Throwback Thursday review: yes-no clone

I, RagingMoon1987, child of God, Queen of the Moon House, and mother of multiple crazy pets, dedicate this post to fellow blogger Gigi, from whom I purchased this doll.  Gigi runs a blog and an Etsy shop, both entitled ggsdolls, and she has some interesting stuff, mostly vintage things like toys and knickknacks.  I personally have never seen a doll quite like this particular poppet, and her price was very reasonable so I picked her up.

This doll is a vintage yes-no doll from Hong Kong and is apparently a clone of the dolls made by Tsukuda Perfekta.  The Perfekta dolls were relatively small with names like Stella, Minny, and Chako, and they can all nod or shake their heads when one pushes buttons on their backs.  Some of them were also capable of walking.  The brand-name dolls are not thunderously hard to find, but y'all may (or may not) remember that I like clone dolls.  According to this post, Gigi found the doll on Etsy and kept her awhile before placing her up for sale again, thus meaning that Little Dolly has traveled a lot.  She came to me from Guam, and I don't know where she came from before that, but if I have my way she should be home for good now.  As with Hattie and some of my other dolls, I wish she could tell me where all she's been and what all she's seen, as I've heard that Guam is beautiful and that the people there are delightful.  The islands of Oceania have always fascinated me.

Nitty gritty time for the doll now.  I unveiled this young lady's name back in December, but that was eons ago and y'all probably don't remember.  To be fair, I don't even remember, LOL!  To pay tribute to her seller I'll be calling this young lady "Gigi."  Gigi is six inches tall, just like Claudie.  Claudie's post proved surprisingly popular with y'all, so Gigi's going to have to work it if she wants to be as popular as her charismatic friend.

Gigi is blonde like a great many of my dolls are, and her hair is honey blonde, a color that I often see on vintage dolls.  It's worn in pigtails, a style that has been making something of a comeback in the doll world.

This hairstyle is not terribly unlike the one worn by Buffy on Family Affair.  Indeed, the doll made in Buffy's likeness looks a bit like Gigi (or vice versa), except that her hair is curly like the real little girl's hair was.  Like Buffy, Gigi sports little red bows at the top of each pigtail.

I never have been a huge fan of bare rubber bands on doll hair, so I'm thankful for these ribbons.  The fibers feel like saran and are shiny and straight, though I figure if I undid the pigtails they'd have some pretty gnarly kinks from being tied up so long.  From what I can tell the root job is average-good, with no huge bald spots or anything like that.  That's more than I can say for some of my other clone dolls.

Gigi's face has a bit of a Japanese aesthetic to it, which makes sense considering that the dolls she imitates are Japanese and Chinese.

At the same time these eyes also remind me of Liddle Kiddle eyes.  Sizzly Friddle and Kleo Kola particularly come to mind since their eyes are dark like Gigi's are.

I daresay that Gigi's eyes are darker though, being the color of a high-quality toffee rather than chocolate milk.  Gigi's eyes are also painted with more precision than Kleo's are. 

Blonde dolls are all too often painted with blue eyes, so seeing brown eyes on Gigi pleases me.  Being a little girl doll she has no makeup, and her eyebrows are single-stroke and light brown with no missing paint.

If I had to complain about anything it would be...what else but her lip color!  I'm VERY finnicky about lip color apparently, because that always seems to be what I gripe about on dolls.  Gigi's lips are pink and are evenly painted (unlike the lips of other clones I own), and she has cute little dimples, but the lips are a bit too light for my liking.

Oh yeah, there's also this.  I've heard of green ear, but never green forehead!

She's got some on the back of her head too.

The seller was honest about this, and given the fact that these yes-no dolls have part of their mechanisms in their heads I doubt this could've been avoided.  No huge biggie since Gigi's bangs cover this.  Otherwise this head is in pretty good shape.  No oil or crud leaching from the vinyl or any stains other than that one.  The paint isn't anything fancy, but it's all there and it's all on straight...AND Gigi has brown eyes.  As I said above, I always like seeing a blonde doll with brown eyes.  I just hope her whole head doesn't turn green with time!

Oopie, I forgot ears!  Gigi has ordinary little round ears, no piercings or anything.

Blick, I need to bust out the Q-tips and the alcohol.  Gigi's ears are largely hidden by her pigtails, so leaving out earrings was probably a smart move.  Not a bad head for a clone, must say.  It's certainly better than other clone doll heads that I've seen.

Okaaaay...I never can remember whether the body review or the clothing review comes next.  I've been doing these reviews for close to five years now and I STILL can't remember what my usual MO is.  I...oh heck, does it really matter what order I go in???  Here's Gigi's body.

There exists a demo on YouTube of how Perfekta's Stella works.  Gigi WOULD have worked the same way, but unfortunately my ham-handedness has struck again, as I knocked out Gigi's "yes" button as soon as I punched it.  All she has now is a hole.  A hole in her heart that can only be filled by you...

Oh Lordy, there I go with song references again.  There'll be another in a couple of minutes, so beware.  Gigi's "no" button is in her back, and it's still intact.

It can't do much now though, now that Gigi's other mechanism is on the blink.  Her head flops around now more than anything, and it was very loosely connected to begin with, meaning that when I move her her head shifts around a lot. 

Cool, a little headbanger!  Doesn't look like the Shinedown type, does she?

WE DON'T HAVE TO TAKE THIS, BACKED AGAINST THE WALL!!!  Why would I list Shinedown specifically, you ask?  Because my sister headbanged so hard at one of their concerts that she gave herself whiplash, that's why!  She said she had a heckuva lot of fun, though!  LOL, anyway, levers and buttons that stick this far out of dolls' backs sometimes get on my nerves since they limit what the doll can wear, but Gigi's buttons are/were thankfully very kid-friendly (remember that this doll was intended for children).  Her surviving button is much easier to push than the super-long buttons in the backs of the My Scene Fab Faces dolls.  I never owned a Fab Faces doll, but I did handle them in stores and those buttons were long, stiff, and terribly difficult to press.  On the other hand, it was also next to impossible to push the Fab Faces buttons too hard.

The rest of Gigi's body is simply made, just like Claudie's, but since Gigi is made of hard plastic she has rougher, sloppier seams than Claudie.  This is particularly bad on Gigi's feet.

The plastic is very thin on Gigi's heels too.

Dig those toes, though!  Little dollies don't always have nice toes like this, but Gigi does.

Her hands are molded in a similar manner, with rough seams but good molding.

Gigi's arms and legs are straight at the elbows and knees with no molding anywhere, and her shoulders and hips only rotate.  Since Gigi's hips are cut on the diagonal her feet splay apart, just like...what do I always say???

Yep, just like a bimbo on Quaaludes!  LOL, luckily Gigi has a long skirt so sitting like a bimbo on Quaaludes isn't a big deal. 

Regarding clothes, Gigi was once wearing a dress that was mostly yellow, but she came to me in a Holly Hobbie dress plus what I assume are her original shoes and a pair of white panties.

Holly Hobbie dress or no, I quite like it.  It's printed in a patchwork style, and the "patches" are bright and colorful with a wide variation of patterns.  But at the same time it all manages to coordinate.

Oh yeah, and guess what the sleeves are printed with?  POLKA DOTS with the odd flower thrown in.  Very cute.

Unfortunately...c'mon, y'all had to know there was a catch.  Unfortunately the Velcro doesn't close.  The dress is too tight across the shoulders for that.

Can't really tell from the front, though, and the sash keeps everything in place so that Velcro...isn't really needed!  The interior of this dress isn't the best, by the way.  There are a lot of loose threads that like to look sloppy, or worse, catch on Gigi's hands.

I noted above that Gigi's skirt is long enough to keep her decent when she sits, but even if it weren't she has little drawers that keep her even more decent underneath.

Gigi's shoes are vinyl and are thus in little danger of splitting like Claudie's shoes have done.  They're little red bow flats and they fit a little too perfectly to not be original.

Simple little shoes, perfect for a little girl doll.

Regarding clothes sharing, I only have option I consider viable, and I have my doubts even now.  Look at how different Claudie's build is from Gigi's!

But, I'm going for it anyway.  And...

...nope, that doesn't really work, at least not for Claudie.  Claudie's arms are too thick for the sleeves on Gigi's dress, and her arms are also too widely spread for me to even attempt getting both sleeves in place.  Gigi can wear Claudie's outfit, shoes and all, but everything is quite roomy.  Oh yeah, Claudie can't wear Gigi's shoes.

These are tough little shoes, by the way.  One of them ended up being gnawed on by one of my overly inquisitive dogs, but it sustained no damage at all.  Not even a dent.

Time to sum it up!

BAD
*Yes-no mech appears to be fragile...either that or I'm just ham-handed.
*Head flops around a lot, due largely to this now-broken mechanism.
*Cheaply made overall
*Posing is poor
*Can't wear other dolls' clothes...yet.  I have some other ideas that I haven't tried yet.

GOOD
*Face paint is pretty great.  I don't love the lip color, but that's the only problem I can muster.
*Hair is cute, though I couldn't put it in another style if I wanted to.
*A very cute little plaything, albeit a bit fragile.  If you give this one to a kid, make sure they know to be careful with her neck.
*Could wear Claudie's clothes, leaving me hopeful that she can wear other clothes for a doll similar to Claudie.
*Cute overall, and somewhat unique.  Yes-no dolls are not common anymore.

And that, folks, is Miss Gigi!  Certainly took me long enough to finish that review!  Seriously, I postponed this one three times before I finally got off my dead rear and finished it.  Why the delay?  Well, I'm lazy for one thing, but there also isn't much to say about Gigi!  She would've been a bit more interesting had I NOT FRIGGIN' BROKEN HER, but as it is she's just another cute little doll.  She's a welcome little member in my Peanut Gallery, but since her mech doesn't work anymore I can't say for certain whether I recommend these yes-no dolls.  If you do decide on your own that you want one, it might be wise to shell out the extra money for a real Perfeckta doll, as they may not be as fragile.  But as I said above, maybe Gigi wasn't fragile at all.  Maybe I just pushed too hard.  But just to be safe, if you somehow manage to acquire one of these take it easy with those buttons.

Love,
RagingMoon1987