Frankie Stein and her new younger sister, Nile, would like to take you on a tour of this year's bargain-priced clones and fakies.
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Frankie: You seem a little stiff, Nile.
Nile: That's because my legs are like CHOPSTICKS. |
While waiting for laundry in the dryer this morning, I went to Family Dollar, which has just started its October reset for holiday toy shopping. Lovely Patsy still has a predilection for animal prints.
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| Not sure what animal the center dress is... maybe a very organized snake? |
Lovely Patsy also has some rather specialized winter fashions... or, shall we say, the Faux-zen look?
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| Pale blue slinky dress reminds you of something? Really? I can't guess why. |
She's also taken up guitar and rediscovered the peblum.
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| Just another girl in Nashville with a dream! |
Lovely Patsy's after-dark alter ego, Midnight Magic Pippa, has a new dress. The Midnight Magic girls also look as if their face-ups are a little wonkier this year.
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| This year, as well as being princesses, we're probably zombies or something. |
Inquiring minds wanted to know how Dollar General intended to compete.
"Runway Girls" -- a.k.a. Dollar Store Beauties marked up to $2 -- didn't really seem like the answer.
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| Hey, at TRU, we'd be a cool five-spot, baby. |
The assorted African-American princesses are actually pretty nice.
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| We do the multi-ethnic thing way better than Target. |
There are $3 fairies, who could be knock-offs of at least three existing lines.
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| Am I Tinkerbell or Winx Stella? I DON'T KNOW. |
Gothic Tales are back! Here's their version of Frankie. There was also a faux-Claudine and a faux-Draculaura with an orange streak in her hair (quite different from the Gothic Girls faux-Draculaura).
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| In a red dress, I am so ready for Christmas. |
And then I saw them... the ultimate fakies. The fakies that take trend-following and chutzpah to a new level...
Sparkle Girlz cone-doll fakies.
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| Imitators? Of something else? You kid! |
What pushes these over the top is that they cost $5 each -- a penny more than a genuine Sparkle Girlz cone doll. Actually putting the clones in the cone -- cone clones! -- also puts these slightly ahead, in my mind, of the $10 CVS Sparkle Girlz clone two-packs, the ones in cylinders with a big girl and a little girl.
Should you be needing a little sister, Dollar General also has the dollar-store version.
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| We are from a very unusual orphanage. |
For $3, I really had to get Frankie a younger sister. (Any other temptations can await a BOGO sale.) Here's Nile unboxed. The caring that went into her design and manufacture is demonstrated by her wearing standard pink dollar-store-clone shoes.
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| Aren't I a little young to be out on a street corner at night? |
Her rooting sends a strong message of "didn't really care."
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| Maybe a ponytail would help? |
At least she's the right size to hang out with the shorter vintage Bratz and Sofia the Moxie -- both of whom are trying to think of a tactful way to offer her a sandwich.
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| We could get ice cream. Mint or pistachio? |
Bringing home Nile also allowed me to answer the important question: what's on her mirror, since a skullette would be a blatant copyright violation?
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| Skeletal hand of doom! |
Tomorrow's projects may include a makeover for Nile, to put her in a more flattering dress and do something about her hair.
I had no idea there were so many dolls in the dollar stores. I'll have to venture into that aisle next time.
ReplyDeleteIt happens only from October to December -- and only at the dollar stores that don't limit prices to $1. I was disappointed last week that Big Lots hadn't done its October reset yet, though they've almost abandoned fakies in favor of mainstream brands.
DeleteWhat's hilarious is that DG and FDO put their fakies side-by-side with authentic branded dolls that are similar.
Parents who buy these hideous knock-offs for their children don't love them.
ReplyDeleteI'm imagining grandparents on limited incomes, in small towns where Family Dollar is the only major store... which still doesn't explain why they're in Phoenix. It'd require being pretty confused in some cases, when authentic dolls are right there on the same shelf.
DeleteAdmittedly, I find fakies fascinating, and I like the concept of the Gothic Tales gals as younger sisters for Monster High, since there aren't many of those.
LOL @Robotica's response. These dolls are interesting to gasp over, but I would not have appreciated them when I was a kid. (I was a picky, b8tchy kid about dolls ;-P)
DeleteThere are so many clones out there, I had no idea. In our cheap stores I see a clone doll every once in a while, but not like in your shops. Have fun with the make-over!
ReplyDeleteHoliday bonanza! It'll never be this good for the other nine months. A lot of clones are also coming from the same molds -- the Just Kids line seen at Walmart (? K-Mart?) -- which reduces the challenge.
DeleteFirst of all, I think it is wonderful that you report on dolls found at discounters, resale shops and the like. Everybody collects for a wide variety of reasons and clearly there is something for everyone in this wonderful world of dolls. I have a couple of dollar store Barbies myself. One was a cast-off I found after a student project that I felt sorry for and did a makeover. The other I bought myself with the idea of doing a stylish makeover with the idea of donating her at Christmas. (A noble idea but way too much work for the end result.) These dolls are so cheaply made and have too many issues (hair, hollow bodies) for my adult taste. But at the end of the day, these dolls are destined for children and I think the child who gets one only sees the beauty in their new little companion who, in their eyes, is just as good as the brand name original.
ReplyDeleteAw, thanks! I like many of the faces, though hair quality is consistently dreadful.
DeleteA big piece of my fascination is that what gets knocked-off is a good sign of what's popular. It took Lovely Patsy surprisingly long to knock off Frozen (though some other clone line did it last year)... but what's weird is that Ever After High has never spawned extensive fakies, nothing on the scale of what Monster High inspired.
Some of these clones look really nice. I have a couple of clones, but I don't buy the ones that look similar to real dolls. I buy them because of their uniqueness. I'm particularly surprised at the Sparkle Girlz clones. That one is a bit much for me. Even the cone? Really? And you are more expensive than the real one. That just doesn't make sense to me. Thanks for showing all that is available.
ReplyDeleteIKR? Sparkle Girlz cone clones... WHY???
DeleteThe face of the pale, dark-haired one is kind of interesting, but not for $5. FDO did a BOGO on Thanksgiving Day last year, and DG had some sort of sale, so I'm figuring if there's anything I can't live without, it'll still be there.
After the clone Bratz and My Scene Barbies in May, it's hard to compete!
You had me cracking up the entire time I was reading this review. You are correct though about what they put in the stores. I was just at Family Dollar too this week, hoping to find some fashions I couldn't resist. But I could.
ReplyDeleteI also don't get how a winter fashion is short sleeves. Maybe in the tropics?
I just wish they would offer some knock off furniture. Now that would make me happy because I'm just going to paint it anyway.
I think Lovely Patsy wears nothing but strappy tops for the same reason that I tend to sew nothing but strappy tops... those are harder to screw up.
DeleteI would LOVE knock-off furniture! I have the fakie Vespa (haven't blogged it because I accidentally deleted the unboxing photos) and it's pretty cute.
These knock-offs are always such fun to see - thanks for sharing them!
ReplyDeleteYou're welcome! I'm sad that Big Lots and the drugstores aren't coughing up much other than Lovely Patsy variants so far this year. The heyday of MH fakies may be past.
DeleteI love these reports about clones and knock-offs, unfortunately there are no such shopping centers here.....some of these dolls are so weird, but they're lovely anyway.
ReplyDeleteNile's rooting is pretty terrible ("didn't really care" is an understatement!) so let's see what you'll do for her!
I believe there's a new segment Mrs Hanzo shall have to take care of. After the "unarticulated masses" now you have the "chopstick legged bunch". And I love them all!
I had to go to Joann for fabric to match Nile's skin, and then I've been swamped with other stuff.
DeleteYou know if I ever do another trip outside the U.S., it's going to be wall-to-wall doll browsing!
I love these reports of yours! I thought of you on a recent Walmart trip when I stumbled onto some cute mult-ethnic clone two-packs. I took a picture with my phone. I'll have to remember to include it when I share pics of my new Fashionistas. Lol at the skeletal hand of doom.
ReplyDeleteThanks! I haven't yet seen multi-ethnic clones in the Walmart two-packs, even at the Walmart in the neighborhood that's almost completely African-American and Latino.
DeleteLol, your report is so good. Especially the "knock-off" Sparkle Girlz....lame!! :)
ReplyDeleteThanks! And poor AA faux-Sparkle has such awful eye shadow.
DeleteSparkle Girlz clones! LOLOLOL! I'm not knocking Sparkle Girlz at all, but c'mon!
ReplyDelete