like by toyetic design I really mean, how much does your doll make your potential audience want to buy its friends, family and significant others, as well as its possessions
monster high wasn’t popular cuz people liked one or two dolls, Mattel got people invested in the characters enough that people felt like they couldn’t have one doll without her best friend or her brother or boyfriend, and then each subsequent doll needed their OWN friend/family/etc and literally every MH knock off completely ignores that aspect of branding for dolls
You can’t just give us a character, you have to give us a character and tell us why we should care about them. Quality character driven media attached to a doll line is often times what makes a classic, from Barbie and Jem to American Girl.
The lack of character drive even in a lot of the Barbie lines right now has become a big turn off
See, though, Barbie’s “personality” has only ever been expressed through extra things like books/coloring books/comic books and then web series like Life in the Dreamhouse and Barbie’s Vlog–Barbie-as-packaged has always been carefully devoid of a distinct personality.
I mean, the fact that Mattel, who created the entire “half hour toy advertisement cartoon” genre never made a 1980s half hour TV Barbie cartoon series (yes, there was that one Barbie and the Rockers thing, which, if I remember correctly, aired once) shows how committed they were, at least for the first 30ish years, to making Barbie be anything but ‘character driven media.’ Barbie almost predates toyetics–she comes from an era when toys could stand on their own without media tie ins, never mind being a toy that comes from media. (of course there were toys from media then, but they were almost afterthoughts–”oh, kids like this, let’s make toys,” instead of “we’re going to design this from the ground up to sell toys”)
I honestly don’t know if that could happen again, but I do suspect that “pictures on IG” does not qualify as a solid driving force for a toy line.
These instagram dolls won’t last the year.
I can foresee legal issues, and for starters launching in January when retail is dead and consumer spending is at its weakest due to the early pay packets in December.
Also, just on principle I would not buy my kids new toys 3 weeks after Christmas this company is crazy.
The dolls are wigged, but the hair isn’t the best tbh. It’s ok, but it’s a bit dry. A good washing helps tho, trust me. Liv wigs should fit nicely too. Also the wig has a stick inside that goes into the head
Great job finding this @oak23 !! The fashions actually do look to be pretty nice quality. I am surprised by everything that is included for USD $15, I may pick one up if I see them? I will probably use it as a donor body for a Bratz doll though.
I guess at this point if anyone needs more Kuu Kuu Harajuku sized bodies has a second chance with these dolls….
they use wigs.. with a stick… exactly the same mechanism as livs? Are we sure these aren’t repurposed liv heads? Because holy shit they look SO MUCH LIKE LIV HEADS and the wig mechanism, the painted on hair, the hole in the top of the head… it’s making me a bit uneasy. Who’s making these?
also shit that’s a tiny body. I think the head would look a LOT better on a bratz sized body, that little extra size would balance out the borked proportions to my eye.
These look as much like Liv as Shibajuku Girls look like Pullip…which is…not exactly the same, and some people might say they look completely different, but…still…
To me, it looks like they have the top half of a Liv head
I will get one, because I need to try tiny bodies for the LPS heads @elizabethplaid sent me, and I want to see about the wig.
But I dislike the head size and sculpt, and the straight staring eyes. Slightly better than Liv because the nose looks more stylized and the lips aren’t as glued-on-duck-mouth. The hands aren’t as bad as Liv but they aren’t great either. Not a doll line I’d pick up if not for the LPS hybrid potential. Oh and maybe mini Blythe.
They’re made by a company called YDKS Limited which appears to be DBA Yulu toys. And dollars to doughnuts that they bought the LIV tooled metal moulds from Spin Master.
Best part is how they accidentally linked to their not-yet-live website’s IP address from their facebook page, which still has dummy copy. BLESS.
They have an AR gimmick? Like…my old brain can’t comprehend how actual AR would be necessary with a physical toy…unless their “play sets” are AR? Or it’s not a virtual construct appears to be in the real world” AR, but instead compositing the doll with a different background, like in the promo photos?
I’ve been doing a lot of digging into them but not reading the stuff on here so this is good to see
I have a feeling the factory could have had the Liv sculpts on hand as a defunct brand thing and this new company just repurposed and modified them? It would account for why the heads are realistic while obviously being intended to be a huge stylised head
They’re a mess
The company claims
The level of delusion
I finally clicked through the IG link above and the gimmick is green screen…which…am I Old? because to me green screen is the 180° opposite of AR.
I think it’s just a way to phrase it to make something simple and done before like green screen seem fancy and modern tbh, the dolls are going to flop either way
It really seems like they created them with what a 60 year old man thought girls wanted without consulting any girls lmao
Also did you see the accounts are speaking to kids in character? I find that really wrong… They’re an established company they should know befriending kids under the guise of a doll character so the kids buy those dolls is… Beyond wrong.
“But Baaarrrrbbiiieeeeee talks in first person on herrrrr IG!!!!”
not the same, dude. Babs talks to the world about, like, her dog and her friends, not inviting kids to hang out with her on social media…which…they’re already doing if they read the stuff on social media… (I suspect that’s the box copy)
Also I just saw one of the Token Asian Yuki posts with people commenting things like “yay I luv kpop!” …which…Yuki is a Japanese name…
lmao like my thoughts on the snaps dolls are very negative not for what the end product is but it’s a huge sign of what the doll industry has become and how this complete rehash of ideas has resulted in an incestuous slurry of doll parts, concepts and even the same stock characters as every other doll line that can be directly traced back to the original bratz, and that things kids might have been interested in 5, 10 and 15 years ago aren’t even relevant or in touch with how kids interact and play with dolls.
Like big headed anime and Japanese inspired dolls like bjds have never made a fucking cultural dent in mainstream American culture and doll companies continuing to hire these tired weeaboo designers trying to capitalise on Bratz and Monster High’s successes are failing cuz none of these new dolls are even designed as fucking dolls children can actually play and interact with, let alone take in aesthetics and cultural trends that shape children’s media right now.
So instead of having dolls that can wear cute clothes, having nice hair to style and have a toyetic theme that makes children want to expand their collection through varied designs and character interactions, we get these grotesque “How to draw Manga” American style abominations. Their clothes need to be cheapened and work around the doll bodies, their heads are so big and hideous that hairplay no longer is fun but rather a huge chore and nothing about the doll’s characters encourages imaginative play.
These are so utterly by the numbers Fashion Doll Line characters without any forethought into how the toys would actually be played with because the designers are so utterly married to their shitty chibi style deviantart anime reject designs, that they crap out these dolls with hideous sculpts, difficult clothing pieces that needed to be utterly cheapened and scaled back for production and a mutant sculpted head slapped on a noodle limbed knock off body that can’t even display clothing properly.
Also dolls are so pedestrian rn in theme. Like hey kids, do you take selfies? Well heres a doll thats just as mediocre as you are lmao.
Lammelization
Although I suspect the theme is more supposed to be “Hey, DO YOU wanna be a SOCIAL MEDIA INFLUENCER just like (we’re pretending) these dollllls are????” which is very much still too aspirational for L@mm!ly
and I just had the horrible? thought of Mattel resurrecting My Scene to make dolls with that same theme
PLEASE GOD LET MY SCENE REST IN ITS GRAVE IT HAD THREE REBOOTS ALREADY
The dolls are wigged, but the hair isn’t the best tbh. It’s ok, but it’s a bit dry. A good washing helps tho, trust me. Liv wigs should fit nicely too. Also the wig has a stick inside that goes into the head
Great job finding this @oak23 !! The fashions actually do look to be pretty nice quality. I am surprised by everything that is included for USD $15, I may pick one up if I see them? I will probably use it as a donor body for a Bratz doll though.
I guess at this point if anyone needs more Kuu Kuu Harajuku sized bodies has a second chance with these dolls….
they use wigs.. with a stick… exactly the same mechanism as livs? Are we sure these aren’t repurposed liv heads? Because holy shit they look SO MUCH LIKE LIV HEADS and the wig mechanism, the painted on hair, the hole in the top of the head… it’s making me a bit uneasy. Who’s making these?
also shit that’s a tiny body. I think the head would look a LOT better on a bratz sized body, that little extra size would balance out the borked proportions to my eye.
These look as much like Liv as Shibajuku Girls look like Pullip…which is…not exactly the same, and some people might say they look completely different, but…still…
To me, it looks like they have the top half of a Liv head
I will get one, because I need to try tiny bodies for the LPS heads @elizabethplaid sent me, and I want to see about the wig.
But I dislike the head size and sculpt, and the straight staring eyes. Slightly better than Liv because the nose looks more stylized and the lips aren’t as glued-on-duck-mouth. The hands aren’t as bad as Liv but they aren’t great either. Not a doll line I’d pick up if not for the LPS hybrid potential. Oh and maybe mini Blythe.
They’re made by a company called YDKS Limited which appears to be DBA Yulu toys. And dollars to doughnuts that they bought the LIV tooled metal moulds from Spin Master.
Best part is how they accidentally linked to their not-yet-live website’s IP address from their facebook page, which still has dummy copy. BLESS.
They have an AR gimmick? Like…my old brain can’t comprehend how actual AR would be necessary with a physical toy…unless their “play sets” are AR? Or it’s not a virtual construct appears to be in the real world” AR, but instead compositing the doll with a different background, like in the promo photos?
I’ve been doing a lot of digging into them but not reading the stuff on here so this is good to see
I have a feeling the factory could have had the Liv sculpts on hand as a defunct brand thing and this new company just repurposed and modified them? It would account for why the heads are realistic while obviously being intended to be a huge stylised head
They’re a mess
The company claims
The level of delusion
I finally clicked through the IG link above and the gimmick is green screen…which…am I Old? because to me green screen is the 180° opposite of AR.
I think it’s just a way to phrase it to make something simple and done before like green screen seem fancy and modern tbh, the dolls are going to flop either way
It really seems like they created them with what a 60 year old man thought girls wanted without consulting any girls lmao
Also did you see the accounts are speaking to kids in character? I find that really wrong… They’re an established company they should know befriending kids under the guise of a doll character so the kids buy those dolls is… Beyond wrong.
like by toyetic design I really mean, how much does your doll make your potential audience want to buy its friends, family and significant others, as well as its possessions
monster high wasn’t popular cuz people liked one or two dolls, Mattel got people invested in the characters enough that people felt like they couldn’t have one doll without her best friend or her brother or boyfriend, and then each subsequent doll needed their OWN friend/family/etc and literally every MH knock off completely ignores that aspect of branding for dolls
You can’t just give us a character, you have to give us a character and tell us why we should care about them. Quality character driven media attached to a doll line is often times what makes a classic, from Barbie and Jem to American Girl.
The lack of character drive even in a lot of the Barbie lines right now has become a big turn off
The dolls are wigged, but the hair isn’t the best tbh. It’s ok, but it’s a bit dry. A good washing helps tho, trust me. Liv wigs should fit nicely too. Also the wig has a stick inside that goes into the head
Great job finding this @oak23 !! The fashions actually do look to be pretty nice quality. I am surprised by everything that is included for USD $15, I may pick one up if I see them? I will probably use it as a donor body for a Bratz doll though.
I guess at this point if anyone needs more Kuu Kuu Harajuku sized bodies has a second chance with these dolls….
they use wigs.. with a stick… exactly the same mechanism as livs? Are we sure these aren’t repurposed liv heads? Because holy shit they look SO MUCH LIKE LIV HEADS and the wig mechanism, the painted on hair, the hole in the top of the head… it’s making me a bit uneasy. Who’s making these?
also shit that’s a tiny body. I think the head would look a LOT better on a bratz sized body, that little extra size would balance out the borked proportions to my eye.
These look as much like Liv as Shibajuku Girls look like Pullip…which is…not exactly the same, and some people might say they look completely different, but…still…
To me, it looks like they have the top half of a Liv head
I will get one, because I need to try tiny bodies for the LPS heads @elizabethplaid sent me, and I want to see about the wig.
But I dislike the head size and sculpt, and the straight staring eyes. Slightly better than Liv because the nose looks more stylized and the lips aren’t as glued-on-duck-mouth. The hands aren’t as bad as Liv but they aren’t great either. Not a doll line I’d pick up if not for the LPS hybrid potential. Oh and maybe mini Blythe.
They’re made by a company called YDKS Limited which appears to be DBA Yulu toys. And dollars to doughnuts that they bought the LIV tooled metal moulds from Spin Master.
Best part is how they accidentally linked to their not-yet-live website’s IP address from their facebook page, which still has dummy copy. BLESS.
They have an AR gimmick? Like…my old brain can’t comprehend how actual AR would be necessary with a physical toy…unless their “play sets” are AR? Or it’s not a virtual construct appears to be in the real world” AR, but instead compositing the doll with a different background, like in the promo photos?
I’ve been doing a lot of digging into them but not reading the stuff on here so this is good to see
I have a feeling the factory could have had the Liv sculpts on hand as a defunct brand thing and this new company just repurposed and modified them? It would account for why the heads are realistic while obviously being intended to be a huge stylised head
They’re a mess
The company claims
The level of delusion
I finally clicked through the IG link above and the gimmick is green screen…which…am I Old? because to me green screen is the 180° opposite of AR.
I think it’s just a way to phrase it to make something simple and done before like green screen seem fancy and modern tbh, the dolls are going to flop either way
It really seems like they created them with what a 60 year old man thought girls wanted without consulting any girls lmao
The dolls are wigged, but the hair isn’t the best tbh. It’s ok, but it’s a bit dry. A good washing helps tho, trust me. Liv wigs should fit nicely too. Also the wig has a stick inside that goes into the head
Great job finding this @oak23 !! The fashions actually do look to be pretty nice quality. I am surprised by everything that is included for USD $15, I may pick one up if I see them? I will probably use it as a donor body for a Bratz doll though.
I guess at this point if anyone needs more Kuu Kuu Harajuku sized bodies has a second chance with these dolls….
they use wigs.. with a stick… exactly the same mechanism as livs? Are we sure these aren’t repurposed liv heads? Because holy shit they look SO MUCH LIKE LIV HEADS and the wig mechanism, the painted on hair, the hole in the top of the head… it’s making me a bit uneasy. Who’s making these?
also shit that’s a tiny body. I think the head would look a LOT better on a bratz sized body, that little extra size would balance out the borked proportions to my eye.
These look as much like Liv as Shibajuku Girls look like Pullip…which is…not exactly the same, and some people might say they look completely different, but…still…
To me, it looks like they have the top half of a Liv head
I will get one, because I need to try tiny bodies for the LPS heads @elizabethplaid sent me, and I want to see about the wig.
But I dislike the head size and sculpt, and the straight staring eyes. Slightly better than Liv because the nose looks more stylized and the lips aren’t as glued-on-duck-mouth. The hands aren’t as bad as Liv but they aren’t great either. Not a doll line I’d pick up if not for the LPS hybrid potential. Oh and maybe mini Blythe.
They’re made by a company called YDKS Limited which appears to be DBA Yulu toys. And dollars to doughnuts that they bought the LIV tooled metal moulds from Spin Master.
Best part is how they accidentally linked to their not-yet-live website’s IP address from their facebook page, which still has dummy copy. BLESS.
They have an AR gimmick? Like…my old brain can’t comprehend how actual AR would be necessary with a physical toy…unless their “play sets” are AR? Or it’s not a virtual construct appears to be in the real world” AR, but instead compositing the doll with a different background, like in the promo photos?
I’ve been doing a lot of digging into them but not reading the stuff on here so this is good to see
I have a feeling the factory could have had the Liv sculpts on hand as a defunct brand thing and this new company just repurposed and modified them? It would account for why the heads are realistic while obviously being intended to be a huge stylised head
