As some of you may already have figured out, this is the “accidental post” that I mentioned in my last post :)
I have thought for some time about doing a review on Lia, my Kidz n Cats Sophie doll. For some reason, it just hadn’t gotten done… Until today!
In case you don’t know what Kidz n Cats dolls are, or have never seen them, here is some basic information before you read my review:
- They are made in Germany by Sonja Hartmann
- They are 18” tall, like American Girl Dolls, but are “slim”
- They are made completely of hard vinyl, their bodies are not cloth
- The Kidz n Cats line includes boy and girl dolls
- Their ability to perform realistic poses makes them popular among doll collectors/photographers
I tried to make this review as thorough as possible, so it is kind of long with lot of pictures.
To start off, we will begin with the basic structure of the doll.
She is made of hard vinyl, and has eleven joints. These joints are at her neck, shoulders, elbows, wrists, legs at hips, and knees. The ball and socket joints allow movement in almost any direction (which we will get to later on in this post).
I am pleased with the quality of Lia’s soft hair. It is made of kanekalon, which is what American Girl doll hair is made of. It is very long and thick.
It is not one single color of hair, but at least 3 different shades.
The wig is a parting wig, which means it does not have a sewn in part. Therefore, you could change her part to anywhere on her wig and it would look natural, which allows for a larger variety of hairstyles. On Lia, her wig cap can be seen from above, and also slightly from the front in certain styles.
Her hands have slightly blushed fingernails and creases on the fingers and palms.
The rotation of her arm and the shape of her hand allow her to hold small or larger objects without assistance.
Her feet also have blushed nails. Her feet are larger than AG doll’s, so she does not fit into most of the doll shoes I have. The shoes she wears in this post are from Hobby Lobby. I find these to be the best option for an inexpensive shoe for her.
Her eyes are set in (they don’t open or close) and are incredibly detailed.
I used the eyedropper in Paint to grab the different colors of her eyes. According to Paint her eyes have these colors: (although I can see more colors than just these shades)
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Top left - Outer ring of eye
Top right - Lightest color found while using the eyedropper
Bottom left - A shade of blue found inside the eye
Bottom right - Pupil of the eye |
Her eyes are framed with long, lovely eyelashes. The top has glued on lashes in addition to painted, and the bottom has painted.
Unfortunately, Lia’s left eyelash has come slightly unglued. It might be difficult to tell, so I have pointed it out in the picture below.
The next picture shows the shape of her ear.
Now we'll move on to Lia’s range of motion. I have had Lia for over a year, and over that time her joints have loosened up a bit. When I first got her, she could not bend her legs so much when sitting. It was also difficult for her to stand. I have noticed over time that she her range of motion has improved, but she still stands better with a pair of shoes and often needs to be tilted slightly forward.
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| Seated on the ground, she can sit with her legs pretty much in front of her |
Lia has got her middle splits down...
…As well as both her right and left splits.
Her arms can be held up...
...And front to back. When I attempt to make them go side to side, they pull back to the frontwards position.
Her head can be looking up to the sky…
Or down to the ground a little…
When turning her head to the side, she can turn it upwards as well.
Her head can turn in each direction far enough for her to be almost directly facing backwards.
Now let’s look at Lia in comparison to Maggie (AG Rebecca).
Maggie has a different build than Lia, which explains why Kidz n Cats dolls are called “slim 18 inch dolls”. Although they are the same height, they have different body measurements. The clothes I have made for my AG dolls usually don’t fit Lia. In this review, Lia wore:
Shirt - Made by me from the free Pixie Faire “Trendy T-shirt” pattern
Shorts - Made by me, based on her meet pants
Shoes - Hobby Lobby
In summation, I would say that my Kidz n Cats Sophie is a great doll for photography. Because of her joints, she can do many realistic poses. However, I don’t feel too comfortable standing her up for an outdoor photo shoot, as I am afraid she would lose balance and fall over.
Would you like to see Lia (Sophie) in her meet outfit?Disclaimer – I am not affiliated with any doll company and this review is 100% my own opinion.
