Lala-Pony-Palooza Month: Lalaloopsy Crumbs Sugar Cookie Review

Okay, we've had a week of My Little Pony fun...now it's on to some Lalaloopsy fun! :)

I thought I would start with a review of one of the regular or "traditional"-sized Lalaloopsies.  Unfortunately, this review won't be quite as extensive as some of my others since I've never purchased a big Lalaloopsy brand new.  Actually, now that I think about it, Middle Gal did purchase one brand new on her birthday trip last year.  For some reason, though, she didn't want to wait to open it until I'd gotten extensive pictures for a blog review. ;)

Today we'll be reviewing Crumbs Sugar Cookie:

Some of you may remember that last Christmas, the only thing Middle Gal wanted was a Lalaloopsy doll.  At this point in time, I wasn't really a fan of the Lalaloopsies.  I didn't know much about them and they didn't appeal to me at first.  Part of this was due to unfortunate timing.  When the Lalaloopsy (or Bitty Buttons, as they were originally called) dolls first came out, it was about a year after the "Coraline" movie was released.  I did not see or read Coraline (and have no interest in doing so), but seeing the preview and reading the online review was enough to creep me out.  So when I saw little smiling dolls with button eyes, that's all I could think of. :}

I managed to resist them for the first couple years of their release, but when Middle Gal kept talking about how much she wanted one, I started doing a little more research.  The more I learned about the dolls, the more impressed I was.  I loved the fact that they were sweet little rag dolls with cute clothing and innocent pastimes.  They brought to mind stories like Raggedy Ann and Andy.

The story behind the Lalaloopsies is that they are rag dolls that magically came to life when their last stitch was sewn.  Each doll has a name that relates to their personality or habits, and is said to be sewn from material that fits with their theme.  They also have a birthday (the day they were sewn) that reflects their personality.

For example, Crumbs Sugar Cookie loves to bake sweet treats for all of her friends.  She was sewn on National Cookie Day from pieces of a baking apron.  

Each of the Lalaloopsy characters has a similar backstory, which is one of the first things that impressed me about them.  I love it when toy companies go the extra mile to give their dolls something unique.  As I was doing my research, I had fun just reading through all of the profiles on the Lalas. :)

Now that I had the background on the dolls, I saw them with new eyes.  I knew with their sweet, childlike themes and fun clothing, pets and accessories, they'd be a great addition to our doll family here at the Never Grow Up house. :)  When my mom and I found Crumbs at Goodwill for $2.99 and her pet mouse for 49 cents, I was thrilled.  It was wonderful to find Middle Gal the gift she really wanted for such an amazing price. :)

So now that we have a bit of background, let's get on to the review! :)

The traditional Lalaloopsies are made entirely of plastic.  They move at the head, shoulders, and hips.  Their heads can turn from side to side and also rock from side to side, almost like a bobble-head (but without the spring).  Their arms can move back and forth, all around, and out to the side. 

Their legs can move back and forth but not side to side.  Their feet and shoes are molded in such a way that their toes turn inward.  

Side note here:  I discovered shortly after I purchased Crumbs that these were not her original shoes.  (I believe these ones belong to Jewel Sparkles.)  Crumbs' usual shoes are a pair of pink lace-up boots/high tops.

Even though the dolls are made of plastic, they have eyes that look like buttons, hair that looks like yarn, and smiles that are stitched on, giving them the appearance of a rag doll.

The back of Crumbs' head is marked "TM & [copyright sign] 2009 MGA Entertainment".

Crumbs' adorable yellow gingham dress has Velcro closure in the back and is very easy to remove.

Here she is without her clothing.

She has painted on underwear and a little x "stitched" into her tummy for a belly button.

She has quite a few identifying marks on her back...

...and even more on the seat of her underwear.  The 12-4 is her birthday, December 4th, National Cookie Day. :)  

This answered another of my questions.  I wondered as I was reading through the doll profiles if they just made up random days to fit the dolls' personalities.  The answer was no.  They actually used real holidays, national days, and birthdays (such as Henry Ford's birthday for Ace Fender Bender) for their dolls' birthdays.  (You can Google "When is National Cookie Day?" and December 4th will come up.) ;)

Crumbs has a pet mouse that thankfully happened to be in Goodwill at the same time she was. ;)  As you can see, he (or she?) also has a stitched appearance, from the pretend button eyes to the threaded look around his/her edges.

Crumbs' shoes...or I guess I should say Jewel's shoes...are really cute.

They even have an "R" and an "L" on them so little girls can tell which shoe goes on which foot (and practice learning "left" and "right" at the same time). :)

The shoes and socks are molded together and come off of Crumbs' feet fairly easily (there is a slit in the plastic in the back to make removal easier).

Her feet are a little funny looking without her shoes, though. :}

The traditional Lalaloopsies are right around 12 inches tall from head to toe (some are a little taller depending on their hairstyle).  Here is Crumbs next to Emma, one of my American Girl dolls, for comparison. 

So, my overall thoughts on the traditional Lalaloopsies?  I think they're really cute and the girls enjoy them.  I love the story behind them and their fun clothing, pets, and accessories.  The main complaint I have with them is that their heads are so large that they are extremely top-heavy.  This can make playtime a little frustrating, especially when the girls are trying to set them up.  And like other larger dolls, they do take up a bit of space, so we've decided to limit how many traditional Lalas come stay at our house (especially since displaying or storing them can be difficult with the big-headed issue). :)

The traditional Lalas usually sell for between $26 and $32, depending on the doll and how exclusive it is.  Costco has some of the newer traditional Lalas right now for around $20, which is a great price for them.  I must admit, I've been spoiled with finding them at Goodwill, so I have a hard time paying full price for them. ;)

We love our traditional Lalas, but we love our mini Lalas even better!! ;)  I'll talk about some of our mini Lala collection in the next post, so stay tuned! :)