Usually when I buy a doll I have an ulterior motive for buying it. Usually I do genuinely want the doll in my collection, but I also usually am hoping to feature it in the blog at some point. That was the case with my Magic Nursery triplets; I bought 'em, but then I thought "I can't say anything about these that Miss Emily hasn't." So I tucked them away and never showed them, thus why y'all have never seen them. These three are the reason why I named Treesa's Magic Nursery doll the first "L" name that came to mind, as their names also begin with "L." From left, meet Lulu, Lionel, and Lola.
These three are the Fuss 'n' Giggle Triplets. At one time they came with a three-slotted carrier that ran on batteries and made laughing and crying sounds. As far as I know there was no variation of the gender; there were always two girls and a boy. Thank God there's a boy, LOL! Y'all know how I like boy babies.
Lulu has her original outfit somewhere (always somewhere), but right now she's dressed in a Build-a-Bear outfit, one of those dresses for Small Fries, I think. Lola has one too, but I didn't put her in it for this reason or that.
I think these dolls' expressions could vary from time to time; I found one set of trips that looks a little different from my three. The hair didn't vary either that I know of. The two girls had rooted baby-blonde ponytails of varying lengths...
...while Lionel has painted and molded hair.
These three are very made up for some reason. See? They look like they're wearing lipstick and rouge. Even Lionel looks that way.
Maybe they're fixing to star in a diaper commercial, like Phil and Lil did on Rugrats. Seriously, I don't think Phil and Lil were quite eighteen months old, and they still got the full makeup treatment, fake eyelashes and all. Or as they themselves described it:
PHIL: Makeup was like nothin' we'd ever seen before.
LIL: Adults everywhere, pokin' us and combin' us and poofin' us.
That particular episode is one of my favorites; if you're familiar with Rugrats, then you know the basic outline of the episode. The adults involved were chronically inattentive, the children were chronically mischievous, and mayhem nearly always ensued. So it was in "Baby Commercial," and the resulting commercial was NOT what the high-strung director had planned. Either way, my three kids look a little like Phil and Lil did during the bulk of "Baby Commercial." Not really babyish, but...sigh, I'm just rambling. The Magic Nursery paint job varied quite a bit from the normal with these triplets. Note that Lina does not look super-made up.
I guess it's only fair to introduce Lina's older brother too, since...well, since I've got him now. This is Leo, the first (but not last) Magic Nursery boy that I've found for a reasonable price. Dig that hair! He has so much hair that Mama thought he was a girl.
Leo isn't a gift so he's not quite as special to me as Lina is, but he's still cute. He's of the toddler size and thus is bigger than Lina and the triplets.
Hmmm...maybe Leo doesn't make the most convincing big brother since he's got dark hair and his eyes are pale blue, but I'm playing it that way anyway. After all, lots of siblings don't have matching hair or eyes. Anyway, Leo came during a workday since most of my mail arrives on a workday, and when I had him at my station I saw him from a slightly upward angle. I knew these dolls had sweet faces, but look at this!
If that's not adorable I don't know what is. It's possible to see Leo's heart in that picture, by the way, and I'm sorry to say that it no longer responds to kisses either. I guess both Leo and Lina gave their hearts away to some little kid years ago. Some of these dolls do still have functioning hearts, though; every now and then I see 'em on YouTube or in someone else's collection on Failbook. It doesn't matter too much to me whether the hearts on my dolls work, but I thought it was worth mentioning.
While I was putting this post together I bought another Magic Nursery baby. I was looking for one of color, but this one was just too cute to leave him on eBay. I broke the "L" mold because he looked like a "Mikey" to me.
Mikey likes everything, especially Life cereal. LOL, Mikey is essentially the same doll as Lina, except...well, he's a boy! See? No hair at all.
His eyes are a different color too; they're lighter blue like Leo's.
Of course the absence of hair doesn't always mean that a baby is a boy. Just ask Leo (who has hair), or Taniyah Yasmin (who is a girl and doesn't have hair), OR my mom (who was born bald). Anyway, Mikey won't be a member of Lina's already large family, but he can still be a good friend.
Indeed, First Friends were a thing with the Magic Nursery for awhile. In the beginning there was one chance in thirty-six that your doll could be a twin, but later on it was possible to get a voucher for a First Friend instead. Pretty cool! It does remind me of a story Coworker B told me though, back when Hatchimals were a thing. Coworker B had five great-grandchildren by one granddaughter (I hated that bitch, by the way), and one Christmas the two oldest girls each got a Hatchimal. Fine, right? Well...Hatchimals occasionally came in twins. And the younger girl got twins and the older one didn't. And the older one whined and moaned all day because in her own words "I wanted two of 'em too, Grandma!" I can just envision a similar scenario playing out during the nineties, with a younger sibling receiving an elusive twin and the older sibling getting a single doll. But then again, not all children are like that.
I wasn't expecting this last little girl to arrive in time for inclusion in the post, but here she is. I chose the name "Ashley" for her.
Ashley is a First Surprise Toddler, meaning that she's Leo's size. These dolls could be "first haircut," "first teeth," or "first treat," with Ashley being a "first haircut" doll. The haircut was pretend, of course; her little braids "grow" when pulled on gently...
...and they could be pulled short again with this ribbon on her head. That simulated the haircut.
These dolls came with an accessory concealed in their dissolving hospital gowns, one that coordinated with the doll's designated "first." Ashley would've had pretend scissors. Otherwise she's the same as my other Magic Nursery dolls. She's got the heart on her cheek (which doesn't work) and big, "sparkly" eyes.
By the way, I've yet to find a Caucasian Magic Nursery doll with brown eyes. Lina's eyes are lavender, Ashley, Leo and Mikey have eyes that are varying shades of blue, and the triplets have teal eyes that look sky-blue in pictures. Several of my Caucasian Cabbage Patch Kids have brown eyes and I think Magic Nursery was supposed to rival the Cabbies, so I wonder why Magic Nursery dolls so seldom had brown eyes. They didn't have green eyes either that I know of, and that's a mega-bummer, because I LOVE green eyes. Even the dolls with "magic" eyes that opened and closed only had blue or purple eyes...that I know of. I'm none too familiar with those.
Just for the helluvit, before I wrap this up I want to do some size comparisons. Magic Nursery toddlers are a little smaller than Coleco Cabbage Patch Kids (Hugo Jack and Valencia Rose are my examples here)...
...and are of similar size to some Jakks Pacific Kids (a camera-dazzled Lesley Emily and Allie Kathleen are shown). Miss Emily's Jakks girl was taller than her Magic Nursery toddlers, keep that in mind.
The toddlers are also similar in size to My Child, hence why my Morgan is wearing a Magic Nursery dress. I think these dolls can even share shoes.
The babies are similar in size to a bean-butt Cabbie. I have my doubts about clothes sharing here, though. Esmond Brant's legs are pretty thick.
I also know that these babies can share clothes with slightly larger Cabbies, like Lucey Dena and Lesley Emily (again). Lina's body is a smidge thicker than theirs though; the Disney diaper sets that fit Lucey and Lesley so well are a tiny bit tight on Lina.
Lastly, the triplets are similar to Booful Beans and to Baby Love 'n' Touch. Lola likes Booful!
Oh yeah, Ashley arrived the same day that Booful did. I took the opportunity to photograph the Beans brothers with her. I don't think either Ashley or Bedsie are too excited about that, but oh well.
I keep forgetting! For reasons I'll never know, some (most?) of these dolls have plastic bellybuttons, and these can be either innies (left) or outies.
Lina has an innie, Leo, Mikey, and Ashley have outies, and the triplets have little stitched navels. Either they were deemed too small for a plastic bellybutton, or that feature had been phased out by the time the trips hit production. But my bigger dolls have plastic navels and they vary in shape. By contrast, Cabbage Patch Kids always have outies due to being grown in a cabbage patch.
So that's the lot! Five little siblings and two friends. Two toddlers, two babies, three extra-small babies.
I don't need a huge collection of these, not with my Cabbage Patch Kids and American Girls quickly taking over the room Mama and I share, but I have to admit that they're addictive. I'm looking for an African-American one now, kinda like Miss Emily's first Magic Nursery girl, Shyla. Finding one like that shouldn't thunderously hard. But this is a concept that I really wish Mattel would revisit. Yes, the gender reveal is a one-time thing, but I still think that with a little tweaking these dolls could be a hit again. As for me, I'm content with my bunch for the most part, and as with my Cabbies, I have a favorite.
Can't beat a gift!
Cuddles,
RagingMoon1987
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