REVIEW: Regal Academy Basic Vicky and Magical Joy

I knew Regal Academy was getting dolls here in the US eventually. Apparently, they were at Toy Fair, but kept under wraps. They're the first doll line by Auldey Toys, which is a subsidiary of the Alpha Group.

The line turned up today found by my local friend in our Toys R Us. While I couldn't go, because I didn't know until less than half an hour before work, my mom did get out early enough to pick me up the two main dolls I wanted before the store closed.

I don't know if you guys know much about Regal Academy, but it's produced by the same people as Winx, so it's like Ever After High but with a more magical girl twist. There's a school for fairy tale kids, but they're grandkids instead of sons and daughters. Rose is the granddaughter of Cinderella, Astoria is descended from Rapunzel and Joy is from a line of frog royalty.

These three are the main cast members, along with two boys: Hawk and Travis. Travis is a Beast, while Hawk is actually from Snow White's line. Yep, a guy Snow White. He's basically the Prince Charming character. The main villain is Vicky, who is one of the dolls I'll be looking at today. She's a witch, but it's unknown which fairy tale she belongs to. Her cohorts are her cousin Cyrus, who sleeps a lot, and Ruby Stepsister. You can guess her family line. Other characters are more unusual. Gerald Ugly Duckling has a duck head and Finn Whale (from the Sinbad whale) is a whale in clothing. Pinocchia actually has a pointy nose and Violet Ogre looks like she could attend Monster High. Odette Swan and Leena Tom Thumb are more human-looking. LingLing Iron Fan is one of the newer characters and I'm disappointed she didn't get a doll in the first set.

Anyway, so there are several characters descended from several fairy tales, but they're not as gender specific as EAH. Snow White's got a grandson, Tom Thumb has a granddaughter, etc.

I got the Vicky doll, because Giochi Preziosi, who made the dolls for the European market, didn't make her. Unfortunately, the Alpha dolls are way smaller than the Giochis, so I'm going to have to also buy the main three girls all over again so they all can match in height.

Vicky has an excellent face and I love her outfit. It came out well, even though they left off the long sleeves and striped stockings. Her pants are lacking a lot of detail, too, but not too bad an effort for a company's first doll line.

The basic dolls have articulation at the neck, shoulders, hips and knees. No elbows or wrists. They come with their main outfit from the show and a bag of some kind. They're $14.99.

My Vicky sadly has a lip rub, but she was the only one there and I honestly didn't notice until I opened her. So we're calling it a shine highlight and leaving it at that. Maybe I'll get another someday. She might be getting a ballgown doll, so there's that, too.

Magical Joy and the others in her set, Rose and Astoria, cost $19.99 each. They're the same doll except now they have elbow articulation.

I have a little complaint about that, because my Joy has a defective elbow. Her right arm is fine, but the left one's joint is stuck so she can twist it, but not bend the elbow. I'm not going to force it and possibly break her, so yeah, deluxe extra joint is not so deluxe.

If you don't like permanent clothing, skip this line. The dolls have a permanent bodysuit on. The top part is plastic and snaps off, which is kinda neat. Then the skirt, boots and bracelets are your typical fare.

These outfits are what I think of as their dragon-riding gear. I haven't seen many eps, but I did see this one! I love the overall look and I think they did a good job of capturing the essence of the designs.

I do plan on getting Rose and Astoria from this line, because I don't want to buy outfits I already own and that were done better by Giochi. So dragon-riding outfits it is. And they come with cute pets, which is a nice bonus.

The dolls come with a light-up wand, which can be shone on the card provided, plus it also lights up a design on the doll's chestplate.

They also come with an animal friend that's super cute. I love Joy's frog.

I don't really care for how Alpha did Joy in comparison with Giochi though. Her face look very young and not necessarily right. Her bangs aren't right and she has a straight bob instead of the angled one from the show.

While it doesn't show in this pic, the Giochi doll does have the angled hair and the bangs are cut a little more closely to the show style. They also did far better with the signature outfit and the articulation is excellent.

I really wish the dolls were similar in size so I could have just bought Vicky, but you can see how big the difference is, so I need one of each main girl to be in the new shorter size along with Miss Broomstick. I do like the dragon-riding outfits and pets though, so I really can't complain. Well, my wallet can! But at least I don't need the entire line.

The hair on both Joy and Vicky is a bit thin, so expect that. The dolls aren't bad quality, they're just not up to par with the big name companies, but who could expect them to be?

I'm happy this show is getting some love over here. I had fun watching what little I've seen. I need to get caught up now!

PHOTO CREDITS: Mine.