Lammily Photographer Doll

In the midst of all my doll buying, my Lammily Photographer doll finally came. I ordered her a long time ago -- I can't even remember when. I ordered 2 of them, but I probably would only have ordered one if I had known at the time that Barbie would be coming out with the Curvy body. Here is a picture of my 2 girls.

OK, so they are nice dolls. They have the same bodies with limited articulation as the original Lammily. The outfit is rather frumpy in my opinion and the shirt seems to be on backwards. I had heard that the delay in getting this doll out was due to waiting for the camera. Well, I was not impressed with it. The camera in the prototype photos had much more detail. It had details colored in gray. The production camera is all black and the straps slip through very easily. 

When the original Lammily was released, there was a lot of discussion and feedback to Lammily about the limited articulation and the doll's inability to sit gracefully. Lammily responded that they would be working on the articulation and on making her joints more flexible so that she could sit more gracefully. I am disappointed to see that they have not changed a thing.

Below is a closer look at both dolls heads:

Notice that the doll on the right has much more voluminous hair that the one on the left. It is much fuller and her hair clips are barely visible. Her face looks a little slimmer to me, but it may just be an illusion because of the hair. This does not bother me in the least as it makes them look a little different. Fortunately, this doll can share clothes with Katie (my original Lammily). I am not sure what Photographer Lammily will be named. She just isn't speaking to me right now and my interests have definitely been leaning heavily on the new Barbie body types and the MTM bodies. 

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The Quest for Perfect Articulation

I know that many of us are on a quest for the best articulation for our dolls. I mean, how many of us get a "stiff" doll and wait for the right skin tone on an articulated doll to really be able to play with that doll? How many of us watch for sales and stock up on articulated bodies just to have on hand for body swaps? How many tutorials have you seen out there sharing techniques on how to improve the articulation on a body with limited range or how to modify a head to make it work on a different type of neck knob (or visa versa) only with the goal in mind of giving that doll articulation? Why do we do it? For me, it makes telling a story with my dolls more plausible. It makes taking pictures of them more enticing. It makes playing with them so much more fun!

When I first started collecting dolls, I only did it for looking at them. I put them in a glass case for the pure pleasure of admiring them. With my vintage dolls, they still hold there place of honor in that glass case. I seldom would rebody one of them as there is something about preserving that aesthetic that won't let me modify them. 

One thing that finding the doll community on the internet with all of the wonderfully posed pictures and creative story telling and simply sharing a mutual joy of doll play and collecting is that my eyes were opened up to the possibility of telling my own stories and expressing my own creativity through my dolls. I found other adults like me who were not afraid of sharing their love for dolls. I feel as though I have made some truly wonderful friends through this connection. And although I haven't personally met any of you, I still feel that I know more about you and you know more about me than a lot of people I have met face to face! I do hope to meet some of you in person some day! Who knows, maybe at a doll convention or something similar.

Ok, I digress! The point of this post was to share what I believe is sheer articulation perfection! Without further ado, meet the latest additions to my little doll town (Hanaly Corners):

Meet Stephanie (Left) and Mayumi (Right). Just having a little girl talk and wondering about the possibilities of life in Hanaly Corners!

These ladies are both the new Phicen figures with the stainless steel skeleton. So far, these ladies have demonstrated the ultimate in articulation. The movement is like silk -- no clicking or "breaking" sounds, just free movement into a multitude of positions. And the feel of their skin is so realistic! Their bodies have realistic shading and they are anatomically correct! I had to be careful when posing them not to show off some of that correctness! They do not fit into most Barbie clothes, but they are seen here wearing dresses from my Mixis ladies. I do not know yet what their roles will be in Hanaly Corners. Will they be married and/or have children? Will they be single and play the field or will they have boyfriends? Their future remains to be seen! In the meantime, I did a photo shoot with them demonstrating some of the posing possibilities that they have!

Shoes are a bit of challenge for them. Mayumi is wearing a pair of high heeled pumps from IT Color Infusion

Stephanie is wearing a pair of red high heels for Cy Girl I found on eBay.

I hope you found this post interesting. I am going to try to post more often and work more on my town. I do have a lot of work to do and stories to tell!

Thanks for stopping by. I welcome your comments!

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.

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