Lea Doll & Meet Outfit
Jan 13, 2016 6:23:14 GMT -5
Post by Deleted on Jan 13, 2016 6:23:14 GMT -5
I personally would not rate the Lea doll as the most unique doll AG has ever offered. At a quick glance, one could mistake her for Rebecca, Kanani or Marisol. On paper, her overall coloring is that same as Kanani (light brown hair, medium skin, hazel eyes), and AG seemed to try to combine two of their more popular GOTYs (McKenna and Kanani) with Lea. Perhaps their idea was to try to take away some of the market share that seeks Kanani and McKenna by producing a similar looking doll. But who knows.
She has medium skin that is exactly the same as my custom 62, but with more pink undertones than my Kanani. Her eyes are definitely a more yellow hazel than Kanani or Maryellen, but I would not consider them a new color, just a hazel variant. The brown strands are much lighter than Kanani's or Marie-Grace's wig, and bordering on carmel, but I don't have a carmel haired doll to directly compare it to. The blonde streaks are clearly blonde. Combined, her wig gives a more dirty blonde vibe vs the clear brown of Kanani or Marie-Grace. The wig is very silky feeling, with gentle curls. It is not very thick however, and reminds me of a longer Rebecca wig in its overall consistency. This was somewhat a disappointment after getting Maryellen, who has a nice thick wig. Her eyebrows are reminiscent of the new style AG debuted with Grace, but have more of an arch. The eyebrow placement varies noticeably on the dolls.
Her meet dress is very bright and colorful. I think it will look great on a dark skinned doll. I personally do not care for how it looks on Lea. The array of stripes vary from doll to doll. The seams on my particular dress do not match up. The sandals are nicely constructed, but seem like they were meant for a different outfit, given their peach and pale blue coloring. I like the messenger bag, though closure with actual clips vs velcro would have been a plus. The necklace is cute, but nothing outstanding.
My doll did have very light marks on the outside of her legs on and her neck, but nothing that bugged me so much to return her. Overall, most Lea dolls I looked at seemed good, so quality control seemed to be stepped up.
Her books do not speak of her skin tone, but do mention that her brother's pale skin is now tanned, so I am presuming her medium skin actually is meant to represent a tan vs an actual medium skin tone. In that sense, it is disappointing that AG tried to placate the crowd wanting a doll of color by producing a doll that appears to be a doll of color to the masses, but is in fact just another white doll.
I was at the store opening weekend, so obviously a lot of girls were buying Lea. But I did see some girls buying Lea's outfits for their Kanani dolls they were holding, so clearly some kids are also noticing the similarity.
Overall, I would give the doll a B. She is very pretty overall, but for long time collectors, she is nothing unique. I even question if older girls who do remember (and may have) Kanani will consider her different enough to buy her, or may resort to just buying her items, like I saw some girls do when I was at the store. I think a new eye color or something other than hazel (amber or Caroline's eye color) could have made Lea more unique. It will be interesting to see how well Lea does and if she can continue to keep up momentum. I think the summer Olympics in Brazil may help boost her sales, but not to the extent that helped boost McKenna's sales. It will depend somewhat on both the opening ceremony and what NBC decides to focus on regarding their cultural footage of Brazil.
If you have a similar looking doll, such as Kanani, Marisol or even Rebecca, I would probably skip Lea.
She has medium skin that is exactly the same as my custom 62, but with more pink undertones than my Kanani. Her eyes are definitely a more yellow hazel than Kanani or Maryellen, but I would not consider them a new color, just a hazel variant. The brown strands are much lighter than Kanani's or Marie-Grace's wig, and bordering on carmel, but I don't have a carmel haired doll to directly compare it to. The blonde streaks are clearly blonde. Combined, her wig gives a more dirty blonde vibe vs the clear brown of Kanani or Marie-Grace. The wig is very silky feeling, with gentle curls. It is not very thick however, and reminds me of a longer Rebecca wig in its overall consistency. This was somewhat a disappointment after getting Maryellen, who has a nice thick wig. Her eyebrows are reminiscent of the new style AG debuted with Grace, but have more of an arch. The eyebrow placement varies noticeably on the dolls.
Her meet dress is very bright and colorful. I think it will look great on a dark skinned doll. I personally do not care for how it looks on Lea. The array of stripes vary from doll to doll. The seams on my particular dress do not match up. The sandals are nicely constructed, but seem like they were meant for a different outfit, given their peach and pale blue coloring. I like the messenger bag, though closure with actual clips vs velcro would have been a plus. The necklace is cute, but nothing outstanding.
My doll did have very light marks on the outside of her legs on and her neck, but nothing that bugged me so much to return her. Overall, most Lea dolls I looked at seemed good, so quality control seemed to be stepped up.
Her books do not speak of her skin tone, but do mention that her brother's pale skin is now tanned, so I am presuming her medium skin actually is meant to represent a tan vs an actual medium skin tone. In that sense, it is disappointing that AG tried to placate the crowd wanting a doll of color by producing a doll that appears to be a doll of color to the masses, but is in fact just another white doll.
I was at the store opening weekend, so obviously a lot of girls were buying Lea. But I did see some girls buying Lea's outfits for their Kanani dolls they were holding, so clearly some kids are also noticing the similarity.
Overall, I would give the doll a B. She is very pretty overall, but for long time collectors, she is nothing unique. I even question if older girls who do remember (and may have) Kanani will consider her different enough to buy her, or may resort to just buying her items, like I saw some girls do when I was at the store. I think a new eye color or something other than hazel (amber or Caroline's eye color) could have made Lea more unique. It will be interesting to see how well Lea does and if she can continue to keep up momentum. I think the summer Olympics in Brazil may help boost her sales, but not to the extent that helped boost McKenna's sales. It will depend somewhat on both the opening ceremony and what NBC decides to focus on regarding their cultural footage of Brazil.
If you have a similar looking doll, such as Kanani, Marisol or even Rebecca, I would probably skip Lea.