rush to buy it. The doll sold out on Mattel's website within an hour or so, from what I've heard. Happily, it's now been released to other stores. I preordered mine on Walmart's website, and the doll arrived on Saturday. However, for once, this doll is not for me! My youngest daughter is not a doll collector, but she does have a few dolls that she cherishes, that are related to ballet. This includes a Tonner doll from the Nutcracker ballet, called Marie's Special Gift. When I saw the Misty Copeland doll, I knew I had to get it for my daughter. Not only will it make a perfect gift for her last dance recital, held later in June, but she recently chose to read Misty Copeland's autobiography for her English class, and really identified with Copeland's struggles in the dance world.

Black Doll Collector had some problems with boxes being crushed in transit. Fortunately, mine arrived with a beautiful box, although that left side of the box could have gotten crushed.

Alas, this Misty doll had two of the feathers from her Firebird costume fly off in weird directions, so that they partially obscure her face. My daughter may want to debox her, though, so it might not be an issue. Or maybe the box can be carefully opened and the feathers fixed.

Her legs are in really strange positions, which is another reason I can see my daughter wanting to debox her. One of her legs looks to be completely twisted around to her right side, in what looks like a horribly unnatural way. I do like it that her shoes are realistic. Pointe shoe ribbons generally don't get tied all the way up the calf like you see on some dolls.

And here's a picture of my daughter in her pointe costume for her recital.

I can't wait to see her surprise when she unwraps the doll! If she takes her out of the box, I'll try to take more pictures. If my daughter will let me. :)

More OG Lori products, plus an outfit review. Also a brief appearance by mini Kirsten Larson

Mr. BTEG and I were hanging out together in another part of town, when he mentioned that he wanted to go to Target. What a coincidence, because I wanted to go to Target as well, to look for more OG Lori stuff! I did indeed find some new things, so I have so more pictures for you. There doesn't seem to be much out there about this line yet.

A doll with dark skin, and black hair in a bun, plus a girl with Asian features. And yet another dance outfit, bringing the total up to three dolls in dance outfits, that I have seen. I'm looking forward to seeing what the ballet studio will look like. That green furry skirt, though!

 A classic peacoat look here, done in red. Plus a dog to take for walks.

I think both of these dolls have made appearances elsewhere on the internet, but they were in the store, so I took a picture. The neck joint of the doll on the left looks odd. Also, her name is Lori. Brown-eyed blonds, like the one on the right, seem popular with collectors.

 This doll was pictured yesterday, but I got a better picture today. I love the ruffled trim on her skirt.

I also got better pictures of the individual outfits, and I have a better feel for why I don't quite like them. The fabric of the animal coat, plus the fur trim, just looks cheap. Also, I don't get the blue purse with this outfit. There's some sort of headband that goes with this outfit, but I don't know what it's supposed to be.

With this outfit, it's not just that the fur trim on the boots is plastic; it's also that the white especially stands out when everything else in the outfit is cream. The trim being plastic just makes it look worse, in my opinion, making it stand out even more. The rest of the outfit has good casual pieces, though.

Everybody seems to love the camper. I like it myself. So I took the time to open the little camper door this time, and take a picture with the light turned on. It is over the kitchen unit, but you could use it for a little bedtime reading, as well, while listening to the music of the crickets and frogs. The light makes the camper look extra cozy. On the down side, the pillows on the bed look thin, and the blankets won't cover a doll well.

 Outfit review plus mini Kirsten pictures below the fold.

Mini Mooshka Fairytale Dolls

Sunday evening Mr. BTEG and I had to take a run to Target, despite the bad weather. On the way there, we got the expected robocall from my daughter's school, saying that they were closed on Monday. Woo hoo! Since I was going to have a cozy snow day at home, I felt like it would be nice to have a couple of new dollies to play with.

I've been looking at the Mini Mooshka dolls for a while. I'm not into the bigger cloth dolls, but the minis look like homemade wooden toys. Between their appearance and the Russian-sounding names, they remind me of matryoshka dolls. They're made by MGA Entertainment, which also makes Lalaloopsy, among other dolls, and seems to own Little Tykes as well.

Meet Palia and Casia.

Thoughts on American Girl Isabelle

Honestly, I think the ballet idea for Girl of the Year is great. My youngest daughter studies several kinds of dance, but a lot of what she does is helped by a good foundation in ballet. She's been studying ballet the longest, and she's been doing pointe for almost a year now as well. She also does conditioning work once a week and has even started using Pilates bands like Isabelle does, although my daughter uses them with her legs, not her arms. If my daughter was younger, she would probably want all or most of this set. Sadly for me, my daughter still cherishes her dolls, but has outgrown wanting to own any more, or collect more pieces.

The one thing that I dislike the most about Isabelle's collection is the name of her dance academy on her exercise mat, her barre, and even her sewing cupboard. Is that strange? To me, that ties all these pieces to Isabelle's story, instead of being something that a girl (or adult) can relate to a story of her own making.

I'm not sure why people can't picture Isabelle the doll using her ballet barre. She is pictured in a pose with one leg up on the front page of the AG website, as one of the rotating pictures. She could also do tendu, and kicks, and rond de jambe, and possibly even grand port de bras a la ronde. To me, the bigger problem is that she can't point her toes, more than that she has no elbow or knee joints. There are times when my daughter's arms and legs are very stiff, but those toes had better be pointed!