New Items at Toys R Us

Over the weekend I ventured in Toys R Us for the first time in several weeks. I was thrilled to see several new items including the Ever After High Through the Woods dolls, the Dexter/Raven Date Night 2 pack, and the Monster High Ghoulebrities in Londoom, Amanita Nightshade and the Garrot/Rochelle 2 pack. 

It seems new items are finally starting to make it to the shelves here.

Have you seen any new items you are excited about?

Updated Upcoming American Girl 2015 Historical (BeForever) Maryellen

Update August 24:

We are only three days away from the official release of Maryellen. The new Scottsdale store had Maryellen available for their opening over the weekend, and she sold out by the end of Saturday. The blog Lissie and Lily had some pictures from the opening if you want to check them out. Still no word on the eye color yet, American Girl described it has brown on Facebook, but store associates are calling it hazel.

Update August 11:

American Girl had posted several of Maryellen's items with prices on their website yesterday, they have realized this mistake and have taken them all down. 

Now we know that Maryellen's accessories are a pair of white gloves, pearl bracelet, pearl necklace and real handbag. $24

Maryellen's dachshund Scooter with teal and pink collar$24

Maryellen's Poodle Skirt Set $36

Maryellen's birthday dress (the dress her special edition mini doll was wearing) $34

Maryellen's play outfit $28

Pajamas $24

Jukebox that connects to a MP3 player $90

Seaside Diner (it is rumored that it folds for easy storage) $275

Hairstyling set (curlers and cap) $20

TV with record player $85

Purple Gingham school dress $32

School set $40

Sofa bed $150

Living room set (table, lamp and accessories) $58

Ice skating outfit $36

Ice skating accessories $24

Crinoline $16

I like the table from the living room set, the poodle skirt (I might get a second one for one of the other dolls as a Halloween costume) and the play outfit. I would really like a better view of her eye color since that has been the hotly debated topic, but I guess that will have to wait until closer to release day.

What do you like best about Maryellen and her collection so far?

Update July 16: 

Pictures of Maryellen in box have shown up on Taobao and she is adorable. She does have the classic mold but you can't really tell her eye color in the photo.

Update May 20:

All three of Maryellen's book covers have appeared on the American Girl Publishing site along with her mini doll.

From the book covers it seems like she will have a pet dachshund (we haven't had one of those yet), a strand of pearls, a monogrammed sweater and an outfit with gingam print.

The book descriptions confirm that she is from Florida and has several siblings.

Update May 18:

I am a little behind in posting this but American Girl officially announced Maryellen as the upcoming 2015 historical. Her last name is Larkin and her year is 1954. 

She has red hair like the prototype pictures that have been floating around. 

Rumor is her stories are set in Florida, but that hasn't been confirmed. 

What do you think of Maryellen.

Update April 26:

American Girl's publishing site has Maryellen listed in the BeForever/Historical category between Kit and Julie. It looks like we really are getting a 1950s doll. 

Update March 7:
Barnes and Noble have the new Be Forever Titles listed as "One and Only" A Maryellen classic and "Taking Off" A Maryellen classic. They are available for preorder in English and Spanish here.
It has been confirmed that we will be getting a new historical/BeForever doll in 2015, and the books are available for pre-order on Amazon.com. They are titled "Taking Off", "Sky's the Limit," and "One and Only" and are written by Valerie Tripp who has written many other American Girl historical books and stories. They will be available on August 27, 2015 and are approximately two hundred pages long like the other BeForever books. It is still unknown which title is for her Journey book or when exactly her time period will be, but at least we are starting to see information surface. You can google search for her and see leaked photos of the prototype.

Update Disney Descendants Dolls

Update August 24, 2015

The Disney Store exclusive Jay doll is now available online. You can also purchase Carlos and Evie seperately at Disney Store.

Update June 29, 2015

The Descendants dolls by Hasbro are available for pre-order on Amazon with a release date at the end of July. There are Basic and Coronation versions of most of the characters and  two 2 packs, one with Mal and Ben and one with Evie and Carlos. 

The Disney Store versions which includes an exclusive (Jay) doll have not been spotted.

The book "Isle of the Lost" which is a prequel to The Descendants is also available, and I highly recommend it.

Disney has an upcoming made for TV movie Titled "Descendants" which is centered around the teenage children of famous Disney characters. The teenage children of  the villains are invited to attend school with the children of the other characters after having lived on a secluded island.

To coincide  with the release of the movie Hasbro has developed a line of dolls based on the movie characters. They made their debut at Toy Fair over the weekend and this could give us a glimpse of the direction the Disney Princess dolls will be going in when Hasbro takes over the license next year.
I like the way the dolls look in the pictures but I have been told that they are not wearing tights or stockings so the colors and designs are painted onto the doll's legs.
I'm sure I will be purchasing at least one of these dolls, and I can't wait to see them in stores one is suppose to be a Disney Store exclusive, so it was not shown at Toy Fair.
You can see photos from Toy Fair here.
There will also be a prequel book available on Amazon titled "Isle of the Lost."
What do you think of the Descendant dolls?
Will you be purchasing any?

Monster High "Looks Gil-ty" Webisode Review

We are kicking off our new webisode review section with the recent Monster High webisode "Looks Gil-ty." This episode features Lagoona, Gil, Lorna and Serena and deals with Lagoona's insecurities about Gil and Lorna spending a lot of time together. 

Summary (contains spoilers):

Lagoona and Serena follow Gil and Lorna  into the Monster High pool and see them go into a submarine. Lagoona uses a seashell to overhear the conversation and hears Lorna say they should be together. The window on the sub gets broken and Lagoona gets spotted by Gil and Lorna. Lorna was talking to her saltwater boyfriend about how Gil and Lagoona make their relationship work and they could too. Gil asks Lagoona what she is doing there and she tells him that she wanted to give him a seashell to remember her. At the end of the episode Lagoona is in her new school for the Monster Exchange program. Her and Gil are talking about how much they miss each other and he holds up the seashell she gave him.

Rating:

3/5 Stars

Reason:

 I liked Lorna in this episode but something about the way Lagoona was acting really bothered me. It could be me but it seemed like her voice was different.

What did you think of the webisode? 

Vi and Va dolls by MGA

Last month I told you about an upcoming line from MGA that was similar to the currently discontinued (in the US) Bratz dolls. The Vi and Va doll line has finally made its debut at Target in a big way. There is a sisters two pack, individual dolls, styling heads, and fashion packs already on the shelves. They seem like a cross between Moxie Girls and Bratz but I'm excited to see some new doll lines on the shelves. It's nice to have variety and I might just add one of these to my collection soon.

What do you think of the new Vi and Va dolls?

Our Generation Gotta Bowl Outfit

The Our Generation Retro line has several cute outfits and accessories. My favorite outfit from the Retro line would have to be the Gotta Bowl outfit. This set includes a jacket, tank top, jeans, bowling shoes, bowling ball and a plastic hanger.

The jacket is made to look like a varsity jacket with white sleeves and a red body with red and white stripes at the wrist and bottom of the jacket.  The jacket has real working plastic snaps and the letters o g on a piece of felt material that is stitched onto the jacket. Also included is a basic pink tank top that velcros shut in the back, and a pair of doll sized blue jeans that Velcro in the front.

The set comes with a pink plastic bowling ball that has three finger holes in it. American Girl dolls can hold onto the ball but not as well as the Our Generation dolls due to their finger and hand shape. The bowling shoes are very cute, and have the traditional multicolored stripes just not in traditional colors. The Gotta Bowl bowling shoes are black, white and pink with white laces that can tied and untied. They have a soft flexible appearance but are very well stitched and have soft soles. 

The tank top and jeans have excellent mix and match abilities but my favorite pieces are the jacket, shoes and bowling ball (and that's only because the dolls can hold it on their own).