Tiny Tuesday - CPK Little Sprouts

                                                                       

 I picked one of these up at Toys R Us and I'm kind of impressed. For some reason, I expected these to be bigger than they are. In real life they're about an inch high. So, it is quite impressive how much they look like Cabbage Patch Kids! It's immediately obvious what she's meant to be, which I think is pretty cool for something this small.

  According to the list that came with her, this girl is named Joelle Indie. But with the high, blonde ponytail and big smile, she reminds me of Jojo Siwa, so I'm calling her Jojo.

  I didn't take a lot of photos because she doesn't really do much. Her arms are fixed. Her head turns but not very far or well, because her hair gets in the way. Her legs move but not independently because they're attatched to each other. You can, rip her in half, accidentally of course, but it shows her construction.

AND she's the perfect size to be a Cabbage Patch Kid for a Kelly doll! (Excuse how dusty the Kelly is, she's the only one I could find that had clothes on!)

 I DO wish there had been more painted details. Her teeth and the flower on the front of her outfit could easily be picked out with paint. But that not surprising given how small she is. And the quality of the paintwork she does have is really good, not sloppy like it often is on tiny toys. If I went to Toys R Us more often, I'd probably have a bunch of these. Luckily, nobody else seems to sell them.

Tiny Tuesday - Gift 'Ems by Jakks Pacific

 Gift 'Ems are one of those toys I'd seen online and liked the concept of but also had kind of assumed would never show up in Australian shops. And then, when I'd forgotten about them, I found them at ToysRUs on the weekend!

  These are another blind box toy that looks like a wrapped present with a little figurine inside. The box has a lid that can be removed and hinged panels that fold out that make a little display for the figure inside.

 The figures are themed by countries, then further borken down into day, night and beach themes. Mine is from Hanoi in Vietnam, from the regular day line. The back of the display box has pictures of the city the figure is from.

 The figures are very simplistic. Their only articulation is that their heads sit on a ball joint. They have a hole in their feet that fits over a peg in the display base to hold them in place.

I love the concept of these. But I'm not blown away by the execution. The whole thing is . . . kind of boring. I kind of wish there was something more to it. Maybe little cards that explained something about the featured city. Or have the backdrops look like a room of some kind and include some kind of accessory. Or just make the doll somehow slightly interesting. I love the little gift that folds out into a display but I really feel it has the potential to be more and really for seven dollars, this was not worth it.