Madame Alexander 2012 18" My Life Dolls at Walmart (Plus Other Fun Accessories) :)

On June 25th, I posted about the clearance on the Madame Alexander "Play Wonder" dolls at Target.  One of my readers left a comment with a link to the Doll Diaries website, which explained that the Madame Alexander Doll Company had been bought out by another company.  You can check out the link HERE to get the full scoop. 

When I heard this news, I was a little sad, a bit curious, and concerned to see what would happen to the play doll lines.  I guess I shouldn't have worried. ;)  

The other day, I was browsing through Walmart with Hubby when I came across this little cutie: 

This doll is from the new line that is apparently replacing the previous "Friends Boutique" line.  They're called the "My Life As" dolls.  This particular cutie is the "My Life as a Gymnast" doll.  The Madame Alexander name is still on the dolls, which I think was a wise decision on the part of the company that bought them out.  Madame Alexander is well known as a quality doll line, so I'm sure it will serve in the new company's interest to have the name associated with the dolls.  

So let's enjoy some pics and see how this doll holds up to the previous ones. :) (By the way, I'd like to apologize in advance for the lighting in some of these pictures.  My camera often washed out her skin tone.) :(

Label details

She comes in an adorable gymnastics leotard...

...warm up pants, and socks.

It was really difficult to get a good picture of her through the glare of the plastic. :}

I love the red, white, and blue ribbons in her hair! :)

The back of the box.

Adorable stock photo. :)

This was a smart tie-in for them on a Summer Olympics year. ;)  Like many of you, I'm sure, my daughters and I watched the gymnastics segment of the Olympics with delight.  We were overjoyed when Team USA won gold, and even more ecstatic when adorable Gabby Douglas won all-around gold. :D  In fact, I instantly thought of Gabby when I saw this doll.  I'm sure many other little girls with Olympic dreams will have the same thought. ;)

Doll info and care details

The bottom of the box shows the other dolls in the line.  There are some real cuties here! :)  It appears that they will not have names this time around, just occupations or hobbies.  So far, I've seen the one I'm reviewing, the African American ballerina, and the Caucasian gymnast in person. :)

Here's a closer look...

Which one is your favorite? :)

When I saw this part of the box, I got pretty excited.  Madame Alexander has a Doll Hospital! :)  This is great news for those of us with dolls that need restringing, since the methods for restringing American Girl dolls don't work for these ones (they don't have removable heads like the AGs).  I looked up the hospital website and was then a little less excited.  The hospital is being revamped and will not open again until early 2013.  That's not such a big deal. It was the prices that were so disappointing.  The way things stand currently, it would be far less expensive to buy a brand new doll than to get an old one fixed.  My hope is that they might change the prices a bit when they redo the hospital.  I guess we'll just have to wait and see. :} 

My aunt (Mimi) fell in love with this doll when she saw me reviewing it, so it was decided that she would go live at Mimi's to be a friend for Piper. ;)  My daughters suggested that Mimi should call her Gabby after Gabby Douglas, so it's quite possible that she will end up with that name.  Mimi's really nice that way. ;)  I think Gabby was just relieved to get out of the box. :) 

[Side note here:  I wanted to mention before I forget that she had a pretty strong, unpleasant, plasticy odor when I first opened her.  However, I wasn't able to get all of her deboxed pictures done until a day later, and after a day of being in the open air, I couldn't even smell it anymore.  It was a different smell than the earlier Friends Boutique dolls, so maybe they've made a change to the material they use?  I wanted to be sure I brought this up since the odor of the last doll line was so offensive to some.]

A closer look at her leotard.

I thought I'd include a shot of the packaging.  She was fairly easy to remove from the box.  One nice thing about all of the recycling and environmental concerns is that we're seeing less and less of those rotten wire twisty ties! :D

Her warm-up pants were attached to the leotard.  I wanted to make a point of sharing this because it was a little difficult to remove the thread without cutting either the pants or the leotard.  Just a heads up. ;)

So here she is, all deboxed and ready for adventure. :)

This is one of my favorite African American doll molds (it's the same as the one on the Friends Boutique doll I reviewed in an earlier post).  She has such a sweet expression, and I love how they actually attempted to make her look ethnically unique instead of just using a Caucasian face mold and changing the skin tone.

I noticed after I opened her that she has a little spot on one cheek (you can just barely see it in this picture), so you might watch for that if you select one of these dolls for yourself.  Personally, I don't think it detracts from her cuteness. :) 

Also, her head was a little bit looser than I've seen on these dolls before.  It still held its position nicely for the most part, but would fall back on its own if I had her looking up as far as she could.  I hope that makes sense...it's a little difficult to explain. :}

One nice thing about having a gymnast doll from this line is that she has poseable limbs, so she'll be able to do a lot more "gymnastically" than a regular 18" doll with stiff limbs would.  Here are a few examples:

This one's for the Wheaties box. ;)

Or maybe this one. :)

I've shared my views on the poseable limbs in the past, so I won't go into a whole lot of detail here.  I'll just list a few quick pros and cons to help you decide whether or not this doll would be a good choice for you or your little one.

Pros:

-Extra poseability can be really fun, giving you more options for photography and play

-Um...I can't think of any other pros...that's embarrassing! :{

Cons:

-The poseable limbs are a bit hard to maneuver and may be frustrating for younger kids

-It can be difficult to make these dolls stand because of their bendy limbs

-I have a suspicion that the limbs may eventually wear out and lose their poseability

-Since the limbs are hollow, sometimes they look funny and unnatural when bent

If you want a little more detail on how the limbs work and some of the concerns I had with them, you can read my Friends Boutique doll review post HERE (it's the same one I linked above).  The Friends Boutique doll had an identical body. 

This doll's body is the same as other Madame Alexander dolls I've reviewed in the past:  vinyl head, arms, legs, and chest; cloth body.

Back view

Her head is obviously the same mold as before, since it says "2009". 

She has two body tags.  The first reminds the consumer not to get the doll's hair wet or use a hairdryer or hair iron on it.  I would make an exception with the water if I needed to do a Downy Dunk, but I definitely wouldn't get the doll's hair wet if I didn't need to. 

The second body tag has company information.

Another view of her lovely face. :)

Profile shot

The My Life dolls can share clothing with American Girl dolls.  Here is Gabby in American Girl capris and a generic white shirt handmade for standard 18" dolls.  Rachel (FKA Julie) is wearing Gabby's gymnastics outfit.  (P.S.  This photo is a great depiction of Gabby's actual skin tone!)

While Gabby is a little bit narrower in the body than an AG doll, this outfit still looks great, even though it has a slightly looser fit on her than on Rachel.

The pants have no problems staying up.

While Rachel can fit into Gabby's outfit, it is a little tight on her.  Normally this isn't an issue with the MA dolls, but the fact that it's a leotard and made to have a tight fit makes it a little more snug on AGs than other MA outfits.  

The thread was stretching just a bit, although it was doing the same on Gabby when I put her arms up.  The clothing quality is definitely not up there with AG, but on the other hand, it's a lot less expensive. :}

As you can see, Rachel had to suck it in to get this to Velcro in the back. ;)

Rachel without the warm-up pants, pretending to be Shannon Miller at the '96 Olympics. 

Gabby and Rachel:  new friends. :)

I mentioned earlier that it can be difficult to get these dolls to stand up, and it is.  But I wanted to show you that I did get Gabby to stand up on her own.  It took a bit of fiddling, and her head had to be looking down because of her heavy side ponytail, but I got it to work! :}

Something that almost excited me more than the doll was a box full of individually packaged doll shoes for the My Life dolls! :D  I'm always short on doll shoes, and always looking for a good deal.  I wasn't sure how much these were at first.  They weren't priced, and Walmart was in the middle of rearranging their toy section, so nothing was in the right place.  I took a pair over to one of those price finder machines...and was THRILLED when the price came up as $1.97!!  I promptly went back and got 4 more pairs to add to my cart. :)  

Here's how they look in the store.  They're wrapped in shrink wrap with a "My Life" sticker on them.

I'm always on the lookout for dress shoes, and these Mary Janes were adorable.  Here they are on Gabby.

And a side view on Gabby.

But the real test was...would they fit on Rachel?  I was super excited when they did.

Side view on Rachel.  They're a little bit bigger on both dolls than other 18" doll shoes I've seen, but they don't look unnaturally big, and it makes them easier to get on.  These shoes were the most difficult of the three different pairs I purchased because the little plastic peg that goes in the hole on the strap likes to bend and avoid the hole.  So if you get these for your kiddos, plan on offering assistance when they need to get them on or off. 

My very favorite shoes of all of them that I brought home were these SUPER CUTE glittery Jellies.  They smell horrendous...one of the worst plastic smells I've ever smelled...even worse than original Jellies!  I mean, none of the shoes really smelled great, but these were bad!  They are SOOO adorable, though! :)  And just to clarify, they're hard plastic, even though they have the look of soft plastic shoes.   

They go on really easily, too, both on Gabby...

...and Rachel.  

I love how they have hearts on the soles and flowers on the strap. :)

The third pair I bought (I bought two pairs each of the Mary Janes and the Jellies) was this cute pair of butterfly clogs.  Out of the three varieties I purchased, these were obviously the easiest to get on and off.

Here they are on Gabby...

...and on Rachel.

So cute! :)

Unfortunately, this particular pair had one shoe that was a bit bigger than the other.  The left shoe was almost too big and would even fall off if I shook Rachel's foot around too much.  The right shoe fit like a glove.  There were no problems like this with the other pairs.

There were four different types of shoes:  the three I purchased and a pair of bright pink cleets.  I didn't have a use for cleets and I wasn't sure how well they'd fit (they looked a little snug), so I didn't go for those.  I might try them eventually, though, just to see if they're also compatible with AG dolls.  

Oh, and as an added bonus, I happened to pop into the school section and discovered some really inexpensive doll-sized goodies. :)

This little coin purse was only 88 cents.  It makes a perfect handbag for the dolls. 

And this little notebook key chain, also for 88 cents, makes a great blank journal.

Be careful removing the key chain part, though.  Since it's only 88 cents, the quality is not the highest, and I munched mine up a bit.

It has several blank pages inside.

And as you can see, it's the perfect size for them! :)

So, my overall thoughts?  Well, if nothing else, pick up the journal and the coin purse! ;)

Seriously, though, I was super excited about the My Life shoes and would definitely recommend them.  I'm looking forward to seeing what other accessories are  released to go along with this line, especially since they're so compatible with American Girl and other 18" doll brands.

Now for the doll herself.  She's got a lovely face, a cute outfit, and is perfect for little girls with stars in their eyes after watching the Olympics. :)  And while I prefer the thick curls of some of the earlier African American dolls by Madame Alexander, her straight hair will hold up to play a lot longer.  As far as quality goes, I still prefer the Alexander Girlz or Friends 4 Life dolls.  I think that the poseability is great in theory, but presents some problems for stability, realism, and play.  However, if you're already a fan of the Friends Boutique dolls, if you're a collector, or if you are purchasing for a patient, careful child, this could be the doll for you. :)

I hope you found this review helpful.  I'll be sure to keep you posted if I see any new items for the My Life dolls.  Of course, now that I've given all of you notice, you may discover any new releases before I do! ;) 

Update:  to see my later post on more of the My Life accessories, click HERE. :)