Dolls For My Birthday

Today is my birthday! I've been blessed with another year of life, and I am extremely grateful to be here!

While I'm here, I'm going to celebrate!

I'm going to enjoy all of the gifts that this life has to offer!

And I'm going to treat myself to stuff that I want!

Well, I want a lot of things, but I'll stay on topic here and limit this post to dolls. I've ordered several, hoping that some would arrive on my special day, and they did, so I've had a good time opening my gifts from me to me. Here are my recent arrivals.

A couple of new guys arrived nude - a Ken and an action figure guy. I'll probably attempt my first Ken head swap soon.

American Teen Anthoney has arrived. I already have two American Teen dolls (Benjamin and Dominique), but I wanted Anthoney for his locs. 

American Teen Tara has also arrived.

 I never noticed until recently (or at least I didn't remember) that Tara has a darker skin tone than Dominique. I didn't purchase Anthoney and Tara years ago when I purchased the others because they are so similar, but now I've decided that there is enough of a difference to warrant adding them to my collection. 

 Here, Benjamin and a redressed Dominique pose with the new arrivals. Anthoney and Tara will stay in their boxes for now.

Hasbro and Disney Moanas have arrived. The gift bag is from my husband (it contains non doll related gifts). He didn't know I was getting Moana dolls, and I didn't know about this Moana gift bag, so this was quite a coincidence.

American Girl mini Gabriela has arrived.

Gone With The Wind Prissy has arrived. She will be receiving a new body (one of these days).

Some fashions also arrived. Thank you Black Doll Enthusiast for letting me know that Teen Trends fashions would probably fit Dasia and friends.

Monica loves the outfit, necklace, purse, and drink. Moana loves the shoes. I was afraid that I wouldn't be able to ever find any shoes for Moana, so I was relieved to see these cute big shoes in this fashion pack. Moana is wearing a Curvy Barbie fashion below. I don't think that any of my dolls can wear the earrings,

I saw these cute dresses that come with necklaces and purses (all handmade) while searching for Teen Trends fashions on eBay. The seller was having a Buy 2 Get 1 Free sale, so that's what I did. Winx Club Layla (in the middle) only had one dress, so I decided that she needed a new one.

You'll be seeing all of the new doll arrivals again soon...

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

Large and Lovely Doll Comparisons

Not all dolls are skinny.  I like having 1:6 scale dolls of all shapes and sizes.  This post features some of my larger than average dolls.  They are from left to right:  American Teen Dominique, Gone with the Wind Mammy (with Jazz Diva Barbie wig), singing Tracy Turnblad, Happy Family Grandma, Girls Explore Bessie Coleman, and Big Beautiful Dolls Dasia.

They all have very limited articulation.  Dominique swivels at her upper arms and thighs, and bends slightly at the elbows, knees, and ankles.  Mammy's body is stuffed and has no articulation.  Tracy's arms move forward and back.  Grandma has joined elbows and clicky knees.  Bessie has a stuffed body, her arms and legs are made of soft vinyl and they bend slightly.  Dasia's arms and legs move back and forth.

They have feet of various sizes, and most can share shoes with other dolls.  Dominique can wear flat shoes or shoes with a slight heel, since she has clicky joints in her ankles.  Mammy has molded on shoes.  None of them can cross their arms, but Grandma and Bessie come the closest.

Dominique and Mammy can stand on their own, the others can not.  Bessie is the only one that can bend to the side, and she can also arch her back slightly.  None of them can kneel.

 Here they are showing off their hands.  Bessie is the only one that can grip objects in her hands.

Here they are attempting to do splits, any way that they can.

 Here they are doing a let lift.  Grandma and Bessie do this the best.

Tracy, Mammy, and Dasia do not have knees that bend, so they do not look good sitting on furniture. Dominique's knees bend only slightly.  Grandma and Bessie look good seated on furniture.

Honorable Mentions

My Booty Babe statue is not really a doll had has zero articulation, but I wanted to mention her here anyway. 

 

 

I also wanted to mention Sideshow Mandy's fat suit, which has allowed me to have plus sized dolls with articulation.  The suit is made for a male action figure, so the suit looks better on taller figures.  Here is Sideshow Jinx showing off part of Mandy's fat suit.

 

The suit has 2 pieces.  Here is Jinx showing off the full fat suit.

And here, Jinx shows off the full fat suit while wearing Mammy's dress.

Which plus size dolls are your favorites (whether they are featured here or not)?  Are you aware of any plus size dolls with articulation?  Would you like to see manufacturers make more larger than average dolls?

**4/26/2017 Edit**
This post continues to receive numerous reads, so I wanted to add an update that includes other Large and Lovely dolls - including Martini Beach Monica, Madam LaVinia Curvy Barbie, and Lammily Photographer. See my video below.

American Teen Dolls

I read about these dolls on D7ana's blog and I knew that I had to have them.  I purchased Benjamin and Dominique.  

They are beautifully displayed in their boxes, but I could not resist opening their boxes.  These are 10" dolls with minimal articulation.  Their arms and legs move up and down and swivel, and their knees bend very slightly (they will hold one click).  They can easily stand on their own.

Here's a view from the back.  Dominique wears hoop earrings and a ring on her finger, and her nails are painted.  Both dolls have rooted hair, and Benjamin has real cornrows.

Here is Dominique with some other female teen dolls.  She is slightly shorter than the High School Musical dolls.  She is thicker than most other teen dolls, but not as thick as Tracy Turnblad.

Here is Benjamin with some other male teen dolls.  He is about the same height as the High School Musical dolls.  He is stockier than all of my other male teen dolls.

Benjamin and Dominique have made quite a few friends here already.

 Here is a scan of the back of their boxes, which shows all of the dolls in the American Teen line.  It looks like Anthoney and Tara have the same body and face molds as Benjamin and Dominique, so I probably won't purchase those.   But then again, I really like Anthoney and Tara's hair, so maybe I will.

I love the fact that these dolls provide some variety as far as the way that they are built.  I have been wanting some thicker teen dolls for a while.  I am really happy with both of these dolls!