Undressing Harry: A 1 Direction Review

A local Walmart has several of the first issue 1 Direction Harry Styles dolls at the clearance cost of $10.00. Lucky me got him as an early birthday present. So I had to debox him and present him here as he is. No poser body, just the original no bend arms, no twist waist, and click - ha ha - bend knees.

First, I am glad that I have this version of Harry. The subsequent versions are made from that horrible waxy-looking plastic that reminds me of the Gangers on a bad day. Hideous faces, all of that lot have. Shudder. Though the clothes might be nice ... sigh. But this is the Harry issue I wanted and for sale, too. Cool.


For those interested, Harry stands about 11" tall. Yes, not 12". Not 11 1/2". Eleven inches. Which makes him fit in with my High School Musical teens. And his clothes fit them although his pants are a little longer. But given that his pants' fabric is thinner than most Mattel pants, that is not a problem.

Here I have Harry standing next to another Hasbro male teenager - Paul from the S Club 7. Paul stands around 11 3/4" tall. Yes, still not 12". He and Harry both have these click bend knees that do not bend much. Straight arms on both. Wide stances. Harry stands a little wider than Paul - and Harry can keep his standing balance a little better than Paul.

Ta da. Close up of Harry's face. I love his molded locks. Pity that his hair wasn't rooted, but there you have. Or don't have [rooted hair]. He's got the tiny, gimlet eyes that many action figures and/or personalized dolls have. Nice white teeth individually molded. And a nice big ear on the left side.

The shoes are my favorite accessory from this doll. They are molded plastic, but very life-like and detailed. Love the brown neutral color and the black heel and black bottom and black laces. I would have thought that brown oxfords were an older man's shoe choice, but I am glad to have them. I will check to see which other guys can wear these.


I hope to find the first version of Zayn next.


Curious about this doll? Muff has some posts about Justin Bieber who seems to be around Harry's size. Ms. Leo has a post that shows a rebodied Zayn. And Limbe Dolls shows the One Direction outfits worn by other dolls.

Asha Cinderella?

Does anyone else think that this Mattel Disney Cinderella has the Asha face mold?


I do.


Thanks, Anonymous, for catching my typo. I had mispelled the name, Asha, as Aisha. Tsk, tsk.

Toys R Us Wedding Exclusives

June is here, and Toys R Us is selling two wedding exclusives: Disney Fairytale Wedding Gift Set and MGA Entertainment's Moxie Princess and Prince.

Surprisingly, from this six doll set including Belle and Prince Adam, Rapunzel and Eugene/Flynn Rider, and Cinderella and Prince Charming - I like Cinderella and Prince Charming the best. Probably because they look the least cartoony among the lot. Rapunzel's eyes take up half of her face. Belle's eyes are also large. But all three of the wedding gowns look charming. I was seriously considering buying them for the gowns, Cinderella, and Price Charming alone. Only considering, mind. The group costs $69.99. A little over $10 for each character. Not extravagant, but a little steep for my current budget.

Is it just me or are the Moxie girls too young for marriage? The backstory for the Moxie royalty set states that Moxie girl, Merin, is imagining her wedding. New character Chance is her groom. (Not the most reassuring name, I would think, but then, I am not a Moxie girl or the target audience for the Moxie girl spiel.) This precious and precocious pair are on clearance sale - $14.98 - so if they appeal to you or you could use the wedding gown and/or the groom's tuxedo, make haste. Grab them while you can.

And an extra plus from the Toys R Us exclusives is this pair: Jakks Pacific's Winx Bloom may have a beau. Yes, and he looks as if he has actually eaten at some time in his life. His name is Sky. For $26.99, you can take this couple home. You can create your own wedding ensemble for them.

Are you feeling sentimental yet? For additional readings about weddings, visit the Hudson Valley Wedding's web site and do not  miss blogger Irene Johnson-Gough's article connecting June weddings with ... no jest ... bathing.

Happy Father's Day

I had a photo for Father's Day, but I forgot to bring it with me. Maud Mavis Hadley took this photo of her husband, the Right Reverend Isiah Ezekiel Hadley and three of their four children: Franklin, Midge, and Felicity. Their second son Marshall is on military duty.


Maud Mavis and the other East Philadelphians wish happiness to all the fathers, daddies, dads, pops, pas, etc. for all that they have done and continue to do for us.

Kmart/Sears Jade Princess Fashion Doll Query

Does anyone recognize the parent toy manufacturer for this fashion doll? She is redressed in a Barbie Fashion Fever "dress" and I-Girl Paris' jeans. I bought her in 2008 from a Kmart store. She was part of the Just Girlz series. Like the Black dolls in the Just Girlz series, her box ties her to Sears Holding Corporation. A fellow collector informed me that those dolls were created by Integrity Toys, but this doll does not resemble the IT dolls. Any suggestions?


Thanks in advance ;-)

List of DAFs I Considered Asian

Aoshima/Skynet	Kelly Jackson	Lady's Mission	Series No.4
Aoshima/Skynet	Madam Ryu Reika	Lady's Mission	Series No.21
Aoshima/Skynet	Kyoko Tenryu	Lady's Mission	Series No.22
Aoshima/Skynet	Tanaka Miina	Lady's Mission	Series No.24
Aoshima/Skynet	Code Name - Mai	Girl's Mission	Series No.6
Azone Incorporated	Belinda
Azone Incorporated	Minako
Azone Incorporated	Reimy
Azone Incorporated	Reina
Hasbro	Foreign Soldier	G. I. Joe	Japanese Air Force Officer
Hasbro	Miss Fear	G. I. Joe	Dreams & Visions
Hot Toys Limited	TrueType 38 Figure: Series 3	01-Male
Integrity	Candi	Candi
Integrity	Ayumi Nakamura	Fashion Royalty: NuFace
Integrity	Kyori Satori	Fashion Royalty
Integrity	Jade, playline
Lanard	Asia	I-Girl
M &C Toy Centre	StarRunner	Hung	KC Boxing Gym
Mattel	Mulan	Disney	Princess
Mattel	Li Shang	Disney	Captain
Mattel	India	Barbie
Mattel	Indian	Barbie
Mattel	Japanese	Barbie
Petworks	Momoko
Sears Holding Corporation	Jade Princess
Sekiguchi	Momoko
Sideshow Collectibles	Michelle Yeo	James Bond
Sonokong	Sharp
Spinmaster	Hrithik Roshan	Bollywood Legends
Spinmaster	Kajol	Bollywood Legends
Spinmaster	Priyanka Chopra	Bollywood Legends
Takara	Motoko Kusanagi	Cool Girl	Ghost in Shell: Ninja-Suit Version
Takara	Princess Jun	Cool Girl	Battle of the Planets
Takara	Kaori Chan
Takara	Kisara
Takara	Lina
Takara	Meiren
Takara	Mitsuki
Takara	Moe
Takara	Rie
Takara	Sayaka
Takara	Shion
Takara	Shou
Takara	Tamaki
Takara	Uno Kanda
Volks	Kana	Who's That Girl
Yue-Sai Kan Holdings	Yue-Sai Wa Wa

Asian-Pacific American Playscale DAFs, Part 1

May is Asian-Pacific American Heritage month in the United States. The purpose of heritage months is to acknowledge and to celebrate a racial or ethnic category distinct from the overall American population.

Initially, I thought this Asian and Pacific American DAF post would be an easy one. Just select the Asian American action figures and dolls, copy those names, and then paste the names into a Blogger post. Easy, yes and no.

The technology was the easy part. The problem was choosing which characters to include as Asian and Pacific American. I realized that when I counted my APA dolls and action figures, I had been including not just Asian and Pacific American characters but also the Asian DAFs from other countries as well as DAFs by American companies whose dolls’ storyline anchor the dolls overseas. Puzzled?

Take Asian action figure Linh by Dragon. Dragon’s background for Linh is that she is Vietnamese. So Linh cannot be an Asian Pacific American figure. She is a Vietnamese action figure. What about many of the DAFs produced by American companies? How about Integrity Toys’ playline Jade? On the back of a Janay/Jade/Alysa box, Jade is described as being Japanese.

So I have below the DAFs with specifically a Asian American background. Why does the story origin count here? I mean, for my personal storytelling, any doll can be assigned or re-assigned any ethnicity or race that pleases me. My DAF world, my background. I restrict my criteria here to show how few Asian and Pacific American dolls exist. Oh my.

I will list Asian dolls and action figures with overseas Asian identities, in a separate list. Please refer to that post-to-come for DAFs that can be borrowed/usurped into an APA collection.

Photos of Asian and Pacific American dolls or action figures that I own will follow in a separate post.

Get Real Girl

Skylar Ron (Technically, Ms. Ron is Canadian Asian. For the purists.)



Get Set Club (GFive)

Gia



Hasbro

Aja from Jem

Banee from Jem

G.I. Joe Special Response Team

Additional reading about Asian and Asian or Pacific American DAFS by LorenJavier and
Peter J. Chen's homepage



Jakks Pacific

Alex from GirlForce
Jaz from the G.I.R.L. Force series
Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson

Kenner 

Claudia Kishni from The Baby-Sitters Club series.



Mattel

Information about Mattel's Asian-American and Pacific-American dolls came from Wikipedia, KattisDolls, BarbiesAsianFriends, and Peter J. Chen's homepage.

Hawaiian Barbie
Hawaiian Superstar Barbie (Canada only)
Hawaii Barbie from the 2012 Dolls of the World collection
Becky from Barbie and The Sensations
Dana
Delia
Jenny
Kira
Lea
Lorena
Mari Nakano from Generation Girl
Miko
Nia
Nikki
Raquelle
Renee



MGA Entertainment

Jade from the Bratz
Sidney America's Next Top Model



Playmates Toys Inc.

1998 Kristi Yamaguchi Stars on Ice



R and D Dolls

Susie



Sideshow Collectibles

Odd Job



Smartees

Amanda



YNU Group

Emerald (Technically, Emerald is Canadian Asian. For the purists.)

Kenya and Friends Online

For those interested in the Kenya fashion dolls, in addition to Limbe Dolls' posts and Black Doll Collecting's posts Kenya, her little sister, and 3 friends appear on the Kenya website and on FaceBook. Kenya actually has a longer history than the fashion dolls that launched in late 2012.

Enjoy!