Friday, November 29, 2013

JLS Marvin

My teen girls are very thankful for this recent arrival.  Ever since reading D7ana's blog post about the JLS dolls, I have been wanting them.  But the shipping charges to have them shipped from Great Britain were cost prohibitive.  Until now (for Marvin).  There is currently a seller on eBay who is selling Marvin for a very reasonable price and only $6 to ship from Great Britain to the United States.  I hope that some of Marvin's band members will be able to join him here soon (for cheap).

Here is Marvin still in his box.

And here he is out of the box.

Here is a close-up of Marvin.  I thought about Squarepeg78 and smiled when I inspected Marvin because not only is he showing teeth, but he has indentations so that you can see each individual tooth.  For anyone who is creeped out by dolls with teeth, be forewarned and do not enlarge the photo below.  Marvin's lips are nearly as red as his shirt.

Marvin is wearing a red hooded top, khaki pants, some grayish short boots, a brown belt, and a green wrist band.  I like that his belt is removable.  The clothing is good quality and well stitched.  His feet are about the same size as Ken's and they can share shoes.

Marvin is 30cm tall.  Here is a height comparison with other teen male dolls.  From left to right, here are American Teen Benjamin, High School Musical Zeke, Marvin, S Club 7 Bradley McIntosh, and Flavas Tre.

Marvin immediately started looking around for pretty girls and found Lena, but he's a little too short and too young for her taste.  She said that they can just be friends.

That's okay, the guys know plenty of girls that they can introduce to Marvin.  Here are some of the group enjoying some day-after-Thanksgiving snacks (I guess they already ate the turkey sandwiches).  Marvin's knees do not bend, so he has trouble sitting down.

Here's a closer look at Marvin's body.  Let's see, how can I put this delicately...  Marvin has a little something extra.  Not much, but enough that he stands apart from my female dolls (and the vast majority of my male dolls).  Other than that, there are no surprises here.  Marvin can stand on his own.  He has no articulation at the elbows or knees.  His arms and legs move forward and backward only.  His head moves side to side.

Here's a side view.

Marvin convinced me to finally open my Justin Bieber fashion pack.

The fashion pack contains a hoodie, a pair of jeans, shoes, sunglasses, and a laptop.  The quality of the clothes and shoes is really good.  The sunglasses are okay, but don't look right on Marvin.  I like Marvin in his Justin Bieber clothes better than I like him in his own clothes.

I really like the laptop.  My teens will have a good time using this.

My overall impression of Marvin is that he is a good sturdy doll that can withstand child's play, and he is good for collectors as well.  I am happy to have another ethnic teen male doll in my collection.  I wish that he had more articulation, and that his lips were less red.

He is a nice addition to my collection.
Boyz n the Hoodies

19 comments:

  1. I love all of your guys! Marvin was really cool until he tried to sit down. I really dislike that straight leg body. Other than that he fits in with all of the other great guys.

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    1. Thank you The grandmommy! I did a google search on the guy today and found out that he was not a teen when he joined JLS (he was 21). However, some of his band members were teens and his doll looks boyish to me, so the doll will be a teen here.

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  2. LOL at him having a little something extra. Even with a stiff body, his face is really nice. They did a good making him look similar to the guy on the box.

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    1. LOL Muff, he has just enough to make me say "alrighty then" as I was undressing him. I agree that the company did a good job with his likeness.

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    2. Me, too. LOL at the something extra ;-D

      Guessing that the nasty comments made about Ken will NOT be used against Marvin, lol again.

      Thanks for this review and the comparisons.

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  3. He's really handsome. Hmm...wonder what he'd look like on an action figure body. :)

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    1. Thank you, Tracy India. If I find an action figure that's a good match, I will not hesitate to swap his head. In fact, I would take great delight in finding a good match and swapping his head.

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  4. He is nice Roxanne and does look like Marvin. That's always a plus when companies create portrait dolls that look like the person they portray. I like him better in Bieber's clothes, too.

    I hope you are able to find the others reasonably priced. Can't beat the $6 international shipping.

    dbg

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    1. Thank you, Debbie. I'm so glad that his company made a reasonable attempt to make this doll look like the real person. And I like having diverse faces among my dolls. I hope that I can eventually get at least 2 other JLS dolls reasonably priced. I'd really like to have them all.

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  5. I LOVE his face and the tiny teeth - lol about Squarepeg78's tooth revulsion.

    Don't like the red hoodie ... it's square of me, but I don't like scoop-neck cleavage in guywear. V-neck, okay. Sigh. Pity about the limited articulation, too.

    Thanks for sharing your finding and for posting this fun review. Mind if I pin him? I ask just in case ;-D

    I like ALL of the JLS guy dolls, too. I like - really like - 3 of The Wanted and 2 of the 1Direction dolls. Someday ;-D

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    1. Thanks, D7ana! I do not care for his red hoodie either and had already made up my mind that I'm giving his hoodie and boots to one of my female action figures. I'm sure that GI Jane would look great in Marvin's clothes. I do not mind a bit if you pin him.

      I'll have to take another look at the 1 Direction dolls. The ones that I saw in person a while back were not visually appealing to me. I haven't seen The Wanted dolls in person.

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  6. Hey , I wanted to say thanks for this post! I wanted to comment sooner but I couldn't. For some reason you blog flashes on my tablet( pictures and text move around) so I had to wait until I got to a real computer to comment. I did order one! You are right about the price. Hopefully others will show up too!

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    1. Hi Ms. Leo, I wonder why my blogs acts funny on your tablet and if there's anything that I can do to fix it? I'll have to test my blog out on some different devices and see if I can figure it out. Enjoy your Marvin! I can't wait to see photos.

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  7. I like Marvin's face, pity about the legs - it would be nice if they bent at the knees. And that is very cheap postage so hopefully you can expand your male collection.

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    1. Thanks, Carrickters! Yes, even the clicky knees would be better than just the straight legs. I would still love to have the other band members, though. I'm keeping my eye out for them.

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  8. He's a cutie pie! I must have missed that post from D7ana. Congrats on getting him. He makes a great older teen.

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    1. Thank you, Vanessa! Even though the real Marvin was a little older when he joined the band, his doll looks like a teen to me with his short stature and boyish features.

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  9. I just got my doll today! I thought he came with the shorts! I guess you used shorts you had for modesty. I hope to post pictures next week.

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    1. Oh, sorry Ms. Leo! I should have mentioned that the shorts did not come with Marvin. Congrats on getting him! I look forward to seeing your photos.

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