So random, May-June '25

May and June were both kinda slim.  Since I use a walker to get around now I can't carry my dolls here and there like I used to.  I'm brainstorming a solution for that, but in the meantime I merged May and June this year.  We begin on May 3rd.  My Sasha family grew to three.

The black baby's name is Cara, according to multiple sources.  I would've thought she was Cora sized down, just as Sasha Baby is Sasha sized down, but she's not.  Cara is an entity all her own.  These Sasha babies could prove addictive, by the way, as they fit nicely into my hands and are just as high-quality as the big dolls, AND they have the same neutral expressions.  With my hip being sore and the number of loonies rising in my town, I've worn the same expression on my face lately, one that is blank but can convey irritation, ennui, impatience, frustration, or full-tilt outrage.  But then on the opposite end of the coin, it can also mask amusement.  What can I say, I have a resting bitch face, and to a certain extent, so do Sasha dolls.

May 5th.  I had a mondo backache and wanted nothing more than to lie down, but alas, I had to wait for FedEx to come (they needed my friggin' signature for something).  George and Anna kept me company. 

I think Anna was as tired of waiting as I was at that point.  Nothing bothers George.  The package did come, by the way, and the contents were...very special, shall we say!  As for these two, these two are the type that I'd like to take outside and photograph in a tree, in the grass, ANYWHERE, but right now I can't.  George and Anna give great hugs, though!

May 7th.  Macy arrived in the mail, as did Bubblecut Dawn's head, worn atop the body that Treesa sent.

Dawn was a little miffed that I photographed her without clothes, but I promised her she'd have something nice to wear soon, and in the time that's elapsed "soon" has come.

Etsy shop is LoriPalekDolls.

May 11th, memory from 2021.  I described her as Barbie on acid in the Failbook post.

I did buy this doll, by the way.  I named her Tano and intended to review her, but...well, you see one Barbie doll and you've pretty much seen 'em all.

May 18th.  The Binky Buddies.

From left, Ayla, Candela Laura, and Solana Sunburst.  I've said it before but I'll say it again:  I love it when a doll can take a pacifier.  I loved Cabbies with the #4 head before I was even a fan of the dolls themselves; a brief notice ran in an issue of Doll Reader showing a full-sized Kid in a diaper and booties, plus a pacifier.  The caption noted, "Although she wears a diaper and booties, she is a Kid."  She predated Preemies and was thus a full sixteen inches, but oh, was she cute!  She had blonde hair, just like Candela Laura does.

May 19th.  Candela Laura strikes a pose with another baby doll, Mary/Baby All Gone.  Mary probably could take a pacifier too, but Baby All Gone didn't have one.

This was the same night that Fayetteville got hit, by the way.  These two helped me keep my mind settled.

Same evening.  Not a doll, but something for one.

These belong to my new doll with the long legs and the watermelon outfit, the one that came on May 5th.  The green hat and the red hat are made of yarn that glows in the dark, and they glow very well.

May 22nd.  One of my Failbook groups asked for double pony Cabbage Patch Kids, so I acquiesced with these three.  From left, Valencia Rose, Valencia's Playmate Titania Rosalind, and Elisabeth Clara. 

I always will wonder why Cabbie fans call this 'do double ponies instead of pigtails or dog ears.  I've always heard dog ears from the older generation and pigtails from my own generation.  But Cabbie fans call these double ponies, and double ponies is what I'll go with.  

May 23rd.  Ernest John got something new in the mail. 

I love the elephant onesies!  And yes, those are my battleship hips he's sitting on, though Christa from Newfoundland pointed out that there's only room on each hip for one Cabbie.  She has a point, as at one time two could've fit on each hip.  Diets suck, but they're worth it in the end.  On this particular evening Mary was content to sit by me rather than on me, though she also spent part of the evening on my lap.  In addition to cuddling my dolls when life's a drag, I also cuddle 'em when life's good or just for the heckuvit.

I freaking love this doll, Treesa.  I don't know what it is about her, but I love her.

May 25th, dark and rainy with a fair amount of thunder.  We were half-expecting it to get violent again, but it didn't, thank God.  Even so, Ernest John and So Surprised Suzie got cozy.

Ernest John is my eternal ladies' man.  Girl dolls love him.  Suzie in turn loves baby dolls that are close to her in size or smaller, though she treats everyone she meets with a fair amount of enthusiasm.

May 27th.  Chatty Cathy got a clean bill of health after a long battle with mold.  To celebrate I put her in a dress she's never worn before. 

Those shoes look ridiculous IRL.  I need to find a Minnie Mouse costume for them.  Otherwise Cathy looks...well, about as good as a Chatty Cathy doll can.  I'm glad I didn't have to send her to a professional dolly doctor, though I may in the future anyway.  Her face is terribly pale, but I've read that that's kinda normal for these dolls.  Will you play with me???  LOL

May 28th.  Yet another new Cabbie came in the mail.  Malinda Irisa is her name, and November 1st is her birthday.  She is a neon Preemie. 

Neon Preemies have bodies that are a more vivid shade of pink than that of the average Cabbie.  I was actually looking for a Preemie with green eyes and the body didn't matter much, but Malinda had green eyes, the neon body, AND all her papers for fifty bucks.  Can't beat that with a stick!  

May 30th.  Someone online asked for a comparison between a neon Preemie and the regular one, so I obliged. 

Ernest John is your regular...actually, he's a little darker than your average Preemie, but his body is more or less the standard tan.  Malinda Irisa is very, very pink, pinker than your average Preemie.  That's all a neon Preemie is, but like Cabbies with popcorn hair some collectors go ga-ga over them.  For me the neon bit was just a nice bonus, as I was after a Caucasian #3 Preemie to complete the eye color triad.  Remember:  Caucasian Preemies with the #1 head have blue eyes, dolls with the #3 head have green eyes, and dolls with the #4 head have brown eyes.  Afro-American Preemies are brown-eyed, full stop, and no Preemie that I'm aware of used the #2 head.

June 3rd, as I was getting ready for work and humming "Ode to Billy Joe."  I noticed how cute my dolls looked all jumbled together, so here are some of my Cabbies and one American Girl. 

Back row, from left: Karen Sheila, Rowena Skylar, Gavin Andrew, and Julie. Front row from left: Alice Helene, Ernest John, Tabitha Renee, and Malinda Irisa.  Allie Kathleen's left arm can be seen sticking between Alice Helene and Karen Sheila.  Tabitha Renee looks like a TB patient, she's so pale, and Christa from Newfoundland thinks she looks high as well...which she kinda does!  I'm also noticing that FOUR of these dolls are redheads.  I love redheads, but I did NOT deliberately cluster them together.  It just kinda worked out that way.

Also pale is my new-to-me girl.

This is McGuffey Ana (pet name will be simply "Ana"), and she's a big girl!  She's about nineteen inches in height and is fully composition.  Heavens, it's been forever since I talked about compo on the blog!  The eBay seller suspects that Ana had some restoration work done, and indeed her composition is a little too perfect, and I found a repaired crack on her cheek.  But she's still wicked awesome, and that restoration work will add a few years to her life.  I've never owned a composition Madame Alexander doll before, by the way, and McGuffey Ana dates from the late thirties to early forties, so she's my oldest MA.  More information on McGuffey Ana can be found here.

June 5th.  I decided that I wanted to ID the cute baby doll that Setsu-P sent me last spring, so I brought him to work with me. 

Here he's peeping out of one of the pockets I have in the bag I hang on my walker.  The doll is a Little Mommy Mini, by the way; these are still in production and have cute little faces.

At the opposite end of the emotional spectrum is Chou Chou.  I'd worked on her review that evening and Chou had had about enuff.

Chou Chou reminds me of Tardar Sauce, even more so than Anita does.  She's not always this miserable though, even though she looks the part.  She's leaning against the box where my Dawn dolls live, by the way.  I've got quite a few of 'em now.

June 7th, 2018.  This was in my Failbook memories.

G1 Catty Noir, clad in a getup that probably belongs to Lagoona Blue. 

June 8th.  My resident sleepyheads, Hedda Get Bedda and Bedsie Beans.

I don't know why I leave Hedda's sleeping face out all the time, but I like her the best that way.

June 8th was the first nice day we'd had in almost a week, so Mama and I went out to eat.  I took a couple'a friends along.

That sun was BRIGHT that day!

Same day.  I was working on the Amooooore Doll review and got this candid of Xue. 

Xue could see Chou Chou, just out of the frame to the left, and Chou was in one of her moods.  Xue was afraid to approach her.

June 9th.  A familiar face steps out of the ether.

Alistair was tired after making the move from Casa Luna to Casa Pizarro, but he felt well enuff to wave to the crowd.  His state of dress gives y'all an idea about how long it's been since I played with him.

Twist 'n' Style Tiffany arrived in the mail that day, and I promptly posed her with Alexis/Pretty Crazy Curls.

Tiffany is a short little gal!  Alexis is about the size of a Wellie Wisher, and Tiffany is a couple'a inches shorter.

June 10th.  I got a second-wave Buried Secrets doll, and lemme tell y'all, the lids on that wave are pink.  I saw those and thought "Dang it, I got ANOTHER Draculaura."  But this isn't Draculaura, not by a long shot.

I didn't mind Cozy Creepover Draculaura's stiff body, but poor Frankie looks like they're terribly uncomfortable.  Their upper body looks like some spinal disorder, like scoliosis or worse.  I like Frankie's pink prosthetic leg, but the rest of this body...yucko, not a fan.  I understand now why fans hate polypropelene hair too, as Frankie's hair is stiff and difficult to control.  Look at Frankie's paint, though!

They've got a lovely face.  I was having trouble picking a G3 Frankie Stein, and then one just lands in my lap and they're...well, they've got a lovely face.  I wish these Buried Secrets bodies were jointed though, especially since G1 budget dolls were jointed.  Nevertheless I've become a fan of the Buried Secrets bunch, and I'm already excited for the third wave.  It looks like it's gonna be a masquerade theme.

That same evening I posed Stella Rae and Candela Laura together.

Stella Rae was still in a Christmas dress (in June!), so I...well, I fixed that!

June 13th.  My friend Donna presented me with this.

Her name is Emily, and she came from Kmart.

According to her tags she plays "Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy."

June 16th.

Different eyes, different hair, different dolls.  From left, my usual Candela Laura, Martina, one of my equally-loved Furga dolls, and Vincent, one of my My Child dolls.

Same day, different doll.  Elisabeth Clara got a new dress.

Bumblebees?  Gnomes?  POLKA DOTS???  Yes, please!

June 20th, the first truly hot day of the year.  In past years we might've already had a few scorchers.  I wasn't sure where else in the blog to fit Li'l Imp, so she goes here.

Li'l Imp is from Vogue, like Ginny and like Brikette.  ATM I have neither the room nor the money for her sister Brikette, but Li'l Imp will suffice. 

I must say, Vogue didn't do red hair or green eyes half-cocked!

June 21st.  I took Li'l Imp to work with me and she was bushed.  

I think Imp and Vincent are both contenders for the title of "ultimate ginger."

June 26th.  We go from the ultimate ginger to sour apple green.

I warned y'all (and myself) that Mia could be hazardous to my wallet!  I have three now, and I'm sizing up the one with short blue and black hair too since she's a bit edgier than the others.

Well!  Combining two months proved to be a bigger job than I predicted!  I may have to do the same thing at the end of August, as I'm unsure what the next two months will bring.  I have an MRI scheduled for July 2nd, and until then I won't really know what my future will hold.  Hip surgery is inevitable at this point, but I still have no clue when it'll be.  Just gotta go about my routine until then!

Much love, 

RagingMoon1987 

Barbie Extra Minis #4 review

Another week has begun, but since it's my day off I care naught.  Well...take that back, I care some, but only because I'm tired of staying home.  Granted, it was week before last that I had to stay in, but it threw my whole rhythm off and I'm only now getting back into a routine.  Having to miss last Thursday due to the ice didn't help much.  Anyway, before I got sick I paid a visit to the local Wal-Mart and the shelves of the toy section were as bare as a hippie's feet, with just the same old Fashionistas and Rainbow High characters in the same old spots they were in before Christmas.  I like some of the new Rainbow High characters enuff to buy one of them, but in keeping with MGA Entertainment's theme they are EXPENSIVE!!!  Robin Sterling is my favorite of the new ones, with her deep skin providing an interesting contrast to her pale blue signature color.  But since I just bought Justin and Rosemary I'm holding off on the Wal-Mart stuff...sort of.  This young lady attracted my attention with her short size and and joints.  

This line is apparently fairly new and is a companion line to the larger Barbie Extra dolls.  Like the Extras, the Minis are numbered.  My Extra doll is #5 ("Tano," as I call her), the Mini is #4 ("Hyacinth"), and pardon the terrible lighting, as #5 is hard to photograph.

Oh, the Extras are fun!  When I saw #5 and her cronies in stores I feared they'd be a one-off, but they're not and I'm glad.  One YouTuber stated that these dolls are like the ones of the early and mid-nineties, with their elaborate outfits and accessories, but I'll add that their hair and faces offer more diversity.  My doll Tano is from the first wave, and I don't know how many waves there have been since then, but I know there have been a few.  My favorites so far have been these two, #5 and #9.

Both rainbow-themed, what a shock.  If y'all know me then y'all know that I love rainbows.  The Minis are significantly smaller, as seen above, and it might've been cute if they'd been smaller versions of the larger dolls, but...they're not.  As far as I know, none of the Extra dolls look like Hyacinth.  If the local Wal-Mart had had Mini #3 I'd have gotten her instead since she has blue hair and would've made a good companion for Iota, who has exuberant blue hair.

But #4 is all Wally World had.  #4 with the Mattel standard look (blonde hair and blue eyes).  Tano's box had some basic information on the back about the Barbie Extra line, but Hyacinth's box didn't.

Out of that box, now!  Hyacinth is taller than my Dolly Darlings doll Camilla, and closer in size to Chelsea.

As with Camilla I ended up with the blue-eyed blonde, and for a little doll Hyacinth has a lot of hair.  It falls to the floor.

It's light blonde with darker blonde lowlights, sorta like the hair one might find on a beach-themed doll.  It has minimal styling, no bangs, and a center part.  The rooting is about what one might expect for a Mattel doll.  In other words, meant to hold the style it's designed for, and maybe a ponytail, but definitely NOT pigtails!  And WHY is this doll's scalp brown???  Not that it shows terribly, but I'd think a light yellow scalp would've been more fitting.  Yeah, pigtails are definitely out for Hyacinth.

Awww, who needs pigtails anyway?  Overall that hair is par for the course for Mattel dolls and kinda boring for a Barbie Extra doll.  See Tano's rainbow braids?

Sheesh, I'm glad I don't have hair like that!  I'll bet Tano spends plenty of time and money at the beauty shop getting her hair done like that!  By the way, Tano does have pigtails, and her part looks okay.

Just for the record, the Chelsea doll also has pigtails, and her part is okay.

Basically if your doll's hair is meant to be parted in back, it'll be rooted as such.  It took me years to learn that, believe it or not.  Tano's hair isn't perfect, by the way; it has a few gaps here and there, nothing super-glaring, but they're there.

Through one gap it's possible to see Tano's scalp, and hers is even more goofy than Hyacinth's.  

I think I'll stick with Hyacinth's brown scalp, thank y'all too much.  Regarding the face, Hyacinth has the cartoonish face common to a good many small Mattel dolls, both past and present.

I'm not the only one to notice these similarities.  Recently Miss Emily reviewed the Cave Club and noted that a lot of Mattel's dolls have a face like those.  Having looked over some of my reviews (and a couple'a hers) I can see what she means.  See how Jessa Jellyfish, Hyacinth, and Fernessa all have somewhat elfin faces?

Princess Malucia has a face like this too (strange, since she's supposed to be a villain), as do Ever After High's Pixies.  They all have Bratz-esque eyes and small, sweetly smiling mouths, with wide cheeks and narrow jaws thrown into the mix.  The Cave Club dolls have more personality in their faces than Jessa and Hyacinth do, and given that Mattel is playing with more and more heads for the main Barbie line, the lack of diversity in the Extra Minis line is a bummer.  Hyacinth appears to have dodged the sloppy paint bullet, though (remember that Jessa did not), and she has the Mattel blue eyes that we're all growing familiar with.

Big and oblong, with dark eyeliner and copious lashes, and surprisingly thick, bushy eyebrows.  These eyebrows are kinda like Cave Club eyebrows, only minus the stripes.  I'm not in love with the tiger stripes in Tella's eyebrows, but I prefer them greatly over Hyacinth's minimalist paint blocks.

I have megabrows myself so I appreciate this.  It makes the dolls look less sleek and polished and more...well, more relatable, I guess.  No one, but no one, has perfect eyebrows unless they put a lot of work into them...like Barbie apparently does...or doesn't.  Now that I look at Tano and Iota, both of them have sizeable eyebrows.  I can dig that.

Hyacinth's lips are bubblegum pink and are painted in a calm, Mona Lisa-style smile, kinda like those of the last My Twinn I brought in, Rosemary.

I tend to think of smiles like this as a variant of the "Pan Am smile," the kind that people give when they're trying to be polite but aren't genuinely happy.  But, as I noted above, the paint is applied straight.  Remember that Jessa's lips shifted in between stampings, giving her a slight case of double lips.

Hyacinth avoided that, thankfully.  Overall she's got average-good face paint.  Nothing sloppy, but nothing fancy either.  She avoids the pixels that plagued Jessa...and Tano and Iota as well, now that I'm looking closely.

It's easier to see the pixels in the closeups that I shared a few paragraphs back.  Drat, why am I just now noticing those???  Oh yeah, Purple Monkfish pointed it out in a recent review.  Her Barbie Signature Looks doll has this very natural, very precise paint, free of pixels and free of lipstick that looks like paint.  Tano and Iota have attractive faces and colorful makeup, and admittedly the pixels are only visible up close, but they're definitely there.  Anyway, Hyacinth avoids the pixels, but her makeup still looks...well, like paint.  I guess that's to be expected since Tano, Iota, and Hyacinth are all toys, while the Barbie Looks dolls are more for collectors.  I noticed that when the Barbie Basics were a thing; they're intended for collectors, and their paint is a smidge nicer than the paint of the toy dolls.

Regarding clothes, these Extra dolls have some outrageous garb, not unlike some styles one might encounter on the streets of Tokyo.  Some of them look very well put-together, and then some of them look ridiculous.  My doll looks better than most, for example, but no way would I pair shorts that short with a fringed jacket and high-heeled boots.

Frankly, I wouldn't pair shorts with anything, but that's because I've got battleship hips (LOL).  Anyway, Hyacinth looks to me like she's not quite dressed fully.  She wears a fluffy hooded minidress and matching boots.

When I put my American Girls in a fluffy top like that I usually pair it with jeans or leggings, mainly because fluffy tops are usually worn during winter.  I guess Hyacinth didn't think that way; she IS a blonde, after all.  Anyway, this style is not unlike Japanese street style, as I noted above, with the addition of a cutesy belt and some accessories.  But let's break this down.  The main dress is a fluffy lavender dress...my bad, the belt had me fooled into thinking this was a dress.  It's actually a top and a matching skirt.

Why on Earth wasn't the skirt a different fabric?  That would be more in tune with the mix-and-match style that these Extras have.  Oh well, can't have everything, I guess.  Hyacinth's jacket has full sleeves and a partial hood.

I say a partial hood because it doesn't cover Hyacinth's whole head.  I know that toy companies design hoods like this to accommodate hairstyles, but it still seems counterproductive to have a hood like this, particularly when the point of a hood is to cover one's head, hairstyles be danged.  The hood does have little ears though, and that's cute.

The interior of the sweater looks like it's lined, but I don't know if that's an actual lining or just the back of this fabric.  The sweater does have little knitted cuffs on the sleeves, giving them more of a finished look.

The skirt is a trapezoid of the same fabric.  It's...a skirt.  No more, no less.

Both the skirt and the sweater fasten in back with what else?  Velcro.

On her feet Hyacinth wears high-heeled lace-up boots.  These are lavender like her dress and have painted laces.

Painted laces!!!  Imagine that!  Mattel isn't big on doing that for their dolls nowadays, as Tano shows.

I get it, I get it, laces are tricky to paint, but Hyacinth's shoes show that it can be done.  Not that the laces serve any purpose, since these shoes slip on and off.  Like many doll shoes, these have slits in the back for the ease of removal.

Sometimes slits don't help at all.  I forget how many times I've popped myself in the face while trying to pull off Mosi's boots, for example, and her boots have slits.  In Hyacinth's case I don't think the slits are necessary, since her shoes are rubbery enuff to pop off without much effort.

In many cases the accessories are what pull an outfit together.  In Hyacinth's case the accessories serve a different purpose; since her sweater and skirt match the accessories help break up the monotony.  Perched on her head (and plastic-tacked to her head) are these big black sunglasses.  They have hearts on the lenses!  I'd wear something like that in a heartbeat.

Like many but not all good Barbie dolls Hyacinth wears earrings.  I think these are permanently attached, though I didn't pull too hard to find out for certain.  These are made of silver plastic and have the word "queen" in script.  These earrings look like they'd weigh a ton in real life.

Hyacinth's hair clip was attached to her hood, and it comes on and off with ease.  It's a simple plastic bumble bee.  I can live with that, since I love bees.  The plastic is pretty flexible, but don't push it!

Indeed, the bee clip made me wish that Hyacinth's glasses had a bee theme, but then I took a closer look at her belt.  It appears to be a belt/purse hybrid, and it's got a teddy bear on it.

The belt even has molded stitching in places.  Not a detail one often sees on Mattel dolls anymore.

Now let's see Hyacinth without clothes.  For the record, she does have molded panties, but as usual they don't show very well.

For such a little doll Hyacinth has an impressive amount of joints, though her neck is not the most impressive of those joints.  It only rotates, and as it rotates it looks more up, like a great many doll necks do.

Hyacinth's hips are a little more promising, though she can't do side-to-side splits any better than I can.  She can cross her legs a little bit, though.

Hyacinth can't achieve front-to-back splits either, but that's due to the cut of her torso, not a lack of flexibility in the joint.  Hyacinth can sit with no problems, though I neglected to show that.

Despite having skinny little arms, Hyacinth's elbows are jointed.  They bend a little past ninety degrees...

...and they hyperextend a little as well.

The elbows also have some rotational movement.  Out...

...and in.

Hyacinth's dainty little wrists are not jointed, nor would I really expect them to be since there's not a lot of space there to accommodate a joint.  Her hands are similar to the "chop-chop" style of hands seen on some jointed Barbie dolls (straight wrists and straight fingers), and yee-ouchie!  Those fingertips look sharp!

Hyacinth's shoulders are your typical Barbie shoulders with the ball joints.  Back and forth...

...and out to the side.  Field goal is no good!

Hyacinth's knees are jointed like her elbows, with both bending and rotating motion.  Her knees don't bend as sharply as her elbows do, but they do rotate.  In...

...and out.  Ouch, twisted knees!

Hyacinth's feet are little and dainty, like her hands.  Thankfully her toes don't look as sharp as her fingers.

I have my doubts about clothes sharing since Hyacinth is a small doll, but a little bit of sharing can be done between her and the Chelsea doll.  Hyacinth's skirt is tight on Chelsea, and her jacket didn't fit over Chelsea's larger hands.  Chelsea's skirt fits Hyacinth almost perfectly.

This is what I mean when I said I wished the skirt was different from the top.  Since Chelsea's skirt has a heart print it coordinates well with the sunglasses, while Hyacinth's boots and sweater match.  Mattel could've played around with Hyacinth's ensemble more instead of making it all matchy-matchy, and I think that's a shame.

On the good side, all four of these Minis come with rather large stands, stands that both hold them up and elevate them about half an inch.  I don't know if all of these dolls have stands in this color, but Hyacinth's is a bright, deep pink, almost red.

This is kinda like the stands the Monster High dolls came with!  It came in three pieces that snap together with no problems.  The stand is labeled "Barbie Extra Minis" on both the base...

...and just above the waist grip.

The grip holds Hyacinth right were her sweater and skirt divide, so it doesn't interfere with her clothes.  That was sometimes a problem with Monster High stands, especially when the doll in question was wearing a full skirt.  It also grasps Hyacinth tightly, not so tight that taking her off the stand is a pain, but tight enuff that she doesn't fall off all the time, like the La Dee Da dolls did.  Mercy, has it been almost ten years since I reviewed Cyanne???  How time does fly!

That about covers it!  Time to wrap it up!

BAD
*Blonde, blue-eyed, boring, though that's my fault for choosing a blonde, blue-eyed boring.
*Hair can't be styled much, especially in any style that requires a part.
*Expression is a little blank, just like the other three Minis.
*Clothes are too matchy!  This source claims that these dolls come with "two detailed fashions," but that's not the case!  If Hyacinth HAD come with two I could've broken up all that purple a bit.  But again, that's the fault of false advertising, not the doll herself.
*Can't share clothes with many other dolls.  Chelsea couldn't wear Hyacinth's sweater.

GOOD
*Hair is the right length to play with, but can still be combed and tamed if it tangles.
*Joints feel sturdy.  Joints are always a gamble on a doll, but this time they paid off.
*Furthermore, the joints hold a pose well.  I didn't show this above, but Hyacinth can touch her face and her hair.
*Clothes feel well-made.  Clothes aren't the easiest thing to make for a doll this size, but Mattel got it done.
*Face paint is clear, free of foibles, and is only minimally pixelated.
*Came with a stand!  More dolls need those!
*Can share some skirts with Chelsea, though Hyacinth's skirt was tight on my Chelsea doll.

Of the four Minis, I had the misfortune to grab the weakest one.  Oh, don't get me wrong, Hyacinth is a nice little addition to my collection.  But when compared to her other Minis, all of whom had more mix-and-match options to their outfits, and one of whom had blue hair and purple lips, Hyacinth kinda fades into the background.  That being said, among my own collection of small dolls Hyacinth stands out.  She can strike poses that the others can't, and while she can't stand on her own she has a stand to help with that.  So Hyacinth isn't a bad little doll, but I recommend discretion with her as I do almost all my dolls.  If you can, pick the one that stands out the most to you, not the one that the store happens to have.  Don't be like me and grab the first thing you see, LOL.  And if you or anyone you know happens to be a seamstress, whip up some skirts for Hyacinth and Chelsea to share.  That's what I plan on doing!

Happy Monday,
RagingMoon1987