REVIEW: Corolle Girls Series 1 Melody

I pre-ordered two of these when Amazon first had them up for I believe $15.50. Yeah, I thought that was too good to be true. Corolle is not a cheap brand. I used to see them in FAO all the time when I lived in NYC. Needless to say, they never shipped my orders and never got these dolls in stock themselves at all. You have to get them 3rd party and they cost around $30-$35. I finally got around to grabbing Melody here, who was my favorite from the first series. 

There is a new series out that is called Shopping Surprise and they come with 2 outfits. The first is a long-sleeved top and pants, and the second is a simple tank dress. It's because I saw those that I bought Melody, as I preferred her Series 1 look. I did preorder Zoe from the shopping line, so we'll see when she comes out. 

So these are fairly straightforward dolls. The usual points of basic articulation. Four different girls: two white, one black, one ambiguous tan. 

One unusual thing about them is that they have Bratz-style pop-off feet, which isn't exactly common these days. 

This is Melody after a salon treatment. Her hair isn't terrible, but it's not great either. It's definitely not the hair of a $30+ doll with only basic articulation. 

Her hoodie dress is a lovely color. Oddly enough, the hood doesn't open in any way. You know how they typically velcro? So getting it on and off wasn't the easiest thing. A bit strange for a line for younger kids. 

With a name like that, it should come as no surprise that Melody is the one that's into music. 

And apparently, roller-blading. 

She stands quite easily on her own, which surprises me a bit. Her hip joints are quite loose. 

Also surprising is that she has molded underwear but they're not painted. Slap some paint on there, Corolle. That's not exactly a long dress. 

She is incredibly cute though. I love her overall look. 

She has itty bitty pink heart earrings that are removable. I honestly thought they were molded on until I noticed the shopping dolls have removable earrings. I am not touching those. I would lose one in a second. 

Aesthetically, I think she's great. Love her skintone and hair color combined with the warm yet bright shade of the dress. Love the art on the dress and the black boots. The dog is really cute. (They all have the same dog in different colors.) 

Quality-wise, this is not a $30+ doll. Her hair isn't great. She doesn't come with that much. For $30, I would at least like good hair and either fabric panties or some shorts under that dress. It's an expensive company, as I said, but at this price point, I expect more. You can't just slide by on your name alone. 

I'll buy one or two here and there, but this isn't a line I would actively collect. 

PHOTO CREDIT: Mine.

REVIEW: Kinra Girls Kumiko

 
I've had a photo saved in my Wanted album for years. It's a Snow White doll made by Corolle that I got outbid on a very long time ago. I used to keep a Corolle search on ebay to try to find another, but gave up when nothing ever appeared. I semi-recently had the urge to skim the Corolle search results and that's how I discovered the Kinra Girls. 

This line came out in 2012 and is in the vein of the Karito Kids, Hearts for Hearts Girls, and other lines where the characters are from different countries. Looking at the website, they seem to solve mysteries, so a lot of inspiration could be taken from the Thea Girls book series, where five anthropomorphic teen girl mice from around the world travel a lot and solve mysteries. The Karito girls also were mystery-solvers. 

There are five characters in the line. All of the text is French, so I know nothing. 

From the website, I learned that:

-Kumiko is a Japanese artist (painting, photography) who also loves fashion. 

-Idalina is from Spain and she plays guitar and sings. 

-Naima is black and from New York. Her passion is "the circus," which is a very unusual thing for a character to like in one of these doll lines. I wish I could read the books to see how she likes the circus. 

-Rajani is from India and loves dance.

-Alexa is an Australian equestrian. 

There is an extensive book series of mystery novels, choose your own adventure, and even comics. I wish these were in English! They look fun.

I was eyeing Idalina and Naima from a French shop a few months ago, but ended up forgetting about them because I had to do my vacation prep. While I was on vacation, I found Kumiko here in my ebay search emails and I had to have her. She and Rajani are my faves. 

She arrived from France quite quickly in under two weeks. (As did a package from Australia bought slightly after Kumiko. International shipping must be improving.) 

Kumiko is strapped in at the neck and ankles, like a lot of these taller dolls. 

Oh, she's so cute! 

I didn't want to undress her because I hate getting legwarmers back on and her gloves are stitched to her sleeves, but her pieces seem to be: red and purple layered top (one piece designed to look like two), slightly glittery black miniskirt, black pants, gray and black striped legwarmers, matching arm warmers, red and white sneakers with laces. 

The outfit is nicely detailed. Corolle isn't a cheap company really, so I expected good quality from them. 

She has a sweet expression. She's more cartoony than other similar lines, which tend to have inset eyes. But I think it's a nice difference. 

Cute little red hairties. 

I'm not taking her hair down. It looks like it's pretty set in this style. 

From the side. 

These dolls have a mostly fabric body with wires inside that allow you to bend their arms and legs. The vinyl arms are basically only forearms. The fabric starts right about where her purple sleeve ends. Her vinyl legs come up to about an inch below her "knee." This is a different type of quality to the fabric-bodied but vinyl-limbed larger dolls. The Kinra Girls feel more like a balance between one of the fancier AG-type and a playline doll. These feel more durable and kid-friendly. 

I'm glad I stumbled across this line! Kumiko is super cute and I ended up grabbing Idalina and Naima from the French shop I mentioned near the beginning of this review. I wouldn't mind having all five of these girls. I'm going to be on the hunt for Rajani next year. Might have to check ebay France and email some sellers to see if they'll ship to the US. 

PHOTO CREDIT: Mine.

NEWS: Corolle Girls

In my regular Amazon search for new things, I came across a new line by Corolle. They're aimed at kids/younger collectors, but they're pretty cute. They're 11" tall with only basic articulation and they're $31.95 on Amazon. The most interesting feature is that they have pop off Bratz-style feet! 

Valentine:

https://www.amazon.com/Corolle-Valentine-Ballerina-Accessories-Vanilla-Scented/dp/B09N3ZPMFT/

Valentine is a ballerina. She has a leotard and skirt, a tiara and a pair of earrings, and her two pairs of feet are ice skates and flat "ballerina" shoes. She also comes with a cute puppy. Oh, they all have the same puppy in different colors. It's still cute though. 

Melody:

https://www.amazon.com/Corolle-Accessories-Clothing-Lifestyle-Vanilla-Scented/dp/B09N3Z94M3/

Melody's thing is...did you say music? Gee, how did you know? She's really cute though. She has a hoodie minidress with art of a girl wearing headphones on it. Her accessories are earrings, headphones with cat ears, a pair of combat boots, a pair of rollerblades, and her puppy. She's pretty tempting. I like her a lot. 

Luna:

https://www.amazon.com/Corolle-Unicorn-Accessories-Lifestyle-Vanilla-Scented/dp/B09N3XJZLD/

This one is into unicorns. Maybe also princesses? The art on her dress has a crown. Her shoes are rollerblades and flats. She's got the earrings and the puppy, plus a tiara with unicorn ears and a horn, and the ears have pink and purple hair extensions. This one is a really cute doll, but the rest is a nope for me. 

Zoe:

https://www.amazon.com/Corolle-Adventure-Lifestyle-Accessories-Vanilla-Scented/dp/B09N3ZBZZL/

I guess Zoe likes nature? I'd only get that from the item title though. She has a blue and white striped dress with a girl on it. The girl has cute curly hair with flowers in it, wears glasses and has a tattoo. I do like the art on these outfits a lot. Zoe's hair accessory is a fabric headband. The others all have plastic bits so it's nice to see some fabric, even though I'd leave it off if I got her. Her shoes are rain boots and a pair of sneakers with (not fabric) socks attached. Zoe is the other one aside from Melody that's most tempting. I like her auburn bob and her freckles. 

I'm not sure if I'll be trying one of these out. I wish there was an Asian girl. They're all cute and would be nice for younger kids or collectors who love younger dolls. I do kind of want to try one. I'll probably cave and do it. The price point is what's keeping me from being sure, but it is Corolle, so I'm not surprised. I remember looking at their stuff in FAO over a decade ago and it was never cheap.