Wild hearts Crew by Mattel

Mattel annouced these a few months back to a lot of excitement, rapidly quashed when we all found out they were store exclusives and worse, US ONLY exclusives.

BOoo hisssss.

But I really do love me some alternative dolls with interesting hair so I sort of put a cheeky bid in on a couple on ebay and sort of... accidentally... ended up winning.
Oops?

Import fees were a bit painful but considering this line is fairly unlikely to get a global rollout (haha watch, that'll happen now!) i'm glad at least to have my hands on two of the set.




But before we delve into the review I want to discuss the elephant in the room.
See, when these were released a lot of old guard doll people all voiced the same question. "What is Mattel rushing these out to counteract?"
Because they came outta nowhere using reused graphics and parts and felt rather hasty.

For months we speculated. Was it a rival to MGA's OMG line? That didn't feel right. So what on earth was coming out that Mattel was trying to preempt to market?

To explain to those who don't understand what that means, i'll tell you a story.
It's the 80s, Hasbro has a new doll line in the works that really captures a culteral zeitgeist, they're calling it JEM and Mattel has caught wind of this.
Mattel know this could potentially be HUGE for their rival, they need some way to take the wind out of their sails.
So they get together and they cobble together a line themselves, using parts they already have to speed up production. They create Barbie and the Rockers and they beat Jem to store shelves by several months despite starting later.
The result is just what Mattel hoped for. When Jem hits people say "these look just like that Barbie and the Rockers line". Mattel have successfully managed to take some of the excitement out of Hasbro's release.

this isn't a secret, this is a well documented fact that Mattel themselves are really annoyingly proud of doing. But it's also not at all uncommon in the industry. Companies are constantly seeking ways to undermine their opposition or the ride on their coat tails.

So when this Wild Hearts Crew line came out of nowhere with little fanfare and using a lot of existing parts and graphics, naturally, a lot of people thought "okay, what's got Mattel nervous?"

But nothing seemed to be on the horizon.
No doll line seemed to fit the bill.

Until Fresh Dolls released this teaser of their next wave due out at the end of the year:

Oh SHIT everyone exclaimed, THIS is it!

now of course, maybe it's a coincidence, maybe it's all nothing... this is only speculation and we have no PROOF of course. (don't sue me Mattel!)
but it's not like Mattel havn't pulled this shit before and we know these Fresh Dolls have been in production since the start of the year.

Naturally, seeing these teasers, all a lot of people can say is "oh wow, they look like Wild Hearts!" and you cannot tell me Mattel aren't cackling with glee over that.

mission accomplished.

Well played.

Now of course, all this said, that does NOT mean that both lines cannot coexist and both be good. Barbie and the Rockers was a good line that coexisted just fine with Jem after all. Just because the lines are unsettlingly similar doesn't mean they're not worth a look.

I look forward to seeing Fresh Doll's full reveals. They're a tiny company and their product of course cannot really stand up against Mattel's might, but they're bringing something interesting to the game at least.

though i do find it very curious that Mattel could be intimidated by a fish as comparatively small as Fresh Dolls. Hmmm.

Interestingly anyway.

Also interesting is that the Wild Hearts dolls are a Walmart exclusive. Walmart just... happening to be the major retailer for Fresh Dolls. <_< >_> Hmmmmmm. 

But we're not here to talk about Fresh Dolls really. We're here to see if the Wild Hearts Crew dolls were worth importing.

I ordered my two top dolls. Cori Cruize with her awesome purple fro and Rallee Radmore with her punky white hair.

The boxes are surprisingly straightforward. They are mostly card and open like original Monster High boxes, with little cardboard tabs and NO TAPE!

The boxes are all mostly identically except for a little logo pin on the half jacket motif which is character specific. A pizza slice for Rallee and a cassette tape for Cori. (Do kids even KNOW what a cassette tape IS?)

The back of the box features the logo which is uh.. a heart.. on fire... with a lightening bolt through it.
Also a photo of the 5 dolls in the line. I quite like Charlie Lake as well but I couldn't afford 3 dolls. Dum de dum.

The blurb gives the basic outline for the line. They're a sisterhood who uh... just.. do their own stuff... Nothing that explains how they're friends, they just seem to be a club who's while schtick is "you be you"

Okay then...

Under that there's some graphics specific to the character. Cori has some headphones with the cord in a heart and similarly a cassette tape that's had the tape pulled out to do the same.
So yeah, maybe ruining old tapes is Cori's whole thing?

Cori gets a little character blurb too. She's musical, did you hear? She likes MUSIC people.
In fact, it appears to be her only personality trait.

She sings all the time (that sounds really fricken annoying) and there's no explanation of what SORT of music, just "music".

okay then...

The side of the box features a photo of the doll with badly scaled instagram style stickers over the top.

Rallee got a guitar for hers.

A flaming begoggled skull seems to be one of her motifs. I dunno why.

Rallee's personality is "pizza"
I'm not even kidding you.

You know how in the Sims there was a hidden personality trait you could get that was literally "pizza lover"? Rallee is that.

She's also musical, she plays guitar and writes songs about, you guessed it, pizza.

erm...

The boxes are very easy to open as I mentioned. Just pop the card tab and slide the backing card out.

The backing card is covered with words and logos. Things like "80s!" and "punk it up!"
I... don't really understand why but sure, whatever.

I dunno about you but this is one EMPTY feeling box. All that dead space feels like there should be something there. A stand, a brush, something.
But given these dolls retail at only about $14, i'm gonna assume the absense of these things was to cut costs.

Considering they're fully jointed dolls that price point is really strangely low.

The dolls each come with a little booklet (you can see it behind Cori with her name on it) that folds out and has various little pictures and questions.

This one tickled me. Cori has a pact with Rallee to write her a pizza themed soundtrack.

what the heck will they do with that? Play it everywhere Rallee goes? Will she start wandering around with a boom box? A whole band just following her around to play pizza songs?

It then asks if you have a pinky pact.

Do kids even DO pinky swears anymore?

It's a strange booklet actually. It has a slit in the mddle three panels so it folds a lot flatter and works like a book but that means the little poster on the back has a hole in the middle when you unfold it.

wiiiierd.

Cori Cruize is a musician, Kenna Roswell is a photographer, Jacy Masters is a skater (by which they mean roller skates rather than a skateboard), rallee is hilariously described as a "dreamer" (she dreams of pizza clearly) and Charlie Lake is a "Rocker"

so.. there's three musical characters?  What's the difference between a rocker and a musician? Rallee plays guitar as well so does she technically count as musical?
Are they actually a band? that wasn't mentioned anywhere.

I'm confused.

I think i'll boil it down to laziness from the character creation department who couldn't think of any more "cool" hobbies.
I mean they had to resort to "really likes pizza" ffs.

The other side shows how the booklet is constructed.

There's the cover with name, a little blurb saying "good at:" "needs practice" and "can't even" (how very modern *snerk*) and a little character statement.
the other side has the pinkie swear question and "what makes you different"?

Hmm.. embracing difference, how very Monster High.

Apparently by "musician" what Mattel meant was DJ.

Cori is good at music, bad at not doing music and can't live without music because do you get it? She's really INTO MUSIC!

it's literally her one personality trait. Music music music!

Music music, music music, music!

MUUUUSIIIIICCCCC

Rallee meanwhile is PIZZA! PIZZA PIZZA and songs about PIZZA!

Oh also she's apparently an engineer or something? She plays guitar, builds gadgets and likes pizza.
Why does she get 3 personality traits?

As you can predict, she's good at eating pizza.

But apparently she sucks at playing guitar (interesting) and is late for everything.

I... don't know how to take this. The pizza lover actually has more depth than I at first assumed.
Certainly she has more than one personality facet.

Cori, take note, you can like more than one thing.

Also you can have flaws that aren't copouts.

Rallee's pact is with Jacy, to teach her a pizza recipe because of course it is.

Anyway, let's debox these damn dolls.

Not too much of a chore. A few plastic ties and 3 damn staples in the head which was a pain to get out of Cori, but nothing too major.

Interestingly, the clothing isn't tabbed to itself or sewn together in the packaging which is interesting.

The faces are very interesting, quite OTT really.

Rallee has LOTS of lashes, flat blue eyes and a pink and purple eyeshadow thing going on.

She also has a little beauty mark under one eye and stylistically painted lips that aren't really lip shaped.

She wears chunky safetypin earrings where the bottom I swear looks rather like a heart, a choker and some extremely cool goggles that feel like what i'd have worn during my cybergoth years. 

Cori on the other hand has a star on one cheek, unexplained blue dots under each eye and yellow eyes.

Her mouth is very strangely painted, her teeth seem to jut upward. Does she had an underbite? What is that? It's kinda odd.

Her earrings are large hoops with spikes coming off them, they don't look that comfortable to wear and in fact they sit a bit awkwardly on the doll.
Especially if she's also got her headphones on.
the two things sort of get in the way of one another.

Her headphones by the way are actually too big for her head and can't sit properly once you remove the packaging tabs.
this is a stupid design flaw and one Mattel should know better than to do.

She also has a silver necklace that needs to be elastic banded on like well.. MOST doll necklaces.

Half Rallee's head is molded and painted plastic to represent a buzz cut. I think it's a shame they didn't flock it but given the price point, not surprised.

It doesn't look terrible though and will probably withstand play better than flock.

Her hair is absolutely stark white with vivid purple streaks and a bit choppy but quite soft and easy to manage. 

Like Rallee, Cori has a molded half to her hair. In her case it's molded Cornrows much like the DC Superhero girls Bumblebee or ZigZag fashionista.

Her hair is vividly fushia and very very curly. It's tied into two ponytail things.

Unfortunately once you remove her stapled on headphones it becomes clear they didn't really put much effort into ensuring she had enough hair rooted in. She has a large bald spot where the headphone sat.

 Rallee has a rather strange profile. A very prominant jutting forehead and a sort of indented face.

I am not totally sure it's that attractive, it's certainly odd.

Cori has a similar jutting forehead but a less pinched in face. At least... i think she does. I'm pretty sure Cori's nose is broader and less pinched than Rallee's meaning different face molds but looking at photos i'm doubting myself.

Nghhh.
 

Rallee's outfit is kinda cool. A plether feel red jacket with printed motifs, a little black tee with flaming skull motif, some plaid pants with printed on silver foil zips and a bright pink bumbag/fanny pack lol.

The jacket feels quite flimsy, whatever it's made of is thin as heck.  The pants are made of the standard stretchy fabric Mattel's been using to simulate jeans for Barbie, you know the stuff that feels like stretchy yoga pant material.

Strangely, the bumbag has a slit in it where it looks like something should go, but she comes with nothing to put in it.
I dunno, just seems wierd to me.

It makes it feel like there's something missing.

She has nice boots with a molded stud effect and chunky tread soles.

Rallee made club jackets, the back of her jacket has the name of the line on. I wonder if she managed to get anyone else to go along with this.

What's really nice to see is that ALL the outfit pieces are separates, which frankly, for Mattel and for this price point, really surprises me.

The foil printed zippers are strangely effective too. I kept having to touch them to convince myself they weren't 3d lol.

Here's all she comes with except for her little leaflet.

So for your money you get doll, goggles, choker, earrings, boots, bag, jacket, tee and pants.

Not too bad.

 Fun little detail, that's a Monster High Skulette!

Meanwhile Cori's outfit is some sort of flame pattern jumpsuit with a letterman jacket over the top.

She also wears a chunky pink belt.

Her shoes are bright aqua sort of colour and have what I THINK is a vine motif on the heels but i'm not totally sure.

She comes with a fair bit of stuff too. Shoes, belt, necklace, jacket, jumpsuit, earrings and walkman with headphones attached.

The walkman actually opens, though it's tricky to do so as it's so tiny.

Inside is a teensy cassette tape!

The damn thing actually comes out too! WHUT!???

The bodies are very curvy in the hips and for some inexplicable reason have not only molded on panties but a molded on bra too.

I'm not sure about this, I think it's a bit limiting to have molded on stuff like this. It's done so it's low enough that MOST stuff won't expose it but I dunno, flesh coloured underwear is profoundly weird to me and I don't quite understand why Mattel opted for a molded bra when they haven't previously done so with any other doll line.

Did doll titties suddenly become offensive?

thankfully the bra has no molded straps (I wonder how it stays up lol)

She has a very toned belly and quite toned arms too.

She's jointed at the head, shoulder, elbow, wrist, hip and knee.

The feet are a sort of in between heel and flat and surprisingly small for the shape of the rest of the leg. They aren't quite Barbie hoof feet but they're close.

In fact, they're not actually that much larger than a modern Barbie foot. They do however have far more detailed toes.

Also worth noting, they use the same hand mold as Barbie. In fact the arms themselves may be the same, i'm not totally sure. Certainly they're very close in proportions of the lower arm especially.

I grabbed some dolls to do a comparison.

The DC Superhero girl body is really wierdly lanky and stretched in comparison but the curvy Barbie body interestingly, has very very similar width hips.

The Wild Hearts dolls can pull their legs inward a little bit to preserve modesty but not as much as the DC girl (who to be fair has a far narrower crotch anyway) or the superior jointed mtm Curvy body.
Still, I appreciate that she CAN at least pull her knees in slightly.

Her knees bend to 90 degrees, as do her arms. I wouldn't call her range of motion exceptional but it's servicable and about on par with the DC dolls or Monster High.

The hips compared to a modern Barbie body shows a narrower chest and broader hips, far fuller more shapely arms and legs and a generally somewhat more realistic appearance.

Damn Cori makes Jai here look like a stick insect.

The Wild Hearts heads are a similar size to the My Scene heads which is interesting.

But that's about where the similarities end. Wild Hearts have far far more characterful faces.

I THINK these boots might actually be Star Doll, and they fit like a treat.

Curvy Barbie can fit into the Wild Hearts clothes pretty well, the stretchy fabric of the pants of course helps. Meanwhile Rallee looks a little swamped in the frumpy Fashionistas dress but it does fit her.

Jai (My Scene) fits Cori's outfit though it's a little roomy in the legs and Cori can fit quite nicely into Jai's Barbie outfit, though the shoes are just a smidge too small. She can ram her feet into them, but they don't quite sit at the correct angle.

I actually really like this look on Cori. Her shoes match the top!

Back in their original outfits I figured out that Cori's walkman can indeed clip onto her belt, though it sticks out a bit odd and the wire is so stiff that it's quite difficult to then get her headphones to sit nicely.

I ended up elastic banding her headphones to her head lol. They're too wide so it's not ideal but it'll do.

Overall though, i'm actually pretty pleased with these dolls.

You get a decent bang for your buck if getting them at retail and they appear to be fairly well put together, pretty standard Mattel quality imo.

Both mine have pretty decent faces though Rallee may have some slight wonk, but all the Rallee's i've seen look to have one eye slightly misaligned so hmm.

I love the complex faces with the multitude lashes, though i'm not entirely sure about the unusual stylised lips.
but I think they work in a strange way, they're quite unique in how their faces are painted and I like that.

I also really like their standard body. Jacy has a different body (shorter, chubbier) but the standard body I think is quite attractive with broad hips that fill out their clothing attractively.

Their accessories are nicely detailed and though unpainted for the most part, look pretty good.

My only real gripes would be that Cori has a bald patch and her headphones are far too wide for her damn head meaning they won't actually fit her. It makes them very awkward and unweildy to play with.

Overall though, the joints feel pretty solid, the dolls have a decent heft to them and I didn't feel like I had to be overly careful with any of their pieces. My initial concerns about the thin fabric of Rallee's jacket proved to be unfounded as it withstood being put onto several dolls without any sort of feeling of "this is going to break".

They are easy to dress and undress too, which is a big thing for fashion dolls.

I don't think you can remove their hands (I did tug but it didn't give so I didnt press the issue) but their squishy hands and the way their fingers are molded means that most standard doll clothing really isn't an issue there.

they seem able to fit a fair bit of Barbie stuff too so that's helpful.

I'm pretty pleased with these two.

I sort of wish I had bought Charlie Lake too, ahh well, maybe i'll get a chance later in the year.

If these WERE rushed to release, Mattel didn't do a bad job at all.