REVIEW: Cave Club Ruly

Okay, I'm going to say right off the bat that my opinions on Ruly may be controversial. I have very mixed feelings on this doll. If you have to leave comments about my opinions, please keep it civil, because I tried to explain this as best I can. (Though I know there are plenty of people who always want to think the worst, so I know they will.)

Ruly is one of two new Cave Club characters that appeared in doll form recently. Lumina, who I posted about before, is sadly not out yet. (Can't wait!)

Ruly was on Amazon and I was lucky enough to grab one. She even arrived a day early. 

Now my issue with this doll is that her character was in the first Cave Club graphic novel. 

But, aside from the outfit, she looks nothing like this doll. 

This is the Ruly I've known for months. She was visible in the previews of the second (sadly unreleased) graphic novel, so I've known she looked like this for almost a solid year. 

You can imagine my surprise when I saw the doll then. 

My camera didn't capture the colors perfectly, but you can see that her skintone is much lighter than the doll's. It's a really pretty olive tone. Her hair is also at least half yellow (not shown best in this pic). And she's wearing shorts. 

Here's the art of her. 

So we're going to move on with the review and I'll give some comments on the changes as I go. 

Her accessories include her comb, a computer (how is this logical?), a cute green bag the computer can fit in, her glasses, and her pet, whose name is THESAURUS. (I'm dead.)

Now first off, I'm going to make it clear that I do really love this doll. She's gorgeous. I think she has the second best hair in the line and possibly the best outfit. 

She has pi on her cheek. ADORABLE.

I don't actually mind the changes to the hair except for the loss of the yellow. I didn't care for the giant hair bow from the comic, so the bigger bow with a pencil through it and the giant topknot of curls are a nice upgrade. 

I love these curls. Only Bashley has better hair so far. 

I just really wish they'd kept the yellow. We already have a dark-skinned girl with pink hair. This is kind of a peachy salmon pink, but it's still pink. 

Gah, I love the sundial watch and the bowtie and the suspenders! I have to say I'm not a fan of them changing her shorts to a skirt though. It's not awful, but I'm always in favor of more shorts and pants when skirts are so prevalent. 

With her glasses. I thought these were a little much at first, but they're growing on me by the second. 

Back to full-length, now with the bag. 

Her overall look is great. 

But herein lies my biggest problem. We already have a dark-skinned girl with pink hair. Ruly is actually darker than Fernessa and yes, she has different hair texture and eye color and lip shape, but the similarity is still very obvious. 

Here are the dolls together. 

And here are the girls together in the comic. Every one of them has a different skintone. I love Ruly's skintone. Like a lot. It's not one you see often in doll lines, which is why I was very much looking forward to her getting a doll. 

I think they could have easily done the curly hair with the yellow in it and the olive skintone. She would have looked fine and added more diversity  to the line. Or they should have at least left the yellow in her hair to avoid this resemblance to Fernessa. Or, even better, they could have made Ruly look like the design we knew and given us another new character with this darker skintone (and not pink hair). The dark tone is absolutely lovely and in any other case, I wouldn't even consider criticizing it. I want to make that crystal clear if it isn't. But in this particular case, I don't think these changes were their best idea.

Again, don't think I dislike the doll. I like her more every second I look at her. She's just not the Ruly I knew and I don't think the changes were for the better. 

I do wonder if the changes to her are why the graphic novels never made it. The first one is out of stock everywhere and the second never made it out. Could they have decided to change Ruly and pulled the books so they could change the art? It's a possibility. There were obvious delays in Rainbow High while they retooled the character who would eventually become Krystal. 

I want to end on the most positive note I can think of and that is LOOK AT THESAURUS. JUST LOOK AT HIM. THAT HAIR. 

PHOTO CREDITS: Mine.