The twenty-fifth of January already! The older I get the faster time seems to pass. Anyway, today's doll will be the first in a long string of obscure or not-so-obscure American Girl competitors, some of whom I remember from childhood and some of whom I don't. I do remember this particular line, but I don't know of anyone who's spoken of these dolls on their blog, so here she is. Her name is Rebecca, not to be confused with Rebecca Rubin. Y'all got a glimpse of her back last May.
When my sister and I were little girls we got catalogs from the various doll companies in the mail. Of course there was American Girl, once there was a My Twinn catalog, and once there was a catalog from Just Pretend, not to be confused with Just Play, who made the Play Along Club. Just Pretend had three divisions (Stardust Classics, Dream Doll Designer, and Friend to Friend). The Dream Doll Designer line was a fun-sounding concept where little girls could customize their own doll, either via a CD-ROM (remember those?) or through the Just Play website. It was possible then to buy your design, at a price comparable to what a new American Girl cost back then ('bout eighty-four bucks and some change, plus shipping and handling). There were also thirteen "Showcase Dolls" that were used to model contemporary outfits in the catalogs, and Rebecca is one of these. Of these dolls I initially thought Laurel, Cassie, and Libby were cute, but when I learned they couldn't share clothes with American Girls I quickly forgot about them. I had two beat-up but dearly-loved second-hand American Girls by then (Denise and a different Amanda from the one I have now), and I thought "If these Just Pretend dolls can't wear the clothes I got at Ben Franklin then what's the point of owning one?" Twenty-one years later the joke's on me, because Rebecca can wear Ana Ming's clothes.
I may have dismissed these dolls as cute but unnecessary back in the day, but I never forgot the fantasy-themed Stardust Classics (the aforementioned Laurel, and her friends Alissa and Kat), nor did I forget Cassie and Libby, whose curls were tighter than those of any American Girl. Finding out what company made them all was a thrill, as was finding out that Just Pretend has some ties to Carpatina. Indeed, though Rebecca is older than Ana Ming they have a lot of similarities. Her (wigged) hair is nice, for example, with the fibers being smooth and shiny, if a little dry from age. The style is a chin-length bob with a side part, reminiscent of the remodeled Just Like You #57, and also of Ana Ming's cousin Kohanna.
Short, low maintenance hair. What's not to like? Well okay, this style is bad to fall in Rebecca's face.
On paper such a problem would be an easy fix, but I know from bitter experience that sideswept bangs can be a pain in the posterior. Seriously, keeping Luciana's bangs in check has been an uphill battle. Anyway, Rebecca's hair feels like Rita Cheryl's and Ana Ming's, meaning that it's probably kanekelon like theirs. Rita Cheryl has a lot of broken ends since she's secondhand...
...and while Ana Ming's hair still looks nice it's a pain in the butt to keep it LOOKING nice. The length is the main issue.
Thus why I prefer bobbed hair, both on people and on dolls. Once upon a time I even wore my hair in a bob, though it came out looking more like Lindsey's than like Rebecca's. Gotta love natural curl, LOL. Underneath Rebecca's not-at-all-curly hair is a pretty but slightly moody face.
Rebecca's right eyebrow is lifted a little, giving her a slight "Bitch, please!" expression. I can dig that, since I have a resting bitch face myself. Hey, if Kristen Stewart and the late, great Queen Elizabeth can rock a resting bitch face then so can Rebecca and I! Rebecca's online pictures and catalog pictures make her look relatively fair in complexion, so I was surprised to see that Rebecca is...moderately dark. Her vinyl is of a similar shade to a Sasha doll or a medium-skinned American Girl (Rita Cheryl again). Notice that she's a little lighter than both Sasha and Rita Cheryl...and a little grubbier.
My floor lamp gave up the ghost shortly before Christmas so my comparison pictures are likely all going to look like butt. To try and give y'all a better idea of Rebecca's complexion I paired her with one of my palest dolls (a Laura Ashley doll, review scheduled for late February) and one of my darker dolls (good ol' Gabby).
Right, back to the face. Sharp-eyed Barb the Evil Genius noted last summer that Rebecca's eyes appear to have changed, and indeed they have. They were brown, and now they're purple. My mom really likes them, too! I'm not sure if that's a scuff or some sort of crud between her eyes, by the way; I'll have to trot out the saliva-moistened fingertip and get back to y'all on that.
When this color change happened to my smallest My Twinn I chose to identify Xenia as legally blind, but in Rebecca's case I'll pretend she's some sort of halfling, since they haven't clouded over like Xenia's did, and since she's from a company that hit the fantasy thing hard. Rebecca can be half-human, half-fairy with the ability to see through walls, or something like that. I've seen other Just Pretend dolls with trippy eye colors (they were all fixed-eyed like Rebecca is), so apparently this was a thing for these girls. This was also apparently an issue for the other Just Play lines as well, as we'll discuss next week.
Moving down, Rebecca's lips are thick and dusty rose in color. She has a slight smile that could be perceived as genuine or sarcastic, take your pick.
I vastly prefer this color to Ana Ming's orange lips, but Rebecca's lips unfortunately have scuffs in the paint. Both the upper and lower lip are scuffed in the same place, like someone dragged her. But the vinyl isn't damaged, so I dunno. Factory defect or wear and tear from play, same result. Rounding out the face is some subtle blush on Rebecca's cheeks. And since I showed Ana Ming in profile, let's see how Rebecca looks. I threw in Ana Ming and Rita Cheryl for good measure.
Her profile is prettier than Ana Ming's. Ana Ming is a pretty doll, but in profile she's always looked a little duck-lipped. Ana Ming does have a nice nose, though; Rebecca's is flat like an American Girl's. For reference, here's how Ana Ming and Denise compared back in the day; neither of them have changed. My photography skills have improved somewhat, though.
Rebecca's body is where some folks might opine that she falls a little flat. She's all-vinyl, and as such is not the least bit cuddly.
She also doesn't have much molding, just some barely there chest development and NO BELLYBUTTON! Maybe she's a clone, like Homer Simpson was that one time. Also notice that her right arm won't lie down like her left one will.
There isn't much detail on Rebecca's backside either, just a gluteal cleft where it belongs, and the company markings on her neck.
Rebecca is marked "1997," and while years on dolls' necks are rarely reliable I'm left wondering if Ana Ming's markings are similar or different. I didn't think to photograph Ana Ming's markings when I reviewed her, so...better late than never.
Nope, it's marked Carpatina and a completely different year. Other than that minor difference Rebecca's body is pretty much the same as Ana Ming's. She's got short, thick little fingers with knuckle creases and undefined nails...
...and small feet with well-defined nails. Pardon the poopy lighting.
Compare those to Sasha's noodle arms and to...oh, I'll go with Luciana this time since that goofy dress of hers has short sleeves. All American Girls have thick arms, all Sasha dolls have noodle arms, and Rebecca's arms are in between.
Rebecca's joints are strung, and the ends of the string are inserted into her limbs so I don't know if I'd ever be able to restring this doll if she needed it. And unfortunately, she's beginning to need it. I'd rate her at a 3.5 on the
STRINGCON scale, because she can stand unassisted but can't hold her right arm up without help.
She can sit (awkwardly) if her clothing is loose enuff, and she can do passable front-back splits, par for the course for an eighteen-inch doll. In tight clothes Rebecca's posing is not the greatest. She can't sit when she's wearing jeans, for example, and she can't sit very modestly when she's wearing her plaid dress. For the record, Ana Ming's posing is just as stilted...and for that matter, Luciana's is too! I can forgive Luciana since she's still a young doll and I haven't forced her into too many goofy positions, but Rebecca is loose enuff that I shouldn't have problems getting her to sit! That's probably more the problem of the clothes than the doll, since Rebecca sits just fine when her clothes are loose.
The clothes! Just Pretend loaded the Dream Doll Designer crew down with clothes, and these clothes came in six different categories.
*Now: School and fall casual.
*Summer Sizzle: Beachwear and comfy-looking stuff for summertime.
*Monterey: A curiously-named collection that incorporated bright colors with mix-and-match pieces. The items were good for late spring, summer, and early fall.
*Pansy: Girly-looking crap for late winter and spring; there was an Alice in Wonderland costume in the mix.
*Urban chic: "City" wear. A couple of these outfits make me want to sing an off-key rendition of "Night Fever."
*Accessories: Shoes, socks, skivvies, pajamas, beds (!!!), and other nice add-ons. The sweater sets were my favorite things, because they reminded me of Kirsten and how she looked in her winter garb.
With all of that available, Rebecca had nothing to her name but the plaid minidress from the Now category. No shoes, no socks, no skivvies, nothing.
This is a well-constructed dress, with nicely finished hems and material with a little heft to it, but it looks incomplete when it's by itself (Just Pretend paired it with shoes and a purse for a "back-to-school" look). Furthermore, I'm not a huge fan of bare legs in such a short dress, be it on a child, a teenager, or a thirty-five-year-old fatso like myself. I tried it back in college when I was slimmer and earned a lot of compliments, but I felt naked and paired the dress with jeans the next time I wore it. Babies are really the only ones that can get away with the bare-legged look in my book, and Rebecca is no baby. Now granted, this dress does cover Rebecca's tushie when she stands, but when she sits it's another story entirely. Plus, it's January. It's been a warm January, with a couple'a rounds of storms already (and tornadoes aplenty for the south), but it's still January. Even though I know my dolls can't feel cold I still prefer that they be covered up. Luckily Etsy had a clothing lot available, so I was able to get Rebecca some jeans and other items. Indeed, the bundle had four pairs of jeans!
Well, actually there were five: two pairs of cargo jeans (left), two pairs of straight-legged hip-huggers (left), and the bell-bottoms that Rebecca is currently wearing. All three variations of these jeans were in the Now category. That's enuff to clothe Ana Ming and Rebecca and still have some left over, and since I have two pairs of cargos and two pairs of straight-legs they can even be twinkies to a certain extent. The bundle also contained three dresses of similar design, all from the Pansy category.
A closer perusal of the online catalog pages revealed that the dress on the right is actually a pinafore. It matches the dress on the left, but as much as I love polka dots I think combining these two might make too much of a good thing.
The pink dress and the blue dress are two variations of the same dress, simply called the "short-sleeve dress" in the catalog. All three items are wrinkled, and all three items have some discoloration from age, particularly along the hem of the blue dress.
On the other hand, the hems and seams on these dresses are neat and tidy.
I don't think the pinafore will look too great over either of these dresses, but to Rebecca's chagrin I'm going to try them anyway.
Crap posture, first and foremost. Deenie Fenner's mother would be having a conniption. That said, I wasn't expecting to like the blue and pink combo, but I like it better than I thought I would. Mama prefers the all-blue, and Rebecca doesn't like any of it! That said, the pinafore fits smoothly over both dresses, and the ruffled sleeves compliment the puffed sleeves of the dresses. The pinafore also came in white, among other colors, and when paired with the blue polka-dot dress it made
a convincing Alice in Wonderland costume. Too bad Rebecca doesn't seem like the Alice in Wonderland type; indeed, she looks like she wants to shiv me for sticking her in those dresses. Maybe the next items of clothing will work better.
Shucks, I wish I'd remembered I had that sweater BEFORE I bought Rebecca a new hoodie! Both the sweater and the A-line skirt belong to the Pansy collection, just like the dresses do, but unlike the dresses they don't go together.
The sweater will look fine with Rebecca's pair of jeans...
...but the skirt needs a nice blouse with some pink in it...and another doll. Rebecca has firmly told me NO MORE PINK. Perhaps these next two pieces will satisfy her.
The Monterey collection is more my style, and more Rebecca's too, since her dusky coloring looks more summery. That said, the bolero is meant to be worn over a dress, and I have no dress yet to match it. Rebecca's plaid dress looks dumb underneath it.
Just Pretend had some empire dresses that could be worn under that bolero, so I'll be on the lookout for one of those. Bolero...in honor of the recently departed Jeff Beck, here's a link to
one of my favorite pieces; crazy Keith Moon had a hand in that performance, as did two members of Led Zeppelin...or what later became Led Zeppelin. Rest in peace, Jeff. I don't think any of us rock fans were expecting that one.
Back to doll clothes now. The last two Monterey pieces are currently being worn by Sasha Angela Marguerite.
First and foremost...THESE CLOTHES FIT SASHA!!! The fit isn't perfect, but I can definitely live with it since children wear clothes too big for them all the time. Clothing for Sasha is expensive, so when I learned that she can share clothes with Rebecca I was thrilled. I actually did learn this during Sasha's review, when she slid into Ana Ming's dress with no fuss, but Ana Ming's clothes aren't really Sasha's style. Anyway, Sasha is wearing the denim bike shorts and the V-necked T-shirt, both of which came in other colors, and like the above pieces they feel very robust in my hands. I love how these pieces look with Sasha's tan vinyl, but let's face it, I'm pretty biased with Sasha. I don't wag her around like I do Luciana and Rita Cheryl, but I'm very fond of her. I don't own too many dolls with red hair and tan skin, just Sasha and a couple of Midge dolls.
Back on the subject of clothes, I initially had no clue where these pieces came from.
They're tagged "Just Pretend" inside, so identifying them wasn't too hard. The blue velvet blouse turned out to be an Urban Chic piece that was tucked away in a tiny catalog picture. It came in black, gray, and navy, with my piece being an obvious navy piece. The jacket with the pearl buttons proved to be a Pansy piece, available in pink and flowered as well as the blue that I have. The fringed coat is also a Pansy piece that came in blue and...well, they call it mauve, but it looks fuchsia to me. Shows how little attention I paid to the Pansy pages of the catalog, since I couldn't identify two of the jackets! I do love the fringed jacket, though. Rebecca agreed to slide into it, just so we can both see how it looks.
Rebecca says that this is more purple than pink, so she's agreeable to wearing and sharing. She did admit, however, that she prefers the blue jacket over her sweater.
I prefer that combo too. Lastly, let's look briefly at the plaid dress that Rebecca came with, and at the burgundy hoodie that she's wearing.
It's made out of a waffle knit and has some nice stretch, and of the pieces I've got this one is probably my favorite. The pockets in front are real, and the drawstring in the hood is functional.
It looks halfway decent over the plaid minidress, though Rebecca still needs something on her feet!
The hood fits over Rebecca's hair, though she's got enuff hair that the fit isn't the easiest.
Oh well, at least her hair is short; if I'd chosen Libby or Cassie those curls of theirs would've been crushed by that hood. Overall the quality of the items is pretty good; the fabrics feel mostly like polyester and denim, with a few odd velour pieces in the mix like the Urban Chic blouse. Anyway, as I think I've established ad nauseam, the Dream Doll Designers are slimmer than American Girls and thus cannot share clothes. They may be able to share clothes with A Girl for All Time, given the fact that Sasha can wear some of their clothes, but I'd need a Girl for All Time to properly test this.
Now...for an added little bit of fun I have a Magic Attic Club outfit.
Magic Attic Club is yet another slim all-vinyl eighteen-inch doll line that was here and gone before you could blink. There were dolls, books, and clothes, including one book that Just Magic found worthy of note because it explored the Jewish roots of one of the characters (Viva Heather! is the book; I may need that for the library). To my delight, the aforementioned Heather is afraid of heights, just as I am. But I don't have Heather right now, or indeed any of the Magic Attic Club to review. I have this outfit instead, and it's for Rebecca to try on, even though it's kinda girly for her.
Oops, I didn't pull that right sock all the way up. That said, this fits Rebecca like it was made for her, and the yellow flatters her coloring. The buttons on the vest are just for decoration (bummer), and the rest of the outfit closes with snaps, so this ensemble isn't as kid-friendly as the Just Pretend clothes, but...well, I like snaps better. However, I did notice a few things about this getup, two of which hearken back to recent/not-so-recent posts of Miss Emily's. I love yellow, but this ensemble is obviously ALL YELLOW except for the socks and one shoe. During her review of
Poppy Parker Fashion Teen "Spring Morning" Miss Emily noted that too much yellow (or indeed, too much of any color) can look monotonous after awhile. Indeed, I found myself wishing that Rebecca's vest was...oh, pink or lavender, or even a different shade of yellow to kinda break it all up. The other thing is kinda weird, and I wouldn't have noticed it if not for another of Miss Emily's recent reviews. It's the socks.
See how they're seamed across the ankle? Back in August Miss Emily reviewed a line by Madame Alexander called
Kindness Club, and the dolls she discussed had socks with ankle seams like that. This was more of an issue for the Kindness Club than it is for Rebecca because the Kindness Club had some thick socks, and the ankle seam thus looked bulky and unflattering. Since these socks are made of a thinner material it's no big deal. No, my main beef with the Magic Attic Club outfit are these shoes.
Firstly, these look like those ugly cheap canvas tennis shoes that Mama used to buy from Dollar General. I HATED those damn things!!! Secondly, it looks like I got a mismatched pair of shoes. Rebecca's left shoe is yellow with yellow laces and white trim, and the right shoe is white with yellow laces. The fabric is even different. Thirdly, the glue on the yellow shoe is...well, YELLOWING! Never a fashionable look. No, I may have to replace these with something better. Otherwise Rebecca looks adorable in this outfit, and I'm not sure how obvious those mismatched shoes are from a difference anyway.
Put a fork in this review, 'cause it's done!
BAD
*Strung with string that is anchored into the limbs. If Rebecca ever needs restringing I'm gonna be in trouble.
*Joints are indeed getting loose, and posing wasn't that great to begin with.
*Not the cuddliest doll on the planet.
*Eyes have shifted color. That doesn't bother me much, but it might other collectors.
*Can't share clothes with American Girls. American Girls still dominate the eighteen-inch doll category, so an inability to share clothes with them is...well, it's an inconvenience.
*Since these dolls are long-discontinued, it's sometimes hard to find missing pieces of outfits.
*My particular doll has some damage to her facepaint.
*These are getting hard to find!
GOOD
*I love this doll's face! I always like dolls that have a little snark or sarcasm in their expressions, and Rebecca has the 'tude.
*Short, easy-to-manage hair. I do have to wrangle with the style, but I can deal with that.
*Sturdy. I griped above about Rebecca being hard to cuddle, but she makes up for that by being tough as nails. Her vinyl is not as likely to scuff or scratch as Ana Ming's is, and it's not getting sticky with age.
*Sasha can wear her clothes, though I doubt Rebecca can wear stuff meant for Sasha (her arms are too thick).
*Can share clothes with Carpatina dolls, which are still in production.
*Clothing for this doll can still be found on eBay and Etsy, though you may be out of luck if you want specific pieces.
I guess if one wanted to nitpick one could say that Rebecca is Ana Ming's distant cousin, since Carpatina and Just Pretend have a lot of common threads. When I compare the two, Ana Ming feels like the nicer option with her smooth vinyl and brocade clothes that fasten with snaps and frogs, but I have to remind myself that Ana Ming is not aging well. I own many dolls that have grown sticky as they age, and as such they become dusty, hard to clean, and in the worst cases moldy (I'm having problems with white mold in my doll room). Rebecca, despite being the older doll, is aging better. She's not sticky around the joints and she doesn't have scratches, though her lip paint is scuffed. Rebecca is not without her own quality issues, namely the discolored eyes. I like her eyes now, but goodness knows what they'll look like when ten more years pass! Overall I like Rebecca and recommend these Dream Doll Designers to anyone who likes eighteen-inch dolls, but they're getting ridiculously difficult to find online and the ones that can be found are...actually reasonably priced. So yeah, these fit in okay with American Girls and their like-sized friends.
Love,
RagingMoon1987
