As I noted in Leah's post a few weeks back, the doll company Geppeddo was more geared towards porcelain dolls than towards toys. The dolls are very diverse in terms of appearance and hobby/occupation, but most of them were kid-friendly dolls like babies or cheerleaders. Indeed, Geppeddo's dolls seem more kid-friendly overall than a lot of the porcelain companies I've bought from. For awhile, they even had these stuffed animal-porcelain doll chimeras called Cuddle Kids, and those are what I have to show today. I have Patricia Peacock (whom I initially feared lost in the mail) and Lacy Lamb...
...Angelle Angel and Li'l Devil...
...and Patrick Pumpkin. I guess "Jack O'Lantern" and "Peter, Peter, Pumpkin-Eater" would've been too predictable.
But then again, fewer people are familiar with the old nursery rhymes, so Peter-Peter could've worked. Anyway, Cuddle Kids are exactly what they sound like: they're baby dolls with stuffed plush bodies and porcelain faces, meaning that they're more kid-friendly...in theory, anyway. Anything with porcelain parts would not be the most kid-friendly toy, but I digress. Cuddle Kids are about eight inches seated, meaning they come just below an American Girl's waist. Patricia looks taller, but that's just because her tail is big.
There was a HUGE range of animals and inanimate objects that these dolls came in, with some characters being harder to find than others. Patricia Peacock is allegedly one of these harder to find characters, but I've seen several available on eBay. The faces vary widely as well, though maybe not as widely as the clothes. Some of these dolls are sleeping, yawning, or looking serious, while the members of my quintet are varying stages of happy. Lacy Lamb appears to be laughing out loud, for example. She's the only one of my five with closed eyes (and thus NO eyes, LOL).
There was some head mold sharing among these dolls, as Li'l Devil and Patrick appear to have the same head.
I thought that Patricia and Angelle shared a mold too, but their mouths are of a different shape and Angelle's eye sockets are huge.
These dolls had/have all the eye colors you could want, but by the luck of the draw I ended up with three blue-eyed dolls. Lacy's eyes are closed and thus have no visible color (I'll make believe that they're amber since sheep have amber eyes), and Li'l Devil's eyes are green.
Like nearly all porcelain dolls these kids have inset acrylic eyes, and the placement varies a lot. Li'l Devil's eyes are the straightest of my group, while Patricia's are the wonkiest.
Maybe she crashed into a tree while trying to fly. Peafowl, particularly the male ones, are only capable of flying short distances. 'Bout like a domestic chicken, in other words. It doesn't seem to have affected Patricia's mood any.
Hey, if I were a rich, sparkly blue I'd be pretty tickled myself! I wonder if she knows that peafowl this color are always boys? LOL, doesn't matter, I s'pose. The paint jobs on these dolls is pretty consistent, as they all have lightly painted eyebrows and lower lashes.
The mouths are painted as well as sculpted, and the paint varies quite a bit in color and in texture. Lacy is the only one of my dolls with matte paint on her lips and tongue, but I know there are other dolls out there that also have matte paint.
My other dolls have glossy paint, and some have little teeth painted in. Patrick and Li'l Devil both have two lower teeth...
...while Angelle has two rather obvious upper teeth.
Lacy has no teeth visible at all, and interestingly, Patricia has teeth visible, but they're painted more like her gums. The white paint isn't visible unless I really cram my camera into her mouth.
Fair enough, I can just pretend that Patricia's teeth haven't cut all the way yet. Yee-ouchie, better get the girl a teething ring!
Oops, I forgot to do hair! Since Cuddle Kids have permanently attached costumes with hoods not all of them have hair; Patricia, Lacy, and Li'l Devil all fall into the bald category. No biggie, since babies look just as good bald as they do with hair. Angelle has a shock of pale blonde hair attached to her forehead rather than a full wig...
...while Patrick has a full brown wig.
The hair is wonderfully soft and smooth, not at all like Leah's original wig, and oddly, also not like Baby Makayla's hair. I can't photograph Makayla's hair since she's in storage, but her hair is wooly and the fibers are finer than Patrick's and Angelle's. Makayla's friend Yi Ling (also in storage) does not have hair like Patrick's and Angelle's either; when I had to tie her hair back up it was smooth but stiff, and I had quite the time of it getting her hair back in place when the rubber bands gave way! I wonder why the wigs vary so widely on these Geppeddo dolls? Of all the ones I own Leah was the only one whose hair was meant to be styled, and I couldn't style it to save my life! Patrick and Angelle have soft, manageable hair, but it's not meant to be styled, and there's not enough of it to style anyway. So I really wonder. I guess I should be glad that Leah was easy to rewig and just move on.
Body talk! All of these dolls are in a sitting position with stubby little arms and stubby little legs...
...but believe it or not, that's where the similarities end! All of these dolls are made of a different fabric, they're all a different color, and some have extra parts that are sewn on or attach with Velcro. Patrick is a pumpkin, so his build is plumper than the others...and for some weird reason, he has porcelain hands. He's the only one of my Cuddle Kids with this feature.
Some of these dolls have their arms angled in different directions. Normally with porcelain dolls this would be achieved by internal wires, but Angelle's hands are merely sewn to her cheeks. Yee-ouchie!
Lacy's head is set to the side, like she's looking up and too her left.
Li'l Devil appears to be waving his pitchfork. This pose was not attained by wires either, but by the way his fabric was cut.
Angelle and Patricia both have parts that attach with Velcro. Angelle's wings attach on her upper back, and her halo attaches to her head...
...and Patricia's tail attaches on her head and her keyster.
All five of my crew utilizes different fabric for the body. Lacey has off-white mohair-like fabric that simulates sheep's wool.
Patrick has...I think this stuff is tricot. It's the same plushy stuff that Beanie Babies are made out of.
Patrick's Jack-o'-Lantern face is glued to this plush, kinda like the original Lucky the Ladybug's spots were. Lucky's spots had a penchant for falling off, so much so that she was eventually reissued with spotted fabric, so I'll have to keep an eye on these facial features.
Li'l Devil feels like he's made of velvet. Mmmmm, red velvet. I think this would classify as velveteen rather than velvet, but y'all get the idea.
Dev also has darker red patches on his hands, feet, and horns that are made of this same fabric (but a different color, obviously).
His cape is also black and is made of smooth black plush (this is permanently attached). Note that it's a lint magnet.
Interestingly, Dev's bow tie is purple and appears to be made of chenille.
Devil is the only one of my dolls who is carrying an accessory. Since he's a devil, he has a pitchfork. This is very loosely attached, but appears to be a permanent part of him.
He also has a tail, your typical pointed devil's tail.
And lastly, he's the only one with his name embroidered on.
Angelle, by contrast, is white as angels often are, and her fabric is woolly and iridescent. It's also a little rough to the touch. I'm not a huge fan of cuddling Angelle since the iridescent fibers make her a little prickly.
Except for the soles of her feet, that is. Those are pink.
Angelle also has real feather wings, and these...actually don't shed too terribly. I think they've lost one feather in the time that I've owned her. Just the same, Angelle is not the most cuddly of the Cuddle Kids due to her feathers and scratchy fabric.
By direct contrast I love touching Patricia's fabric, as it's one of my favorite fabrics. This is...I assume another type of chenille, and it's soft and sparkly without being scratchy.
Patricia's tail is made of tricot like Patrick's body, and the eyes on her feathers are glued on. The glue feels sturdy, but I'll be keeping an eye on these bits just the same.
Patricia has the most variation of fabric on her body. She has chenille, tricot, and God only knows what her beak and feet are made of. It's a low-pile fabric and is firmly stuffed. Heck, it may be tricot like Patrick's body is, for all I know. Notice that it catches lint like mad.
Each of these dolls are tagged with heart-shaped tags, kinda like Beanie Babies used to be. Lacy appears to have lost hers, but it likely would've been white with rainbow writing like Angelle's and Patricia's tags are.
Li'l Devil and Patrick have special tags, since they're Halloween dolls. Their tags are black with an orange border and orange writing.
The backs of the tags are all the same, with the name of the doll line and the year. All of my tags say "2002."
Interestingly, these heart tags have no information on the dolls' names or anything like that. No, these dolls came with another tag, that looks something like this. Good grief, twenty bucks for one of these back then!
There's the cute little Geppeddo logo, and the back has the doll's name and a very brief bio. Patrick and Angelle both have theirs. Notice that Angelle is an angle rather than an angel.
In addition to hang tags, the Cuddle Kids have plastic patches on their butts...
...plus fabric tags that further identify them as Cuddle Kids.
Lastly, many but not all of these dolls have bows around their necks. Angelle has one, made of pink organza and a pink fabric rose.
Lacy also has one, made of pink sateen. I particularly like Lacy's bow, because it has a jingle bell attached to it. She thus jingles when I pick her up.
Li'l Devil has his purple bow tie, and Patrick has green "foliage" attached around his neck. That part was NOT glued on, thank goodness.
Now...my latecomer to the party has both a bow and a necklace around his neck.
I've seen the names "Leo" and "Leonard" thrown around for this little guy, with "Leo" being more prevalent. Hmmm...isn't Leo supposed to be a lion's name??? Either way, Leo's bow is black, rather than the blue that I've seen on these leopard dolls, and he has that necklace rather than a bell. Don't look a gift horse in the mouth, Moon Girl, just be happy. Aren't his eyes lovely! I'm so glad I've got a Cuddle Kid with brown eyes!
His eyes are even straighter than Angelle's are! He also has matte lips like Lacy does, showing how these paint jobs can vary. Like Angelle, he has one paw sewn to the side of his head, making it look like he's waving. He's a cute little feller! Overall these dolls are more what I'd expect from Geppeddo than the My Way Kids are. Cute as Leah is, she definitely was uncharted territory for the company (and it showed), whereas these dolls? They're simple, diverse, and cute, and they'd fit in well with a collection of stuffed animals as well as a collection of dolls. I am not ashamed to admit that I've fallen for these fuzzy little doll/teddy bear hybrids, to the point that I'm looking for a few more. Fritz Frog is a must-have for my frog-loving sensibilities, as is Tyler Toucan due to his huge beak and bright plumage. So if you're not a porcelain fan you can leave these, but if you do like porcelain dolls these will be perfect for your collection.
Cheers,
RagingMoon1987
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