Mini Kaya II

[American Girl Rescue]

Kaya® Mini Doll & Book (debuted with BeForever, 8/28/14)
Item# BKF95
$25
The 6.5" (16.5 cm) Kaya mini doll has deep brown painted eyes and shiny black braids. Her smooth vinyl limbs are posable. She arrives in a tiny version of Kaya’s authentic 1764 Nez Perce outfit featuring a soft faux-deerskin dress. Includes a mini abridged version of the book The Journey Begins.

I love all of the new BeForever mini-dolls! They are great little dolls that one can take anywhere and not take up too much room in one's luggage or purse. Fantastic!


                                                (original mini-Kaya / BeForever mini-Kaya)
BeForever mini-Kaya is just about 1/4" taller, but that could just be my original mini-Kaya...she's always been the shortest mini-doll in our household.


                                           (original mini-Kaya / BeForever mini-Kaya)
BeForever mini-Kaya's hair is just a shade lighter (it has a few lighter brown strands woven in) and about 3/4" longer. The rooted hair does not go down as far on the back of her head as the original mini-Kaya.


                                        (original mini-Kaya / BeForever mini-Kaya)
BeForever mini-Kaya has her rooted hair starting up higher on her forehead which gives the illusion of a longer head. It measures the exact same size.


                                        (original mini-Kaya / BeForever mini-Kaya)
This photo makes it look like BeForever Kaya has a longer face, but she does not. She's just closer to the camera. I took this photo to show the difference in shell hair accessories. Original mini-Kaya's look just like real shell (front & back), whereas BeForever mini-Kaya are definitely synthetic and look just like buttons on both sides. Again, that could just be the hair shells on my original mini-Kaya. She's from 2006.


                            (original mini-Kaya's dress / BeForever mini-Kaya's dress)
The dresses are very similar. Both still have tiny seed-beads sewn across the top in a zig-zag pattern. The noticeable difference is original mini-Kaya's center bead is clear, where BeForever mini-Kaya's center bead is gold-tone.


                                     (original mini-Kaya's belt / BeForever mini-Kaya's belt)
BeForever mini-Kaya's belt is a bit wider and longer. The velcro on it is white.


                    (original mini-Kaya / BeForever mini-Kaya)
As one can see, BeForever mini-Kaya no longer has the soft, stuffed, muslin torso of the former mini-dolls and as the 18" dolls still possess. So that means no more long, body tag! The boot/moccasins are a bit different. BeForever mini-Kaya's moccasins have velcro up the back and sewn up the front. The ties on the moccasins are long enough for three wraps before being tied. (Original mini-Kaya's moccasins are just like 18" Kaya's where they slip on by way of an opening in the front of the leg area.)


No body tag, means some type of identification is necessary, so BeForever mini-Kaya has her markings on her rump. Besides saying "American Girl, Made in China" she also has her item number (and some other manufacturing numbers) on her hind end.

Overall, the new mini-dolls are a great quality. Their clothing is well made and as always, removable and interchangeable. The mini-paperback book is very small, only 2 1/2" tall by 1 5/8" wide.

Still a great doll! Grade A

[nata]

I love Mini Kaya II, so much that we got 2 of them (one for DD, one for me). Her face is sweet and I don't mind vinyl bodies.

*mod edit to remove dead image link*

[Argos]

I had been wanting a Mini Kaya doll for a while, but wondered whether the mini dolls were really worth the price. Finally I took the plunge with a 10% off coupon from Barnes and Noble. She arrived today, and is so darling and much higher quality than I expected! She has a perfect little face with a serious expression, the most adorable shell-like buttons holding her neatly braided hair, and some impressive details on her tiny little dress and boots. Everything about her is perfectly to scale. I can't believe I didn't get her sooner and am now wondering whether it might be a good idea to have a collection of mini dolls, given how much easier it is to find space for them!

Originally I had thought I could tuck her in my purse and go traveling with her, but now that I see how well-made she is, I feel like I would want to take proper care of her and carry her in her box.

Her arms can move forward up to about a 90 degree angle, or backward to about a 45 degree angle, but can't move outward at all. Her legs can also move forward to about a 45 degree angle (maybe because of her dress?) so she can't sit flat on the floor, but could probably lean against a rock or something.

She comes with a doll-sized copy of her first Beforever book. This is a cute accessory, but it's a paperback and doesn't seem terribly rugged. (In case anyone else was wondering, "abridged" means they only included the first 3 chapters of the book--it's not a condensed version of the entire story, which would have been cool but also a lot of work, I guess!)