Throwback Thursday review: Sweet e.Baby

Don't worry, Miss Emily knows I'm doing this review!  I intend this to be a companion piece to her blog post rather than a complete ripoff, largely because there's not a lot of information out there about this doll.  Indeed, the only Sweet e.Babies I've seen have been the one Miss Emily owns/owned, and a cute little blonde on eBay, and this little chap or chick that I've got here.

Interestingly, this doll is/was a store sample, I presume to be used for display purposes.

That might make things more interesting if I were to leave the doll MIB, but then what's the fun of having the doll?  So!  We're going back to 1999 for this one, one of my favorite years to remember because it was an exciting time in my life (I discuss that in detail in this post).  Amazing Ally, Skateboard Shannen, the American Girls, and some of the Barbie dolls were on my radar then, and I had no idea that Sweet e.Baby even existed.  Never saw a commercial, never saw 'em in stores, nuthin'.  Still can't find a commercial on YouTube, and that's usually the place to go for obscure commercials.  Were these dolls that poorly marketed?  Was that the reason why these dolls are so obscure now?  Don't s'pose I'll ever know, but it's an interesting way to look at it.  In the case of Sweet e.Baby the doll itself is your run-of-the-mill vinyl baby doll, made special with the addition of a CD that held the baby's name and gender.  Initially I was concerned because I couldn't see a code anywhere...

...but duh, it was on the back of the CD's packaging so no one could see it in the store.  Slobbering angry hissy averted, because I really, really, REALLY want to try one of those codes!  Before I do anything else I'm gonna pop this CD into my computer at work and see if the game will load.  Miss Emily discusses why the modern computers may not play an old disc like this, but I'm gonna try it anyway.

It worked...well, sort of.  I won't go over the game in excruciating detail because Miss Emily already did it and because the CD wouldn't play past a certain point, but I was able to get my doll's name, gender, and birthday.  Oh, and my name, LOL.  

Another danged girl doll.  I really was getting boy vibes with that yellow, even though yellow is a popular gender-neutral color.  But I like girl babies too, and I love the name Christina.  Other name options were Brittany, Rachel, Anna, Emily, Danielle, Haley, Samantha, Victoria, and my own name, Sarah/Sara, but I like "Christina" just fine.  I also love how Christina's coloring is similar to my sister's and mine when we were babies...or her animated self does.  The actual doll isn't anywhere near that pale.

Interestingly, as the game progressed Christina's animated self didn't look like my doll anymore.  It looked like Miss Emily's doll, Amanda.

My computer wouldn't play the CD beyond that point, but I got the name and the gender so that's more than enuff for me.  Now, here's Christina herself.

Girlfriend is sticky all over!  That's sometimes an issue with dolls of any era, and I don't like it, but it is what it is.  A quick rubdown with a wet wipe got Christina all good to go, so here's solo shot take two, with her hair combed and her limbs clean.

As I said above, Christina is not as pale as her animated counterpart.  Indeed, she's a little on the dusky side, kinda like Carrie/Baby Love 'n' Touch.  She makes Eve/Tiny Tears look like a ghost, but then Eve already looks like a ghost.  Here it's also possible to see that Christina is a small doll, bigger than Carrie (by a smidge) and smaller than Eve.

Oh yes, how could I forget Sasha Baby and Cara?  Christina is a little bigger than them, especially in the arms and legs, but she's also a little shorter, also in the arms and legs.  Sasha dolls have loooong limbs!

Finally, for the younger generation, Christina is close in size to my smallest Baby Alive doll, Little Maya, and to a Cabbage Patch Cutie like Shelly Mermaid.  Their measurements are different, but they're similar in size.

Christina and Teen Trends Kianna don't look much alike at all, but they do share the problem of sticky vinyl.  The Bootheel is suffering from its yearly plague of gnats, and those little so-and-sos get stuck to my dolls when they've got gommy vinyl.

Now, hair.  These dolls initially wear their hair under their hat as part of the surprise, and as a result when the hats come off the hair looks hilarious.  It's all bunched together, and because the dolls have extremely high hairlines they look like they're wearing hair skullcaps.

Brushing it out was medium-easy.  The texture isn't great, but it looks adorable peeping out from under Christina's cap.

She's even got a little hair bow, as girl neonates often do.

Often, mind y'all, not always.  On the night I was born the nurses were too busy to put bows in the girls' hair.  Mama says there were eighteen new ones that night and the staff was jumpin'.  My sister's bow was white with purple polka dots.  Anyway, the hair looks okay, except from the front.  From the front Christina has a prominent widow's peak and looks a bit like a vampire. 

Miss Emily did say that her Amanda was a biter.  Maybe Christina is too.  LOL, that would make a cute custom doll, a baby vampire!  The rest of Christina's hair is wispy and uneven, though a good trim can fix that.

The fibers suck.  They're coarse and also a mite brittle.  Every time I brush Christina's hair a few hairs break off, so I usually just leave her hat on.  The hat serves the extra purpose of hiding that dumb hairline.

Regarding the face, Christina appears to share a mold with another Playmates doll, Baby So Beautiful.  Same face and everything.  She does NOT appear to share her face with Miss Emily's doll, so there was apparently some variation.

Christina doesn't look great in profile.  Her upper lip juts out and looks like the lips on those beings from "Eye of the Beholder."

Like a great many Playmates dolls Christina has beautiful eyes, and unfortunately they show signs of discoloration.  The right eye is yellowing a smidge.  Christina also has inset eyelashes that are a bit too long, and wispy eyebrows that look too light for her hair.  I can get over that though, since babies usually have light eyebrows.

Under her little button nose Christina has pink lips, a mouth that is shaped roughly like a W, and lightly blushed cheeks.

These dolls aren't the characters that Little Cousins are, but they do have a few of the same attributes, namely the lovely inset eyes and the pink lips.  I can't say that the paint job is anything to write home about on ANY of these Playmates dolls...take that back, the Hearts for Hearts Girls have pretty lips.  If you see 'em in person you can see that there's a tiny bit of sparkle, like they're wearing a thin layer of lip gloss.  The feature is hard to see on Zelia here, but all three of my H4H dolls are a tiny bit sparkly.

Amazing Maddie's lips aren't that nice though, and neither are are Christina's.  The paint is one-dimensional, but it's at least all there and flubs.  And I love those crystal blue eyes!  I hope I can keep them from turning with time.  Overall, though, I don't like Christina's face as much as I like the one that Miss Emily's doll has.  Emily says that Amanda looked like a biter, but Christina looks even more so.  Hmmm...maybe Christina and Teenie Talk can be friends.  I've said in the past that Teenie looks like she's plotting my demise.  Maybe in this case she's mad because I haven't washed her dress yet.

Heck, maybe ALL Sweet e.Babies were biters!  Maybe that's why they didn't sell.  Biter or no, I have to look at Christine's body, even though there's not much to see.  She's all hard vinyl with simple rotating joints.

Sometimes baby dolls this size are anatomically correct, but Playmates didn't do that to these.  Berenguer babies are the ones that are sometimes "real girls" or "real boys," and Paola Reina babies are that way too, for that matter.  Just thought I'd throw that out there, since some Berenguer dolls are similar in size to Sweet e.Baby.  Christina doesn't have that kinda detail, but she does have a butt crack and some information stamped on her right butt cheek.  

She's also got some subtle musculature on her back.

Up front Christina has some slight baby boobs and a cute little tummy with a bellybutton.  Oh, amd her rib margin is visible too.  Nothing too extreme.

The limbs are smooth and healthy-looking, just like the torso is.  There are some slight fat rolls near the wrists, but that's all.

The arms aren't mirror images of each other like they sometimes are on other dolls.  This is especially noticeable in the hands, note that Christina's left hand is clenched into a fist, and her right hand is not.

Christina can't suck her thumb, but she can look like she's fixin' to!

Christina's legs are also different from each other. 

In a reversal of sides, Christina's left foot is extended and her right foot is not.

Better late than never, but I realized late in the game that Christina's legs are a bit more detailed than her arms.  She's got a few creases, but not a ton.

I also forgot to mention that the fingers and toes have some nice detail; the nails are all readily visible, and the knuckles have creases.

Oh, and joints.  Christina has five joints (neck, shoulders, hips), and they rotate.  Christina's posing is thus pretty limited, but she can sit...

...lie down...

...look around...

...and kick and wave.

Not a bad body, overall.  Christina feels sturdy and has a nice weight to her, and she can strike a few baby-appropriate poses.  She is NOT soft, though.  Some baby dolls are soft and good for cuddling, and some aren't.  Christina is one of the latter, though she'd fit perfectly under a little kid's arm.

As mass-produced baby dolls often are, Christina is simply and comfortably dressed, in a onesie and a hat.  Apparently these onesies varied quite a bit in color.  My doll's onesie is yellow, Miss Emily's doll had a red one like this...

...the doll on eBay is wearing purple, and the doll on the box is wearing green.  See?

I wonder how many color variations there were?  Either way I love my doll's yellow clothes; as noted above Christina has darker coloring than the other dolls I've seen, so the yellow looks really nice.

It's a simple little outfit, but then babies usually are dressed pretty simple, unless they're going to church or a christening.  The onesie is made out of this lovely waffle knit that feels delightful to the touch.  I love waffle knit.

My mistake, the horizontal stripes make this LOOK like waffle knit, but appears to be ribbing instead.  Waffle knit or ribbing, the fabric feels nice and stretches some.

The neck and arms are plain, no lace or piping or anything.  The collar is your typical wide collar, commonly found on baby clothes (and occasionally on AG clothes as well).

The bottom part hinges open for diaper-changing, and closes with tabs of Velcro.

The back also closes with Velcro, making removal a smidge easier.

I love the tag!  It's got the doll's logo on it.

Since most newborns wear a cap, Sweet e.Baby always wore one too.  It's got four panels and a brim.

Here's the inside.  Y'all can see how badly Christina's hair is shedding, but the inside of the hat looks okay otherwise.

The back panel has a little elastic at the brim to ensure a snug fit.

As to the diaper, it's a plain white diaper with Velcro tabs on the sides.  Easy for a child to fix and play along with the CD...if you can get it to run, that is.

Unlike Baby Alive diapers this one CAN be washed and reused, though it's unnecessary because Sweet e.Baby isn't a drink and wet doll.  I think we've been over that.  There was also a bottle and a brush included, plastic items that I paid little attention to, though the bottle IS a nice bottle. 

It's got a rubber stopper inside, and the nipple is pierced so that one could theoretically fill this and use it like a legit baby bottle.

Pity that Christina can't use it...yeah she can.  She just doesn't have an open mouth to "drink" from it.  One can pretend-feed her, though.

And I think that's all!  Time to sum it up!

BAD
*Bad hair.  I have a hard time getting it to look nice and it sheds constantly.
*The vinyl is growing sticky as it ages.  This isn't unique to Sweet e.Baby, but be forewarned just in case.
*Modern-day computers may not run the CD that accompanies the doll.  Don't pitch it, though!  You might be able to play it long enuff to get your doll's name.
*Not the most cuddly doll in the world.

GOOD
*Have I ever mentioned that I love Playmates dolls' eyes?  Yeah, probably.  LOL, but Christina has very pretty eyes, Playmates doll or no.

Overall Sweet e.Baby is a basic little baby doll made special by a CD that allowed the child to interact with their doll to a certain extent.  The CD is incredibly simple to use provided one has a computer old enuff, but back in the late nineties...I dunno.  I was manipulating games more advanced than the Sweet e.Baby CD in 1999, so this game would've been perfect (maybe even too easy) for the target age of these dolls.  As to the doll, she's easy to manage and easy to play with along with the CD games (if you can get them to run).  It's basic stuff like diaper changing and bottle-feeding, and simple doctor's appointments and all that.  On her own Christina is okay...or she's okay once her sticky vinyl is washed.  Not high, not low.  Just a cute baby doll with striking blue eyes.

Sweeping change of subject now, I go on YouTube binges every night, and the commercials that run before, during, and after the videos are getting alarmingly personalized.  My commercials are often (not always, but often) advertisements for AG Sisters, or for Ruby Red Fashion Friends, or for Ashton-Drake babies, or most recently, for Leya Dolls!  I know dern good and well that this is happening because Google tracks everything we all do, but still, it's kinda freaky.  Do any of y'all get advertisements like that when go on YouTube?

Lastly, if you live in Indiana or Ohio, batten down the hatches!  Ryan Hall said it'll be bad today.  Is it just me, or have Indiana and Ohio had it rough this season???

Love,
RagingMoon1987