Cutie Pops vs. Bratzillaz, part two: Bratzillaz Meygana Broomstix

One doll down, one to go.  With Candi out of the way, Meygana Broomstix takes her turn.

Wooooo-hooooo, witchy woman!

This is actually not the Bratzillaz doll I planned on owning; Jade J'adore was the one I had my eye on.  Jade is my favorite of the Bratz, and I love her eyes.  But Meygana is the doll I received for my birthday, and I'm not going to look a gift horse in the mouth.  The red hair is probably what sealed the deal; my mother knows I love red hair, and she's the one who got her for me.  And I only want one of these dolls.  So that's that.

Now...let me give you the lowdown on Meygana by herself.  She is 10 and 3/4 inches from head to toe.  She is actually shorter than Candi, though in pictures she looks a little taller.  This is partly due to her thick-soled shoes, and partly due to her stand, the combined height of which bring her to 11 and 1/2 inches.  Her hair is curly and a gorgeous shade of red.  Her skin is VERY pale, pale enough that I had a hard time photographing her.  And her eyes!  Oh, those stunning eyes.  All Bratzillaz have inset eyes, and each character has a different set.  Meygana's are aqua blue with glitter.

Her eyes remind me a lot of LIV doll eyes...

...and also Moxie Teenz eyes.

Now that I look at the three sets of eyes together, it's difficult to pick who's eyes I like the best.  But Meygana's are very beautiful.  They add to the enchanted, witchy, otherworldliness of the doll.

But there's more to Meygana than just those eyes.  The whole doll reminds me a lot of both the LIV dolls and the Moxie Teenz, both of whom are now sadly defunct.  All three are highly jointed and with glass eyes.  The three dolls are similar enough that they deserve a comparison of their own; I'll address that in a future blog.

Before we move on though, check this out!  That strand of hair is STUCK IN MEYGANA'S EYE!!!

I'll bet that feels good...NOT!!!  Miss Emily's Meygana Broomstix doll has this very same problem; the only difference is that her doll had hair caught in the right eye, while mine has hair in the left.  No wait...both eyes had hair caught in them, but the hair in the doll's right eye came out while I was trying to comb her hair.  Miss Emily had to use tweezers to get the hair out of her Meygana's eye.  I was able to remove it with my fingertips; it slid out quite easily.  This is a gross analogy, but if you get a Bratzillaz doll with hair in her eyes, treat the hair like you would a tick and pull slowly.  Sorry, the nail-polish-remover-on-the-back technique won't work here!  Not unless you want to remove Meygana's facepaint.  LOL

Speaking of facepaint, let's examine the rest of Meygana's face (I took this picture before I pulled those hairs out of Meygana's eyes).

She's got typical Bratz features, with huge, full lips and boldly painted eyes.  Her eye shadow is a shimmery aqua shade that matches her eyes perfectly.  There are also creases painted in the eye shadow to create the look that a natural eyelid might make.  I love that touch.  I'm not a fan of the eyebrows, though; they look too dark and too...BROWN to match perfectly with red hair.  Meygana's lip color is better, but if you look close her mouth is painted slightly off-kilter...just like Candi's mouth!  It also doesn't follow the mold of her mouth precisely; one can see the unpainted corners of her mouth peeping out from under that paint.  Not a huge problem, but again, keep an eye out for poorly painted dolls.

Here's Meygana's outfit.

This never would've passed muster at my old high school.  Meygana's outfit is typical of Bratz/Bratzillaz dolls, hip and trendy, but a little on the skanky side.  No biggie, I guess.  Dolls are supposed to represent the fantasy world, right?  And in the fantasy world one is not bound to earthly traditions, conventions, and rules.  Hmmm...remind me to say that to the next progressive who tells me that Barbie's proportions aren't realistic.  I've gotten that a couple of times in the past week.

Yeah, back on topic.  This is Meygana's top.

It's your classic sleeveless crop top with a gold pleather bolero sewn on.  The the rest is a varigated blue knit.  The Fashion Magic Academy's crest is sewn to the top.  And that brings us to a question that the Toy Box Philosopher herself pondered.  Miss Emily muses about the identity of the item in the lower left corner of the crest on.  Four items arranged on the crest, the other three items being a high heeled shoe, a diamond ring, and either a bikini or an underwear set (gasp!), but what's that fourth thing???  You have thirty seconds to answer the question.

Tick, tick, tick...

Time's up!  Have you got an answer???  I think I might; the mysterious fourth item looks a lot like a pair of earrings.  Did you guess correctly?  If not, don't worry too much, because I could be completely wrong!!!  UPDATE, 5/17/2018:  apparently I WAS wrong, as the fourth item is apparently one of those neat old-timey perfume atomizers, the ones that can be found at antique marts (and occasionally Hobby Lobby).  Thank you for sharing, Charlie B!

Meygana's skirt is short, again typical of Bratz clothing, but at least it has sewn-in undies.  It resembles a shortened version of a schoolgirl's uniform, with the pleats.  Again, there is pleather triming the top, not unlike a belt.  There is no hem, and some rogue threads are sticking out, but the skirt is woven so tightly that raveling may not be a problem.  As long as I don't pull on it, it should be fine.

The cape concerns me somewhat.

The cape is made of thin, drapey knit material with a certain amount of stretch to it.  It reminds me of Featherageous Jade's dress to a certain extent.  And if you read that blog, you may recall my concerns regarding the durability of that dress.  My feelings are the same for this cape; if it gets treated too roughly it could ravel or snag or tear.  The cape does have plastic loops that hook over Meygana's hands, though.  I think that's a cute touch.  That way she can look like she's actually holding and manipulating the cape.  She can even hide behind it if she wants to.  Plus it is hemmed.

Meygana also has a hat, and some steampunk-looking goggles.  Both are currently held on to Meygana's head with elastic.

When she was fresh out of the box Meygana's hat was held on with red thread and two strands of hair.  Removing it was a lot of fun...NOT!!!  The hat's elastic is uncovered, and that concerns me.  Remember how well elastic tends to hold up during play?  It tends to break.  It also tends to get brittle and melt as it ages, and if the elastic melts into this head of hair it will be a right mess.

Meygana's boots are big, and they're real shoes, too!  They don't just fit on a peg, but on an actual doll foot.

They look like they'd fit on Monster High feet.  Lagoona CAN wear them, but they look clunky on her dainty frame.

Lagoona CAN wear Meygana's boots, though.  Meygana can't wear Lagoona's shoes.

"Unhand those boots, scoundrel!"

Lastly, the earrings.

They are a very pretty design, not unlike some of the pairs of earrings in my room (I have hundreds).  This is an area where my doll differs from Miss Emily's; her earrings were apparently roughly treated during the assembly of the doll, and the post was bent up something awful.  It was bad enough that one of the earrings wouldn't even go into the doll!  I got lucky; both of my dolls' earrings are in good shape.

Regarding accessories, Meygana is fairly well endowed.  She has a two-piece stand that holds her up at the waist, a broom, a hairbrush, and a card with a "spell" on it.

First off, my card is different from Miss Emily's.  Hers has a full spell on it, and mine does not.  Also of note is the broom with the gold cord (the other broom is the hairbrush).  It is too small to look rideable, and it doesn't open so it can't possibly be a purse.  It serves no purpose whatsoever, but it looks cute.  It reminds me a bit of a guitar, so maybe I can position it in Meygana's arms and make her look like she's windmilling it.

Judging from the comments on the Bratzillaz website, the spell on Meygana's card (or rather, the spell that SHOULD be there) is what Meygana uses to call up her special power.  Each Bratzillaz character has a special power, and Meygana's is to fly.  Hey, I thought ALL witches had the power to fly!  Maybe we're talking about a different flight from broom-riding.  Perhaps Meygana has the power to fly without her broom.  Either way, each character also has a witch mark somewhere on their bodies that coordinates with their power.  Meygana's mark is a pair of tribal-looking wings on her right arm.

I'm going to skip a body review since I have a full review planned for another blog, so lets go to Meygana's hair.  At first glance, it's fine.  It's red, it's curly, it's thick, it's full, what's not to like???

THIS IS WHAT!!!  I can't get that hairbrush through that mass of tangles!!!

Deboxing the doll was a real trip, by the way.  That hair was sewn to the package!  Anywho, MGA Entertainment's hair has been declining in quality for some time.  I spent some years out of the dolly loop, so I first noticed this problem when I purchased Style It! Nadine eleven months ago.  Like Meygana, Nadine (seen below) has a head full of curly nylon hair, but hers is mercifully short.  All you have to do is shake her and her hair snaps into place.

In the year that has elapsed since that purchase I've either bought or received three more Bratz Style It! dolls (Tessa, Maci, and Shania), one Moxie Girlz doll, one Moxie Teenz doll, Bratz Catz Jade, Featherageous Jade, and Meygana.  Oh yeah, there's also a Lalaloopsy in the mix, but she has molded hair.  Of all of the dolls with rooted hair, only Bratz Catz Jade has soft, smooth hair.  In fact, her hair reminds me of the old Bratz dolls, the ones that were available when I was a teenager.  The others have course, rough, matted hair prone to snags and tangles, and trying to keep them looking halfway decent has been an uphill battle.  This is enough of a struggle for straight-haired dolls like Tessa, Tristen, and Featherageous Jade, but imagine how it is for a doll with long CURLY hair???

"Help, it's eating my head!!!"

This hair is actually the main reason why I wanted to find Jade instead of Meygana, since I understand that this is a problem common to a lot of Meygana dolls.  Jade's hair is styled in a short bob.  Amazon.com already has reviews from displeased buyers, and most of the complaints are about...you guessed it, the hair.  Miss Emily's doll's hair was bad too, so bad that she had to cut it!  She said it was the absolute worst hair she'd ever seen on a doll, and she's reviewed many dolls with bad hair so she knows what she's talking about.  I may end up cutting my doll's hair as well, particularly if the tangles get out of hand, but that will only be as a last resort.  I try NEVER to resort to cutting a doll's hair because I'm a complete spazz with scissors.  I can't even cut my own bangs, for crying out loud!   And believe it or not I actually like that mess of hair to a certain extent.  It looks tangled and windblown and...well, it looks kinda witchy, like she's been riding her broomstick.  Hey, if you rode around on a broom all night long, would YOUR hair look neat and tidy?  Still, this is a toy, and I remember how angry and frustrated I would have been if I'd gotten a doll with hair like this when I was a kid.  I'm willing to bet there are plenty of kids out there who will feel the same way.

Now, let me hearken back to the Cutie Pops half of the review.  Here's Candi's hair next to Meygana's:

Remember I said that these dolls both retail for around twenty bucks, and yet the quality of their hair couldn't be more different.  Candi's is smooth, doesn't shed, and is relatively tangle-free.  Even the accessory hair is like that.  Meygana's hair, put bluntly, is awful.  It looks okay from a distance, but it's awful.  It is rough, tangled, matted, and also sheds like mad.  I can finger-comb her curls, but it's a HUGE chore to do and I always manage to catch a knot.  Definitely not cool.  Now, I will admit that I have not used the brushes enclosed on either Candi or Meygana, but I don't think I want to.  Such a task is usually unnecessary with Candi and next to impossible with Meygana.  But given the fact that these dolls are both worth the same price, and are both toys marked towards a similar age group, I think MGA Entertainment could find something better for their dolls' hair.  I wonder why they use that nylon crap in the first place?

Meygana's poseability is a different story entirely.  Like I said, I'm not going to do a full body review because that's for a later blog, but let's just say she's a lot more poseable than Candi is.

"Do you mind looking the other way, Fish Girl?"

She has joints all over, including the wrists, waist, and elbows (Candi has none of these).  She can reach up and cover her face, blow kisses, play around with her cape, cross her arms, and windmill her broom-guitar-thing.  Her hips are not as great; she can do the usual forward-and-back movement and stand with her legs splayed, but that's about it.  Below the hips are jointed knees that bend to a ninety-degree angle.  Hmmm...now that I look at that picture, perhaps I should include Lagoona in the body review.  After all, she IS poseable.  I'll see how long it takes to put together a three-doll review and get back to you on that.

The final word is going to be complicated, because there's so much that's good about this doll.  She's got joints, not a common attribute for Bratz dolls (or any doll, now that both LIV and Moxie Teenz are out of the picture).  Her glass eyes are glorious.  Not the most realistic of any doll, but very beautiful, regardless.  They are also very expressive.  If Meygana weren't an inanimate object I'd swear that she had thoughts and emotions.  All you have to do is tip her head in a certain way and she can look friendly, sad, innocent, dreamy, sultry, or even a bit insane (again, Miss Emily noted this first, and she was right on the money).  The outfit is of fairly good quality, though I'd keep a sharp eye on that cape.  As simple as it is, if it rips you can make another!  Overall Meygana, and the Bratzillas in general, are a lot of fun and a really cute concept.  Some deem it a ripoff of Mattel's Monster High dolls (a subject I touched on in the blog entry "Dolly Wars"), but I don't think they're as flagrant a ripoff as certain other dolls!

However, that hair of Meygana's is a right mess, and that is a pretty big factor here.  She's an otherwise-attractive and fun doll drowning in her tresses.  My doll already looks like she's been through a tornado, and I haven't had her but two weeks.  It wouldn't take a child five minutes to get Meygana's hair into a big fuzzy mass of irreparably tangled nylon fibers.  Hey, you know how tough kids can be on their toys.  Don't forget that cape, either.  It looks very flimsy.  Based on the hair and the wimpy construction of the cape I don't recommend this doll to young children unless they're the kind to put their dolls on shelves and look at them.  If I were picking for a child who plays with her dolls a lot, or who is very fussy about her doll's appearance, I'd skip Meygana and go with either Yasmina (who has braids) or Jade (who has a short bob).  If your child doesn't give a crap, or if you yourself want a doll that looks gorgeous on a shelf, OR if you're good with a pair of scissors, then go ahead and give Meygana a chance.  She is a witch after all, and she may just bewitch you with her beauty and charm!

Looks like my two birthday dollies have become fast friends!  Note that Meygana is wearing part of a new fashion pack in that last pic.  Just a little something I picked up on our last outing to the north town.  It consists of a hat, a pair of shoes, a shawl, and a backpack which I usually loop over one of Meygana's arms.  It doesn't match Meygana's stock outfit too well, but I plan on remedying that fairly soon.  I love that tartan shawl though; it gives Meygana sort of a Celtic vibe.

Oh yes, I also picked up something else.  The Bratzillaz come with pets.  Like the Cutie Pops, these pets are sold separately from the dolls.  Or they are in the U.S; I was told by a British buyer that the Bratzillaz in the U.K. are sold with their pets.  Meygana's pet is a pegasus named Wingzy, and I bought him with the outfit Meygana's wearing.  His eyes light up and his wings flap, and he's cute, but he's little more than a gimmicky add-on.

Wingzy has that same nylon crap hair, by the way.  The tips were so mangled that I did have to cut them.  I braided the rest to hide the rough cut job.  Gotta admit, that braid looks pretty cute tucked underneath his goggles!

There are also clothing sets available for the Bratzillaz, just like the Cutie Pops.  Eight customized sets are available (a dress set for every character, and cape sets for Yasmina, Meygana, and Jade).  But I like the sets so much that I may get Meygana all five.  I think Cloetta's set is the cutest; an image of what it looks like on Meygana can be found here.

Now that that's done, sweeping change of subject.  I have two ideas for a possible next blog.  It'll either be the aforementioned comparison of the LIV, Moxie Teenz, and Bratzillaz bodies, or another review.  Mama and I are going to Cape Girardeau to fetch my sister this Friday, and I have been saving up for weeks for one special doll.  She's completely unlike anything I've ever owned, and when (if?) I get her I will share her with you.  In fact, she has a male companion, so I may have another double review for you.

My Cardinals lost, but I'm not cryin' over that; after all they won the World Series last year.  My focus is on the election now.  If you're not planning on voting, I urge you to reconsider.  The freedom you hold so dear may depend on it.

Love always,
RagingMoon1987

Cutie Pops vs. Bratzillaz, part one: Cutie Pops Candi

Whew, it's been a crazy couple of weeks!  With schoolwork tests, birthdays and family get-togethers this twentysomething hasn't had time to think, let alone blog about dolls.  My schedule is finally freed up a bit, so it's time to get on with reviewing my other two birthday dolls like I said I would.  As you may or may not recall (depending on whether you saw my last blog or not), I have both a Cutie Pops doll (parent company is Jada Toys) and a Bratzillaz doll (MGA Entertainment), just ripe and ready for review.  My original intention was to cover both of them in one review, but there's A LOT to talk about for both dolls.  So I'm splitting this review into two so they'll be easier for you, my dear viewers, to read.  Here's what they look like side by side:

Candi (left) and Meygana

They are worlds apart in the appearance department, but there are a number of reasons why I'm comparing these two particular dolls.  One is the cost; both of these dolls retail for about twenty bucks in this part of the U.S.  They may be higher or lower than that in other places, depending on demand and availability.  But around here, they're both twenty bucks.  One also gets a lot of bang for their buck with these two dolls; both come with accessories and gimmicks that could potentially make them fun play items.  Another reason is quality.  The dolls have marked differences in quality, as you will see as you read the reviews.

This blog entry will focus on Candi, the Cutie Pops doll.  First though, a bit of back info.  Cutie Pops are dolls that I hadn't heard of until recently; they have a page on Facebook, a commercial running on the cartoon channels, and a couple of groups on Flickr, but I'd never heard of them until...oh, maybe a month and a half ago.  Even then I wasn't sure I wanted one; they are strictly toys, and they looked a little goofy with their huge heads and eyes.  The Toy Box Philosopher's blog finally sealed the deal with her superb review on Cookie.  I absolutely HAD to have one after that!  Hmm...it seems like a lot of the dolls I review are dolls that Miss Emily has done first!

Anyways, the name Cutie Pops is a reference to the decorations and accessories that these dolls come with.  Their hair, eyes, and the decorations on their hair and dresses all "pop" on and off.  Plus, they're cute!  Voila, Cutie Pops!  So far Jada Toys has released four characters:  Chiffon, Cookie, Candi (this doll), and Starr.  A fifth character named Carmel is in the wings.  The plastic "pop" decorations coordinate with the doll's name and theme; Cookie, for example, has cookie-shaped pops on her dress and hair, and Candi has, well, candy!  In addition to the dolls, Jada Toys has released extra clothes, hair, pop packs, and pets for each doll.  The pets in turn coordinate with the doll they are supposed to "belong" to; Starr's dog is in the package with her (thus Starr is a bit more pricey than the other girls).  I do not have Candi's dog Lolli yet, but I intend to, because she's really cute.  When I do get her, well, you know the drill!

Okay, time to start!  Here's what Candi looks like:

She is 11 inches tall from head to toe.  Her hair is the most eye-catching part of her (for me, anyway), so I'll start there.  Candi has two pairs of pigtails, one pair made up of this bright rainbow yarn, and the other comprised of dark brown, curly hair.  These hair extensions attach to Candi's head with plugs; she has two heart-shaped holes in her head, and each hole accommodates one plug of hair.  The plugs stay in pretty well, but will come off if you pull on them with any amount of force, so keep that in mind.  They may also fall out if the doll falls over, so keep that in mind as well.  Here's what they look like.

I am unsure what material makes up the hair pigtails, but it certainly isn't nylon!  Nylon, if you recall from my Featherageous Jade review, is the stiff, course, easily-tangled crap that MGA uses on practically ALL of their dolls...including the Bratzillaz.  That will be key to Meygana's review.  But these fibers are definitely not nylon.  They are silky, smooth, and easy to finger-comb.  I've run into some tangles, but they weren't a huge headache to get loose.  The yarn hair feels like acrylic yarn, which is both hypoallergenic and washable (unlike wool and some other yarns). One thing of note about Candi's yarn hair is that she only has one type of yarn.  Cookie, Chiffon, and Star all have at least two different sets of yarn in their plugs, but Candi has only this rainbow stuff.  The best explanation I can think of for this would be that the colors of the yarn stand out well enough on their own, and don't need other decorations.

Right then.  Two sets of eyes, one open and one closed, are also in tow.  Candi's open set of eyes are black, with blue, green, pink, and purple bands bordering the pupil.  A sparkly lollipop and a small white heart are painted into the pupils.  The closed eyes have multicolored stripes painted on them, along with the same rainbow heart eyelashes.

Both sets are colorful, cute, and in with the theme, but the open eyes are very busy and a smidge vacant.  The glitter on the closed eyes is a little heavy-handed, particularly on the left eye (our right).

Underneath the eye pops are some painted eyes and heart-shaped holes that accommodate the pops.  And this is where I'd like to give a thumbs up to Jada Toys; not only are there painted eyes (so she won't be blind if the pops go missing), but the characters have different eye colors.  Cookie's eyes are blue, for example, and my Candi's eyes are brown

This aspect of the doll gave my sister the creeps.

Since we're on the subject of faces, let me point out something with my Candi.  Notice her mouth.

I don't know how well you can see in that picture, but she has what appears to be a smear or a chip on the lower lip.  Normally that's not acceptable for me; I only overlooked it because I was bound and determined to get Candi right then and there, and this one was the only one in the store.  It's a pretty shade of pink, though.  Not unlike a shade I wore in high school, in fact.  And it's a fairly easy fix if you're good with a paintbrush.  Just beware of paint flaws when shopping for these dolls.  The rest of Candi's facepaint is fine; she has shimmery heart-shaped blush patches on her cheeks, which are cute but still subtle enough to prevent Candi from looking like a clown.

Candi's clothes are cute and well-made at first glance.  She is wearing a denim jumper dress, striped stockings, pink shoes, and cute little bows in her hair.  There is no jewelry, which is a shame; Jada Toys could have made earring pops or something like that.  Oh well, can't have everything.

First, that dress.  It's denim with red satin ribbon straps, and it has plastic heart-shaped holes to accommodate six pops.  There is a polka dot ribbon around the waist, and the bottom is edged with eyelet lace.  The dress is topped off with rainbow rick-rack and what appears to be tulle along the top of the bodice.  The back closes with Velcro, the cheap kind that loses its tack through the years.  I may have to remedy that in the future, but no biggie for now.  Here is what the dress looks like unadorned.

The pink hearts are where the pops snap in.  They come on and off quite easily, easily enough that two pops fell off the first time I knocked Candi off her shelf (something that happens quite often in my cluttered room).

The stockings are striped and cover her entire body from waist to toe, which surprised and pleased me.  Cookie's stockings do not have feet, and I was not expecting Candi's to, either.  The material is a soft, stretchy knit.

A hole in a knit material like this would be a death sentence, but the construction of these stockings is surprisingly robust (not thin like pantyhose).  Unless you or your child is unnecessarily rough with these, they should hold up.

Lastly, the shoes.  They're nothing special, just pink ankle-strap shoes with green bows.  The fit is perfect, though; they stay on, but still come off easily.  Plus, they fit over those stockings.  Excellent!

They have slits cut in the back for easy removal, similar to LIV shoes.

With regards to accessories, Candi has a lot of them.  In addition to her extra hair and eyes, she has two pairs of hair ribbons, both of which match some part of her dress.  Each ribbon pops into a heart-shaped hole on the plastic base of the hair plugs, and each ribbon has a hole for one pop.  These are switchable and mix-and-matchable.

A pink heart-shaped hairbrush, which has holes for pops if one chooses to go that route:

And lastly, ten candy-shaped pops:

These pops work by snapping into the holes on Candi's dress and ribbons.  They can also fit the other dolls, the pets, and the spare outfits and hair plugs that are available.  You can do darn near anything with those pops--switch them, mix them, match them, leave them as they came in the box, take them all off...the possibilities are endless!  Just don't eat them, they aren't real candy.  If you're a parent, be sure to warn your kids that these pops are not edible!

I also have an extra outfit and hair set for Candi; this is the Outdoors set.  The outfit works the same way as her dress, and the extra hair sets are silky and smooth, just like the doll's factory hair.  One thing of note is the hair ribbons:  if you buy the outfit and the hair, you get two sets of hair ribbons to mix and match.  Here's the full outfit.

The top is fluffy with a knitted front, colorful knitted sleeves, and holes to hold two pops.

The lower pop keeps falling off, and it does this no matter what part of the doll's outfit I put it on.  After one of the dogs almost ate it, I pasted it onto the top with clear nail polish remover.  Not a permanent solution, but it keeps it on there.  I wasn't wanting a permanent fix anyway.  Kinda defeats the purpose of having pop-on decorations.

Check out this sleeve, though:

I'm not sure whether that hole was caused by those cursed little plastic things that held the top into the package, or if I did it myself with the nail scissors I was using.  Either way, there's a hole, and in knitted fabric that can be disastrous.  Again, I applied clear nail polish to keep the thread from running.  I may sew on a button or a patch to hide that.

The jeans are denim or denim-type fabric, and have holes to accommodate four pops.  They have flared legs like bell-bottoms, but are shorter like gaucho pants.  The bottom hem of the legs have yellow ruffles.

She doesn't sit too well in these.

The boots are yellow and have a molded quilted pattern with hearts on the side.  The toes also have hearts on them.  Orange molded socks peek out over the top.  They remind me a bit of Ugg boots.  Once again, the shoes have slits cut in them.  I'm a fumble fingers when it comes to doll shoes, so I'm extremely grateful for these slits.

The outfit also comes with hair ribbons; they are pink and fuzzy and match the top.  I absolutely LOVE the texture of these!  They're so soft!  The top is too, for that matter.

I have an extra hair/eye set for Candi as well.  There are three sets like this, one for each outfit.  Oddly, these are packaged separately from the outfits themselves.  Perhaps putting the two together would've driven the price up too much.  Anyway, here's what the Outdoors hair set looks like.

The open eyes have pink heart lashes, while the pupils are green with hearts and cute little cupcakes.  The closed eyes have rainbow heart eyelashes and rainbow lids.  They are very similar to the stock eyes that Candi comes with, but there is more yellow going on in the mix.

While manipulating these eyes I learned that the eyeliner is actually the color of the base plastic!  Talk about a "well, duh!" moment!  I'm so thick-skulled sometimes.  Anyway, these eyes are printed on blue plastic, different from the black plastic of the stock eyes.  It adds a cute effect, just like eyeliner.

The hair is also mostly yellow, with faint pink streaks.  It is straight in places and crimped in others, and is very long.  Like Candi's stock hair, the accessory hair is soft and silky.  Another pair of hair ribbons comes with the hair.

It looks pale blonde in the pics, but trust me--it's yellow!

The ribbons for this set are pink sheer material.  They don't match a thing about either Candi's new outfit or her stock outfit, but the pops help pull the look together.

The set also came with this thing:

I thought it was a holder for the pops, which would have been helpful, but it turned out to be a bracelet with holes for three pops.  It fits around my wrist, but I'm probably not going to be wearing it anywhere.

These dolls are extremely easy to dress and undress, by the way.  If you have children you may have to help them with the shoes, but other than that these are pretty kid-friendly.  Now, let's take off the clothes again and give that body a looksie.  LOL, I hope that didn't sound too suggestive!  As I have noted before, poseability is a big thing in the doll world these days.  Candi and the other Cutie Pops dolls are average in terms of poseability.  They have ball-and-socket shoulders that swing back and forth and rotate outwards.

In other words, the shoulder joint common to dolls everywhere.

The torso is one-piece.  No joints here!

It's nicely sculpted, though.  Candi has visible bone structure, but she doesn't have a tiny little wasp waist like other dolls.  She doesn't have huge bosooms like Barbie does.  She doesn't have a massively arched back like the Monster High dolls.  Her body looks...normal.  Completely normal.  And there's molded underwear, thank God.  For some reason, toy dolls without molded underwear really bother me.  It's just a hangup of mine!

Their legs are jointed at the hip and the knee; the hip has some side-to-side movement (but not a lot), and the knee bends to a forty-five degree angle.

The jointed knees help her to sit, though she can't kneel.  Her legs are molded so that she can cross her legs if you want her to.  In fact, she looks downright cute that way!  She has to use her arms to balance when she sits, though.

That ding on her lip doesn't show too terribly!

The neck tips and swivels, but my Candi's neck joint is a little stiff.  It needs to be flexed a bit before I try to move it.  The elbows are not jointed at all, much to my chagrin.  One would think that a doll with jointed knees would also have jointed elbows, but that's not the case for the Cutie Pops.  The last of the LIV dolls were like that as well, and their arms weren't even straight like Cutie Pop arms are!  A lot of LIV fans were disappointed by that drop in quality, including me.  Heavens, it was those arms that led me to decide NOT to purchase a LIV For Color doll.  I felt that strongly about it and do not regret my decision.  But in the case of the Cutie Pops dolls, maybe those stiff little arms serve a purpose; remember she can't sit up without them.  Or maybe joints on such slender little arms would've been so costly that the dolls would've taken a quality hit?  Who knows?  I don't!

Based on my both my personal experience and the expert reviews of Miss Emily, I highly recommend the Cutie Pops dolls, both for children and for adult collectors.  Jada Toys has really hit a home run with these and could potentially make a killing financially.  These dolls are fun, colorful, and innocent; their frilly dresses bring to mind childhood and clothes that are appropriate for children to wear (remember that modesty is an issue for some parents).  The hair is lovely, though I do advise care in handling Candi's curls.  They ARE fiber, after all.  If not properly cared for, they can still tangle up and make a heckuva mess.  Kinda like good ol' Barbie's hair; we all know how her hair can be at times, and 95% of modern-day dolls don't even have super-long hair.  Keep your eye on that paint, since some of the dolls have flaws on their faces.  The clothes are of good quality and construction, but the pops can "pop" off (or even FALL off) quite easily and are small enough to be swallowed.  If you have very young children I DO NOT recommend the Cutie Pops dolls until your child is older.  And keep these away from pets; my dog tried to eat one of Candi's pops when it fell off.  Dogs love to swallow things, and cats tend to swat small items around, so make sure your pets are kept well away from those pops.  Other than those issues, the Cutie Pops are fine.  I give them two thumbs up.

Keep your eyes peeled for part two!

Go Cardinals!
RagingMoon1987