Throwback Thursday review: Kari Mitchell and Savannah

The End-of-Summer Bug Brigade has begun to show up at the library.  The big windows in the front are covered in little green grasshoppers, and on Tuesday I made friends with this guy.

He was at least as long as my birdie finger (much bigger than the others), and he hung out on the door all day long.  I'm used to seeing grasshoppers this time of year, but I don't always get to see them this size.

In dolly news, my obsession with clones continues.  This one isn't as old as Polly, Jennifer, and Mariclare are, but she's over ten years old and that's old for a plaything, so she gets a slot on Throwback Thursday.  When I was in junior high our local Dollar General had a nice selection of dolls.  Some were porcelain, some were brand-name Barbie, Bratz, or My Scene dolls, and the rest were clones of varying quality.  They were all relatively cheap (the most expensive ones were ten bucks), and when I needed a dolly fix I was often allowed to pick one out.  I've seen my fair share of lousy clones, but these two are the best that I've seen.  They are Kari Mitchell (left) and Savannah.

Kari's surname is sometimes spelled without a "T" on her packaging, and online circles spell it either way.  She came in all three hair colors, but mine happens to be a blonde.

Most of Kari's hair hangs loose, but she does have two segments that are pulled back like so.

Easy to restyle if need be.  Kari's hair is smooth and very, VERY thick.  I've never owned a clone doll with hair this thick in fact, and it's even hard to find a brand-name doll with hair this thick!  For example, Kari's hair has more body than the hair of most of my Fashionistas (Fashionista in the picture is Tia, #16 "Glam Team").

Moving down to the face, Kari bears a passing resemblance to a Superstar Barbie (example shown is Maeve, from the Dolls of the World line) with that toothy smile, but it's clear that one is Barbie and the other is not.

Kari has a face that's strictly her own, one that has a distinctive mold.

The mold was the same for each doll, but paint varied.  Brunettes tend to have lovely amber brown eyes, and my blonde doll's eyes are an unusual shade of teal.

In pictures they look all blue, but IRL they're teal.  They sport an unusual shade of lavender eyeshadow, long upper lashes, and light brown eyebrows that jive surprisingly well with Kari's pale hair.  The lower part of Kari's face is less stunning, with some light blush and nearly nude matte lipstick.  Matte lipstick doesn't look good on dolls unless it's done just-so, and this isn't just-so.  It's even though, and the overall mouth has a nice shape.

Notice also that Kari sports molded dimples, a feature not often seen on fashion dolls.   Gertrude, seen below, sports the "Teresa" mold (not to be confused with THIS Teresa mold), but her dimples are not as obvious as Kari's are.

Somewhere along the line Kari has acquired a stain on her left cheek, a stain that I've not been able to get off.

I'm not thrilled about that.  It looks too much like a bruise.

I always forget earrings!  Kari has these unusual X-shaped earrings, rendered in pearly white plastic.

These remind me of some bizarrely-shaped cultured pearls I once saw in one of my books.  Instead of the round cultured pearls that we're all used to seeing, these were shaped roughly like chromosomes and were achieved by skipping a step in the culturing process.  Though unusual, these X-shaped pearls are quite beautiful, and I tend to think of them when I look at Kari's earrings.  Indeed, I used to pretend that these earrings WERE those odd pearls.  In short, I like this head quite a bit; the lip paint is NOT great, but I say that about a lot of my dolls' lips.

The clothing has a semi-interesting story, as this outfit is the reason why I picked this particular doll.  It's never easy for a kid to pick a single thing from a shelf of toys, and so it was for me when I was about eleven.  I stood in an isle of the local Dollar General, transfixed by the sight of over thirty Kari Mitchell dolls, some black and some white, some red-haired or blonde or brunette, each one wearing an eye-catching outfit.  I wanted a doll with bright red hair but there were none to be found, and Daddy wisely suggested that I pick my favorite outfit instead.  This one won my vote.

The only other outfit that has remained in my memory was a sherry-colored ballgown on a brown-eyed brunette; I didn't pick her because I preferred my doll's slacks, slacks that were highly similar to a pair I wore during my late teens (I've NEVER even once worn a ballgown).  Reminiscing over, let's start breaking this outfit down.  The jacket is a hip-length black pleather jacket with full sleeves.

As was the style in the early part of the new millenium (and now to a certain extent too), the jacket has a large collar, made of gray and black speckled plush.

Kari's jacket is anomalous among my pleather doll clothes in that it is not splitting.  At all.  Not one rent anywhere.  It's beginning to thin in places, but so far, no holes.

As y'all will see in weeks to come, some brand-name doll clothes don't hold up this well.  Heck, I touched on this in my What's Her Face! review; one of my WHF dolls has a pleather skirt that's super-cute, but it's splitting so badly that she can't wear it anymore. 

Moving on, underneath the jacket Kari wears a black turtleneck tank top.

Nothing super-special about this piece, just a plain knitted top that will look nice with blue jeans or anything I choose to dress Kari in.  Okay, take that back...there is one noteworthy thing about this top.  There is NO OPENING ANYWHERE!!!  In order to get this off of Kari I had to take off her head and work it up over her arms.  Good thing this top is stretchy, and that Kari's head can come off.

The few seams are hemmed but not serged, so there are a few loose ends sticking out in places.  Par for the course with a knitted item.

I don't know of too many people who wear a tank top with a jacket and slacks, as the latter two tend to suggest colder weather and the former does not.  However, long sleeves would've been hard to thread under the jacket's tight sleeves, so this was a prudent move on whoever made these dolls.

Before moving down, notice that Kari is wearing a necklace.

I'm not going to bother reviewing this, because I made it.  I thought Kari needed something nice to wear around her neck, so I put this together.  It's just a simple string of beads, but I love the sparkle that the beads add to this outfit.

Now to these very unusual slacks.  I don't think I ever could've worn these and looked decent (mine were plain gray corduroy), but Kari, like Barbie, can wear darn-near anything and look good.

These are made of the same speckled plush fabric that the jacket's collar is made from.

The waist has a faux belt, made of black ribbon and a white plastic "buckle."

The belt is only attached at the back, where the Velcro is.  This outfit is unusual in that it only has this one piece of Velcro.

Lastly, there's these shoes, which are unsurprisingly black.

These are not Kari's original shoes, but rather a pair of Barbie boots.  They fit Kari's feet with no fuss, and I think that they jive better with this wintry ensemble than the original shoes.  Kari's original shoes were plain black pumps that weren't terribly different from Barbie's high heels.  They fell off at the drop of a hat, so I put them in storage and I can't say that I miss them much.  I do wish I'd been able to find Kari's purse, though; instead of being a plastic piece of crap it's a real little fabric purse, with a clasp and a handle.

That takes care of Kari for the moment, so let's break away from her and look at Savannah.  Savannah is pretty much just another Kari Mitchell doll, but with a different hairstyle and different clothes.  While Kari attempts to look stylish (and does pretty well), Savannah takes a stab at looking like a pioneer.

There are some minor differences between Kari and Savannah, but nothing super-defining.  Savannah has no part in her hair, for one thing.  It's just swept back from her forehead and was once tied in a ponytail, but the rubber band melted and gave way long ago.

The fibers and the color are the same in both dolls, but I like Kari's style better.  It doesn't bulge around her forehead and look weird like Savannah's can.

Another minor but interesting difference exists in...in the vinyl color or the makeup, I can't tell which ATM.  But there's definitely a difference in color.  Kari's face is pale and matte like she's wearing a tad too much makeup, while Savannah's complexion is more peachy and natural looking.

I know a way to figure this out:  just look at their necks!  A doll's facepaint rarely extends past the face, though it does happen.  I doubt that'll be the case here, though.

It appears to be the color of the vinyl!  Kari's head is lighter than Savannah's is.  The rest of Savannah's face is the same as Kari's (minus the bruise-colored stain), so on to clothes we go.

In keeping with the pioneer theme Savannah is not as elaborately dressed as Kari is, but there's still a lot to see here.  I'll start with this bonnet.

The bonnet isn't really so much a bonnet as it is a panel of fabric cut and sewn to look like a bonnet.  It's open in the back, letting Savannah's abundant hair hang free.  Compare that to the bonnet that my Pioneer Barbie, Miranda, wears.

Miranda's bonnet is clearly the more realistic one, but Miranda is intended for collectors.  Savannah is obviously a toy, and her bonnet suits the job fairly well.  I say fairly because of these.

Savannah's bonnet ties on with these navy blue satin ribbons.  They're long enough to get the job done and look nice, but they also are the kind that will snag or ravel in the hands of children.  Take it from a veteran of satin ribbons!  The rest of the bonnet is made from navy blue fabric with pink and green flowers, plus a band of white...bias tape???  I'm not sure what that white stuff is, but it doesn't feel like bias tape.  It feels like polyester of some sort.

The inside is the same as the outside, with the exception of visible raw edges.

 Given my track record with satin ribbons, I was not surprised to see that one of the ribbon ties is fraying at the base.

The dress is made of the same material as the bonnet, and given the popularity of calico fabric during pioneer times, I believe this fabric is supposed to simulate calico.

The sleeves are full-length and are of an unusual shape, being puffed at the tops and fitted from the elbow down.  I thought that was more of a Victorian style, but maybe I'm full of crap.

The collar is white and blends in with the front of the dress, which is a panel of the same fabric.  This panel of fabric has ruffled edges and is trimmed with burgundy ribbon.  A row of fake blue buttons completes this faux opening.

Whew, that was hard to describe!  That front could do to be a little less busy, even if this IS a simple outfit.  The interior is hit-and-miss; the hem of the skirt is nicely serged...

...but the shaping at the waist looks rough.  The stitches are sturdy and show no signs of coming undone, but they look a little sloppy.

Of course no pioneer outfit was ever complete without an apron.  Kirsten wears one, Miranda wears one, and Savannah wears one.

Savannah's apron is white with ruffled edges, just like the ruffles on her dress.  The right side has a large pocket that is trimmed with the dark blue "calico" fabric that we've seen in the dress.  It fastens in the back with Velcro, rather than the fabric ties that Miranda's apron has.

The seams are about the same as those on the dress; finished, but with some raggy loose threads here and there.  The underside of the apron looks better than the interior of the dress.

To my complete surprise, Savannah is wearing little white panties, something that Kari didn't have!  They're simple little panties, made out of gauzy white material, but they're shaped well.  See how the waistband is gathered?

Like Kari, Savannah came with an accessory to hold, but unlike Kari, I was able to keep Savannah's accessory where I could find it.  Savannah was packaged with this rather ridiculous-looking long-stemmed rose.

It's just a piece of plastic that can look cute or stupid, depending on one's opinion.  Savannah also originally had shoes, in the form of ill-fitting dark blue pumps, but modern shoes looked ridiculous with an old-fashioned dress so I took them off and set them aside for some other outfit.  In hindsight this turned out to be a smart idea, because Kari's original shoes stained the holy crap out of her feet.

Great time to review the body!  Yep, I'm through with Savannah's clothes.  Kari and Savannah were created towards the end of the TNT era, and thus their bodies are very similar in shape to those of the older Barbie dolls (Miranda will be my nude model this week).  It's a little blurry, but y'all get the point.  Miranda is tiny bit taller than Kari, and Kari's limbs are smaller, but the basic shape is the same.

One notable difference is at the waist.  Both Kari and Savannah have a waist joint that's cut at a slant, like Longlocks and Glori's waists are.

I was expecting this to make for some unusual motion in the waist, but these waists twist like any other Barbie of the era did.

The other notable thing about these bodies is the neck joint.  Kari and Savannah both have detachable heads that fit on rounded neck knobs.

Other than those two things these bodies are highly similar to Barbie's.  They move in all the same ways, and they can wear each other's clothes.  This means that Kari and Savannah can wear other similarly sized doll clothes, like Sindy, Bibi-bo, and Yue-Sai WaWa.  Savannah can even wear Miranda's clothes, though the bonnet is a bit of a squeeze over that voluminous hair.

The one problem I have with this body is that the feet are a little smaller than Barbie's.  It's not a noticeable difference at first glance...

...but once I put some of Barbie's old-style shoes on the ill fit becomes obvious.  Kari's feet slip a bit too easily out of Stacey's yellow pumps.

Pilar's pink All-American tennis shoes fit better, but they slide around a lot.

Miranda's brown flats fit Kari about as well as they do Miranda.

The more modern-day shoes appear to fit much better, though I think this may be because these boots are over-the-ankle models.  The taller a Barbie shoe's cuff is, the more likely it is to fit.  Kari's big Barbie boots are an example.

Sindy's shoes won't fit Kari's dinky little feet at all, and neither will the pink Bibi-bo pumps.

Yue Sai's green heels probably would fit since her feet are the same size as Kari's and Savannah's, but I've stored them somewhere and can't remember where.

Alrighty, I think that takes care of it!

BAD
*Stock shoes stained Kari's feet
*Face is a little vacant, but no worse than some modern-day Barbie faces are.
*Kari's cheek is stained, and the stain has so far refused to come off.
*Bodies, while sturdy, are not quite as nice as Barbie's.  I'm nitpicking here big time, because the bodies are not bad at all.

GOOD
*Hair is soft, smooth, and thick, way better than most clone hair.
*Faces are well-painted and distinguishable from Barbie's
*Bodies are made of solid plastic and have bendable knees, something that most of my clones don't have.
*Clothes are well-made and detailed, and don't yet show signs of age (remember that Kari's jacket is pleather)
*Can share clothes with Barbie, Sindy, Bibi-bo, and Yue Sai Wa-Wa.  Shoe sharing is only possible with Barbie and Yue Sai, but it can be done.

Of all the Barbie clones I've come home with over the years, these two are the best quality.  I've yet to see hair as nice as Kari's and Savannah's; Kate Kite comes close, but she does not equal them.  Are these my favorite clone dolls?  No, believe it or not; that title goes to Jennifer, whose smile is more contagious than the wide-eyed grins that Kari and Savannah have.  Nevertheless these two were worth the money, and frankly I was surprised that they were as nice as they are...particularly after my experience with OTHER dolls from Dollar General!  I'll show the worst one next week!

Now...I want to again solemnly request prayers/good vibes/whatever you believe in.  I'm having trouble with some backstabbing at work...and Talolili was in a bad car wreck!  She lived and I'm pretty sure she's going to be okay, but she did sustain a head injury and has been feeling pretty sick because of it.  Please pray for a full recovery for my good buddy!

Much love,
RagingMoon1987