YouTube speaks: dolls of the nineties

<pauses to double-check>  Okay, I KNOW I've got the date right this time.  I don't know where the hell my brain was last week, but anyway, I know I've got some nineties fans out there, so for today I'm breaking down one of Beauty Inside a Box's videos, one about dolls of the nineties that he considers significant.  Some of the dolls in his video have been discussed here and some haven't, but...whatever, let's do this!  How many of 'em do y'all remember???

First entry is...uh...

BARBIE

COMPANY:  Mattel
YEARS OF PRODUCTION:  1959-present day

This is strictly my opinion, but Barbie was pretty kick-a$$ in the nineties.  Beauty noted that Barbie seamlessly changed her style as the nineties progressed (doesn't she always?).  Early in the nineties she had big hair and big sparkly dresses, and by the time the millennium rolled around that had sleekened out, just as our own fashions did.  Beauty called out several as standouts, including Rappin' Rockin' Barbie, Earring Magic Barbie (and Ken), Teen Talk Barbie, Totally Hair Barbie, Shani, the Generation Girls (whom I freaking LOVED), and a plethora of princesses and mermaids.  Yep, Mattel loved princesses waaaay before the glut of CGI movies came out.  Beauty in the Box also noted that hair play was big for nineties Barbie dolls, and indeed it was.  I'll never forget using Cut 'n' Style Barbie's scissors on my own hair, or what happened to my posterior as a result, LOL!  I also remember Dep, the hair gel that came with Totally Hair Barbie, because Mama used that on my hair before church more than once.  Ewwww, I hated the way it felt!  It smelled nice, but I hated that cold, squidgy feeling in my hair.  I like hair gel just fine now, but when I was five I hated the crap.  But yeah, Beauty called out several dolls that were special during the nineties, and because the decade was so dynamic for Barbie and her friends he only scratched the surface.  He did note that Totally Hair Barbie was the best-selling Barbie of all time and that Barbie hasn't reached a high like that sense, but in general Barbie still remains a cultural icon.  Can't argue with that!  

As for me, my favorite dolls of this era are Sit in Style Barbie and company, Cool Times Midge, Hula Hair Christie, Cut 'n' Style Barbie, and of course, Hip 2 Be Square Barbie.  I promise I have my old H2BS doll around here somewhere!  Both she and my Cut 'n' Style girl are the redheads, of course.  Even when I was little I loved red hair.  I don't yet own a Sit in Style Barbie, by the way, despite my love for the line.  I need to fix that...

SKY DANCERS

COMPANY:  Galoob
YEARS OF PRODUCTION:  1994-2000

Oh, the Sky Dancers!  Part fairy, part ballerina, part dangerous, a whole lotta fun for my sister and me.  Beauty states that Sky Dancers were predicted to be a flop since flying toys were "a boy's thing."  Uh...I LOVED toys that flew, and I was very soundly a girl.  A tomboy, yes, but still a girl.  Flying toys could do something I couldn't and desperately wanted to do, LOL!  But yeah, I owned a couple'a these and loved the snot out of 'em.  Moon Shimmer and Crystal Rose were my duo, and Sister had a nice giftset that included three Sky Dancers with tinsel hair.  Oh, how we enjoyed these!  On sunny or not-so-sunny days we'd take our dolls out and play with them until one of the dolls landed in someone else's yard and we had to retrieve them.  Our neighbors were always nice about it, thank God.  We were also fortunate that no one's doll landed way up in the tree; I mean, we did have to fetch a baseball bat to poke one down every so often, but none of our dolls ever became irretrievable.  As to Beauty's description of the dolls, he mentioned the ones that lit up, the ones with ribbons attached, and the little ones, Fairy Fliers.  He also made note of a scented line, stating that scented things were big in the nineties.  Indeed, there will be more scented dolls to come, so stay tuned.

Unfortunately the Sky Dancers proved to be fairly dangerous.  Sister and I were aware of the dangers; the instructions soundly warned us to aim the toys AWAY from people and pets, and Mama and Daddy always yelled "BE CAREFUL WITH EYES!!!" from the back door.  The worst thing that happened to us was I ended up winded after one of Sister's dolls went awry and hit me in the stomach.  That scared us both, but I wasn't hurt seriously, not even bruised.  Other children weren't so lucky, and Sky Dancers eventually got slapped with a recall.  The dolls got revivals in 2005 and in 2013, but those lines didn't go as far.  It's kinda too bad that they didn't, but the reissues weren't any safer than the original dolls.  Still, I have fond memories of these, and Beauty does too.  He also suffered from tree woes, LOL.  Beauty's more extensive discussion of Sky Dancers can be found HERE.

SINDY

COMPANY:  Hasbro, later Vivid Imaginations

YEARS OF PRODUCTION:  Hasbro had the license from 1987 to 1996, while Vivid Imaginations had it from 1998 to 2003.  In all Sindy has been around since 1963, with several hiatuses.  

I've spoken of Sindy many a time, but today we're looking at the Hasbro line, which I presume was meant to rival Barbie.  In the nineties Sindy went heavy on the pink and the fantasy, just as Barbie did.  Also like Barbie, hair was big, as her Crimp and Style, Wild Hair, and Rainbow Hair selves show.  My doll is Crimp and Style Sindy, and my Wild Hair doll is around somewhere as well.  Crimp and Style is kinda like Bead Blast Barbie and Cabbage Patch's Crimp 'n' Curl Girls rolled into one.

Oh, as an aside, look at the comments in this video, of Party Lights Sindy.  Who's comment do you see???  Seven years can do a lot to change one's opinions, and now I think these Hasbro Sindy dolls are pretty awesome.  Sad to say I remember nothing of them, since they were foreign releases.  Step away from eBay, Moon...you do not need Party Lights Sindy...YOU DO NOT!!!

Like the Sky Dancers, Hasbro Sindy has a skeleton in her closet, that being a lawsuit from Mattel.  Yep, Mattel sued Hasbro claiming that Sindy looked too much like Barbie.  Mattel won, by the way...sort of.  Hasbro agreed to change Sindy's face, so that sounds like a Mattel win to me.  But I still like Sindy.  I daresay that I like her face better than I do Barbie's.  Unfortunately for me, Sindy was a British thing, so I have no childhood memories of her.  Beauty states that Sindy never became as big a thing as Barbie, but she gave it the old college try.  I commend her for that, as going up against Barbie isn't easy!

LI'L MISS

COMPANY:  Mattel
YEARS OF PRODUCTION:  1989-1993

Yep, I'm talking about the Li'l Miss line again!  I think this is the third post this year where I've discussed the Li'l Miss bunch.  The troupe of glitzy toddler dolls began in 1989 with Li'l Miss Makeup and went from there.  Most of these dolls (all of them?) had temperature-sensitive hair, clothes, or facepaint that allowed their young stylist-mommies to glam the dolls up or down.  The only exception to this rule was this young lady, Li'l Miss Magic Jewels.

As far as I know nothing about her changed color, but her magic wand did bejewel her hair and gown.  I don't own Li'l Miss Magic Jewels, but I do own four of her jewels, worn by Flower Magic Mary.

The only doll I remember from this line is Li'l Miss Magic Hair, complete with her heart-shaped stamps and all that jazz.  I remember the commercial, being mildly interested, and never saying anything because I didn't do dolls then.  I loved those colors in her hair, though!  I also remember Li'l Miss Magic Jewels and being enchanted by the magic wand.  ANYTHING that materialized out of nothing fascinated me back then!  Oh, and fun fact about Li'l Miss Singing Mermaid:  Lady Gaga owned one as a child, if Beauty's information is accurate.  Pretty cool!

Before I move on, Beauty mentioned at the end of this segment that this doll, Princess Bride, was supposed to be a member of the Li'l Miss series...

...but he didn't say much else about her.  Princess Bride is indeed clearly a toddler doll (child marriage?  Yikes...), and her pearls turned colors with various water temperatures.  Her dress also was apparently reversible.  Ghost of the Doll lists this poppet as a completely different entity from the Li'l Miss bunch, so I'd love to know how Beauty knows that this doll was supposed to be an extension of that line.  No hate meant, of course; I just want to know how he knows.

CUPCAKES

COMPANY:  Tonka, Kenner
YEARS OF PRODUCTION:  1990-1992

I've discussed these in the past, and I even owned one when I was little, but for a recap Cupcakes were small dolls that folded up into toy cupcakes or other sweets, simple as that.  I owned Taffy Tammy, and I admired the Sugar and Shine and Princess Parfait waves from afar.  Taffy Tammy was from the Tonka era, and devious little Beri Blue hails from the Kenner era.  Remember her?  I always thought she looked like she was up to some sort of mischief.

Taffy Tammy smelled heavenly, and Beri Blue did too before I washed her hair.  Oh, she still smelled nice afterwards, but she smelled of Dawn rather than blueberries.  Anyway, due to their bright colors, baked goods theme, and scented gimmick, Beauty hypothesizes (and I agree) that the Cupcakes were trying to rival Strawberry Shortcake.  Strawberry and company were attempting a revival while the Cupcakes were around, so this theory holds water.  The THQ Strawberry Shortcake didn't even touch her Kenner self in terms of popularity, though.  They were cute, but I'm told they smelled pretty nasty.  The Cupcakes were around longer and probably smelled better, but they weren't around for long either.

PEPPERMINT ROSE

COMPANY:  Mattel
YEARS OF PRODUCTION:  1992

Okay, I know for a fact that I've got at least one Peppermint Rose fan out there.  I know precious little about the line, but apparently Pep and company were a collaboration between Mattel and American Greetings, meaning that Peppermint Rose and Strawberry Shortcake could be considered distant cousins.  Like Strawberry and like the Cupcakes these dolls were scented and came with makings for small bottles of perfume.  They also share faces with Lady Lovelylocks, and Beauty loves both lines as a result (so do I, LOL; I think that head is cute).  I have plans to discuss Peppermint Rose in a future post, so I won't say much more other than that I do not remember these from my childhood.  I like the idea, though.

SPICE GIRLS

COMPANY:  Galoob
YEARS OF PRODUCTION:  1997-1999

I remember these from the old Sears Wish Books and I...I thought the dolls were ugly.  The girls themselves were pretty, and to me the dolls looked possessed and bitchy.  In fact, I wasn't a fan of the Spice Girls, period.  Nothing against the women themselves, but their music wasn't my thing.  But ANYWAY, the Spice Girls were a British thing like Sindy, but UNLIKE Sindy, the Spice Girls had a decent following here in the U.S., and I had a few classmates that had or wanted these dolls for Christmas or birthdays.  Ginger (Geri Halliwell) and Posh (Victoria Beckham) were the ones my friends all liked, for this reason or that.  Either way there were multiple waves of these (I was only aware of the one pictured above), and believe it or not, I actually liked the concert collection.  The Spice Girls wore these lovely metallic outfits that weren't quite as tacky as other costumes, and they just looked nice together.  The last few waves didn't include Ginger, as she left the group in 1998.

STARR MODEL AGENCY

COMPANY:  JPI, Jakks Pacific

YEARS OF PRODUCTION:  1996

I had NEVER heard of these (they are no relation to this Starr), but as usual Tam's blog came through.  Starr Model Agency consisted of several tiny, well-dressed dolls that were...well, models!  They were close in size to Dawn, Pippa, and other "pocket" dolls of the past, only with nineties-style fashions and eyes that look just this side of possessed.  LOL, another possessed-looking doll!  Interestingly, one of the characters (there were six) was named Dawn, and she even had straight blonde hair like Topper Dawn!  Both Beauty and I wonder if Jakks didn't intend that as a reference to the older Dawn doll.  But either way there were several lines that followed various modelling themes, and even a stage/runway-type thing that the dolls could use.  Hmmm...now I wonder if Starr can share her clothes with Dawn...may have to investigate that.  I still have a Dawn post waiting in the wings, by the way.  

MELANIE'S MALL

COMPANY:  CapToys

YEARS OF PRODUCTION:  1996-1997

Never heard of this one either (duh, it doesn't pop up on Ghost of the Doll like some of CapToys' stuff does), though Melanie and her boyfriend look a lot like the dolls that lived in my dollhouse when I was a kid.  Like Starr, Melanie was a little doll (four inches), and she was accompanied with pieces of a shopping mall.  A little doll came with each piece, so if one collected the whole set one could have both a large mall and a crowded one.  Not a bad aesthetic, as long as you didn't mind a glut of blondes.  The girl dolls had legit hair, too; sometimes miniature dolls don't have real hair (2000s Polly Pocket), but Melanie and her girlfriends did.  The boys...not so much.  Let's face it, it's usually easier to mold a male doll's hair than root it.  Beauty didn't have much to say about this bunch, other than that it played into the mall culture that was prevalent in the eighties and nineties.  Sigh...I got in on the very tail end of that, and I gotta admit that I have some lovely memories of shopping malls, as well as one terrifying experience that I'll relate in some other post.  But yeah, when I was very, very little (we're talkin' like one or two years old) West Park Mall was jumping.  Had a fountain at the center like a lot of malls did back then, and it was the place to be.  How I loved that fountain!  Now malls aren't all that much (I think West Park Mall might be considered a dead mall), but for awhile they were the place for kids and teens to hang out.  I love how this toy captures that.

PRETTY CRAZY CURLS

COMPANY:  Playmates Toys

YEARS OF PRODUCTION:  1997-1998

Now this one I am familiar with, because I own her.  The last of the glitzy toddler dolls.  I had read and heard that this doll didn't see a lot of success, but she was around for a full year so that's something.  Anywho, Pretty Crazy Curls came with hair curlers and some accessories that my little doll is missing (ribbon streamers), and she was accompanied by two brightly colored pets.  Beauty mentions the dog, Curly, but there was also a pony, Lucky.  Other than that Beauty didn't have much to say about this doll either, other than that...oh my, she's got similarities to P.J. Sparkles and the Li'l Miss bunch.  He's definitely not the only one to notice that, but he's not wrong either.  

SURPRISE HAT SUZIE

COMPANY:  Tyco
YEARS OF PRODUCTION:  1995

I own this one too!  Susie is a hair play doll like Pretty Crazy Curls is, but she hides all her stuff in her hat.  My doll has sequins, beads, ribbons, and a funny-looking headband that one could weave into her hair.  Seriously, a blunt-ended sewing needle is one of this doll's accessories, and one uses that to "sew" her hair into the headband.  I haven't tried it yet, but it sounds a bit maddening.  Susie also has a bit of a blind bag gimmick, in that she has a colored streak in her hair, but no one knows what color it will be until the hat comes off.  Lastly, Susie's hat doubles as a storage purse for her hair doodads that aren't being used, so there's that.  And again, Beauty notices this doll's similarities to P.J. Sparkles and Li'l Miss.  Oh, and if y'all are worried about Susie's hair doodads spilling out when her hat comes off, don't be.  They initially come ensconced in plastic bags.  What happens after the bags are open is up to y'all!

PRINCESS GWENEVERE AND THE JEWEL RIDERS

COMPANY:  Kenner, Hasbro

YEARS OF PRODUCTION:

Back to the "dolls I've never heard of" list we go!  I saw the cartoon listed on a website for ITV, so I presume that this is another British line, thus explaining why I've never heard of the line.  There were three waves of these produced and at least one that made it to the planning stage, and Beauty compares these to She-Ra, from the eighties.  I wonder how popular these were, since they were action figures aimed at girls rather than actual dolls, but I love the colors!

BETTY SPAGHETTY

COMPANY:  Ohio Art Company, Moose Toys

YEARS OF PRODUCTION:  1998-2004, 2007-2008 (OAC), 2016-2017 (MT)

I freaking LOVE Betty Spaghetty!  Never owned her, can't afford her now, but I love her.  Betty Spaghetty was an appropriately named little doll with long, noodly, bendy limbs and body parts that detached and could be switched around.  Seriously, you could do pert near anything you wanted with these dolls.  She almost always came with beads that could be braided into her hair, and she often had a friend or family member packaged with her.  Hmmm, I apologize, as I did own a Betty Spaghetty set, but it was a trio of Happy Meal dolls rather than legit Ohio Art dolls.  Not that that bothered me much; I wiled away many an afternoon sliding beads into the dolls' hair and switching their body segments.

During my search on eBay I stumbled across a Betty Spaghetty clone, one that I'd never heard of before.  Meet Lanny Lanyard.

Lanny was made by Buddy Toy, whoever they are, and her joints are very different from Betty's.  If I can ever find an affordable Betty set I'll compare her and Lanny.  Beauty called Betty and her crew "experimental," which is actually a good way to explain her considering that toy companies were doing a lot of that at the time (What's Her Face! is a good example).  Some of it succeeded (Betty Spaghetty still has fans to this day), and some of it flopped, but it all made for an interesting stroll down the toy isle.

MY LITTLE PONY

COMPANY:  Hasbro

YEARS OF PRODUCTION:  1997-2003

Hmmm, I associate these more with the eighties, but I had a trillion of them and I was solidly a nineties child.  Beauty notes that indeed, Generation 1 ended around 1992, and Generation 2...kinda floundered.  They got their start in 1997, and if I'm being perfectly honest, I like the Gen 2 ponies.  They've got sweet faces and bright colors, and to me they kinda look like the Gen 1 ponies grew past the awkward preteen stage.  But y'know how it is with change.  Strawberry Shortcake fans hate change too, and oh good night, do Whovians hate change!  Apparently MLP fans hate change too, because these ponies didn't enjoy the long success that G1 did.  Beauty says they didn't last through 1999, but I found some sources that say G2 was around until 2003.  I don't remember; I was fixated on Barbie and the Bratz by 2003.

DISNEY

COMPANY:  Various

YEARS OF PRODUCTION:  1990-1999 (and beyond!)

So we're gonna be specific and talk about Disney dolls!  The nineties were the height of the Disney Renaissance, with a number of decent movies being released, and if there was a female in the movie there was gonna be a doll.  Pocahontas?  Doll.  Aladdin?  Doll.  The Hunchback of Notre Dame?  Doll.  Jeez, whoever thought that making The Hunchback of Notre Dame into a cartoon would be a good idea???  Beauty notes that the "Disney Princesses" line wasn't a thing back then, and indeed the princesses I remember were one-offs that were sold separately, like Holiday Princess Snow White (1998).

Today she'd be part of a whole series of winter-themed dolls.  Hmmm...how do you do a winter-themed Elsa, when winter is ALREADY her theme???  LOL, Elsa was a twinkle in the eye back in the nineties, though.  Beauty called out Pocahontas for her popularity, and indeed I remember there being a lot of the dolls (I personally don't like the movie much).  One even paddled her own canoe, and that one I did like.  My sister owned Sun Colors Pocahontas for awhile, and I wish I still had her (I gave her to a little kid who needed her more).  I also remember Belle being a big deal since Belle was the new girl on the block back then, and...shucks, there was a line with light-up jewels, but I can't remember the name of it!  That was the first line I can remember where several princesses had the same theme.  Cinderella's shoes lit up, Belle had a rose on her dress that glowed, and the gems on Aurora's crown lit up.  I loved those.  So yeah, I remember quite a few of these.

For Beauty Inside A Box, those were the dolls he remembered, and he knew of some that I didn't even know existed.  If I were making the list I probably would've added the Cabbage Patch Kids since they were still pretty popular in the nineties, and definitely Polly Pocket too, since my friends and I were big fans of those teeny-weeny little dolls.  As usual, I invite y'all to share your opinions, what you might add to the list or such.

Love,
RagingMoon1987

Cupcake Surprise review

Today's post is a bit of a companion post to yesterday's, given these dolls' vague resemblance to a Southern belle.  A little over a year ago I reviewed Tonka's version of Cupcakes, and at the end of that review I bemoaned the fact that Emco (a toy group that I know absolutely nothing about) had done a rerelease.  I was upset that I'd let the rehash of a childhood favorite get past me, but as it turns out I needn't have griped, because Cupcake Surprise dolls are now appearing in the local stores.  I thought at first that these were Emco's creations since they look alike, but the box says "Haschel Toys," a group that I've never heard of.  Patience has never been a strong point of mine...and self-control hasn't either, because I got one!

The name is a little different, but the concept and the design are the same.  Outwardly this is a toy cupcake, but take off the hat and flip the skirt inside out, and you've got a cute little doll.

Like the original Tonka dolls, these have assorted scents, but there does not appear to be as wide a range as there was when I was a little kid.  I don't remember how wide the range was back then, but the current line has six:  strawberry, vanilla, grape, chocolate, lemon, and caramel.

The average Tonka Cupcakes wave had about four characters, while Haschel's wave has twelve.  They appear to have ditched the goofy flavor-themed names in favor of regular names that little girls are often named.

Okay, I take that back:  I haven't met a little kid named Esther in years, and the name Liza appears to be on the slide as well, but at least these dolls aren't named goofy things like Taffy and Beri.

If I could've had my choice from any of the twelve, I'd have chosen a green or a blue cupcake, but since I didn't see either option I chose this pretty yellow one.

Folks commonly associate the flavor of lemon with the color yellow, the obvious reason being that lemons are yellow, and indeed this doll smells like lemon.  Or she's supposed to; the scent reminds me more of citronella candles than it does the fruit that goes into my favorite beverage.  I've been on a lemonade kick lately for reasons I'll probably never know.  Maybe my vitamin C is low.  Anyway, the citronella scent faded within a few short days, as compared to Beri's blueberry scent, which while faint, can still be detected after almost thirty years.

Having perused Ghost of the Doll's website, I was not expecting a lot of similarities between my Tonka doll and the current doll, so when I pulled off the packaging I was in for a surprise.  The Haschel doll's top is a very similar mold to Beri Blue's, if a little smaller.  The plastic color and the decorations are different (orange and white sprinkles versus blueberries and purple sprinkles), but the shape is the same.

The attachment mode is the same too; both hats attach to their respective doll with a thick strand of elastic.

Having looked at the back of the box and matched colors to characters, I think I grabbed a Jenny.  And...

...yep, it's Jenny!  Apparently this is the only doll of color in the series, which surprised me.  Modern-day doll lines usually do a pretty good job of representing all races, so to see just one black doll in this bunch surprised me.  But then again, the Jenny shown on Ghost of the Doll's Emco page is white, so maybe all the characters come in two different forms?  Or maybe Haschel decided to mix it up a bit?  Anyway, Jenny has some similarities to my old doll Beri, but she's also quite different.  Here's how the two compare visually.

Beri has her sneaky little smile and snarky little eyebrows, while Jenny looks innocent and a little vacant.  Her eyes are very different from Beri's.

Jenny has big brown (off-center) eyes with short black lashes and a thin band of pink eyeshadow.  PINK???  Her clothes aren't pink!  The shadow doesn't match a stitch Jenny is wearing, and they make her look a little bleary-eyed, like she's been crying or tripping or deprived of sleep.  Her eyebrows are maroon (???) and don't have much personality either, though I'm glad Jenny doesn't have the resting rascal face that Beri possesses.  These eyes are very difficult to photograph, by the way.  They're flat and shiny and thus catch light like mad.  The mouth is better, being a nice dark pink shade with some little teeth painted in.  The cheeks are blushed with a similar shade of pink.

If y'all wish me to be perfectly honest, I can't say that I relate very well with either of these faces, but I prefer Beri's slightly devious expression to Jenny's blank innocence.  I think Jenny needs to be wary around Beri; goodness only knows what sort of mischief Beri could cause with an unsuspecting dupe for her partner in crime.

Ooops, I forgot hair!  Jenny has wavy dark brown hair that is pulled back into a simple ponytail.  The fibers are very soft and smooth, not stiff like some dolls' hair.  It's a little stringy in places, but nothing that a good washing won't cure.

Compare that to Beri's long, blonde, occasionally hard to manage hair.

Hair award goes to Jenny's simple, easy-to-manage tresses.

Now to the dress.  Beri's dress isn't really a dress so much, but a painted bodice and a skirt that is a separate piece.  Jenny on the other hand...Jenny is wearing a full dress, bodice and skirt and all.

This dress reminds me a little of the dress that Princess Tiana dolls often wear, being light green and gold.  The material is cheap sateen with a fair amount of drape, and the gold panel in the front has gilded leaves and vines painted on.

The neckline is not particularly well done, slanting off to one side.  This is only obvious when Jenny wears the dress (or Beri in this case); off her it can't be seen.

The sleeves are decorated with wide bands of stiff polka-dotted tulle, and the skirt has little panels on the sides made out of this same fabric.  The left panel loves to pop up and look silly at inopportune times, but I got it to behave this time.

The back of the dress is plain and fastens with a strip of Velcro.

The inside is fairly well finished, though the bodice does have some annoying loose threads.

Part of Beri's dress is painted on, so she and Jenny can't share clothes all the way.  Here's what it looks like when they do share clothes.

That looks better than I thought it would, at least in Jenny's case.  The waistband of Beri's skirt is high enough that it can make a believable strapless dress.  By contrast, Jenny's dress is ill-fitting on Beri; the lopsided bodice is very obvious, and it makes Beri's painted bodice more visible.  So surprisingly, I like Beri's half-dress better.  The painted bodice looks less bulky, and since it IS painted it avoids sewing gaffes like Jenny's uneven neckline.

When disrobed Jenny looks like this.  Her upper half is a lovely dark brown shade, but I do wish she had a painted bodice like Beri does.  LOL, bet y'all never dreamed I'd say that, as much as I've fussed about molded Barbie clothes in the past!  Anywho, this is what Jenny looks like under her dress.

Her arms are made of soft vinyl and can move up and down.  Like Beri, her arms move in tandem with each other; it's either both arms up or both arms down for this gal.

Jenny's neck can turn from side to side too, just like Beri's.

Posing is a tie.  Neither Jenny nor Beri have much to offer in that department.

 So, to sum it up, I'm delighted to see these Cupcake dolls back in stores, introducing a creative old idea to a new generation of kiddies.  However, in terms of quality and appearance I think Beri is the superior doll.  Her face has more personality, she feels more sturdy, and her simple half-dress is free of sewing foibles.  The scented gimmick worked out better for Beri too; she still smells faintly of blueberries (even after a hairwash), while Jenny's scent has largely faded.  Jenny is a cute doll with nice her hair and eye-catching colors, but she lacks Beri's mischievous personality and her lopsided bodice suggests problems with Haschel's quality control.  So if you're searching for a toy for a kid, either one of these will do quite well, but if you're a collector looking to reign in an old memory, I'd stick to the old Tonka/Kenner dolls.

Blessings,
RagingMoon1987