Jun Planning J-Doll Robson Street Review

Now that the kiddos are back in school, I really hope to get on top of the scads of draft posts I have sitting around, just waiting to be published. ;)  Here is the first of many.

While going through my draft posts to figure out which I should use for this week, I realized that I never got this post published, even though I talked about doing at the beginning of the year!  I've been wanting to share my second J-Doll with you guys for a while.  Thanks for being so patient. :)

Back in January, I did a review of the J-Doll I found at Tuesday Morning, the "Magnificent Mile" doll (now renamed Millie).  While I really loved Millie's eyes and facial detail, I didn't care for her articulation as much.  Shortly after I found her, I started doing research on J-Dolls and which ones had the Type 4 body articulation I preferred.  One of them was the "Robson Street" doll, which happened to be a great price on Amazon.com at the time.  I used some of my Christmas money and purchased her. :)  I decided to call her Robyn. :)

Here she is in her box.

Side of the box.

Back of the box.

Box details:

The other side of the box.

Instructions in Japanese.

Thankfully, there are also English translations. ;)

The inner part of the box slides easily out of the outer box.

The box insert.

Robyn and her accessories in the packaging:

She's held in place with an assortment of twist ties, plastic ties, and tape. 

Her shoes had protective plastic around them.

Check out those pigtails! ;)

That's better! ;)

Robyn's pretty face.

Her accessories include this leather-look purse...

...which opens and closes with Velcro.

She also has this denim jumper, which fits over her pink dress she came in.

It also has Velcro closure.

Then she has these rainbow-colored leg warmers.

Her last accessory is this bright pink visor (that looks like a beanie in these pics).

Here she is with all of her extras. :)

And here she is, back to the basics.

The denim jumper actually looks really cute over the puffy pink dress.  It's a bit of an odd style, but it works. ;)

I love her leg warmers and Converse-style shoes.

Her shoes are really hard to get off because of her posable ankles.  I was really afraid I was going to break her the first time I took them off.  In the future, I'll probably just leave them on as much as possible.

A few fun pics of Robyn:

It's always interesting to me how much a doll's face can change with or without bangs:

Here is Robyn with her bangs down...

...and here she is with them swept to one side.  I like having more of her eyebrows showing. 

What do you think?

Robyn is very posable:

Her hands look really large to me, but I think that's just because I'm used to seeing them on a Pullip with a super over-sized head. ;)

Here are Robyn and Millie together. :)  I thought it would be fun to compare the two of them in this post.

One of the things that really disappointed me about Millie was the fact that her head only turned from side to side and had no further articulation:

Straight ahead

Left side 

Right side

I was thrilled to discover that Robyn's head had much better articulation:

Straight ahead

Left tilt

Right tilt

Down (just slightly)

Up

Left side

Right side

While I prefer Robyn's Type 4 Pullip body with its better articulation (especially at the wrists and head), I adore both dolls and am thrilled to have them in my collection. :)

Robyn strikes me as more of a tomboyish type, while Millie is all prim and proper.  Still, I think they have the makings of a great friendship. ;)

So, what are my thoughts on the J-Dolls?  I'm so glad you asked! ;)  I thought I'd share about both dolls, even though I already reviewed Millie.  When I did her review, I hadn't yet incorporated my new rating system.  There are also some variances on the points I would give to Robyn and the points I would give to Millie.  Here's what I determined:

Pleasing Qualities:

    Millie (Magnificent Mile):  4 out of 5

    Robyn (Robson Street):  4.5 out of 5

      The J-doll line has officially become one of my new favorites.  I love their delicate faces and deep, detailed eyes.  Their hair is soft and comes in beautiful styles.  Their unique articulation and photogenic qualities make them a dream to photograph.  I would definitely recommend them to other doll lovers and collectors.  I'm docking a point for Millie because I personally did not care for her wardrobe at all.  This is merely a matter of preference.  Other than that, she is a lovely doll.  Robyn gets docked half a point for her shoes, which are darling but almost impossible to remove without feeling like I'm going to pull off her feet.

Posability:

    Millie:  4 out of 5

    Robyn:  5 out of 5

     I love dolls with extra posability, and these two do not disappoint.  I'm docking a point from Millie because I was disappointed in her rather clunky wrists and the limited mobility of her head.  Design-wise, I prefer Robyn's freer articulation.

Playability:

    Millie:  N/A

    Robyn:  N/A

      I didn't give these dolls a score in the "playability" category because they aren't really meant for play.  The box clearly states they are for ages fifteen and up.  I will say that they are delicate enough that I would not feel comfortable having my girls play with them yet (especially if the dolls belong to me).  I might let my ten-year-old hold one. ;)  

Price:

    Millie:  5 out of 5

    Robyn:  5 out of 5

      When I purchased these dolls back in January, I got them for $30 each, which is an excellent price, especially considering what they're going for now!  They originally retailed for around $50 each (according to my Tuesday Morning tag), and the dolls are no longer being made, so technically even $40 or $50 would be considered a good price (although out of my own personal price range). ;)

You can find Magnificent Mile on Amazon.com HERE and Robson Street on Amazon.com HERE.  Just to warn you, they've gone up in price quite a bit since I purchased them.  You can also sometimes find them on eBay for a good price.  Also, a few J-Dolls were recently spotted at my local Tuesday Morning, so you might check there first (they're only $19.99 there). :)   You might have to search for a bit, but they can be found. ;)

There are many other beautiful J-Dolls to choose from.  One thing I would definitely recommend is doing a little research before you purchase to help you decide which J-Doll is just right for you.  The site "Pullips and Junk" has some great information on the J-Dolls.  There's a basic overview HERE, which explains which dolls have the Type 3 body and which have the Type 4.  (That way, if you prefer one type over the other, you can make sure the doll you get has that body style.)  There is also a helpful visual guide to all of the J-Dolls that have been released HERE.

  

Another thing I found to be incredibly helpful was searching Flickr for pictures of J-Dolls in other people's collections.  Seeing all of the beautiful J-Doll photos there helped me decide which ones appealed to me the most. :)  You can either do a generic "j doll" search, or you can look up the ones you like by their specific names (after looking them up on Pullips and Junk). :)

Happy researching!  More bloggy fun to come soon!