Tall Girl Doll Comparisons

This comparison features dolls representing girls in their late teens.  They are from left to right:  Wild Sexy Tune Momoko, Liv Alexis body with HSM Taylor head, Clawdia Wolf, Basketball Nakia, Prettie Girls Lena, and Lollipop Girls Bebe.

Momoko, Taylor, and Nakia can stand without assistance.  The others can stand in certain shoes.

Here they are showing their elbow flexibility.  They all have articulation at the elbow.  Bebe has the most flexibility here.

Here they are sitting on the floor trying to cross their arms.  Bebe comes the closest to being able to cross her arms.  Momoko, Taylor, and Nakia all have articulation at the ankle and can wear flat or heeled shoes.  Clawdia, Lena, and Bebe have heeled feet and it is harder to find shoes for them.

Here they are doing a side stretch.  Momoko has upper torso articulation that allows her to rotate, but not to bend from side to side.  Taylor has lower torso articulation and can rotate and bend.  Nakia has articulation at the upper and lower torso that allows her to rotate and bend, and she does this pose the best.  Lena has articulation at the upper torso that allows her to bend and rotate very slightly.  Bebe has a twist and turn waist.

Here they are in the "walk like an Egyptian" pose.  Momoko has articulation at the wrists that allows her to move her hands back and forth, but not to rotate.  Taylor, Clawdia, and Nakia have wrists that are fully articulated.  Who do you like the best in this pose?  I think that Taylor executes this pose the best, but Momoko just looks adorable. 

Here they are doing kneeling backbends.  All of them have jointed knees with the exception of Bebe, who has clicky knees and can not kneel.  Taylor and Nakia have double-joined knees and do kneeling poses quite well.  Taylor and Nakia's torso articulation also allows them to arch their backs.  Nakia does this pose the best.

Here they are showing off their hands.  Nakia's right hand can grip objects, and her left hand has a magnet that allows her to hold her basketball and other magnetized objects.  Bebe's right hand has a small hole that allows her to hold her lollipop, and other objects small enough to fit in the hole.  Clawdia has claws.  I don't have a favorite here as far as hands.  I like the looks of Lena's and the functionality of Nakia's.

Here they are attempting to sit cross-legged on the floor.  None of them can do it, but Clawdia comes the closest.

Here they are doing middle splits.  Taylor does this the best.

 Here they are doing front splits.   Momoko, Clawdia, Lena, and Bebe all do this very well.

Here they are doing a leg lift.  It looks like Lena can lift her leg the highest.

 Here they are sitting down.  Lena can not close her legs in a seated position.

 Do you have a favorite among these dolls?  What makes that particular doll stand out for you?  Which ones pose the best?  Which ones look the best?  Which dolls are the most realistic?

Head Swap-A-Rama

Lately I've been busy swapping doll heads around.

"Oh yeah, Sasha, it's about to go down."

The photo above is of Bratz Sasha (left) and Hottiez Kiara (right) before the swap.  The photo below is of Kiara's head on Sasha's body.  Sadly, this has resulted in a doll casualty.  I have caused irreparable damage to Kiara's original body.  I like Kiara's head on Sasha's body, though.

I saw this mermaid doll in the store and thought that she was cute, and she was cheap so I bought her.  I have no use for her mermaid's body.

I thought that she would look cute with Juku Couture Kana's body.

Success!  The head fits and the skin tone is a close match.  The head is just a little loose, but holds poses well.

Opal has had her current action figure body for quite some time now, but her original body had been languishing in my bin of forgotten dolls until recently.  Well, a fellow collector sent me a Top Model Nikki head which has found a home (for now) on Opal's old body.

I purchased Making Waves Alexis (pictured below on the right) for the sole purpose of swapping her head for one more proportionate to her body, and to give one of my other dolls more articulation.  Well today is Mattel High School Musical Taylor's (pictured below on the left) lucky day.

Success!  Taylor's head fits perfectly on the Liv Alexis body, and the skin tone is a close match.  I am thrilled with this swap.

Speaking of Alexis, I rebodied Isla again from the Monster High Clawdeen body that she had been occupying to an Alexis body.  Her body now matches her twin sister Hadley's body again, and the twins are much happier now with their articulated bodies.

Todd has long envied Janet's articulated body, wishing that he could move like her.

Well, today a little boy's wish came true!

Pictured below are some of my happy head swap recipients.

And The Winner Is...

Dragon Jennifer has been giving me the evil eye for the past few months for not officially announcing the winner of the Final Challenge - Yoga Poses.  Well, Jennifer finally gets her day in the spotlight!

The readers of this blog have voted and the winner of the Final Challenge - Yoga is Dragon Jennifer!

The readers have spoken, and Jennifer has blown away the competition with her awesome moves.  She is durable, she is flexible, and she can hold a pose like no other.

Jennifer is presented with a bouquet of roses while her fellow finalists and others join in congratulating her on her well-deserved victory.

Second place goes to Alvin Ailey Barbie!

She is graceful, beautiful, and flexible, and the readers were impressed with how well she posed against the fierce competition of the action figures.

Triad Alpha seemed visibly upset when second place was announced.  She was later heard exclaiming "I was ROBBED!"

 Jennifer's speech:  "Thank you all very much for your votes.  I am aware that I do not embody glamour and beauty the way that other dolls do, and some may even find me unattractive. For that reason, I am relegated to the background most of the time. Thank you for recognizing my strengths and for allowing me to have this moment to stand out from the crowd."

Jennifer has become much more popular with the male figures here, which she appreciates.  But right now, she really just wants to snatch off that wig, wash off the make-up, and put on some comfortable clothes and shoes.  Yes, the outfit was my idea.  Forgive me, Jennifer, and congratulations once again!

The Final Challenge: Yoga

It's time to choose the best of the best!  In this final set of figure comparisons, our finalists really show you what they can do in this series of Yoga poses.  From left to right, they are:  LIV Alexis body with Hadley head, Triad Alpha African, action figure body similar to Takara with Opal head, Monsieur Z Wild, Dragon Jennifer (Special Version), and Alvin Ailey Barbie.

Seated & Twist:
Hero - Jennifer does this the best, followed closely by Hadley.


Cow Face - both Jennifer and Alpha can do this pose, but Jennifer does it best and is able to clasp her hands behind her back.  To be fair, Alpha and Opal would probably be able to clasp their hands also if I had put their alternate hands on.


Standing:
Tree - Wow.  How about a round of applause for Jennifer for balancing on one foot unassisted!  I was able to get Alpha and Opal to balance on one foot for a few seconds, but not long enough to snap the photo.  Jennifer was steady on that one foot and stayed that way until I moved her again.


Downward-Facing Dog - Jennifer does this the best.  Hadley also does this really well.  I like Barbie's form, and if she had been able to do this pose with flat feet, I probably would have felt that she did this the best.


Arm Balance:
Side Plank - there's not a clear winner for me here.  Hadley, Alpha, Opal, and Jennifer all do this pose well.  Who do you think looks the best?  Neither Monsieur Z Wild nor Barbie could hold their weight on one arm.


Wild Thing - the dolls with double torso articulation really excel in this pose, which requires a torso twist as well as a backwards arch (not to mention arms strong enough to support the weight of the doll).  I had a hard time deciding who does this pose the best between Alpha and Jennifer.  I think that the Alpha looks more natural in her execution of this pose, but Jennifer just nails it.  Jennifer does this the best.


Core:
Cat - this pose requires arching the back upwards.  Opal does this the best.  Alpha gets a pretty good back arch, but it looks like she has a hump on her back when she does it.


Side-Reclining Leg Lift - I have a tough time deciding between Jennifer and Barbie here.  Jennifer arguably has the best form, but Barbie is able to lift her leg the highest.  Who do you think does this the best?  I'm going to go with Barbie here.


Backbend:
Bow - Jennifer does this the best. Perhaps if I had used the alternate hands for Alpha and Opal and they had been able to grab their ankles, they would have done better here.  The Alpha has a good back arch.


Cobra - all of the dolls do this well except for Monsieur Z Wild.  This is a tough decision, but I think that Barbie does this the best.  What do you think?


Inversions:
Supported Headstand - I should have probably gone with just a plain headstand here and the dolls would have had more success.  Since the supported headstand requires elbows down, Opal does this the best.


Plow - Opal does this the best, and also looks the most natural.


That does it for the Yoga poses.  Here is one more bonus pose.  The ladies were asked to do one final pose that displays their strongest abilities and sets them apart from the others, and this is what they came up with.

So there you have it.  Who do you think is the best?  Please vote on the poll.  Does the doll that you consider to be the best differ from the one that is your favorite?  If so, why?

I have to say that I highly recommend Yoga as great exercise and a great way to relax and relieve stress also.  It builds strength, balance, flexibility, and can be a great aerobic activity (sun salutations anyone?).  For more information about Yoga, check out http://www.yogajournal.com/.

The Finalists

Thank you for helping me choose the finalists in this posing competition!

Here are the finalists:

Group 1:  LIV Alexis body (Hadley head)

Group 2:  Triad Alpha

Group 3:  Opal head on action figure body (similar to Takara) - this was a landslide victory!

Group 4:  Monsieur Z Wild (really???)

Group 5:  Neither.  Happy Family Grandma had 1 more vote than Bessie Coleman, and just as many people voted for Neither as they did for Grandma.  I'm going with neither.  I'm substituting Dragon Jennifer here.  Sorry Grandma!

Group 6:  Alvin Ailey Barbie won by 1 vote.

Coming up next:  the final poses!

Who's the Best?

You've seen the figure comparisons featuring some of my articulated dolls, and now I will let you vote on who is the best of the best.  But first, I would like to get your help in choosing the dolls that will go on to the final round, where I will pose them in yoga poses.  I have chosen 2 dolls from each group that I thought posed the best and that were the most popular based on the comments, so let me know which one from each group that you would like to see move on.

Group 1 - Articulated Fashion Dolls

LIV Alexis body (Hadley head) vs. Artsy Fashionista

Group 2 - Action Figure Ladies

Dragon Jennifer (Special Version) vs. Triad Alpha (African)

Group 3 - Blurring the Lines

Dragon Linh vs. action figure body (similar to Takara with Opal head)

Group 4 - Trendy and Bendy
Dance 'N Flex Christie vs. Monsieur Z. Wild

Group 5 - Large and Lovely

Girls Explore Bessie Coleman vs. Happy Family Grandma (or neither)

Group 6 - Fragile and Fabulous
AA Nutcracker Barbie vs. Alvin Ailey Barbie

(As shown in the photo, Nutcracker Barbie can stand on her own after all).

Do you have a favorite that did not make the cut?  If so, let me know and I will consider moving that one to the final round instead of Bessie or Grandma.  Also, let me know if there are any specific yoga poses that you would like to see.