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Friday, December 5, 2014

Dolls, Dolls and More Dolls! (Part 2)

My Lammily dolls arrived yesterday! I had ordered 2 of them during the crowd funding in April. First, while I do like the doll and it is quite nice, I don't think it can really be compared well to Barbie. Totally different type of doll. I do think she is a nice addition and adds some diversity, but I still love Barbie! I will be showing some pictures of her and comparing her to other "Normal" and/or Plus size dolls. There will be doll nudity in this post, so if that bothers you, you should stop reading now!!

Here is the box she arrived in:

It is a nice box, and the packaging is very simple. 

There are only 2 twist ties holding her in the box and a plastic strip is holding her hair in place. She is very easy to get out of the box. That is a great plus. I have always hated the packaging for the average doll. Mattel should take note of this!

Here she is out of the box. She cannot stand on her own. She is leaning against the backdrop here. The first thing I noticed is that she has some heftiness to her. Her feet are pretty big by Barbie standards, but are probably more realistic in proportion to the size of the doll. She has a nice face and her hair is very soft and does not have any glue or other product in it.

Here is how she stacks up to other dolls in the "regular", "normal" and "plus size" categories. I compared her to Mixis, American Teen, Tracy Turnblad, Rosie O'Donnell and to the Mattel Happy Family Grandma body (note that I have a Raquel head on the the HF Grandma body in these photos). I have named her Katherine or Katie for short. Still need to see how she will fit in and what family she will be a part of.

 Standing between the Mixis and American Teen doll, you can see that she is shorter than Mixis, but taller than American Teen.

 Katie is about the same height as Tracy Turnblad.

Rosie is a little taller than Katie and very close to the same height as Raquel on the HF Grandma body. BTW, this version of Raquel has been renamed Sarah, so I will refer to her under her new name in this review. CAUTION, NUDE DOLLS!

Lammily/American Teen Comparison
So I could do an adequate comparison, I stripped everybody naked! There are some similarities in the torso's of these dolls. I think Katie has a nicer shape than the American Teen. Katie's legs are more shapely.

 From the rear, you can see that Katie has a more defined waste, but her butt is a bit larger. 
 Katie cannot sit very gracefully. American Teen's legs stay closed a little better. Also note that the height difference is less than when they are standing. This is because Katie has a longer torso.

Both girls can bend their knees slightly, but American Teen cannot bend her elbows like Katie can.

 Katie can wear AT's top, but it is a little short for her.
AT's coat fits Katie OK. She cannot wear the jeans -- not because they are too short, but because Katie's has more junk in her trunk!

Katie's shirt fits AT nicely, but the shorts are way too big! BTW, they cannot share shoes.

Katie can sit in a chair if you do not put her in a fully seated position, so she can sit down to dinner if desired and at the right table. AT can sit in the chair, but her knees don't have much range. Both dolls have click bending knees with limited range. The American Teen cannot bend her elbows and she only has back and forth shoulder movement.

Katie can do the splits pretty nicely, however, AT cannot get all the way down. Neither doll can do the side splits.

Lammily/Mattel Comparison:
 So here are the Mattel comparisons to Lammily. Sarah and Katie both have a nice shapely torso, however, Sarah is not as "thick". Rosie's waist is not as defined. 

 Both Sarah and Rosie can keep their legs together. Notice how much taller Katie is when they are all seated. Again, that is due to the longer torso.

 Sarah can sit in the chair nicely. She doesn't have to lean back like Katie does to keep her legs together. Both of them have limited range click knee joints. 
Rosie and Katie -- same as above for their knees, but Rosie cannot bend her elbows. 

 Sarah has greater flexibility in her elbow joints. Well, what can I say about Katie? She cannot touch her head. At least she will know what to do in case of a holdup! I did not do this with Rosie since her elbows are not jointed. 

 Both Sarah and Katie can do the splits. Sarah does have some side to side movement, but not enough to do the splits.

Rosie can do the splits too. But not the side to side ones. She has no side to side movement, just like Katie.

Lammily/Mixis Comparison:
 Both dolls have a nicely shaped torso. Katie's torso is obviously longer than Mixis. Katie is a bit thicker than Mixis. The Mixis doll is taller and has more flexible elbow movement. 

 You can really see how much longer Katie's torso is when they are seated. Both have the same limited range click knees. Splits for Mixis is a no-no and she only has very limited side-to-side hip movement. Both dolls have very nice, soft hair. 


Lammily/Tracy Turnblad Comparison:
 Last but not least is the comparison for Katie and Tracy Turnblad. They say a picture is worth a thousand words and the picture here speaks volumes! Tracy has a very short torso and longer legs than Katie. She has a big tummy and is very round. 

 From behind, Tracy also is nice and round. Standing, they are both the same height.

Since sitting in the chairs was not an option for Tracy, I am showing them sitting on the floor. While Katie lacks grace in the way she sits, Tracy can only sit spread eagle. She does not have jointed knees or elbows. She cannot do any kind of a split. What she does have is a beautiful smile! 

All-in-all, I really do like the Lammily doll. I am, however, disappointed in her limited articulation. Because of the jointed feet, she is unable to support herself standing. She cannot hold a baby. She has a pretty face and very nice hair. Her eyebrows are a little high for my taste. I hope that the Lammily company is willing to listen to feedback and that they can make some improvement in future editions. I did order a couple of outfits for her to come in January, so I will be interested to see the quality of the clothing. I would also like to see them produce more ethnic choices. I think Katie will be a nice addition to my doll community. 

Hope you enjoyed this review!  I will have another post in a couple of days with the rest of my doll purchases, so stay tuned.

Thanks for visiting and I enjoy receiving your comments.














33 comments:

  1. Yay, your package came! It sounds like your Katie's ankles are like my Lily's. Does Katie flop forward when you try to get her to stand? I sure hope the company is able to make improvements, because I would love to have more dolls this size.

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    1. I played around with her a little more and bend her knees slightly and she was able to stand on her own that way. Are you planning on sending any feedback to Lammily? I know they didn't ask for it, but I think we should do that anyway so he can here what the adult collector has to say.

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  2. Very nice post Phyllis! I love that you rebodied Racquel/Kate on the grandmother's body. It is nice to have different shape dolls, Tracy is cute in her own way. She should get the hottest guy in your town. Lol! Make the Mattel girls mad. Lol!

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    1. Glad you liked the post. That is one reason I bought the Lammily doll. I think it adds interest to have dolls of varying shapes and size within the 1:6 scale. Tracy does have a boyfriend - she came with the Zac Efron character from "Hairspray" and I kept them together! I do believe some of my other girls are jealous of her!

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  3. I like her and thanks for sharing. She is the perfect size to add in my collection.

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    1. Brini, glad you like her and hope you get her. I would like to see her in your stories.

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  4. Hi Phyllis, this was quite an extensive review! From what I've seen so far it looks like she's a very nice doll for a kid to play with, but a bit disappointing for the adult collector (given the limited articulation) I also think her face screening should be improved. But she's pretty and adds variety to the doll's world

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    1. It will be interesting to see how many kids get her. My daughters reaction was, "Meh, she is cute, but I like Barbie better!" She is 14 and doesn't play with them much anymore, but she likes that we share that hobby. She still has a doll house, but tells her friends it is mine! I am glad I added her.

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  5. Floppy ankle joints too? That's pretty disappointing, particularly since they add so much poseability if they work right. Nice to see how she compares to some of the other "plus sized" dolls out there. I have to say the box art Lammily looks really nice, though.

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    1. Another thing I discovered when dressing and undressing her is that her feet and hands do come off fairly easily. At first I thought I broke her, but the popped back on easily. Even with her limitations, she is a good addition to my collection.

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  6. Great review Phyllis! The pictures are very interesting with the comparisons. I love your Tracy Turnblad, she's great! I hope that there will be improvements to the Lammily doll design in the future, but it's great that you have the first edition :-). I do think the designers will take the remarks of the customers in consideration. Looking forward to your clothes review too. xx

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    1. Glad you enjoyed my review. I love Tracy as well. I do plan on sending some feedback to Lammily and will see how they respond.

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  7. Fascinating comparison!

    Honestly, if I were told I HAD TO buy one "normal-to-plus-size" doll but I could have ONLY one, ever, my first choice would be Tracy Turnblad. She may be forced to stand around due to limited articulation, but she GOES FOR IT -- no sewing the same-ish styles as for Barbie but having her not quite look as chic, she just needs her own shapes and her own styles.

    Second choice (since I'm not counting Mixis in this figure type, since they look slim but just different from Mattel) would be Sarah/Happy Family Grandma, as she's got enough waist for seams to have somewhere to go without bulging outward.

    Lammily's cute, though, and with any luck will get better with time -- diversity in the doll community is all to the good.

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  8. I love that you posted all of those dolls. It makes me think about some of the dolls I have been pondering.

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    1. Hmmm, Ms. Leo, I would be very interested is seeing what you end up with. They do add some size diversity to my collection.

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  9. This is a great review! Thanks for all of the comparison shots. I was really interested to see how she compared to the American Teen dolls, and you answered that for me. It's disappointing that Lammily can't stand on her own. It'll be interesting to see the clothing options that will be released for her.

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    1. Roxanne, I am happy that you enjoyed my review and found it helpful. I have ordered some of the clothes that Lammily is offering for delivery in January. In the meantime, I will probably make her something to wear in this colder weather!

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  10. This is such an interesting doll..I bet she would be fun to take photos of outdoors as she is so "to scale" with a normal body. Great review! :)

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    1. Yes, she would look good in some outdoor shot, but she will need some warmer clothes!

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  11. Thanks for this rich and informative post, Phyllis! I LOVE the comparison shots. Yours is the third Lammily-focused post I've read today. Wow, wow, WOW!

    I see you have social media buttons on your posts: I'm going to share some of your photos on Pinterest.

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    1. P.S. Please tell - who is the American Teen doll? Is she Monica? A nosy fan would like to know ;-)

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    2. Yes, the American Teen Doll is Monica.

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  12. What a great review and thanks for so many comparisons!

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    1. Glad you liked my review. Since then, I have read the Toy Box Philosophers review and realized with a little effort that I can get her limbs to bend more, so her poseability is a bit better than I originally thought, however, still no grace in the way she sits!

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  13. Thanks so much for making this post - it's really good to see how she measures up! (And, wow, I never realised how 'splay legged' poor Tracy is!)

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    1. Since I wrote this post, I discovered that she does have more range in her elbows and knees than I originally thought. Like I said, she is actually quite a nice doll and I am happy that I added her to my collection.

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  14. Great review! I have to same I am loving this doll for the most part. My one big complaint would be the neck joint. It's hard to get dolls to look realistic in their posing if you can't adjust their heads. I love her size, and I love the clothing offerings she comes with. I'm supposedly only get 10 dolls this year. She may have made the list.

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    1. Haha, I keep adding dolls to your list! I guess I am now an enabler too! Are you talking about the Lammily doll when you refer to range of motion? She actually has pretty good range of motion in her neck.

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  15. My goodness, Phyllis, you have dolls I never knew existed. I've seen the Rosie O'Donnell doll somewhere, but I never knew there was a Tracy Turnblad doll. Great doll review!

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    1. I found Tracy on Amazon after seeing her in someone else's blog! This is how we enable one another in the doll community!

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  16. ... jak ja lubię takie porównania... myślę, że lalki też to lubią...
    cieszę się, że mogłam obejrzeć tyle interesujących zjawisk...

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    1. I am glad you found my comparisons helpful. Do you think you will get a Lammily doll?

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