MONTH IN REVIEW: December 2016

Shibajuku Girls Yoko and Suki 

Ah, the final month of 2016. At last! What an insane year. 

December began with me acquiring my second Shibajuku Girl. Yoko wanted a friend, so I got her Suki, who quickly got redressed in something Yoko approved of. No other Shibajukus are on the horizon until more come out. The company told me different retailers are getting different assortments. 

Spacepop Day was celebrated December 3rd with me doing reviews of all five dolls. These five grace my coffee table in one of the prime spots. I still think they're gorgeous.

Spacepop Day!

I found new Happy Places Shoppies figures on December 4th, which led to my excitement over the Kirstea doll, which I finally got to review only two days ago. I also hunted down Lippy Lulu, who proved rather hard to find. I located her completely randomly in Booksamillion.

Kalia joins the mermaid gang

Kalia (purple hair) returned home on December 7th. I bought her, Nesia (pink hair) and Tala (green hair) when they first came out many years ago, but sold all three and never bought the second set of three mermaids, all of which I sorely regret. I've been collecting fixer-upper dolls, except for Amarea (blue hair) who I got boxed, for a few years now. I was finally lucky enough to find an almost complete Kalia in excellent condition, so now I only need Coralia!

I was shocked to see Karai in Walmart! I've been wanting her figure ever since her debut on the show and it's pretty ridiculous that it took so long to get her made in human form.

That same night, I bought Wave 4 of Series 1 of the Monster High minis, completing that set. I still don't have the Halloween ones, but I've given up on them. Series 2 hasn't showed up in my area yet either.

Lilydoll Arden

Arden arrived to join the rest of my Lilydoll collection. I'm absolutely thrilled to own her at last! Now we just need to track down Meriel...

Then came the reviews. No pictures for those girls, since you've seen them all here: Attractionistas Holly, Electrified Twyla and Clawdeen, all the LOL Surprises.  

And of course on December 22nd, I posted about American Girl Lea.

I feel you, Branch.

Late December has been a rough month for me, so I purchased Build-a-Bear grumpy Branch from Trolls, even though I haven't seen the movie yet. He seems like my sort of character.

I got a lot of vinyl figures near the end of the month. I had pre-ordered Pop Vinyl Cleo de Nile and the Rock Candy trio of Frankie, Draculaura and Clawdeen, all from Funkos new Monster High ventures. I still don't know why they made Clawdeen orange...

My mom also found me the six DC Superhero Girls minis at Walmart for less than $5 each!

DCSG minis on my corner shelf

I also ordered four of the newest Monster High Mega Bloks characters: Abbey, Nefera, Ari and Twyla (appearing for the second time). Thanks, Mattel Shop for having them in stock during free shipping time!

I've been saddened by the seeming loss of the Monster High vinyl line and was pleased to see some Canadian and Australian sellers carrying new figures. I quickly added Catrine de Mew to my collection. I want the 2.0 Frankie, but I have to ask about her when the seller returns from holiday hiatus.

Vinyl Catrine at last!

I pray this means we will get the promised Jinafire and Operetta someday! And we need Robecca to go with Venus and Rochelle. I'm still annoyed they haven't made a Robecca Mega Bloks figure. She's always last. *grumble*

I did a couple more reviews over the past week, like Aziam Girlz Niyama and Ever After High Archery Club Bunny. I have Aziam Dyana on her way so expect to see her soon!

Cool Critters

One of my favorite etsy shops had a sale, so I was able to get friends for the one I already had. My name for him isn't kid-friendly and I'm trying to keep this blog that way, so let's call him Mr. Seen Some Stuff for now. He's in the middle in the photo here to the left. I love all three of these guys.

Tiny Mal and Evie joined my small Itty Bittys collection. Mom and I had stopped at Halmark to check the after Christmas sales and I left with these two and the last Jem ornament. There are others I like, but I'll check back later for better deals.

After work that same day, I stopped at Walmart and picked up another Gemma Stone, who was on clearance. I got the amethyst to add to my collection of gem Shopkins. No opal, of course. I'm not that lucky!

I was however lucky in another way, because I spotted Champ Bear on the shelves. I can't find images of him or the other three newbies to the line anywhere, so I really did get lucky being one of the first to find him. I'm eager to find the others though, especially Brightheart Raccoon!

December's definitely been a month of ups and downs. I'm ending it on a happy note, because I've really gotten back into my Charlie Bears. I lost an auction for a great deal on a Kaycee Bear and then ended up ordering a different bear, Tango here on the right, to add to my collection in place of the one I'd lost. After that, it was Kekezza and Pepper Pot and Tick Tock, and Smudge is still on his way. I'm hoping to add at least one more bear to my collection (this is referred to as a hug amongst Charlie Bear collectors, but I haven't gotten used to saying that yet) by the end of January!

PHOTO CREDITS: All my stuff.

COLLECTION IN DEPTH: Charlie Bears Part 2

Kekezza

I'm pretty firmly back into Charlie Bears right now. I even listed some of my Disney collection on ebay in hopes of making extra money to adopt more bears!

So I figured I'd take a moment to show off my new arrivals.

Kekezza I always liked, but never had a formal pre-order for, so she arrived at my stockist without my knowing. There was one left and I asked about arranging a layaway, but that one had just sold. There were three more coming in though, so I was able to get first pick and agreed to pay for her on a certain date instead of doing layaway.

Then I sold one of my big ticket items on ebay, so I was able to pay for Kekezza earlier than planned.

Kekezza is like none of the other bears I already own. She has long fur on her torso and head and shorter plush on her arms and legs. She's really lovely and it's fun to style her fur! Her key necklace is beautiful, too.

The next day, my stockist wrote and said that Pepper Pot, one of my last two pre-orders, had come in. I had six to choose from, but I was second in line, so I had to wait for the other customer to pick first. I saw one that quickly became my first choice, but then there was another that was very different from the others. He had much wider eyes. The first customer didn't choose either of those, so I debated for awhile and even asked for a photo of them next to each other.

Pepper Pot

I ended up picking the more unusual bear and I regret nothing. He's so cute! His fur is very soft and a nice, thick, mottled plush. I had originally thought the brown ruff tied on, but that's actually part of him and it's just the gold cord that's separate. I also love his brown paws. Charlie Bears typically have a suede-type material on their paws, so the use of plush is good for a change.

When she told me about Pepper Pot, my stockist also mentioned that he would be my tenth full-priced bear order, so I could pick a free one. She has a great loyalty program where you earn 10% of each purchase that adds up toward money you can put toward a bear after you make ten purchases. I had $85 to spend!

Tick Tock

Choosing my free bear was easy though, because I'd had my eye on Tick Tock for months. I missed out on him when he was lower-priced because when she got down to one left in stock, he went back to full price. I kept a close eye on that one remaining bear and thankfully, he was waiting for me! 

I'm super happy with him. He's a gorgeous darker gray with navy and magenta. He shares the latter two colors with Oodles, one of my big favorites, so they sit together on the shelf. I really like Tick Tock's necklace, too. I take the necklaces off a lot, but his is staying on unless he's getting cuddled.

I had another recent arrival, which was Tango from the Kaycee Bears line. You can see him here on the right.

I was selling my Saskia from that line, but changed my mind recently. Tango is a gorgeous orange-red and I'm very happy with him. He, Pumpkin Pie and Pepper Pot all fit very nicely together on their shelf. Dipsy does, too, with his orange nose. You can see here how small Pepper Pot is!

So yes, I'm hoping to earn some extra money for more bear adoptions. I've got my eye on a certain two from my stockist and there are a couple on ebay as well that will have to be imported. I also have Smudge coming from the UK. I finally found the perfect one! Definitely expect more bear pictures here and hopefully soon!

PHOTO CREDITS: Mine.

REVIEW: Shoppies Kirstea

I enjoy the Li'l Shoppies Happy Places line and I think it's added some great characters to the Shoppies lineup, so when I heard Kirstea, who debuted in Happy Places, was going to be one of the next full-size Shoppies, I was very excited.

Kirstea has been released only internationally so far. Some dealers are beginning to get her, which is where I got mine. I bought her from a dealer on Amazon. I overpaid, but not by too much and it saves me the trouble of hunting her down, because she is so stunning that I know she'll be impossible to find. I had no regrets when I opened the package today and saw her in person. She's by far the most beautiful Shoppies doll yet. (My favorite is still Sara Sushi, but Kirstea is very, very, VERY close second.)

The second doll released with Kirstea is named Pirouetta and she is an extremely pink ballerina. I'm not sure I'll be adding her to my collection, since I only buy the ones I really like.

I think Kirstea's going to be the big seller of the two. Yeah, pink is popular, ballerinas are popular, but Kirstea is so elegant and detailed.

Her hair is lavender with a magenta streak in the front. It's styled in two very fat sausage curls.
Her eyes and eyebrows are lavender.

Tea is obviously her theme and the teacup on her headband is sloshing tea over its rim. I love the teacup next to the big purple bow. Her skirt has a cute print and her little lavender gloves with white lace cuffs are precious. Her legs are a darker purple with swirls molded on and her shoes continue the splashing tea motif.

Even her brush is adorable! And she has two of the cutest Shopkins I've ever seen. I think I might be a sucker for lavender and gold. I'm just really loving all of this. Her purse is a golden smiling teacup and it's quite lovely. I'm not a big fan of a lot of the Shoppies purses, but Kirstea's is great and less clunky than some of the others.

After shooting all the other photos, I remember to scoot her barrette over. She's packaged with it the way it is in the photos above, but I like it over farther like in her art.

I highly recommend Kirstea, even if you're not a Shoppies collector. She's a special little doll.

PHOTO CREDITS: Mine as usual.

REVIEW: Ever After High Archery Club Bunny Blanc

I've got a couple quickie reviews tonight.

First up is Bunny Blanc from the Ever After High Archery Club line.

I wasn't really a fan of the first Bunny. She had those horrible eyes that were never good. Every Bunny doll I have ever seen has at least one wandering eye. So when she was slapped into the Archery Club, I didn't really pay attention.

Then I realized she's got a new face!

The new Bunny face is a vast improvement on the original. I know a lot of people have problems with the new EAH molds, which I'll never understand, because smiling is fine and more variety is VERY much fine. But in Bunny's case, I don't think there's even a logical argument against this new mold, because now she doesn't have wonky eyes!

Sure, you could complain about the lack of knee and wrist articulation or the molded legs, but just pop her head off and put it on your other Bunny body then.

They did such a great job on her face. This is the adorable Bunny from the webisodes right here.

And say what you want about the budget lines, but Archery Club has some gorgeous pieces. Her torso armor piece is so intricate and lovely, and her shoes are really pretty, too.

I love these springy colors for her. She looks great. The little minidress is just the right pop of green to go with all that pink.

Like Rosabella, who I reviewed before, Bunny does not have wrist or knee joints. With Rosabella, it still worked okay, but Bunny suffers from a slightly bent left arm.

So she can't hold her bow and arrow as nicely as Rosabella did. It falls off a lot. I put her on display tonight and I ended up just shoving the bow and arrow under her arm, because she just will not hold it.

Bunny also came with helmet hair, which thankfully just needs a little rinse with warm water. I've actually had her since Christmas Eve, when I popped into Target after work and was surprised to see new toys out, and I shot all these pictures the day I got her, but then waited for her hair to dry after salon time. And ended up waiting and waiting, because I got into the busy part of my week. But I finally took that photo tonight and you can see how well Bunny cleans up.

Gel-free! I'll have to trim the strays later.

I definitely recommend Bunny to other EAH collectors. Even if you're not a fan of the changes, she's worth the purchase just to have this new head. She is massively adorable now and I love her.

PHOTO CREDITS: Mine.

OVERVIEW: Peppermint Rose

Mattel released the Peppermint Rose line in 1992. This small line consisted of four dolls, three plush bunnies, and three rubber bunnies that sprayed perfume. The line had far more ephemera than actual toys. There were cards, invitations and other party accessories, wrapping paper, books, stickers, puzzles, and even a necklace of Peppermint Rose seated on a swing. There was also a VHS available of the single episode.

The dolls themselves are very familiar. Their heads are from the Lady Lovely Locks line and their bodies were typical Skipper bodies from that time.

Lemon Kiss Lily, Vanilla Daisy, Peppermint Rose and Merry Mint Violet

The dolls have soft wavy hair. Peppermint Rose is blonde with blue eyes. Merry Mint Violet is the black character with black hair and purple/pink eyes. Vanilla Daisy has auburn hair and brown eyes. Lemon Kiss Lily is a strawberry blonde with purple eyes.


Each doll comes with an outfit that consists of a bodysuit, one shorter skirt that goes over another longer skirt, a pair of bloomers, a flower belt, a pair of slippers, a pair of earrings, and a giant hat with a fabric flower attached.

Peppermint Rose's main color is hot pink. She has a hot pink bodysuit with a white collar and puffy, rose-printed white sleeves. Her shorter skirt is white with pink stripes, while the same rose-printed fabric as her sleeves is used for her longer skirt. Her bloomers are a delicate, sheer white material. Both her pink plastic hat and her ribbon belt have a pink rose attached, and she has hot pink shoes and round hot pink earrings.

Merry Mint Violet shares a headmold with Peppermint Rose, but also has basically the same outfit only in different colors and prints. Her bodysuit is in the same style, except it's lavender with violet-printed white sleeves. Her shorter skirt matches the sleeve material and her longer skirt is a pretty mint green with darker green stripes. The stripes are the same pattern as Rose's shorter skirt, only in the different colors. Merry Mint has the same bloomers as Rose and she also wears round earrings, although they're mint green. She slippers are also mint. Her hat is an off-white shade (not sun-damaged, it's supposed to be that color) with a fabric violet, which matches the one on her belt.

Lemon Kiss Lily also wears a lavender bodysuit, but it's more of a pinky tone and has long sheer sleeves. Her short skirt is sheer white with yellow lemon drop polka dots and her longer skirt has a lily and lemon drop print on a white background. Her bloomers are a pinky-lavender and the longest of the four pairs of bloomers. She is not pictured wearing her correct shoes, which are actually a darker shade of pinky-lavender. Lemon Kiss is the only doll in the line to have perpetually fragile shoes. I have bought two of her mint in box and with both dolls, the shoes disintegrated. I have never seen plastic shoes fall apart like these did. Lemon Kiss also wears a lavender hat with a fabric lily that matches the one on her belt, and she has yellow lemon drop earrings. She's the only one of the four to wear a bit bolder makeup. She has mint green eyeshadow. Lemon Kiss and Vanilla Daisy share a headmold.

Vanilla Daisy wears a white bodysuit with a short ruffle at the top in a flower-printed sheer material that's the same as her short skirt. Her longer skirt is white with candy hearts. Her bloomers are sheer white with white polka dots and her slippers are also white. Her white hat has a fabric daisy that matches her belt. Vanilla Daisy's earrings are pink hearts and she's the only doll to have a necklace, which is also pink hearts.

I used to have all the rubber perfume bunnies with their cute fabric ears, all three of the plush bunnies and all four dolls, but I sold almost my entire collection years ago. I only kept the pink and purple plush bunnies. I decided a few months ago to recollect the dolls and have managed to get all four more quickly than I thought. Peppermint Rose is unfortunately not an easy line to collect. Rose herself is fairly easy to find boxed. I paid $19.99 for mine, but Lemon Kiss and Vanilla Daisy show up less frequently. My mom bought me Lemon Kiss and spent quite a lot, and then I ended up getting a great deal on a second one, trying to get one with shoes that didn't fall apart (and ultimately failing at that!). Vanilla Daisy cost me $45, I think. Merry Mint is decidedly the hardest to find and most expensive one, but I lucked into a fabulous deal and paid only $50 for mine. If you're patient, the deals will come, and it's definitely best to buy them mint in box to make sure you get all the outfit pieces.

I love this line. The layered outfits in their pretty colors and patterns work really nicely with the soft hair and pretty headmolds. I wish there were more characters!

PHOTO CREDITS: Mine.

RECOMMENDED SITES:
http://www.ghostofthedoll.co.uk/peppermintrose.php

REVIEW: Aziam Girlz Niyama

I've been interested in the Aziam Girlz for awhile now, but there only ever seemed to be one doll in stock. The others said "spring 2016" for ages, so I thought they weren't available, but maybe they actually were? Currently, only Asana (the original doll), the Dolly Alanna, Niyami and Dyana are available. Even though Dyana still says Spring 2016. The first three are also available on Target.com, which is where I got Niyama, since we have a Red Card.

I wasn't completely sold on Niyama at first. I loved Prana, the Chinese fashion designer; Pratya, the meditating traveller from India; and Dyana, the English brain. It was really only when I saw her in box photo on Target's listing that I wanted to order her and finally try this line out.

This art is so CUTE.

These dolls are usually $29.95, but Niyama was on sale for $26.95 on Target.com. Actually, Asana, Niyama and Alanna (but not Dyana) are currently on sale on Aziamgirlz.com for $24.95 each, but I get free shipping with Target, so that made my decision easy.

Niyama arrived pretty quickly and she looks good in the box.

The back of the box has the cutest art of her on it! I need to get the books for these girls, but they're usually pretty expensive. They're on sale on the site right now though, so maybe I should get ordering.

Niyama was easy to debox. She's held down by thin plastic strips in a few places. Nothing held her head down, which I always like. Her accessories are under plastic that you just peel off the box liner and there you go. Easy.

Niyama's outfit consists of a pink and white shirt that ties at the front, a white tee with I Am Green on it, and brown shorts with a fuzzy brown belt and white buckle that are sewn right to the rest of the shorts. She has white socks and brown hiking boots that she's not wearing when she's packaged.

She also comes with a green brush, an orange backpack, a purple camera, a water bottle, and a green yoga mat that doubles as a slap bracelet for her new owner.

The slap bracelet is an awesome glittery bright green, but it's also huge! I tried it on and it's a wide cuff even on me. I can't imagine it on a child.

The bracelet has Aziam at one end and Niyama's name at the other with her slogan all over the rest of it. Each of the Aziam Girlz has a different slogan.

If you look at Niyama's promo pics on the website, you'll see she didn't end up coming with her scarf and her camera is no longer pink and purple, but just purple. I think she also lost a rhinestone on her checkered shirt. Minor changes though, compared to those of other doll lines.

See, this thing is huge!

Yeah, the bracelet's big even on me.

Niyama is from Manaus in Brazil, which is a big city right in the Amazon rainforest. It's fitting that she's the line's nature girl.

So these yoga dolls are made to hold a lot of poses, because that's important for yoga. (I really know nothing about yoga.) I do not own a Made to Move Barbie, which are also super-poseable, so I cannot compare the two. Niyama is about the height of a My Scene doll if Niyama has her shoes on and the My Scene doll wears no shoes.

Let's take a look at Niyama's main feature: her poseability.

I was pretty surprised when I undressed Niyama. She has the tiniest waist! I expected something a bit more healthy-looking from a doll line that's into healthy stuff. I'm thinking this design works best for pulling off a bunch of yoga poses, but it still looks really odd to me. She has a molded on bra. Her thighs are extremely jointed and can indeed do a lot of poses, but the joints are very unattractive. Her knees have the same problem. Her arms are disappointing though, because the elbows have quite limited mobility compared to the rest of her.

Her arms seem very long to me, too. I think they sacrificed anatomy and attractiveness in favor of the poseability. She's possibly the most unattractive undressed doll I have. The tiny waist that sinks into her pelvic area, the huge round joints at the hips attached to more huge round joints at the thighs. The backs of the knees bother me the least, but they're odd, too.

Hey, at least her feet are cute.

Oh, and despite how she looks in my photos, Niyama's head, hands and feet are a different color than the hard plastic bits of her body.

I feel like I'm being too hard on her, since I do quite like her! She just needs some clothes on. Let's get her redressed and try out some yoga poses.

I'm going by the little paper that came with her.

She can do the tree pose, although she can't stand perfectly straight while doing it, like the girl in the drawing.

She can also do the bow pose very easily, although she can't hold herself up, so I put the mat there to help her.

Chair and downward dog are easy, so I didn't try them, but I did attempt the triangle and she cannot do that.

So yes, Niyama is quite poseable. Far moreso than my other dolls. My SDCC She-Ra might be the one who comes the closest to this poseable.

Here's Niyama with her backpack on, her camera around her neck and her water bottle in hand. The bottle is easy for her to hold by sticking her thumb through the loop at the top. The backpack has nice cord straps so it goes on easily, but it's just hard plastic and doesn't open. It's a neat design though, so this time they went with looks over function.

Her socks were a minor struggle to get on, but the boots were easy.

Here you can see her cute backpack and her profile. I'm a sucker for a long nose, so I love this unusual profile.

I think Niyama is quite well-made and excellent if you want a poseable doll. There are characters from all over the world, so there's a variety to choose from with many different skintones and hair colors and types. I can't judge her hair very well, since it's in braids, but her bangs feel nice. Her clothing is pretty well-made, too. Her shorts are a little difficult to fully close in the back and as I said, the socks were a bit hard to get on, but no major complaints. I do like all the different textures she's got.

Niyama is also capable of standing on her own, even with that backpack on!

She's very cute and i'm glad I finally brought one of these girls home. Now I'm going to wait impatiently for Prana and Pratya to come back in stock, and I'll probably order Dyana soon! Maybe the books, too!

PHOTO CREDITS: All mine.

RECOMMENDED SITES:
http://www.aziamgirlz.com/

SPOTLIGHT: American Girl Lea Clark

Welcome, Lea!

I've liked Lea since she came out. I'm a sucker for neons. I got all of her books, but only read the first one so far. When she released at Kohl's, I enjoyed seeing her in person, but never thought she'd be coming here.

Well, it has been a very long past few days. My aunt had been in the hospital for a couple weeks and what we thought was some sort of respiratory infection turned out to be cancer. Cancer that was far worse than any of the doctors were able to figure out. She went home to have hospice care and the day after she arrived home, the hospice nurse called me and told me she had 24-48 hours. It was a mere 10 hours later that we received the final phone call. My family has been in shock and busy dealing with matters ever since.

Two nights ago, my mom handed me a large box. She explained that my aunt had been sad that she couldn't send us anything for Christmas this year, since she was stuck in the hospital and then later on too ill, so Mom went out and bought me a gift that was basically a last gift from my aunt. I ripped off the paper and my jaw dropped open, because I never expected Lea.

I love her even more out of the box with her pretty hair freed.

And last night, when I picked up her second book, I was reminded that she's from St. Louis...the city where my aunt lived most of her life.

Lea will always be special to me, because I'll never look at her without remembering my aunt, who was one of my favorite relatives.

Dealing with this has kept me from posting here a lot lately, but I'm going to try to get back in the swing of things. Tomorrow, I should be receiving my first Aziam yoga doll, so I'll have a review of her for you all.

So please remember to keep all your loved ones close, because you never know how long you'll have together.

REVIEW: LOL Surprise!

I have to say I'm really impressed that MGAE managed to take something that looks like Bratz Babyz, which never did super well, and turn them into one of the It toys for this holiday season.

LOL Surprise is the hot new blind pack sensation. People are buying these things up like crazy and scalpers are scalping them like crazy, right down to the entire display in some cases! (How does that even happen? Like how do you ask Target to let you buy the whole thing?)

My local Target stores had none yesterday, but almost all of them turned up with something today. I spoke with a girl in the department and she said they were supposed to have these displays to be put up on the 4th, but clearly, they all got to my area late! She held three for me at the electronics counter and my mom grabbed me a fourth, since they were setting up the display when she was there.

I didn't take pictures of the whole process, because that wouldn't really work, but I'm sure there are several Youtube videos of people opening these. (One of the rare cases where a video captures something better than still photography! I normally hate video reviews. Some are cute, but nothing shows details like photos.) LOL Surprise come in a ball, which is wrapped in several layers of plastic.

First, you peel off the outer layer and there's a little secret message like a rebus. Then another layer in has a sticker sheet. These dolls each do something: cry, spit up, pee or change color. I haven't played with all of mine yet, but each one has little holes in her eyes and...elsewhere, so you can't tell what she does just by looking. The stickers are to place on your checklist (photo on the left) to keep track of which doll does what.

Here in the photo on the right, you can see the secret message, stickers and bottle. I got two shaped like coffee cups and one shaped like a bottle. That's the third thing you unwrap and your first hint as to who's inside the ball. Keep unwrapping and the shoes are tucked into a little niche on the ball. Every plastic accessory is in a bright pink plastic bag, so this whole process is a lot of opening and a lot of garbage accumulated, but it's also very, very FUN. With the shoes, you've got another big clue. The next thing you find, also tucked in a niche, is the outfit, which pretty much reveals the identity of your doll.

Then you undo the ball and inside is a wrapped doll, wrapped accessory, instruction sheet, the checklist and a handle. The ball is like a tiny playset, a stand and a hanging ornament all in one.

These cost $7.99, but honestly, I can really see why. There is a ton of detail here, the unwrapping process is a blast, and we're paying $5.99 for ponies that can't move and $3.99 for tiny blind box toys that do nothing, so with these, you're at least getting something for your money.

The first toy I opened was Fresh. She was my third most wanted, so I was thrilled! She has white hair, big brown eyes and an awesome black and white outfit. Her accessories is cats eye sunglasses, which are cute, but I like to see those eyes. Each doll has little holes behind her ears to hold on accessories like these sunglasses.

The next one was Super B.B., the superhero doll. She's very cute, too, and I love her little cape. The heads pop off easily so it was easy to put her cape on and fasten it, then put her head back on.

Super B.B. has a coffee bottle like Fresh. Fresh's is black and white, while Super's is white with a metallic gold lid. I'll be curious to see if each character has different colors or if some are repeats.

Third, I opened Fancy, who is in the "Opposites" set with Fresh. She wasn't originally on my want list, but she reminds me a little of Bratz Dana, so I'm keeping her.

She comes with a hot pink more typical style baby bottle. All of the bottles are soft plastic and can actually hold water. That's how you activate some of the features, like spitting up and crying.

Mom and I lost Fancy's tiara for a bit. We've learned to only open one of these at a time. We found it unopened in our little Target bag full of LOL Surprise trash. So go slow and don't lose anything!

The fourth ball I opened was another Super B.B. I managed to see all the pieces through her bags, so I put her up on ebay still sealed. A lot of the unwrapping fun is over, but at least the pieces can still be opened by someone else. These are mostly selling unopened right now, because they're the most wanted stocking stuffer out there, but I think after Christmas, I should be able to finish out my want list with help from ebay.

All in all, I'm addicted, but at $7.99 a pop for possible repeats, I won't be buying a ton of these. My mom is going to grab a few more on her way to work, but after that, I'll probably be mainly buying opened characters from ebay. I really want the Rocker and Teacher's Pet! But I can also see myself keeping a bunch of characters I originally didn't intend to keep. They're very cute in person!

I took my photos in my dining room, so the flash wasn't going off. I'm hoping they still captured enough detail to be a bit helpful. Photographing smaller things can be tricky and I was excited, so I didn't fight with it.

If you get some LOL Surprise, let me know who you get and who you want! Maybe we could get some swaps going in the comments.

PHOTO CREDITS: Me.