Comparisons

 In yesterday's post I highlighted one of my made to move Ken dolls by Mattel in a suit made for the Jamieshow Homme Muses, as I wanted to see what the fit was like. That post spurred me to get the four different size 1/6 articulated bodies I have out for some comparison shots. I thought others might be interested how they stacked up, side by side. I put them all in boxers, as I didn't want to offend FB/Flickr or Blogger's sensibilities. The downside to this is that you can't see the articulation at the top of the leg on MTM Ken and Jamieshow dolls. The Mattel dolls are at a much different price point than the Integrity or Jamieshow men, but for the price point I believe you get a lot of "bang" for your "buck" with Made to Move Ken, especially if you love posing your dolls in as realistic of a pose as possible. The articulation varies with Jamieshow and Made to Move Ken having the most points of articulation. Jamieshow and made to move Ken dolls are both double jointed at the knees and elbows and have the extra flexiblility joint at the very top of the leg (which is hidden by their boxers here). Made to move ken goes one step up from that and has another joint at the top of his bicep as well. Here are all four guys standing side by side, from shortest to tallest. From left to right: Made to Move Ken/Harley Ken/Integrity Homme/Jamieshow Homme Muse. All in the 1/6 size range from 11-12 inches. Mattel Ken dolls and Integrity are made of hard plastic. Jamieshow is made of resin and strung. The articulated Ken dolls are typically within the $20-$40 price range (for the basic Looks dolls on the MTM body), Integrity somewhere around $175 these days (that is for a fully dressed doll), and Jamieshow coming in at around the $425 price point, but the Jamieshow dolls are resin and typically come with two wig caps, changing ball hands and basic clothing pieces of some sort. The Jamieshow men also come fully blushed, and are anatomically correct. The other three are not.

The next shot is from the side, with them standing up straight. 

While three of the four have a chest join, only MTM Ken and Jamieshow can slouch forward using said chest joint.  Harley Ken doesn't have a chest joint. Integrity Auden's chest joint has minor flexibility from side to side, but can't move front to back. Made to Move Ken has slight ability to slouch forward, Jamieshow has no problems at all slouching. The stringing used on the Jamieshow doll gives him much more "flexibility" in the slouching department. I didn't think to bend them backwards, sorry about that.

I also wanted to see how each could bend at the elbow. MTM Ken and JS Orlando are the only ones with double jointed elbows, so they can both touch their faces very nicely. The other two can only bend their elbow a little more than 90 degrees or so, maybe close to 45.

Next test was to see how well they could kneel. All four did passable with this test. The Mattel dolls jointing in their feet allow the feet to bend back further, allowing them to balance the best in the kneeling pose.

I wanted to see if MTM Ken and JS Orlando could sit on their haunches. MTM yes, no problems, JS Orlando, not so much. His upper torso kept wanted to tilt back, even if I engaged the chest joint to move it forward a bit, he still had issues. Since the middle two don't have double joints in their knees it was an impossibility for them.

On your bottoms..............Poor JS Orlando performed the worst in this exercise. He had to balance on his hands behind him to be able to sit up at all.

The last comparisons I did were for the feet. I know Jamieshow feet are the biggest, so my first comparisons are each of the other guys against the JS foot. They are all close enough that even Ken can wear the gorgeous Jamieshow footwear.

First up MTM Ken vs. Jamieshow.

Harley Ken vs. Jamieshow

Integrity vs Jamieshow

The two Ken feet compared. They are very close.

And lastly the MTM Ken foot vs. Integrity

Hopefully you have found the comparisons somewhat helpful. As I mentioned yesterday in my review of the MTM Ken body in Jamieshow Muse clothing, with the exception of Jamieshow or Integrity sharing Ken's clothing, both versions of Ken and Integrity can share the Jamieshow clothing with varying degrees of success, depending how picky you are on fit. I have found the Jamieshow men can share many of the Integrity pieces, although sometimes the pants are a little tight, or short, depending on the style. Loose fitting items typically work well between the JS and Integrity men. As far as shoes go, Ken can pretty much share with everyone. Integrity can share with Jamieshow without issue, and Jamieshow can SOMETIMES share with Integrity, shoes are a bit hit or miss with the JS guys as their foot is just a tad bigger as you can see from the photos above. 

Closet Swapping

 As I've been in a bit of a "Barbie" mood recently, and I've been revisiting the dolls from the Looks and BMR1959 collections that live with me, I thought it would be fun to see how Ken on the made to move body fit into my Jamieshow Muse men's clothing. Ken's body is quite a bit slimmer, and he's also shorter, so I knew the suit would be a little big on him, but the pants are ankle length on the Muse men and the sleeves fall a little short at times as well, so I was anxious to see how bad the fit actually was. I grabbed "Harley", which is the name I've given my guy with the manbun from the BMR1959 collection, and dressed him up to see what I thought. My first thought was the fit isn't nearly as bad as I thought it might be. The shoes even work for him!

The pants are a tad long and so are the sleeves, but as I said above, not nearly as bad as I thought they might be.

There is bulk at the waist, which is apparent when the FR guys or the Jamieshow guys wear the suit as well, it's just a bit more apparent on Harly, as he's slimmer.  The fit through the shoulders is slightly big as well, but with the structure of the jacket, it really isn't bad enough to bother me.

All in all I was pleased with fact that he can wear the shoes, and while the outfit is a little big on him, it isn't big enough to look clownish on him. I definitely will be experimenting more with other Jamieshow outfits as well.

Opens up another avenue for stylish play with these Mattel guys. I love how poseable the Mattel made to move bodies are,  but there is certainly a lack of well made clothing out there tailored specifically for these guys (Or at least that I've found). It will be nice to have another option. I'm also guessing my guys on the Harley Ken articulated bodies will wear it even better than "Harley" here, as they are slightly taller and have a slightly bigger waist and shoulder. I did a comparison of those two body types in an earlier installment here on the blog. Maybe I need to break out both types of articulated Ken bodies and compare with the FR and Jamieshow men as well in another blog installment.

Hopefully this link will work, it's the comparison entry on my blog for the two types of articulated Ken bodies, the entry was from November 2019:

Down the Dolly Rabbit Hole (notjustaccessories.blogspot.com)

Playing

 As I noted in my post yesterday, there is something so satisfying about taking a doll out of her box, throwing her packaging away and just playing!  The Mattel made to move bodied dolls are just so much fun to PLAY with. They can pose like nobody's business. The joints may not be the most attractive out there, but they are very functional, and it's just plain fun to see what kind of realistic poses you can get the dolls into. For this particular photo shoot, Andra from the Signature Looks collection was my model. I didn't get outrageous with the posing, but this body is just fun to work with. 

It's nice to not have to worry about pushing the boundaries and breaking anything with these dolls because hello.........................they are only around the $20 price point, and when you have been buying resin dolls and Integrity product, that is chump change, lol. Of course, I don't want to break them, but if I did, it wouldn't be the end of the world to try and replace one.

I, like many collectors, started out with Barbie, and even though I moved on from the 1/6 scale for quite a while, I still bought the odd Barbie here and there because they were easy to find and fairly inexpensive when I wanted a new fashion doll to play with, so I've accumulated quite the Mattel wardrobe/accessories collection over the years.

This has come in handy since the pandemic, when I find my collecting interest reverting back to 1/6 scale with the discovery of the Integrity East 59th line, and the introduction of the Jamieshow Muses. While they are on a whole other collecting level than these wonderful Barbie Signature looks dolls, clothing and accessories can all be shared across the board, which is extremely nice.

The fresh face sculpts, paired with the variety of made to move body styles and mix and match outfits, have made the Signature Looks dolls very attractive to me, and I'm sure you will be seeing a lot more of them here on the blog in between JS Muse segments. As I said before, they are just plain fun to play with. I sit down with my bins of clothing and boxes of accessories, and it takes me back to playing on the floor of my bedroom as a young girl. 

Musings about Mattel

Since Mattel's first release of the made to move body several years ago I have spoken often about how I would love to see a collector line using this body. I loved the variety in Mattel's Fashionista line, but I hated the fact that they didn't have articulation, so I would have to buy another basic made to move doll if I wanted one of the Fashionista faces on a made to move body and make my own. The BMR1959 line released in 2019? I believe was a good start on a collector line using varied faces and body types, and putting those dolls on the made to move bodies, and I own quite a few dolls from that line, but the clothing was a little out there, and not quite to my taste. With the release of the Signature Looks basic collection, which I have read is a nod to the Barbie Basics collection (which I loved!), I think Mattel has finally hit on a line that I am very enthused about! While my 1/6 collection is mainly focused on the more expensive resin Jamieshow Muses line, and several lines from Integrity, there is something SO appealing about spending $20 on a doll that I can take out of the box, and THROW said box away!!! (I am SO tired of having to find storage room for BOXES. Ughhh) I have NO guilt with my Mattel dolls in throwing their boxes away, and I LOVE that about them. This morning I took some time to photograph my latest two dolls from the Signature Looks collection, #8 (new Andra sculpt) from Wave 2 and #10 (new Simone sculpt). I have three of the dolls from Wave 1 as well, and I plan to get several more in this line. Andra and Simone were a bit hard to photograph together as their skin tones contrast so much.

The outfits these dolls come in are very basic pieces that can be mixed and matched easily. I love that Mattel is using all of their body sizes. As you can tell from the photo above, Simone is on the tall body and Andra is on the regular made to move body. I've found the tall and petite body sizes can share most clothing with the regular body. Length of skirts/pants is the main issue regarding fit.

I love Andra's sculpt, the closed mouth with the full lips, and her short, undercut hair style is fresh and new.

Her makeup is understated, but well done. She will be very versatile I think. I wish these girls had painted nails like the BMR1959 line did, or the @BarbieStyle Signature dolls do, but at the $20 price point, maybe that's too much to ask, and it's a small con. The pro's certainly outweigh the cons for me in regard to this line.

As soon as I saw Simone, I thought she was a must have for my collection. The new AA sculpt is just gorgeous! I love her dark skin tone, and I was a bit surprised how vivid her eye makeup is when I got her home and out of the box. She is a stunner!

Her eye makeup is bolder than her sisters #3-Kit (from Wave 1) and #8 Andra (from Wave 2), which are the only other girls I own so far from this line.

I'm very pleased so far with the dolls I have received from this line, and will be adding more. As I said before, there is something so satisfying about only spending $20 on a doll that you can take out of his/her box, throw the box away and have countless hours of fun posing and redressing. Below are Stock pictures of the dolls in each of the three waves released thus far. I look forward to what Mattel has on the horizon for the next waves, and hope it is a line that has a long life.

Wave 1

Wave 2

 And Wave 3

What the Heck

 MVP Rayna arrived from Integrity a couple of weeks ago, and while I love the doll herself and I like her top and most of the jewelry, my reaction to her jacket was a bit of "what the heck were they thinking?" I was thinking I may try it on my guys to see what I thought, but as it was laying off to the side of my clothing stash today, as I was looking for something to dress Alexis in I thought lets see if I can make myself like it a bit better. So I dug through the girls closets and this is what we came up with. 

I actually do like it used this way a bit better on Alexis than I did on Rayna. Still not a favorite piece of clothing, but Alexis can pull it off.

I think the the basic black and white with just a pop of orange contrast in her earrings sets the jacket off more and showcases the messy deconstructed look a bit better IMHO.

Of course, Alexis does look good in everything....................even Rayna's deconstructed "what the heck"  jacket.

Subtle Mix and Match

 I opened Look 14 from Enchanted over the weekend and had every intention of putting the complete outfit on a doll, but as I pulled out the cape I thought, I wonder what the cape would look like over the maeve dress in Look 2. The tulle is close to the tulle outerlayer on Look 14. So I pulled SK Sasha out (who was wearing Look 2), changed her wig cap to the brown braided wig cap from Enchanted, and traded out her coat for the cape. I also added the gloves for Look 14 as well.

I love how many of the outfits from each of the Jamieshow collections have lots of mix and match potential. I think the coat from Look 2 in the Enchanted collection, will work well with other things as well. This dress from Look 2 is a much more subtle look than the original dress that comes with Look 14, but I think it works nicely to change things up a bit.

The earrings for Look 14 wouldn't go into Sasha's earring holes and I didn't want to push it and damage them, so she is wearing the earrings from the Enchanted Kate.

With her hood up.

And a better shot of the gorgeous braided updo, from the Enchanted collection. I picked up the platinum version in the extra's with the thought I would go back for a darker color later. .................then they sold out. Luckily when I mentioned to a friend, I was sad I missed out on a darker color as well, she offered an extra brown one that she had. It is a pretty amazing work of wig art.

On the Prowl

 I bought this curly wig in bronze recently and wanted to try it on Bella, so I was looking for an outfit for her to wear with it and landed on this leopard print jumpsuit by Yoisrus, in shades of gray.

It's a little edgier than Bella's typical look, at least so far, but she's proving to be quite versatile.

This jumpsuit was made for the Nuface body, and it's a tad tight across the bust on Bella, we had to take care not to let her fall out of it.

I do however like this look for Bella. I love discovering all sides to these girls personalities through the change of wigs/jewelry and outfits.

Back in Black

 I have a lot of black in my doll wardrobes, and this week we received yet another piece. This gorgeous top is from DollsFancyWorld on Etsy. I chose Kate for my model and decided to let her go blonde today. She is wearing her top with pants from DL Look 14.

I love that so many of the outfit pieces have great mix and match potential.

While I tend to prefer Kate with dark hair, I think she makes quite a stunning blonde as well.