Wednesday, May 18, 2016

Toy Treats (Barbie Fashionistas, AG Mega Bloks, and My Little Pony)

Over the past couple of months, I've added a few random things to my toy collection and don't really have enough photos for a full-blown blog post. I thought I'd go ahead and combine the pics for a random toy-themed post. ;)

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First up, last month I FINALLY got the "Crazy for Coral" Barbie Fashionista doll I pre-ordered in February. 

Coral is one of the Petite dolls.

I was surprised by how long her hair was. It's much shorter in the stock photo. I don't mind the extra length, though. :)
She appears to have the current Skipper face mold.

This picture is a little blurry, but shows the length of her hair from the back. 
And one artsy shot, just because. ;)

My mom stopped at Toys R Us in April, and while there was able to pick up this Barbie Fashionistas pamphlet.

The first couple of pages show a group shot of the dolls and explain some of the changes made to the Barbie lineup. 

What I like best about the pamphlet is that it gives the release month for each of the dolls. 

Even though these ones say June, I've already seen "So Sporty" at my local Target. I didn't get her because I couldn't quite justify the $19.99 price tag for a doll with basic articulation, even with the extra outfits and the fun, curvy body.

"Pizza Pizzazz" was at Target, too. :)

So, those of you interested in both a collector's checklist and handy information about the release dates of your favorite Fashionistas might want to stop by Toys R Us and see if they have any of these pamphlets left. :)

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Back in February, when photos and videos from the Toy Fair were turning up, we got some news about the upcoming American Girl playsets by Mega Bloks. So far, my family's only had success finding them at Toys R Us, but I believe they are supposed to make their way to other stores in the future. 

When they first showed up at Toys R Us last month, my mom snagged some of the individual dolls, Saige's Art Studio, and Grace's Pastry Cart. I didn't do review photos of either of the bigger sets, but I did take a look one of the individual dolls, just to give you an idea of what they're like. 

This doll is #1 from Series 1. She has long, blonde hair, green eyes, and kind of olive/fair skin. Each of the individual dolls come with a stand and an extra accessory, such as a skirt or hair. This particular doll comes with extra hair in black.

A closer look at the packaging: 

The back of the package.

There are eight individual dolls in Series 1, shown on the pamphlet here (included inside the packaging).

The other side shows you how to put your doll together/take her apart, and how you can mix and match her with other dolls.

A closer look.

Here is my doll out of the package with her hair and stand.

Her feet fit perfectly on the bumps of the stand.

Her hair is removable.

She has a hole in the top of her head...

...and a peg on each of her hairpieces that fits inside the hole.

Here she is with her darker hair.

The level of detail and flexibility on these little dolls is really something. They can move at the head, shoulders, wrists, waist, and knees.

Here are a few more examples of her articulation: 

They can be pulled almost completely apart for mix and match fun. (Kind of a creepy picture, though!) ;)

The Mega Bloks dolls make perfect mini dolls for regular AGs, like Charlie here.

The bigger dolls can hold them in their hands.

I was surprised to see the size difference between the Lego Friends (pictured on the left) and the AG Mega Bloks (pictured on the right). Before seeing them together, I had assumed they would be the same.

Although I didn't do detailed review photos of my mom's bigger sets, I did take a couple of individual pictures.

Here is Saige's Art Studio (with an extra friend stopping by for a visit)...

...and here is Grace's Pastry Cart. 

I think this is a very clever move for American Girl. Producing mini AG dolls in Mega Bloks form will make AG affordable and more accessible to the masses. I also think the use of past Girl of the Year dolls is brilliant. Most of us couldn't afford Grace's Bakery, but we can get Grace's Pastry Cart. ;) I hope to see them release items from other GOTY characters in the future, such as Jess and Mia.

The individual dolls are priced at $3.99 each. Grace's Pastry Cart was $9.99, and Saige's Art Studio was $19.99. Unfortunately, the bigger sets are pretty pricey (but still cheaper than they'd be at full scale). ;) You can check out all of the currently available AG Mega Bloks items on Toys R Us' website HERE.

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To wrap things up, today I popped into Barnes and Noble and found a little treasure to take home. ;) 

For the past several months, I've been eyeing THIS retro mini Firefly set there, tempted to purchase her. However, I was concerned by the less-than-stellar stock image on the back of the box (you can see the image when you click the link). Firefly's face mold looked all wrong, and there was no way for me to open the box before purchase.

Then, today I found a mini Glory with a much more convincing stock photo on the back, so I decided to take a chance and buy her. I'm so glad I did. :)

Being my typical, nerdy, little girl self when it comes to ponies, I could NOT wait until I got home to open her, so I took a few shots of the box in the car. ;) Here's the front of her little box...
...and here's the back.

And here is the adorable, PERFECT little replica of one of the ponies of my childhood. Isn't she darling?

Here she is from the other side.

She also came with a little mini book.

Once I got home, I decided to do things "properly" and get better pics. ;)

The box: 

Glory, her comb, and her book. (I love that she comes with her comb, too. It looks just like the ones the original ponies used to come with.)

The book is super cute.

It includes new illustrations and captions in a retro style:

And also photos of original packaging art from the 1980s:
It was so much fun seeing some of these images again! :)

So let's take a closer look at little Glory.

Here she is, free from packaging. As you can see, her head is a slightly different shade of white than her body. This was definitely more noticeable in photos than in real life.

I can't get over how close this little face looks to the original!

She even has her original sparkly cutie marks (unfortunately with a bit of rubbing on one section).

Here she is from all sides: 
My only real complaint is the craziness and extra length of her mane. 

Unlike the original ponies of this era, Glory's head can turn. :)

Here she is next to my full-sized Glory. Original Glory was a thrift store rescue, so she looks quite dingy next to her miniature counterpart. ;) Didn't they do a great job capturing the original look, though?

What I love most about these ponies is that they are the PERFECT size for my AG and other 18 inch dolls. :D Now my 18 inch girls can have some of the same ponies I did! :)

Glory rests perfectly in Emma's hand.

The scale is pretty close to accurate, too. here's my original Glory in my hand...

...compared to little Glory in Emma's hand. Not bad, right? :)

I decided something needed to be done about little Glory's wild mane, so I wet it down, wrapped it around one leg, and held it in place with a hair band. I'll leave it in for a few hours and see if that helps tame her hair some. ;)

The mini MLPs are currently at Barnes and Noble for $9.95 each. Well worth the price, I feel, for such an accurate little replica of my childhood friends. ;) These would make great gifts for MLP fans and collectors or doll collectors who want vintage ponies for their dolls. :)

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That's all for now, folks! I'll be sharing a little more this week if I can, before I head off for a mini writing retreat over the weekend. :) Talk to you all again soon. :)

7 comments:

Meritre said...

I think it was a great idea to do a mixed post and I would love to see one like this occasionally. :)
I hope the new barbie bodytypes will appear in Made to move versions. A blond Made to move 'petite' lady with grean eyes would be perfect for me. :) (She would be an OC of mine. One can dream.) While I really like some of the outfits, I haven't seen barbie fashion packs here for ages, so I don't really have much hope for buying them. (lots of sewing on my to do list during summer)
The first thing I thought that these little ones captured so well the faces of the big AG dolls! After I took a closer look, I didn't think they were that perfect but they are really good for their size in my opinion. I agree with everything you wrote about their advantages. Smaller sets - more place for more sets and more girls. :)
Those two cute ponies look like mother and daughter. I may be wrong but it looks like to me that big Glory has the same or nearly the same bodycolor as little Glorys head.
A really lovely post and I wish you all the best for the writing retreat! :)

jSarie said...

Thanks for sharing that Barbie release pamphlet - I'd been wondering about when the different dolls would be released, so that was great to see! :)

MyLittleMegara said...

That mini Glory is precious! I have the mini Firefly and while her mane is unruly, she looks strikingly like her full size counterpart as well. I promise, she looks nothing like her stock photo. If they still have them when you go back to B&N, I would highly suggest picking one up (I may have to snag a little Glory, myself!)

Hannah Prewett (beastsbelle) said...

Hi Meritre! Glad you enjoyed the post. I'll keep this in mind when I have fewer pictures or don't have the time to go into a super detailed review. :)

My daughters and I have been hoping for Made to Move articulation on the other Barbie body types, too. Wouldn't that be great?

Your dream girl sounds lovely. Maybe someday they'd let us order our own custom Barbies: custom articulation, body type, and coloring. That would be great! :)

I'm really enjoying the Mega Bloks AGs. Looking forward to seeing what else they release. :)

Little Glory's head is slightly lighter than bigger Glory, but the shade is pretty close, especially in the photos. :)

Thanks for stopping by! :)

You're welcome, jSarie. :) I enjoyed seeing the different release dates myself, so I figured at least some of you would like to see them, too. It's always nice knowing how long we have to wait before a certain doll is released. ;)

Hi, MyLittleMegara! I love my mini Glory, too. And thanks for the tip on mini Firefly. Honestly, I almost went to Barnes and Noble again that same day to get her, but that seemed just a little excessive. ;)

Have a great weekend! :)

Farrah said...

Hi Hannah,
Lovely new goodies! I love Crazy for Coral...she is my favorite Petite Barbie so far this year. I love how the Skipper mold looks on her! As fir AGm I have yet to see any of the new AG legos, but am looking forward to checking them out. I think they have such a great resemblance, face-wise, to the actual dolls! I am a sucker for "mini" anything, lol.
Saige's studio looks really tempting!
Wow, I didn't realize they had these mini-replica '80s ponies at B/NN! (I don't get out much, lol) Glory was one of my favorites growing up and I agree with you that she looks perfect!
I think a trip to B/N may be in my near future, lol. :)

Mark Patraw said...

I had no idea that American Girl had gone the Mega Bloks route, so that was news to me. Mattel did the same with Barbie and Monster High recently, so, I suppose it was inevitable. I agree that this is a good way to potentially introduce the American Girl brand to a new audience at a more reasonable price point (plus they'll take up a lot less space in this scale). I find it very amusing that the Mega Bloks AG dolls are much more poseable than the full-sized 18" versions. Your mum's playsets look cool too. Do you know if they're going to have the Mega Bloks figures and sets in the AG mail order catalog too? I haven't got one in a while (Christmas time I think), so, if they already did so, I probably missed it.

That mini replica of MLP G1 Glory is neat and the little book is great too. I laughed when I saw that you had tucked Glory's unruly mane/tail between her legs to tame it, because that's exactly what I do with my ponies when they have crazy hair too (I don't wet it though, but that's not a bad idea). $10 seems a little steep for a pony of that size, but the full color book doubtlessly accounts for some of the asking price. I'd probably only want a Firefly, because, according to Lauren Faust, she's the G1 pony that she based G4 Rainbow Dash on. I sometimes contemplate making an "evolution of Rainbow Dash" display with MLP toys, so, I'd need a G1 Firefly to start off that visual transformation if I ever go through with it.

I'd also like to note that I prefer this multi-toy format to your regular reviews focusing on one item/brand. I'm one of those "sample a little bit of everything" types (including food), as such, I like shorter takes on a slew of things rather than a longer review fixating on a single item. Variety is the spice of life and all that! Plus, this format has the benefit of potentially appealing to readers who may not care for one or two of the products, but like the other(s). I would speculate that it may also be easier for you to put together, time/work-wise, as well.

Hannah Prewett (beastsbelle) said...

Hi Farrah Lily! Crazy for Coral really is lovely, and super photogenic, too. :)

Aren't the AG Mega Bloks fun? :) Saige's Art Studio is the full set that's the most tempting to me, too. Maybe because I enjoy dabbling in art myself. ;)

I'm so pleased with mini Glory. I'm thinking I'll have to get Firefly to be her friend soon. ;) So it appears we'll BOTH end up at Barnes and Noble in the near future. ;)

Hi Mark! Like you, I think this is a great route for Mattel to get American Girl products to a wider audience. And the scale is wonderful. I'm bursting at the seams with my 18 inch dolls. :}

Wouldn't it be great if they could somehow incorporate this super articulation into the bigger dolls? I know it would take some work, but it would be so much fun. :)

I'm not sure if they'll eventually have the Mega Bloks sets in the AG catalogs. At this point, they appear to just be in Toys R Us. I'll keep you posted if I find out, though.

I learned about tucking pony manes around tails after looking up MLP customizing stuff online. Their legs sure are handy for that! ;)

I love that Rainbow Dash and all the other Mane Six were originally based on G1 ponies. While I love each of their designs, sometimes I wish they'd stayed as the ponies they were based on. It would have been wonderfully nostalgic. ;)

I love your idea of an "Evolution of Rainbow Dash" display. That would be so cool! :) I've started collecting the original G1 ponies the Mane Six were based on. So far, I have Firefly, Twilight, Applejack, and Sparkler. I still need to find Posey and Surprise. :)

Thanks very much for your input about these types of posts, too. It seems like this is an enjoyable format for several of my readers, and as you guessed, it's much less time-consuming on my end. I'll still do my more detailed reviews when I can, because I'm kind of obsessive that way and like seeing all of the fun details of a product when I see it on someone else's website. ;) However, it's nice to know that I have another option when I'm short on time or photos. I'm thinking a nice blend of both would work great. :)