Sports Talk and Dolls

On January 21, I participated on the panel of Moohead Radio's YouTube Channel and shared some of my sports dolls and action figures.

Can you name all of the figures pictured above? The participants on the show were asked to identify these figures.

Later in the show, Mandy and Booty Babe made brief appearances.

Here is a link to the show. References to my dolls began at the 24:42 mark. Please note: if you are easily offended, do not watch this.

WWE Superstars Naomi

I recently purchased this WWE Superstars Naomi doll. I was eager to add her to my collection because of her muscular body and her articulation. Here is a look at the doll inside of her package (front and back of the package pictured below).

The doll comes with two outfits and two pairs of shoes. She can stand without assistance in her shoes. She did not remain in her packaging for long.

Warning: doll nudity ahead. Here is a look at Naomi's muscular, yet feminine frame. She has articulation at the elbows, wrists, and knees. She is a highly posable doll. She has molded on flesh colored panties. She has feet made for high heeled shoes (or boots in this case).

I wanted to see if she could do splits. This is as far as she can go.

She looks good in a seated position, and she can cross her lower legs.

 Her outfit above is inspired by her look inside the ring. She also comes with a second fashion, meant to show her versatile style. She looks great in both outfits, and I am pleased with the quality of her clothing and boots.

Her she is compared to other dolls in my collection. She is thicker than a standard Barbie and Fashion Royalty doll. She is not as thick as curvy Barbie or Fresh Dolls.

As much as Naomi likes hanging out with the other ladies and talking about fashion, her passion is wrestling. No worries, she has found some friends who also like to fight.

Elijah Burke wanted to test her right from the start. She tried to warn him that he would end up flat on his back.

Sometimes you can show a person better than you can tell them.

But it's all in good fun. They are all professionals and know how to take a fall.

Naomi is having a blast with her new friends, and looks forward to throwing them around the ring every chance she gets.

Overall, I am very pleased with this doll. I love the fact that this body is different than standard Barbie bodies, and that a more muscular frame is being represented here. I am also pleased with the articulation of the doll. I am happy to have Naomi in my collection.

Seamless Male Dolls

I recently purchased a male Jiaou doll ("Black"). Here is my video review of the figure.

At the time I didn't have any extra heads that would be a good match. I purchased this Steph Curry head on eBay hoping that it would match either the Jiaou doll or the Phicen.

This head was a better match for the Phicen body, which meant that Bruce Lee had to give up his Phicen body. The Bruce head looks good on either body.

The Steph head is not a perfect match for the Phicen body, but it's close enough for me. The Jiaou doll body is slightly shorter and has a shorter neck, so Bruce is not entirely pleased with this arrangement. Perhaps I'll make an adjustment to Bruce's head at some point so that it will sit higher on the Jiaou doll neck.

Steph would have preferred a tall body, but he likes flexing the muscles of this seamless body. And he doesn't seem to mind hanging out in his underwear all the time. 

Bruce is going to make the best of this situation. After all, he is a great skin tone match for the Jiaou doll body. And he's just as muscular and almost as flexible.

Maybe these two can be friends. Even though Steph got the Phicen body with the completely stainless steel skeleton. Bruce's Jiaou doll body is part stainless steel and part plastic.

Ok, maybe they can't be friends. It's nice to know that Bruce can still deliver those kicks when he feels the need.

 That leaves Steph more time for posing and whatnot.

I am really pleased with how this figure has turned out. He looks and poses great.

Steph is settling right in, and has even found himself a pet. I got this tiger as a souvenir from the zoo when I visited last year.

Steph is having no problem making new friends.

 

The Jiaou doll came with some "extra" special body parts, as did the Phicen. I have uploaded some photos of the extras to my restricted Flickr album. DO NOT CLICK HERE if you are easily offended.

Kara and Kianna

What do you do when you want to create a new blog post, but you don't want to take photos, etc.? You look at your saved drafts and pick one! I have no idea why I've had this saved as a draft for so long because I took these photos years ago. At any rate, here are my Barbie So In Style (S.I.S.) Kara and Kianna dolls.

This set spoke to my heart because of the musical aspect. So this was an easy choice over the other sets that were released at the same time (pictured on the back of the box above).

The set comes with a Kara doll, a Kianna doll, a violin, a flute, a karaoke machine with two permanently attached mics, a carrying case, a CD, and sheet music.

Kara has cute musical accessories - violin earrings and a treble clef necklace.

The dolls are dressed somewhat alike and are super cute together!

Kara has arms that are articulated at the elbow, so she can handle the instruments more easily. It is a challenge for Kianna to play the instruments, but she is learning.

It would have been nice if the mics on the karaoke machine were detachable. But, I have another karaoke machine that came with another set and a bunch of mics around here. Hmmmm, I may have to host a doll karaoke party one of these days...

I read in the description that both Kara and Kianna also love math, and that also speaks to my heart since I am a STEM chick (science, technology, engineering and math) and have been asked to mentor young ladies and try to inspire more of them to take an interest in STEM professions, since women tend to be underrepresented in these professions. Did you know that studies show a correlation between music and mathematical abilities?

But let's face it, the music is just more fun. I can't really see myself having these dolls doing calculus. I can see them having fun playing with their instruments, though!

My overall impression is that I love this set! It is good for collectors as well as children. The set displays beautifully in the box, and is also fun to play with. It does come with tiny pieces, so it is not appropriate for very small children. I love the mentorship theme of these dolls, and love that there is a focus on both music and math with these particular dolls. One of the reasons that I've been asked to consider mentoring young ladies is so that other young ladies (Black young ladies in particular) will see the STEM professions as a possibility for themselves. I hope that seeing these Black math-loving dolls has inspired girls worldwide. Even if math is not the primary focus, maybe it sank in subliminally.

Fresh Dolls Lynette

Fresh Dolls is a new line of multicultural dolls that is part of the Positively Perfect doll family. These dolls are for sale at Target and Walmart. I purchased mine from Target.com and had it delivered to my local store.

Several of the dolls caught my eye. I decided to purchase Lynette.

Here is my video review of Lynette.

Here's a look at the back of the box.

Lynette is a very cute doll. There are a couple of quality control issues with mine. There are marks underneath her right eye, and the center front of her blouse is not sewn correctly. I was planning on redressing her anyway because I'm not crazy about this outfit. Other than that, I'm very pleased with her. She has on earrings, a short floral top, skirt, and blue shoes. With a little effort, Lynette can stand unassisted in her shoes. Her head will move side to side, but not up and down. Lynette's head is a little on the large side, but not to the point of distraction.

Lynette has on molded panties. She has articulation at her elbows and knees. She is curvier than a standard size Barbie doll, but not as curvy as a curvy Barbie. Her feet are the same size as a standard Barbie.

Here she is compared to a belly button Barbie doll. Lynette has a shorter neck, and she is thicker at the arms, waist, legs, and butt.

Here she is compared to a curvy Barbie. Lynette is not as thick at the arms and legs. The waist and butt are debatable. She is not as wide at the hips.

Here she is compared to a Fashion Madness Kenya body (with a Barbie head). Lynette's neck is shorter than Kenya's. Lynette is thicker at the arms, torso, legs, and butt.

I took Lynette's hair down so that I could check out her rooting. Lynette's hair is thick and curly and appears to be well rooted. It is not very soft.

I did not get Lynette's hair back exactly the way that it was before. I'll have to work on that. Here she is in a seated position. She can cross her legs at the ankles.

She's already making new friends. 

Overall, I am pleased with this doll and with this line of dolls. I'm happy that these dolls represent multicultural beauty and that there are different skin tones, hairstyles, and fashions available. These dolls are very reasonably priced. I am thrilled that these dolls have articulation! I think that children and adult collectors alike will love these. I love the fact that these dolls are curvier than a standard Barbie doll. My doll is able to pose well and she can hold her poses. Her joints are not too stiff and not too loose. I do wish that the same face mold was not used for all of the dolls in this line. I will probably buy more of these and swap heads. I'm looking forward to seeing more from this line of dolls!