Thursday, July 30, 2009

Where are the Asian Fashion Dolls?

Recent posts on doll blogs I follow (Dolls of Color, Niel’s Dolls) inspired me to see what playline Asian fashion dolls are available today. During the late 1990s and early-mid 2000s, doll companies created Asian fashion dolls as part of their doll line up. I am thinking Get Set Club (Gia), Get Real Girls (Skylar), Smartees (Amanda), and I-Girls (Asia). What Asian fashion dolls are available now?

There were three criteria needed for my Asian playline dolls:

1. that the dolls were by any company OTHER than Mattel (removes Disney/Mattel from the list)

2. that the dolls were under $25 USD

3. that the dolls were in playscale or 1:6 scale

4. that the dolls could still be purchased today


These four dolls met the above criteria:

Playmates’ Asian everGirl who remains on sale at Nick.com

Yue Sai Wa Wa available through mail order from ChinaSprout and possibly still available from local toy stores. (I bought mine from a K B Toys stores several years ago.)

Mei Ling also available from ChinaSprout

Jade Princess (under the Just Girlz line by Sears Holding Corporation) is still on sale at some Kmart stores.


Playmates everGirl and Kmarts Just Girlz Jade Princess




Yue-Sai Wa Wa




Mei Ling




Related online articles:

China Doll entry from Encyclopedia of Contemporary Chinese Culture

Multicultural Dolls: 101 - by Ellen Fitzenrider article from 2004

Yue-Sai Kan article

Note: there used to be a website called "Asian Pacific American Toy Chest" that had extensive information about Asian Pacific dolls and action figures. Loren Javier was the site author; unfortunately that website is no longer directly accessible. Using a trackback website might show images from it.
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7 comments:

  1. NielJuly 30, 2009 at 11:19 PM

    Beautiful dolls! I wish to see these in my local toy store but I'm not gonna hold my breath. ^_^

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  2. Dolls of ColorJuly 30, 2009 at 11:31 PM

    Yue-Sai Wa Wa is very pretty - she looks a lot like Mattel's Kayla-Lea dolls.

    The only other not-crazy-expensive fashion doll series I really really like is the Dynamite Girls by Integrity... but yeah, not really playline, a bit pricey :(

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  3. Dolls of ColorJuly 30, 2009 at 11:34 PM

    "6) Doctor Yue Sai. Doc is a Yue Sai Wa Wa doll, the Asian answer to Barbie, and will make overachiever parents happy."

    from one of your linked articles...

    ROFL *I think I'm gonna cry from laughing so hard*

    ReplyDelete
  4. D7anaJuly 31, 2009 at 6:31 AM

    Thanks, my favorite of the group is Yue-Sai Wa Wa, but I like the others, too.

    The everGirl dolls were first sold in toy stores, but then they went to discount stores. If your discount stores carry older doll lines, they might appear there.

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  5. D7anaJuly 31, 2009 at 7:08 AM

    I remember reading that review of the Yue-Sai Wa Wa doctor doll here on Amazon, but I didn't include. Thanks for mentioning it though, because it was um interesting? I don't know if children are as readily programmable as the author suggests; regardless of the manufacturer's back story for dolls, wouldn't children give their preferred occupation/activity to any dolls? Shrug?

    I love the Dynamite Girls series, too. Sigh. Not crazy-expensive, but NOT cheap.

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  6. kristlFebruary 4, 2012 at 8:39 AM

    Yue Sai Wa Wa is not a doll I love - but I adore her Asian accessories - which makes her something I would def pursue.

    ReplyDelete
  7. D7anaFebruary 4, 2012 at 8:23 PM

    Hi, Kristl! Two Yue Sa Wa Wa dolls I wish I had bought sooner were the doctor doll and the chef doll.

    By the way, I would NOT pay the Amazon price for her; you can find her at Chinasprout.

    ReplyDelete