I spotted Basic Mal and Evie in Walmart tonight and headed to the register with both, but when I rang them up, I was appalled that they were almost fifteen dollars each! I actually left them at the first Walmart I went to and didn't plan to buy any, unless they went on sale. However, at the second Walmart, I ended up leaving with Mal, because my mom decided to get her for me.
So what exactly do you get for almost fifteen bucks?
You get a Mal that has no articulation at her elbows or wrists. She's articulated at her neck, shoulders, hips and knees. You get a one-piece outfit. Yes, my friends, that is not even a dress and leggings, it is all one single piece. The pants are sewn right into the dress. You get Mal's signature boots in a lovely black, which is pretty cool, and you get a really nice black plastic collar.
The outfit looks cute without the collar, too, but I am severely disappointed in this line. $15 is way too much for what you're getting. Comparable Monster High dolls have full articulation, for one thing, and wouldn't have a one-piece outfit unless it was a dress obviously. I'm disappointed I can't mix and match this dress and pants with other pieces from Mal's wardrobe.
I do think the outfit is lovely though, which is the reason I ended up with her. (Evie's is more pass-up-able, although her boots are awesome.) But unless you're like me and you're a sucker for some good clothes, don't buy this doll. I'm honestly not sure I would have gotten her if I'd known ahead of time that the outfit was all one piece. Eh, I probably would have, but still.
They're cute dolls, but very overpriced, considering what similarly-priced dolls in other popular lines come with.
PHOTO CREDITS: Mine.
Just picked her and Evie up. I'm impressed with these dolls. I do think $15 is a bit much, but st the same time I understand it. They have new arms, which aren't articulate, but they're still new. I adore Mal's new collar piece, and Evie has a new shoe mold. I'm pleased with them, but I would have rather paid $10 or $12 for them instead of $15.
ReplyDeleteArms that are just one mold instead of several don't justify a price hike. Doll prices don't increase every time a new piece is introduced or popular lines that have been around for years like Monster High would be $50 apiece or more by now. The costs for new molds are pretty minimal and companies don't force the customer to make up for them having to do something new.
DeleteDescendants is absolutely overloaded with Evie and Mal. I could have gotten their Neon Lights dolls for the same price, because no one bought them and they're all clearanced. Putting out basic dolls of two overused characters at prices more inflated than other current doll lines with similar details is a bad idea and I don't think these will sell well.
They'd do well to give us more characters that can actually be found than put out lines like this. Spend the money used on these dolls to produce CJ in abundance, since her obnoxiousness did show back up again, make Xevon, make LONNIE again. We're so overdue for a new Lonnie and characters like Ally, Freddie and Jordan, who weren't even in the movie have more dolls than she does.
While I am impressed with Jewelbilee, I do wonder how long Descendants will last. None of my local stores sell the dolls very quickly and I have yet to even see Ally on a store shelf. The only reason I see newer lines coming in at all is because Walmart and Target clearance the old ones out. TRU is still overloaded with old stuff. I imagine the stores will still get the inevitable sequel dolls, but if they don't do well, I wouldn't be surprised if Target and Walmart drop them. They don't perform well enough to keep in those two stores which are a bit more brutal when it comes to cutting lines that don't sell. TRU will probably keep them for awhile. They tend to do that.