Wild Hearts Crew Charlie Lake review

Hello, my little artichokes, it's RagingMoon1987 with another doll review for y'all.  I had intended for my Facebook-free month to be a little more active, but it got hot again here in the Bootheel and work has been busy as well, so what's a girl to do?  Yes, here it is officially fall, and I still break into a sweat when I move about inside my house.  It's getting better, though.  Now, if you remember my Blume review you might recall that I spoke of the Wild Hearts Crew and my fondness for them.  The Wild Hearts Crew is Mattel's latest foray into the realm of edgy, trendy dolls that break the "girl next door" mold.  Thank God they are breaking that mold too, as I've always equated the "girl next door" image with mediocrity.  At the moment the line consists of five characters:  Rallie Radmore, Cori Cruise, Charlie Lake, Jacy Masters, and Kenna Roswell.  All of them have their own semi-unique style and their own personality, and to my great delight they all look different in the face.  Given their colorful hair and makeup I had a hard time choosing (Kenna and Cori were my two initial favorites), but I finally picked Charlie Lake over music-loving Cori and photographer Kenna.

Before I continue I'd like to extend a heartfelt thank you to Barb the Evil Genius for offering me a Cori at a discount.  I was sorely tempted, but I hate buying stuff from people and then saying "I'll pay you when I get paid."  Anywho, Miss Barb's offer was a kind one and I send my fellow blogger a big fat THANK YOU as the thought was super-sweet.  Now, to my great delight there are also extra outfits available for these dolls.  Here's what the first two look like; one has a pizza theme (mmmm, pizza!), and the other has skateboard theme.

Note that Charlie is already wearing the pizza party jacket in her introductory picture.  Why I need these will become obvious once I compare Charlie to Barbie, but let's look at the packaging first.  Of course it has the prerequisite group picture of all five girls...

...as well as the premise behind the line...

...AND a little blurb about Charlie's personality.  She appears to be the group's prerequisite animal lover, but that love apparently extends to her friends as well.

I'm glad to see that.  Usually when a doll line's animal lover is introduced her bio says nothing about the people in her life.  Does that mean she doesn't care about people?  Of course not!  But I still like seeing Charlie make it clear that she loves both animals and people.  I also like that she's included scaly friends in her list of critters, particularly since a lot of teenage girls are at least mildly repulsed by reptiles and amphibians.  That repulsion is becoming less prevalent as time passes, but it still isn't every day that a girl will admit to liking cold-blooded critters.  Oh yes, the side of the box also has a drawing of a cat on it, further cementing Charlie's status as the animal nut of the bunch.

He reminds me a little of Pete the Cat, especially when good ol' Pete wears his sunglasses!

All of the Wild Hearts dolls come with this little leaflet, one that reminds me of the old days when Monster High dolls came with journals.  Charlie's looks like this, complete with this punky little dog on the front!

The back says this, complete with the Pete the Cat lookalike.

Oh my, I can relate to the loud bit!  My father was constantly telling me to keep my voice down, and I've also drawn fire from library patrons for having too big a voice, so I can associate with this.  Charlie also rehashes her desire to help animals that are hurt or abandoned (again, I can relate), and she apparently likes music as well.  She even invites her new owner to share a bit about herself with the question "What tunes your wild heart to calm?"  <pauses to ponder the question>  Well...I like to lie down on my bed, feel the knots ease out of my spine, and listen to music on YouTube, usually a favorite song like "Hush," "Slide Zone," or "Cat Scratch Fever."  Rather strange that I like to relax to a trio of songs that have a fast-paced tempo, LOL.  I'm also on anti-anxiety meds, and that helps a lot.  Indeed, I like to call Celexa my "chill pills" (LOL again).  Rubbing my pets' backs helps too, though my chinchilla would prefer to nibble my fingertips.

Unfolding the leaflet reveals a picture of Charlie, along with some of her personality quirks.

She says she's good at "fixing the hurts of paw and heart," and admits that she needs work with being organized (me too, chica).  And of course she drives her animal-lover status further into the wood with a "can't even" segment:  "Can't even pass by an animal in need.  I have to help it if I can."  Again, I feel you, Charlie; that's why I have six cats, two dogs, a chinchilla, and a bearded dragon.  They were all rescues.  But please tell me there's something else about you that makes you special!  Luckily this leaflet unfolds again, revealing that Charlie made a pinky pact with Kenna Roswell...and look what they've resolved to do together!

They're gonna go find Bigfoot!  That doesn't surprise me since Kenna shares a name with that town in New Mexico that's commonly associated with aliens and other mysterious things.  Seriously, if someone says "Roswell" to me I instantly picture aliens and UFOs, just like I associate witches with Salem, Massachusetts.  The back of Kenna's box had no references to aliens or cryptozoology, but she might speak of it in her little booklet...or I could always pretend that she and Charlie dabble in it!  I love cryptozoology, by the way.  There's no scientific merit to it, but I still love it.  Anywho, Charlie also asks her owner who they have a pinky pact with.  <pauses to ponder the question>  Gosh, I haven't made a pinky pact since high school!  It was with my best friend, and it was a secret that I vowed I'd never, ever tell.  She and I fell out of contact years ago, but I kept my word and never, ever told her secret.

Alrighty, that's something cool, but there's one last panel to look at.  In the last panel Charlie explains that she's different because...aw heck, y'all can read it.

Charlie makes a wise statement, noting that one can be strong and compassionate at the same time, and that one can't exist without the other.  Well said!  Again, Charlie invites her owner to be introspective, asking what makes them different.  <pauses to ponder the question>  Well...I'd say that I'm different because I don't go out of my way to fit in and never did.  I was eleven when I took a vow never to bend over backwards to fit in like the protagonist in The Crystal Garden (my favorite book at the time) was doing.  Even today I won't be what I'm not.  I like these leaflets though, as they encourage the dolls' owners to be more introspective with their answers, rather than asking basic fluff like one's favorite color or food.

The leaflet is the only accessory Charlie came with, so let's start looking at the doll now.  Charlie is of a standard height for fashion dolls, at eleven and a half inches.  In terms of height she's about the same size as P. Bo and Maggie, and a hair taller than Sindy.  Charlie's ball cap may give her the illusion of being taller, though.

Things get a little more interesting when I put Charlie with a bootle of Fashionistas.  Since Charlie has a big head she's the same height as Candace (original body, far left) and Billie Jean (curvy body, second from right), but Candace is taller in the body area (notice that her shoulders are higher than Charlie's).  Petite Vera (green hair, second from left) and tall Francine (red hair, far right) hold their labels well against Charlie.

In the above pictures it's easy to see that Charlie has thicker legs than most of the Fashionistas, meaning that she's got a curvy body like Billie Jean does.  That will probably make clothes sharing interesting, but as I always say, we'll cross that bridge when we come to it.  Let's look at Charlie's hair.  Charlie's BLUE-GREEN hair!

In truth I actually like Kenna Roswell's simply styled electric blue hair better, but I thought Charlie had the superior outfit.  And I'm not going to lie, I love this teal color too.  It looks royal blue in the pictures, but in truth it's teal with very subtle purple highlights.  The style is a little weird, though.  It's a side ponytail, gathered at both the top and towards the middle of the hair, and in between the two rubber bands the hair is twisted in on itself, like so.

That's...interesting.  Not ugly by any means, but not a style I'd have ever dreamed of attempting myself.  I have enough hair to do it, but I never thought of it.  Unfortunately this style got messy in a hurry, but it's a simple one to recreate so I was able to redo it with no fuss.  If I had to compare this style to anything, I'd say that it reminds me of a style that I rarely see on dolls, the herringbone braid.  Such a braid requires a fair amount of hair, and thus it's a rare thing on a doll.  These twisted strands don't simulate the look perfectly, but it's close enough for me.  I like how this style is simple enough for little girls to emulate, unlike Jacy Masters's somewhat-complicated updo or Cori Cruise's halo of violet curls.  Unfortunately I can't give y'all a decent description of the root job since Charlie has that ball cap tacked to her head.

There are three ties, all told:  one in the back and one on each side.

Oh, how I HATE plastic ties, though I can't think of a better way to attach Charlie's hat in this case.  Plus, her head wasn't plastic tacked to the back of her package, which was a pleasant surprise.  Anyway, I can at least give y'all a glimpse of how the hairline is.

Unsurprisingly the hairline looks pretty good.  Hairlines can hide a multitude of sins (or they can be the main problem with a doll), but given the fact that most of my other Mattel dolls have a decent root job I'm willing to bet that Charlie does too.  As for the fibers, they're your usual saran and look a little broomlike at the end of the ponytail.

Now the face.  That...face.  Uh...

...hmmm.  She looks like she's ready to break a heart rather than soothe one.  But then again I have a resting bitch face too, so I know for a fact that looks can be deceiving.  Seriously, people have asked me why I look so angry or sad, and the truth is that I'm usually...neither!  Let's break this down.  Eyes first.

As I discussed in Sindy's and Cinnamon's posts I'm quite fond of eyes, be they on a human, a critter, or a doll.  Wild Hearts dolls all have pretty eyes, and Charlie is no exception.  They're crystal blue at the center and dark blue on the outer rim, with light clusters and thick, heavy lashes.  The eyebrows are brown and a little blocky, and they have these odd lines running through them, not terribly unlike pixels.  The left eye has three stars (two black, one blue) running along the lower left edge of the eye.

When I look at just the eyes I see the sweetness and the vulnerability that Charlie's bio insinuates.  But this mouth is about as sassy as they come!

Charlie's mouth reminds me a little of the saucy mouths on the Bratz and the My Scene dolls, and on Tonner's City Girls as well.  But even they weren't quite as saucy as Charlie appears!  Indeed, the City Girls looked a little blank-faced in comparison to Charlie.  Anyway, I love this shade of red, especially against Charlie's medium vinyl.  I also like that the lips have a little shine, and the fact that they're on straight.  So this face could be worse; I definitely like it better than the pinched-looking smile that Jacy Masters has!  I love the vivid-but-not-garish color scheme too, especially in those icy blue eyes.  Indeed, Daddy would've said Charlie had Siamese cat eyes, with the color and the expression being what they are.  Daddy always meant that as a compliment, by the way; he loved Siamese cats. 

Now for a tangent.  I want to get a closer look at Vera, also known as "Green Mohawk Barbie."

I LLLLLLLOVE THAT HAIR!!!  The style is already falling down a little in the back, but I'm sure I can fix that.  Mohawks tend to stand up better if the hair forming them is thick, and guess who has thin hair?  <raises hand>  I never had thick enough hair to pull off a mohawk, and thus seeing Barbie with such an unusual style is pretty darn sweet.  However, when I posed Vera with Charlie I noticed something.

Vera is cute, no question about that, but her expression is kind of blah compared to Charlie's "kiss my rear" expression.  I love the Skipper head, but I think a doll with a green mohawk should be showing a bit more attitude.  My mother has admitted that she thinks Charlie is the superior doll, and if I were going solely on the face I'd agree, though I do love Vera's eyes (they're violet, LOL).  I will also note that it's a little tricky to get Charlie to look at the camera.  Often I catch her staring blankly or worse, looking a little wall-eyed! 

Moving back from the face a smidge, pierced ears aren't as ubiquitous among Mattel dolls as they once were (notice that Vera wears no earrings), but Charlie does have pierced ears with long, silver dangles.

Yee-ouch, those look heavy!  These can come out, by the way.

Second time in a month that I've been pleasantly surprised by earrings that can detach!  Maybe that means that Sindy and Charlie can share earrings.

Indeed they can, though Charlie doesn't look too happy about it (again, notice how blank Sindy looks in comparison to Charlie).  In short I like that these earrings can come out, but unfortunately this means that they'll be lost quite easily by children...or worse, swallowed and/or choked on.  Charlie's packaging does say that the lowest recommended age for these dolls is six and I'd say that's a fair assumption, but we all know how snoopy younger siblings can be!  The owner of the doll might be of age, but other kids in the house may NOT be!  So these earrings are best removed before giving this doll to a child.  Not a bad head overall, though, and thank God it's not filled with glue.

Right then, let's look at this body a bit more closely.  I must admit it was surprising to see Charlie wearing molded panties AND a bra underneath.

That ought to please some parents, though my sister would've gone into orbit if she'd seen this.  Anywho, I was surprised to find molded undergarments, but I was even more shocked to learn that the Wild Hearts Crew comes in two body sizes.  I don't know why that surprised me, but it did.  Jacy Masters is VERY curvy, and the other four are "standard," though standard is still pretty curvy for a fashion doll.  Here's how Charlie compares to Candace, Vera, Billie Jean, and Francine... 

...and here's how she looks next to P. Bo, Maggie (who has a TNT body), and Sindy (who has a body similar to Maggie's).  Charlie makes Bo look like a twig with big feet.

Good grief, the lighting in these pics is horrendous!  Anyway, Charlie's measurements are interesting in that she's got a torso sized similarly to a petite Barbie, but her legs are closer in size to a curvy doll's legs.  With Charlie's body being different from everyone else's this probably means she won't be able to wear their clothes, but let's look at these joints!  To my delight Charlie and her Wild Hearts friends have articulation.

Oh boy, oh boy, oh boy, I'm excited...but WHYYY can't the Fashionistas have joints like this???  I've noted this before, but I'll note it again:  just look how stiff my Fashionistas are!  The curvy ones have particularly robotic arms, especially poor Deb!

I love the diversity that has pervaded the Fashionistas line, but I miss the old days when they were jointed all over.  The earliest Fashionistas were very close in terms of posing to Living Barbie, though they lack the ankle joints that both Living Barbie and the more current Made to Move dolls have.  But then again the jointed Fashionistas were far from perfect.  I once complained about later Fashionistas and their crummy knee joints, and while I now I wish I hadn't griped (at least Fashionistas were jointed back then!) the joints still had some problems.  Exhibit A:  Elise, a Fashionista with a gimpy right leg.

Elise's eBay listing said she had a Pivotal body but she doesn't, and shame on me for not looking closer at the pictures.  Likely if she did have a Pivotal body she wouldn't have those damnable warpy knee joints.  But she doesn't have a Pivotal body, and she has warpy knees, and Charlie does not have warpy knees.  Indeed, it's possible to see how thick Charlie's joints are, even though they are otherwise identical to Elise's in appearance and construction.

The range of motion in these knees is good, though Charlie can't bend them sharp enough to kneel deeply like my LIV dolls and Momoko and Cassandra and my Obitsu-bodied Emiko can.  She can hold a kneeling position if balanced properly, however.

The knees also rotate, so Charlie can sit or stand knock-kneed or bow-legged or with both legs off to one side if I want her to.

"Can I put my clothes back on now???"

No, Charlie.  In fact we're just getting warm.  Charlie's hips are average for a doll her size.  She has enough rotational motion in them to sit, though I have to move her knees apart to get her fully seated.

Charlie has enough lateral movement for that, but she can't do full side splits.  Neither can I.

However, she CAN do full back-to-front splits.

Charlie has no ankle joints, a teensy bit of a downer but not a huge surprise (not many dolls have jointed ankles).  Instead she's got beautifully molded feet with ten toes and two visible ankle bones.

Her arches aren't flat, but they're not really high-heeled either.

Indeed, they're a little like Sindy's feet, only without the tripped-out arch shape.  Maggie/Barbie's little nubbin feet are also shown.

Charlie's stock boots have sizeable heels, so her flattish feet surprised me.  I'm always ambivalent about doll feet like this; on the good side they're more realistic, but on the bad side it's harder to find shoes for them.  Charlie is one of the few dolls that can share shoes with Sindy, but even if Charlie and Sindy couldn't share shoes it wouldn't have been a huge problem, as Charlie's extra outfit sets all contain a pair of shoes.  Y'know, the way Mattel outfits are SUPPOSED TO DO!!!  But let's move up to arms now.  Charlie has joints in her shoulders, elbows, and wrists.

Once upon a time I thought I was in tall cotton if I had a Barbie with ball-jointed shoulders, but now nearly all dolls this scale have them.  However, they DON'T all have elbow and wrist joints!  Charlie's elbows can bend into a fairly sharp angle, and like the knees they rotate as well.

The wrists are average.  They bend and rotate, but the joints here are quite stiff.  The left wrist is particularly stiff, possibly because of the rubber band that holds Charlie's purse in place.  Note that the rubber band has left some nasty marks on Charlie's fingers.

Darn it, I hate it when that happens!  Hopefully those dents will ease out over time.  I'd say that these hands are the weakest part of Charlie's body, as they're a different type of plastic from the rest of the body and don't have a lot of detail.  This softness exacerbates the stiff movement in her wrists, as softer plastic creates more friction and wants to bend instead of move.  So I'd pick a different material for those hands, but otherwise I'm pleasantly surprised by Charlie's body.

Clothes now.  Charlie's clothes are edgy, but to my delight they're not just this side of slutty like the Bratz' clothes are.

Keep in mind that I am a Bratz fan, and even I'll admit that they're just a little (or just a lot) tacky.  LOL, Charlie's getup might be considered tacky too by some circles; indeed, I think I chose the most scantily clad of the Wild Hearts Crew.  But...well, I'll stand Charlie with one of my Bratz and have y'all decide which one looks more like a call girl.

I'll note that Cloe is the most scantily clad of my Bratz, and compared to some other Bratz she's still pretty well covered (she has sleeves, after all).  Regarding Charlie's clothes, I'll start from the top with that hat.  Yes, it's coming off.

Some of Charlie's store-bought extra outfits come with headgear, thus the hat will have to come off.  It's your typical vinyl hat, not unlike the one worn by Fashionista #38.  It's got a molded mesh texture on the sides and back.

The interior, unsurprisingly, is plain and smooth.

Needless to say it doesn't fit as well on Charlie's head now that those tacks are gone, but on the plus side I can play with the position a bit now...even though I HATE it when people wear their ball caps backwards.  I think it looks ghetto...especially on a certain sixty-something-year-old relative of mine.  Yeaaaah, sorry I gave y'all that mental image.  Let's go down to Charlie's vest.

I like to call this Charlie's "Han Solo vest" due to its passing resemblance to the default getup worn by Harrison Ford's best-known role.  Or maybe Indiana Jones is handsome Harrison's best-known role...I guess it depends on who you ask.  Bloviating aside, Charlie wears a black biker-style vest minus the huge pockets that Han Solo's vest had, and with the addition of some nice red seams and this on the back.

Again, very biker-esque, though I'd expect Jacy or Cori to wear the rocker label since one's rockabilly and the other is the music lover of the bunch.  But then again I figure all five of these dolls are capable of rocking out whenever they want, so no biggie.  If I had any complaints it would be that this vest is made of pleather, which NEVER ages well, be it on doll clothes or people clothes or what have you.  However, I am learning that one can reinforce pleather with fabric paint, so I may try that if this vest gets rough around the edges.

Under the vest Charlie is wearing this gray jersey-knit tank top.

Cool, it's got a pegasus on it!!!  Can't beat that!  The pegasus is surrounded by silver stars in a ring pattern, sort of like a moshup of TriStar Pictures and Paramount's logos.

Wait a minute, those aren't stars at all!  They're barbs on a hoop of barbed wire!  Pretty clever a combo, though I doubt even barbed wire could keep a pegasus chained in!  Now, above the pegasus is a cutout at about the clavicle area.  This would drive me nuts if it were my top, but I love the way it looks.  Only the neck part is hemmed, though.

The back closes with Velcro, and I don't love that because it could snag this fabric if I'm not careful.

Much to my chagrin the tail is not hemmed either.  Go figure; the neck and the armholes are hemmed, but the tail and the cutout on the chest are not.  Mattel hid the tail's dirty little secret by tucking it into Charlie's skirt.

Speaking of the skirt, it's a pencil skirt that is...well, on Charlie's long legs it's pretty short!

I love the designs on this, though.  The material is "distressed" in places and the hips have "patches."  The right side has an anarchy-style star and a red guitar that ties in with Charlie's "Rocker" vest...

...while the left hip has a red and gray lightning bolt.

These "patches" are printed onto the fabric, which I like because it makes them look like Charlie drew them on the skirt herself (I also am fond of drawing on my jeans), but unfortunately the seams and the snaps are printed on too.  I DON'T love that.  Note the flaming heart on the left that I do love, by the way.

I don't understand why Mattel went to the effort to hem the vest (in eye-catching red thread, no less) but then took the easy way out with the stitchwork on this skirt.  It doesn't look bad, but I still wonder why they did that.  Also noteworthy is the fringe on the lower hem.

Oh Lordy, that NEVER would've passed muster at my high school; if anything came above the knee it had to be hemmed.  I love this touch though, as I've always been fond of fringe on garments.  The bottom of this is...well, it's either woven very tightly or it's finished somehow, because the skirt shows no further signs of raveling.  If I had any gripes about this skirt it would be that it's too tight to allow Charlie to sit properly.

Charlie's accessories are vinyl and consist of black high-top boots and this uber-cute purse, plus a silver bracelet.

I love these boots.  They're like something I once would've shoved my feet into, back in the days when I could wear high heels without it being torture.  The plastic has a leathery texture molded in with the addition of some straps, and the flamey bits on the toes and cuffs are painted in a nice pinkish-red paint.

Charlie's guitar purse reminds me of some of the equipment that Pete Townshend has used in the past.  Maybe Charlie's a Who fan.  LOL, I can always pretend she is!  Anyway, the purse is made out of red vinyl, and it's pretty typical of Mattel purses except for the painted details.  Remember that Mattel doesn't often paint details anymore.

The back is plain, and there's a gap in the top  that probably wouldn't accomodate much, but it's still a cute purse.

The bracelet is a gray hunk of plastic with three tiers, similar to some of the ones I wore once.  There's not much to say about it, but it stays on Charlie's arm with no fuss so that's a positive.

I'm just going to skim the extra outfits since they're pretty typical of Mattel clothes.  Some parts are hemmed and some aren't, and most of it is not printed on the back, though most of it doesn't need to be printed on the back.  The jacket that came with the pizza-themed set has a personified slice of pizza on the back, and I love that.

The front of this jacket is emblazoned with patches and studs and areas of distressed fabric, all items that I would've loved on a jean jacket.  The studs are printed on and that's bit of a disappointment, but I got over that quickly when I saw one of the patches.

That's a skullette, the old Monster High insignia!  What a cute touch to see on a new doll line, though some children might not get the reference since they were/are too young to remember Monster High.  I think I may pretend that my Charlie is a big Monster High fan because of that patch; my old blind bag figures will make perfect dolls for her.  LOL, anyway, the shirts are ordinary T-shirts, but they're made more interesting with "airbrushed" designs...

...or decals...

...or loud prints like this.

No, I certainly wouldn't call these clothes boring!  And look at these accessories!

I could make Charlie a skater girl or a gamer if I wanted to, and since I have the right accessories I may do both!  I do have a lot of problems with the eyeglasses that come with some of these sets, though; they don't want to fit neatly over Charlie's ears.

The headset that came with the gaming outfit doesn't fit great either, but it at least looks cute.

On the plus side Charlie can ride her skateboard and her whatever-that-two-wheeled-thing-is, because her shoes have holes in the bottoms that fit onto pegs on the boards.

Oh yes, shoes.  Charlie will not have to do without, as each accessory set came with a pair.  They're just vinyl shoes, but they're colorful and cute and they have painted details.

My favorite is that purple pair with the smiley faces.

Oh yes, these outfits all come with sheets of temporary tattoos.  I would've loved such a gimmick when I was a little kid, but I can hear the same parents who hated Butterfly Art Barbie wailing and gnashing their teeth about these.  Chillax, they come off with soap and water!  Overall these clothes are a lot more interesting than what Barbie's got at the moment.  Barbie's clothes are nice, but they're still very firmly in the "cute and pretty" category.  Wild Hearts Crew clothes are edgy, punky, and colorful, and they do all this while managing to stay semi-classy.  My Charlie is probably the most scantily clad of the bunch, and her skirt is still knee-length.  No, my biggest complaint about these items is that a lot of them are not hemmed.  I've made a big deal the lack of hems in the above descriptions, but truthfully I wouldn't have noticed it had I not picked up Jacy Masters.  Here she is.

Jacy's expression looks pinched compared to Charlie's, but that's beside the point.  Look at her vest.

The front edge is hemmed, but the bottom edge...isn't.  WHY???  Would it have been that hard to hem the whole danged thing???  Jacy's rather buoyant skirt is not hemmed at all.

Granted, these are not fabrics that look like they'll ravel at the drop of a hat, but...well, never say never.  The front of Jacy's jacket proves that hemming could've been done and not looked super-tacky.

Since I've now got Jacy in my hands, I'm now going to very quickly compare her to Charlie.  She's got a wider body than Charlie does, so the two can't share clothes reliably.  Her right hip is a little loose, so I'll have to take care with that.

Of the five WHC members I think Jacy has the least attractive face.  As I noted above, her expression is a little pinched.  She IS smiling, though!

Jacy's hair is more elaborately styled than Charlie's, being pulled up into this strange combination of pompadour and mohawk. The fibers aren't as nice as those found in Charlie's hair.

Overall Jacy doesn't seem like as nice a doll as Charlie does, with her coarse hair, puckered smile, and possibly flimsy hip.  Maybe I just got one with a fluky hip; it happens!  Speaking of flimsy, I advise caution when handling some of the above accessories.  The hinge of the computer is naught but a folded tab of plastic, the crooked pink glasses are crooked because the nose piece bent in my hands, and the skateboard BROKE when it rolled off a counter.  I'll have to glue one of the axles together.  So keep that in mind as well.

Now that I have Jacy, playing Dolly Dress Shuffle will be that much more interesting.  As y'all likely know by now I have a whole bootle of Barbie clothes, and there's bound to be a few things that will fit in that mishmash.  Somewhere by the way I obtained a second Chococat blouse (don't ask why).  Since it has a flared shape I initially thought Charlie would rock it, but...I think Jacy wears it better (even without pants, LOL).

Now how 'bout some Despicable Me tops???  The first one has Minions all over it, and it looks baggy on Charlie and fits Jacy perfectly.

This unusual purple minion blouse flatters Charlie's large hips, and is too tight around the chest for Jacy.

Y'know, I have all these cute Despicable Me clothes running around in my dolls' wardrobes, and I've never, NEVER seen the movie!  It sounds cute, but I've never seen it.  Kind of like Leide and her Toy Story getup; I love the outfits and I think the movies sound interesting, but I've never seen Toy Story.  Now Peanuts I AM familiar with, though again I've not seen the modern take on it.  I think if one didn't grow up with at least one Peanuts-themed toy, book, or clothing item in the house, then one had a very sad childhood.  Anyway, Mattel released some cute Peanuts-themed clothes, with this one being my favorite.

This, of course, is a nod towards Charlie Brown's iconic shirt, with the addition of my homeboy Woodstock.  There's no way that that dinky little headband would fit either Charlie or Jacy, but the rest of the outfit...well...Charlie looks like her confident self in it, but in truth the top is very loose.

Jacy looks better in the dress, but it still looks baggy on her.  I like how it sort of coordinates with her hair, though.

As an aside, I'll bet this will look great on Deb!

Mmmm...better, but it's kind of roomy on her too.  What's Mattel saying, that curvy dolls only look good in baggy clothes???  I love this shade of yellow with Deb's skin, though.

Now...as young as this doll line is there's already some stuff running around on Etsy.  I've bought from Haunt Couture Atelier in the past (they specialize in clothes for Monster High dolls), and they've already been busy making things for the Wild Hearts Crew.  As y'all saw above I griped about a lack of jeans for Charlie, and the shop just happened to have what I'm looking for.  I picked up a striped bustier top while I was at it.  I ordered this in "standard" size, meaning that Charlie should be able to wear it.  And she can!

I'll admit that that getup is borderline-Bratz, but it's still more than what a lot of modern pop artists wear on stage.  I love the gathers on the knees of the leggings; they're honest-to-God sewn in rather than printed.

There is one minor problem with the top, and it's a problem that all tube tops have.  The upper hem likes to slide off, showing Charlie's charms.

The top is easily slipped back into place though, and it looks super-cute under Charlie's pizza jacket.  Her rocker vest works too.

As y'all saw above, Charlie's new shirts look adorable with these jeans.  But better still, Charlie can sit more easily in the jeans than she can her stock skirt.  She's not the most ladylike sitter, but she can sit in these jeans.  And yes, that's a tissue box she's sitting on.  The farmers started spraying defoliant on the cotton, and I've been sneezing nonstop.

Let's face it, just about anything is easier in blue jeans...except ballet.  I wouldn't attempt that unless the jeans were extra stretchy like Charlie's are.

And that, folks, is the Wild Hearts Crew in a nutshell!  Time for good and bad stuff!

BAD
*No pants in the extra outfit sets.  If you've got just Charlie and Jacy like I do then this is a bit of a problem.  Skirts just don't look right with hoodies!
*Some accessories are easily lost, broken, or swallowed.
*Jacy's hair has a potential to become a tangled mess if not treated with respect.
*A lot of the clothing items are not hemmed.
*Faces may be off-putting for some.  I don't like Jacy's face, and some others don't like Charlie's.
*Can't consistently wear Barbie's clothes.  Play around with clothes to see what works best for your doll.

GOOD
*THE COLORS, THE COLORS!!!  Charlie has BLUE hair!!!
*Extra outfits are available...WITH SHOES.  Barbie's outfits usually don't have shoes.
*Bodies feel fairly sturdy, but be careful just the same!
*Etsy has a few things available for both body sizes in this line, including a few pairs of pants.
*Jointed!  Can't beat joints on a doll this size!
*Can share some clothes with Barbie, but not shoes.  Hasbro Sindy's shoes and earrings will fit these dolls.

Picking up Jacy proved to be good for this overall review, but unfortunately it also prevented me from giving these dolls my 100% approval.  Oh don't get me wrong, I like Charlie and Jacy a lot!  They're colorful and edgy without being too tacky, they subtly encourage girls to be more introspective with the questions they ask in their pamphlets, and they don't make a huge deal about body shape like Barbie and Lammily both inadvertently do.  Charlie has a pretty (though somewhat bratty) face, and both of these dolls have gorgeous makeup.  Charlie's blue hair is soft and silky...but Jacy's is wiry.  Jacy also has that gimpy hip that makes me a little paranoid, though I doubt all of these dolls will have that problem.  Some of the accessories are also small and/or fragile (I'm going to have to super-glue my skateboard back together), so keep these a mile away from pets and small children.  Otherwise these should make great toys, and if you're into photography or blogging like I am, go nuts!  These dolls can strike a pose better than a lot of Barbie dolls can, and their faces seem to shift emotions as lighting and camera angles change.  In spite of the problems I found with Jacy I'm quite impressed with the Wild Hearts Crew and I hope passionately that these dolls will be a hit.  I like them enough to want the whole danged line, which is saying a lot since I originally wanted to stick with just Charlie.

As a last little addendum, BEHOLD also has reviewed these dolls and seemed to like Cori, Jacy, and Charlie.  Rallee and Kenna were a smidge "meh" in her eyes, but she didn't say anything negative otherwise. 

Much love and happy autumn,
RagingMoon1987