REVIEW: Spirit Riding Free dolls

I remember seeing these girls in ToyFair pics and thinking they were cute, and when they finally showed up in stores, I kept looking at them, but I was too busy buying other new stuff.

Well, Walmart got them in and I managed to resist for a month or so, but then I noticed they were only $12.88 and bought Lucky and Abigail. Prudence had sold out, but I found her yesterday at a farther Walmart.

I haven't watched the show yet, but I did buy the book, written by Suzanne Selfors, same author as the second Ever After High series.

These girls have nice articulation, especially for $12.88. They're articulated at the neck, shoulders and hips, of course, but also the elbows, knees and wrists. I think maybe Jakks learned something from the deluxe Disney Fairies and Winx. But also, this is a more action-oriented line, so they need articulation to sit on those horses.

My Lucky has one leg that's a bit off, so she stands kind of oddly.

I love her outfit: cream top with red horse design, brown and red pants, and lovely boots with the bold red design. My only complaint is that the boots are too wide, but this is a common thing in doll boots nowadays. They have that slit up the back to get them off the doll, but then they gap too wide when they're on.

Abigail is the girly one of the three with her pink top, but I love her pants and boots a lot. I mean, the top is really cute, too, and it fits her well, but I just really love the lower half of her outfit. It's an interesting combination with the top.

She has a short blonde bob, which I love. You know I'm always gonna support dolls with shorter hair.

She has the same wide boot problem as Lucky, but not quite as wide.

Prudence has a great top. I love the design of this, especially the hemline. Her jeans are a soft material. I don't care for the shoes though. They're cute enough, but if she sits, her jeans pull above them and I wish the shoes went up higher to cover that bared ankle.

All of the girls have decent hair. Prudence's was a bit odd though, because she had two pieces sewed to her head. The first is obvious in the photo, but the second stuck out so oddly that I ended up cutting it off. I'm not sure why they did this, because the art of the character doesn't show any loose bits.

The body is less spindly than the Winx body and much bigger than the Disney Fairies one. I grabbed Silvermist there without thinking about her painted-on bit, but oh, well. You can see how different they are regardless.

I like how they've done the hip joints on the Spirit dolls. The hips on the other two are so unattractive!

Lucky does have some staining, too, as you can see.

I like that the girls are flat-chested, because they're girls, but they've also got more meat on their bones, so they look healthier. Spindly skinny bodies are fine for fairies, but not so much for little girls.

Here's a height comparison with some more popular dolls. The Spirit dolls are quite large compared to Monster High. Lucky is more of a size with Mal, but then her huge head makes her look much bigger than Mal.

Again, I think they're a great doll for the price! They'd even be a great doll for more than that.

I'm planning on reading the book shortly to learn more about the girls, but I do find the modernity of the line to be its most confusing thing.

The clothes on the dolls are very modern, but the story takes place during the late 1800s. I'm placing it in the 1870s for now, because at the beginning of the book, Lucky and her friend have books by Jules Verne and the publication date of one is 1869/1870. Also, her father is working on the railroad. Although the railroad was finished in 1869, so there's a bit of a conflict with the book publication there.

My point is that it's not even the 20th century when this story takes place. There is no way clothes like these existed back then. Tight pants on all three girls? A shirt as short as Lucky's? Denim was invented in the early 1870s, but jeans on a 12-year-old girl then? All three of them should be in dresses.

I like the diversity of the line, but that, too, isn't exactly historically accurate for the 1870s. A black student in the same school as white kids was a huge deal in 1960. This story is set 90 years earlier! The line seems to be glossing over racial aspects entirely, not just because of Prudence in school, but also because Lucky's mother was Hispanic, yet there's no mention of any trouble with her father's family, who are rich and white. Lucky also attends a fancy finishing school without any sort of racial jabs. It's not that I like reading about racism, but if you're going to set your line in a historical time period, I feel it should be at least a little accurate. 

I love the dolls. I think I'm going to like the book, which means I'll probably also like the show, but the historian in me is cringing. I'm not sure why they didn't just set it in modern times and make Lucky's horse a descendant of Spirit much farther down the line than being his son. The historical inaccuracies are frustrating.

But I'm going to try to ignore all this and just enjoy it as it is. The dolls are super cute and well-made, and if you buy them at Walmart, you're really getting a great value!

PHOTO CREDITS: Mine.