Seen in Family Dollar

 None of the discount stores seem to be gearing up for the holidays the way they did before the pandemic. Toy aisles here are the same length as during the year, with relatively few new products.

This here is the second instance I've seen this year of small dolls that appear to be Chelsea knock-offs rather than Kelly knock-offs. I could even be wrong about that -- there have been dolls about this size released with a horse as Spirit knock-offs, so Chelsea may have nothing to do with it. 

I find it interesting, though, that Kelly was replaced by Chelsea in 2011, at which point there was a split in "youngest sister" types:

• Branded younger sisters, like the little Moxie Girlz Friends Minis, went down the Chelsea route of being taller and thinner. 
• Clone younger sisters, like the Sparkle Girlz Minis, stayed Kelly size, with more Kelly-like face-ups. The dollar-store minis have consistently been 4" dolls like Kelly, with the Kelly face-up slowly devolving backward to something fish-like.

The little child in this family set is admittedly skinnier than Kelly clones of years gone by. I expected family sets to be a big trend this year, and so far that seems true. Mom is the same as the blonde Career Doll (the one I re-bodied onto a Curvy MTM and am in the process of re-hairing). Dad is chunkier than the Dad that comes with the sharp-featured woman clone by another clone brand. I did not buy one, as I know from Emma that the body quality is terrible, and Dad's head doesn't merit a rebody in my book.

Meanwhile, MGA celebrated the prior new year by launching a budget line to take shelf space from knock-off Settla Brown. I'm now seeing them in stores. Not being a Rainbow High collector, I don't have a strong opinion: there's a clear lack of articulation, the clothing is simpler, but the hair and face-up look nice.