REVIEW: Monster High Electrified Silvi Timberwolf

Well, she finally got here! Just a day late. Amazon compensated me by refunding the cost of both the Spacepop book, which had a release day guarantee, and Silvi that were in the late shipment and extending my Prime for another month. I'm still hoping this late package thing stops. There have been four in November when I rarely had a problem all year long.

But anyway, Silvi is the last of the basic Electrified girls that's out so far. Venus is still on the box, but I haven't seen any listings for her.

I was extremely lucky to get a Silvi from Amazon. I think I got one from the third time she came available. She was in stock for literally seconds. All of the dolls in this line so far sell out really quickly, but Silvi is definitely the most popular. I didn't even think about trying to up my quantity to two dolls, as I typically do when I really care about getting a good one, I just popped her in my cart and checked out as fast as I could. I tried to order another after my initial order went through, but she was already sold out.

Silvi is the new character for Electrified. Her last name is Timberwolf and she's the daughter of "Gray Werewolves," so apparently, she's specifically a gray wolf (AKA: a timber wolf), while Clawdeen's family is...who knows? They're just werewolves.

I honestly really wasn't wowed by Silvi when we initially saw her at SDCC. She's very pretty, but when the line is just starting up again, do we really need a repeat monster? Older fans are already missing the wide assortment of monsters we had to pick from before. Now there are a lot fewer and we have a repeat to boot. However, I've also wanted a gray wolf since Day 1, so I'm pleased with that.

Silvi is lovely. Her skin has a slight sheen to it and she has the fur at her wrists and ankles. I don't have a reboot-style Clawdeen yet, because I've been waiting on the signature outfit one, but I think both werewolves share the same body.

Silvi is a very different headmold than Clawdeen though. Clawdeen has smooth ears, while Silvi's are cute and furry. The biggest difference though is the nose. Clawdeen has a decidedly human nose, while Silvi's is sculpted and painted to look a little more canine. It curves outward and is painted a darker gray around the nostrils.

I really love this detail. It's my favorite thing about Silvi and it makes her extra different from Clawdeen, so she's not just a gray Clawdeen. She's her own mold.

She has pink and neon yellow streaks in her hair.

I like her earrings and ponytail wrap, but the pink plastic collar and overall style of her dress don't appeal much to me. The light blue vinyl top part is cool, but the print is a bit too much. I think my main problem is the yellow on the dress print doesn't match anything else. If it was neon yellow to match her hair, hem ruffle and shoes, it would have worked better.

Ari remains the best-dressed of these, so far.

The print does go all the way around the dress though, for you dress print people.

Silvi makes up for a less perfect outfit by having totally amazing shoes. I love the color, the moon heels, the studs and the jagged bolt wraps.

I think Silvi's worth buying, because she's a pretty character and I'm very into her nose sculpt and painting! What I really want them to do is make a signature for her though, because her non-electrified look seems to have dark blue hair and that would be gorgeous.

PHOTO CREDITS: Mine.

OVERVIEW: Lollipop Girls

Brigette, Alani, Nicole, Suzi-K, Milli, Pipi, Kimmi, Cissy/Sassi, Neena, Bebe, Cassie and Lulu

Jan McLean is a porcelain doll artist from New Zealand. In 2000, she began creating the Lollipop Girls: skinny girls with big round heads. You know, like a lollipop on a stick. Lulu from London and Pipi from Paris were the first two porcelains created. They stand 26" tall and are limited editions of 5000 each. Bunny from California and Cissy from Sydney came out in 2001 with editions of 3000 each. Bebe from Barbados and Nicole from Norway were back up to editions of 5000 and released in 2002. 2003's offerings were Ally from Auckland and Neena from New York and went back to 3000 pieces of each. Kimmi from Kathmandu and Brigette from Berlin came out in 2004 and were 3000 pieces also. That was it for the porcelain Lollies until 2015, when McLean produced two more that were one of a kind designs. 

The porcelain Lollies were popular enough to be created in vinyl form, which is how I first learned about them in a doll magazine. The initial five came out in 2003 or 2004. The official website makes it unclear, because all five girls came out at once, but their listings show a mix of the two dates. I'm going to go with 2003, because that coincides with Ally and Neena's porcelain dolls, which were definitely out after the first five vinyls. 

Some of the girls went through name changes. Brigette, Lulu and Pipi stayed the same, but Bunny became Cassie and Cissy was now Sassi.  

The first five were offered in a special edition that has McLean's signature on their backs and as regular editions that appeared in stores. I pre-ordered Lulu, Pipi, Sassi and Bebe from I don't even remember where, so I have the special editions of those four, but the regular editions of Brigette and Cassie. My local (at the time) Ames store actually carried them! I don't believe I saw them in any other stores. I still regret not picking up doubles when Ames went out of business. Bebe comes in a couple different hair variations and I always meant to get the one where her bangs are laying flatter, unlike the one in the group pic up there.

Anyway, the initial run was followed by Alani (formerly Ally), Kimmi, Nicole, Neena, and two that never got porcelains: Suzi-K from Seattle and Milli from Milan. Milli is my favorite Lolly, so she got the cobbled together best outfit, seen here on the right. 

I had to order all those girls online. Possibly on ebay? The line also had several fashion packs, which I definitely got via ebay. The hardest to find girl at the time was Nicole, but I ended up winning her as a contest prize. I was part of a Yahoo Group that actually interacted with Jan McLean and she would host contests with prizes for us. I won Nicole and later on, I won a writing contest and my prize was the porcelain Neena! (Because I'm from New York, although not the city.) I think I won an outfit, too. I can't remember. Those contests were awesome. 

The Lollipop Girls stand 12" tall and they're very long-legged and skinny. They don't share clothes well with other dolls, though their boots are nice and roomy and I think a lot of people used them for their Type 2 body Pullips. 

I think the line was a bit ahead of its time. Back then, we were still getting used to Bratz, and the Lollies had unique bodies as well as very unusual hair colors. If the Lollies were rereleased today on more articulated bodies, I think they would do well, as people are more accustomed to different dolls and ones that can't necessarily share a wardrobe with the rest of their collection. 

I did end up getting one more item for my collection. 

Kimmi and Neena are my largest dolls. They're HUGE. I wish I had room for all the porcelain Lollipops, because they're all stunning. 

There were several unproduced Lolly items. I believe there are photos floating around of the girls in more outfits and the porcelains of Kimmi and Brigette were originally shown with vinyl doll counterparts. 

You can find the first five girls and a lot of the outfits for good prices on ebay, although the second set of girls will run you more money. 

I love my Lollipop Girls! Even though my collection has grown a lot since I got them, they still remain very unique and an eye-catcher on my shelves.

PHOTO CREDITS: All mine. 

RECOMMENDED SITES:

http://www.janmcleandolls.info/artist-dolls/lollipop-girls-collection/

No Silvi today.

I'm sad and annoyed to report that today's review of Silvi Timberwolf is postponed until hopefully tomorrow. You can thank Amazon and USPS and their stellar service. My package took twelve hours to travel not very far and didn't get to my post office until 1 PM, so it's not coming today.

I'm going to try to kick out a couple overviews later, so at least something gets accomplished!

Yoko's Christmas Wish

Yoko is visiting Celestial Santa to share her Christmas list. She wants some stompy goth boots and a friend.

Uh oh. She's just as demanding as my Pullips used to be!

UPCOMING REVIEWS

TUESDAY: Monster High's Electrified Silvi Timberwolf

LATER IN THE WEEK: Spacepop! I'm so excited to see these five ladies in person, because they look gorgeous in that promo image.

I've also got some overviews planned. Trollz will be coming up soon, as well as La Dee Da and Lollipop Girls.

REVIEW: Shibajuku Girls Yoko

I honestly don't know where to begin with the Shibajuku Girls. I don't think I've ever had so many varied opinions on a doll line.

These came out in Australia way back in May, appeared in June in the UK, and then in France sometime after that. US people kept wondering when we would see these and I'm sure I'm not the only one that didn't understand the delay. (Although maybe now I do.) Toys R Us in the US finally has them and apparently there are no plans for any Canadian release. It also looks like only four of the five girls have been released so far. Koe is missing. And Namika is very, very different, but I'll get to that.

Shibajuku seems exclusive to Toys R Us, which I don't think is a wise move for a doll line that has their level of lofty goals. They're $29.99 and 13" tall.

My first impression of the dolls was that they clearly were modelled on Pullips, but were still pretty cute. I went to their website and my second impression was to cringe in horror, because their commercial is the second worst doll-related thing I have ever seen. The voiceover is like your mom using teen slang, trying too hard to sound cool. The art on the site was also kinda creepy.

The lineup of five girls is a little confusing. I personally think they took their cues from anime and these are five Japanese girls. Every one has a Japanese name: Yoko, Namika, Suki, Shizuka and Koe. (Miki will be the new character in Series 2.) Every doll has the same large head and all of them are pale with huge eyes. Lines like Pullips that are made in Asia are typically like this. They have anime-esque features, lighter skin and the only real diversity comes in hair and eye colors, yet no matter what color their hair and eyes are, they're all Japanese. There's occasionally a tan doll, but not that often, and even when they do appear, they're not representing any other races or ethnicities. This is something I've grown used to from Asian doll lines, but to carry that practice over when you're an Australian designer and you should know that diversity is pretty key in modern doll lines is disconcerting. The dolls make no effort to even look that different from each other. Two are blonde, one is brunette, and the other two have pink and purple hair, with one also having blue mixed in. All of them have very pale pink lips, except Namika, who has purple. Some have loaded on glitter eyeshadow. Shizuka is kind of cool, because she has one blue and one green eye, and I like Suki's gray eyes, but diverse? This group is not diverse. And why is there no black-haired character in a line of Japanese dolls?!

But then I learned something strange last night. The American version of Namika is darker-skinned. It doesn't seem like the US will get the pale Namika, and the other countries don't have our darker version. I think the company understood that diversity in doll lines is a pretty big deal here, so they transformed one of their dolls into a not white girl. I have mixed feelings on this, because I'm rather bothered that instead of creating a character that was darker-skinned from the beginning, they just basically racebent one of their existing dolls. I feel bad for the younger fans that have been wanting Namika as they have seen her for months and now they'll only get her if they can talk their parents into importing. However, I also like the added diversity, which is something Pullip never got around to doing, to my knowledge. So it's cool to finally have a Pullip-type doll with darker skin, something many, many collectors have wanted for years.

There's one more thing that I'd like to address before I get into the actual doll review. I read an interview with the designer and she said something very problematic that I really do not respect at all: "I also went back to that really natural and pretty face. I know there are a lot of monster dolls and vampires are a huge trend, but since Barbie there hasn't really been a pretty doll."

Just take that in for a minute.

Sound wrong?

Yes. Yes, it does.

First, "since Barbie there hasn't really been a pretty doll." Since Barbie? When is that exactly, because Barbie has not stopped? There is no "since." Does she only like the original Barbie and is then insulting pretty much every fashion doll ever created afterwards? Does she have a specific Barbie in mind? Also, I can think of loads of fashion doll lines that are "pretty" and "natural." This type of subjective comment is ridiculous.

Second, "natural?!" Really? What about these dolls is natural? The oversized heads and eyes? The caked on glitter eyeshadow? They may not be purple-skinned or fanged, but "natural" is not the word I would use for this line.

And third and most important, I have absolutely no respect for people that try to build themselves up by putting others down. That is schoolyard bully nonsense. It has no place in the fashion doll world. Ms. Hunter, speak with your products and don't put down the competition to try to make your dolls look better. It just makes them look worse.

While I like several of these dolls, I am quite disgusted by the designer's comments and I'll be buying some of these, but not nearly as many as I would have had she not attacked other doll lines.

So do you want to see this doll that's the first pretty thing since Barbie? *snort* Let's get to the actual review.

I ordered Yoko from the Toys R Us website last night, but then ended up picking her up in my store, because we actually had them. I'll be returning the other doll once she arrives in the mail.

First bit of advice: Look over these dolls CAREFULLY. They have massive quality control issues. Both Namikas I saw had wonky eyes and so did at least one Suki. (Can't remember if both did.) Neither Yoko had perfect eyeliner. The doll I didn't buy had one perfect eye and one really off eye. The one I ended up taking home has two eyes that are a bit off, so that's easier for me to deal with. The eyeliner completely surrounding the eye is weird to me as it is, but on some of the dolls, there's a huge gap between the edge of the eye itself and where the liner is. Yoko has gaps on the outer edges of her eyes, while the other girls were more underneath. Namika was the worst of the lot, which is a shame, because I wanted to bring her home. I can't see myself buying her though, unless they fix the eyes. She had both the worst wonk and the worst liner. Shizuka was the best one overall, quality-wise. So watch for eye wonk, eyeliner gaps and blobby eyeliner.

Is Yoko cute? Absolutely she's cute. I picked her not because she's the "spooky" one, but because she's the one without the crazy eyeliner. Hers is normal. It gives her a wider-eyed look than the other four girls.

I find it rather amusing that the spooky girl, who would no doubt sport the most black eyeliner of the bunch, is the only one that didn't go wild with it.

She does have a really sweet face though. I like that her eyebrows are pink. I mean, she still clearly dyes her hair, but at least she went all the way. Suki's got pale blonde brows. Ha!

The hair quality is okay, but nothing to write home about. It's nylon. Not the best, but not the worst. Also, it's rooted, unlike wigged Pullips. The neck joint is just one big round ball coming up from the body and the head fits over the top. As cheap as it sounds, that's actually a pretty good idea, because when I was young, I brushed hair that was this long and thick and my dolls' heads would pop off. At least with Shibajukus, you can pop it right back on.

Her outfit consists of a black top and a black skirt. The top is a very simple design that's slightly longer on both sides. I think they could have put a picture on it to make it less plain. The skirt is nicely layered with the little chain and the lacey bit. The layer underneath has some decoration, as does the waistband.

The problem is when you turn her around. Her shirt gapes open, which I hate. Just give it more velcro, come on. And the print on the front of the skirt does not carry around to the back. This isn't a full-on Barbie dress print, this is a few little diamonds and dots. Wrap it around.

The quality is decent. The skirt is a nice piece, although the lace bit had some that already was pulled looser. The material of the shirt could be better, too, and it did stain her shoulder. I had so many Pullip flashbacks when I saw that! They're really going overboard in emulating the Pullips. Heh.

Let's get to the best part though.

The cat socks.




The cat socks are insanely cute and are constructed perfectly so they don't slip down at all. The cat part is always sticking up.

Her shoes are pretty cute, but some ankle boots would have been nicer.

Now how about we compare the bodies? Pullips have been around for so long that I'm not going in depth with this. On the left here is a J-Doll body that's the same as a Type 4 Pullip. You can see where some of the inspiration came from. The Shibajuku body feels sturdier, which is good, considering these are for kids. The hands do not come out. There is less articulation and the Shibajukus are less curvy.

The feet make it pretty clear, as if it wasn't already, that Pullips were the inspiration for this line.

The Shibajuku body is like a hybrid of a few different Pullip bodies. It's a bit thicker like Type 2. I'm sure they can wear Barbie clothes easier than Pullip Types 3 and 4. I'm not even bothering to try other things on her. Aim for Barbie-type clothing and stuff from similar lines. If you Google which shoes can fit a Type 3 or Type 4 Pullip, you'll know which will work for Shibajuku.

Adsiltia is a Type 3 Pullip. You can see the similarity in the hands there.

Shibajukus are taller. The designer made a point of trying to make a taller doll than Barbie. Guess she also wanted to make a taller doll than her inspiration.

Check that profile.

I'm aware that I'm being hard on these dolls. It's because of the designer's attitude. If you're going to have that type of attitude that your doll is so fresh and unique and pretty when nothing else has been pretty in decades, I'm going to put you to the test. And held up to those standards, Shibajukus fail. They copied elements from another doll line. Their Japanese style is nothing we haven't seen multiple times before. They lack diversity. They have poor quality control. Pieces of their clothing feel cheap. Their hair is not the best material.

Are these bad dolls? NO. By no means are they bad dolls. But they do not belong on the pedestal the designer has placed them and herself on.

Will I be buying more? Yes. I've seen the designs for the second series on the website and that is the Yoko I've been waiting for. One of my issues with the personality of this Yoko is that she loves spooky stuff, but she doesn't look like she does. She loves skeleton hair clips, but doesn't come with one. She loves spiders, but isn't wearing one. Instead, she has silly bunny ears and a gaudy butterfly.

The only clip that's decent is the metal rhinestone bow.

Second series Yoko...well, just go look at her. I also love Miki, even though at the same time I'm irritated that they added a third blonde to the line. I like the new Koe and Suki, too, and even Shizuka. I might just get all of Series 2.

I really do enjoy these dolls. They're fun and they are something a little bit different. They'd be great for the younger siblings of Pullip fans or even Pullip fans who can't afford to buy as many Pullips as they'd like. (The prices on those have gone way up since I collected!)

So yeah, I like them. I was hard on them, but I like them.

PHOTO CREDITS: All mine.

RECOMMENDED SITES:
http://www.shibajuku.com/toys
Here, go look at Series 2. Bask in the gorgeousness of that Yoko.

OVERVIEW: Merrymakers Garden Princesses

Rose, Lily, Iris, Tulip

Merrymakers are probably best known for their dolls made for museum shops and ones based on books. They have made plush toys and rag dolls from lots of picture books, and their ones for museum shops are often either historical or based on people featured in specific paintings. They have a doll of Vermeer's Girl with a Pearl Earring, ones made for Colonial Williamsburg, a gorgeous one of an ancient Greek girl that I adore, and I probably have at least six with an ancient Egyptian theme.

I stumbled across the Garden Princess quartet while looking Merrymakers up on ebay. Tulip was for sale mint in her original plastic bag, while Iris was also available. I bought both of them and loved their detailing once they arrived. Tulip had her original tag, so I knew there were two other dolls in the line: Rose and Lily. It took me from March 2015 until now to finally even see Rose and Lily for sale!

I got very lucky when I saw an auction turn up in my Rainbow Brite saved search on ebay. It was for a lot of dolls, amusingly none of which was even Rainbow Brite-related, and there were Rose and Lily! I made an offer on the lot and they arrived today.

The dolls are small, about 9" tall, with cloth bodies and yarn hair. Their printed on faces are each different. The outfits are removable except for the printed on sandals, each featuring the girl's individual flower.

These dolls seem to have originally been sold with books, too. I've seen listings for them on bookstore websites, but I've never seen any of the books. Not even a picture of one! So even though these are only from 2003, it's practically like they never existed, which is a shame, because they're really pretty little rag dolls.

PHOTO CREDITS: Mine.

REVIEW: Monster High Electrified Draculaura

Draculaura finally made it here today. She's very cute and perky, which is why I like the reboot Lauras so much. Her doll matches her character much better.

Like Ari, Laura comes with a dress, belt, shoes and headpiece.

The art for this line is so cute.

And every time I see Venus, I wonder where she is. She's not on Amazon. Is she an exclusive? She's pictured with the other single-packed dolls, so I wouldn't think she'd be in some multipack. Although I do hope there are other dolls from this line that we haven't seen yet. Have you seen Cleo's Electrified look? It's amazing. I'd also like a non-Electrified Silvi sooner rather than later.

Laura's dress is quite cute. I like the plastic shoulder pieces as well as the pink ruffle on the skirt. The shoes are cute, but I prefer most of Ari's stuff to what Laura has. I think the doll herself is really cute though and I plan on buying all the crimped hair Electrified girls, except the gimmicky Frankie.

Laura has some bright makeup on in multiple colors, but it isn't as garish as it looked in her promo pics. The promo doll has black upper and lower lashes with blue and yellow eyeshadow and blue liner on the lower lids. The actual doll has black upper lashes with pale pink and yellow eyeshadow, while her lower lashes are blue with a faint line of pink underneath. Still colorful, but much better. Her little cheek heart is rimmed in blue, too.

Laura's dress is also cute without the yellow belt bow thingy. I'm one of those people that really does not care for yellow on Laura, so I will probably be taking the belt off once I get all the dolls and set up my display. For the moment, she's still wearing it, but I think I prefer it without the unnecessary yellow.

Her hair is a bit thinner than Ari's, and the same drier texture.

I quite like this Laura, but she's neither my fave Laura nor my favorite from the Electrified line. Still worth buying if you like the styling of the line though!

Silvi should be here next week, so she'll be my next review. I'm looking forward to finally having a gray wolf! (CaM does not count.)

PHOTO CREDITS: Mine.

REVIEW: Monster High Electrified Ari Hauntington

My second review for the day is Ari Hauntington from Monster High's new movie line, Electrified.

I was supposed to have both her and Draculaura today, but the carrier dropped the ball and Draculaura won't be here til Friday. I complained to Amazon, because I pay for Prime to basically pick my delivery dates, and they failed on both Rosabella and Draculaura. $99 a year is a lot, so I expect better service! I know things happen, but they've been happening kind of a lot lately, so I let them know about it and they gave me both $10 and a free month of Prime. So if your Prime stuff gets delayed, make sure to tell Amazon. That's not what we're paying for.

Anyway, you can expect Draculaura's review on Friday sometime.

So Ari. I'm surprisingly an Ari fan. I was never big into Spectra, except I do love my Signature and Ghoul's Night Out dolls a lot. But I love Ari's dolls. I have her Sig and basic and now this one.

Electrified is the line we first saw a glimpse of at SDCC this year. Several of the dolls were shown and I've been keeping an eye on their Amazon listings for awhile. The girls from the basic line have been popping up and I managed to get both Draculaura and Ari pretty quickly. I scored Silvi last night for delivery sometime next week. Venus is also shown on the box and was the first we saw from SDCC, but she has yet to appear in an Amazon listing.

The back of the box makes it sound like Twyla plays a possibly big role in this movie and she's my fave, so I'm very excited now.

The Electrified girls all have huge, crimped hair. Being an 80s child, I LOVE crimped hair. I have loads of dolls with it and one of my fave childhood Barbies, Dance Club Kayla, has crimped hair.

Ari's hair is rather dry, so expect that. I personally think it adds to the look.

She wears a chain headband, which I'm leaving in place, and a mini dress with a keyboard and chain belt.

The print carries around the entire dress, for those of you who obsess about those things.

I love the plasticy layer at the bottom. It's a fun texture that you don't see too often in doll clothes.

I like all the colors together, too. The brighter shades on the black background are nice. The whole thing has a good 80s feel. I think Ari is the best-dressed of the Electrified line with Twyla a close second (if you take off the giant bow at her neck).

Ari's shoes are really cute. I like their look from the front in particular. Bear in mind that they are purple and not pink. They photograph really pink! I think a lot of people are going to be surprised when they see her in person. Wait until you see how dark a purple they really are.

I think Ari's a really cool doll and I'm looking forward to seeing the others from the line. I already made display space so these big-haired girls can stand together. The $14.99 price tag seems a bit high, but that's just going rate for MH skinny-boxed, fully-articulated dolls nowadays.

PHOTO CREDITS: Mine.

REVIEW: Ever After High Archery Club Rosabella Beauty

I ordered Archery Club Rosabella on Amazon on the 16th and finally got her today. She was actually supposed to be here yesterday, but Amazon is definitely flubbing up in the delivery department lately. More on that in my next review!

The first thing that struck me was how pretty she is. I was okay on Rosabella before. Pretty, but not really wow. Well, the smile does wonders for her. She's gorgeous.

Deboxing was quick and easy. I adore all this new Mattel packaging. I'm not buying a doll for the box. Sorry, boxed collectors, but I buy dolls to open and the faster I can do that, the better. And if I can skip cutting a million pieces and slicing my fingers open on sharp plastic edges, I'm even more for the changes.

Rosabella's box sadly tells us nothing except that archery is apparently now a must-have princess skill. I find the choices here a bit odd. Except Ashlynn. I like that she's in this line, so she and Hunter can practice together. Cupid doesn't really need archery class and she already has dolls with bows, so I'm okay with her not being here. You know who should be here though? Darling. Darling is in the Tea Party basic line, but I would have put her in this line and sent Bunny to the tea party, putting each girl in a line she's more suited for.

I would say that Rosabella could have been replaced with someone we haven't seen in awhile, like Cedar or Cerise or even *gasp* a boy, but I love this Rosabella so much that I can't really complain.

I'm a complete sucker for the color they used on her legs and chestplate thingy. I loooooooove it. I also love the coppery boots. They're really intricate and just gorgeous. I think all these colors work really well together and this is the best-dressed Rosabella's ever been.

The big smile is beautiful on her and her glasses are awesome. Her hair is soft and lovely. She's just my favorite in so many areas compared to the other Rosabellas.

Now one thing you probably noticed is the missing articulation. Rosabella does not have wrist articulation. Personally, I think this was a good choice, because she can hold the bow just fine without it and one less joint actually makes her more stable for posing with the bow. However, I was surprised that she's lacking knee joints. The promo photos on her listing show them, as did the promos for Ashlynn and Bunny. But no, there are no knee joints. Doesn't really bother me, but it was a bit of a surprise, considering the $12.99 price tag.

I think her dress is quite pretty. I like the asymmetrical hem and I actually like that the print doesn't continue all the way around. The pop of yellow pleases me. I'm sure I'm in the minority, but things like dresses printed on the front only and less articulation just don't bother me if there are other design elements I like.

Rosabella can hold her bow very easily, which is nice.

I really love the combo of those boots and her leg color. The bright color peeking through the boot is just really appealing to me.

I don't have a photo of the dress without the chestpiece, because I'm not planning on taking it off, but it's a simple sleeveless dress.

And finally, here is Signature Rosabella next to Archery Club Rosabella. As you can see, the face isn't the only difference! Archery Rosabella is several shades darker than her original incarnation.

I really love this doll. Rosabella's not a favorite of mine, but I love the design here so she climbs a couple notches up the popularity ladder for me. I do feel this line is a bit overpriced at $12.99. That's Amazon pricing though, so in store pricing may be lower. I think I want the Bunny from this line, because they seem to have solved her wandering eye problem, so I'll be watching for these in stores.

PHOTO CREDITS: All mine.

REVIEW: Shopkins Shoppies Gemma Stone Exclusive

Gemma Stone is here! I was one of the lucky people that got to order her from Walmart.com when she was mistakenly listed early. Mine came in and I picked her up after work.

I got the version with the sapphire showing, not the diamond, which makes me happy, because I'm a September baby, so that's my birthstone.

Gemma has very distinctive packaging, so you can't miss her on the shelves.

Her art on the back is quite cute, although I think the doll herself is much cuter.

You can see all six members of the Gleam Team on the back. The ruby is in every box and you will see either the diamond or sapphire with her. The emerald is in the blind bags for both versions. The diamond is in the other blind bag for the box with the sapphire showing, while the amethyst is in the box with the diamond showing. I'm not sure if this is universal, but that's what I've seen so far. Of course, there will be exceptions when someone actually finds the opal!

I love Gemma's pale, icy looks. Her hair is a soft blue with silver tinsel. There's a bit of pale lavender in her bangs.

The crown looks cute, but that thing was tied down very loosely at the back, so now it's only attached in the very front. Her hair took a bit of rearranging after deboxing, thanks to the strings.

Gemma's hair is nice and soft. It reminds me of my old Mattel Winx Club Icy dolls. They always had the lovely, long, pale blue ponytails.

Gemma's little cape is a bit stiff, but I like that it's not just one shade of blue. The snap in front seems a bit loosely tied on and I had a bit of trouble undoing it. At least snaps are easy to sew back on. I did it all the time with my old Barbie clothes.

Her little shoes are rather Monster High-ish with their chunky, object-based style. I think hers display this quality more than my other Shoppies' do.

They're very translucent and you can clearly see her feet through them. They go on easy and stay on, even though she's in stockings.

I love the back of her skirt! The pattern is awesome.

I love her gloves, too. They're very unique.

Her hood can be worn up, although getting her hair through the hole is a bit of a pain, because tinsel does not like to obey. She looks really cute with it up, which I unfortunately don't have a picture of, because the shot I took came out blurry. (I was working against a failing battery, so I only took one shot of most of these poses.)

I love all the shades of blue here.

Here she is without the cape. I'm not sure how old Shoppies are supposed to be, but Gemma's rather busty for such a young-looking doll. I wasn't expecting that, because none of my other ones are like that at all! That's some glittery bustier action right there.

I definitely like her better with that covered up. Cape, please.

Her purse is a pretty purple number with a silver gem. It does open, although I didn't take a pic of that.

Here's her VIP card. I'm not a fandom-involved Shoppies collector, so I have no idea what these things are actually for. I use them for bookmarks!

And finally, here are my four Gleam Team members. The sapphire is very much my favorite, but the emerald is a close second. I'll have to track down the amethyst eventually, but I don't have a prayer of getting that opal! I've been having good luck recently, but not that level of good!


So there's Gemma Stone, a Walmart exclusive Shoppie that may or may not continue to be available after Black Friday. No one really knows. If you want one and don't want to go out on Thanksgiving, check Walmart.com at midnight Eastern time tomorrow! (That's midnight Thursday morning.) She should cost you $20.

I like Gemma a lot. She's my second fave Shoppie after Sara Sushi. But I really, really like that I lucked out and don't have to fight with anyone to get her!