Monday, October 20, 2014

Cute International Travel Friends by Madame Alexander


Madame Alexander Travel Friends are BOGO (buy one get one) 25% off until October 31, 2014.  The dolls are 7 inches tall, vinyl, jointed at elbows and knees, priced $16.95 each and 25% off when the code FRIENDS 25 is used at checkout (scroll down for the link to the Madame Alexander website). 

Source of above photo and following text from Madame Alexander Doll Company, LLC:
A WINNER OF DR. TOY'S 10 BEST TOYS OF 2014 BY THE MADAME ALEXANDER DOLL COMPANY
NEW YORKOct. 7, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- Celebrating world cultures through play, the Madame Alexander Doll Company introduces a new play doll series, Travel Friends - International Collection, first, in a new series of dolls for children ages 3+.  With a rich history of designing dolls that are admired and cherished for their beauty and craftsmanship, Madame Alexander's newest series of play dolls has been created to showcase nine countries, encouraging children to learn about and embrace a variety of cultures from around the world. Crafted with the quality and details of each country's cultures and costumes, these dolls are perfectly sized for playful portability. 
Each doll welcomes you into her world with a Hello! from her county and offers fun facts and highlights of interesting places to explore in her hometown. These beautiful 7" dolls are small in size, with key attributes including traditional and ethnic removable outfits and accessories. Along with being fully bendable and poseable, each have rooted, playable hair, which will keep girls entertained for hours and wanting to collect them all! The countries in the series are France, Italy, India, Kenya, Ireland, Mexico, Germany, China, and Russia.  Each doll is retailed at $16.95.
A winner of Dr. Toy's 10 Best Toys of 2014, Madame Alexander Travel Friends were hand selected to receive the prestigious "10 Best" award. These products are carefully chosen from many hundreds of reviews at toy fairs, catalogs and many other sources, and by using extensive criteria developed over many years.  The Dr. Toy 10 Best list is chosen as a service to consumers who want to purchase safe, affordable, educationally oriented, and stimulating toys and products for children.

Madame Alexander Travel Friends

***
Screen-captured image of Travel Friends Kenya

I think these little ones will make nice companions for each other as well as for playscale dolls.  The availability of more than one dark skinned Travel Friends would have been my preference for the BOGO offer.  As an alternate buying source, Kenya and some of the other Travel Friends are available for $16.99 with free shipping for Amazon Prime members.

dbg

23 comments:

  1. Thanks for this information, Debbie. These are cute little articulated dolls, and they are so tempting. I will have to think this over. :) Did you order any?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi Roxanne,

      I think they are cute, too. No, I have not ordered any.

      dbg

      Delete
  2. They're cute dolls! I picked up the Indian doll last week (wish I'd waited for this sale!) and she's quite adorable - although the elbow articulation isn't what it could have been (the elbows rotate rather than bend, which is a bit of an odd choice to my mind).

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I wondered about the elbow articulation, jSarie. Thanks for describing the rotational movement. They certainly could have done better. The painted (decal-looking eyes) is a concern for me. How realistic (or unrealistic) are the eyes?

      dbg

      Delete
    2. They're on the cartoonish side (especially compared to other MA dolls), but I think it fits the style of the doll (which has fairly cartoonish proportions, at least to my eye). I have some photos of mine posted here that show her face from a bit less of a distance.

      Delete
    3. I love her! Hmmm... I might have to order Kenya and India before the sale ends. Thanks for sharing the link to the photos, jSarie.

      dbg

      Delete
    4. You're welcome! :)

      I look forward to seeing your photos when/if you do get them.

      Delete
    5. You can count it (the sharing)! Still on the fence about ordering, but it is now very likely.

      Trying to control doll spending is so difficult.

      dbg

      Delete
    6. jSarie thanks for posting the information about their elbows. I would've been really disappointed to find that the elbows only rotate and not bend.

      Delete
    7. Heh, I know that difficulty well!

      Delete
    8. i went to the Alex site and clicked on the doll from India, then clicked again on her picture. There appears to be a hinge where a disclike bit from the upper arm fits into a slot in the lower, just like the shoulder joint. Is this not visible on the doll you got jSarie?

      Delete
    9. Hi Fran - there is a hinge on the elbow, but it's non-functional on the left arm and sticky on the right (I did force it, but given how much pressure I had to apply to have it move, I'm not certain that it's supposed to - although it looks like it should, it's true).

      It's possible that my doll is defective though (I can imagine that having both rotation and bending might make the whole joint weak). Maybe I need to buy another and compare! ;)

      Delete
  3. These are cute! I had seen the one that jSarie posted and these others have a lot of character too.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Thanks for posting. These dolls are adorable my problem is I see three I want off the top. Kenya, India and China had captured my attention and wallet.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. You are welcome AG Lanc. You need a fourth to take advantage of the BOGO. :-)

      dbg

      Delete
  5. After seeing jSarie's India doll, I am quite intrigued. However, I think they are too big to be included in my Barbie families, so I'm going to pass. They are super cute, though.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I'd love to see one alongside a playscale doll. Maybe jSarie can illustrate that for us,

      dbg

      Delete
    2. I can! :) I'll take some photos and post them this afternoon.

      Delete
    3. Here we go: http://toyboxrevenge.blogspot.ca/2014/10/height-comparisons-across-doll-and.html

      Delete
    4. Thank you, jSarie. I just took a look at your comparisons. As I commented on your blog, it was nice to see your variety of very nice dolls, and I believe Vanessa is right, the Travel Friends won't pair well with playscale dolls. It's the large heads that will prevent it.

      dbg

      Delete
  6. These look really cute! The articulation sounds a bit disappointing, but I have a friend who I think would like them anyway.

    ReplyDelete

Your comments are appreciated. To eliminate spam, all comments are being moderated and will be published upon approval. Thank you!