It's SINDY TIME!
lol.
no seriously, I woke up at 8:30 this morning to the news on facebook that Sindy had finally hit Argos. Everyone in the Sindy group lost their collective shit, it was glorious. We might have broken Argos for a bit, and risked breaking Facebook again (hahahahah)
Anyway,
let's start from the begining shall we?
Back in 2020 Kid Kreations released their collector line Sindy dolls, a collection of 6 dolls inspired by the vintage dolls but redesigned for the modern era.
At a whopping £79:99 they were pretty pricey and a bit prohibitive, but I ended up with all of them anyway thanks to a few sales and some lucky ebay sales.
You can find my review of some of them here
Now I was quite pleased to see Sindy back, but the price point was a bit painful and the loss of the Dog Walker Sindy (the black one) left me pretty salty.
But come 2021 KK annouced, a little out of the blue "oh hey, we're doing a playline range, here they are."
Available only through Sainsburys supermarkets and Argos, the exact release date for the 6 new playline dolls is a bit uncertain. Hence the excitement to have two of them suddenly appear available to order from Argos this morning.
So I treked to Argos and picked up Fashion Blogger and Horse Rider.
Let's do this thing!
I may be a little too excited lol.
but to be fair, this is the first playline Sindy since like.. 2008?
I don't count the monsterous tesco ones, those weren't sindy dolls, they were rebranded "My Life as" dolls. -_- and i'm not kidding, the literally were the same doll!
Anyway,
the Kid Kreations Sindy dolls are the traditional 11 (ish) inches tall, a glorious return to form. Sindy hasn't been standard fashion doll size since the turn of the millenium!
Horse rider, or "riding club" Sindy is the most expensive of the lineup at £35 and comes in an ENORMOUS box with a very ugly horse.
The box is quite attractive though, with a stable kinda... going on (I don't know of any stables with glass windowed doors but eh) and in the rather tasteful pink, purple and white KK have selected for their Sindy relaunch. I appreciate the purple and white, and the pink is a substantially less garish pink than her older logo so that's a relief.
It's kinda surreal to see the Sindy logo on a modern product. I mean yeah, the 2016 Sindys had it too and it was wierd then, but it's even more surreal being on a product that actually LOOKS like a Sindy doll.
The box proclaims that it includes "sindy crafts" lol.
No surprises then? Good to see KK aren't bowing to that trend. yet.
And our first glimpse of Sindy herself. Oh how exciting!
The horse is a reused Pony Parade horse and it's ugly as sin. I don't really like toy horses anyway so you're probably thinking "why'd you get this set then you lunatic?"
I'll tell you why.
REDHEADED SINDY WITH FRECKLES is why.
The box is pretty easy to open. It's held closed with a couple of circles of tape and then just hinges open.
Inside is a clamshell of plastic holding the doll, the horse and accessories.
Curiously, Sindy is packaged without her shoes on. presumably so they're visible through the window of the box but still.. but wierd.
Riding Club Sindy has a pale skin tone, green eyes, freckles and pretty rusty toned hair. It's a very soft red, quite reminicent of the "titan" colour of her vintage dolls (so more of a brownish auburn than bright ginger?)
What is very cool about this packaging is that the doll isn't actually attached to anything at all. There's no elastic, no plastic tabs, nothing. She just lifts right on out.
I LOVE this. I mean I cannot overstate how much I love when a doll has nothing I have to cut. I hate cutting tags as i'm always terrified i'm going to cut the doll or snip her hair. Also the little tag those plastic staple things leave in the head always scratch my fingers when I play with the doll's hair. Gah.
The horse also just lifts out.
The backing card is a fairly empty room but tells you that the craft cutouts are on the back of it.
The card lifts out and sure enough, the back of it has printed fences and instructions and another piece of card hidden behind has the rest of the pieces for some walls and jumps.
It's quite cute.
however, you do need scissors as these aren't designed to pop out. Which I think is a shame. Having the card perforated so you could just pop these pieces out would be an added touch that I think would really enhance it. Having to get a parent to cut each piece is a time consuming ask.
I couldn't be bothered myself. I don't feel up to cutting out a lot of bits of card and making a huge mess.
but it's a cute activity for a kid i'm sure.
Behind the cards there's a far more interesting room.
this actually got my kids far more excited than the craft cards. Middle child declared "time to renovate!" as he pulled the blanker version of the card away, revealing the fully furnished version. This amused him more than i'd think something like that would.
Go figure.
kids are wierd.
he's now stolen the cards... I have no idea why. He just wandered off declaring they were his now. I'm... so confused.
Anyway, the idea here is that the box can be used as a little playset, but it also doubles as a storage box. Which I like. You can seal it shut again using the little card tabs on the edge of the "lid" making it a good place to store Sindy, her horse, and any other bits and bobs you want for her.
It's also predominantly cardboard, only the "lid" has plastic which is fairly easy to remove. So the whole thing will be pretty easy to recycle.
I do appreciate a mostly card box. Card boxes are great. Easier to open, less liable to slice you and far more likely to actually be reuseable than the plastic ones.
Now I want to talk about this boot.
So, for reasons known only to KK, while the doll and horse weren't attached in any way to the plastic clamshell thing, they DID decide to tape the shoes in... and her hat.
I... don't really get why.
But the tape they used well.. it oozed. It oozed all over one of the shoes leaving it covered in this disgusting sticky goop. Wet, sticky.. goop.
It's so gross.
I hate sticky things and having to touch it made me recoil. It may come off with some dishsoap but it left a bad first impression let me tell you.
I dread to think the damage that goop might do if it oozed onto the fabric of the hat which is similarly attached.
How does tape even OOZE!??
tape shouldn't ooze!
this isn't normal tape residue, it's actual goop. Liquid goop. *puke*
Sindy's shoes are also wierd because they don't have a slit the whole way up the back, instead it only goes part of the way up and stops before it gets near the top. It works quite well, but it looks extremely strange when you're accustomed to normal doll boots having a full ankle to top slit in them.
Her hat attaches with a little velcro strap but I feel like it's maybe a little too loose. It might be meant to go under her chin instead? I don't know. I don't know anything about riding stuff. I don't much like horses.
Her boot is still sticky and it repulses me.
Her outfit is pretty well made, I just think it's really damn ugly.
The jodpur are more like leggings, made of a stretchy material in grey with blue printed patches on the inner.
Her shirt looks like a tee-shirt but has a collar so it's uh... more like a polo shirt? but without a button? I don't know.The collar is chunky and doesn't really sit very well anyway, and I think it's ugly as sin. It has a cute little heart label on it though.
Her hat is cotton and very soft. It's in no way protective lol. But it looks the part. The soft brim can be a bit of a pain though as it also doesn't sit flat.
Her vest is really thick, it's the only bit of the outfit I actually like to be honest. It's fully lined and feels quite authentic. It also brings to mind a lot of Sindy's past riding outfits, many of which featured a padded vest just like this.
As I expect from KK, the clothing is all well sewn and feels robust and like it'll withstand play well. It's easy to get on and off too, in no small part thanks to the doll's hard plastic body.
Sindy's horse is a reused mold, heck, it may even be reused excess stock for all I know.
It was made for the Pony Parade dolls apparently, and those were a good head shorter than Sindy is.
as a result the horse is far too small, comically so. It's small even for a pony honestly and it's also way too realistic. Sindy has this big stylised head and large cartoonish eyes, a realistic horse just feels jarring and wierd alongside her.
Not to mention the fact it's way too small adds to the "these two things don't go together" feeling.
Now, doll scale horses are almost always massively miscaled and far too small but this is just ridiculous.
The horse comes up to her shoulder for goodness sake! that's a tiny horse!
they do have matching hair which is hilarious to me.
But I genuinely hate this horse. The way all those muscles and wrinkle are sculpted makes me uncomfortable, it just... I dunno... it feels too much and not even in a "ultra realistic" kinda way, more in a "this horse is too defined, too muscley and it's making me question what horses really look like" lol.
I dunno, it doesn't look right but I don't know enough about horses to pinpoint why.
The saddle is made of some sort of leather effect stuff with metal stirrups that Sindy can jam her boots into pretty effectively. The saddle itself slips around a lot on the horse but is also extremely simple, it has no shape to it at all, it's just a flat mat with straps on it.
the reigns are a thick strap of the same leathery stuff as is the whole bridle, and it's not a good scale. The pieces are too thick/wide and it kinda swamps the horse's face. But also, as Sindy can't actually bend her elbows 90 degrees she can't hold the damn reigns anyway.
so you know... there's that.
Put bluntly, the horse fails because it's too small, too detailed and the tack is all too chunky and doesn't fit correctly or securely. And Sindy can't hold on anyway so the poor girl is gonna slip right on off as soon as the horse starts to move.
Maybe the scale won't bother a kid, but it bugs the shit out of me.
I mean I get it, reusing a mold you already had was cheap. but come on, at least use a mold for a doll that was the same SIZE. (actually, looking at photos, it looks like the horse was way underscaled for the pony parade dolls too... so wtf?)
Oh, the horse has a little buldge by the way. So... is it a boy horse?
Bit random to bother with such a detail but there ya go.
they even painted it. Which amuses me way more than it should but clearly i'm not a mature adult after all.
Anyway, screw all this horse shit. I never liked horses anyway. Let's get to why I really bought this set. The SINDY.
Her hair is extremely soft and styled in chunky curls. Taking her hair out of the side ponytail reveals that it's decently rooted and even parted in such a way that it sits fine. Horah! She has a side parting down half her head and then a straight line rooted across for the back
Her hair is so shiny too. Apparently it's nylon, but it's modern nylon, so sooooooft and pleasant to touch. There doesn't seem to be any product in her hair either, which I appreciate.
Not a great photo but for those who care about rooting patterns...
her scalp is painted brown and she has a pretty full head of hair.
Her head and body is the same as the collector dolls from last year, with one noteable exception.
the playline dolls have articulated ankles!
what?
how's that for wierd right? You would expect playline to remove features, not add them! But yep, she has articulated ankles along with jointed knees, hips, waist, shoulder, elbow, wrist and neck.
Just like the collector dolls her head is rock hard and looks just like the 80s heads.
My girl has a slightly asymetrical eyebrow which gives her a bit of a quizical expression.
Her eyes are a deep green and her lips a pale pink. Her cheeks are blushed with the same pale pink which is a touch too vivid for her pale skin tone. It reminds me of the way the Victoria Jane clones are blushed actually. I don't mind it.
Unlike the collector dolls, the playline ones don't have rooted lashes or pierced ears.
Or rather, while Riding Club has little molded markers for earring holes, she hasn't actually had the holes punched in.
It's quite remarkable the difference the rooted lashes make don't you think?
they give the face a somewhat more sultry look.
I kinda wish the playline dolls had the rooted lashes or even a molded lip above the eye to emulate them but I understand why they don't. They have to keep the cost down somehow. Also rooted lashes aren't that play friendly and these ARE supposed to be for play.
Like the collector dolls, the playline dolls have rather.. iffy articulation.
She can't bend her elbows or knees 90 degrees because there's no cutouts for the joint to bend into. Her elbows are particularly restricted, she can barely raise them honestly.
Her ankles don't move much at all, making me wonder what the point was of them. Usually molded ankles are designed for a doll to wear a range of heels and also flats, but these go from "barely a heel" to "flat" and that's it. No stilettos for Sindy.
Her hips are on a ball sort of joint so rotate well. She can sit and she can ALMOST do the side splits.
Her waist rotates a little too easily in my opinnion, she kept rotating fully around when I was playing with her. The vintage dolls have a tendency to do this as they age and it's really annoying. I rather wish this joint was a touch stiffer.
Her shoulders, like her hips move well on a ball.
Her head can move side to side but not up and down. Which is a pity. She can't do that adorable cocked head thing vintage sindy dolls can do. She can KINDA tilt her head slightly, but only if you sort of rotate her head as you tilt it and try to manipulate it upwards at the neck. It's a little awkward and not that effective anyway.
Her wrists are extremely stiff, at first I didn't think they'd actually bend. They rotate fine but getting them to bend up and down takes a little bit of force the first few times and was a little scary. When you do get them moving they move a little more than her ankles do and allow her to do some cute poses, but it's not that easy to get them moving.
Like vintage Sindy's, she can't keep her hands that close to her body. They always jut out a bit. A lot of dolls have this problem though, but combined with her rather broad shoulders it does make her a bit "boxy" up top which can be a problem when trying to put her into more dainty outfits.
Of course I had no intention of putting her back into that riding outfit. Horse riding, bah, get outta here with that.
I had a rummage and found my Creatable World stuff which fits very nicely.
Some rainbow high stuff will fit as well, but I found the styling of most of it just didn't suit Sindy even if it fit her body fine.
Like the Collector dolls, playline Sindy's feet are narrower than vintage Sindy so Sindy shoes and Creatable World shoes (and any other compatable shoes) are too wide on her feet. They'd be fine with socks probably, but it's slightly irritating that my large collection of Sindy fitting shoes mostly just fall off her feet when I pick her up. Bah.
Still, she is really pretty and I love that we've got a modern playline Sindy back at long last.
Redheaded Sindy dolls are always the hardest ones to find and the most expensive (they appear to have been made in much smaller quantity than the brunettes and blondes) so it's wonderful to have another redhead in my collection. I also love that KK elected to give each one a different eye colour, rather than them all being blue eyed. It's a nice touch that makes each doll a little more unique but also is refreshing for those of us who grew up in the era of every damn doll having blue eyes and no other option. -_-
Like the collector dolls, I feel like these new playline girls fit in fairly well with their vintage counterparts but they have certain advantages against the old girls. A big one being their hard plastic legs, which makes putting trousers on them SO MUCH EASIER omg. Seriously.. I never... ever... ever want to try to put tight fitting pants or leggings on a vintage rubbery legged sindy ever again. My fingers hurt so badly from that nonsense. it's absolute hell.
Their hair is also softer and more pleasant, generally substantially better rooted (especially compared to the 80s girls who quite often were half bald!) and they come in a variety of skin tones adding much needed diversity.
But was Riding Club WORTH £35?
well no, probably not. But let's break it down.
So, the basic dolls that don't come with a horse or any other plastic stuff are £20, which these days is a perfectly reasonable price. When you compare it to other products on the market, it's comparatively cheap really. Rainbow High retail at £30-40 on average, LOL OMG are similarly priced. Barbie Extra with their horrendous fashion sense are £30 and Barbie Looks who come in very basic clothes are £25. Glow Up girls with their pointless gimmick and second outfit are £25, Failfix were £20...
Of these, Sindy doesn't really have a genuine direct competator really. She fills quite a different niche I feel. She's soft featured, gentle looking, rather child-like compared to the grown up but still dressing like a toddler Barbie, the high end fashion divas that are the Rainbow High dolls or the grown up somewhat costumey stage looks of the LOL OMG dolls. She has no gimmick like Failfix, Glo Up girls or LOL. No second outfit like Rainbow High. Her clothes are simple but well made, lacking the intense detail of the rainbow high or omg dolls but seemingly more grounded in reality than Barbie's sack dresses and clown ensembles.
She has no real makeup beyond blushed cheeks and pink lips. No glamourous mannicure or stencilled brows.
She'll appeal to a very different demographic than the current playline offerings, more the sort of kids playing with Lottie perhaps, or who enjoyed the aspirational play of MC2.
But this makes a price point difficult to judge for me. Lottie retails for £23.99, her outfits are detailed but tiny and her hair is not great. She's small but comes with cute little accessories. But she's honestly the closest similar doll I can think of here.
Because this is the Sindy of a pre Barbie Britain. The "girl next door" that parents in the 60s preferred their daughters to play with. Dare I say it, Sindy was always far more NORMAL in comparison to her doll peers. Barbie was hollywood fantasy, a celebrity. Others were spies or secret agents. Sindy was just a girl who lived on a country estate, perhaps more wealthy than most Brits, but still a lifestyle that felt obtainable, somewhat realistic. She was a far more grounded property, and that's what Kid Kreations have given us again. A doll who isn't at some school of fashion, who isn't saturated in drama and materialism, who isn't a confusing mess of mixed messages like Barbie (you can be anything, as long as it's pink!).
Playline Sindy feels like she's gone back to her roots. Whether that'll sell remains to be seen, but it's refreshing to see and honestly? She stands out as a result of how... normal... she is.
But where does that put us with price?
well,
£20 feels not too bad to me.
but that does mean that we're paying an extra £15 for a plastic horse, a small brush for said horse and two pieces of card.
You can buy those Pony Parade horses for less than a fiver online, brand new. I assume they were probably about £10 originally, they look like they're worth about £10.
which means you're paying about £5 over the odds for the set, and what do you really get for that?
a big box to store your bits and pieces in?
I'd argue that Riding Club Sindy is at least £5 overpriced for what you're getting. (now that said, the Lottie horse riding doll is £37:99 so maybe it's not that unreasonable after all... hmmm)
Now if you have a horse mad kid who doesn't mind the scale difference that might be worth it, little girls do love horses after all (or so i'm told) and it's always nice to have a rider.
but I do feel like it's maybe a little bit steep for what you're actually getting in the box but I really don't like horse riding so....
oh it's a nice box for sure, and compared to other toys on the market looks like a better deal (doll + horse in a big chunky box looks substantially better value than a single doll on her own for the same price right?). She's better value than the LOL OMGs, but those are horrendeously overpriced anyway.
But I can never help but look at what else I could buy for the money anyway.
and what could I get?
I could get a rainbow high doll. A doll with two extremely detailed outfits, a huge amount of colourful hair, inset eyes, better articulation and a stand.
I could get a Barbie Extra doll, but their outfits look like they got locked in a goodwill and had to get dressed in the dark out of their clearance bins.
I could get a Barbie Looks doll IF they were in bloody stock. The made to move bodies are extremely impressive. But they come in the most basic clothing and with nothing else.
I could get two Lottie dolls using one of Arklu's many and regular deals.
Or I could have an ugly as hell horse.
I really really don't like this horse.
but I knew I wouldn't. I was willing to spend over the odds to get the redheaded doll beause I wanted the redhead doll damnit.
But yeah, it is a little much.
Still, that said, compared to the collector dolls, these are a bargain. Sure the collector outfits were nice, but were they really £59 more nice?
I'm not convinced.
Rooted lashes can't add much to the cost, so with the collector dolls ultimately we were paying through the nose for the fancy outfits and metal jewelery and i'm not sure it was really that good a deal. But we paid it because we wanted new Sindy dolls.
Now we have a more cost effective option and it's not really much of a downgrade.
The outfits are fine if you like the outfit, the hair and body are pretty much identical in quality. You are, basically, getting a collector sindy in a simpler outfit, without rooted lashes and without earrings for a FRACTION of the cost.
So make of that what you will.
I was quite surprised to see a note about hair care and some unexpected fashion packs.
as well as a word search and a little trivia section.
and colouring.
It has stuff detailing the other dolls in the line too, but it feels more like a mini magazine which is extremely cool.
So many little activities!
this is quite clearly a doll line aimed at younger kids, 6, 7, 8 year olds I think will have a blast with all these activities and the doll herself should be pretty appealing to that age group and to the parents.
I can't help but be clouded by a haze of sindy passion but at the same time, as a modern product she'd really not too bad. I think they did a pretty good job to be honest.
I just really wish her damn horse was a better scale and style to match the doll. It REALLY bugs me way more than it should.
and now I have an ugly horse to rehome.
Anyone want an ugly horse?
They've already hit eBay for twice the price that you'd pay at Argos. I think they're lovely and will overlook the horse lol. I think it's great that KK have brought them out at an affordable price too.
ReplyDelete