Throwback Thursday review: Little Dal "Tina" and "Taurus"

Another severe weather system passes with mercifully little damage...around here, anyway.  Matthews got hit pretty hard again, but Malden was spared the worst of it this time.  Now to the review.  Like a few of my past reviews this one is pushing the "Throwback Thursday" envelope a bit since Pullip and her various friends are still alive and well.  However, I haven't seen any of the smaller dolls available for sale in quite some time so I'm going to review them.  My two dolls today are Little Dals, and their names are Tina (left) and Taurus.

Some of y'all may not be initiated into the world of Pullip and her friends, so for that I refer my dear readers to reviews on Classical Alice, Peter Pan, Lir, Elisabeth and Mami, plus the doll's bios on Pullips and Junk.  These dolls are currently created by Groove and were once sold by Jun Planning before Jun tanked.  There are but a few characters in the backstory, with Pullip being at the center of it all.  Dal is the younger sister of Pullip's love interest Taeyang, and she sees Pullip as a rival for Taeyang's affection.  This would make Dal the storyline's antagonist (Pullips and Junk bluntly refers to her as "bratty"), and it also explains the majority of Dal dolls have sulky expressions.  Most, but not all; Madoka has a serious but kind expression, Heart Macaron is halfway smiling, and Sailor Saturn looks a little unsure of herself.  So it depends on the face-up that these dolls are given.  I don't know when Groove decided to make these smaller dolls, but they did and that makes it easier for broke girls like me to afford their products.  Some of these Littles are miniatures of full-sized dolls (Tina falls into that category), some tie in with a series as a pet or other small character (Kyubey is an example), and some are strictly in small form.  Taurus falls into that final group, being part of a zodiac series.  I would love to find Libra from this series, by the way; I'm a Libra, and the Libra doll is beautiful.  Plus I'd like to see if Little Pullip is bigger than Little Dal, just like the full-sized Pullip is bigger than full-sized Dal.  But I'll take whatever Tuesday Morning has, as they're where I got both these dolls AND next week's dolls.

Alrighty, I've blathered enough.  I'll be starting off this review with yet another rabbit trail, but bear with me because there's a method to my madness.  I keep these Little Dals and several other dolls on the shelf with my ball-jointed dolls.  To even things out I put one Dal on one side of the BJD crew, and one Dal on the other.  To further balance things I put one of my "bottle dollies" next to each Dal, like so.  Smile for the camera, y'all!  I mean you, Johnny McSlouch!

Johnny is always such a moper, but in this case I'd say he has good reason to slouch, considering that's his girlfriend's head he's holding.  I think that would bum me out a little too, to have the disembodied head of a significant other in my lap.  I'd have enough money for a body for Johanna if I'd quit spending it on stupid stuff.  Anywho, I bring up this seating arrangement because it's how I compared sizes in this case.  I paired Tina with Cherry Fizz, and it's fairly easy to see that Tina is much bigger than Cherry, but still a little shorter than Cherry's bottle.

Taurus is the same size as Tina, but I paired her with Kleo Kola's smaller bottle.  Taurus is just a teensy smidgeon shorter than Kleo's bottle, and she dwarfs Kleo herself.

Finally, Jan is taller than the Dal duo by quite a hair.  I love the sharp contrast between Jan and Tina's expressions, by the way; it's almost as good as Gerb and Anita.

I'm told that these Little Dals are of a similar size to Petite Blythe and Littlest Pet Shop Blythe, but I don't have any of those so I'll just have to take the word of the Etsy shop.

Hair varies a lot among Pullip and her big-headed buddies, but as far as I know they all wear wigs.  These Little Dals are no exception, and sure enough their wigs are as different as night and day, both in appearance and in texture.  Tina's hair is a deep, dark, unnatural shade of red...oh, I'd call that shade "cherries jubilee" after the dessert.  The fibers are shiny and smooth, but they're also stiff and like to do things I don't want them to do.

As a result I have most of Tina's hair pulled back.  She has a full set of bangs up front and two tendrils hanging loose, but the rest of it is quite long.

Taurus has hair that's this unusual shade of...I don't know if I could call that blonde, very light brown, or gray, but it's an unusual color.

These fibers do not have the shine that Tina's do, but they make up for it by being very soft and manageable.  Thus I let Taurus keep her hair down, even though it's longer than Tina's is.

Taurus has full bangs like Tina does, but otherwise she has no specific style.  In addition to copious hair, both dolls wear headgear of some stripe.  Tina wears permanently attached cat ears that don't look as nice as those of her larger self...

...and this hat, which I hate.

Seriously, I hate this hat.  It is cute and well-made, but it DOES NOT WANT TO STAY ON!!!  It ties on with these little ribbons, and I have a terrible time getting them tied tight enough.

Taurus's headgear is a bit more simplistic:  a stretchy band of fabric with horns sewn on.

At first I got almost as frustrated with this headband as I did with Tina's hat, particularly when I tried to fit it horizontally around her head like the stock photos show.  I quickly abandoned this approach and tied the horns vertically, like this.

Problem solved!

Moving down to faces now, I can't say that I'm a huge fan of the Dal face, though I do like hers better than that of her fish-lipped friend Byul.   All Dal dolls have huge, made-up eyes, tiny noses, and serious mouths with pouting lower lips.  Almost all of them scowl, though the paint job differs from Dal to Dal.  The shade of the plastic used can vary as well; Tina is very pale, for example.  Her nose practically disappears against the rest of that pale plastic.

Tina's inset eyes are blood red with rooted eyelashes and heavily slanted multi-stroke eyebrows, and thank goodness, her eyes are straight.  I imagine setting these eyes wasn't much fun.  Her eyeshadow is relatively light, consisting of red streaks here and there...and her eyeliner is HEAVY!!!  Also visible in Tina's eye is some sort of kanji or character...I'm unsure of what it says, or even what language it's in, but I do know that this little detail was also present on the full-sized Tina.

Tina's mouth has a lot of detail for a mouth so tiny.  Her lips are painted strawberry red and have little creases painted in, plus the ubiquitous black spots in the corners of the mouth.  The creases look sloppy up close, but from a distance they look fine.

Taurus is also pale, but not as pale as Tina is.

Though her color palate is more muted than Tina's, Taurus looks more feisty.  Her eyebrows are thick and are painted the same color as her hair, and they're at a slant like Tina's are.  Her eyes are heavily made up with black liner and gold shadow...but no lashes.  Remember that Tina has rooted lashes.  Taurus's eyes are dark gold like her eyeshadow and are quite pretty.  Pictures don't do them justice.  They're not as straight as Tina's are (notice that the right eye has more white showing), but it's nothing outrageously out of line.

Taurus's lips are a glossy nude shade with white lip creases and a black line for the mouth.  I think it's this mouth that gives Taurus extra attitude, as it's more fully painted than Tina's is.

Very nicely done, both of them.  The eyes are straight and the paint is flawless, and three cheers for me as I've avoided dirtying either of them up.  One of next week's dolls wasn't so lucky.

Now to clothes.  This is going to be fun, because both of these dolls are very elaborately dressed. Tina keeps the black, red, and white theme going with her getup.

Oh Lordy, where to begin?  I'll start at the top, I guess.  This jacket was fastened together at the top with a little stitch, so I wasn't sure if it was meant to be removed.  Given the fact that one stitch is easy to replace I took the chance.

The jacket isn't much to look at when it's hanging open like that, so I tied the ribbons loosely.  Much better!  This looks like it might be layered given the differences in color and in fabric, but can y'all imagine how hard layered clothes would be to make on a doll this size???  Anyway, the front of the jacket is black with red lines embroidered on for a nice pinstriped effect.

The sleeves are made of maroon sateen and are very, VERY fitted.  The ends are even hemmed, quite a feat for a dress this tiny.  The maroon clashes a bit with the red bits of the outfit, though that's only obvious when the lighting is bad.

I was expecting the back to be striped like the front, but to my surprise it's completely plain.  From the back it's easy to see the unusual construction of this jacket, sort of like a reverse tailcoat.

Hemming those sleeves was probably no easy task, but this whole jacket is lined as well.  It's lined in blood red...cotton?  Polyester?  Either way, the lining is red.  The stitching isn't great in places, unfortunately.

I apologize for the lousy quality of these next two pictures, but the inside of the jacket is tagged, making it loud and clear that this is a Little Dal piece.

Tina wears two skirts, one plain and substantial, and the other loud and flimsy.

Or at least it LOOKS flimsy.  It's no toy, that's for certain, but it's not as flimsy as it looks.  This overskirt is a tutu of sorts, with strips of black and red tulle and candy-striped stretch fabric sewn to a black satin band.  None of these strips are hemmed, nor was I expecting them to be, as hemming all that would've been a "complete and utter nightmare."  LOL, I think I may add that to my list of sayings!  Anyway, this skirt may look unsubstantial, but it's as well sewn as a tutu possibly can be.  See the row of stitches?  They look nicer than the interior seams on the jacket.

The skirt fastens with a bit of Velcro.

Underneath the overskirt lies this simpler but more substantial skirt.

The top of the skirt is quite narrow so it will accommodate Tina's slim waist.  Underneath the waistline there are some gathers sewn in.

The bottom part is trimmed with red ribbon and this black tulle ruffle, seen here from the inside of the skirt to show how tidy the stitching is.

The skirt is tagged just like the dress is, though it's washed out in this picture.

Taurus's dress is equally elaborate in appearance to Tina's, though it's less complicated in construction.  It's a long-skirted ensemble, made out of dark brown velveteen that catches pet hair like mad, with other fabrics thrown into the mix.

The sleeves are made of black and white...netting?  Open-knit fabric?  Spandex?  Either way it's stretchy and easy to pull over Taurus's dinky little arms.  The elbows are each trimmed with a black sateen ribbon that is thankfully sewn in place.

Sewn to the front of the skirt are two long strips of this same stretchy fabric, and around the waist is a black satin ribbon.  I assume that this is supposed to simulate either a belt or a waistband.

This "belt" is sewn on in the front and the back but not at the sides.  Thus it can slide around a little and look uneven.  Easy fix (just pull it back into shape), but I thought I'd throw that out there.

The back fastens with a slightly clunky strip of Velcro.

Like their larger counterparts, Little Dals have their huge noggins resting on small, somewhat spindly bodies. 

These bodies are made of hard, slightly rough plastic just like their heads, and usually match the plastic of their heads (notice that Taurus's body is slightly darker than Tina's, just like her head is).  The bodies sport painted skivvies that match the dolls' outerwear, and they are jointed at the neck, shoulders, hips, and waist. 

Most of the joints simply have rotational motion, but the necks are ball-jointed and can tip a little in any direction.

It was while looking closer at these bodies that I noticed...STAINING!!!  That blankety-blank hat of Tina's stained her chin and head.

Damn that hat, I think I'll toss it in storage.  If I want something to get lost, all I have to do is toss it in one of my dolly dress boxes and I'll be lucky if I ever see it again.  LOL, anyway, Little Dal hips are fairly robust in construction, but shoulders are loose and feel like they could snap off if treated roughly.  Here it's possible to see the tiny peg that these arms pivot on.

The dolls' feet are interesting.  They're flat, but they look like they have a high heel molded on as well.  Notice that Tina's shoes and socks are painted on (very nicely, I might add), and Taurus wears no shoes.

I originally assumed that these dolls could not be undressed, but once again assuming got me nowhere.  Etsy has a few things available for Petite and Littlest Pet Shop Blythe, and those clothes can apparently fit Little Pullip and Little Dal as well.  These stock outfits are so nice that I doubt I'll ever want to change these dolls' clothes, but never say never, right?

Oh yes, these dolls also "wear" three-piece plastic stands.  These consist of a rod that snaps into a star-shaped base, and a grip that screws onto the rod. 

Here it is all assembled.

This stand is Taurus's stand, by the way.  Both the dolls have stands that match their color scheme, but Tina is unfortunately missing a piece of her stand.  Wouldn't y'all know, it's the bottom part, the biggest part and the hardest one to lose.  I lost it when I was moving these dolls from one house to another, so God only knows where it is.  I have been unable to find a replacement stand, so hopefully the missing piece will someday make an appearance.

I think I've said all that I want to say.

BAD

*Parts of the outfits are difficult to handle, particularly that infernal hat of Tina's.

*Parts of the outfits can stain, particularly that infernal hat of Tina's.

*Bodies feel fragile and can probably get dirty easily.  The shoulder joints are of particular concern, as they look and feel very delicate.

*Outfits are also somewhat fragile

GOOD

*Highly detailed, especially for something so small

*Hair is nice, though this can vary from doll to doll

*Face paint is even and free of flaws

*Inset eyes are straight, for the most part; Taurus's right eye is a little cockeyed, but it's hard to tell from a distance.

*Can be redressed if the owner desires; I doubt that will be a necessity with my two.

These are a good way to flesh out a Pullip collection without having to spend an arm and a leg.  They're not super-cheap by any means, but they still are more affordable than the full-sized dolls are, and they take up less space.  Granted, they're not as poseable as the full-sized dolls, and their eyes don't move like the full-sized dolls' eyes do, but otherwise they're suitable for someone who wants a Pullip but doesn't have a lot of space.  These are NOT toys though, so keep these a mile away from children, and keep an eye out for staining if your doll happens to be wearing a lot of black.  This is true of full-sized Pullips and Dals and company, so just keep your eyes peeled.  Also use caution when moving these dolls limbs; their shoulder joints feel particularly flimsy.  Keep those grains of salt in mind and these miniature Dal dolls should be a great find for any Pullip fan.

Much love,

RagingMoon1987