So uh... Roblox... you know... that game platform with the lego looking avatars has um... fashion dolls now.
that's a real thing that exists.
and they look every bit as bizarre as you'd think.
Okay so, I don't play Roblox, i've never played Roblox, but my kids do. They don't play Royale High though, which i'm told is a dress up role play sort of game.
least, that's what was finally worked out after middle kiddo went off on a rant about "R15 avatars" and how much he hated Dress to Impress which is another game?
I'll be honest, a lot of it was lost on me.
We'll go back to that in a moment, first, let's see the doll.
She's um... quite something.
So back to that kid rant. What I could gather was that there's broadly 3 different types of avatar in the game, the very simplified ones with only limited joints, the "standard" 15 points of articulation ones and there's some more realistic non lego looking ones that are new which middle kid had much vitriol toward. They're called um.. Rthro? Or something.
it was a fair bit of a rant lol.
So,
normal standard Roblox avatars generally look like this:
You know, off brand Lego.
And the little action figure toys you can get ALSO tend to be this shape.
like this Elsa looking girl.
But those Rthro avatars are maybe relevant here because those look more like just regular cartoony people.
And I mean, I can kinda see why middle kiddo has issue because these definitely do NOT look like Roblox. They're very very generic.
anyway,
these new Royale High dolls and indeed the smaller figures that have been released alongside them, all don't look much like what I, a non player, associate with Roblox body shapes but look more like these Rthro body, you know, with boobs and all that.
However, this also seems to be in keeping with all the artwork and promotional stuff for the game. I tried to find actual gameplay footage but a lot of it looks to be heavily edited with a lot of filters and stuff and I kinda got annoyed quickly. That said, I think this specific game and the sets of clothing you get from it do tend to opt for a more fleshy looking body but keep the marshmallow head, just with uh... a lot of airbrushed makeup and stuff on it.
So um...
from what I can establish, these dolls are pretty accurate to the game itself, or at least how the game markets itself.
and they're kinda uncanny.
But also absolutely hilarious to me.
Anyway, back of the box has a fairly accurate illustration of the doll. I don't know if they're characters from the game or what, but this one is called Avrilla and she's a dark fairy apparently.
She has a little bio too. She's um... telekinetic and likes music, eyeliner and castle secrets.
okay... sure, whatever.
There are 4 dolls in the set, an ice fairy, a er... flower? fairy, a mermaid... fairy... and the dark fairy.
I don't bloody know okay.
It's kinda cool they did different skintones. Avrilla is very pale, almost greyish beige while the mermaid girl is tan and the other two are black. It's very unusual to see two black characters in a doll line, so I appreciate that even if the dolls are demented looking.
There's also a special limited edition doll who's not pictured and who I haven't seen in the UK at all
She's kinda neat. I like her shoes.
Anyway,
back to Avrilla.
one kinda annoying element of the packaging here is that her wings are behind the backing plastic, sandwiched between the backing card and the plastic. It's a bit awkward to get them out, especially if you don't want to tear any of the box.
She has typical plastic ties holding her legs, wrists and body in place but has no plastic staples in her head which I do appreciate.
Her hair is gelled the crap at the bottom and pulled into two tendrils which means it's all screwed up when you get her out the box and brushing the stuff out makes a mess as all the white gel crap powderises and covers you. Yuck. I recommend rinsing it out instead. Yes the doll will then need to dry, but it's better than ending up covered in white strand of god knows what.
She comes with a little paper diary thing but I don't understand what it's for. It probably makes sense if you've played the game, maybe.
I think it would have been fun if those badges were stickers but nope. It's just a leaflet.
She also would have come with a code for a virtual item but I found that a LOT of people were selling the dolls still boxed for a fraction of their rrp without the easy to remove code itself. (there's a little indent/tray on the backing plastic that it clearly is supposed to sit on. So you just open the top of the box, slide the card slightly out and take the card. Easy.
These dolls retail for around £20... i think. Least that's what they're listed for on Smyths right now. That puts them on a cheaper end for fashion dolls in the UK. Most dolls are closer to £30.
Freed from her box and first impressions aren't bad actually. The bits of her hair that aren't gelled to crap feel soft and pleasant and she has a LOT of hair. Her fringe/bangs aren't brilliantly even and are also caked in gel, but that's a minor issue really.
Under her plastic bodice piece she has a cropped mesh top with puffed sleeves. This surprised me because I didn't expect it to be a separate piece like this.
The sleeves have elastic cuffs so they're pretty easy to get on and off and the whole thing has an attempt at a hem, though i'm not convinced the sewing around the top of the garment is going to be overly robust. It looks fragile and like it already wants to unravel. But I guess that's the nature of this sort of material isn't it? it's very very delicate.
Her skirt is made of that shiny fabric that's usually white on the back side, it's similar to the fabric the Equestria Girl dolls used actually, and a few Disney Princess dresses. I think a lot of modern Barbie uses it too, you know the shiny printed polyester that feels like a diner tablecloth?
The top piece is dark purple with pink swirls and stars and has a slit at the front. It's a "waterfall" style I think it's called, where it's longer at the back than the front. The underskirt is dark blue with pinky purple foil stars. It's also blue on the back side which is nice, it makes it look less cheap. The underskirt isn't a full skirt, it's only half but that's probably for bulk reasons, as the overskirt at the back comes down to that same length. It's a handkerchief hem and completely unhemmed, but this fabric is the sort of fabric that doesn't usually get hemmed anyway.
It's not overly pleasant feeling fabric and it has zero drape but it works well enough for this scale. It's fine, nothing special, nothing too awful.
Under all that at the back there's a pink netting train that comes all the way down to the floor.
The whole skirt has a waistband and fastens at the back with velcro. The back is quite rumpled up from being in the box.
Her shoes are chunky pink boots with a massive platform. they are covered with bows and star decorations. Underneath they're marked L and R which I appreciate. They're surprisingly detailed, which makes me think of Monster High a bit, but these shoes are a LOT chunkier in every dimension.
The bodice/corset thing itself is made of rubbery vinyl and has some silver paintwork which adds a little more detail. The necklace collar piece is part of the corset/bodice which fastens at the back with two little vinyl tabs.
Her wings are flat plastic with a little heart shaped charm piece that slots into her back. I mean they're cheap, but they're effective enough and the plastic they're made of at least feels fairly robust.
they can fall off a little too easily though.
Her crown is held on with elastic bands which I also appreciate. No plastic tabs stabbed into her head.
why can't more companies do stuff like that?
Her nude body kinda uh.... shows off how uncanny and kinda bizarre this doll really IS.
The body is pretty nicely shaped, a pear shaped torso with shapely legs and a small bust. She's articulated at the elbows and knees, but not the wrists which is a bummer.
She's made of a sort of slightly rubbery feeling vinyl... I think? Her body is hard plastic but the limbs are all ever so slightly rubbery and it gives her quite a strange tactile feel which my husband and kids all hated but didn't bother me at all. Hmm, go figure. It reminds me a bit of the very hard vinyl some larger dolls are made of, but with an added "did someone dunk this in baby powder?" feeling that I can't quite articulate. I dunno, it's odd.
Her articulation sucks. I'm just gonna come out and say it. Her arms only just manage a 90 degree bend and her knees can't even do that.
This is as far as her knee will bend. Which is pretty shit I think you'll agree. But it's better than nothing.
I will say though, that the hinge does feel pretty sturdy though. Certainly this doll feels like she can take a little bit of rougher play than say, an old Monster High doll could. In fact i'd go so far as to say her knees feel tougher than g3 Monster High knees do. *shrug*
She's also kinda hefty for her petite size which is due to her being made predominantly of solid vinyl.
She can sit okay, though her legs do splay a little at the hip. I've seen far worse. She has a lot of mobility in her hips which means you can pull her legs together to preserve a little more of her modesty.
On her back she has a little indent where her wings fasten.
They look fine and they're made of pretty thick plastic but there's always a cheapness element to these sorts of fairy wings.
But you know, she's not an overly expensive doll so I think I can forgive not having fully sculpted wings.
The design of them is kinda neat, they definitely evoke butterfly and bat/dragon which is quite fun.
Anyway, body comparisons.
Avrilla is quite a small doll, standing about maybe 10 inches tall? She's a similar height to a LOL OMG doll in fact, her body is almost shoulder to shoulder with it (shown here with a Bratz head on because I like to play around with head swapping)
The body shape itself reminded me of Rainbow High but she's significantly smaller than them and she's shorter than g3 Monster High, though her hips look to be fairly close to Draculaura's curves. So hmmm.
Avrilla fits OMG shoes fairly well and vice versa. She also fits the OMG clothes and Bratz tops. The OMG body fits her shirt and skirt fine, but the moulded bodice looks too wide and doesn't quite work to my eye.
The crown headband fits the Bratz head well.
Draculaura could fit into Avrilla's clothing too, the top is too big but looks okay. The moulded bodice piece was too big.
the shoes fit too. They're quite appropriate for Drac don't you think?
The headband crown is too big.
The biggest surprise was that Rainbow High could fit the clothing and shoes too.
The top is a bit short and of course the bodice is too small but the skirt fits really well as do the shoes.
so huh...
Avrilla's head is easy to get off too, like with Bratz and OMG you push the head right down to the shoulders and then pull it up again and it comes right off without any fuss.
Bratz heads will fit, though the neck feels slightly long and I was worried i'd break something if I forced the head down more. I didn't want to break a brand new doll.
Avrilla's head on the omg body is nightmarish. I hate it.
While I had her head off I rinsed all the gel out of it. She has a LOT of hair and it's very soft. I think it might be Kiwi Nylon, the same stuff Rainbow High uses. It certainly feels like their hair. It hasn't got that slightly greasy slick feeling saran has, it's just very very soft.
I'm surprised by this actually because I fully expected cheap nylon here. So that was nice.
Her bangs are rooted oddly, they're actually thatched into her hairline which means that they disappear into her longer hair and get messed up very very easily. I would very much have preferred if they had rooted them in a line at the edge like most doll companies do but instead each plug criss crosses with a longer strand and it's SO ANNOYING.
I suppose it makes for a neater parting but euuugh.
I fully expected to be disappointed by this doll. Like, I genuinely thought she'd be absolutely irredeemably shit so i'm kinda shocked to find that I don't... actually hate her.
Oh her head is beyond messed up and she's a demented bizarre oddity, but in terms of quality she's not bad.
The corset bodice piece is nicely made, her shoes are nice, her hair is lovely, her body isn't great in terms of articulation but is really nice looking and decently hefty and well made. I like her undershirt too, it's something I would use on other dolls.
Her skirt is rather "cheap princess toy" but it's fine. I mean, she kinda IS a cheap princess toy right?
In my case, she'll keep her head because it makes me laugh too much. Having this bizarre marshmallow creature is delightfully random and she feels like one of those dolls that in the future we'll look back on and go "wtf?"
But I do think that you could get some interesting hybrids using this body if you wanted to. If you don't much care about wrist articulation or whatever, her unusual neck connector and the limited motion of her arms do make for some surprisingly dynamic poses.
And you can turn her into a pretzel which is maybe a bonus to some weirdos.
Now in terms of price point, for £30 you can get much better articulated dolls, but she's 2/3 of their price. In the £20 bracket? Some LOL OMG dolls are £25 ish, coming down to 20 on sale. Some of the Rainbow Junior High dolls are just over £20 and have better articulation and clothing, the wheelchair Barbies who come with very basic outfits but full made to move bodies are also a similar price. The Cry Babies bffs were £22 ish at full price too. Dream Besties, Mattel's newest Barbie spinoff line are currently £20 on Amazon, down from a rrp of £24 but I don't know much about those or their quality.
All things said, £20 seems about right given what else is in that bracket.
I mean, would I have paid full price? heck no. I bought her because she was bizarre and I was curious. £10 is "curious" money. £20 is "I actually want this" kinda cash.
I cannot speak for the value of the item code though, which it does seem many people are purchasing the dolls for. Most that I see online are being resold for £10-14 which suggests the code itself is worth £6-10 which feels steep for a set of digital wings but there you go.
Does Royale High work as a fashion doll line? I mean... kinda yeah. If you can get past their heads, they have all the stuff you'd want from a fashion doll. Changeable clothing that feels like it would survive being removed more than once, hair that's pleasant to comb and thick enough to restyle, some articulation for posing and the ability to sit down (I feel like a lot of toy companies overlook the importance of being able to sit the doll DOWN in play. From riding a horse, driving a car or just sitting in a chair at a desk or table, there's so many times you'd want the doll to be able to sit damnit. Stop making dolls not be able to sit the hell down!)
She also can share clothes, for the most part, with several other major brands which is a big thing for a new doll line.
She's also pretty easy to dress. Her hands get in the way sometimes but they're fairly compact and most doll clothing is wide enough in the sleeves that you can slip her hands through. I do always appreciate removable hands, but it's more an added bonus than a must have.
But I DO wish she had articulated wrists. It just adds so much more to their posing to be able to bend that joint.
But all in all, i'm shocked how decent she actually is.
like.. wtf? She had no right to be decent!
And so I give her a solid 7 and a half toasty marshmallow smores our of 10.
Mmmm marshmallow....
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