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Saturday, June 17, 2017

Queen Hippolyta: Barbie Black Label Wonder Woman Series

It's not often you get a lot of "Mom dolls" out there, aka, dolls that are the mother of an important character.  It's certainly not often you get a "Queen Warrier Mom" doll, either so when I found out Mattel was releasing Wonder Woman's mama, Queen Hippolyta, I knew I had to have her! 

Bought on Amazon for $43.70

Before I get started on her review, I wanted to post a few photos I took of my other favorite Wonder Woman doll, Diana Princess & Hidden Sword Doll.  
She's such a beauty! 




I ended up doing a video review of her on my YouTube when she first came out if you are interested in checking her out! 

                                          

Anyway, on to the Queen!! :) 


I haven't been able to see the movie yet, but I've heard it was excellent.  As someone who is a huge Wonder Woman fan, and as someone who is extremely easy to please, I'm sure I will love it!  I'm really excited to see the backstory of Wonder Woman and where she came from.

For those that prefer a video review, please click here!  If you prefer blog style, then keep reading. :)



As you can see from the box, the detail is fairly simplistic and honors WW's signature colors of blue, red and gold.


The back of the box shows a photo of the beautiful Danish actress who portrays Queen Hippolyta, Connie Nielson.  She is most famously recognized to me as the character, Lucilla from the movie, Gladiator.



The side of the box features the same photo of Queen Hippolyta as well as the Wonder Woman logo. 
The opposide side of the box is just the clear plastic that extends over from the front. 


Here she is in all her glory.
She stands at 12 inches in height and her accessories include a plastic stand, sword, cape and shield.
Out of the box, I think she is GORGEOUS and they did a really nice job of capturing the likeness of Connie.


Still shot of Connie Nielson as Queen Hippolyta from Wonder Woman. 
Photo credit:  IMDB


The stand is a "thigh gripper" style which is nice as it's very well hidden underneath the doll's garments.


Because she is a Black Label collector doll, she comes with a Certificate of Authenticity.


Her tarnished, golden shield has a beautiful design comprised of birds flying around the sun with geometric shapes and feels to me to have a Grecian/Roman influence.
Although I didn't take a photo, the shield is held onto her forearm with 2 elastic bands and is very easy to put on or take off.


Her sword is decorated with the tiniest symbols in some sort of ancient language significant to the Amazon race that Wonder Woman comes from.


If you click on the photo, you can see even more detail.  I am so impressed!


Along each forearm, she has gold and copper colored armor. You can also see she has double jointed elbows and wrist articulation. :)


Each hand has painted on hand wraps.  One hand is in a fist, and the other is open to hold her sword.


Her thigh-high boots also share the gold/copper color scheme and still allow articulation of the knees.  The paint has a nice sheen to it.


The armor suit itself is nicely detailed and sculpted to mold her body.  I'm not sure if there is an easy way to remove this as I did not see any open seams in the back, so you may have to "have at it" with an X-acto knife, but I was really impressed with the level of detail on her body suit.


The suit armor extends downward in front of her body and is hard unflexible plastic.  This limits her movement slightly.  Her "battle skirt" consists of a wrap around faux snakeskin fabric with a large front panel allowing easy leg movement.
Battle fashion never looked so good. 


Another stunning feature of this doll is her long and elegant sleeveless cape that is made out of a very soft, tan fabric.  It's nicely made and has a faux fur trim collar that blends in with her hair color.  I think this was a great design choice as it makes the overall back of the doll appear more seamless.


With the cape removed, you can see more detail of her body armor. The design of this character's costume is very nice and Mattel did an excellent job of translating that to the design of the doll (in my opinion)!


Each shoulder has a removable piece of gold and copper armor. 


She also wears a fitted crown/tiara that is attached to her hair with two gold threads. 


I love the detail they put into the texture and design of this crown. 



Her hair is an ashy blonde color (although it looks very golden in this lighting) and reminds me of the hair color they used in some of my old 80s Barbies.  She has two tiny braids extending from both sides.
It's not the best looking hair out of the box, but I think with a boil wash and some styling, it will look nice.


Hippolyta has a beautiful face and the sculpt was designed specifically for this doll.  She has slightly side-glancing blue eyes with a light blue highlight, dark straight brows, light blush and dusty rose glossy lips. She has really defined and pretty cheekbones and nice definition in the chin.

I'm not too crazy about her hair "bump" so I think that has to go eventually.  :)


Her profile shows a beautiful straight nose and you can see more of the cheekbone and chin definition.  I love her little ear! 


"Hi, Mom"
Hidden Sword Wonder Woman with Queen Hippolyta



Overall, this doll is a stunner and one of my favorite Barbie Collector dolls I've gotten to date (to be fair, I don't have many).  She embodies my love of superheros, Wonder Woman, girl power and mommy power all in one doll and I am thrilled to have her in my ever growing WW collection.
I'm excited to eventually get Antiope as well and I'm almost tempted to get a 2nd Hippolyta to customize because I love her face so much. :)


Have you guys seen the new Wonder Woman movie yet?  I know it's not for everyone, but if you did see it, I'd love to hear your thoughts.  Are you planning to collect any of the Wonder Woman dolls? I know Emily from the Toybox Philosopher just did a review of the Wonder Woman dolls so I'm excited to check out her post!


Until next time, I'll be catching up on all of your blogs and can't wait to hear about the new dolly treats you've gotten as well.
See you next time!

xoxo Farrah

Amazon  Affiliate links included.  Thank you so much for your support! 

Thursday, June 1, 2017

New 2017 Barbie Fashionistas on Amazon (Spring Release) :)

UPDATED WITH NEW DOLLS as of 6/6!

Hey again!
So while browsing through the new Hearts for Hearts dolls on Amazon, I also realized that some of the new 2017 Barbie Fashionistas have started popping up as well!
Some are available now, and some are not, but still have really nice promo photos, so I just wanted to share. :)




Looks like a regular body size. 
Available for $9.99


I think she's a regular body size. 
Not yet available (gorgeous face!!)







I think she's a petite, but not sure. 
Available now for $9.99


I think she's a tall one. 
Now available for $9.99.




I think she's a regular size. 
Not yet available. 


Curvy size. 
Now available for $9.99. 




Curvy size. 
Available for $9.99

Looks like a tall body size. 
Not yet available.


Barbie Fashionista #69. 
Not yet available.


I think this guy is new!  He's pretty cute and I like his molded hair.  It would be nice to see some articulation though. 
He's available for $14.99

I always get excited for the new Fashionistas!  I haven't found any of these in the store yet, but I usually like to see them in person and pick out the one I like with the best face, but it's really tempting to order some of those new ones now as who knows how long it will take to come to my area. 

So far my favorites are #59, #62, #67, #68, #69 and Ken :)
Actually, I like all of them. 

I'm going to hold off for now as both the girls have birthdays in June, so I can't really buy for myself right now!!  Expect for the American Girl doll I just bought off eBay yesterday (!!).  Whoops.  
(More on her later!) 


Will you be adding any to your collection? 
If so, happy shopping!

Amazon affiliate links included ;)