Old and New Dolls

In case it isn’t totally obvious from the numerous posts on dolls and doll clothes, I love dolls and sort of collect them.  I recently added two new “friends” to my collection that I have yet to mention until now.

I was very excited about this one.  It’s an American Girl doll, Kirsten to be exact.  I found her at Goodwill last week for only 3 dollars.  Score!  I mean they are sold for like 100 dollars new, I don’t know about you but I prefer 3 dollars to 100.  Plus since I was little I kind of wanted one, but yeah, really expensive for a play doll.  I can sort of see the point of the price though, her hair is a wig instead of rooted hair like on most dolls and it’s really nice.  Her body feels surprisingly heavy and is very pose-able.  There are signs that she has been played with, (smudges on the limbs, stain on her dress which is hand wash only) but she still looks really good.   Basically she’s the kind of doll you could give to a small child without fear of her breaking it in a week.  She just needs a little cleaning and a new pair of shoes. 

This one I had been looking forward to for a while.  She’s a Monster High doll.  Draculaura from the Dead Sleep line, hence the pajamas.  Basically she’s a cute vampire who likes pink.  I got her from Wal-Mart.com for about 10 dollars, Wal-Mart does have some of the best prices on these dolls especially compared to eBay.  These dolls are incredibly detailed from their interestingly designed heads down to their lovely fingers and toes.  Plus they are the most pose-able fashion dolls I have ever seen.  She can bend and turn in her knees, rotate her wrists, flex her arms, etc.  They have very fine joints, this is also part of the problem with these dolls.  The joints are also sort of delicate, not so much that they break if you so much as look at them, but they may not be suitable for younger children.  The age on the box says 6 and up and I think that might be too low, but then again it probably depends on the child.  Actually another problem is with how some people view this, I have seen reviews on Monster high dolls where people claim that the dolls are cheap, low-quality, and even over-priced due to the fact that their kids broke them so quickly.  Being fragile and being cheap are two different things.  I’ve seen porcelain dolls in stores labeled as being for children, if one of these got broken by a child who played with it would it be considered a “cheap” doll?  I guess it’s really a matter of whether or not you child knows how to take care of their dolls and behaves accordingly.  A child who throws toys should not have a porcelain doll, and a child who’s Barbie dolls are missing parts and have frazzled hair should not get a Monster High doll.  Maybe try one of those pricey American Girl dolls.  But maybe I’m overthinking all of this, what do you think?