Dolly Review: MiWorld Sweet Factory, O.P.I and DQ

Late December, I wrote about a new toy line called ‘MiWorld’. MiWorld consists of miniature store fronts, like Claire’s, Sweet Factory and DQ. As a fan of realistic miniatures, I was super excited to get my hands on a set. This Christmas, I was lucky enough to get not only one, but three sets!

Before I get into the specifics, here’s a quick rundown. There are two kind of MiWorld sets, deluxe double rooms and single sets. The double room sets are Claire’s and Sweet Factory and consist of two floor pieces and four wall pieces. Deluxe sets also include a Shop Girl! The single room sets include O.P.I, DQ and Sprinkles. They consist of one floor piece and two wall pieces. Each set includes realistic miniature accessories to create a fun, true to life environment. A store with no customers or staff members would be kind of boring, right? So the shop doesn’t turn into a ghost town, a selection of Shop Girls are available for purchase, too, along with smaller accessory packs to add to your store fronts.

Stackable!

MiWorld sets are meant to stack. While currently the cardboard floor of the double rooms leaves no gap for single rooms to be stacked on top of it, I have heard that future sets will correct this issue. At the moment, it’s easiest to stack like rooms on like rooms and to connect deluxe sets to single sets side to side. Of course, those who are crafty could easily create holes in the proper spot to stack single room sets on a double room.

Each set has some smaller than average pieces. The age range on these is seven and up, but if you have a younger child around or even a pet, you’ll want to keep an eye on the pieces and pack them away if they are in reach of those younger than seven.

Sweet Factory

Let’s dive into the MiWorld sets I received during the holidays. We’ll start with the deluxe Sweet Factory. Setting up the Sweet Factory was pretty easy.

Pieces

Once you place the cardboard floor on the two plastic bases or floor boards, all you have to do is ‘click’ the plastic (already decorated) walls into place. An L shaped piece holds the walls together so they aren’t wibbley wobbley. Be careful with the L piece, though, because it likes to pop out when moving the shop. It’s very small and easy to lose.

Sweet Factory

Sweet Factory comes with a good number of accessories to create a realistic world. After setting up the walls, you’ll have to put a few of the pieces together. Also, there’s a lot of stickering. For example, the lollipops are all stickered with a rainbow graphic.

Pieces

Candy Jars

Lollipops and Gumball Machines

Cashier Station

There are a handful of cardboard accessories, namely the mints, chocolate covered raisins and the box of chocolates. Have some double stick tape handy when putting theses together. I found that the packages wouldn’t stay closed without tape.

Shop Girl in Sweet Factory

Sweet Factory comes with its own Shop Girl. This shop girl is scale to the shop. Something to keep in mind is that the shop girl comes apart at the waist. Her feet also come off. I think this is because Jakks Pacific wants them to be customizable. However, since I only have one shop girl, I’m not sure! She has limited jointing, but stands well.

Shop Girl with the Eleventh Doctor

Who else is scale to this set? Well, that’s a bit hard to figure out. I tried multiple dolls in the set and have figured out that, in general, action figures seem to fit. I had the best luck with my Doctor Who action figures. That was a pleasant surprise because up until now, they’ve only had their TARDIS to hang around!

The Doctors in Sweet Factory

The Ninth Doctor in Sweet Factory

‘Are you my mummy? Can you buy me this lollipop?’

Also scale-ish turned out to be my Pokemon action figures from years ago. They usually reside in my AG Mini rooms. Nano Freya, from The Junky Spot, was a smidgen too big, but still works if photographed just right!

Brock, making eyes at the Shop Girl

Nano Freya

Brock, taking a lollipop

Here are a few other size comparisons. You may recognize the others featured in the shots below. In general, Lottie is far too big and the Lalaloopsy mini figures are far too small. Polly Pocket, in the end, was too small, as well.

Lottie vs Shop Girl vs Polly Pocket

The Doctor vs Shop Girl vs Nano Freya

Single Sets

O.P.I is a single room set. While it doesn’t include a Shop Girl, it is a pretty neat room. It has one of my favorite accessories in it– nail polish! It also comes with a salon table, two chairs and a massage chair.

O.P.I

The walls are full of color. I love the energy that this store gives off. The walls look great in photographs, too!

O.P.I

O.P.I had fewer stickers than Sweet Factory. Most were the O.P.I logo. There are a few small pieces in this set. For example, four of the awesome nail polishes come out and are very small. The lamp on the table is two pieces, so when taken apart, those pieces are, also, small.

Nail Polish

O.P.I

Visually, I really do like this room. My only concern is that there might be too much crammed into such a small space. However, any toy with a miniature nail polish display scores high in my book!

O.P.I

Nano Freya in OPI

The Doctors in OPI

DQ, or Dairy Queen, is another fantastically visual set. It has far more accessories than O.P.I and feels a little more open.

DQ comes with a front counter, a table and chair, a cardboard sign and lots of food accessories. As a fan of food related Re-Ment and Iwako erasers, this totally appealed to me! The walls, again, are pretty great.

Mini food items

Again, you’ll want some double stick tape on hand for the cardboard accessories.

Mini food items

I love the ‘kitchen’ in the background and how real it looks when photographed.

Shop Girl (not included) in DQ

The Pokemon Gang in DQ

A Lalaloopsy Mini in DQ

Misty and Shop Girl in DQ

There is an online element to these sets. Unfortunately, it didn’t work for me. If you have an apple device, you can download the app to really make your shops come alive.

Online

My phone, the only thing I would play this on, is an android device and only has access to Google Play. At the moment, the app is not available in Google Play. To be honest, though, the draw for me isn’t the online element of these sets, it’s the sets themselves!

Busy at the Sweet Factory!

The Three Doctors at the Sweet Factory

Checking out at Sweet Factory

Sweet Factory

In the end, I had a lot of fun playing with these MiWorld sets. I don’t have many figures that are scale to these, but it was so much fun photographing what I do have in these mini rooms. I love that they are meant to stack and am happy to hear that future rooms will make it a little easier to stack single rooms onto double room sets without work on the consumers part. The rooms are stable, though you’ll want to keep an eye on the L piece if you’re moving the room. What I love most about these sets has to be the colorful backdrops they have given us and the realistic products.

What do you think of MiWorld? Do you know of another doll that would be the right scale? What shops would you like to see? Share your thoughts below!

Update: One reader asked about how the accessories might work with Pullip dolls. Below are a few reference picture! The pieces are still a bit small, but I think they work relatively well…