Rainbow High is another new doll line by MGA. I will admit that I wasn't super excited to track them down when I first saw pictures online because of something I'll cover later. But a lot of people have been asking, and I've kept an eye out at my local Wal-Mart because that's the only IRL toy store I've got locally anymore. Weirdly, my local WM doesn't even have shelf space for these dolls so I poked around online and figured out what the nearest store was that DID stock them and took a drive.
In person I was pretty impressed. MGA is always good with doll clothes but it's possible that the Rainbow High has the best clothes I've seen on playline dolls, including Bratz and even early Monster High. I mean... pockets are real pockets. There's a ton of fine detail on these clothes, but the one that blows me away is that the boy doll has both hip and back pockets that the doll can actually stick his hands into. AND THEY COME WITH 2 SETS OF CLOTHES, INCLUDING SHOES. And they're only 26.99, which is $2 more than OG Monster High were back in 2013. I don't really know how that's possible, but you are definitely getting a lot for your money.
I really like the boy doll!
The girl dolls are... shiny. I've never liked shiny dolls. I like a bit of shimmer, but the girls make me think they've had their faces dipped in doughnut glaze. Super shiny.
There's NOTHING WRONG with shiny. I mean look at her, she shines. It looks nice, it's a current makeup fad, it's just one of those things that people either like or hate.
Their bodies are pretty amazing, too.
Double jointed knees and elbows, as well as a thigh cut for pivoting and a hidden pivot in the elbow for rotation as well as hinge movement. The hips also have an extra cup joint which lets the hips rotate around to almost 90 degree angles to the body. Boys also have an ankle joint.
Warning: These joints are STIFF. Great for posing, but it's one of those things where you have to go slowly and be careful with them when you first start moving the joints.
The boy has a hole in his head, which I wasn't super excited about but it's actually amazingly well done. It's perfectly centered with the hat so that the hat snaps on securely and can rotate so the hat can be worn forward, backward, or even sideways and all look 'natural'
The boy's hair is also thick enough that you have to part it and search for the plug hole. This is the main reason why it works. I've had other dolls with plug holes on their head and the holes were always obvious so that the hat or whatever HAD to be on. Not with this guy! Just smooth his hair back, hole gone. Excellent.
Everything about these dolls is well designed and with amazing quality. Like 10/10 would recommend.
And for those of us who don't like shiny... let's see if we can do something about that!
Blythes & early Pullips, are both dolls that I like fine once the shine is off their face, so I have a bit of experience in de-shining. I masked off her hair, eyelashes, and eyes and applied a couple of coats of Mr Super Clear Flat.
Matte-ified, she still has a good amount of shimmer to her skin, it's just not glossy-wet. I like it!
Part 2 will cover sizing and comparisons to other dolls.
