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Saturday, February 22, 2014

One of These Dolls is Not Like the Others

School Girl Keyshia (the doll in the center) is the newest edition to the Fashion Madness Kenya line.
 After Ms. Leo shared photos of her Special Day Keyshia, I initially thought her doll used a different head sculpt than that used for my dolls (Special Day and Weekend Fun Keyshia).


Weekend Fun and Special Day Keyshia (the dolls on the far left and far right) have identical faces.  School Girl Keyshia (the doll in the middle) appears to use the same head sculpt, but she looks like a different doll.

After my School Girl Keyshia arrived from ToysRUs.com, I realized it is as Ms. Leo suggested, her doll, also sold through ToysRUs.com, was painted differently, specifically the eyes.  My doll's eyebrows are thinner than the original dolls'; the lips are painted differently, and the eyes are definitely larger.  Her face might be slightly thinner as well.  These changes give School Girl a totally different appearance, and I like it!



At the time I ordered School Girl, ToysRUs.com did not have a photograph of the doll on their website.   I ordered anyway, hoping that 1) I would like the outfit; 2) that the doll would have the same facial characteristics as Ms. Leo's doll, and 3) that she was without flaws.

Two out of three wishes granted is not bad, but I would have preferred to receive all three.  She does have flaws as shown below:

School Girl's ears are pierced, but she has no earrings -- not really a flaw, but why the holes if no earrings?
Separated leg seam -- this is a flaw!
I am not sure if it is from the lining of her black velour jacket, but the worst flaw is black staining on her fingers, hands, and arms; it is on the under surface of her right arm as well.
Argh!  I called ToysRUs.com to report the staining.  They are sending me another doll.  My fourth wish is that the replacement is not flawed, too. 


While School Girl Keyshia does not look like my other two Keyshias and she unfortunately arrived with flaws (which seems to be the case for all the dolls in the Kenya line), she does belong here.  It would be wonderful, however, if the flaws were nonexistent!





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13 comments:

  1. Come to think of it, it is nice to have a different look for those buying multiple dolls. My wish is to get an unflawed Weekend Keshia first. Its sad that so many of the dolls are flawed. This will affect the bottom line for these dolls and may jeopardize them being offered in the future. Such a shame. I guess I can go ahead and order mine now that I feel safe that it's the School Girl Keyshia that has the different paint job.

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    1. Hi Vanessa,

      It is such a shame that the dolls are flawed. I hope if you order one, you will get one that is not flawed and one that has the larger eyes like my School Girl (and Ms. Leo's Special Day).

      dbg

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    2. I'm actually looking for one with the smaller eyes.

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    3. Okay. Well don't order from TRU.com because I am not sure you'll get one with smaller eyes. Check the TRU stores in your area to see if they have any in stock. They did not have any here, which is why I opted to order online. The seller on eBay has the ones with the smaller eyes but I think he's "jacked up" his price.

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  2. Thanks for sharing this news! Thanks, Ms. Leo, for your contribution to this information. I have not been to a TRU recently. I will have to go. I rather like School Girl Keyshia, but I like the others, too.

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  3. Hi D7ana,

    Thanks for reading and commenting. I also have not been to a physical Toys R Us in ages. I like School Girl's different look, too.

    dbg

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  4. They must have just gotten a bad batch. At least they send a replacement - unless it ends up being something different again like in Ms. Leo's case.

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    1. I am not sure where the source of the problem originates, Muff, but I strongly suspect it originates in China with a large percentage of the dolls being subpar in one way or another. Companies think they are saving money and increasing profits at top levels by outsourcing manufacture; but if quality is lost in this process, they end up with unhappy merchants and customers with an ultimate loss of revenue. Cheap labor is usually more costly in the long run.

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  5. Without an explanation, I received an email notification from TRU that the replacement Keyshia that I was told by phone would be sent to me, will not be sent. I called to find out why and was told that the doll is out of stock. So I asked, "Am I just supposed to just settle for the damaged doll?" The reply was that my method of payment will be credited in full. I'm not a happy camper, but I suppose I will have to live with what is. I doubt very seriously that I will order, sight unseen, any additional Fashion Madness Kenya products and unless they are drastically discounted in stores, I will refrain from purchasing in person.

    dbg

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    1. On one hand it's good that the dolls are selling so well. On the other, how much longevity can they have if they are producing an inferior product. Hmm.

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    2. It could be that TRU has had to replace so many that they sent remaining stock back to Kenya's World, LLC. It seems that the person I spoke with would have known they were not in stock during our call before he scheduled the replacement, but you could be right -- maybe the dolls are selling. I just checked their website, which indicates all versions of Keyshia are "temporarily unavailable."

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  6. Now I do see the difference. You first two doll's eyes seem smaller. The eyelashes seem more pronounced too. Wow, those are some bad flawss but they can be fixed. I stopeed into TRU while out and looked for her. They said their system showed doll discontinued. So, it is a good thing you got her. So, congrats!

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    1. I'm glad I got her too, Ms. Leo. When I looked at School Girl Keyshia this morning, I thought she resembled Bobbi Christina.

      I'm still waiting on my TRU refund. The last time I checked (last week) I was told it is being processed.

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