I was berry surprised to see TLS Toy's SSC doll actually show up in stock on Walmart.com. (One pun. Only the one. I promise.) For $12.97, I grabbed her, even though I initially was only going to get my fave SSC characters and Strawberry herself has never been one of them.
Same format as the Rainbow Brite doll. You're supposed to punch open the spaces on the back and pull out the surprises inside, kinda like Hairdorables.
Once again, I didn't do this.
I do want to have a quick word on the surprises. I honestly didn't watch any reviews or really pay attention to the more recent pictures, because I wanted my first impressions of these to be of my own dolls. So it was only recently that I noticed that there are several DIFFERENT surprises.
For Rainbow Brite, her lunchbox can be yellow, red or blue. The headband I got is only one of three options. The other two are a fabric skirt or a pair of fabric legwarmers and a pair of sandals. Now I definitely do not think it's fair that the choices are one plastic piece, one fabric piece, or two plastic pieces AND two fabric pieces. Those are not items of the same value, let's say. However, I honestly don't think any of them look good on the doll. I'll never use that headband. The legwarmers and sandals looked really silly with Rainbow's dress. The skirt was the best one, in my opinion, because it resembled the vintage dress-up Rainbow outfit, but I still doubt I would have put it on her ever. But still. Point is that the surprises are not of equal value and that kinda sucks.
Now for SSC, it's much harder to see all the options. Try looking at the SSC tag on Instagram. It's a lot wider scope than Rainbow Brite. From what I can tell, they all come with the little berry comb and Custard the cat. They better all come with the pet. Seriously. That would not be the thing to swap out. I got this little berry purse. Other people got lunchboxes. (I would rather have had the lunchbox.) I got a plate of strawberry shortcake, which is cute, but others got a basket of strawberries. Again, would rather have had that.
So yeah, I really don't care for this blind surprise aspect of the line. It's so unnecessary. It's one thing for it to be the color of a lunchbox, but I think all the dolls should come with basically the same accessories. What, now I have to wonder if my Lala Orange will have the short skirt or the boa? Or if all the Color Kids will get their sprite purses? Because I saw other purse options. Lala has an orange purse (fruit, not color), Patty has a frog, Stormy has a cloud. I think I saw Tickled Pink with a headband on in some older pics.
Anyway, okay, rant over. Moving on.
She's very cute.
Time for Rant #2.
Yeah, I can't just be happy these exist and not be critical. Sorry. It's not me.
Across all of SSC's different reincarnations, what's the one thing that's stayed constant aside from the baking/food theme?
THEY'RE SCENTED.
The smell is so nostalgic for a lot of people. However, no matter what the front of the box says, this doll is NOT strawberry scented. Both my mom and I gave her several sniffs. There's a slight sweet smell on her hair that's...sort of cakey? I'm guessing they tried to make a strawberry shortcake smell instead of just going for strawberry and it backfired. It also backfired in that these dolls were never very subtle. Put on your neon 80s big kid pants, TLS Toy, and just go for it with the scents. Do not be shy. This is not the place for it.
I grabbed one of my Altaya dolls instead of vintage for the comparisons. They're a little easier to redress.
Very poseable. (Let the Robot Chicken flashbacks commence.)
TLS's is a little taller with bigger feet.
Rainbow is by far the sturdier of the two.
And here she is. I would have done a pet comparison, but my Custard is in my storage closet. I'm also not taking that hat off, so I left it tacked on.
Overall, she's cute. I prefer my vintage ones and Altayas though. I'm disappointed in the smell and not getting the accessories I would have preferred. If I can get them all for this price, I'd consider collecting the whole line. Otherwise, I may be picky.
I'm definitely more a fan of the Rainbow Brite line.
PHOTO CREDIT: Mine.
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