It was...what, two weeks ago that I spoke of it finally being warm enough for
robin's eggs? Well, to quote Annie Dillard, it's summer now all summer long. My little house isn't little enough for my worn-out air conditioner, and as a result it's quite warm inside. Outside unsurprisingly offers no reprieve, so I've spent the past few days with my rear parked in front of a box fan, swigging water and making sure my animals stay hydrated. They don't seem to be too bothered by the heat, but I'm taking no chances. The local butterflies love it though; late last Monday afternoon I got a visit from this lovely young man.
He's a red admiral, and my yard has plenty of them. I know he's not doll-related, but he's just too pretty not to share. I need to plant some butterfly bushes so some of his comrades will visit; I've always been fond of butterflies. In short, it's hot here already and summer's flora and fauna are already making an appearance. At least the cicadas are not out yet; if they were I'd REALLY be lifting an eyebrow, as cicadas usually don't come out until late July.
In other news, my obsession with Oriental dolls continues with a doll that is dressed the way I wish I were right now: scantily! Jokes aside, I always feel like I'm looking a gift horse in the mouth when I review a doll that I received from a friend, but...I don't see too many Momoko reviews out there so my girl is getting a review. I'll try not to be too cutting with my remarks about any issues that come up. Anyway, my friend had life happen to her and asked me if I knew anyone who might want a Wake-Up Momoko for a price that was very reasonable. She didn't ask
me specifically, but I offered up the money and now I have my very first Momoko! The Wake-Up types are usually simply dressed, not terribly unlike my
basic Cami dolls. They're the kind that I...well, actually, I like these Momoko dolls the best because there's no guilt in redressing her if I so choose. Anyway, here's what Momoko looked like when she got here.
"Momoko" roughly means "peach girl" in Japanese, a point emphasized by the doll's logo, seen here. Each O in Momoko's name has a little peach inside.
Miss Emily
thinks they look like naked butts, and I can't say that I disagree. But let's be honest: a peach is fully capable of
looking like a naked butt in real life, albeit a very delicious one. Mmmm, peaches...<drools like Homer Simpson>...Campbell, Missouri's peaches are some of the best, and when the red admirals are out I know that peach and sweet corn season are just around the corner. <drools some more> Hot as it may sometimes get in summer, I wouldn't trade living in the Bootheel for the world.
Ahem, where was I??? Oh yes, a bit about Momoko before I begin. Momoko has been around since
shortly before 9/11, if y'all can believe that (I sure as heck didn't know that). She was first created by a company called PetWorks, and then by Sekiguichi. PetWorks is still in existence and releases a great many other dolls, all of which are cute and unique in their own way. Sheep-girl
Hitszie and Momoko's brat sister
Ruruko are my favorites, but it's hard to pick just one favorite. None of these dolls are particularly easy to obtain, by the way. I didn't ask my friend how much she paid for this doll, but I figure it had to have been at least one hundred fifty bucks American. I think the asking prices for these dolls are fairly outrageous since they're a Barbie-sized doll and not made out of resin or anything like that, so I consider myself pretty fortunate to get this one Momoko doll, particularly for quite a bit less than what her asking price probably was. Plus these dolls are usually fairly well-dressed, so that may factor into the pricing. Sekiguchi does offer a chance to get these dolls at a bit of a discount, by the way...but getting one's hands on a "
Happy Box" as they call it is a bit of a daunting process.
This past spring's Happy Box was gone in less than a day, much to my chagrin; I liked that mint haired Momoko quite a bit. Happy Boxes are neat, though; they have two or three basically dressed dolls and a handful of accessories for the price that one doll usually costs. Omocha Crush (the young woman in the Happy Box link above) has lucked out twice and received three dolls in both her Happy Boxes, so you get what you pay for there. I just wish Happy Boxes weren't so elusive...and I wish that they were released more than once a year. But then again, if they were released more than once a year some of us dolly lovers could get into serious financial trouble!
Bloviating over, Momoko is about 10.5 inches/27 centimeters tall. She's quite a bit taller than Licca-chan/Sachiko-chan, a teensy bit shorter than Jenny, and quite a bit shorter than Barbie's friend Drew. Momoko would have been taller than Jenny, but Jenny's got a big head.
PetWorks and Sekiguchi dolls have no set appearance (not all Hitszie dolls have a black face like the one in the link, for example), and this holds true for Momoko as well. Miss Emily's doll has long red-blonde hair and brown eyes,
Droplet of Sand (my all-time favorite Momoko) has long platinum hair and misty blue eyes, and still others have
blue or brown or black or gray hair and gray or
green or hazel or amber eyes. My doll has chocolate brown eyes and bobbed brown hair with bangs.
I love bobbed hair, on dolls and humans alike. Indeed, I wore my hair in a style like this fairly recently, but unlike my hair Momoko's is completely straight. The fibers are soft and smooth, but not quite as soft as the hair on my Tonner dolls. Momoko's hair is rooted, a feat that can't have been easy as hard as her vinyl head is, and it's very well rooted.
One interesting thing about this hair is that it's cut a little thinner and shorter around Momoko's ears. This is hard to show, but I'll give it a whirl.
Not a bad idea cutting this hair to accommodate the ears, because Momoko has some decent-sized ears.
When's the last time any of y'all saw a doll with ears that stuck out like this??? Pretty darn cute, although this does make some hairstyles a bit less flattering.
Now to the face. Momoko has a pretty ordinary face. Since she's supposed to be a Wake-Up doll she's rather fresh-faced, but there are a few touches of makeup here and there.
Her eyes are centered and are a lovely single shade of brown, with two little upper eyelashes for each eye and a band of peachy eyeshadow along the top lid. Her eyebrows are very, very light brown (a bit TOO light for this hair) and convey a smidge of sauciness.
Miss Emily noted that Momoko has a ski-jump nose, and sure enough, she does. I love this, as there aren't many dolls out there with noses that turn up a bit. Plus my sister has a ski-jump nose, and this makes me think of her. One thing I don't love about Momoko in general is that her mouth hangs open all the time. See?
All Momoko dolls are like that, including my beloved Droplet of Sand and
this lovely little girl, so I'll just deal with it. I guess I can pretend that she's got allergies and thus has to breathe through her mouth a lot like I do, LOL. Speaking of the mouth, Momoko's lips are a lovely shade of peach, a bit darker than her eyeshadow.
I like the shade and shape of these lips, but I wish that lip color had a bit more gloss to it, or some sort of detail. As they are right now these lips look like...well, like paint! This is not a problem unique to my Momoko, by the way; Sekiguchi appears to love matte lips almost as much as Mattel does. Maybe my exposure to the detailed lips of Pepper Parson and my Ai Dolls has spoiled me a bit (LOL again). If I wanted to I could have Momoko repainted and customized, as some of this customization work is
quite breathtaking, but in spite of the light brows and flat lips I think I'll leave this doll as she is for awhile. She's got a nice clean un-made-up look that is accurate for her "Wake-Up" title, but will also loan itself well to any outfit I choose to dress the doll in.
Speaking of clothes, Momoko's body is made out of hard, lightweight plastic. It feels a lot like
an Obitsu body, in fact, and it's jointed in many of the same places.
I'll just warn y'all right here and now that Momoko won't be able to do everything that Emiko can, but her posing is not to be sneezed at either. Her neck turns AND tips, which I wasn't expecting.
She has ball-jointed shoulders that swing out and rotate like so.
Her elbows are interesting in that they bend in BOTH DIRECTIONS!!!
Ouchie, looks like she got her elbow broken! Luckily there is a rhyme and reason for this, as Momoko's elbows also rotate. This rotation plus the bending at sharp angles allows her to do this...
...AND this.
Momoko's wrist joints look bizarre, like her arm is bending at the end of the forearm rather than at the wrist itself.
The wrists do have a nice range of back-and-forth movement, but they can't rotate. That's a bit of a bummer since so many dolls on this scale have wrists that can rotate, but having joints here at all is quite nice so I'm not going to complain too loudly. Again, these weird wrists are common to all Momoko dolls.
Molding in the hands is average good, as Momoko has little fingernails showing. Her hands all one piece, with molded divisions between the fingers but no separations. There's an eensy bit of loose plastic between the fingers on Momoko's left hand, but this is only visible under close photography (unlike
certain other dolls that I own).
Moving down below now, Momoko has a surprisingly nice figure for an Asian fashion doll (
Licca,
Jenny, and my unreviewed Mimi are all relatively flat-chested compared to this doll). She's also got some clavicles molded in, another thing that I don't often see on dolls.
She also sports a joint right below the bustline. It turns about a quarter of the way around in either direction, but it doesn't turn around all the way.
More current Momoko dolls have waist joints that tip and tilt, but my doll isn't one of those. No biggie, at least she has a waist joint!
Regarding leg joints, Momoko's hips are probably her worst joint, but that's not saying much because they still have a very nice range of motion. They don't move sideways very far...
...but front-to-back splits are a cinch for Momoko.
Knees are simple hinge joints that only kick back...
...but they can bend to a respectably sharp angle. Momoko can kneel with ease, and she has no trouble staying in the kneeling position.
Momoko's ankles are hinged like her knees and wrists...
...and they have a FABULOUS range of back-and-forth motion. No rotating or side-to-side motion, though.
The molding of the feet is about the same as the hands, with divisions for toes and little toenails.
Momoko goes barefoot all the time so her soles are a little groady. It's hard to see in this picture, though.
Veteran and rookie Momoko owners attest that this doll has great balance, so I decided to see for myself what she can do. Indeed, she can stand up fairly solidly, more so than my old President Barbie can.
Her feet don't even have to be directly underneath her.
Just for grins I attempted some more abstract poses, things that I didn't even think to try with the other jointed bodies I've got. Momoko can balance in this deep knee bend, something that I doubt my Made to Move Barbie could do due to her weak ankles.
Momoko can even stand with most of her weight on one foot, provided the other foot is touching the ground for balance. I admit that it took a little bamboozling to get Momoko to hold this pose, but it can be done.
Somewhere during the span of this review I stumbled across an article about
feral child Genie, who had a particular way of walking (among other things). Her caretakers referred to Genie's unusual gait as her "
bunny walk" due to the way she held her hands out like little bunny paws. Out of sick curiosity I posed Momoko in a similar stance.
Yes, Momoko has the bunny walk down pat. Not a bad body, though I'll be treating these ankles and wrists with extreme care. I know for a fact that Momoko's ankles can be fragile and crack, and...I'm not sure about her wrists, but they're made of the same plastic and are of the same construction as those ankles so I'll just err on the side of caution and be careful with both wrists and ankles.
Being a Wake-Up doll, my particular Momoko is lightly clad in sleepwear. Some of the Wake-Up girls are dressed in
dainty little negligees, or
full-length pajamas, or occasionally
simple dresses, and some of them even come with
little Monchichi figures. My doll got this very cute romper instead.
During my high school years I'd liven up dreary winter days by wearing brightly colored plaid button-down shirts to class, and my favorite shirt happened to be the same red plaid as this. This looks quite a bit like
Clan Wemyss tartan, but I'm no expert on the various plaids and tartans so don't quote me. Anyway, this garment is interesting in that it has no fasteners ANYWHERE! Not in front, and not in back. See?
The fit can be adjusted by this cute little drawstring. Unlike most of the decorations on doll clothes this does function as a legit drawstring. I usually just leave it loose, since pajamas are supposed to be loose anyway.
The seams and hems are impeccable.
The only gripe I have against this outfit is that it's short enough to get caught in Momoko's hip joints. That's more annoying than anything, and it's easily fixed. Ooops, I forgot to show the tag! Momoko's romper is tagged with the Sekiguchi logo.
Since Momoko is the same scale as Jenny and petite Barbie dolls there are a lot of options for sharing...but unfortunately the first outfit I tried out turned out to be a disappointment. This one...oh gosh, I can't remember where this outfit came from, but it's a Barbie outfit. The top fits fine, but the skirt is too loose and slides down over Momoko's hips. The shoes belong to
Minnie, one of my little Fashionistas, and they fit loosely enough that pushing the shoes on did not strain Momoko's ankles.
While digging for Minnie I unearthed my modern-day Skipper, and since she's skinny and petite I promptly stripped her. Momoko can wear the full outfit with no difficulties, shoes and all. The skirt is a tiny bit big, but the blouse holds it in place. Again, the shoes slid on without endangering Momoko's ankles.
Next I tried the Diva Starz outfit that I regularly shove on one of my Jenny dolls. It fits Momoko better than it does Jenny, though I didn't dare try to snap those shoes on.
Jenny's Bandai Barbie dress also fits, though it's a tiny bit tight across the chest. Jenny's blue shoes are a hair too big.
Given the fact that Minnie's gingham blouse did fit Momoko I kept scrabbling for Barbie clothes that would fit. Let's face it, Barbie clothes are the easiest to find! My persistence paid off more or less with Mattel's new Care Bear dresses, though they all fit differently. This cute pink Share Bear dress fits fairly well, though the bodice is a little bit loose. It's also a little babyish for Momoko, but I could make this work with the right accessories. By the way, notice that Mattel didn't put shoes with any of these outfits. That irks me BIG TIME, but that has nothing to do with the way these outfits fit Momoko. The Share Bear dress works.
The next little frock has my homeboy Grumpy Bear on it. I strongly suspect that this was intended for a curvy Barbie, but it also makes a passable nightie for Momoko. The headband that came with the dress even fits; I wasn't expecting that.
This last outfit was clearly meant for a tall Barbie, but in a pinch it does fit Momoko. I don't care for the loose fit of the top, as it bags on Momoko's trim figure.
That's not too bad a selection, really! Momoko can wear some of Barbie's things and probably most of Jenny's things, and at least some modern Skipper things. What a shame Mattel doesn't make clothes for Barbie's siblings anymore; I'll have to turn to Etsy for that. The Diva Starz outfit that I have on hand also fits, but the only place one can find those anymore is on eBay or (again) Etsy. Of course, Etsy also has things specifically for Momoko, and for Pullip dolls as well. Momoko and Pullip appear to share a body and can thus share clothes, so if any of y'all are Pullip fans keep that in mind...if you didn't know it already.
Time to sum it up!
BAD
*Wrist joints look awkward, and joints in general may be fragile
*The head mold has good and bad points, with the worst being Momoko's gaping mouth. This problem is common to all Momoko dolls.
*Can be pricey, especially if one buys the doll straight from Sekiguchi.
GOOD
*Posing is pretty great. I wish this doll's ankles and knees rotated, but otherwise the joints are amazing.
*Face paint is simple, and thus has no mistakes. It's also nice and subtle, though the lips are a little matte.
*I love this hair. It's short, it's manageable, it's shiny...I love it.
*The outfit, while simple, is very well made and very sturdy.
*Can wear Pullip, Takara, and some Barbie and Skipper clothes. Etsy also has plenty of options.
*The Wake-Up dolls are a fairly affordable option for Momoko fans.
I was afraid when I started reviewing this doll that I'd have a ton of criticism to heap on her, but to my surprise I don't. Oh sure, I could complain about my doll's gaping mouth and her matte lips, but plenty of Momoko dolls have those. Being simply dressed, my Momoko dodged several of the problems that Miss Emily's doll did (her doll had stains on the dress and a button loop that was falling apart). My Momoko also doesn't have the cracked ankle that Miss Emily's poor dolly did have, but I'll be taking care with her joints just the same. Cracks can appear at any time. So...does my Momoko deliver??? Yes, I have to admit that I'm quite happy with this doll...but would I get another one if I had the opportunity? Maybe if I got a sweet deal on the secondary market, for a doll that I fell in love with in the past like Droplet of Sand or
Space Rendezvous. For now money prevents me from getting another Momoko, but no biggie, because the one I've got is still new! LOL, for those of y'all considering a Momoko, I say that if you can afford it, go for it. She's especially a must-have for Pullip fans since the two can share dresses. Just watch for cracked joints!
Your friend,
RagingMoon1987
