Now Lanard is quite the prodigious company, despite its’ unassuming appearance, having been around for the last several decades and producing quite a number of products, but (for anyone familiar with MLP) they’re probably best known for their fakies and for doll collectors, their (iconic) Catwalk Kitties line. The toys they produce aren’t superbly high quality but not terrible either, one of the few surviving third-party manufacturers in lieu of the likes of Creata, Playhut, Shillman and similar. They’re also notable for not really creating outright knockoffs, but products absolutely inspired by other lines, whilst somewhat able to stand on their own, one such line being the action figure/doll hyrbid i-Girl!
Released in 2003, i-Girl was most likely inspired by the similarly themed Get Real Girl line which released around the same time, but of course, i-Girl was cheaper and had more brightly coloured pieces as opposed to GrG’s very realistic colour choices.
The line consisted of six characters, each named and themed for a country – Paris, Rio, Sahara, Asia, Sydney and Aspen – I’m genuinely surprised there wasn’t an India too tbh! They came with a TON of accessories and generally were just very interesting sets for a child to play with I imagine~!
Something else interesting to note is they may have begun life as (or were, indeed, still intended to be) a reboot of Lanard’s 1989 Jet Setters line, which also featured dolls named for various countries.
As I can tell, there were at least four lines produced, with the Rock Stars on Tour being the rarest. Towards the end of the line, they slowly became more fashion doll than action figure, nixing many of the joints and accessories, possibly attempting to compete with Mattel’s My Scene after the GrG line concluded.
“i-Girls are what girls are all about today. We’re just like you with hopes and dreams, best friends and a wish to have adventures all around the world. So join the i-Girls and their adventures! i-Girls rule!”
This was pretty self-explanatory – each character had a favourite activity and her accessories revolved around it. As you can see below, there were at least two releases of this set – one with blue boxes with the additional ‘Kid Connection‘ branding and one with pink, rounded boxes with are just labelled as ‘Lanard‘. The blue-boxed dolls are also packaged wearing their lanyards, whilst the pink-boxed ones are not (although they are still included nonetheless) – I’m inclined to think the former (blue) is the later release given the simplicity and printed price tag seemingly marking it as destined for a chain store – perhaps a means of moving excess stock?
These playsets actually included dolls, so pretty good value all things considered – although it also does mean that if you wanted a basic doll to have her larger matching accessories, you’d end up with a double of the same character.
Similar to the basic dolls, there were at least two releases of these playsets – with the snowmobile, canoe, water ski and horse riding sets seemingly being exclusive to either release – and it seems that they were released around the time of the soft reboot as the blonde versions of some characters were included (such as Sahara) with some sets alongside what appears to be the original releases… Very confusing overall!
Now here’s where the line seemed to have undergone a soft rebrand? Although the names are the same, all the characters are now white and blonde with the exception of Asia, who is a brunette. A baffling decision to say the least – I wonder if it was conscious or simply a matter of cutting costs (as it is cheaper to cast all in the one colour of plastic)…?
Needless to say, the characters become very difficult to tell apart at this point, especially when loose.
Asia
“Snappin shots is my gig! I see the world through a lens capturing the moment.”
I’ve seen some people unsure if these actually release, but I’ve seen enough listings to confirm they absolutely did. None of these characters have names so I have no clue who they’re meant to be after all the characters (bar one) became blondes lol.
Spectra, Spectra, does anyone know who I’m talking about? A gorgeous, unusual and colourful doll produced by toy giant, Mattel? Despite what Google (and eBay!) seem to think, I am not talking about Monster High’s Spectra Vondergiest, but rather the 1987 doll line simply known as Spectra(or Chromatics, if you’re in France), with the tagline of ‘lacy… spacey… and out of this world!‘ Yes, it’s clear that this is definitely a product of the amazing 80s – and, if you may have noticed, the image I’m currently using for my site header!
“Meet the Shimmerons! They’re five gleaming, beaming teenage friends from the Planet Shimmeron! What on Earth are they doing here? Well, Spectra wanted to discover why the Planet Earth is number one for teenage fun, and show you how fun is done on the Planet Shimmeron! So she gathered her lacy space friends together and brought them to Earth! Here on Earth, the Shimmerons are discovering skateboards, hot dogs, rock music and shopping malls! Wherever the Shimmerons go, they’re a glittering sensation! Their hair and skin shimmer and shine so bright, people stop to put on their sunglasses! And famous fashion designers everywhere are trying to copy their Space Lace fashions. Introduce the Shimmerons to the latest trends on Earth. They’ll surprise you with their own Shimmeron space magic that’s out-of-this-world!”
The Spectra line comprised of five characters, one pet, twelve fashions and four playsets – all in all a pretty standard lineup for a toyline of this era.
As a Mattel line, some reused parts are expected, but amazingly these guys have their own unique head moulds (as I don’t believe Mattel has used them since?) one for Spectra/StylaBlue, one for UltraViolet/AstraGold and one for Tom Comet. Their bodies are reused however, they are modified versions of the Young Sweethearts Michael and Melinda bodies; lacking the wrist/ankle joints, although the ridges for these are still present on the Spectra dolls themselves, which I can only imagine led to a lot of frustration and broken limbs when kids couldn’t understand why this ‘joint’ wouldn’t move…!
Spectra
“Outer space star! Leader of the Shimmerons!”
Our main character and namesake of the line, Spectra is quite something to behold! Extremely 80s, sparkly and over the top, she’s very much a product of her time and I LOVE it! Aside from her fluffy bangs, her hair is a wonderfully smooth texture, I’d almost say saran, and a vibrant milkshake pink colour, not the infamous ‘fading pink’ you might be familiar with if you’re a MLP collector.
Interestingly, and I seem to be one of the few people to have noticed this, she was available with and without earrings! At first I believed it was a difference between the standard version and the two pack version (she was also available in a 2-pack with Spark the dog) or perhaps an overseas variation (this line was available in the UK and France also) but here you can see two standard US issue Spectras identical aside from their earrings (or lack thereof!)! I have no idea why this is exists now, I can only assume at some point they were nixed, perhaps in later production batches, or perhaps she was initially produced without them by mistake? Either way, the Spectra in my personal collection is the earring-less variant.
Although you could equate her as the ‘Skipper’ to Spectra’s ‘Barbie’ with her more youthful face sculpt and ‘younger’ outfit, AstraGold actually stands the same height as Spectra, and all other females dolls in this line. Unlike Spectra and StylaBlue however, Astra’s hair texture is somewhat rough, likely due to the wavy texture, the entirety of her hair feels like the bangs section of the other dolls haha. Also worth noting is that her body colouring is very prone to fading to silver, as it’s a very light gold as is.
Upon writing this paragraph, I have realised that AstraGold ALSO has the same earring variation as Spectra…! This has to be a batch difference of some kind, as you can see by the two US-release Astras I’ve shown here.
The gorgeous StylaBlue! Her hair is a very unusual light, muted blue-grey colour, and similar to Spectra, a gorgeous smooth texture. Her outfit has some very fun crimped ribbons on the shoulders, which I assume ties into her title as ‘outer space fashion leader’ – I guess it’s a fashionable look on Shimmeron!
Like the other two previous, I have found StylaBlue sports the earring/no earring variation, although the version with earrings seems to be much harder to find compared to Spectra and AstraGold.
UltraViolet, who strangely seems to be the least popular of the set (perhaps it’s her outfit?), and similar to AstraGold she has a rougher hair texture. From my own experiences it’s also very difficult to get her outfit back on without damaging it…!
Like the other girls, she can come with or without earrings but her earring version is by far the rarest as the pic above (by Kattisdolls) is the only one I can find of her…!
And finally our sole boy, Tom Comet! Unlike the girls, his name follows a different pattern, so perhaps this is how naming customs work on Shimmeron? Other than his very choice mesh shirt, there’s not much to say about him as he obviously doesn’t have earrings, thus no variation either.
A personal anecdote is that all of my Spectra dolls minus Tom came in the one lot, so I had to buy him separately, and as such he’s rather dinged up compared to the girls – which I choose to attribute to his stated hobbies (sports/fixing things) haha.
“Space-age furry friend!” – “Outer Space Star & her space-age furry friend!” – “He’s Spectra doll’s space-age furry friend! Shimmeron dogs can sniff-out fun from galaxies away!”
And now we move onto Spark, the dog! I’m not sure if he’s meant to be a robot, a cyborg or what, but I really hope he’s a straight up robot because the thought of him being a disconnected dog head makes me a bit sad haha. According to the catalogue – “He’s a cute whimsical, outer-space dog! Kids just wind him up, help Spectra give him a pat on the head – then his eyes open and he’s off and running! Pat him again and her stops.”, so he basically works as a wind-up toy, and his eye position makes me think they may move side to side as he motors along.
SPACE LACE FASHIONS
“Out-Of-This-World Fashions From The Planet Shimmeron! Fashions have never been more fun and exciting! Each fashion is lacy and shimmery with translucent fabrics that sparkle and shine with colour. Each style snaps, ties and slips on easily. Six styles feature the spectacular ‘Quick Snap Space Top’ bodice.”
There were twelve fashions in total – eleven for the girls and only one for poor Tom – with six featuring the aforementioned ‘Quick Snap Space Top‘. This is a plastic piece which snaps easily onto the front of the torso and ties behind for extra security, but I always worry about it possibly scratching the metallic finish on the girls… (please note that this finish is vulnerable to scratching when the doll is wet, so be careful after washing hair/etc!)
At-Home Wear – I suppose this is casualwear on Shimmeron! A blue ‘tunic’ style top with outrageous spiky puff sleeves and matching knee-length bloomer-style pants. Shoes not included (Spectra is wearing her included shoes in the stock photo). MIB fashion sourced from eBay (unfortunately the auction page has expired so I am unable to attribute the seller) and stock photo via Ghostofthedoll.
Ball Gown – A white tulle ‘ballgown’ with golden dots – this is one of six fashions which include the Quick Snap Space Top. MIB fashion sourced from eBay (unfortunately the auction page has expired so I am unable to attribute the seller) and stock photo via Ghostofthedoll.
Casual Pantsuit – A hot pink mesh coat, blue mesh leggings and matching hot pink legwarmers, along with a clear pink glittery Quick Snap Space Top. MIB fashion sourced from eBay (unfortunately the auction page has expired so I am unable to attribute the seller) and stock photo via Ghostofthedoll.
Dress-Up Outfit – I own this one! Clear glittery pink Quick Snap Space Top, tiered pink ruffle skirt and a fluffy pink boa – overall a whole lot of pink! MIB fashion sourced from eBay (unfortunately the auction page has expired so I am unable to attribute the seller) and stock photo via Ghostofthedoll.
Evening Gown – Same glittery pink Quick Snap Space Top, but this time with a long skirt! Stock photo via Ghostofthedoll.
Exercise Outfit – A yellow lacey leotard with glittery golden mesh overshirt, headband and legwarmers! Stock photo via Ghostofthedoll.
Party Dress – I can’t locate a closeup but it seems to consist of a Quick Snap Space Top, shoulder ruffle and two-tiered ruffle skirt. Stock photo via Ghostofthedoll.
Shopping Outfit –A lacey pantsuit with iridescent pockets and sleeves, as well as an awesome iridescent shopping bag! MIB fashion sourced from eBay (unfortunately the auction page has expired so I am unable to attribute the seller) and stock photo via Ghostofthedoll.
Sleep Set – I own this one too! A lace teddy with a long lace dressing gown, one of the sets with a lower piece count (only two items). Stock photo via Ghostofthedoll.
Sunsuit – I own this one too! An iridescent top and bottom with leg ruffles, a yellow lace hooded capelet and a fluffy yellow towel with an iridescent ruffle. MIB fashion sourced from eBay (unfortunately the auction page has expired so I am unable to attribute the seller) and stock photo via Ghostofthedoll.
Travel Wear – I can’t find a closeup of this fashion, but it seems to include a Quick Snap Space Top, transparent lacey skirt and metallic blue coat, as well as an iridescent bag similar to the one included with ‘Shopping Outfit’. Stock photo via Ghostofthedoll.
Tuxedo –Poor Tom’s one single fashion pack! A dress shirt/pants combo with a jacket. MIB fashion sourced from eBay (unfortunately the auction page has expired so I am unable to attribute the seller) and stock photo via Ghostofthedoll.
Buffatron
“By day, it’s a beauty buffer; by night, it’s a glamorous bed with pink fur and lacy canopy! The furry bed really rotates under the dolls, keeping them shiny and bright! Spectra doll can magically activate the Buffatron beauty buffer! Girls place the doll’s hand in the magic slot and the Buffatron begins to buff! There’s a vanity on the side that stores perfume, atomiser and mirror.“
The Buffatron/Buffamatic was an interesting playset with a premise that was absolutely unique to the Spectra line as it functioned as a body buffer to polish and shine the Shimmerons’ metallic bodies, and could also double as a bed when polishing wasn’t required! Definitely an alien beauty concept, I love it! The included pieces consisted of the following;
Bed
Pink Fur Mattress
Glowing Canopy
Mirror attachment
Perfume attachment
Powder Puff
Hand Mirror
Brush
Comb
And that’s all! For such a short-lived line, they made quite an impact – on me, at least, as they were actually the fashion dolls that got me into collecting in the first place! I begged my Mum to purchase this eBay lot, which included all four girls in mint condition and three MIP fashions! Much later I added Tom Comet, and now the collection is complete (for me at least, I find Sparky a bit unnerving) ❤
What a mouthful of a title…! I previously mentioned this line in my Bratz Lookalikes article, as the progenitor of the ‘Disneybounding‘ doll concept (which, if you’re curious, goes Pop Dreamers -> Disney S.T.A.R.S -> Disney ILY; although if you wanted to stretch the definition a little you could throw Attractionistas in there between S.T.A.R.S. and ILY..!) but now I’m delving a little further into it as I feel like they mark an important point in doll history – and aren’t super well documented aside.
Released by Thinkway Toys in 2002, the Disney Pop Dreamers were, obviously, created as part of a partnership with the Walt Disney Company, who seemed a bit more open to partnerships with smaller, seemingly random companies around this time period haha.
SOUNDTRACK
I’m not sure which came first (as in, they obviously released together but I’m unsure which hit shelves first) but the dolls were accompanied by a CD, which is appropriate for the music theme of the line.
To be honest I’m a bit reticent to listen to any of the songs myself so I can’t vouch for the quality (also my taste in music is… weird) but luckily the whole album is on Spotify so you can listen for yourself! It’s a mixture of original songs (including themes for the three characters) and covers of both pop songs and iconic Disney melodies.
INTERACTIVE POP DREAMER
The most well-known part of the line in my opinion, the dolls! These are medium-sized electronic dolls similar to Diva Starz or Cyborg Rocks; who can not only sing but ‘recognize’ when their outfits are switched out with another of their included fashions! A description scraped from the remnants of a site (which looks to have been set up during their promotional period) describes them thusly;
Meet the Radio Disney Pop Dreamers. Gabrielle, Ella, and Ari are a musical trio inspired by their favorite Disney Princesses, Belle, Cinderella and Ariel. Each doll plays guitar, sings songs, knows which of her 3 outfits that she is wearing, and even knows her friends’ outfits. The dolls can sing with their guitars on their own, as a duo if to dolls are present, or as a trio if all 3 dolls are together.
Solo, duo, or trio singing and music depending on how many dolls are placed together.
Talking and singing dolls. (Each doll sings 2 songs)
Interactive guitar play.
Interactive clothing recognition.
The releases of this initial set of dolls can be a little confusing – the electronic dolls are usually found labelled as Interactive Pop Dreamers but I have also seen them labelled as Interactive Pop Princess in what I suspect to be a later release, as well as another that drops the ‘Radio‘ part of the full line name and they are known as Soñadoras Pop Disney in Spanish-speaking regions. Finally, all of these variations are only applicable to the packaging – the actual dolls remain unchanged and are indistinguishable when loose.
Now we get into the lesser-known part of the line, the fashion dolls! These utilise the same base sculpts as their interactive counterparts – and I specify interactive as these dolls are still technically electronic – well, their stands are at least.
These are fashion dolls with fabric clothing and removable shoes, and overall seem to be less common than their fully electronic counterparts. Presumably they released after the initial electronic dolls but for all I know they could have released simultaneously as they are also dated to 2002.
The most obscure product of the line by far, I can find only this single image of all three plush from Pinterest user Hannah Scheer. I assume these may have been a Disney Store or Park exclusive?
“Everyday Ponies by day, transform into magical glowing Ponies by night. Twilight absorbs the power of the stars and gives the ponies their special powers. The ponies travel on adventures with their little Star Buddies to help those in need… See their hooves glow in the dark and wear your glow charm too. Collect all 6.”
Well it seems I’m on a documenting kick, and this one tangentially relates to the last article (horses vs centaurs, similar enough right?), and spurred on by a post on the MLP Arena about obscure toy lines, which was then shared in a Discord I’m a part of… TL:DR I saw ‘pony‘ and ‘glow in the dark‘ in the same sentence and I knew I had to write about them!
Twilight Ponies (Twilight Pónik in Hungarian) were released by Vivid Imaginations in 2009-2010, ostensibly to compete with My Little Pony – although there wasn’t much in regards to competition at the time given G3 was entering its’ eighth year and essentially in the midst of its’ death knell given that, of the three new ponies for 2010, only two were actually released… That aside, Twilight Ponies offered a nice alternative, especially with them being manufactured by an established company as opposed to a smaller manufacturer (similar to MGA’s Magic Touch Ponies, which I have also written an article about lol) they commanded a slightly higher degree of quality than your average fakie.
The line consisted of eight ponies (Treasure Ponies) with brushable hair, one of them being exclusive to a playset and another a slightly larger pegasus, a styling head and a matching set of six charm bracelets. Each pony was given her own backcard story and symbol (which appeared on their necklace charm as well as their body) and a Star Buddy – a small animal friend.
Treasure Ponies
The main series was designated as Treasure Ponies, and I assume this was due to planning to eventually expand into further series but sadly this never came to fruition… You can see from this wonderful concept artwork (by Malin Granfors) that the ‘treasure‘ element was originally more prominent considering they had embedded jewels, and jewel necklaces to boot! They actually remind me a lot of Crystal Ponies…
Twilight seems fairly unchanged, as do a few others but the remainder look almost completely different, not to mention the more unusual animal choices of species for their animal friends! I wonder if Vivid Imaginations’ marketing pushed for more ‘cutesy’ animals in lieu of hippos, lions and frogs, or if this was a cost-cutting measure and the pets are reused sculpts from a previous line or something…?
BLOSSOM is the most calming of all ponies with the power of flowers she makes sure there is always peace and understanding wherever she might be.
STORM
SUNBEAM takes the magic of the sun wherever she goes, warming everything in her glow, bringing life, light and happiness to all around.
SURF loves the ocean and everything in it, riding the waves and diving the depths, there to protect all creatures above and below the water.
VALENTINE is quite simply full of love and shows all how to share the love around.
WISH
Twilight
Although ostensibly part of the Treasure Ponies, as Twilight is the special main pony (being the namesake of the line and the only pegasus) she gets her own section haha.
TWILIGHT lives up in her Magical Midnight Star Palace and she looks after the Treasure Ponies and their Star Buddies. She is always trying to help and make things better, with the help of her wonderful, colourful Twilight Ponies!
Adventure Collection
I thought I’d found everything for this line, so imagine my surprise when this popped up on Xianyu! A multipack with three ponies, their animal friends and the charm bracelets!
To be honest this is likely an end-of-the-line bundle intended to shift product out the door as fast as possible but it’s still cool to see – and the back reveals another interesting product of which I’m unsure of whether they saw release or not…! These images are courtesy of the Xianyu seller 品牌玩具店 🙂
This Collection includes Blossom, Surf and Wish, their corresponding Star Buddies and corresponding charm bracelets.
Newborns
I’m unsure if these were ever released – the only picture is from the back of the box of the afforementioned Adventure Collection!
I’m guessing this is Valentine based on her colouring and heart pendant, but as we’re unsure of these are newborn versions of the characters or the characters’ offspring (as initial art shows a matching pair of mother and baby) I can’t say for certain!
Magical Midnight Star Palace
The Twilight Ponies line features one playset – and included an exclusive character, Snowflake!
“Travel with your Twilight Ponies to the Magical Midnight Star Palace on a magical adventure. The Magical Midnight Star Palace is the home of the Twilight Ponies, and you can join them between their magical adventures in this fantastic playset . When your Twilight Ponies travel through the glowing magical midnight portal , its glowing light effects charge up their hooves and charms so that they glow in the dark . While the Twilight Ponies are getting ready for their adventures, their Star Buddies can play on the special swing and cloud lift . There is a special pull out mirror , and a secret drawer for storing jewellery in . The Star Palace comes with exclusive Snowflake Treasure Pony and Buddy figures . Twilight Ponies Magical Midnight Star Palace is a magical playset for your Twilight Ponies to play in.“
Funnily enough, Twilight is the one stated to live in the palace so I guess Snowflake is the caretaker of sorts…?
Magic Cut ‘N Style Snowflake
“You can makeup and comb this cute Twilight pony head according to the latest fashion. The buckles light up in the dark, or if you cut your hair with the magic scissors, you can put it back with the buckles. Size: approx. 30 cm.”
You’d think this head would be Twilight’s given her importance but I guess someone really liked Snowflake! According to reviews from the time, the clips apparently don’t work very well lol.
Charm Bracelet
As mentioned before, each pony came with a charm, so naturally they had to provide bracelets for these charms! There was one per character, so you could presumably have an entirely character-specific bracelet if you really wanted but I imagine mixing and matching was more common, particularly if you wanted to actually fill out a bracelet.
At present I’m only able to find pictures of two, but as the packaging says there’s six, I’m going on the assumption that all six were actually produced.
SURF
WISH
So that’s everything I was able to find for this line – small as it may have been, I can always appreciate a good set of MLP-adjacent ponies haha. I hope you enjoy!
In writing the articles for both Moose’s MissTiques and Crystal Ponies lines, I wound up perusing their trademarks as archived on various sites; both current and abandoned. Many were a trip down memory lane, but then there was this one that I kept seeing, over and over again across different sites;
This intrigued me, as it was totally unfamiliar and yet searching it up I found… nothing. Zilch. Nada.
Normally I’d assume that indicated that whatever this line was went unproduced but Crystal Ponies had a grand total of one known image online before more were dug up and MissTiques series 2 was also similarly lacking in images, so this isn’t really a point against it – Moose’s early products are obscure! The timeline checks out as well, compared to other trademarks for things I know went produced – in fact it’s more extensive than some that were!
I can absolutely believe this line is just that obscure, but something interesting lies in the description – magnetic spinning figurines. Now not identical, but the description is fairly close to another Moose product released almost two decades later – Team Gem.
Now although these are gymnasts and not dancers, they otherwise seem extremely similar – at least from the scant description for Dancestars. Team Gem could indeed be classed as ‘magnetic spinning figurines‘ and it leaves me with only the following question;
‘Are Team Gem the spiritual successors to Dancestars, or are they reworked from a scrapped concept from almost two decades ago?’
Only time will tell, whether a physical example of Dancestars finally shows up or if someone who worked on the line wants to talk about it – I’d be all ears!
You could say I have a bit of a bias for certain eras – the 1980s, 1990s and 2000s – and for the latter it is due to constituting the majority of my childhood. Born in late 1997, I’m one of those ‘technically a 90s kid but grew up moreso in the 00s’ kind of people haha, and of course one of the biggest icons (or should I say iconz) of this era were MGA Entertainment’s Bratz! Debuting in 2001, their popularity meant that a fair number other companies saw the success and also wanted a piece of that fabulous fashion pie and this led to some of my favourite things – competitors and bootlegs! Some collectors loathe them but I often find them incredibly charming as well as an important part of the doll ecosystem so to speak – competition breeds innovation, which generally leads to better products haha.
It’s most evident for the fact that the existence of Bratz pushed Mattel into creating My Scene, an awesome line all on its’ own but not one I’ll be covering here as it’s able to stand by its’ own merits, having more to it than merely being a Bratz competitor – and that aside, it’s also been documented many times over, far better than I could ever achieve! This article will focus on the more clearly ‘trying to ape Bratz’ lines, from all a manner of companies – although this will also include those trying to emulate My Scene due to how this line came to be in the first place and that for some dolls there’s quite a degree of crossover for this subject haha.
So, in alphabetical order, we have…
Angels
“Completely new to come into the market”
I debated whether or not to include dolls of this caliber considering these are straight-up bootlegs, featuring stolen Bratz moulds and artwork, but I thought that if they help someone ID their doll, then why not include them? For bootlegs like this, manufacturers and dates are usually a mystery – intentionally, as you can’t sue someone if you can’t track them down haha.
Jessica is clearly a clone of Jade, but the body sculpt originates from something else. That ‘product number’ there appears to be part of one used for forklift parts of all things so I’m not entirely sure it’s legit lol.
Camilinhas
“Camilinhas are very linked to fashion. Fashion with personality and a touch of boldness.“
Apparently being sued by MGA did nothing to dissuade Estrela (see the section on Driks below for context) from releasing another line heavily reminiscent of Bratz, in collaboration with a different celebrity (Sabrina Sato) – this time actually including a doll of the celebrity in question too…!Additionally according to these magazine pages, Camilinhas are scented, and it seemed that the characters other than Sabrina included temporary tattoos for you ❤
Image courtesy of Ana CaldattoImage courtesy of Angelo Nascentes
Sabrina Sato is most distinguishable by her forehead mole if found loose I’d imagine. Here’s a translation of her accompanying blurb (via Google Translate);
Camilinha Sabrina Sato has the rare combination of tomboyish mannerisms and womanly charm. Her clothes are her style – fashionable, versatile and cheerful and can be combined in many ways to create sensational looks.
Image courtesy of Ana CaldattoImage courtesy of Angelo Nascentes
Bia is a blonde with short hair (for a fashion doll, that is), originally styled in pigtails. A translation of her blurb is below;
Camilinha Bia is good humor in the form of a girl. And she conveys this in her way of dressing, fashionable and creative!
Teca is black with dark brown hair and lighter brown streaks – notably the only basic character to sport two colours of hair fiber. A translation of her blurb is below;
Camilinha Teca is pure exciting. Partying is her way! She loves creating different looks, with a lot of style.
Image courtesy of Ana CaldattoImage courtesy of Angelo Nascentes
Lara is the brunette that’s not Sabrina Sato haha. Bindi aside, their facial screenings look fairly similar so I imagine if you had a Sabrina with the bindi rubbed off you might have difficulty distinguishing them!
Camilinha Lara is the boys’ favorite. Charming and with a strong personality, she’s super in tune with new trends and always launches new trends
‘Dara‘ seems to be the name of this sub-line but I’m unsure of the individual character names – all I can say is that they definitely aren’t Sabrina Sato or Teca haha.
Bia – I am unsure which release this Bia comes from as this outfit is not included in her stock images. You could say she’s simply been redressed but here are so many secondhand listings of her in this exact outfit I have to assume it’s what she came in initially…!
Image courtesy of Angelo Nascentes
?? – I thought this was Bia and then I noticed her brown eyes… Perhaps she’s the blonde to the left in the Dara group shot, with her bangs combed back?
Bedroom – “A super fashionable bedroom with everything a modern girl could want, including a fur bedspread, leopard print pillow, dressing room and designer furniture.”
Dining Room – “Modern furniture, leopard print tables, a bar with sound, “delicious” dishes…00 more than 50 accessories in this ultra-fashionable dining room.”
Chikz
Another more blantant bootleg, Chikz were produced by Greenbrier Int., which is apparently a subsidy of the American chain Dollar Tree, so I think we can safely say where these dolls were sold haha. The dolls were produced in both Black and White versions, with identical outfits and boxes aside from the skintones being photoshopped to match the version of the doll inside. Also produced were fashion packs and a few other sub-lines (such as smaller versions and styling heads).
Green Furry Vest(This girl looks like she was a Hen’s Night gift lol)
STYLING HEADS
There were a total of six styling heads, all blonde and which, despite the box showing them with different hairstyles, all sported the same ‘one ‘do on the released product, with the only difference being the colour of their bases.
Disney’s S*T*A*R*s/Pixie Stars
“Sassy, Trendy, and Always Right”
I’ve wanted to document these for AGES! Disney S*T*A*R*s/Pixie Stars were, of course, produced by Disney in roughly 2008 and exclusive to Disney parks & resorts, hence why they are rare as all hell. Disney S*T*A*R*s is their US name, whilst Pixie Stars is their Euro name, as they were released at both US parks and Euro Disney (which is what Disneyland Paris was known as at the time).
The line consisted of three characters – Jeminah (inspired by Princess Jasmine), Erin (Inspired by Ariel) and Laureen (inspired by Aurora); they strike me as a reworking of Disney’s earlier (2002) Pop Radio Dreamers doll line in terms of being characters inspired by/Disneybounding their favourite Disney princess, which is a trend that continues today with Disney/Jakks Pacific’s Disney ILY line! All the images below were sourced by tumblr user obscuredollz ❤
Erin is our Ariel fan – and a personal holy grail of mine haha.
Jeminah is our Jasmine fan – and seemingly the easiest to find out of all three.
Hi, my name’s Jeminah
I would love to travel and I dream of discovering a whole new world and meeting lots of interesting people. No surprise that my favourite Disney princess is Jasmine…
Be my best friend and I’ll introduce you to my other great friends, Laureen and Erin.
Laureen is our Aurora fan and strangely for the pink-dressed blonde, is by far the hardest to find!
Divine Divaz
“We’re the hip-est girls at our school. We are fab and so cool. Clothes are our passion, as is having fun. We make a point to like everyone. So become our friend and share our world. Divaz are divine and so much more. Good times will be in store!”
Released by Kid Kore in 2002, Divine Divaz was a fairly extensive brand consisting of five sub-series of dolls and a few pieces of merchandise aside – not bad for a brand riding Bratz’s coattails! This would also not be Kid Kore’s last time emulating Bratz, as two years later they also released the less expansive Flirts line (which I have also documented below) and some of whose character designs seem to have been recycled from this line!
Finally, you might recognise the company name from their late 80s-early 90s era dolls like Kelsey but I was surprised to learn they existed well into the early 00s (2004, judging by when their site went down)! They were a mid-tier doll company very similar to Creata (and actually made knockoffs of some of Creata’s products, believe it or not!), producing nice quality dolls at a lower price than big-name competitors – something which sadly isn’t as common any more.
Brunette/Twists – Strangely she is depicted as paler in her artwork but it doesn’t seem to be the typical whitewashing (as in applied to all characters in a line) you see with some doll artwork as the character on the left still has a darker skintone. Perhaps the skintone was changed at some point in the manufacturing process…?
Blonde/Multiple Braids – If it weren’t for the difference in eye colour, I’d almost think she’s meant to be the same character as the one above – they even have similar cheer-style tops included!
Redhead/Swimsuit – I love her design, so bright and summery! Images are via Worthpoint and courtesy of eBay seller texas-tressie.
Redhead/Punk – Ok, this girl is also a strong contender for my favourite haha, I love her whole look! Images via Worthpoint and eBay seller Bayou Flips.
Redhead/Green Streaks – I think this is the middle character pictured on the box?
DIVA FRIENDZ
As the photo above indicates, these are actually ponies! Despite the picture above showing a white one, the only pony I have ever found for sale across multiple listings is black (with an awesome galaxy-like hair blend!), as seen below, so I am unsure if the white version was ever actually released.
Released in 2002 by Estrela, and in collaboration with actress Adriane Galisteu, this line has the extremely dubious distinction of being so similar to Bratz that they actually wound up being sued…! As a result the dolls are somewhat rare as, aside from being exclusive to Brazil, only the dolls already on store shelves were able to be sold as a result of the lawsuit – presumably those in warehouses were disposed of 😦
Duda is the redhead! I don’t speak Portuguese but via Google Translate I can provide the following translation of her bio;
DUDA’s favorite activity is going to the beach. But in a totally zen way, to really relax… Enjoying the sea, the sun and nature during the day and the sky, the stars and the light breeze at night. When it comes to eating, only vegetarian food. Health comes first!
Esoteric, she is into everything that transmits peace and good vibes. She loves colors and decorated her house taking advantage of the positive energy of each one. In fact, DUDA always says that when she graduates in architecture she will apply Eastern teachings to her projects. Pure high spirits!
Flirts
“We’re the sweetest girls at our school. Lookin’ good is our rule. Flirts fashion style is hip and cool. All the kids know that Flirts truly rule!’
Released by Kid Kore in 2004, these were the company’s second attempt at aping the success of Bratz after their earlier Divine Divaz line in 2002, reuse multiple assets from said line and are much less common than their predecessors. I have to say I definitely prefer the faces on these guys though, much softer and very of the era with the frosted lipstick haha, super cute!
‘Paris‘ is a redhead who appears to be the only character not also appearing in artwork on the box, possibly owing to the fact the design is one reworked from the earlier Divine Divaz line.
‘Redhead‘ is, well, a redhead, although her hair is a more natural red tone than ‘Paris”s. You can also see that she’s the character pictured rightmost on the artwork.
Judging by the box art, this was less of a line and moreso just this two pack, which is very clearly aping a certain Bratz line even down to the name haha…
‘Red Beanie‘ is pretty interesting as her box reuses artwork from the earlier Divine Divaz Li’l Divaz line.
KEYCHAINS
Curiously for such a tiny line, there were at least a two keychains produced, with entirely unique sculpts! If you know how much it costs to tool the mould for this kind of thing, you might understand why I’m a little surprised haha.
The brunette character on the right appears in illustrated form on the Divine Divaz box art – Kid Kore’s previous Bratz-inspired line, so I wonder if these keychains reused sculpts intended for that line…?
Funky Tweenz
“Fashion dolls with attitude and pizzazz taller than the competition”
Released by Cityworld Int’l (HK) Ltd. in 2002, these guys have been unfavorably compared to The Grinch in terms of faceup – and I can see it to be honest lol, but it was only the very first batches of dolls that even had this style of faceup! It seems that the company took the criticism (or possible threats of legal action courtesy of MGA?) to heart and all subsequent releases have a different, friendlier face. As a result, dolls with the original ‘mean’ mug are much harder to find!
Funky Tweenz appear to have been primarily distributed in Europe and the lineup consisted of of six characters, with at least two waves of standard size fashion dolls, fashion packs and mini dolls – so quite expansive for a line like this! Much like Wilco’s We Teens, even had a website, although unfortunately none of the images appear to have been archived and I can only access the intro video (warning, LOUD!) via Wayback Machine.
BASIC
Only dolls from this basic assortment sport the faceup variation. Funnily enough, they also went to the effort of changing the character artwork to reflect the change in faces!
Dolls from this series are best distinguished from their basic counterparts by the coloured streaks in their hair. Interestingly the character featured in cartoon form on the box (I’m pretty sure it’s Taylor) appears in doll form on the back of the ‘Just Friends‘ box…!
This consisted of at least one 2-pack, although there may have been more I am unable to tell how hey were paired up as the box back doesn’t exactly give me any indications haha.
Alyssa (?) – So as you can see, this doll is Caucasian but other than that she is an exact match to Just Friends Alyssa as shown on the box back down to her faceup. I can only assume that Alyssa may have been produced as a white doll for this line, either exclusively or certain batches. I wonder if the manufacturer may have run out of ‘blank’ Alyssa dolls and substituted one of the others (as they all share the same skintone) – or if this was the last line produced and they simply wanted to use up all the remaining blank dolls they had. Either way, very odd stuff…
Lauren (?) – I am assuming this is Lauren judging by the remaining blonde hair and the fact her bikini pattern matches that of basic Lauren’s shirt. I’m putting her here for lack of a better place to put her – as far as I can tell she doesn’t appear to belong to any set that I know of – or at least she isn’t pictured anywhere I can find.
MINI DOLLS
I can only find one image of these, so I am unsure which characters were included in the series. It’s a teeny-tiny pic scraped from Facebook Marketplace haha. EDIT: TWO pictures! Through bizarre Google reverse image search shenanigans I have found a pretty high definition pic of Emily, so that’s two characters!
Brittany Fashion – Consists of a black long-sleeved top with Funky Tweenz logo, tan cargo pants, white cap, white bag and camo-print skate shoes.
God’s Girls
“Faith, Friends & Fun!”
I swear there has to be some kind of unwritten rule – ‘for any major toy franchise/trend someone will make a religious take on them‘ – Strawberry Shortcake, Care Bears, MLP, but surprisingly not Bratz (I guess they were too controversial) but My Scene was apparently a-ok so in 2009 we got God’s Girlz by Kerusso; an Arkansas-based Christian company mostly known for clothing and books. They aren’t super common, likely being limited to either the US alone or possibly just the state of Arkansas, but their clothing items seems turn up more frequently than the dolls themselves – and they tend to stand out due to religious slogans not exactly being common for 1/6 doll clothing haha.
DOLLS
Sarah (whose name means ‘Princess’ according to marketing) is the auburn-haired one
Abigail (whose name means ‘my father’s joy’ according to Google as I can’t read what her box says) is the blue-eyed blonde.
Imani (whose name means ‘belief’ or ‘faith’) was actually added in 2010, a year after the line began – or at least that’s what’s stated as I can’t find a single in-hand image of her.
Hannah (whose name means ‘He (God) has favoured me with a child’) is another character I am unable to find an in-hand image of.
FASHION PACKS
Surprising for such a small line (but perhaps unsurprising for a clothing company), there were two fashion packs produced – although they consisted of a shirt, shoes and accessories as opposed to a full outfit.
Purple Shirt – Didn’t realise that was actually a bible quote! The phrasing almost seems too modern but I assume that’s just down to how it’s translated.
Pink Shirt – I didn’t realise ‘someday my prince will come‘ was also a bible quote either! I have always associated it with Disney’s Snow White haha.
Lisa Frank Fab Friends
“Cool cuties with a flair for fashion!”
An icon of the late 80s, 90s and early 00s, it made perfect sense Lisa Frank would eventually branch out into fashion dolls! Produced by Play Along in 2000, I can’t find any info for sure but the titular Fab Friends may predate the doll line – which would then make it even stranger that one of the three main girls (Mara, the only black character which I’m sure was coincidental…) was dropped in favour of new girl, Vega.
The dolls came in two sizes for equally inexplicable reasons as the smaller ones are only very slightly smaller than the ‘standard’ ones? The basic releases also had two variations, including either a pet or a shoe box, and again for reasons beyond comprehension these also had variations – the boxes could be either plain or holographic…
Cassie is the blonde – and her pet is Roxi, a white cat.
Friendly and sweet, she is everyone’s best friend. She never forgets a birthday and has a knack for always finding the perfect gift! Giggly and fun loving, everyone wants to be around her.
Cassie love talking on the phone, going to the movies and hanging out with her best friends, Lisa and Mara.
Lisa is the redhead – presumably named (and styled after) Lisa Frank herself! Her pet is Casey, a Labrador, which is unique compared to the two other dolls (which makes me wonder if this is also a reference to a real dog that LF owned or something!)
Super creative, funky and fun. She always has a smile on her face. Her constant cheerfulness and charm make her a natural leader. She always looks forward to what the future holds.
Lisa loves her dog, Casey, bright colours, shopping and hanging out with her best friends, Mara and Cassie.
Mara is the purple-haired one (purple-ette?) whose pet is a purple kitty, Rolli (making for a pun with Cassie’s cat Roxi). Her bio is interesting as I don’t believe I’ve seen the description ‘slightly psychic‘ for a fashion doll before!
Groovy and mysterious, Mara is a gypsy at heart. She totally does her own thing, and never follows the crowd. Very artistic, she likes to decorate her room and make her own accessories. She’s slightly psychic and follows her vibes.
She loves vintage clothes, thrift stores, traveling and hanging out with her best friends, Lisa and Cassie.
RAINBOW/WAVE TWO
‘Wave Two’ featured a new trapezoid box with a fluffy rainbow handle – very Bratz indeed! Cassie and Lisa had a new outfit in addition to their original release ones, new friend Vega (whose box art was a recolour of Mara’s) had the same outfit but two hair colour variations and of course, Mara herself mysteriously vanished… despite the fact Cassie and Lisa’s boxes still feature her artwork, photos, and mention her in their bios!
Cassie‘s new outfit is a metallic silver tracksuit with rainbow stripes and I wish I could read what the box describes it as lol.
Vega came with either brown or pink hair, with neither variation appearing more common than the other. It’s possible one was grouped with Lisa and Cassie in their original outfits, and the other was grouped with the same characters in their new outfits (as in, included in that shipping assortment), as indicated by the differences in their packaging.
Fun-loving and adventurous, Vega marches to her own beat. She’s never afraid to try out new things, and loves being outdoors. Whether she is skateboarding, writing poetry, or hanging out with her best buds, she always follows her heart!
SMALL DOLLS
Roughly an inch (2.5cm) shorter than the standard dolls, so definitely not ‘mini’ dolls by any measure, again their existence kind of just confuses me lol.
Cassie
Lisa
Mara
Makeover Secret Fashion Diva
“It’s a styling adventure”
Released by Castlespring Enterprises Ltd. in 2002, this was a line of two fashion dolls and two styling heads, exclusive to Sears, which may explain their rarity as I have found a single in-hand image of one of the dolls but nothing else. The company itself still exists, as I found out about them via a post they uploaded to FB! The two products came in two versions, white and AA/’ethnic’, and I am entirely unable to find any pictures of the styling head for the latter.
Makeover Secret Fashion Diva Doll has the pretty cool feature of her shoes doubling as storage for her many styling accessories! Kind of reminds me of the fashion Diva Starz haha.
Give your diva a star-quality makeover. Change her hair, makeup and outfit using washable markers, makeup brush, curlers, and hair clips, all included. Feature rooted hair and lashes. Stands 15 inches tall. Ages 3 and up.
Makeover Secret Fashion Diva Head is a product I can’t find any in-hand pictures or videos of – and I say videos because this girl talks!
It’s a styling adventure with this diva – turn the six different moveable trays and she talks about how you can use the makeup and hair accessories including eye shadow, lip gloss, blush and hair clips! Measure 9 inches tall. Includes three AAA batteries Ages 8 and up.
Miss Scouby
“Create new hairstyles!”
Created by Giochi Preziosi at some point in the 00s, Miss Scouby managed to combine two trends of the era – Bratz and scoubidou! The line consisted only of the titular character herself, but she did come in three colour variations – pink, orange and lime -with all three being identical aside from clothing colour.
Image courtesy of reddit user BumbleLeeImage courtesy of reddit user BumbleLee
Pink is apparently the hardest to find as I am presently unable to find an boxed image of her. She is also not pictured on the box back itself, unlike the other two, suggesting she may have been a later addition to the lineup.
Mystikats
“Half Girl – Half Kat“
Produced by Playhut in 2005, Mystikats already have their own dedicated article on this site, so please check it out if you’re interested!
Produced by Simba circa 2003, this is another competitor (although this time My Scene instead of Bratz) who was subject to a lawsuit from said brand they were emulating!
In a pattern we’ve also seen before in this article, the original dolls are nearly indistinguishable from what they’re aping and, post-lawsuit, they were subsequently redesigned to look more distinct – twice! Thus there are three versions of some of these girls – and luckily two of the face styles are equally as appealing – I might even prefer initial the post-lawsuit look a little more? It has a certain impish charm to it, almost reminiscent of some of Disney’s older Tinkerbell dolls. It seems at this point they may have also changed the name to Fashion Star (at least in some territories) as I have found one boxed example of this face mold being sold under this name.
Unfortunately the final face sculpt (and where the line was rebranded as ‘Girlz‘) looks uh… a little bit scuffed to be frank, entering into the uncanny valley, especially when put beside the earlier releases. Both iterations of the series were marked as being connected to Simba’s flagship doll, Steffi Love, which only furthered the My Scene connection (My Scene being a sub-line of Barbie after all) and the later Girlz release continued on long enough to produce at least one male doll – a rarity for most doll lines, let alone lookalikes such as these!
Finally My Style is also a name shared with what appears to be an entirely unconnected line of different My Scene bootlegs which appear to be straight-up mold copies…!
UNCATEGORISED
It’s hard to group these in any other way as they encompass the most variations due to the lawsuit and mold changes, as well as intermingling with the more defined Girlz line in places.
Blonde/Pink Cyber Outfit – My god, I need her. I love this sort of metallic cyber y2K fashion sorely absent from modern fashion dolls outside of high-end collectibles. As you can see she also sported a maroon cardigan in at least one release, and given that’s what’s pictured on the box, I’m inclined to believe it’s the very first release, and was then removed (to save money I guess?) in subsequent editions. Finally, as far as I can tell, this doll was not included in the Girlz line.
Blonde/Pink Fluffy Cardigan – Another adorable and surprisingly high-quality outfit. As far as I can tell, this doll was not included in the Girlz line.
Black Hair/Black Leather Jacket – This gorgeous girl is the only boxed example I’ve seen under the name ‘Fashion Star‘ but the box back features her My Style setmates so I assume they were also included…? As far as I can tell, this doll was not included in the Girlz line.
Black Hair/Green & White Outfit – The ‘Girlz‘ iteration of this doll has white streaks in her hair, worn down as opposed to straight brown in a ponytail like her earlier releases.
Brunette/Gold Pants – According to the seller of the doll, she was actually produced with brown eyes and the grey-eyed one pictured here (and on the packaging) is a prototype. She appears to be amongst the hardest to find as I have yet to locate an in-box image and, finally, I do not believe she was included in the Girlz line.
Brunette/Pink Pleather Coat – As far as I can tell, this doll was not included in the Girlz line.
BOYS
Much like the doll line it’s emulating, My Style/Fashion Star also included male dolls – again with surprisingly decent quality outfits!
STARZ (GIRLZ)
I’m assuming what differentiates this set is the metal jewelry perhaps? It’s featured prominently on the box back at least. You probably couldn’t have gotten away with including a cross necklace with a playline fashion doll in the States but given these were primarily distributed in Europe and they seem to be a bit more chill about that kind of stuff over there, it didn’t experience any pushback.
Brunette/Striped Tank Top – I think that’s a scarf she’s got around her neck?
Black Hair/Purple Blouse – That’s definitely an interesting choice of skirt!
Blonde/Pink Top – I adore the outfit!
FASHIONZ (GIRLZ)
Fittingly for the line name, these girls come with a full second outfit. There’s at least four but as one wasn’t pictured on the box realistically I have no clue how many there actually are…
Brunette/Tiger Stripe Jacket – Awesome outfit aside you can really see the downgrade on the faceup comparing the prototype on the box back and the final doll – those blue outlines and little star-shaped catchlights really make her look a whole lot better so I’m baffled as to why they went with, well, the final product.
Black Hair/Gold Jacket – This outfit looks vaguely familiar – I feel like there’s a Barbie Fashion Avenue set that looks similar?
Blonde Hair/Pink Leather Pants – I really hope this girl was actually produced, I adore this outfit!
GALA (GIRLZ)
Your standard formal line – but notable for the inclusion of a male character! Given their slimbox, budget nature I can’t help but wonder if these were amongst the last to be produced though…
Brunette Boy – This bloke’s sporting 2003’s finest, reminding me of the frontman of Smash Mouth in his fashion sense lol.
NYC Girl
This is a line of plush Bratz lookalikes released by Teddy INC in 2002, ostensibly as souvenirs you’d buy when visiting New York!
Scampz
Another infamous bootleg line in the Bratz community with a pretty hilarious name, I have seen a number of people recounting tales of asking for Bratz for Christmas or a birthday, only to wind up with one of these instead! From what I can tell they seem to have been distributed in the United States, Australia and the Philippines, so a kind of random distribution.
As almost all of these are in awful shape when they show up (as they’re pretty poorly made) I will just be grouping them en masse, by hair colour. Despite their cheapness, they are actually marked on the back of the head, so can be relatively easily identified – and that aside they are fairly large, almost 1/3 scale compared to Bratz’s 1/6 scale.
Sweet Sirens/Spicy Girls are the same line distributed under two different companies at some point in the 00s (possibly circa 2005-2006), with no differences aside from packaging and character names. The English-language release (Sweet Sirens) was distributed by Powco, and their distribution range seems to have skewed more towards European countries as opposed to North America whilst their Chinese-language release (Spicy Girls/辣妹) was distributed by Huawei and obviously distributed in Chinese-speaking countries – I am unsure which, if either, came first as their boxes are undated for both releases.
Finally, all the Spicy Girls names aside from Amy are a guess based on proximity to the picture of the character to the text on the box back. as we don’t currently have images of any MIB Spicy Girls other than Amy…!
Thanks to houseofmous I can give you her Chinese language bio (translated via Google Translate so it’s not perfect lol – if anyone is fluent and can provide a better translation please let me know!);
Red Hot Scooter – At the very least Tessa was included with the scooter but I am unsure of other characters (possibly Adrie? See below for details). She is identical to her single release doll.
Car – I was previously unaware but houseofmous let me know that this line also had a car! I am unsure if the Adrie pictured was included with the car or the scooter which is also included in this lot though.
We Teens
Unleashed into the world by Wilco at some point in the 00s, We Teens had an incredibly extensive product line for a series that many think of as ‘just dollar store dolls‘ – even sporting a surprisingly well-designed website with bios, character art, voice clips and music, as seen above!
Ok, so much has happened since my last post (https://crystallinetoybox.wordpress.com/2024/03/02/quest-for-a-memory-my-search-for-genie-moose-toys-crystal-ponies/) – namely I was contacted by the wonderful Ribbon, who had been on her own quest to gather information on this line, and both had both vastly more success than I did and was kind enough to share her findings with me! We now have enough information to actually make a guide of sorts, hence I thought it warranted a separate post!
This article couldn’t have been possible without you guys commenting your information and memories, so as well as Ribbon, I’d also like to give special thanks to Jelena Piha, Lorena Jovičić, Mary, Kat, sunsparkleandrainbows and The Historical Toy Society of Australia for providing photos and information! It has truly been a team effort and I couldn’t have done it alone ❤
Crystal Ponies are a line created and sold by by Moose Toys in Australia and licensed for distribution in Croatia, Sweden and Denmark by Genie Toys circa 2006 – this information can gleaned by this archive of Genie Toys’ licensed products page, which lists the license holder as Moose, hereby figuring out the whole deal with who created vs who licensed them once and for all.
They are small, hard plastic ponies with removable sculpted manes and rooted tails, and feature an embedded crystal heart on their chest – with some of them sporting a light up feature for this heart, so be careful if you are planning to clean one! Also included is a Crystal Charm, which serves as a charm for you (and is representative of that pony’s power) and flexible plastic clothing pieces – mostly wings and skirts.
Please note that due to the mix and match aspect of the manes and accessories, loose ponies may not be sporting their original looks, and it become somewhat difficult to differentiate different releases of the same characters from eachother!
Basic Pack
These are your basic single ponies – there are six in total, comprising of two of each of the three main characters in two different variations of their main ‘theme’ and in one of two poses. The full set pic above is courtesy of the wonderful The Historical Toy Society of Australia ❤
There is a bit of confusion regarding which base ponies actually released with which version as they seem to be swapped for all in-hand examples I’ve found for Misty and Summer (strangely Coral seems to be immune to this phenomenon!) – the stock images could be incorrect or kids could have simply swapped them around, as encouraged by the marketing haha. I’ve labelled them as per stock images but until we find an in-hand MIB example, this will remain a mystery!
Coral (V2: Blue hooves, raised front leg) – Coral maintains a consistent theme between all her releases haha, and this one has a very awesome seahorse tail/skirt too!
Misty (V1: Cherry pink hooves, all four feet on ground) – Misty, our nature girl! Her accessories are being modeled by her V2 counterpart in both in-hand pics.
Misty (V2: Pink hooves, raised front leg) – Misty’s second look has her sporting a bridal theme! It made her almost unrecognizable so I actually thought she was a different character until I was provided the pic of the full set haha. The in-hand pics show her V1 counterpart modelling her accessories 🙂
Summer (V1: Yellow hooves, raised front leg) – I guess her name vaguely fits the celestial theme she has going on (summer = sun = the sky?) but it’s not a connection I would’ve drawn immediately haha
Summer (V2: Pink hooves, all four feet on ground) – Summer’s second basic actually has her theme matching her name!
Mum and Baby Pack
There are three mum and baby sets; one for each of the main characters! Unlike their mothers, the babies have symbols, presumably instead of a crystal heart. The full set pic above is courtesy of the wonderful The Historical Toy Society of Australia ❤
Coral and Baby Pearl (Teal hooves, raised front leg) – My childhood set, the one that started it all and the only one we have a clear stock image of – but even then, you can’t make out the baby’s name! If you squint it looks like it might be ‘Wave/Waves‘ or ‘Pearl‘? EDIT: According to Mary, my guess was correct, and it is indeed Pearl!
Misty and Baby Daisy – Misty’s in-hand vs stock image probably makes it the clearest that they are either prototypes being shown in the stock pics or some really whack colour grading on Moose’s part haha. Stock image is courtesy of The Historical Toy Society of Australia and the in-hand pic was sourced by Ribbon, but I couldn’t caption the pics with this gallery type (had to use a different one to accommodate how long the in-hand image is!).
Summer and Baby Twinkle – Of all the mum and baby sets, it seems that Summer and her baby are seemingly the hardest to find! Strange given they’re the pink ones – you’d think they’d be more abundant!
Stables
Again, the description is reflective of there being three main characters/ponies, as they each receive their own stable. Lorena Jovičić has indicated that the ponies included with the stable also sported the electronic light up heart feature – and her recollection was proven true when clearer stock images (Courtesy of The Historical Toy Society of Australia) of MIB examples resurfaced!
This collection also features a new ‘striding’ pose exclusive to this collection, presumably created to facilitate the electronic aspect. Due to this combination of factors, the Stable ponies are the easiest to identify even when sans all accessories.
Sapphire Sky with Summer (Blue hooves, striding, light up heart) –
Crystal Ponies Castle
The token big fancy castle playset, I didn’t think it was sold in Australia but as the pic above originates from Moose’s own site it seems it was! It includes our fourth known character, Queen Rose, who sports a light-up heart and her unnamed puppy friend.
Image soured by Ribbon!Image sourced by Ribbon!Image sourced by Ribbon!Image sourced by Ribbon!
Queen Rose is, as far as I can tell, the only Crystal Pony with a completely white body, golden hooves and red crystal heart, so she should be easy to distinguish even when she lacks her accessories. Although her box art shows her with a pink tail, the only in-hand pic we seem to be able to locate shows her with a pink/orange tail blend similar to Coral. We also have no visuals for her puppy friend!
Mystery Accessories
I was contacted by the lovely Kat who informed me that she owns the Stable (Sapphire Sky) Summer’s mane and skirt in entirely different colours – and she was nice enough to provide pictures too! It’s currently unknown if this is a colour variation for the Stable Summer set or if there was an entirely different set utilising the same sculpt.
Kat obtained these pieces in Sweden but is unsure if they were new or secondhand when she bought them. It’s possible this is a batch variation as per country but I’ve not seen enough sets to be able to tell that haha. If you know the origins of these pieces, please feel free to comment below!
SO that’s everything we’ve discovered so far! I’m honestly amazed this much was able to be uncovered as it felt like it’d all been lost to the mists of time until very recently…! I can’t thank Ribbon enough for making this article possible either! 😀
*pic not illustrative of what’s in my store currently 😅
Like the box says, I have some dolls for sale!
I don’t believe it’s anything I’ve actually documented on here, but mainly dolls I’ve received as part of bundles/lots/etc. New Moon Sindy, Janay, Bratz, Barbie, Make Me Up Darlings… I’ll likely keep adding to it as I continue to sort my collection 😅
Here is the link to my eBay store – I’m based in QLD, Australia but happy to ship anywhere in the world! 💕
I’m SO beyond happy Yummi-Land is making a return in one form or another, but I wondered what they’d look like as fashion dolls? Instead of taking inspiration from the originals (aside from the iconic bottle packaging!) I went with the fact that the YL girls remind me of the Powerpuff Girls with their proportions and being superheroes in the show and whatnot, so these teen versions of the characters were in turn inspired by the teenage designs of the PPG that you see in the episode ‘The City of Clipsville’!
This in turn informed the fashion choices – well this and the time period the original line released in – Y2K! I’m SUPER proud of these, and I likely came up with way more details than needed haha.
The lipgloss phones are equal parts inspired by the 2000s as well as the transformation items in PreCure where their fairies combine with said gadgets to let them access their powers!
There’s no western fashion dolls with these proportions on the market that I know of, but hopefully people appreciate this sort of stylised look as much as I do! I envisioned the arms and legs detaching at the elbows/knees to allow for redressing, and the feet are essentially a wider version of the Vi & Va feet (also by MGA!), whilst the bottle serves as a display for the doll and opens from the bottom like the originals did, except there’s a ankle grip stand moulded to the bottom piece too.
Bianca was actually the one I drew last, funnily enough! Her instruction sheet calls her something like ‘Princess’ Bubblegum from memory (preliminary name and not wanting to get in trouble with Cartoon Network I’d imagine lol). I don’t think anyone realised but her outfit is a loose reference to a certain film starring Megan Fox…
Piper was, conversely, actually the second one I drew! I’m not sure it’s super clear but her cardigan (and shoes!) are meant to be like a crushed velvet material whilst her dress is that micro-sequined almost holographic stretch fabric with a peach blossom motif. she also gave me the most trouble balancing her look as I kept thinking she looked a bit too plain but I think I managed a balance in the end…?
Maya, whose lack of name alliteration annoys me, actually has my favourite motif – and favourite silhouette! Her overalls material is meant to be corduroy, not denim, if you’re wondering!
Callie was the first one I drew – the one who started it all! She got the classic Y2K ‘princess’ motif with the velvet tracksuit and glittery camisole top, but my favourite part are her shoes which are the classic blocky wedge sandals but styled as cake slices haha.
Rory, another victim of no-name-alliteration, has another design I really wound up loving. Her shirt has ‘BERRY’ spelled out in little rhinestones and her headphones are meant to plug into her earring holes to sit securely (which is why she doesn’t have earrings unlike the other girls).
Greta is another design that gave me trouble, this time with being way too monochromatic but I think I managed to balance it in the end, again? The motif on her sweater is meant to be like, super stylised grapes, and she has a long-sleeved turtleneck underneath.
Series Two
Weew, series two of my Yummi Land Pop Model girls!
I actually had a lot of issues with them as you may notice they don’t have the phone glosses – this is because their numnoms have yet to be shown and it really threw me for a loop …
Eventually I compromised with a cute juice/soda gloss and let’s just say they get the phone glosses when they become full-fledged heroes (tying into the animated show’s plot now) haha.
Amber was the final design I completed, and she gave me a lot of trouble haha. The longer hair is meant to carry on the flame motif, much like her original hair, whilst her dress is meant to be denim, with the flame motifs being glitter embroidery patches.
Nia has a definite sleepover theme, much like her original doll, hence the light (well, comparatively light) makeup. Her lips are meant to be like the sheer shimmer Lip Smackers back in the day
Susie was my first design for this wave and I had an immediate vision for her lol.
Britney wound up heavily inspired by Space Channel 5 and Bratz Live in Concert!
Roxie is very much scene/rave inspired, but also quite a bit of an 80s influence too? I really don’t know what you’d call this haha, but I’m super pleased with it.
Ava & Avery – Our special edition 2-pack! I loved coming up with the packaging (it’s meant to be reusable so you can display them in it, much like the bottles for the other Pop Model dolls) and getting their outfits to coordinate but still show their personalities.
Finally, their lip glosses are very much inspired by Lip Smackers’ Sponge-On Layer Cake glosses from back in the day, except that Avery’s gloss is tinted whilst Ava’s is a clear glitter topper – so you can use them separately, or together!
As you may have seen by my previous article on Mystikats, I wound up going down the rabbithole of all things pertaining to the now-defunct company Playhut Inc, which led me to a Xianyu listing for these wonderfully colourful Bratz-like heads, clearly marked as Playhut Inc 2006. It took a bit of digging, but these ladies are from a very obscure line called Princess Prancers! Released in 2005 and apparently attempting to compete with both Bratz and G3 My Little Pony simultaneously, these are one of the precious rare examples of playline centaur dolls, and I couldn’t be more excited to uncover them! Unfortunately these guys are so rare that there are no MIB images of them (in fact only a partial image of the packaging can be found as of writing), and genuinely more pictures exist of their factory second heads than complete dolls… Nonetheless I will do my best to document them here!
Frustratingly I have found a link to a press kit which was provided to a blogger circa 2005 but even on Wayback Machine NONE OF THE IMAGES WERE ARCHIVED, AAAAAAAAAGH! I could throw something but I’ll leave the link here in hopes someone better at archival stuff might be able to retrieve something…
“Princess Prancers is a line that literally combines a lovely little doll with a pretty pony. The wings, tails, and clothes can be swapped for coordinating fun. Aimed at three to five year olds, the line will include a rare chase figure called “Golden Angel”.”
Given the blurb above, it’s likely that the characters were individually named, which surprised me as I assumed Playhut would be reluctant to trademark more than 4 female names at a time (cough, Mystikats, Mystixx, cough). I think this might be the earliest example I’ve seen for a ‘chase figure’ being a part of a doll line too!
(22/03/2025) EDIT: According to reddit user Ok_Competition2398, they discovered the names were listed on Playhut’s archived website from the time! There are nine characters, as follows; Yellow Surprise, Aqua Kiss, Orange Burst, Rainbow Sherbet, Raspberry Punch, Blue Mist, Violet Rose, Pink Powder and, of course, the limited edition doll Golden Angel! Colour me shocked that Playhut actually came up with more than four names, and names aping MLP at that haha.
This also led to me digging around the site – and there was indeed a dedicated Princess Prancers site at the time! Unfortunately it seemingly never updated from the ‘coming soon’ page (as you can see here – https://web.archive.org/web/sitemap/http://www.princess-prancers.com/) so I guess they didn’t sell well enough for Playhut to put any more effort into them 😦
Now to figure out who’s who… I’ll label the characters with my best guesses but the asterisk indicates that none of these are actually confirmed, this is just my guess based on the hair/name colour correlation.
Image courtesy of DeviantArt user a8702131Image via Xianyu (listing has vanished so I cannot attribute the seller!)
*Rainbow Sherbet – Purple hair with orange and hot pink streaks down the part line, iridescent tinsel. Lavender body, pink wings, light blue top.
*Yellow Surprise – Blonde hair, pink body, pink wings, red top. Symbol appears to have been removed with acetone, and gold tinsel has possibly also been removed as per head photo.
*Orange Burst – Orange hair, small lavender streaks, multicolour tinsel.
*Raspberry Punch – Hot pink/cerise hair with tiny lavender and yellow streaks, multicolour tinsel. The left head shown exhibits either staining or vinyl breakdown around the upper lip area.
Pink Powder – Pink hair with blue under layer, iridescent tinsel. The left head shown exhibits either staining or vinyl breakdown around the chin and forehead area.
The rightmost image is courtesy of eBay seller flowergirl150 who not only confirms the name Pink Powder (my guess was correct!) but also states that the doll shown is a prototype – which explains the mismatched lower body as all the other in-hand pics the tail matches the hair. Given the tail is gold with tinsel I believe this is possibly Golden Angel’s? Also notable is that the flank symbol is missing.
*Blue Mist – Purple hair, iridescent tinsel.
*Golden Angel – Yellow with blue streaks, gold tinsel. It is the unique gold tinsel which makes me feel that this is indeed Golden Angel.
*Violet Rose – Purple hair with dark blue and pink streaks, iridescent tinsel, blunt cut bangs. Body shown is unrelated.
In writing my Mystikats article, I wound up coming across the portfolio of Eric Zhang, who worked for Playhut back in the day – and amongst his portfolio images was this! Although unlabelled this is undoubtedly an early sculpt for Princess Prancers!
So there you go, literally everything I can dig up on Princess Prancers! I hope in the future I can gather more information, but at present that’s all I’ve got haha. If you’ve got any info to contribute please comment below! ❤
Crystalline Toybox 
