Rainbow High Skyler Bradshaw review

I'm RagingMoon1987, and I hate typing out intros to posts, because I kinda, sorta suck at it.  LOL, reminds me of my sister typing up term papers for high school and college.  She'd have the whole thing done, sources cited and all, and up at the top under the title the paper would say simply "Title" because she hated having to come up with a title that was "eye-catching," as her instructor put it.  I didn't really feel her pain until I started blogging!  Anyway, I'm stepping out of the past for this post with something that's currently on store shelves.  I'll be doing that for this post and the next one, in fact, because both lines may be in high demand for the oncoming Christmas season.  Rainbow High appears to be MGA Entertainment's latest foray into the doll world, with a group of nine brightly colored teenage dolls that look strikingly similar to the attractive but large, messy, and expensive Rainbow Surprise dolls.  Seriously, the Rainbow Surprise bunch got good reviews on YouTube (here and here), but I'm not going to pay sixty bucks for a doll that lives in a cumbersome plastic case and has a gimmick that's both messy and (apparently) smelly.  The Rainbow High bunch is school-themed for some reason, and their school appears to be...oh crap, some kind of design school.  Not performing arts or anything creative, or even EDUCATION (ya know, the POINT of school???), just design school.  Granted, some of the girls do appear to be focusing on things besides fashion design, so that's something, I guess.  Anyway, six of the girls are colors of the rainbow, one is pink (NOT A COLOR OF THE RAINBOW!!!), and the other two are a bit more deluxe and incorporate other colors.  The girls' names and personalities are as follows:

*Ruby Anderson is the red doll (and yes, their names roughly follow the color theme).  She's the sporty one, because all doll lines have to have a sporty one.  Shoes are her forte, and she likes to break people out of their comfort zones (in terms of style, not emotionally).  She's also apparently a prankster.  Her catchphrases are "I don't follow trends, I set them" (good for her!) and "Dare me."  Her study emphasis is the aforementioned graphic design.
*Poppy Rowan is orange.  She loves all genres of music, moonlights as a DJ, and has an easygoing personality that allows her to fit in just about anywhere.  She claims to like taking risks with style, and like Ruby, shoes are her favorite accessory.  Her catchphrase is some long, ridiculous rhyme that I'm too lazy to type, and her study emphasis is music engineering.
*Sunny Madison is yellow.  She's bubbly, outgoing, and loves her friends.  She likes animation, kawaii stuff, and "all things adorable."  Her catchphrase is "All I need is cute," and her study emphasis is computer animation.  She has used this love of animation to turn her friends and herself into an animated series.  Her hairstyle looks eerily like Sailor Moon's iconic 'do, making me wonder if she's an anime fan as well.
*Jade Hunter is green, and she's all but Sunny's polar opposite.  Outsiders apparently see her as the "moody and misunderstood" type, and Jade herself admits to only being satisfied when she is "110% true to herself."  She does not follow trends or go out of her way to fit in (I like this gal!), and she likes to shock folks around her with unusual styles.  She likes her clothes loose and comfortable, and she voices a desire to get a "therapy tarantula...just because."  Unfortunately she has...well, I thought makeup artistry was the blandest study emphasis, but then I remembered how much fun my sister and I had watching Face Off.
*Skyler Bradshaw is blue, which proves quite fitting as she's the quiet one of the bunch.  Her friends describe her as a talented designer, but she prefers to keep her mouth shut and work anonymously.  Her style is "all-American with a modern twist," and she likes daydreaming and using her imagination, though her style is apparently "down to earth" according to the online bio.  Her catchphrase is my favorite:  "Classic never goes out of style."  Her study emphasis, fashion design, is blander than Jade's by a long shot.
*Violet Willow is...well, violet!  Whatever happened to indigo, I wonder???  No rainbow is complete without indigo!  Anyway, Violet is the bitch diva of the bunch and apparently the newest student as well.  Nothing really to say about her, other than that she apparently thinks she's all that and a bag of chips.  Her catchphrase is "Diva by nature, royal by choice."  Uh, no...you marry into royalty, sweetheart, or you're born into it.  Her study emphasis is digital media.  I like her outfit the best, even though I don't like her personality much.
*Avery Styles is a wigged doll with several articles of clothing and two wigs.  I haven't seen her online bio yet.
*Amaya Raine represents the color white for some reason.  She has long hair that can be colored and styled.  I haven't been able to find a bio for her either.  Rainbow reminds me a little of a Barbie Basics doll that I saw many years ago and loved...but sadly never got and didn't need anyway.
*Bella Parker is pink, because there's always got to be a "pinkrifice," as Purple Monkfish would call it.  She's the soft girly type because pink = girly, but she apparently is also handy with a hammer and nails for set construction.  Her study emphasis is art direction.  Bella is the latecomer to the group, kinda like Miki in the Shibajuku Girls line.

I'll say it again:  pink is NOT a color of the rainbow!!!  Where would pink even fit on the rainbow if it were on the rainbow?  Is ultraviolet a shade of pink???  Does it matter, since the human eye can't normally detect ultraviolet?  Oh well, at least this school isn't strictly a fashion design school.  Admittedly, I'd rather see these girls going to a tech school or something like that, but an idea like that would probably go over like a lead balloon in the doll world.  As an aside, I guess MGA must have dibs on the names "Avery," and "Jade," just like Mattel has dibs on "Chelsea" and "Stacey."  That said, I have the most in common with Jade Hunter (mainly the hatred of fitting in and the fondness for loose clothes), and green is my favorite color, so for my first RH doll I picked...Skyler Bradshaw, the girl in blue.

I also have Ruby, Sunny, and Violet, and I hope to get the others as soon as I possibly can.  These aren't exactly cheap (name an MGA product that is!), though they're not as outrageous as the Rainbow Surprises.  Skyler will be getting the review since she was the first one here, but the other girls will be helping out.  I can already tell y'all that they make a cute group together.

Why wasn't Jade my first pick, you ask?  Well...I'm really not sure!  I don't usually collect every single doll in a line, but in this case I plan to try and complete the set because a rainbow MUST BE COMPLETE!!!  Ahem...I'll start by saying that I hate opening these packages.  They're not as bad as the ones that ensconced the Moxie Teenz, but they're bad enough.  Regarding the dolls themselves, these are taller than their O.M.G. cousins and shorter than my old go-to, my mother's old Barbie.

Their inset eyes, large heads, and bright colors remind me a little of my Shibajuku Girl, Shizuka.

Indeed, Wave 3 Koe bears a strong resemblance to Violet, with their shared big eyes and copious purple hair.  Skyler and her taste-the-rainbow friends aren't exactly like the Shibajuku Girls, but there are enough similarities that make me wonder how popular (unpopular?) this line will be.  Korglady noted in my Shibajuku Girls review that the Shibas might've found a following if they were around today, given the popularity of big-eyed, brightly colored dolls like the L.O.L. O.M.G.s and the Rainbow High squad.  Anyway, Skyler's hair is long and moderately curly in three shades of blue.

I say moderately curly because the the sides of Skyler's hair are gelled and shellacked into two large spiral curls...

...but the back is merely wavy and has virtually no product at all.

Gee whiz, why bother with two curls when the rest is just wavy???  I shudder when I picture some little kid trying to brush the sides of Skyler's hair the way they did the back and then ending up with a rat's nest of tangles.  All three of my other dolls have product in their hair too, though some of them genuinely need it.  Sunny has two curly tendrils on the sides of her head, for example, so I understand the copious hair product there.  The curled ends are down by her feet, giving y'all an idea about the length of Sunny's hair.  I love Sunny's socks, by the way!

Violet, on the other hand, has a simple knot holding the top and sides of her hair back.  A relatively low-maintenance style shouldn't need a lot of gom in it, but Violet has some crispy portions on each side of her head.  

If Violet needed any hair gel it would be where her ponytail is wrapped.  My cats take delight in knocking Violet off her shelf, and as a result her knot is looking a little ratty.

Ruby's gel job surprised me the most, since it shows that Skyler's curls could've been achieved without all that gel.  She has two side curls just like Skyler does, and they're shellacked in place like Skyler's are.  But in the back she wears another curl, and it's NOT shellacked!  It even held it's shape when I pulled it out of the package, WITHOUT the help of a ton of hair goo.

As with the other three Ruby has gloriously soft hair, and I'm strongly considering finger-combing that curl in the back...but then again, maybe I won't.  Anyway, according to Monkfish Poppy Rowan's hair is like this too, so I guess I can look forward to crispy curls with the other dolls.  Seems a little dumb, to have parts that are unbrushable right out of the box, particularly when the un-gelled parts are so soft and smooth.  On the positive side, this is definitely NOT the nylon hair that MGA once was so in love with.  By the way, Violet has three-toned hair like Skyler does...

...but Sunny and Ruby do not.

I know for a fact that Poppy has tricolor hair too (thank you again to Monkfish for that review), and pictures of Jade suggest that she has single-colored hair.  Sort of a three-and-three thing, LOL!

Regarding the faces, Skyler has a bit of a moon face, her head is so round!Violet and Sunny both look a little less moon-faced, but that's just because they have bangs.

 

Ruby doesn't have bangs, but her ball cap conceals her forehead and thus makes her look a little less moon-faced as well.

Their profiles are...well, they're flattish, but not as flat as the profiles of past MGA dolls.  The nose and lips are surprisingly quite prominent on these dolls. 

I note this because my only other MGA doll with a prominent nose is my old Moxie Teenz doll Tristen, whom I seem to have misplaced!  Poor Tristen, I treated one of my favorite dolls like a second-rate citizen!  When I find her I want to review her, since Moxie Teenz are similar to LIV dolls but have some important differences.  Anyway, Skyler's eyes also have the MGA aesthetic, being large and brightly colored (the color should surprise no one).  They're also inset with thick inset eyelashes and multiple layers of eyeshadow.Bratzillaz, Novi Stars, Project MC₂, and Moxie Teenz all had inset eyes, and now Rainbow High joins those ranks.  There were also LIV, Pinkie Cooper, Juku Couture, and the Shibajuku Girls, but they aren't MGA dolls.  Upon seeing that Violet has lilac eyes...

...I was prepared to note that all these dolls have eyes that match their color of choice.  But Ruby does not have the red eyes that her namesake color would suggest.  Her eyes are even more purple than Violet's are, though they do have pinkish-red highlights.

Sunny's eyes do not match her color of choice either, and that disappointed me since I love dolls with amber eyes.  However, Sunny's eyes are a delightful shade of green (with yellow highlights) and thus provide a nice contrast without being too clashy.

Most of these dolls have semi-natural eyes with their favorite color highlighted.  Poppy is the only exception with her pure blue eyes, but her eyes provide a nice contrast to her orange palette so I won't complain.  Let's look closer at Skyler's left eye, though...it looks like it has some kind of imperfection.

Looks almost like a drop of water on the lower edge of her iris.  It may turn out to be nothing more than an errant drop of glue, but I haven't tried to wash it away yet.  I'm hoping it WILL wash away.  And while I'm at it, I call note to the eyeshadow of these dolls.  It coordinates with their respective color palates, but it isn't too garish.  I could've learned a thing or two about makeup from these dolls, LOL!  Some of them even have a little glitter applied; I used to like doing that in high school and college.

I think that's enough about eyes!  The lower face also has the MGA aesthetic, especially the lips.Those lips are far more detailed than the lips on any Bratz doll I own, even though the detail is mostly paint.  I don't know if those white highlights are beneficial or detrimental to Skyler's appearance, but since she has a layer of shimmer over the pink paint the highlights could probably have been left out.  The shape of this mouth is nice, though; the paint follows the curves of the mold, and the edges are blended rather into the rest of Skyler's vinyl.  That effect makes her lips look less like paint and more like real lips.  Speaking of shimmer, all of Skyler's face has a subtle blue shine to it.  It's very, very subtle to avoid Skyler looking cyanotic, but it's there.  The sparkle has a little roughness to it, leading me to think that it's painted on and not molded in.

Violet and Sunny also have this shimmer on their faces.  Sunny's shimmer gives her dark skin a nice golden sparkle, but Violet's washes her out a little. 

Ruby is the palest of my quartet, and I'm not sure if her sparkles do her any favors either.  I think she looks a little sweaty, to be honest.  Or she does from a distance; up close it's easy to see individual flecks of glitter.

For the record, a lot of these dolls are pale.  MGA is usually pretty good at representing the various ethnicities in this world, but here lately they've been falling a little flat.  Nearly all of the Na! Na! Na! Surprises were white, and while Sunny is the darkest of the Rainbow High bunch her ethnicity is still pretty ambiguous.  Skyler and Avery have a tan, but that's about all.  But then again, L.O.L. Surprises and their O.M.G. sisters do a good job of representation, so maybe I should just shut up and move on.  Sunny has my favorite lip color of the four that I own; it's fuchsia and the white highlights aren't as obvious.

That reminds me a little of the lip paint on the Baby Surprises.  All of them have pretty lips, but my favorite lip color is on the dark-skinned girl.

That shows right there that Mattel could do this for their dolls of color, but NOOOOOOO, their dark dolls are stuck with bubblegum lips that do not look nice with their vinyl at all!  My Violet is so pretty, and yet she's got...hot pink matte paint!

Hey, Violet and Violet!  I wasn't expecting that one.  As many dolls as I have I shouldn't be surprised when names start repeating, but I wasn't expecting these two to pop into the same blog.

Let's go back to ears right quick; all of my girls have earrings, but I'll show those when I do clothes.

Ouchie, that piercing looks painful!  I like these ears though, as they have a fair amount of detail despite being small (and in most cases, covered by the dolls' hair).  It's also possible to see that these dolls have painted scalps (note the yellow paint at Sunny's hairline), but I can't say much about rooting since none of these dolls have super-loose hair...oh yes I can!  Skyler's hair is loose enough!

As is often the case with dolls, the part is only fit to look at if the hair is worn in a parted style to begin with, like Sunny's hair is.

The other dolls?  Forget it!  This is most obvious with Ruby, who has her hair semi-parted into the aforementioned three big curls.  The roots don't show much, but enough to bother my OCD senses. 

I guess now is as good a time as any to show the hole in Ruby's head.

Ruby's ball cap has a peg inside it (not unlike a LIV doll's wig) and the peg fits into the hole to hold the ball cap in place.  It's a snug but not impossibly tight hold.

None of the other dolls have a hole in their heads, so Ruby can't share her cap.  She doesn't want cooties anyway.  And while I'm up here, I should probably note that my earlier note about Ruby having a single hair shade was erroneous.  She does indeed have two shades of red in her hair.

Overall I like these dolls' faces and hair.  They have the big eyes and big lips of the L.O.L. O.M.G.s and the Shibajuku Girls, but their faces have a little more character than either of those lines.  I say a little; Skyler and her friends still have a little pop-eyed blankness going on, but it's not so bad.  I also wish their hair wasn't so crispy, but I can fix that.  I will note that the Rainbow High dolls are prone to flyaways due to the light weight of their hair, but it's easily brushed out again.

The Rainbow High dolls don't have the ethnicity range of their predecessors and that's a disappointment, but their bodies are a far cry from Bratz bodies and that's NOT a disappointment.

Ah, curves!  Curves that aren't ridiculously overdone like the O.M.G.s, and joints that aren't wobbly like the Bratzillaz or flimsy like the last Bratz wave.  It's been years since the Bratzillaz were a thing, but I never forgot how bendy their lower legs were.  Rainbow High doesn't have this problem.

This is probably obvious, but don't make a habit of bending a Bratzillaz doll's knees like this, by the way.  Jade's left knee wanted to stay bent sideways, and I only held her like that for about ten seconds.  Anyway, Skyler's thick build reminds me of the muscular bodies of the Wild Hearts Crew, while her knees appear to be jointed like a LIV doll's knees, with a separate kneecap-type piece.

Hmmm, maybe I should've chosen Jacy Masters to demonstrate the curves of the Wild Hearts Crew; hers were more prominent than Cori Cruise's are.  And even she has a bigger bust than Skyler does.  It's not often that I see a doll with a pear-shaped body, but Skyler and her friends have just that.  

Skyler is very sturdily constructed and her various parts are nicely molded, though her hands are a smidge problematic.

They've got molded knuckles and realistic fingers and all that, but the thumbs are so wide that they catch on the interior of clothes like fishhooks.  Here's another look at the shape; neither of these pictures show how widely spread the thumb is.  Skyler's thumb is the main problem with getting her sleeves into place. 

I ran into a similar problem with the dolls' feet, as they're quite large and these dolls' pants legs are quite narrow.  I was impressed by the shape and size of Wild Hearts Crew feet, but Skyler has them pretty well whipped. 

No shoe sharing for Cori and Skyler!  See what pretty feet these are, though?  Very shapely.

Posing ought to be outstanding for a doll with thirteen joints, but some of the joints feel pretty stiff.  Skyler's neck turns but doesn't tip much, for example.

Her shoulders are ball-jointed hinges, meaning that Skyler can lift her arms...

...and rotate them.

Skyler's elbows bend to almost exactly ninety degrees, and they rotate as well.

I forgot to show the motion of the wrists, but they bend and rotate as well.  I also wasn't able to think of a way to show the hip joints without being super-crude, so y'all will just have to take my word for it that Skyler's hips are double-jointed...sort of.  She can sit and do reasonably nice sideways splits...

...and she also has some rotational movement in her hips.  The rotation happens in a joint near the top part of the thigh, one that is visible as a simple line.  These rotating bits are pretty stiff, but with time they should loosen up some.

Lastly, knees.  Skyler can bend her knees pretty sharp, though not as sharp as LIV knees or Obitsu knees or Made to Move Barbie knees.

This is best demonstrated by doing a kneeling contest.

I said...KNEEL!!!  LOL, Skyler can acquiesce to Joffrey-the-a$$hole's demands, but she has to lean back some to keep her balance.  Daniela doesn't have to lean back.  Overall the Rainbow High dolls have...well, I'm pretty impressed with these joints.  They're stiff, but then again my dolls are new and probably won't be as stiff after I've moved them some.  I love the way this body feels in my hands, too.  Daniela and my Obitsu-bodied dolls feel a teensy bit fragile (or a lot fragile in the case of Obitsu bodies), but Skyler and her friends do not.  I don't recommend trying to force these joints to do something they shouldn't, but overall Skyler feels like a well-constructed dolly.

Regarding clothes, Monkfish noted that these dolls can't share clothes reliably with any other existing line.  Odd pieces here and there will fit, but one can't say that "all Barbie clothes fit" or something like that.  Thus...

...two outfits!  Just like the first few Bratz waves, and the last wave too, for that matter.  All of these dolls come with an extra outfit except for Avery, who has a whole wardrobe of stuff, and Amaya, who has hair accessories but no extra clothes.  Luckily Amaya can bum some extra fashions off her friends, but it still stinks a little that she doesn't have any to call her own, since some little kid might have/want Amaya and only Amaya.  Anyway, I'm going to review just Skyler's stuff and then skim the other girls.  Of my four, Skyler is probably the most scantily clad, and even then she's not super-tacky.  Her short skirt and/or her crop top might bug some parents.  Anywho, let's begin.  Skyler's top half looks pretty busy...

...due to her having three layers up top:  T-shirt, tank top, and jacket.

The jacket brings the good ol' days to mind, back when the Bratz had real denim clothes with little studs or buttons or stitched details.  I don't know if Skyler's jacket really is denim, but it looks and feels like it.  The front has fake pockets with little studs (I didn't photograph those very well), plus decorative stitching.  And I mean REAL STITCHES, not just printed stuff.

The sleeves are printed with these diagonal bands of silver holographic paint, and...I don't know how well y'all can see the cuff, but it's turned back and sewn in place.  It's also unfortunately pretty tight.

The tight cuffs are the worst part of the jacket, but I also don't like how the collar likes to stand up.  When it does that it shows the raw edge underneath.  Skyler's hair usually conceals this.

Underneath the jacket is this rather simple little tank top, done in dark wash denim.

The front has a couple'a seams to aid in shaping, and guess what would be caught in one of the seams?  A LOOSE END!!!

Or it LOOKED like a loose end.  It turned out to be nothing more than a random thread that had gotten caught in the seam.  I pulled it out and all was good.  I figure the thread came from the underside of the top; the edges are hemmed, but there's plenty of raggy-looking loose ends sticking out.  The straps of the top are lined with plastic to prevent said loose ends from being even more of a pain in the posterior.

Underneath everything Skyler wears a plain white T-shirt.  It's...a plain white T-shirt!  It's hemmed up nicely, but that's all.

The skirt, on the other hand, is quite busy.  It's made of dark wash denim like the tank top, and it has studs and stitched details like the jacket.

The skirt is ringed by a vinyl belt that has the word "RAINBOW" printed on it in gold writing.  The front of the belt is arranged in a complicated-looking knot.

I was initially afraid that I'd have to undo that knot to get this skirt off Skyler, but to my great surprise the ends Velcro together.  I usually hate Velcro, but I'm glad for it in this case, as recreating that knot would've been another pain in the posterior.

To my great delight this little garment has honest-to-God belt loops.  They're ravelling a little, but not dangerously so.  I'm so used to things like this being held on by piddling little threads or plastic ties that the presence of real belt loops pleases me.

Like the jacket, the sides of Skyler's skirt have holographic paint.  I think the paint was applied before the skirt was put together, since the seams aren't painted.

Skyler has painted underwear, but the inside of the skirt has cloth underwear sewn in anyway, I assume to prevent the skirt from riding up, as skirts like this will do.  It's also possible to see some more raggy hems in there.

Skyler's socks are made of stretchy ribbed fabric, and like all doll socks and few human socks they have a seam down the back, from cuff to toe.  They also have little white clouds!

It isn't every day that I see socks printed with clouds!  And for that matter, take a gander at Sunny's socks too; they have rainbows around the tops.

This is yet another tie-in to the larger Rainbow Surprise dolls, as Rainbow Dream sports socks like this.  There's not much else to say about Skyler's socks (or Sunny's), so let's move on to Skyler's wicked-awesome shoes!

They're transparent with sparkles and thick blue soles!  I'd have worn shoes like this in a heartbeat back when I was in school...and in fact, I probably still would.  The platform is even, so I could probably navigate these.  The outside of the heel has the word "BLUE" in a blue and black box.

Blue his house, with a blue little window...LOL, the soles are flat, guaranteeing a trip to the ER during wet weather.

So that's Skyler's first outfit.  It might be a little tacky for some sensibilities, and the raggy hems bother me some, but the raggy hems don't show much so it's all good.  Now for Skyler's other outfit.  The main part consists of a white turtleneck blouse and a blue jumper that's made of...oh puke, pleather!  I hate pleather!!!  It never ages well!!!

I like the detail on the sleeves of the turtleneck, though.  The diagonal black design ties in visually with the stripes on Skyler's jacket.

Despite my flaming hatred of pleather the front of the jumper there are a lot of details.  Studs and zippers and fake pockets galore, plus a belt.  Unlike Skyler's first belt, this belt is permanently attached.

The bottom part of the jumper also has a zipper, complete with a pull that did not photograph well, but unlike Shizuka's jacket this is not a functional zipper.  Also note the cutting error on the edge of the blue fabric, located by the zipper pull.

At first I was worried that I'd have to try and undo the front of this jumper, but it turns out that everything opens and closes in the back with Velcro.

Believe it or not, it was only then that I realized that these are two separate pieces.

Five points from Hufflepuff for Moony being a dolt again.  YOU EFFING DONKEY!!!

I was hoping that the footwear for this outfit would be just as interesting as the first set, but...it's not, really.  Skyler does have a pair of socks in my favorite style:  fishnet.

My sister could pull off the fishnet look better than I could, but I did have a pair of short socks that I wore a lot.  They were topped with black lace and red bows.  These are topped with...nothing, and it looks like the top is puckered in.

Both socks have that pucker, so maybe it's intentional.  Lastly, the shoes.  They're strappy high heels and don't wow me as much as the transparent sneakers do.

I like the tag on the strap, though.  Both shoes have these, and they both say "C. 2020."

Translation:  the year from hell.  Here's what Skyler looks like in her second outfit.

Mmmm...meh.  I don't like it as much as I do the first one, but maybe I'm just not used to it yet.  Maybe the socks need to go; they're kinda frumpy.  As an aside, the puckers in the seams of the socks are indeed intentional, as they allow for the raw edges to be turned under.  Also, the sleeves did not want to go over Skyler's splayed fingers (I had to really fight with those), and the jumper did not go easily over her wide hips.  Based on that I think the original outfit is the superior one.

In addition to clothes each doll has a very nice stand, made out of glittery plastic, and a comb that I didn't bother to photograph...

...and three of my four dolls wear plastic earrings.  Skyler has sparkly blue moons, Sunny has large square studs, and Violet is wearing my favorite earrings of the bunch:  drippy star-shaped hoops.

Ruby has no earrings at all, for some reason or another.  Her ears are not even pierced.  I guess that's to be expected for the sporty type.

For grins, here's before and after pics of the other three dolls.  Ruby's tube top is very tight and doesn't want to stay fastened, and I had a hard time getting her stock slacks over her large feet.  In both cases the fabric stretched just enough to work.  I also wasn't sure that I'd like her baggy jacket with her miniskirt, but the combo isn't that bad.  Notice that Ruby's skirt is decorated with a belt identical to Skyler's.

Sunny looks to me like she's traded the cutesy look for a more hip-hoppish style.  I don't think those slacks flatter her wide hips, but I like the sparkles on them.  Those bits that look like holes in the slacks?  They actually reveal another layer of fabric with sparkles.  Unlike Ruby's slacks, Sunny's do not stretch, so getting them over her feet was a chore.  Getting her second pair of shoes on was hard too, for the same reasons.  Her top has the opposite problem as Ruby's top; it's a smidge too loose.

Here's a closeup of those sparkly patches.  They're not too garish and not too subdued, perfect for a casual outfit.

Violet's style varies very little.  Both her ensembles include a dress and a jacket with open-toed shoes.

To my great chagrin Violet's socks did not come off.  This surprised me since Skyler and Sunny both have socks that go on and come off with ease.  I didn't pull super-hard because I was afraid I'd tear them.  The material isn't thick, but the socks did make it tricky to put her new shoes on, and that was already tricky since these shoes are tight like Sunny's are.  Violet's first dress has sparkles like Sunny's slacks do, and these unfortunately shed somewhat (Sunny's sparkles do not shed).

All four of these dolls have pleather items in their wardrobes, so I'm not looking forward to seeing how these pieces age.  I also had a hard time getting their hands through the jackets' sleeves, as I noted above.  But right now the construction is pretty sound on all the items I handled, with no holes or dodgy seams or missing hems or anything of that sort.  I also love the colors of these items, though I'll admit that I wish Violet were a deeper shade of purple.  In spite of that I'll admit that my favorite of these eight outfits is Violet's second outfit with the puffy skirt.

Yes, Violet is the glamorous one, and it shows!  Violet's little hooved friend is named Kat, by the way.  She's one of those new 5 Surprise Unicorn Squad figures.  I paired her with Violet because Violet just looks like the unicorn type.

I guess if real horses can come in miniature size, then so can unicorns.  Kat is pretty good quality for a blind bag toy.  She's jointed all over and her hair and clothes can be removed.  She's not too different from the L.O.L. Surprise pets, but she's not as bug-eyed as my L.O.L. horse, Neigh Majesty.

Where was I?  Oh yes...regarding clothes sharing...well, given Skyler's curves I don't think she and her eye-popping friends will be able to share much.  I got lazy during this part of the review, and instead of dragging out, disrobing, and redressing multiple dolls of multiple sizes I just got my bags of loose clothes and had some fun.  Exhibit A will be Violet the curvy Fashionista's roomy little romper.

I never have been a big fan of that outfit, and why I haven't yet redressed Violet is anyone's guess.  The fit is loose on Violet, and to my considerable surprise it's even looser on Skyler.  I think I may just toss that monstrosity in storage and dress Violet in something nicer, like I did Leide, my amputee Fashionista.  Oh, speaking of Leide, I found her ugly little stock dress while I was grubbing for clothing options for Skyler, and for a lark I put it on Skyler.

Mmmm...not in love with it, no.  The fit is great, believe it or not, and I like how the colors look with Skyler's hair, but those big ruffles on the sides make this dress look unflattering.  I was informed after Leide's post that these dresses truly were fashionable not too long ago, so I might put this on a Rainbow High doll in a pinch.  Key words:  in a pinch.  For me there are better options, kinda like...

...the blue Chococat dress!  I'd like this with a belt to pull in the waist, maybe, but otherwise this dress is a safe bet for Skyler.  Kinda looks summery, like those loungers that folks wear when it's really hot.

The success of the Chococat dress made me optimistic for this next dress, my favorite of the Charlie Brown-themed outfits that were available in the spring...

...but alas, this one was not to be.  If it were just a T-shirt then I would've put Skyler in some blue jeans and left her this way, but this dress is not a T-shirt.  Bummer.

As I dug through my plethora of store-bought clothes I dug up some stuff from Etsy.  I reviewed these...last summer, was it?  No, it was the summer before last, in 2019.  Back when my house was hotter than hell and coronavirus was just a ghost story.  These items are sized for curvy Barbie dolls.

I apologize for the state of the purple dress; the fabric it's made of wrinkles VERY easily.  The purple dress is a little big around Skyler's chest, but otherwise it fits her and doesn't interfere with her joints.  I'm less in love with the tribal outfit, as it makes Skyler's already large hips look even larger, but I think she's feeling the look!  It gives her a bit of a jungle girl vibe, kinda like it does my Barbie dolls.

Mixed in with my Barbie and Etsy pieces are Wild Hearts Crew clothes, both store-bought and handmade.  The Wild Hearts Crew is significantly taller than Skyler, but just for the heckuvit I dressed her in some odds and ends anyway.

The T-shirt came in one of the fashion packs, and I think the jeans are Kenna Roswell's stock jeans.  They say "BELIEVER" on them, and Kenna is the cryptozoologist of the Wild Hearts Crew, so those would have to belong to her.  The jeans have attached suspenders, but those were too long to go over Skyler's shoulders so they're hanging loose under the shirt.  The shirt is baggy, but unlike dresses T-shirts are meant to be baggy so I'm not upset about that.  The jeans are what please me; Kenna is one of the slimmer Wild Hearts Crew dolls, so I had my doubts that her jeans would fit Skyler, but...they do.  They fit Skyler like a glove.

On a whim I replaced the WHC T-shirt with this purple Despicable Me blouse.  It doesn't look as cute as the T-shirt, but it fits well. 

Since I had Daniela disrobed for the body comparison I decided to try her clothes on Skyler too.  Daniela's slim little capris didn't make it all the way up...

...but her blue dress fits like a charm.

I remember Miss Emily using that blue dress for a number of dolls during her stent as Toy Box Philosopher, so I was fairly sure ahead of time that this would work for Skyler.  Still, it was nice to confirm it visually.  So if you have a Rainbow High doll and a wide array of clothes for various fashion dolls, I suggest that you dig out random pieces and see what works.  I won't say "all Barbie clothes fit" or "all Wild Hearts Crew outfits fit," because they don't, but random pieces are worth a looksie.  LIV jeans and pants are best avoided, as are tight pants or anything with tight sleeves.  But if it fits the doll it was made for loosely it's worth a go.  Don't bother looking for shoes, though; the only shoes I was able to fit to Skyler were her own and her friends' shoes.  I also learned from a YouTube video that Hairmazing Hairdorables earrings will fit the Rainbow High bunch.  I happen to have two Hairmazing dolls, so let's try that.  I do like the scale of these earrings better on Rainbow High dolls, as Skyler's noggin is significantly larger than Kali's.

But as it turned out, Skyler could wear neither Kali's huge lightning bolts nor Noah's flowery pillars.  The posts of Hairmazing earrings are too slender for the Rainbow High ear piercings.  I am not seeing Hairdorables in my local Wal-Mart, by the way, nor am I seeing the Wild Hearts Crew.  The spots where they were are occupied by Rainbow High and tomorrow's doll, #FailFix.

Well!  I wasn't sure if I'd have this post done in time for Christmas, but I got it done.  Good stuff/bad stuff time.

BAD

*I don't understand the odd placement of the hair gel.  These dolls have it on the sides, but not in the back.  Furthermore, there's A LOT of gel!
*Sleeves are tight around the arm and leg cuffs and are thus tricky to get on and off.  There's also a fair amount of pleather used, and that never ages well.
*Clothes sharing is hit-and-miss, and wearing other dolls' shoes is out entirely.  Hairmazing Hairdorables earrings do not fit, despite evidence I've seen to the contrary.

GOOD
*Hair is soft and mostly managable.  It's not ridiculously long like some dolls' hair, and the copious gel can be washed or brushed out.
*THE COLORS, THE COLORS!!!  LOL, I love colors.
*These dolls have individual little personalities, and it shows.  A lot of them have stereotypical dolly personalities (sporty, diva, and the like), but unlike the Bratz it shows in their styles.
*Jointed, and the joints aren't flimsy!
*These dolls have some curves, which ought to please the folks out there that love to body-shame Barbie.
*Can share clothes with some other dolls (the odd Barbie, LIV, and Wild Hearts Crew piece will work).

These are cool little dolls, though I predict they'll be hard on the pocketbooks of some mommies, daddies, and collectors out there.  Being rainbow-themed, there is an urge (in me, anyway) to complete the whole set, and I hope to do exactly that.  Are these dolls perfect?  No.  No doll is, just like no person is.  My main issues with these dolls is the clothes.  The sleeves are tight and do not slide over the dolls' hands easily, and Skyler's jumper proved a smidge tight for her hips.  I advise parental supervision when dressing these dolls, lest the outfits get torn up.  On the plus side, the odd Barbie and LIV pieces will fit (mostly dresses), and Etsy has a few things that aren't ridiculously tight.  Keep that in mind if your young'un wants a Rainbow High doll for Christmas.  Now, if you yourself want one, go nuts!  Pick your favorite color and have fun with her, like I hope to do soon.

See you tomorrow,

RagingMoon1987