I can't praise Aja and not give my thoughts on this company.
I honestly think they bit off more than they could chew. They did too many vintage lines too fast and I'm not sure they've handled even one of them correctly. I guess the ones with fewer pieces like Carmen Sandiego or My Buddy.
With Rainbow Brite, I find it appalling that they've spit out product after product, yet we still do not have the full line-up of small dolls. Indigo and Lala Orange were shown the very first time they put these in the public eye. We still don't have them. At this point, they may not make them. I hate that they prioritized Patty O'Green, their FOURTH white doll, over the line's single brown girl. I also wouldn't have rushed Stormy or Tickled Pink. I would have put Indigo, Lala and Patty out, THEN done the more minor characters like Stormy and Tickled. And given us a 5.5" Moonglow, too. Bear in mind this is also coming from a big Stormy fan, so it's not like I'm favoring every single one of my favorite characters. Yes, we do have Indigo in ragdoll form, but let's not pretend that's anything near as good as the 5.5" dolls. They also botched the Cheebees, making two of the characters that make up the actual rainbow near impossible to find. Then they offered people cases with the chance to get a chase well after most of us bought the commons already. Then they cancelled their Cheebee set that would have been the easier way for those of us still missing Canary and Buddy to finally complete our rainbows. Now we're left with a rainbow doll, a pink doll, a storm-themed doll, and a green doll. Does that complete anyone's rainbow? No.
As for Strawberry Shortcake, at least we got all the dolls, but I hate that they continue to make Cheebee sets with special characters that are impossible to find.
Now. Jem. Hoo boy.
The Jem doll came out at $25. I think maybe she's up to $30 now? But $25 was that original price.
They hit us with the Jerrica and Synergy pack, which was horrifically overpriced at $120. And came with far less than the Jem doll did. It was delayed for a time. I can't remember exactly how long, but we finally got it in hand.
Then...the Holograms and Glitter 'n' Gold. The mess truly (outrageously) begins.
First, the Holos were now $45. $20 more and they don't have any extra outfit or anything. GnG was $55, but she is in a more deluxe box and she comes with more stuff. I'm mostly leaving her out of this discussion for now, as I don't have her in hand yet. But let's just say the $55 on her made more sense than the $45 Holos.
Second, I think the original release for these was December. That got bumped to February 28th. That's fine. They told us decently fast in a big update on all the line releases. It wasn't only Jem. Popples and other things were also delayed. Not a huge deal.
The problem began in late February when there were no updates or shipments. They were tight-lipped on socials when asked questions and the distrust of the company began in earnest.
I can't remember the exact date, but I did receive an email about Popples. I never got one about Jem. But it said that the items were in the warehouse, but it was taking longer to pack than anticipated. Okay, no big deal. Appreciated the update. I want to say this was in March. I don't think it was a huge amount of time after February 28th, but I didn't keep the message, thinking nothing of it at the time, so I cannot be sure.
It was a lie.
One week ago, they posted a reel on Insta, saying the toys were in their warehouse as of last week. It was at least a month AFTER they initially stated they'd arrived in the warehouse. At least. So they blatantly lied to those of us that had ordered these toys IN AUGUST.
Retailers began receiving the dolls before direct buyers had theirs shipped.
As of right now, I still do not have tracking for my order of a Popple and the four Jem dolls. I've seen other people get theirs. No word on mine and based on socials, a lot of people are in the same boat.
You know who can get the dolls?
People ordering on Amazon right now. They made them available to Amazon before filling the orders of customers who have patiently and not so patiently waited since AUGUST.
Buyers are understandably livid and swearing they'll never buy from TLS directly again. We've been lied to and now we've been skipped over.
I decided to say "screw it" and ordered the three Holograms on Amazon, planning to return my TLS ones once they finally remember I paid them hundreds of dollars months ago.
I ordered Friday night. Kimber arrived Saturday afternoon. With two spots on her lips where her lipstick had come off. I'm used to seeing this with MH, so I checked the box, but no. No paint on the plastic on the box, so it wasn't Amazon's fault for shipping her in a thin brown paper envelope. Kimber simply got shoddy lip paint. I put in for a replacement and she'll arrive tomorrow. (On an annoying side note, they're making me return the defective one in a box EVEN THOUGH THEY DIDN'T SEND HER IN A BOX and I have to print out a label instead of my usual simple returns to the UPS Store. Thanks, Amazon.)
Aja and Shana arrived today. If you've seen my review of Aja, you'll know she's gorgeous.
Then there's this:
The little pink eyeshadow spot on her eyebrow is no big deal.
Her lips are off center. Don't love that.
Yet even worse is whatever in the hell is going on with her eyeshadow on her left eye.
What even is that?!
Now remember, not only are these $45 dolls that should never have this level of paint flaw, but they increased $20 in price, come with less than their $25 predecessor, AND now their paint jobs are shitty?
I put in for a replacement for Shana, too, and thankfully I can return her the normal way.
I will buy and return these dolls as many times as I have to until I get ones with paint worth $45. UPS Store is less than a mile away and I am petty. I've got this.
Someday, I will have reviews of Kimber and Shana. Someday, I will have my Pancake Popple.
And if I didn't have a coupon code for 50% off, I would never order directly from TLS again.
They're promising to be better, but at this point, I'm calling them the Disloyal Subjects. (Someone on Insta came up with that. I'd love to say it was me, but it was not.)
I wanted them to do well. I love the products I do have. None have been epicly flawed until now. My Lemon Meringue had an error in her hip joint and they sent me another for free. Customer service handled that well. I have some tiny shred of hope they can improve, but I'm also trying to be realistic and not expecting much more from any of these lines.
I want to believe in you, TLS, but I can't anymore.
