Throwback Thursday review: Play Along Club Olivia Reese

My Lordy, this past week has been a complete and utter Charlie Foxtrot in terms of weather.  Freezing rain on the early part of the tenth, sleet on the latter part of the eleventh, two inches of snow on the fifteenth, and bitterly cold weather during all the above events that has permitted ZERO MELTING!!!  The trees and power lines didn't get torn up, thank God, but the streets have been slicker than a skating rink.  It was bad enuff that my boss called off work on Tuesday.  Here's what my street looked like on Tuesday, before the second wave came through.  Note that you can see the street.

We had six inches of the white stuff, and I nearly busted my rear when a large drift decided to slide off my porch with me on top of it.  And then yesterday another system decided to come through.  Remember how you could see the street on Tuesday?  Can't now!

Couldn't make it to work that day either, as Mama's little car couldn't take it.  Bottom line, I'm so sick of snow that I could scream, cry, and puke all at once.  Justine-Marie likes it, but I'm sick of it.  As annoying as snow is I'd rather have it than the tornado that North Carolina got.  Three people got killed.  Yeah, I'd rather be annoyed and a little peckish than dead (all I have to eat are stale noodle cups, LOL).

Rant over, today's doll brings the much-anticipated springtime to mind with her short sleeves, sandals, and bright colors.  Once again, I am being a complete and utter copycat, seeing a doll on someone else's blog and saying "Yep, gotta have that one!"  Who is it this time?  Her name is Olivia Reese, and she's from the Play Along Club.  She'll be setting the paces for the rest of the month, as the next two dolls are tied to her in a roundabout way.

Yee-haw, got her in the box!  I learned about the Play Along Club from Confessions of a Doll Collector's Daughter, who reported that the production of these dolls was complicated and a little sad.  Creator Mel Birnkrant pitched the idea to Mattel, Hasbro, and Playmates, all of whom were interested to varying degrees, but...none of whom worked out for varying reasons.  After a few years of being strung along Birnkrant pitched his idea to Play Along, who at the time was handling Care Bears, Doodle Bear, and the Cabbage Patch Kids.  LOL, I always wanted a Doodle Bear and my parents said no!  According to my friends I didn't miss out on much since the markers didn't always wash out, but I still wanted one!  Anyway, the Play Along Club got picked up by Play Along, received one wave, and <stammer, stammer> that was all, folks!  Doll Collector's Daughter tells it much better, of course, and more information on the background of these dolls can be found at Mel Birnkrant's own site. 

So that's a much-truncated history of these dolls, which I'd never heard of before Daughter's post back in late June.  I liked the looks of these dolls with their huge eyes and innocent expressions, but what really drew me to them was their fuzz.  Y'all may or may not remember that I like fuzzy things, and the Play Along Club is flocked.  However, here is where this post's labels get a little misleading, as I have Olivia marked as a rag doll.  She's not...well, not really.  Her arms and legs are stuffed and wired, but her head, hands, feet, and torso are flocked vinyl.  I can only name one other doll with flocked vinyl like this, that being Ideal's Baby Dreams (who is unsurprisingly on my wish list).  Baby Dreams and Olivia Reese are very different, but they do share a similar "cuddle me" gimmick, so...so yeah.  I'm not sure where I meant to go with that, except to say that I don't know of very many flocked vinyl dolls.  The flocking on Baby Dreams often peeled, shed, and/or got dirty, and I wonder if that might be an issue with the Play Along Club too.  Oh yes, there were also the So Soft My Little Ponies (here's a reused picture of my So Soft pony, Magic Star).

The So Soft ponies are also capable of peeling, so I'll just watch Olivia Reese to see what happens...after I debox her, of course.  Since Olivia Reese is in her box I'm going to discuss that briefly before busting her outta there.  The side of her box is done up like the window of a house, which I think is a cute touch.  A playhouse, maybe, or a clubhouse?

The back is pretty simple, showing Olivia with her two friends, Zoe Madison and Sophie Kate.

Of course the bottom part of the box caught my attention, as it includes three little outfit sets, complete with pets, accessories, and small storybooks.

According to what I've read, the cat and dogs are flocked just like the dolls are.  I don't know if y'all have gotten a good look at the doll herself yet, since those pictures were all taken without a flash to prevent light clusters.  Here's a better idea of what Olivia Reese looks like, now that she's deboxed.

Right away I notice that her flocking has a small ding in it, right on her chin.  She came out of the box like this.

Y'all can also probably see the main problem with this flocking:  not the ding, but the fact that it catches dust and pet hair and flecks of small debris like mad.  Anyway, Olivia's face reminds me of a number of dolls I either owned or knew of during my childhood.  Her eyes are a bit like a Baby Face doll's eyes, and her facial shape looks like a Beanie Bopper's or a Beanie Kid's.  Ironically, Mr. Birnkrant used Beanie Kids clothes to dress his first prototypes, so there's more of a connection there than just looks.  Olivia also reminds me a bit of a Precious Moments figurine for some reason...maybe it's the huge eyes again, or that innocent, slightly saccharine smile, or a combination of the two?  I dunno.  It turns out that there's a very good reason for the similarity between the Baby Face dolls and the Play Along club, one that I'll be discussing in the weeks to come.  Anywho, Olivia Reese is fourteen inches tall, smaller than both Kirsten and Nancy.

Since she's a soft doll she fits in fairly well with other soft dolls like a Waldorf doll, or Cabbage Patch Kids, or My Child.  Indeed, I listed these dolls as "clone" dolls in the label section, though I don't think they're really Cabbie Clones.  They fill the same niche as Cabbage Patch Kids and My Child, providing some little kid with a cute little friend to hug and talk to, but they're not really Cabbie Clones....take that back.  Olivia Reese, Zlata, and Valencia Rose all have one important thing in common:  they have yarn hair.  The three Play Along Club members all had yarn hair in varying colors.  Sophie Kate was blonde and utilized crimped yarn...

...Zoe Madison was a brunette with unraveled yarn...

...and Olivia Reese is quite obviously a redhead!  All three wore ponytails or pigtails topped with...guess what?  BOWS!!!  Olivia's bows are blue.

Olivia's bows provide a nice visual contrast to the red yarn, just like Val's blue-green bows do.

Respect the bow, folks!  As with hand fans during the colonial era, a hair bow can be used as a political statement as well as a fashion accessory, one that will get a young woman into less trouble than a T-shirt or a hat.  LOL, anyway, Olivia's hair has some minor kinks in it from being held in place for...ten years, I think?  This doll line is a fairly recent one compared to other lines I've discussed in the past.  Anywho, Olivia's hair has some kinks.

The kinks aren't as obvious as they were, meaning that gravity has straightened them out somewhat.  If the kinks don't completely go away I can probably help them out with a warm iron.

Now here's the face.  I think it's adorable, but my dad would've hated it.  My mom isn't a fan of it either; she says it reminds her of Poor Pitiful Pearl.

Her face looks a little like the Beanie Kids' faces, and oh, how Daddy hated the Beanie Kids!  He razzed me nonstop the day I chose a Beanie Kid over a Beanie Baby (I chose Ginger, a redhead, LOL).  Anywho, I love these huge eyes, though they look a little startled when they're not balanced out by the rest of the face.  These are inset and fixed in place, with delicate applied eyelashes.  Olivia does have little eyebrows underneath those thick bangs, by the way!  They don't match her hair, but they don't look unpleasant.

Thank goodness they're not sorrowful little eyebrows like the ones Li'l Gumdrop sports (thank goodness for Li'l Gumdrop's bangs).  Regarding the mouth, Olivia's is closed and molded in but only very lightly painted.  Sophia has an open smile with a slightly visible tongue, but Olivia and Zoe do not.  There's a little bit of color in there, but not much.  I think she could do with a little more lip color, but that's just me.

I've been paying more attention to ears lately, so let's stop there a minute.  Olivia's ears are rounded little protuberances with one special feature.  All three Play Along Club members had this permanently attached plastic butterfly in their left earlobe.  I like to pretend that it's an earring.

During one period in their long development the Play Along Club was called "the Acorn Family," and each doll from that group was supposed to have an acorn in their ear.  This was apparently a nod to the old Steiff tradition of putting a button and a tag in the teddy bear's ear.  The acorn became a butterfly when Play Along started production of the dolls.

NOW let's do the body! 

As I said above (somewhere), Olivia has a vinyl head, torso, hands, and feet, with stuffed cloth arms and legs.  Her head rotates and tips a little a little, though it only tips because her head is loose...

...and her arms and legs only rotate.

However, as I noted above, these limbs are wired inside.  This means that Olivia can achieve just about any pose that I put her in.  The only limitations are the length of her stubby little arms and legs, and her balance, of course.  Balance is important for posing dolls, and since Olivia has a big head and wired limbs her balance isn't the greatest.  I can get her in this pose, for example, but I have to hold her up or prop her up somehow.

She stands normally without any problems, though.  This is true with shoes or without.

Olivia's hands are made of flocked vinyl, and they're large and a little cartoonish like Mickey Mouse's hands are.  The fingers on her right hand are splayed out...

...while the fingers on her left hand are curled in a little.

As a result I can get Olivia to play with her fingers a little, the way children and some adults do when they're nervous. 

The left hand may also be able to grip some things, like my fingertip (just like Sasha could).

The arms, as I noted above, are wired, stuffed fabric.  They're soft to the touch and have little dimples sewn into the elbows.  Outside the joint...

...and inside as well.

The wires inside allow for a number of positions...

...including a few that Olivia probably should not hold!

The same is true for her legs.  As I said above Olivia's hip joints only rotate, but thanks to the wires in her legs she can sit with her feet apart or together.

Her knees are dimpled, just like her elbows are.

Similarly, her feet are flocked vinyl, just like her hands are.

It should be noted that Olivia's wrists and ankles do not rotate.  That might seem obvious to y'all, but I sometimes forget.  It also should be noted that both Olivia's flocking and her fabric limbs catch lint and pet hair like mad.  That may have been obvious in some of the above pictures. 

Let's do this cute little outfit now!

I long for springtime, but I'm also careful about how loud I say that, because springtime is tornado season.  As I've said many a time before, I'm fascinated by tornadoes, but I don't want 'em around here!  Heck, I don't want 'em for anyone!  Anyway, let's start with the shirt.  It's blue, pink, and yellow, and it looks layered but it's all one piece.

It's a simple little garment, made out of robin's egg blue jersey knit.  The stars are painted on and have no cracks or bobbles in alignment.  The hems are serged so they won't come undone.  The only issue I have with the shirt is...guess what?  Velcro.  That's what the back closes with.

I get that Velcro is kid-friendly, but when it's paired with knitted fabrics the two just do not get along!  This area is also a little discolored, though you can't tell it through that picture.  I assume it rubbed up against the back of the box and got groady that way.

A simple little top is often paired best with a busy bottom, and that is the case here.

There are two fabric patterns and two tiers:  the upper tier has horizontal stripes and the lower one has polka dots and flowers.  Both hems are nicely finished with blue thread.

As with the top, the skirt closes in the back with Velcro. 

For the most part these items are not lined or finished inside, but the waistband does have a white lining for reasons I haven't yet figured out. 

Underneath her skirt Olivia wears simple little magenta panties.  These don't stretch like most dolly drawers do.

Lastly, the shoes.  These are pink vinyl and have butterflies that match the one in Olivia's ear.

These are molded on as well as painted.  The paint job is a little hit-and-miss. 

The tread has a molded flower pattern. 

I love the colors and style of this outfit, though it's a little skimpy for the freezing weather we've been having.  Olivia's shoes don't want to stay on, so that's a mild annoyance.

The Play Along Club wasn't super-gimmicky, thus why Mattel was hesitant to take the line on.  This kid-friendly, no-frills approach extended to Olivia Reese's accessories, which consist of a booklet, a piece of purple chalk, and a Play Along Club membership card.

The chalk is pretty self-explanatory, though I give kudos to Play Along for wrapping it in plastic to keep it from making a huge mess.  I still like sidewalk chalk at my age, and I have intentions to prank my coworker, who utilizes one and only one parking space, every Monday and every Saturday.  I'm thinking of taking this chalk and writing "RESERVED FOR FURTHER NOTICE FOR COWORKER A" on the space.  LOL, so that's the chalk.  Then there's the membership card, which is made of glossy cardstock like Olivia's box.

Oooo, does that mean that Olivia's favorite color is purple???  My favorite colors are green and blue, but purple is special to me too since it makes me think of my sister (she LOVES purple).  Regarding the booklet now, the first page has a brief description of how the Play Along Club began (Zoe moved to a new place and befriended Sophie and Olivia), while the second page appears to be a letter from Olivia.

That first bit of writing suggests that Olivia has a bit of a tomboy streak like I did, as she loves climbing trees.  It was rare when I could find a climbable tree, but when I did I was all over it like a monkey in a mango grove.  Olivia offers another tie-in to my childhood, as she's fond of catching and studying butterflies (my sister loved that) and playing kids' games.  She also wishes she could fly, as I did.  And sure enough, she loves purple, as her spiel on the Play Along clubhouse attests.

The line "I'm sure you have something about you that makes you special" sounds just a tad insecure.  It sounds almost like Olivia is trying to convince her new owner that said owner is special.  Probably I'm reading it wrong, but if someone had approached me that way (even as a kid) I wouldn't have liked it.  Anyway, the last two pages are instructions on how to play hopscotch.

I have never played hopscotch, and I probably would've stunk at it because my coordination was horrible even when I was little.  My friends and I were into playing Chinese freeze-tag or Cops and Robbers or Power Rangers (I was always the white tiger), games that required a lot of running, a lot of imagination, or both.  While I was not good at hopping on one foot, I could still run like lightning, and I've always been good at pretending.  Ah, those were the days!  If I recall correctly, Olivia did state that she too likes Chinese freeze-tag, though she just calls it "freeze-tag."  Gotta love political correctness...NOT!!!  Oh well, it's the same game, regardless of what one calls it.  Anyway, the back of the booklet has a group picture of the three dolls and the rules of the Play Along Club.  The rules emphasize having fun (rule 1), taking turns (rule 2), and putting others first (rule 3).

There also was a website at some point, but needless to say the website is no longer functioning.  These are surprisingly well-made little booklets though, with thread-bound spines and timeless ideas that any kid can try...if you can pull them away from their stupid ol' Xboxes long enough, that is!

Olivia's measurements are unlike those of any other little doll I own, so I'm not going to bother with Dolly Dress Shuffle this time.  With nothing else to discuss, I'm gonna wrap it up.

BAD
*This doll's body catches dust and lint like mad.

*Shoes don't want to stay on.

*None of my other dolls can share clothes with Olivia, as far as I know.

*I worry about those internal wires breaking and possibly being sharp.

GOOD
*Luckily, this doll line had three extra outfits.  Olivia is thus not desperate for clothes.

*While these dolls aren't as soft as Cabbage Patch Kids, they're still cuddly enough to make an nice plaything.

*Accessories are timeless and kid-friendly.  They encourage outdoor play and having fun, both of which are good things for children.

*Poseable!

I had a hard time coming up with anything bad or good about Olivia, since she's...just another cute little doll!  She's soft and cuddly, and she'd make a perfect little companion for a child, albeit a child that isn't hard on their toys.  Those internal wires could probably break, as wires like to do.  The main selling point of the Play Along Club is the same as that of other soft dolls like Cabbage Patch Kids and Waldorf dolls:  something soft and innocent to cuddle and play with.  Yet the Play Along Club saw only a brief run on store shelves, while Waldorf dolls are in fairly high demand and fetch healthy prices, and all of us probably know how popular Cabbies once were!  It fails to make any sense to me, how these three dolls all have the same gimmick, and yet one is obscure while the other two are not.

Maybe it had nothing at all to do with popularity.  Maybe the failure of the Play Along Club lay in their holding company rather than in their consumers.  Maybe Play Along didn't promote their soft poppets enough?  Maybe they were more fixated on recapturing the popularity of Cabbage Patch Kids and Care Bears?  Either way I think it's a shame that Olivia Reese and her fuzzy little friends didn't enjoy more success, as this crazy world needs more toys that encourage imaginative play and the traditional games that kids used to love.  I'm not sure how safe these dolls would be for small kids since they have internal wires, but a child above the age of five might like these, as would anyone looking for a soft doll to use in dioramas (like I'm tinkering with at the moment).

Cheers,
RagingMoon1987