I wanted to start with a warning! Later on in the post, I will be comparing the body styles of my 2 BFC Ink dolls. They will both be nude, and have somewhat developed figures. If this is offensive to you, please skip this post!
She's officially here!!! Britt arrived yesterday in the mail. Here are some pictures of her in her box:
The back of the box has pictures of the other Pen Pals dolls. They look closer to the actual dolls than the earlier stock photos I found online (except for Britt...I think her earlier photo looks more like her). You'll notice that they still are shown with the older, non-articulated body style, though.
There's Carmen from Mexico...
...Britt from England...
...Nicolette from France...
...Elsa from Sweden...
...and Lily from South Africa. Sadly, I've been told that MGA Entertainment has decided not to make the Lily doll, so only the previous 4 dolls are available for purchase.
I was a little concerned when I first opened Britt. You'll notice from this picture that her eyes are slightly off (the eye on the left is looking up and the eye on the right is looking straight ahead). It doesn't bother me for the most part, unless I sit there and stare at her. For this reason, though, I would definitely recommend finding one of these dolls in person, if it's an option for you. I've heard reports of them being in Target and Kmart stores. Unfortunately, neither of my local stores have them yet. There's a picture of Carmen on Flickr that's even worse HERE. I debated returning Britt and exchanging her for another one, but I wouldn't have gotten the shipping refunded, and I was worried that I might end up with a Britt that had a worse problem (especially after seeing that Carmen doll). Anyway, just try to buy them locally if you can! Or order online and pray and hold your breath until they come! ;) Britt is still beautiful, in spite of her wandering eye. :)
Her eye issues aren't as noticeable from the side view.
Another frustrating thing about Britt was that she had these shiny marks on her forehead...
...and on the side of her face. Thankfully, they came right off with a magic eraser. I've had dolls with similar issues in the past and a magic eraser didn't remove the marks. I was sure glad it worked this time!
So here she is fresh out of the package without having her hair brushed or anything like that.
Her hair was really crusty with some sort of gel substance (to keep the side part in place, I suppose). It reminded me of the way Barbie dolls' hair feels sometimes when they've put gel in the curls.
It's difficult to capture on film, but her shirt has a very slight pink tint to it.
My camera was being really stubborn for this shot...her capris are actually a lot darker (as they appear in the other photos).
Cute pink shoes.
Britt's hair leaves much to be desired, which I expected going into it. The BFC Ink dolls are not known for their high-quality hair. These photos were taken before I did anything to her hair.
As you can see from the above photos, the layers in her hair are pretty awful. They remind me a lot of Gianna's hair. I know these are less expensive dolls, but you'd think they could do something about this at MGA! I mean, yikes!
Her hair is also pretty thin. Putting it in pigtails would definitely reveal some scalp. She would make a great re-wigging project, though.
Here she is after having her hair brushed out.
This is the only shiny spot that didn't come off of her face with the Magic Eraser...right at the hairline.
She looks much nicer! :)
Unfortunately, the minute I began brushing her hair (using a wire brush like I use for AG dolls), the gel type stuff started flaking in her hair. I couldn't get a really clear shot of it, but it basically looked like she had little dandruff flakes all over. My hair does the same thing when I leave gel in overnight and then brush it the next day. Ick! What a mess! It took a long time to get rid of all of the little flakies.
Her scalp also has some pretty thin strips in it, as you can see here. Oh, this also gives you a better view of her hair flakes, towards the bottom right of the picture.
Here are some shots showcasing Britt's flexibility:
And here are some shots of Britt with Katelyn, my other BFC Ink doll:
WARNING! NUDE DOLLS WITH DEVELOPED FIGURES PICTURED AHEAD!
Now for the body comparisons. I know I did this before with photos of Katelyn and Gianna, but I thought it would be helpful to see it again, especially since I have both dolls here at the same time this time around.
So here are Katelyn and Britt. Katelyn has the original BFC Ink body style, and Britt has the newer, more articulated style. Aside from the differences in the arms and legs, which I'll get into in a minute, notice the slight difference in the hip joints and chest plates as well. Another difference is their heads. While Britt's has a few more posing options, I pretty much can't get Katelyn's head to stop looking down! Her head only moves from side to side, while Britt's tilts up and down as well.
Here's the back view. You can see even more here the difference in the chest plate. Also, I found it interesting that Katelyn is made with a duller plastic than Britt's.
Here's a shot of Katelyn's legs...
...and Britt's.
Back view of Katelyn's legs...
...and a back view of Britt's.
This picture demonstrates the farthest that each pair of knees can bend. As you can see, Katelyn's knees hardly bend at all. I was very disappointed by this. Britt has no problem bending her knees into a normal sitting position.
Here is Katelyn's arm...
...and Britt's arm, jointed at the elbow and wrist.
NUDE PICTURES OVER!!!
So, as far as my final thoughts, I'd give Britt a 4 out of 5 stars. She's a lovely doll (aside from the eyes looking in slightly different directions) with some great poseability. However, her hair is a mess, and her ankle joints are already getting loose after 1 day of light posing. Her knees, hips, and chest are still nice and tight, though, which is better than my Gianna was. Perhaps the joint strength varies from doll to doll.
I would not recommend this for a child under 8, unless you had a very patient or careful child. Getting her undressed was a bit of a chore, and the joints are very tight at first, so her greatest plus...her poseability...works against her. I think it would be difficult for a younger child to pose her without breaking her. And eventually, the joints wear out and she can't hold a pose at all. Not to mention the fact that her hair would be a mess within a few days!
So why do I still like these dolls? There's something about their faces that draws me to them. I love posing them and trying to express different emotions through their photos. And as a collector who doesn't spend tons of time playing with my dolls, the possibility of worn out joints won't be as much of an issue for me. As far as the hair goes, I will most likely end up rewigging these girls in the future. I really like their hair color, so for now I'll just deal with the rather crummy hair. ;)
Hope you enjoyed the post. What are your thoughts? Which BFC Ink Pen Pal doll is your favorite?
