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

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!