At the time that I cobbled the text part of this review together I'd been bitten by the Lalaloopsy bug (remember that I type up the bulk of this then add pictures later). The last doll I reviewed was a Lalaloopsy Girl, and this one is one of the babies. Most of the Lalaloopsy Babies have vinyl heads and stuffed bodies, but the Diaper Surprise dolls are different. They are hard plastic and rely on just a teensy bit of bathroom humor to sell themselves. Well, okay, maybe more than just a teensy bit. For some reason
MGA has been going in that direction lately. Go figure. Anywho, these dolls have separate diaper sets available, and you know how I love extra clothes for dolls, so I plunked down the money for one of these goofy Lalaloopsies. There were only two characters available when I was buying, so I chose Blossom Flowerpot.
The other character at the time was
Peanut Big Top. Blossom and Peanut have since been joined by
Cinder Slippers.
I already own the regular Blossom Flowerpot, so that should make things interesting. Here's how Baby Blossom compares with her older self (I also threw Pix E. Flutters into the mix for further size comparison).
There's something about Baby Blossom that makes her...well, I don't think she's as cute as her older self. I'm not sure what it is yet. Baby Blossom is quite a bit larger than her Lala counterparts. And since she's a baby, her proportions are different from those of the other dolls. Her proportions are similar to those of your typical baby doll, but a bit more exaggerated. Notice the differences between Blossom and Anita, my unenthusiastic Horsman baby:
"Who is THIS weirdo???"
Notice that while both dolls have big heads and short limbs, Blossom's proportions are much more cartoonish.
Despite her large size, Blossom is very lightweight. She's got a hollow hard plastic body with vinyl head and limbs. Her hair is pink, typical of Lalaloopsies and accurate for her character.
However, there are no molded stitch lines on this hair, just two molded pigtails (also accurate for her character) and a few molded curls...
The paint work on one of these beads is a bit sloppy. I'm willing to bet someone put the hat on this doll before the paint was fully dry. Overall this is a fairly big departure from the usual Lalaloopsy hair; both the Girls and the original Lalas have hair that's molded to look like yarn. However, it's accurate for a baby's hair, which tends to fall in wispy, soft, short tendrils like what Blossom has. I guess I could pretend that Blossom's hair is made out of very fine yarn...or fake fur! LOL
Blossom may divert from the Lala norm with her hair, but her eyes are classic Lalaloopsy: big, black, button eyes with molded eyelashes.
My sister hates these, by the way. I'd love to hear what she'd say if I'd chosen Bea Spells A Lot instead of Blossom! Bea is not available as a Diaper Surprise character, but there IS a regular soft-bodied doll and she's freaky...especially when she's
got her binky in her mouth!
Alrighty, back to Blossom. She again strays from Lalaloopsy tradition by not having molded patch cheeks. Instead she has some blush painted on.
The blush is hard to photograph. It's painted well and does a good job of making Blossom's cheeks look rosy like baby cheeks should, but I miss the patches. That may be why I think she's not as cute as the older Blossom. Or maybe it's this mouth.
Yeah, not a huge fan of the mouth. It's your average bottle mouth and thus serves a purpose, as you will soon see, but I wish there were a little more expression with it. It IS possible to make a bottle mouth with a bit of expression, like my Gerber baby does.
I mean, Blossom DOES have a little bit of lip definition, but I'd hardly call that an expression.
As a final note, there's this to be seen.
I have no idea what that spot is about, but I can't get it to come off. I've used spit, I've used water, and I've used soap and water, but nothing took the spot off. That makes photographing this doll that much trickier, because the spot catches the light.
So aside from the button eyes Blossom's head and face are mostly devoid of the usual Lalaloopsy features. Fortunately, the same can't be said for the body. First and foremost, she's got the smooth egg-shaped body common to all the Lalaloopsy dolls I've handled (including Pix). She has molded stitching down the midline of her torso, which is something new to the Lalaloopsy world (none of my other girls have this)
She has an X "stitched" on her bellybutton, which literally is a button!
Her sewn-on date is stamped on her rear.
Blossom's limbs are stubby and chubby like baby limbs tend to be, but unfortunately, the vinyl is stiff as a board. You'd think that since this is a baby doll she'd have a few soft appendages, but heck no! Blossom is hard as a rock. The limbs have some details that normal Lala limbs don't, though. They have molded stitch lines, just like the torso does.
Her hands are "mitten hands" typical of all Lalas, but there is more stitch definition on them (not typical of Lalas). Note that the thumb has a full ring of "stitches" around it. I love this detail.
Blossom's legs are short as well, and they have molded stitches along the sides of her legs...
...and around the soles of her feet.
I was hoping that since the soles are partly flat that Blossom would be able to stand...but she can't. She can't sit worth a doggone either; her bum isn't even touching the countertop in the picture below. Her arms have simple rotation that doesn't look realistic in any pose. I think she looks like she's thumbing a ride.
In short, Blossom's mobility, for lack of a better term, sucks. All these joints simply rotate around their point of attachment. The head has a rotating neck joint but doesn't hold a pose, which I assume is to help accommodate this doll's gimmick.
Oh yes, the gimmick. You may have gotten some clues about the gimmick if you looked closely at the pictures of Blossom's body. The button on her stomach is a clue, as is the bottle mouth. Also, Blossom has two holes in the bottom of her torso. Not one like my Gerber doll, but two. I'm NOT going to show these, because guess what? Said holes are supposed to represent bodily orifices. Yep, Blossom is a drink and wet doll, complete with something I've never seen on any other doll...a butthole! I've seen plenty of openings on drink-and-wet dolls that are supposed to represent urethras, but never the nether region. One hole really would've done the trick, so go figure on MGA's frame of mind there. But wait, there's more! Remember that this doll's name is "Diaper Surprise," and remember that I said she relied on bathroom humor. If you need one last hint, check out the logo from the package:
Yeah, you read that right. That's the diaper surprise. One of Blossom's accessories is a charm bracelet with one charm on it (both made of brightly colored plastic)
Another of Blossom's accessories is this bottle, done up to look like her pet butterfly.
And she comes with four diapers.
All of these items factor into the gimmick except for the default diaper, which Blossom wore inside the box:
This diaper is an ordinary diaper, designed to cover Blossom's nudity. The other diapers are integral to the gimmick. Whaaaaaat, you thought that these charms actually fell out of the doll's bunghole? No, these dolls don't actually crap out their charms. Rather, these special diapers each have one charm located in the crotch area. There are also three extra sets of diapers available, also with charms inside. The charms in turn are covered with some sort of thin paper.
What you do is you fill this bottle up with water. Don't use any other liquid or it could do a number on this doll's innards. Then you put the top on the bottle and put the bottle in Baby's mouth. Push it in very firmly!
After that you squeeze the bottle. The water will go everywhere and make a huge mess, so I recommend doing this over the sink or covering the play area with a towel. You don't have to get all the water in Baby's tummy, just squeeze the bottle once. After that, press Baby's tummy button, then peel off that diaper!
This particular diaper had a crown charm in it, but it's also possible to get buttons, butterflies, hearts, flowers, and other shapes, like these:
The one on the far right looks like something that
Mami Tomoe would wear. LOL, I couldn't resist! Most of my charms are yellow like this, but several other colors are also available; I did get that pink charm, and this one came out blue:
It's all part of the surprise element; you never know what charm you're going to end up with! Once you've got all the charms, you hook them onto the bracelet.
The charms and the bracelet are both stiff plastic, so hooking these charms on there is quite difficult. I'm an adult woman who has sewn aprons, crocheted Barbie dresses with teensy steel hooks, and hand-beaded porcupine quills into earrings, and even I had a hard time getting this bracelet to go together! Not that it's really worth the effort in my case; the bracelet doesn't fit my fat wrist. It will fit a child's wrist quite nicely though...once you get it hooked on there, that is; the clasp is also fiddly. This accessory is NOT kid-friendly at all; moms and dads will likely have to help put this bad boy together. As an extra aside, I also advise rinsing the charms after they've come out, as they tend to be coated with a wet layer of the paper. This is harmless, but it feels nasty.
Okay, so you've used up all your diapers. THEN WHAT??? Well, it turns out that these diapers hold one more surprise, located in the lining of the diaper below the charm. Here's what the linings look like when they are dry:
And here's how they look when they're wet:
Each of these diapers has a color-change panel in the crotch. Get this part wet, and a pattern will appear in some sort of color. Like the charms, the material used is random, thus you never know what sort of pattern you'll get until you get it wet. So even after you've collected all the charms you can continue to play with these diapers. Bit of advice, though: DO NOT store these diapers wet, and don't hand wash them. Hand washing will cause the color-changing pattern to deteriorate. Another word of advice: be careful when removing these diapers from their boxes, as they are very tightly tacked into the packages. Words cannot convey my hatred of MGA Entertainment's packaging, by the way. Too much plastic, too many of those infernal little plastic ties, too many rubber bands. Too much of everything is
too much for me.
Where was I? Oh yeah, accessories. In addition to diapers that help Blossom poop flowers and stars, there are your more traditional accessories. There is this bowl and a plastic spoon to "feed" your baby.
In addition Blossom comes with a few more articles of clothing. She has that hat which featured prominently in the earlier pictures.
The hat is sewn into the shape of a pink flower, complete with a stem on top.
It's a nice little article of clothing, well-sewn and soft, but it catches pet hair like mad. Keep this in mind if you live with cats or dogs.
Lastly, Blossom also has a bib, which keeps with her flower theme by being done up to look like a daisy.
This bib has three layers of fleece (green, white, and sparkly yellow), and ties on with a hot pink satin ribbon.
It's difficult to tie this bib right, because Blossom's bulky head, skinny neck, and bulky body leave little room to work. In short I like the clothes, but I'm a tad disappointed that there wasn't a little more ON the doll! I mean, booties look cute, and so do little jackets! I do like what was included, though...especially the hat! So...what else do I like about Blossom? What DON'T I like? Let's see...
BAD
*Doll is not soft at all. I can understand why plastic was utilized instead of fabric, but there is such a thing as SOFT PLASTIC!!!
*Posability is terrible. Blossom can't sit unless propped up, can't stand, can't wave very well, and can't turn her head.
*Few clothes, unless you count the diapers.
*Face is blank and in my opinion, lacks the usual Lalaloopsy charm.
*Diapers must be handled with care when wet.
*Small parts.
*Bracelet is difficult to put together and difficult to fasten.
*Bib is difficult to tie, though this is likely a problem unique to Blossom (Peanut has a clown's ruff instead of a bib)
*Mine has a shiny mark on her face that won't come off. Again, this may be a problem unique to my doll, but beware nevertheless.
*Gimmick may be considered crude by some.
GOOD
*Blossom is sturdy and lightweight. She won't shatter if dropped, and she's less likely to make a good club, though I still don't advise swinging this at someone.
*Clothes are cute, well-made, and appropriate for a baby doll.
*Accessories are also appropriate and have some play value. If you don't want to change Baby's diaper, you can pretend to feed her Cheerios and then burp her. LOL
*The Lalaloopsy theme is adhered to. Some of the basic features are missing, but it's still obvious that this doll is a Lala.
*Also character-appropriate. This doll is marketed as Blossom Flowerpot, and she lives up to that marketing...right down to the hairstyle.
*Good for smaller children, so long as the charms are taken away first.
*Diapers are colorful and come with several surprise elements that make them valuable play items.
*Gimmick, while crude, provides an original spin on a very old concept.
Drink-and-wet dolls are nothing new. My Gerber baby dates back to...I think she dates back to the 1970's, and the concept has been around long before that. These Lalaloopsy Diaper Surprise dolls take that old idea and put a new spin on it with their charmed diapers. However, the idea of a doll "pooping" charms is off-putting for some. If you read the link that I included above, you'll notice that Miss Emily entitled her review on Moxie Girlz Poopsy Pets "What Were They Thinking?" Not surprisingly, Lalaloopsy Diaper Surprise dolls made it onto a "
what were they thinking" list too. In spite of this doll's cuteness and her originality, I have to say that I agree with this line of thinking. If you stop to think about it, you're literally wearing pieces of doll crap on your wrist! Plus, I can't get over the fact that this doll has a butthole! Since realism isn't the point of this toy one hole that simulated the urethra would've sufficed, but nooooooo, we've got to have something else! Finally, Blossom is hard as a rock. I admit that at the ripe old age of twenty-seven I still like to cuddle with my dolls, and on the evening of November 2nd Blossom was my doll of choice. Yep, I held her on my lap during Skyscraper Live...and she wasn't a very comfortable companion. In short, I advise extreme discretion when buying this toy. If you're not bothered by a doll that is stiff as a board, has an anus, and holds charms in her used diapers, then this is a great little toy. She's also great for games of make-believe if your child is into that; the bowl, spoon, and bottle are perfect for pretend breakfast. However, if you are looking for something soft or are revolted by the gimmick then I'd skip these and go with a Mooshka doll or a regular Lalaloopsy Baby.
I do look forward to crocheting some little booties for Blossom, though! I think I may go with lime green to match the stem on that hat, and little yellow ribbons to match the bib. But before all that can happen...I get to open Christmas gifts!!!!!!!! And I get to watch my sister and brother-in-law open theirs too. I'm particularly excited about one present for them; I got them a special box with some odds and ends inside. Sort of a gift within a gift, so to speak. I'll let y'all know how that goes.
Merry Christmas,
RagingMoon1987
P.S.: I haven't seen any of the Newborn Lalas in stores yet, but they appear to be smaller than this baby doll that I have reviewed here. When I see one I plan on reviewing her/him as well.
