REVIEW: Regal Academy LingLing Iron Fan

I learned about the LingLing doll from a friend, who then hooked me up with an Italian website where I could actually buy her. Definitely using that site again in the future if I want any Italian dolls. It was easy and she got here fast, even though I'm not too big on DHL, but everything worked out perfectly.

LingLing was added to the Giochi Preziosi Regal Academy line recently. I honestly have not seen any of her episodes yet. I have vowed to catch up on at least 2 shows while on vacation and Regal Academy is one I'm planning on tackling.

From what I've read, LingLing is a warrior character, who's a bit socially inept.

In true Rainbow fashion, the Asian character has blue hair. LingLing shares the same dark yet bright blue as Winx Club's Musa.

I love the Giochi Regal Academy dolls. They've got great articulation and the hands are cute. The worst thing is that due to how they're packaged, they don't stand very well. Their lower legs tend to get warped, so they have to stand with their ankles crossed.

LingLing has really nice hair. It's soft and silky, which I know I say a lot about good doll hair!

I love the color, too. I always loved it on Musa, although I do wish they'd never lengthened her hair.

LingLing's eyes are a yellowish olive green like Joy's.

She wears a dress with a pink top, black waistband and light blue skirt. That's all one piece and it's worn over a separate pair of pink pants.

The clothing quality is decent. The materials used are a bit basic, but not bad.

LingLing's shoes are the same mold as Astoria's, only they're pale pink and black.

I love the faces on these girls. They're very simple, but beautiful.

I think Joy is still my favorite of the dolls, but LingLing is a close second. They look cute standing together and I've added both to my coffee table display of favorite dolls. Joy, Astoria and Rose had been there for quite awhile, but were replaced a few months ago.

If you want LingLing, I believe this is the only way to get her. When I spoke with the employee at Alpha, she told me they had no plans to make LingLing. I haven't seen either of the boy sets available anywhere yet either, so I'm hoping we still get those, but as for LingLing, at the moment, she's Giochi only.

PHOTO CREDITS: Mine.

REVIEW: Regal Academy Rose & Travis and Regal Vicky

I've been in touch with the Alpha Group, the makers of the Regal Academy dolls here in the US. I wanted to let them know about the problems I had with my Magical Joy and Astoria dolls. They offered to send replacements for both if I'd send the defective ones back, which of course I agreed to.

The dolls arrived quickly and the new Astoria's knee was fine, but the new Joy's left elbow remained frozen. Unlike with my previous Joy, I decided to try to manipulate the joint with a teense more force and see if I could get it to work. Nope. What I got was a broken elbow. I didn't use much force. A small kid could do what it took to snap that elbow piece. So I packed up my first Astoria and the new Joy and returned them, with notes on what was wrong with each doll.

Once the dolls arrived back, I got a phone call from a very nice employee and we discussed the problems. It turns out the entire first batch of the Magical Joy doll has arm problems, so if yours does not, count yourself very lucky. Because they couldn't fix my defective Joy, she offered to send me the Rose & Travis 2-pack and Regal Vicky. Naturally, I agreed (with much internal squealing in joy) and the dolls arrived today.

As far as I know, these are not available for sale in the US yet. They do have listings on Amazon, but nothing's come in stock.

Let's look at the 2-pack first.

Both dolls have the basic body, meaning they have no elbow articulation.

Rose is wearing her uniform, unlike the single-packed Rose in her casual outfit, so this isn't a repeat outfit. (I've learned there is a single-packed Rose in this outfit with the pumpkin box, but she is not currently out here in the US.)


Her shoes are super cute, as they should be!

Her jacket and shirt are all one piece, but the skirt is separate and so are the leggings.

Travis is so cute! He reminds me of an anime boy doll. The girls really don't, but there's something about his face that's like anime boy. Not that that's a bad thing. He's one of the cutest boy dolls I've gotten since...I don't even know who.

His little outfit is cute and well-made. Both of these do have jointed knees. The boys are a little bit taller than the girls.

I think Travis's hair looks good, although I wish it was a little wilder.

The only bad thing about him is that his head is wobbly. It's not awful and it's not something I've never seen with dolls before, but it is decidedly wobbly. And I didn't like that it's held down with the stupid plastic bit punched through it, because he's got a visible hole in his plastic hair.

I think this is a cute set and I hope these make it to stores, because I really want Hawk and Astoria!

Now let's look at Regal Vicky.

Vicky is my favorite doll from the US line. I love villains and her face is just so pretty. I was disappointed my signature Vicky had a little lip rub, because I don't think my TRU is going to restock these. (I'm fairly certain I'm the only person that's bought any...) So I'm super happy to not only have this gorgeous ballgown doll but to also have a Vicky with perfect lips!

This gown is great. You do not often see this color combination. It's got just the right hint of villain to it, too. The awesome high collar helps with that.

I took this photo to show just how high up that collar goes!

Vicky comes with her wand, which fits pretty well in her hand and stays there, even though it's heavy.

If you're looking for a doll with articulation and redressability (Is that a word? I'm making that a word.), check out this Regal line. (If they come out in stores.) Vicky has the full articulation of the Magical dolls (neck, shoulders, hips, knees AND elbows) without the permanent bodysuit.

Astoria is also in this line and I really want her, so definitely fingers crossed we'll see more Regal Academy on the shelves soon.

And here are her shoes. Just simple heels, but pretty nonetheless. I kiiiiiind of wish they were gray, but we can't have everything!

I'm very grateful to the Alpha Group for sending me these dolls to make up for my Joy that can't bend her arm. They're excellent additions to my little collection and this Vicky is my new line favorite!

PHOTO CREDITS: Mine.

REVIEW: Regal Academy Magical Rose

Well, Mom surprised me with Rose, so now all three are here!

And it's exactly like I said. She's the character I like least, so all her joints are totally fine. Both knees and both elbows work.

Like Astoria, she's really cute though. And I love the colors of this outfit.

Rose has the best hair of the three. Joy's is a bit thin and Astoria's felt more dry than Rose's.

Her little mouse is cute, but the least cute of the three pets, in my opinion.

I'm just very smitten with that pug. Vicky and the pug are the only dolls from the line out on my Coffee Table of I-Want-to-See-You-Often.

I didn't even try to pull the paper bit out of the box this time, so it's not there.

Joy is growing on me a lot, too. She's really cute, just not quite right and not as good as my Giochi one.

Oh, I forgot to take a pic of the Giochi with the new Rose. Oh, well.

So there you have it! All I will buy from Regal Academy unless they release new characters or possibly more Vicky.

PHOTO CREDITS: Mine.

REVIEW: Regal Academy Magical Astoria

I went to TRU to look at the Regal Academy dolls for myself and brought Magical Astoria home. Rose I can wait on. She's getting the Bloom treatment.

I think Astoria is far cuter than Joy. Rose is, too, really. Poor Joy just did not turn out cute.

I had some issues with her right off the bat though, as her paper piece did not survive deboxing.

Then I got her out of the box and the second issue became very noticeable.

Unlike Joy, she can bend both elbows. Yay.

However, her left leg is so loose at the knee, she can hardly stand on it.

There was an extra bit of rubber stuck around the leg's peg, but removing it didn't help at all.

So yeah, I've got a messed up Joy and now a messed up Astoria. Be very careful if you're buying these, because there is no way of judging the joints on something still boxed. I've written the company about how these really are not sturdy enough for children, so we'll see if they ever respond. 

The outfit is still really cool though! 

Astoria's hair is okay. Don't expect high quality hair on these, just like you shouldn't expect...well, high quality anything. 

The dog though. The dog in the little clothes. OMG, I love him. 

I will end up getting Rose from this line and because she's the one I care about least, you know that means she won't have any joint issues. 

But do consider yourself warned. If you don't want to spend twenty bucks on a possibly faulty product, you should skip these. Once could be a fluke, but twice is not. 

PHOTO CREDITS: Mine.

REVIEW: Regal Academy Basic Vicky and Magical Joy

I knew Regal Academy was getting dolls here in the US eventually. Apparently, they were at Toy Fair, but kept under wraps. They're the first doll line by Auldey Toys, which is a subsidiary of the Alpha Group.

The line turned up today found by my local friend in our Toys R Us. While I couldn't go, because I didn't know until less than half an hour before work, my mom did get out early enough to pick me up the two main dolls I wanted before the store closed.

I don't know if you guys know much about Regal Academy, but it's produced by the same people as Winx, so it's like Ever After High but with a more magical girl twist. There's a school for fairy tale kids, but they're grandkids instead of sons and daughters. Rose is the granddaughter of Cinderella, Astoria is descended from Rapunzel and Joy is from a line of frog royalty.

These three are the main cast members, along with two boys: Hawk and Travis. Travis is a Beast, while Hawk is actually from Snow White's line. Yep, a guy Snow White. He's basically the Prince Charming character. The main villain is Vicky, who is one of the dolls I'll be looking at today. She's a witch, but it's unknown which fairy tale she belongs to. Her cohorts are her cousin Cyrus, who sleeps a lot, and Ruby Stepsister. You can guess her family line. Other characters are more unusual. Gerald Ugly Duckling has a duck head and Finn Whale (from the Sinbad whale) is a whale in clothing. Pinocchia actually has a pointy nose and Violet Ogre looks like she could attend Monster High. Odette Swan and Leena Tom Thumb are more human-looking. LingLing Iron Fan is one of the newer characters and I'm disappointed she didn't get a doll in the first set.

Anyway, so there are several characters descended from several fairy tales, but they're not as gender specific as EAH. Snow White's got a grandson, Tom Thumb has a granddaughter, etc.

I got the Vicky doll, because Giochi Preziosi, who made the dolls for the European market, didn't make her. Unfortunately, the Alpha dolls are way smaller than the Giochis, so I'm going to have to also buy the main three girls all over again so they all can match in height.

Vicky has an excellent face and I love her outfit. It came out well, even though they left off the long sleeves and striped stockings. Her pants are lacking a lot of detail, too, but not too bad an effort for a company's first doll line.

The basic dolls have articulation at the neck, shoulders, hips and knees. No elbows or wrists. They come with their main outfit from the show and a bag of some kind. They're $14.99.

My Vicky sadly has a lip rub, but she was the only one there and I honestly didn't notice until I opened her. So we're calling it a shine highlight and leaving it at that. Maybe I'll get another someday. She might be getting a ballgown doll, so there's that, too.

Magical Joy and the others in her set, Rose and Astoria, cost $19.99 each. They're the same doll except now they have elbow articulation.

I have a little complaint about that, because my Joy has a defective elbow. Her right arm is fine, but the left one's joint is stuck so she can twist it, but not bend the elbow. I'm not going to force it and possibly break her, so yeah, deluxe extra joint is not so deluxe.

If you don't like permanent clothing, skip this line. The dolls have a permanent bodysuit on. The top part is plastic and snaps off, which is kinda neat. Then the skirt, boots and bracelets are your typical fare.

These outfits are what I think of as their dragon-riding gear. I haven't seen many eps, but I did see this one! I love the overall look and I think they did a good job of capturing the essence of the designs.

I do plan on getting Rose and Astoria from this line, because I don't want to buy outfits I already own and that were done better by Giochi. So dragon-riding outfits it is. And they come with cute pets, which is a nice bonus.

The dolls come with a light-up wand, which can be shone on the card provided, plus it also lights up a design on the doll's chestplate.

They also come with an animal friend that's super cute. I love Joy's frog.

I don't really care for how Alpha did Joy in comparison with Giochi though. Her face look very young and not necessarily right. Her bangs aren't right and she has a straight bob instead of the angled one from the show.

While it doesn't show in this pic, the Giochi doll does have the angled hair and the bangs are cut a little more closely to the show style. They also did far better with the signature outfit and the articulation is excellent.

I really wish the dolls were similar in size so I could have just bought Vicky, but you can see how big the difference is, so I need one of each main girl to be in the new shorter size along with Miss Broomstick. I do like the dragon-riding outfits and pets though, so I really can't complain. Well, my wallet can! But at least I don't need the entire line.

The hair on both Joy and Vicky is a bit thin, so expect that. The dolls aren't bad quality, they're just not up to par with the big name companies, but who could expect them to be?

I'm happy this show is getting some love over here. I had fun watching what little I've seen. I need to get caught up now!

PHOTO CREDITS: Mine.

REVIEW: Regal Academy Rose

Rose arrived yesterday, much faster than I expected! I'm so glad I got her, because these girls are just too cute.

Rose is part of the basic Regal Academy line. I reviewed Joy and Astoria last month.

The dolls are made by Giochi Preziosi.

I didn't take a separate photo of her accessories this time, but you can see them in the box here. Same My Little Pony G3 brush as the others and same Hi-Glamm shoes, only her stuff is all pink.

Rose is a cutie pie. She has the wildest hair of the three, because Astoria's is contained by her ribbon and Joy's is, well, short. It's pretty nice hair though. I brushed it without fear of it instantly going dry and frizzy like the old Giochi Winx hair.

Rose is the granddaughter of Cinderella, hence the shoe on her top. Her pink tee and jacket are all one piece, similar to the other girls' designs.

I like her shoe mold a lot. I really don't know why they even included the Hi-Glamm mold shoes, because their own are too cute to take off!

Due to the way they were packaged all the girls like to stand with their right foot crossed over their left. Joy is the one that stands the best not in this pose. I don't really mind, since it looks cute.

I'm happy to have Rose and I think these girls are just plain adorable. Now I just need to watch more of the show!

PHOTO CREDITS: Mine.

REVIEW: Regal Academy Joy and Astoria

Regal Academy is a cartoon series done by the same people that produced Winx Club. It debuted last spring in Europe and on Nickelodeon here in the US in August. 

Honestly, I've only watched two episodes. I like it. It's goofy fun. But I can't speak much about the characters or plot yet, because I've barely scratched the surface, so if I get anything wrong, let me know. 

The series is basically Winx meets Ever After High. The main character Rose gets a key that takes her into FairyTale Land, where she learns she's the granddaughter of Cinderella. So unlike EAH, these aren't the sons and daughters, but a step more removed. Rose begins to attend Regal Academy, a school for these fairy tale descendants. Each character has a specific type of magic that they wield using a magic wand.

I had seen stuff about this series, but kept writing it off until I stumbled across the Joy doll on ebay from an Italian seller I've bought from many times. She was so cute with her short, mint green hair and big eyes that I had to have her. I watched a couple eps of the show and decided to purchase Astoria, the granddaughter of Rapunzel, along with her. I wavered between her and Rose for a bit, but ultimately, Astoria won out. (I did just buy Rose tonight though! I'll do a separate review for her once she arrives.)

These dolls are extremely cute and it's nice to see Giochi finally get into the world of articulated bodies. They did a pretty good job. I wish we'd seen these on some of the Winx dolls! 

Joy has short hair that's got what I refer to as "the goth bangs." They come to a point in the middle of her forehead. She also has an angled cut, so her hair is similar to Mal's from Descendants, but the longer pieces are shorter than Mal's. 

Her hair is pretty sparsely-rooted. It does cover her head, but there's not much to work with there.

Joy has big olive green eyes and wears hot pink lipstick. 

Her layered tops are actually only one piece, but I don't really mind. They still look good. She's got a purple crop top with a crowned frog on it (she's got some extremely froggy habits in the show) worn over a green striped longer shirt that tucks under her skirt and there's a short vest over the top. All that is one piece. Then her skirt goes on over her long striped leggings. She has one striped arm warmer, which I had trouble getting off until I realized her arms come apart at the elbows! I didn't expect that from Giochi, so good job on them. 

The body is quite nice. I particularly like the hand shape and the range of motion is decent. 

One thing that I don't care for is the reuse of items from different lines. 

Each of the girls in this signature "Real Friends" line comes with a pair of high heels as well as the shoes they wear in the box. I recognized these heels right away as being from the old Hi-Glamm line. As soon as I undressed Joy, I saw that she wasn't on anything like the Hi-Glamm body so how did the shoes work? 

The answer is they don't. The shoes fit onto Joy's feet fine, but to have both heel and toe flat on the ground like a person would actually stand, Joy has to have her knee bent. And it's a pretty drastic bend, as you can see from this photo. My Hi-Glamm Kit is there to show how these should actually be worn. 

Thankfully, the shoes the girls come wearing are super cute, so I wouldn't even want to use these heels anyway. 

One more thing before we get into clothing exchanges. Look at this expression. Ha! I l love Joy. I love her bangs, but I also kinda wish they were shorter so these brows could be seen. 

So these girls have a thicker body, which means the usual question of MH/EAH is a no. The shoes wouldn't work either, even though Joy's got some big feet, because the angle is all wrong. 

I grabbed the doll nearest to me and put her clothes on Joy. 

That's the dress from Project MC2's basic Ember doll. I even got the shoes on there, but not every pair of shoes will work. Neither of my Adrienne's shoes worked on her, so they have to be more closed in. The dress fits great though. 

I know Descendants are also similar in size, so I grabbed Jewelbilee Mal and gave Joy a dragon dress.

The dress works perfectly, though she has to bend her knees a little to wear the shoes. Not as much as with her own purple heels though!

I'm not a big redresser anymore, especially when the stock outfits are so cute, but it's nice to know these girls do have some options. 

Time for Astoria to take over for a bit. I was a little hesitant to pick the Rapunzel girl for my second doll, because Giochi long hair is not the best. I have the Winx mermaids with their insanely long hair and it frizzes very easily. Astoria's feels nicer though and since it's nicely tied at the end with a ribbon, I'm not going to take that out and brush it. No tempting frizz fate! She is just as sparsely-rooted as Joy, so that's just something to expect from this line. Don't buy them with the intention of restyling their hair, because if you change its position, the scalp may show through. 

Astoria has a different expression than Joy, which suits her quite well. I can't wait to see Rose's eyebrows. She's such a goofy character that I hope she looks at least a little bit funny.

Astoria's eyes are turquoise and her lips are a darker pink than Joy's. 

She wears a top that's also meant to look layered, but it works a little better than Joy's because it's not a vest. Vests that open in the back and aren't real vests throw me off a bit, even though one-piece tops really don't bother me much. The top is actually three different materials, too. The sleeves are different from the rest of the yellow. 

There's Astoria's nice, long hair. She can turn her hair into vines in the show, which is really neat. Kinda wish there was a vine in there somewhere! 

And finally, here's a shot of the girls' kinda useless pair of heels and their brushes. 

Remember I said mentioned the reuse of items from other lines? Well, Hi-Glamm was Giochi's own line, but those brushes are from Hasbro's My Little Pony line from the early 2000s! They were useless on ponies, so they're really gonna be useless on dolls.

Despite the show being on in the US, right now we don't have these dolls. I'm not sure if we're going to be getting any products for the line at all. So the only way to get these is by importing. They cost me more than your average playline doll, obviously, but I think they were worth it. 

I'll be back with more Regal Academy in a couple weeks when Rose arrives. In the meantime, I'm going to watch more episodes of the show! 

Did I mention the Snow White descendant is a boy? That's pretty neat. 

PHOTO CREDITS: Mine!