Thursday, March 23, 2017

REVIEW: Descendants CJ


FINALLY. To say getting CJ here has been frustrating is an understatement.

We first saw CJ at last year's Toy Fair, I believe. However, she kept not being released. KMart/Sears and Walmart eventually got listing pages for her, but she never came in stock. 

I wrote to Hasbro about 3 months ago and asked them about her. I saw that she'd fully released in the UK and wanted to know when she was coming to the US. I was told that she was just starting to ship to retailers. 

So I waited. 

And waited. 

And still waited. 

Yikes! Not pretty box art.

After a couple months of not seeing her, I wrote to them again. The first time, I got no response, yet they sent me a survey as if they'd answered me. So I wrote AGAIN. This time I got an answer that basically just said the rep had forwarded the question to someone higher up. About two weeks later, I got a phone call. It turns out I was lied to. American retailers did not pick up the CJ case. She was never on her way to retailers here. To make up for it, they sent me a $10 coupon, which was nice, but wasn't going to get me a CJ. 


So off to ebay it was. I'd been casually bidding on her from a seller who kept listing her for low starting prices, but I never won. Well, now I knew I had no choice but to import, so this time, I won. She arrived today! 

CJ is splendidly gorgeous. I think she's one of the most beautiful in the line facially. I'd put her up there with Freddie, Ally and Lonnie. 








From head to toe, she's got good and bad. The design and color scheme of her outfit is excellent. The biggest problem? The outfit is all one piece!I was pretty shocked, because that's not typical for Descendants. I at least thought the shirt and jacket would be one piece and the shorts and tights another, but no. That's all one thing. No mixing and matching for poor CJ.




I do love her little details. The hook belt and the pattern on her tights are awesome. She has no jewelry though, which is disappointing, because she's a pirate. A pair of golden earrings would have been an obvious yet nice touch. The only hint of jewelry she has is some colored rubberbands on her hair twists to represent the beads in the character's animated design. 

I do love the pattern on these tights! It's so cool! Ugh. That makes it even more frustrating that they're just legs sewn onto shorts. I don't like this new trend of making everything one piece and it is not just Mattel that's doing it. Although I suppose it's not like we're going to see another CJ doll, so there's nothing for her to mix and match with anyway.





I do want to give more praise to her color scheme. In a line filled with jewel tones and pastels, it's a nice change to see an outfit that's mostly shades of brown with a white shirt and red jacket. 









CJ's face is super gorgeous! I love the red-lipped wide smile and her big brown eyes. Her hair is a lovely honey blonde with brown streaks and the hairstyle is a bit more complicated than Descendants usually gets, but it works well. 

The brown plastic scarf fits okay, even without the plastic band that held it down. It was strapped around there so many times that it looked really ugly, so I chanced taking it off. 


CJ's profile is really cute. Descendants has an excellent array of face sculpts and noses. I always love varying nose shapes. 













She comes with the typical sticker. Her accessory is a little treasure chest purse, I think, but it opens like a book. It's a neat design though. 













CJ is a gorgeous addition to the Descendants line. I'm really not a fan of her character, at least not from the Wicked World webisodes so far, but her doll is stunning and belongs in any Descendants collection. I only wish I could tell you a good way to buy her, but if you're in the US, you're going to have to import like I did. I paid around $30, which is actually not bad for a $20 doll. She was worth it, but I hope this doesn't become a habit for Descendants!

PHOTO CREDITS: Mine.

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