Last year, The Queen’s Treasures debuted their first 18″ doll. Known mostly for furniture and accessories, this was a new direction for them. They paired their first foray into the 18″ doll market with one of their big licenses, “Little House on the Prairie”. The Queen’s Treasures was kind enough to send a Laura Ingalls doll out to me for review. I was unsure of exactly how I felt about her, based on promo photos and what I had seen at Toy Fairs the past two years, but now that I’ve seen her and played around with her a bit, I’m happily surprised by how much I am enjoying this doll!
Let’s start off with the basics. Laura is 18″ tall with a mostly vinyl body. She has vinyl limbs and a chest plate. There’s still some stuffing in her torso, but far less than in some 18″ doll lines. Because she’s mostly vinyl, she should balance well. I say should, because, unfortunately, my doll has a wonky leg. One of her legs tilts in, which hinders her from standing easily. However, I have been able to prop her up, even with the leg problem, so I imagine a doll with two perfect legs would stand easily.
She has shoulder and hip joints, but no elbow or knee joints. For the most part, her shoulder joints are pretty basic, going up and down with some tilt out. Her hip joints move up and down, so she sits like your traditional plush bodied 18″ doll, in a V. Laura’s head has the best articulation, though, moving in all directions easily.
The stand out feature of this doll is her adorable face. At first, I wasn’t sure if I liked her face, but after doing a bit of testing with other more contemporary outfits, I’ve settled on liking the quirky expression Laura has. Laura has blue sleep eyes. They move up and down fluidly. Her face is heart shaped, or close to it, with a pointy chin, round cheeks and a large forehead. Freckles are small and light on her cheeks and she has a long, thin grin. This isn’t a face everyone will fall head over heels for, even I had doubts, but it did eventually grow on me.
She’s wigged with a brown wig, done down in two braids. The wigged hair feels nice, but be warned that the braids can easily become undone. The hair is almost too fine to stay in the style. I had to redo them midway through taking photos, because of the braids accidentally getting stuck on the velcro of the outfits I was changing her into. (And if this happens to me, it will definitely happen to young’ins who might be playing out their prairie dreams!)
Laura arrives in her night dress, long and white with a cap. There’s nothing fancy about it. If you’d like her green smock, you’ll have to buy that separately. I kept Laura in her nightgown for a few hours, but then ran to the box of 18″ doll clothing to see if anything else fit her. I tried on both outfits I have from The Queen’s Treasures and found that one fit, while the other didn’t! The vintage Doughnut Girls Dress fit well and looked cute on Laura. It fit a little large, but still didn’t look too big, in my opinion. The vintage Salvation Army Uniform, though, didn’t fit at all. It was very big in the waist and large in the top. (I still love this hat, though!)
For a more contemporary look, I tried on some FibreCraft BUtiful/Springfield Collection outfits made for 18″ dolls. They fit Laura nicely and gave her a push into the modern days. The black skirt was a little tight, but not too tight. The red outfit is American Girl. It is a little long, length wise, but also isn’t a bad fit. (Though, keep in mind, I’ve found most AG outfits to all fit differently, so all outfits may not work.) To be honest, I prefer this face mold with the more contemporary outfits than the nightdress. It wasn’t until I saw her in the modern clothing that I was 100% happy with the look! One quick thing I need to point out. Since Laura arrives in her nightgown, don’t expect any shoes. You’ll need to buy those separately.
The Queen’s Treasures always seems to go an extra step and with Laura that extra bit of pizzazz went into her box design. Laura arrives in a box with a window, so you can see her pretty face. It’s strong and sturdy. Why? Because it can easily be made into a bed for your doll! The bottom of the box is designed to look like a bed and the top, a window. To complete the look and feel, packaged with Laura is a blanket and a pillow. That’s a lot of extra’s when you consider this company is known for selling furniture and accessories. To finish it off, Laura was given a stuffed dolly to sleep with.
Overall, I’m happy with The Queen’s Treasures Laura Ingalls doll. As I mentioned, she may not have a face that will please everyone, but I personally think it’s cute in a quirky sort of way! The only thing I might change is her wig. It was way too easy to snag her braids on the velcro clothing fixtures and I’m usually really careful about that sort of thing.
It was easy to put back into the braids, but I caught the snags early into the photo shoot, so I wonder how easy it would be to fix after a long day of play? It is a soft wig, though, which is nice, so it’s hard to say if the wig is the problem. Ignoring the leg issue with my doll, I also believe the body is pretty well done and you should be able to find some cute outfits for her if you decide to take her out of the prairie days!
You can order The Queen’s Treasures Laura Ingalls doll on their website. Don’t forget to ‘like’ them on Facebook and Twitter, too, for information on new products, sales, etc! What do you think of Laura? Share your thoughts and questions in the comment area!
January 11, 2017. Tags: review, The Queen's Treasures, video review. Introductions & Reviews, Uncategorized.
