Sales and News (Disney Store, American Girl, Tuesday Morning, and More)

Hey guys! I thought I'd post this morning before my full, crazy day. We have a potluck at the church and a special Memorial Day service tonight. Then the girls and I will most likely be spending the night at Mimi's with Mimi and my mom. That way, Mimi can watch the girls while Mom and I shop the 50% off sale at Goodwill tomorrow.

I just wanted to share a few sales and things I've noticed around town that might interest you. First off, at my local Target, the live action Disney Cinderella dolls by Mattel are on clearance for $27.90 instead of $39.99. I've decided to hold out and see if they'll go down any lower. I might miss them since there are only about five of them left, but that's okay. I don't really need a Mattel Cinderella (but it would be fun to have one). ;) They don't appear to be on clearance in any other stores.

Interestingly enough, the dolls are not on clearance on Target's website, so I don't know if they'll be on sale in all Target stores.

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In other news, Tuesday Morning has had some fun things in stock lately. The Madame Alexander Favorite Friends dolls, which share my Maggie doll's face mold, have been showing up for around $30 there. If you like this face mold, this is an excellent price. Usually they're priced at around $60 or $70, which in my opinion is too high considering the less-than-stellar quality of their hair. Here are a few shots I got of the dolls currently in my Tuesday Morning:

This one is labeled "Favorite Friends Doll Factory". 

She has a face just like Maggie's. I love her adorable jacket. :)

This doll is not actually labeled as a "Favorite Friends", but she should be comparable to the other doll. She's got quite the outfit. Lots of mix and match possibilities there. :) 

I tried to get a picture of her face without catching the reflection on her clear plastic, but it was pretty much impossible.

Another look at her outfit. 

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For those of you who are fans of the original releases of the Ever After High doll line, Tuesday Morning and Ross are really good places to shop right now. You can find the initial dolls, the "Getting Fairest" line, and sometimes even "Thronecoming" or "Legacy Day" dolls for around $12.99-$14.99. These are a great price, and now that the dolls are being re-released with fewer accessories and lower quality outfits, this is the time to snag these original ones. 

Some of the dolls currently on my Tuesday Morning shelf. 

Some of you may not be aware that the Ever After High dolls now have new packaging and simplified outfits and accessories. For example, I found a Dexter Charming a few weeks ago at Walmart in the new package. Here he is:

Now compare him to my original release of Dexter (which I still haven't managed to review yet):

See the differences?

Aside from the smaller box, this Dexter has no scarf and a jacket with less detail that looks rather cheap. He has no backpack either. 

A closer look at his outfit:

And what happened to his hair?

Granted, this "munchkin style" on the first doll was a bit over the top, but the completely flat style of the newer release doesn't exactly work either.

I've seen similar cutbacks on other new releases. The dolls are missing their rings and their purses. Many of the dolls that had fuller, curly hair now have flat, simplified styles. It's very disappointing to see Mattel take this shortcut route. :( 

On the same day I found Dexter, I was thrilled to finally see a Lizzie Hearts in person, even in the newer packaging:

Then I noticed something "interesting". Check out her hands, especially the one in the background: 

Did you notice? They gave her two right hands! I've seen this at least one other time on a different EAH doll in someone's YouTube review. I thought I should point this out so you can check hands when you buy a new doll. Make sure she has a right AND a left!

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The big news in the American Girl world is that Caroline is retiring, a new 1950s BeForever doll named Maryellen Larkin will be released later this year, and the "My AG" line has now been renamed "Truly Me". Also, three new Truly Me dolls have been released, along with some new clothing and accessories.

I think Maryellen is going to be adorable with her green eyes and strawberry blonde/light red hair. Some of the outfits on the covers of the books look adorable. I'm sure she'll have some really fun accessories, too.

You can get a small preview of what she's going to look like from these photos of the mini doll and books:

Mini Doll

Book Set

Like many others out there, I'm sad to see Caroline go so quickly. I hope to get her Spencer and Hat set before she's completely gone, but we'll see what happens.

As far as the Truly Me line, I'm actually a bit relieved that the name has changed again. It's super hard to search for "My American Girl" on any sort of secondary market, because it brings up everything with American Girl in the title. Also, "American Girl Truly Me doll" sounds a lot better than "American Girl My American Girl doll". ;) 

Here are the three new Truly Me dolls: 

Truly Me #62

(Picture found HERE)

Truly Me #62 has the Sonali mold, dark hair, medium skin, and beautiful amber eyes. I'm not in the market for any more AG dolls (I've run out of space!), but if I were, she is the one that would come home with me. She is my very favorite of the three new releases. :)

Truly Me #63

(Picture found HERE)

Truly Me #63 has the Classic mold, blonde hair, fair skin, and blue eyes.

Truly Me #64

(Picture found HERE)

Truly Me #64 has the Jess mold with the special Ivy eyes (which had more detail around them), dark hair, light skin, and brown eyes.

This is #54, who is not a new doll, but her eyes now feature the extra lines of the Ivy mold, just like #64.

(Picture found HERE)

There is currently a Truly Me sweepstakes going on with weekly prizes. For details about this and other AG news, you can check out their Facebook page HERE. 

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Finally, just for today, there are some great sales going on at Disneystore.com on dolls, toys, and more. I'm sure they'll have a new promotion tomorrow for Memorial Day, but I thought I'd mention this to you guys in case there's anything there you're interested in. You can see all of the sale items HERE. 

P.S. Am I the only one who holds my breath and scrolls through the whole sale when I see the Fairy Godmother and Lady Tremaine dolls on sale? I'm really hoping one of these times that the Prince and Cinderella set will go on sale, too. ;) I'm not thrilled with their serious faces, but I love their clothing. I just don't want to pay the full $70 for them. ;) 

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I think that's all for now. I hope you all have a wonderful Memorial Day weekend with your families. In the middle of the festivities, swimming, barbecues and sales, please stop to remember the fallen warriors who bravely fought for our country. That's what this holiday is truly about. Which sounds rather hypocritical after I've just spent an entire post talking about sales and toys. :{ I do feel, however, that it's important to stop and be thankful for those who gave the ultimate sacrifice so that we could be free. May we never forget.

A Few Last-Minute Christmas Ideas

Hey guys!  I'm putting the finishing touches on my Frozen doll review, which should hopefully be up either later today or sometime tomorrow.

In the meantime, are any of you scrambling to find a few last gifts for someone for the holidays?  Here are a few deals I've discovered around town and online. :)

First off, some of the earlier Mini Lalaloopsies have been showing up at the 99 Cents Only store.  Ironically, they're selling for $1.99 each, but it's still a good price. ;)  There were also some mini Lala-Oopsies and some Lalaloopsy pop bead sets at mine.  Check quick, though, because they're disappearing fast! (My store is already out of stock!)

While we're on the subject of Lalaloopsy, Target stores are finally starting to stock their store exclusive Christmas mini for this year:

Her name is Noelle Northpole, and she's a real cutie. :)  You can get her for $4.99.

My local Ross has a TON of G4 My Little Pony stuff right now, including some Equestria Girls dolls, Rainbowfied Fashion Style Fluttershy for $8.99, and more.

And speaking of My Little Pony, Build-A-Bear Workshop officially has Princess Celestia in stock online (she'll be available in stores on Friday).  Plus, they have free shipping with any purchase of $40 or more.

American Girl has been having some AMAZING deals that change every day!  I missed out on letting you know about the "Jill's Steals and Deals" this morning, which was Isabelle, her accessories, and her cat for just $68, along with other Isabelle items. :{  Sorry about that.  I would strongly suggest you keep checking their website every day for great gift ideas for the AG lovers in your life. :)

Also, for the first time today, I saw a Zelf for sale at Tuesday Morning.  It was a Super Mermalade Zelf (the bigger size) for $6.99:

(Sorry for the blurry quality-my phone doesn't take the best pictures!)

  I didn't get her since I already have her in my collection, but you guys might want to check your local stores over the next few weeks to see if any more come in. :)

I've also started seeing Shopkins Season 2 toys at Toys R Us or Toys R Us Express stores.  My mom bought a five pack and let me take some pics:

Here's the front of the package.  You can see that Season 2 Shopkins have purple shopping bags instead of blue.

A look at the back of the package.  (Feel free to click the picture for a better look.)  Along with the older categories of "Fruit and Veg", "Pantry", "Sweet Treats", and "Bakery", they also have new categories:  "Homewares", "Cleaning and Laundry", "Shoes", and "Baby".  They also have a new line of Limited Edition Shopkins.

Mom's surprise Shopkin was the adorable Toffy Coffee.

She also got Ma Kettle, Slick Breadstick, [Toffy again] Lisa Litter, and Wedgy Wendy.

A more detailed review of these guys will come eventually...I think...if I ever get caught up. ;)

I think that's about it for now.  Hope this has given you a few ideas for Christmas or collecting. ;)

Happy Shopping!

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!