Lately there's been a lot of crossover between 'dolls' and 'action figures'. Though it seems to me that the only real difference between action figures and dolls is whether or not boys are allowed to play with them without social disapproval, I have been told that it comes down to articulation and sculpting.
...ok, whatever. Either way you look at it, action figures (like the all-sculpted 6" mini DC Super Hero Girls) have been showing up in the girl aisles while traditional dolls have been gaining more articulation and sculpted clothing while Action figures have been getting bigger and more doll like (Hi there, Hot Toys!) Madame Alexander Fangirl Dolls and WWE's Diva dolls have brought classic fashion dolls to the boy aisles.
The Forces of Destiny dolls are hybrid dolls that are simultaneously dolls and action figures and are marketed to both boys and girls. Great! Let's have a look.
Here they are next to some Hasbro doll lines: Disney Descendants, Disney Princesses (articulated version) and full doll leia next to Sabine Wren's action/doll body.
Sabine and Leia have the same articulation except for a waist joint that Sabine has which is part of her gimmick. You squeeze her thighs together and she pivots slightly. The waist isn't free posing besides that. But this also causes her to have a very wide panty, a bowlegged gait, and really limits her hip articulation.
Descendants and Princesses are almost the same for articulation and Leia and Sabine are almost the same for articulation other than the above difference, so not really enough to warrant a 4-way pose off.
Wow, that Descendants doll looks kinda smug...
She can kick a little higher and her arm goes up higher at the waist and shoulder. Her head also moves up/down instead of just side to side like Leia.
(super smug)
Forces of Destiny doll can't quite make a 90-degree knee, but neither can the Descendants doll. The descendants doll might bend about 5 degrees more, but not really enough to matter.
For elbows, Descendants bend MUCH more.
I'm pretty disappointed. I thought that the FOD doll/figures would at least have better articulation than the 'dolls' but no.
Proportions wise, FOD dolls match up pretty closely to Medium Size (very close to Petite Barbie, size-wise) while Descendants dolls are perfectly Petite sized (being almost identical to Skipper, size-wise). What? Petite Barbie and Skipper aren't the same size? HECK NO! Petite Barbie has a thicker torso. You can't even get Skipper's pants up past her bum if she tries to borrow them.
(Petite Barbie came out after I named the Petite size, making things kind of confusing)
"...So what happened to Sabine's head?" you might be asking yourself.
Well, since the partially sculpted clothes bodies were SO disappointing and not even very well sculpted, I did some rebodying:
Wow.
Jyn was rebodied onto a Disney Princess articulated Anna doll. This body looks most similar to her original body. The skintone is pretty close, just a touch more pink than her original body. As most of her clothes were sculpted, I put the closest clothes I had on hand (in Petite size!) on her so she wouldn't be naked except for a vest, gun belt, shoes and scarf because that was kind of weird.
Sabine was rebodied onto the yellow top made to move Barbie for an excellent skin tone match. This body looks much bigger than her original body, BUT Her parts were much more removable, and all fit on her new body very well, further demonstrating that these are more Barbie-sized than you think. In fact, the only non-stock piece of clothing on her is her shirt, which is a Barbie shirt.
If you plan on rebodying any of the Forces of Destiny dolls, be warned: the heads are very firm and do not come off easily. Nor are they compatible with even other Hasbro bodies. I had to hollow out the neck hole a little more and add a firm plastic kip to the neck peg of the donor body to get it to work. BUT their heads both turn left/right and pivot up/down now, so an improvement over the originals.
Final Thoughts: I don't recommend these doll/figures unless you MUST have Star Wars dolls, and then I recommend rebodying or making a full custom because the hair/face paint isn't that great either. Either sculpt everything, sculpt it well, and make it super articulated or don't sculpt anything and give them good clothes (Leia's clothes, BTW, were on par with dollar store dolls for quality, which isn't acceptable given her MSRP). Half doll and half action figure, FOD feels and looks half-assed.