Wednesday, August 14, 2019

REVIEW: She-Ra BEST FRIEND SQUAD



I was ever so thrilled this morning to turn around in the Target aisle and see Bow's dippy little face looking back at me. I scooped him up, then Glimmer, then Adora.

BEST FRIEND SQUAAAAAAAAAAD.





I'm going to start with Adora since I think she's the best doll in the line.

My only nitpick about her is that I wish she looked a little less happy and a little more determined, but her teeny face is so cute that I can't be too mad.






They really did a great job with the outfit.







The shirt and jacket are all one piece, of course, but the materials are nice. They didn't cheap out on that jacket.






She is darling. Definitely not as vacant as she looked in the early pics.

Her hair isn't the best. It's not horrible, but it's a bit dry at the ends.

Her ponytail wants to swoosh off to the side, so I straightened it some.





Outfit from the back.

Very good representation of the character. The hair quality is a tiny nitpick and the facial expression is something I can definitely live with. I think she's the most accurate of the dolls released.







Bow!

I wish he came with tiny action figures.









A belt would have been cool, too, but I can live without it.






He's adorable. I still think he looks a little dippy, but in a good way. He's a sweet character.

His proportions aren't as bad as I initially thought, too. Those first pics just were not flattering.





Love the boots.




Here's my big nitpick for him though. See the brown strap painted on his front? Well, there's nothing on his back. Because it's the strap for his QUIVER, which they didn't include.

Seriously, no quiver, guys? But the strap is there? Sigh.









CROP TOP POWER!!!





And then...there's Glimmer.

Sigh.







Glimmer, who should look like this.

They got her outfit for the most part. I'll give them that.



Where to begin? The top and work down, I guess.

Her hair is not as bad as I thought, but this is one of those missed opportunities created by whiny adult doll collectors. "WAH, I NEED HAIR TO BRUSH" literally any time there is anything other than rooted hair.

They should have molded her hair out of translucent purple glittery plastic and painted the pink parts. It would have looked so cool. And show accurate. This is...I mean, it's not bad considering she does not have easy hair to make realistic.

Then there's her face. SIGH. Glimmer should not look like a generic anime character. Her eyes are way too round. They tried with the eyebrows, but they should have been thicker.

And her eye color. SIGH. Y'all, her eyes are brown. NOT PINK. It's a rather unusual shade of brown with a little hint of pink to it, but this doll has pink eyes. Stop erasing brown eyes. Brown eyes are awesome.


The outfit is good from the front. Some people will probably complain about the painted glove, but it doesn't bother me.

The boots are perfect.








The cape has that weird gaping hole like She-Ra's, but it works a little better with this filmy material.









The back is too plain. Why didn't they wrap the detail all the way around?





See?

I honestly don't know what Mattel is doing with this line. Make the dolls $19.99 each and give us proper dolls with full outfits and all their accessories.

And give Catra her mane! Argh.





My doll has a flaw you probably can't see. The fingers on her left hand didn't mold properly. The pinky is completely flat and the two middle ones are only a little better. Thankfully, they did a good design on her power effect and that distracts from the flaw.

I don't hate this doll. I honestly think she's very cute and she's growing on me by the minute, but I cannot say they did a good job on her. She is a cute doll, but a poor representation of Glimmer.



Here's the other way they did Glimmer dirty. Glimmer is not a small girl. She is thick from neck to toe. So much that her head actually looks a bit small in the cartoon design.

However, on the doll, from the waist up, she's only got slightly bigger boobs than Adora and Catra. She's quite simply too skinny. She should be as wide as She-Ra. From the hips down, she's good, but her top half is way too small. Her arms are okay, but could also have been bigger.



Adora and Catra have the same torso. Everyone else is different.

Man, that group photo really emphasizes how crappy Catra's hair is. Everyone else has thick hair. WTF.

So there you have it. I will eventually get the SDCC set and review it. Not sure I want the Swift Wind set.

I don't hate these dolls. Not by any means. I'm glad they exist. I just wish less cost-cutting and more show accuracy had been put into them.

PHOTO CREDITS: Mine.

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