Throwback Thursday review: Ai Doll "Almond" and "Prairie Gentian"

Since I did their distant cousins last week I think I owe it to my Ai Dolls to review them as well.  My two are Prairie Gentian (left) and Almond.

That's how they looked straight out of the box, but usually my two look more like this.  New wigs, new dresses, new little booties...and a new watchdolly.

Oh sure, Alistair may LOOK gruff, but my pint-sized poppets are in good hands when they're with him or Johnny.  Both my boys love "tinies," the term for any ball-jointed doll that's smaller than a Yo-SD.  Ai Dolls are from Jun Planning/Groove, just like Pullip and her friends are, but unlike Pullip they are small ABS ball-jointed dolls with strung joints, wigs, and inset eyes.  There are sixty-four of them all told, and all are named after flowers.  Since these are made out of ABS plastic and not resin they are off-topic on Den of Angels, though that hasn't stopped me from posing them with my on-topic dolls, which is NOT against the rules on DoA.  I don't own any tiny resin ball-jointed dolls so I can't describe how an Ai Doll compares to something like a Wishel or a PukiFee or a small Bobobie, but I can give an estimate in size.  Ai Dolls are five inches/12.7 centimeters tall, taller than the old-school Kelly dolls and Little Dals, but shorter than Jan and Chelsea.

Now that I stop to look more closely, it's possible to tell that Dal and the Ai Dolls are distant relatives.  Look at their pouty lower lips!

Since I brought up Yo-SDs, here's how Ai Dolls compare to my Yo-SD-sized dolls Ju-hwang (left) and Chloe.  Ai Dolls are small enough to sit in Chloe's lap, but it's not as roomy a lap as Alistair's is.

To make things a bit easier for the blog I gave these two nicknames; Almond is now "Marzipan," after the candy made out of almond paste, and Prairie Gentian is now "Hope," since prairie gentians symbolize hope.  Both the almond blossom and the prairie gentian are stunning flowers, and I think it's a shame that my two dolls didn't have outfits inspired by these flowers.  A few of these dolls do look like their namesake flowers (Marigold is a prime example), but most do not.

Now...both of these dolls are wigged.  The wigs are/were attached with little bits of Velcro, and wouldn't y'all know, both of these wigs are done up in styles that will become a hot mess if they get snagged by the Velcro.  Marzipan's wig is an unusual milky off-white shade that fittingly resembles the inside of an almond.  The fibers are smooth and are gathered into two little pigtails.  These pigtails are in turn styled into two thick sausage curls.

These curls were sewn into place and are topped with small red satin ribbons, but I recently had to reset the curls so the ribbons aren't sewn to the hair anymore.  Getting the style redone was not an easy or enjoyable task.  Anywho, here's the ribbons.

Why did I have to reset the curls, you ask?  You'll see.  This wig is not particularly thick, by the way; see the thin spot in the back where the part is?

Hope's canary yellow wig is no easier to maintain as it's styled in numerous little pipe curls, not unlike the hair of my Girls of Many Lands doll, Kathleen.

It also has bangs up front, which Marzipan's wig does not have.

Hope's wig is lovely aesthetically but it extremely hard to keep nice.  Due to the difficulty in keeping these wigs neat I usually just keep them in storage and have my girls wear alternate wigs.  Ai Dolls take a size 4 or 4.5 wig, and wouldn't y'all know I ordered these two wigs from different Etsy sellers.  It's not like I ever would've wanted to share that information in a blog or anything like that...har har.  Anywho, after some digging I determined that Marzipan wears wig number L-M01 from evali905.  My particular example is a size 4.5 in honey brown and is gathered into two little braids that curl at the ends.  It is made out of mohair and is very soft and wispy, perfect for a little girl's hairstyle.

Hope's alternate wig came from MagicDIY and is a simple lemon-colored fur wig, my favorite kind of ball-jointed doll wig.  I tied it up into to little pigtails to make it more interesting.

Call me crazy, but if given a choice between a fur wig and a fiber wig, I usually pick fur.  Most of it's not real fur, and the fur that is real is the kind that can be shorn off the animal and wefted to a wig cap with no harm done to the animal.  All of my ball-jointed dolls wear fur wigs except for Johanna and Guinevere, because I like the wild, windswept look that fur gives my resin clan.  Oh yeah, my Make it Mine doll Hailey also wears a fiber wig, but she could wear fur too...and out of curiosity I may get her a fur wig in the future; her cutesy little bunny outfit begs for a pastel wig.  Anyway, I like the stock wigs for these dolls, but I'm not crazy about the way they attach.  I've never been a huge fan of Velcro for doll wigs as it tends to snag the hair.

Down to the head now.  It should be fairly obvious by now that Marzipan and Hope have two different head molds.  According to Pullips and Junk there are four head molds available for Ai Dolls, two with wide-open eyes, one with closed eyes, and one with squinty eyes.  Pullips and Junk numbered these in the order that they made their debut, with Hope having head #2, a distinctive mold with closed eye sockets and no inset eyes.

This was not an oft-used sculpt, having been used on five dolls.  Hope is Prairie Gentian, and the other #2 heads belong to Hyacinth, Lupinus, Madonna Lily, and Marigold.  I would love to own Marigold one day, as she's dressed in yellow and is adorable.  Anyway, since #2 eyes are molded shut there's no need for inset eyes.  The interior of the head is thus empty except for the magnets that hold the headcap on and the hook that holds the doll together.

Hope's face is painted accordingly for a little doll that is eternally asleep.  Her two-tone, multistroke eyebrows are set in a neutral position, and if you look closely it's possible to see two fine brown lines in the crease of the eyelid, done to simulate the creases in real eyelids.

Hope has thick black (molded) eyelashes and a touch of blue eyeliner thrown in.  I'm unsure if this blue is supposed to simulate shadows or if it's legitimately supposed to be makeup, but either way it's there.  Her nose is narrowy, and mouth is a tiny, pink mouth with individual lip creases painted in, something that can't have been easy to do.

Unfortunately Hope has a lot of dust on her face.  I can blow or brush that crap off of her, but obviously I haven't done that yet!  Those black spots and lines are NOT paint gaffes, though.

It's hard but not impossible to tell heads #1 and #3 apart; #1 has a small, pouty mouth and #3 has a sneaky little smile.  Marzipan has a #3 head.

#3 is more commonly found than #2, with eighteen little dolls sporting it.  Marzipan shares her head with Apple Blossom, Azalea, Bluebell, Clover, Cuphea, Ginger, Gloxinia, King Protea, Matricaria, Nerine, Phlox, Phylica, Rhodanthe, Strawberry Candle, Torenia, Vinca, and Zinnia.  Lordy, I've never even heard of some of those flowers!  My favorites of the #3 group are Gloxinia, Rhodanthe, and Torenia, though it's hard to pick just a few.  Due to this particular head having open eyes the inside of Marzipan's head will look different from Hope's.  In addition to the magnets and the hook there's an extra part sticking out.

The extra part is this thing, which I rarely use. 

This thing is meant to hold the eyes in place if one prefers not to use the more traditional putty, but I don't like it.  It's very hard to get the eyes reliably positioned with this thing, and even when the eyes are properly in place the doll looks slightly wall-eyed.

I usually just use putty on Hope like I do all my other dolls.  Hope takes the smallest eyes of all my ball-jointed dolls, with her stock eyes being blue 10mm full-rounds with little stems.

They're very pretty eyes in a lovely shade of my second-favorite color, but these close-up images reveal that the iris is a little pixely.  This cannot be seen from a normal distance.  Like the majority of ball-jointed dolls I can change Hope's eyes if the mood strikes me...and if I can find eyes small enough to do the trick!

Unlike Hope, Marzipan has her Velcro strips intact.  They are both a blessing and a curse, but mostly the latter, as these Velcro strips are why I had to reset Marzipan's wig.  The Velcro catches on the fibers and pulls them out of shape, and the style gets messier every time I do it.  Thus these strips' days are numbered.

When I peeled Marzipan's strips off I found these little lines, which I assume are pencil markings used to help line the Velcro strips up.

Marzipan's faceup is more subtle than Hope's, but no less well-executed.  She too has multi-stroke eyebrows in a light shade of brown, plus some painted eyelashes and a line of pink paint along the lower eyelid.  I assume that's meant to simulate the natural color of an eyelid.

The most obvious difference between Hope's #2 head and Marzipan's #3 head is the eyes, but there are other differences too.  Here it's possible to see that Marzipan has a wider nose and a wider mouth than Hope does, and that Hope has a bit of a smile molded in.  Or rather, she would if the corners of her mouth were painted a little higher.  One has to look closely, but it is possible to see that Marzipan's painted dimples don't line up with her molded ones.  Otherwise the mouth is painted as well as one could expect for a small doll, complete with little lip creases painted in.

Somewhere along the way Marzipan has picked up some stains of...of SOMETHING, visible as the dark smudges on her chin and right cheek.  These are NOT paint flubs done at the factory, but rather some mishap that I perpetrated somewhere along the way.  I've not been able to get these off with just a light scraping of the fingernail, and I daren't do anything more drastic lest I demolish the rest of the paint.  Yes, Ai Dolls have a "face-up" just like Ju-hwang and my resin ball-jointed dolls do, and too much of anything will take off the paint.  This isn't a huge deal as the paint can always be reapplied...BUT I CAN'T PAINT EYEBROWS!!!

These bodies...these bodies are typical of a ball-jointed doll in that they're anatomically correct, though it's nothing gross or in your face.  When I disrobed these dolls I was surprised to discover that Hope is quite a bit paler than Marzipan is.  Such color variations are common among resin ball-jointed dolls, but I was unaware that the same thing could happen to plastic ball-jointed dolls.

Please ignore the gom on Hope's head.  That's the stuff that used to hold her Velcro on, but does no longer.  I'll have to take some Goo Gone to that head or something like that.  Anywho, all Ai Dolls have female bodies, even though several of these dolls are clearly supposed to be little boys.  Leptospermum is my favorite of these, by the way; he has a snarky little pout that makes me giggle, and he has a wild wig like my Johnny does.  Digression over, the molding on these bodies is lovely.  They have that slightly delicate feel to them like strung dolls inevitably will, but they don't threaten to break at the drop of a hat like resin dolls sometimes do.  Their bellies have little nipples and outie bellybuttons.

The hands are interesting, in that they're two different molds.  The left hand is always open, with the fingers slightly curved like so...

...while the right hand is always pointing.

These dolls also have nicely molded feet, with an arched instep and five little toes with five little nails.  The soles are largely flat except for the arches.

Like most good ball-jointed dolls Ai Dolls are strung using the standard white elastic cord.

Posing in a strung doll can be a mixed bag, with some posing well, some posing poorly, and some in the middle.  My two Ai Dolls unfortunately fall into the poor category.  The only poses I can get their arms to hold are completely straight and bent like this.  The wrists don't bend much at all, though they do rotate nicely.

Knees aren't great either, though they're better than the arms.  They allow Hope to sit on the edge of my shelf, or with her feet straight out in front of her.  The ankles rotate, and they flex a little more than the wrists do, though it's still tricky to get these feet in a decent position.

The Ai Dolls can recline convincingly, though, which is a perfect position for a closed-eyed doll like Hope.

Now to clothes.  Dolls from Groove tend to be fairly well-dressed, and my Ai Dolls are no exception.  Unfortunately neither doll has an outfit that matches their namesake flower, or even the color of the namesake flower.  Almond blossoms are white, and yet Marzipan is wearing...red.

Marzipan's ensemble appears to be inspired by either an old-style waitress uniform or an old-style candy striper uniform.  I have yet to determine which, but it's a cute outfit.  Now, starting from the top and moving down, Marzipan's blouse is made of red and white striped fabric with a white button panel.

The button panel has six silver buttons (six???  why not three???) which are riveted on like the studs on blue jeans are.  This button panel also conceals a strip of Velcro.

The cuffs are trimmed with narrow little pieces of red satin ribbon.  Unfortunately it's also possible to see that these cuffs are not hemmed well.  Sad face.

Sewn to the front left of the jacket is this cute little silver star.  I'm not sure what that's for, but I like it.

Now the back...the back has my favorite part of this whole outfit:  a cute cherry applique on a silver star base.  I think these are called "souvenir jackets" in Japan.  The back also has some gathers at the waistline, which I don't like as they make the jacket bunch up and ride up at the same time.

The jacket looks great from the outside, but inside...well, frankly the inside could be better.  Oh, it's not terrible, but the glue holding the applique on has yellowed some, which would have been a serious problem were Marzipan a resin doll.  The hems are a little raggy in places too.

Underneath the jacket Marzipan wears a little red rah-rah skirt with a waistband that matches the jacket and white trim on the hem. 

The skirt is tagged (as is the jacket).  Here it's also easy to see how nicely the hem of the skirt is finished.

Well, for the most part it's nicely finished.  There are a few loose ends here and there.

The skirt holds closed with Velcro, just like the jacket does.

Such a short skirt won't do without something underneath, and there Marzipan wears these cute little red bloomers.  They get the job done and fit well, but they restrict Marzipan's hip motion quite a bit.

Now from the useful parts of the outfit to the USELESS!!!  Here we have a repeat of last week's review, with a hat that I absolutely, positively hate.

Oh sure, it's cute and for the most part it's well-made, but that Velcro loves to come undone and then catch in Marzipan's wig, and THEN refuse to let go.  Thus why I had to redo Marzipan's pigtails.  Plus, there's two straps, but NEITHER of them work the way they should.  The strip that closes with Velcro is too short to hold the hat on, and the buckled strap is only long enough if I don't double up the end.  And if I don't double up the end, the end slips out!  Bad hat.  I very rarely use it.

Now footwear, I do use quite a bit.  Marzipan wears these cute little white socks with red bows attached...

...and red pleather shoes with a thick sole.

The ties of these shoes are glued together and I'm thankful for that, because I never would've been able to retie them.  The inside of the shoe has a little white insole, not something one sees every day on a doll shoe.

Alrighty, so Marzipan's clothes are cute and well made for the most part, but they have a few tiny hiccups (and one big one with that stupid hat).  Now here's what hope wears.

Hope wears a dress instead of a jacket and a skirt.  Usually I am glad for separate pieces in an outfit, but in this case I'll make an exception.  Marzipan's jacket looks cumbersome, particularly around her little waist, while Hope's dress is more fitted.

The dress is relatively simple in construction, with a solid red bodice, a flowered skirt, and this big white portrait collar with red trim and white lace edging.

The skirt is trimmed with more traditional lace, the kind that could snag if tugged on.

The interior of this dress looks pretty good, certainly better than the interior of Marzipan's clothes.  Some of the seams look a little rough, but they'll hold together with no problems.

Hope's derriere is also covered, but she wears pantaloons instead of bloomers.

These are gathered at the ankles and are trimmed with lace that matches the lace on the dress.

This fabric is a bit loosely woven so the interior looks a little ragged, but it's nothing to be too concerned about.

Unlike Marzipan, Hope doesn't have any shoes.  Her feet are clad in these little socks, which are rolled down at the ankle and trimmed with red ribbons and lace.

Hope wears a hat just like Marzipan does, but it's head and shoulders above Marzipan's headgear.  Instead of an ill-fitting headband, Hope sports this very elaborate bonnet.

The bonnet is made of the same two fabrics as the dress, and it's trimmed all over, inside and out, with lace.  The interior of the brim has this large lace panel that frames Hope's face in a becoming manner.

The back and sides are trimmed with ribbons.  The back sports this red satin bow...

...while the sides sport double bows, white lace and red satin, with white pearlized beads.

When I first got these dolls I was expecting this bonnet to be fastened with Velcro like Marzipan's darned hat is, but the bonnet mercifully ties under Hope's chin with this red satin ribbon.

Part of the fun of owning a ball-jointed doll is buying stuff (usually clothes and wigs), and my girls are fairly well endowed in the wardrobe department.  Spare clothes came from Nubanded, SunshineCottage8, and Penny's Tiny Closet...and unfortunately this led to me making a bit of a mistake.  The first dress I ordered from Penny's was this dress, sized for a PukiPuki.  At the time Penny's allowed the buyer to customize the dress they wanted, so I ordered a dress in cloud-colored yarn with purple ribbons.  It looks cute on Hope...

...but unfortunately PukiPuki clothes are too small for Ai Dolls.  Oh sure, I got the dress and the booties on, but the booties are VERY tight and the dress is short.  No worries, I'll just set this little frock aside for any PukiPuki that might decide to move into the Moon house.  I'm hoping to attract a Pongpong!

Fortunately this was a mistake I learned from, and when I ordered from Penny's again I bumped the measurements up a size to a PukiFee/Lati Yellow-sized dress.  I also went all-out with the colors for this second dress, requesting sunshine yellow yarn and blue ribbon.  Penny's did not disappoint.

With this particular purchase Penny's included a number of little freebies.  In addition to the dress I ordered I received these two dresses and a pair of pink socks...

...plus this cute hat.

Bumping the size up to PukiFee and Lati Yellow proved to be a wise move, as Penny's Lati Yellow-sized clothes fit nicely.  I remembered this when I ordered from SunshineCottage8 and the results were very good, though Hope's new dress and hat were/are a teensy bit big

My two Nubanded dresses are specifically for Ai Dolls and Hujoo babies (repeat, Hujoo Babies, unfortunately NOT for Ju-hwang), and unsurprisingly they fit wonderfully. 

The quality on all these little items is excellent and I can't recommend them enough.  The crocheted items should be treated with care since there's always that risk of a knot pulling loose and unraveling, but otherwise I'm 100% happy with these tiny garments.  If any of y'all are looking for clothes for Ai Dolls, PukiPuki clothes are best left for PukiPuki dolls, clothes for PukiFee and Lati Yellow are a teensy bit big but not ridiculously so, and clothes for Hujoo babies are a perfect fit.  There are also clothes for other dolls available at these shops; Penny's appears to be focusing on tiny silicone babies now, in fact.  I need to ask her what the measurements for her baby models are, because if they're small enough I might be able to get some things for my M&M's baby (Red).

Now to accessories.  Each Ai Doll comes in a sturdy cream-colored box that opens like a book and is held closed with magnets.

The "spine" of the box is even marked like a book.  It has the Ai logo, plus the dolls' names in English and...I think that's Japanese below the English script.

The backs of these boxes are stamped with this very large sticker, with the do's and don'ts of owning this doll written in Engrish and...I think Japanese.  Also present is the price tag; apparently the original price of these dolls was eighty bucks a pop, while I got them for thirty bucks a pop.

Inside is a fitted satin compartment for the doll and any accessories she (or less often, he) might come with. 

When the doll is new in the box she/he is tied into place with these white ribbons.

Among the items inside the boxes are these cards that identify and name the dolls.  They also include what the doll's namesake flower is supposed to represent.

Interestingly, both of these cards insist that the flowers in question symbolize hope.  The sources I've found say that the almond blossom represents a large number of things, but according to this card they symbolize...just...well, just hope!  See?

Now, accessories.  Each of these dolls comes with at least one accessory, be it a toy, an extra piece of clothing, something to sit on or sleep in, stuff like that.  Sometimes these accessories coordinate with the doll and sometimes they don't...and Marzipan's accessories fall under the "don't" category.  She came with a skateboard, for crying out loud!

It's a cute, well-constructed skateboard, made out of yellow plastic with red flowers printed on, and little red wheels that actually move.  Unfortunately Marzipan can't use this at all.  She can't stand on it, and she can't sit on it to do any good either.  It's just...there.  I don't get the ice cream cone either.

This is made out of hard vinyl and is painted in three colors that I very rarely see ice cream come in.  Looks like mint on top with some sort of sauce and sprinkles, and that yellow layer could be lemon, but I'm drawing a blank on that blue unless it's bubble gum or cotton candy, both of which are revoltingly sweet.  The ice cream cone makes more sense with Marzipan's waitress-like outfit, but she can't hold it reliably.  To be perfectly truthful, the only useful accessory of Marzipan's is this.

A small white cardboard box with the word "Ai" stamped on the lid.  This was concealed underneath Marzipan's identification card, and it contains brown eye putty.

I haven't used this putty yet, but it's a relief to know it's there at all.

Okay, so Marzipan's accessories confuse me somewhat.  Maybe Hope's accessory will be better.  Yes, accessory; Hope only came with one.  All dolls with #2 heads came in sleeping attire except for Madonna Lily, and thus one of their accessories (sometimes the sole accessory) is a little basket.

A basket for sleeping in, of course!  It has a little flowered pad in the bottom, and a ribbon to tie Hope in place.

The edge is trimmed with lace all the way around.

This basket feels and behaves like wicker, but it looks like (and apparently is) stiffened crocheted fabric.  See the stitches?

Fitting Hope into the basket is a bit of a squeeze, but the fabric flexes to accomodate her.

I like this single accessory better than the two that Marzipan came with.  It can be used for nursery scenes, and it's also good for storage if need be.

Time to sum it up, ladies and germs!

BAD
*The Velcro used to hold the wigs on can mess up the wigs
*Wigs are hard to fix, particularly Hope's tight curls
*Facepaint can chip and the plastic can stain (neither of these problems are specific to Ai Dolls)
*Marzipan's eye mech is hard to use
*Certain parts of Marzipan's outfit are impossible to use (that damned hat!!!)
*Marzipan's accessories (poor Marzipan, I'm picking on her) don't make a bit of sense
*Posing isn't great.  Is it ever with strung dolls?

GOOD
*Velcro comes off of the head easily, so if you grow weary of that you can get rid of it
*Wigs and eyes can be swapped around, just like with resin ball-jointed dolls.
*Face can be repainted and customized, again just like resin ball-jointed dolls.
*Marzipan's problematic eye mech can be bypassed with putty
*Plastic won't yellow as it ages or shatter if dropped like a resin doll potentially could
*Clothes are, with the exception of Marzipan's hat, well designed and do not stain.  Black clothes may stain, though I have no verification of this.
*Hope's accessory is great; both Hope and Marzipan can use it, as can any other tiny that I might acquire.
*Posing can be improved through methods used on regular ball-jointed dolls
*Packaging is EPIC!!!  It can be kept and reused, and it's well constructed and creative.

Poor Marzipan, I was hard on her during the bad section, but in all honesty Hope is the stronger of the two dolls if I take every single piece of the doll into account.  Marzipan's hat could do with a redesign, and her props can't really be used.  One of my bigger dolls could use that ice cream cone, and Licca-chan could probably use the skateboard, but Marzipan has no hope of using either one.  The dolls in general are not for children, and indeed the box says "ages 15 and up."  They're super cute though, perfect for ball-jointed doll fans that love tinies but can't afford a PukiFee or something like that.  I wouldn't recommend these as a beginner's first ever ball-jointed doll due to their tiny size, but they're still good for that person who has a little experience but isn't ready to take the plunge on a resin doll yet.  And for those of you that already have resin dolls, these Ai Dolls make good friends.  Just ask Johnny and Alistair; they'll tell you that Hope and Marzipan are a charm to have around...usually.  Johnny did warn me that Marzipan gets hyper sometimes, but luckily for him (and me) that's not an everyday occurance.  As for me myself, Ai Dolls aren't perfect, but they're worth the effort it took to find one in the first place.

Love,
RagingMoon1987