Wednesday, January 29, 2014

Hearts 4 Hearts Doll Review: "Tipi" by Playmates Toys

I'm a little behind the times in my doll blogging. Yui was created recently, after my order in November, but her original sculpt was created in 2010. Coincidentally, the doll in this review as well as in the review to follow were created in 2010, and both are discontinued these days. Anyways, I've just begun my little doll family, so I've been reaching into the past (via eBay) to find some MIB/NRFB dolls that are no longer quite on the market. A word to the wise- if you're going to go searching on eBay, compare all costs. This is a wonderful doll, but not worth $100. I got lucky with Tipi. Shipping aside, I paid her original price, because the lady from whom I purchased her had initially bought the doll as a present for her adopted daughter who then decided she was too old for dolls (which is a leeetle ironic, as at 17 years old I am probably older than her daughter).


H4H girls were created on the premise of telling stories of girls around the world, of all sorts of ethnicities in order to raise donations for kids in need. As the company website states, "Every Hearts For Hearts Girls® doll is inspired by real girls from real places around the world. Each doll has her own story to tell, with ideas about how to make life better for her family, community, country, and the world around her. When you buy a doll, a dollar of the purchase price is donated to programs that support children in that doll's region." A dollar from the sale of each doll (approximately 5% of he price) is donated to help kids in need. After reading Nethilia's guest post on Emily's blog, I knew I would eventually own at least one of these girls. Dispite Shola's few flaws (her outfit is much nicer in her promotional images than on the actual doll, and the dress is not quite the appropriate length for a Muslima), such a unique doll will be an awesome addition to my doll family. Further investigation into the H4H line uncovered an earlier set of girls, one of whom I liked above the others. Her name is Tipi, and she is from Laos, in SE Asia, just a stone's toss from my Singypore, so I brought her home first.


The eBay seller created her own box out of a hot-glued-together old Home Depot box, which I figured the recycler in Emily would appreciate.



The box in which Tipi arrived is similar to those of the other dolls in the series. The front cover (with a promotional image of the doll) opens to a view of the doll, secured behind a plastic window, so one can pick a good doll before actually paying for it. Unlike many of the other dolls, Tipi is almost identical in doll form to her promotional images.




Yui didn't approve of the lack of her face in the group shot, so she jumped in.



Tipi came with a short book talking about her life in Laos, and how she enjoys storytelling and writing, especially for her classmates. 



She also came with a very small bracelet which a child can wear to show their support for H4H girls, and girls in LEDCs, a hair comb (never to be used, as I have been informed plastic brushes and combs wreak havoc on doll hair), and adorable little flippy-flops. Tipi wears a bracelet inspired by the string bracelets typical in Lao on her left hand, and on her right she has three extra hairbands. Her unboxing wasn't as easy as Yui's, but it wasn't terrible. Opening it was a little weird. I haven't opened a toy's box in 6 years or so, and when I smelled the vinyl, it smelled like childhood. ><



Though her head is unproportionally large (something with which I personally have no issue, though some people do not like), her body is very slim and she is taller than I was expecting, standing at an approximate 14".


Her hair was banded in three places and sewed to her shirt in one. It doesn't measure up to Yui's wig, but considering that the cost of Yui's wig is almost equal to that of the entire Tipi doll with extras, it's understandable. Tipi's hair is quite soft, rooted a bit thinly towards the back,


She's cord-strung with five points of articulation, and though she doesn't pose in too many different positions, she photographs adorably.


Success!


Tipi tells her Korean Elven friend what Laos is like.


There's a little spot on her forehead near the hairline that I've not tried to clean off yet. Her face is lovely and serene. Her eyebrows are drawn in a cute way, her lips are a nice neutral color, and her her eyes are a lovely brown. I've seen brown-eyed H4H girls whose eyes, when exposed to sunlight for an extensive period of time, turn purple. I don't know why, however I have heard that Playmates has replaced dolls defective in this maner. If my Tipi's eyes turn purple, I'll probably not do anything about it.



For the price, I think Tipi is a fairly rugged little doll. The clothes are better made than some other playdoll clothes, and I think the doll would stand the test of time and child's play pretty well.


Yui was a fan of the flip flop concept, until she actually tried them on.


Whats dis I'm sittin on hmm?

In conclusion:
Quality: Good quality for a playdoll.
Price: $25 original retail. The second wave of these dolls are still on Amazon close to their original price, and totally worth it.
Collectability: Nope. Playdoll. But eBay sellers seem to think she is. -.-
Cuddleability: Heck yeah. She's all vinyl, not squishy or soft, but a kid could hug her and tote her about and probably bring her wherever they go without totally destroying her.

She's a cute addition to the family. Expect to see Shola some time in the future.
I'm going to go ahead and apologize for the awkwardness of blog posts to come. I'm trying to figure out how to format these posts, I've not exactly got a working computer at the moment, and yesterday I think I messed up my camera *woop.* ;_;

3 comments:

  1. I've always liked this doll line, but haven't picked one up because of their price. Nice review! I added your blog to my blogroll!

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    1. Thank you! Wah, first comment and by one of my favorite bloggers too. c:

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  2. Tipi is beautiful! I arrived at your blog because I was looking for Tipi reviews. All of the Hearts 4 Hearts Girls are lovely, but there's something special about Tipi. She looks like a real child! I don't have any of them, but wish I'd purchased Tipi when I had the chance.

    As a side note, is there something wrong with me if I immediately recognized Yui as a Littlefee Dark Elf Soo? Maybe I'm around dolls too much... I have a DES in tan coming here soon (thank you, DDE layaway!), mine will be a little boy though :)

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Keep comments classy, bro. >< I would love to hear your opinions, recommendations, and if you have a Dollie blog, DoA, tumblr, etc, link me!