Tuesday, January 21, 2014

Lalaloopsy Haley Galaxy Mini Review

     Hello there! I'm Katelyn, and this'll be both my first doll review and first ever blog post, so I hope it's good enough! There's so many other dolls out there to review and comment on, but I find that I don't have the patience for sitting down and properly discussing a larger/normal sized doll, so I decided to start reviewing MGA's Lalaloopsy minis. I don't see many (if any) people reviewing them, so I also thought it might be helpful to others considering to buy the same toy. 

Today we'll be reviewing Haley Galaxy, who apparently is pretty hard to find in mini form(?)!
I was lucky enough to stumble upon her at Target right after Christmas, and was more smitten with her in person then I thought I was going to be. I have to admit, I'm quite a sucker for the 'loopsies with odd skin colors (or ones that aren't human), so I was happy to find her! I do like her big version as well, but there's just something about it that makes me not go 100% crazy over her. Not to mention I'm very selective about the large Lalaloopsies that I get. Compared to a Barbie or Monster High doll, they take up a bit more space and can't be easily plopped into stands and displayed, so I withhold from get every single one that tickles my fancy (Well, you could use these stands for Lalas, but I keep mine on the top of my shelf and they seem terrifyingly precarious all the way up there, so I'm very apprehensive to stand them up in any fashion).

Moving along, since I got Haley in what was probably late December, her packaging has been long gone, so that won't be a part of this review, unfortunately. I-i can't help it that I rip open new toys in the car right after purchasing them-


As you can see at first glance, Haley Galaxy differs from the usual Lalaloopsy mini in both skin tone and molds. To the best of my knowledge, she appears to be using completely new and original head and body molds, which makes me gleefully happy considering how MGA tends to cut corners and reuse common molds (which unfortunately makes sense from a financial standpoint, but as a collector/buyer it's a bit disappointing).



Besides for rocking her lovely lime colored skin, Haley also has dark aqua hair in adorable little pigtails.The bands on her ponytails aren't painted silver like her big doll but I'm a bit tempted to do it myself since I think it'd pop nicely. I can't tell you how much I love all the swirls and patterns that her hair consists of; I could just spend all day looking at it and figuring out what lines go where. 




Another nice detail is the noticeable part on the back of her head. It wasn't until I was writing this that I realized how sensible it was to put that there, since her hair is pulled into two pigtails and a part would be inevitable.


At this point you've probably also noticed the little pink antennas that adorn her head; if you scroll up to the other pictures you can see that they seem to be inset into her rubber head. Like the coils in her hair, the spring of her antenna isn't painted silver as per her large/original doll.


Her eyes and cheeks are the typical black and pink, but mine happens to have a wonky cheek. I don't know if it's common with her or not, and I don't usually see that many Lalaloopsy minis with bad errors on them. The worst mistakes are slight paint smudges or streaking. In my experience MGA products also tend to have random dust, dirt, or some for of debris on them, though that's usually easily wiped off. 


She was the only one at the store when I got her, though, so beggars can't be choosers!


Moving on to one of my favorite things about this doll: her dress! It's so fabulously detailed, and I'm very much impressed with MGA for all the effort on their part. From what I can see (by comparing this to her large version), her dress is spot on, if not more interesting and complex then her original.



On the 'shirt' section of her dress, she has little sleeves that bend out over her shoulders, and two purple belts that go around her chest and stomach. I was so mad that they didn't paint the belts all the way around, augh! I suppose that could be a small way of cutting costs and I can accept them not painting her antennas or her hairbands, but please paint her belts. I mean you did it in the front! Why not the back? I feel like it brings down the quality of her as a whole since she's so intricately detailed. The upper portion of her dress (along with her shirt/top) is panelled in way that resembles a space station or UFO, and the lower part of her skirt has divots scattered about it.





Under her skirt she has these funny looking little pantaloon/leg straps. Since her original version had a pair of puffy pants under her skirt, they added these to give the illusion of pants when she sits, but it's kind of hilarious looking when you look at them from below.



Haley's itty bitty shoes are just as detailed as the rest of her outfit, seemingly having just as many straps as her big doll. There isn't any extra paint details on the cuffs and straps of her shoes, but the tip of her boot is painted silver.


It wasn't until I was taking photos for this review that I found an adorable little easter egg on the soles of Haley's shoes! She has tiny sculpted hearts with 'R' and 'L' on them, like the large dolls (so you know which shoe goes on which foot). I can't even tell you how impressed I was that MGA went and threw in such a minute detail that could easily go unnoticed, especially to the children that play with these. Kudos, MGA!





Next we move on to Haley's accessories. She has three, plus a pet, like most of the dolls. One of these is this remolded globe which was originally use for Dot Starlight's moon globe. Actually... I don't think it's ever been used besides for that? I mean besides for Dot and Haley, astronomically minded Lalaloopsies aren't commonplace, so I don't think there was ever a need for it again until now? Of course now I'm rather confused at what planet this could possibly be, since it looks like moon but is orange.... then again this belongs to a magical rag doll who's also an alien, so maybe I shouldn't put too much thought into it?



Haley Galaxy's next accessory is also a remold from Dot Starlight; her model rocket. I don't have Dot's mini, so I've never seen this rocket in person until I got Haley, and the detail on it is quite impressive. There's soldering lines, tape, repair marks, and all different details sculpted into it. I'm starting to wonder if this was a toy rocket or Dot was actually trying to build a rocket to visit the moon with......






Last out of the accessories is, well, also a remold, but it's not Dot's! Lots of Lalaloopsies use this book mold. Of course, they all have different stickers that make up their back, spine, and cover, so that adds a nice bit of originality to each. The sticker on Haley's book is a dark aqua (much like her hair) with lighter polka dots on it. There's pink stitches on the edges that go around the whole sticker, and a pink section on the front and spine that reads 'Moon Rock Collector's Guide' (Wait, so why didn't they keep the globe the same color as Dot's then?). The pink box on the front with the title in it also has little green stitches on the edges as well, a cute little extra. A moon and two stars decorate both the front and back covers, but the back has an added extra; a telescope! Looking back to Dot Starlight again and noting her telescope, I think these two should be best of friends!



Lastly, we have Haley's pet, a cute little alien. Well... I mean.. kind of cute? I mean it's all around cute but honestly I find those tiny fangs slightly unnerving..? This little martian has big black button eyes with lashes and tiny round stitched cheeks that remain unpainted. It has a straight, no nonsense mouth with little fangs poking out, and two antennas with a pink bow adorning one. There's also a little heart stitched to it's chest as there was in the original. One thing I don't understand is the chord(?) on this she-martian's back. I don't know if it was there in the big version, and I don't really understand why it's there, but kudos to MGA for the extra detail?

Well, that wraps up this review! I hope you enjoyed it, and feel free to tell me what you think about Haley Galaxy! See you next review! 

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