Pixy Punks

Pixy Punks...

Yet another in a long tradition of knock off, cash in, bandwagon hopping monster dolls aiming to catch a little of Monster High's success.

These dolls are, first and foremost, very very cheap. I have to stress that. You know what you're getting when you pay £3 for a fashion doll, and it's gonna be pretty craperific.

These dolls actually have a large range, of various price points. From the dirt cheap £3 a pop slim open box ones, to "deluxe" (snort) larger box versions with more detailed fashions and even two packs and a four pack! There are also giant ones and styling heads, so the guys who make these went all out when it came to market saturation.

Also interesting for cash ins, these dolls are readily available in multiple stores here in the UK. Wilkinson's stock the slim box budget ones, TK Maxx have them, Argos have them, even Smyths sells them! They're the Steffi Love of Monster High it seems, that cheap off brand version your grandma buys you or something. (Odd because by all rights Twilight Teens should occupy this spot, being as they're made by the same company who makes Steffi, but there you go)

Today i'll be looking at the slim budget doll, mostly because the local Collect + store has lost my 4 pack -_-

Here she is, hanging with the twilight teens (who i'll be reviewing soon promise!)

The "box" is really just a backing card meaning the doll is free to be poked, prodded and generally messed up in the store. I don't get why companies do this, MGA tried it with Bratz and it ended up with a lot of stolen earrings.
This girl has no earrings, no holes for them either so I suppose nothing to lose, except a lot of hair mussing.

  

The card is um... this shape? It looks like it almost wants to be coffin shaped, then gave up. This is totally what would happen if I tried to build a coffin, my woodworking skills are atrocious. 

So we have some bright fun graphics of hearts, fishnet and safety pins with the name Pixy Punks and the tag line "Pretty 'n' punk"... wait.. wasn't that a Bratz line? 

Tisk.

anyway, the graphics themselves are random. A combination of photo manipulation and drawing. There's some denim, some studs, a bit of a belt. Goodness knows.

The company who makes the Pixy Punks is called Funville apparently, who also make those fairy dolls the Sparkle Girlz who look like terrible Moxie Girl ripoffs.

 

The doll itself hasn't got a name listed on the packaging, but from looking at the other lines in this range, apparently the green girl is named Tegan. The others are Berkley, Harley and Raven. Lol.. Berkley... what the hell kind of name is that? 

 

 

Opening the box is really quite simple. It all folds out like this to allow access to the back and all the twist ties.

And thankfully there aren't many ties to untwist either. Now I like these sorts of twisty ties in packaging, no need for scissors and they're plastic so they don't tear your hands to ribbons like the metal ones did.
I appreciate a doll I don't need a large stockpile of tools to debox.

Free of her box we can appreciate her kick ass boots.
Seriously, her boots ROCK. they're super detailed and quite awesome.

Tegan herself is an odd little doll. Her face seems familiar, she reminds me of the Wee 3 Friends dolls I think. Only not nearly as cute.

The sickly green skin I don't think helps her out, though her hair is a fabulous colour. It's cheap nylon but it's quite soft.

Her face is simple. Green thin lips and small green eyes with crazy Kiss fan make up. Not very punk, more wannabe goth in my books. 

Look at those boooootsss. Her tights are random. One fishnet, one with faces... ok?

Her hair is tied back very loosely, so I don't actually think it's meant to be in a ponytail. Her hair is cut all choppily at the bottom but it's still nice to run a hand through and not as frizzy as I was expecting honestly.

The outfit was the main reason I got this doll. The top is made of stretchy cotton and actually fairly well made. The wings are made of thin plastic and sewn to the back of the shirt. They're really flimsy and need to be removed I think.

The shoes are really soft and easy to get on and off.

the shorts and tights are a single piece, but the shorts are nice enough, no unravelling bits and all the stitching looks fine so no complaints there. For a doll this cheap, these are really nice clothing pieces.

Here's the back view. Both clothing items fasten with velcro.

And the stitching on the wings doesn't look like it'll be too difficult to simply snip and remove.

The doll herself really is NOT pretty nude. She wasn't that pretty clothed but nude she's really strange. This wasp waist and stick legs with these non existent feet and flat paddle-like hands. She's bizarre.

It appears the budget Pixy Punks are exclusive to Wilkos in this country. There's nothing written under the sticker, I checked.

Her body isn't as light weight as some cheap dolls i've handled, she has a decent enough heft to her. The body is hollow while the legs are solid rubbery plastic and a totally different colour to the rest of her. They're kinda sticky to touch, it's a bit gross.

Her arms are articulated at the elbows but this is as far as they actually bend. Kinda pointless if you ask me.

Her feet are absolutely teeny, which means no shoe sharing for those awesome boots. Dang.

And her knees click pose like old Barbies. The click on these is kinda soft, they hold but I don't really feel like they'd hold up to much play.

You can see from one single bend, the puckering behind her knee. This will over time tear with repeat bends.

She can totally do the splits though. Wheee.
wow she's got an ugly body.

The moulded panties are hilarious though, that little bow ahahaha.

She has elf ears! These are an adorable and unexpected touch. Her profile is really flat and strange, but those elfy ears are cute.

Taking the elastic band from her hair leaves me with this. Surprisingly sleek hair. It's not very even, but it's not bad hair really. I love the colour.

Aside from the crazy skin tone, the Pixy punks don't really look anything like Monster High. They're a similar height, but that's about it.

But of course, as I said, I really got her for her clothes. So, who can wear her outfit?

Repro Sindy could rock the top, but the pants were too short in the leg (without the tights they'd probably fit just fine)

A real vintage Sindy however, stood no chance of getting into that top.

Barbie however, could. Sindy left in a huff calling her a skinny bitch.

The clothes are too big on Monster High

As well as too short in the leg.

Bratzillaz looked great in the top, but again the legs were too short. Without the leggings, much like repro sindy, these would probably fit just fine.

Finally Bratz could pull off the outfit. Albeit the top is a little baggy but the pants fit around the waist and she's the only doll who could pull off those boots thanks to not actually having feet.

this time the leggings are too long, but you can tuck them into the boots and hide that just fine.

Poor girl really can't pose well can she?

 

But all in all, for a doll who cost me less than a fiver, she's not at all bad. Her hair fibre is tolerable, MGA has used far worse on their dolls and charged a lot more for the privilage. Her hair is soft, shiny and a pretty colour. Oh it's cheap, but that's fine for me so long as it's not a ball of staticky coarse frizz.

Her outfit is surprisingly well made and her boots kick ass. I wish I had a doll who could fit them, my Bratz shall have to steal them perhaps. Heh.

I managed to pick up the 4 pack (they have different outfits to this one) for a whopping £8, but I have to go back tomorrow and see if they can find my parcel. Bah. I figured £8 for four outfits? Heck yes. And given the range of dolls who seemed able to fit into Tegan here's shirt at least, i'm sure i'll get a decent bit of fun from the 4 pack.

The dolls themselves are ugly, their articulation sucks and their legs are seriously gross, but what do you expect? Considering the price Wilkos were asking for these, i'm actually quite surprised she was as solid and well constructed as she is.
For a tacky cash in doll line, the Pixy Punks are decent enough. I like their clothes and there's so many different lines in the range that there are a LOT of different outfits to pick from.

That said, i don't think TK Maxx's price on these is entirely fair. They seem to want £12:99 for the "deluxe" versions of these dolls who seem to only have slightly more outfit pieces and come with a plastic pet figurine.

Interestingly, these have done well enough to warrant a second range, the Pixy Punks Zombies. Because that doesn't reek of rip off at all does it?
I have no idea what makes the zombies, they look like exactly the same dolls just with new outfits. Random.

So yeah, the Pixy Punks. Not the prettiest of dolls, but curious none the less. If you collect knock offs, they'd be right up your alley.