Doll-A-Day 232: Review of Ai Phlox Ball Jointed Doll

  Today is the last day of review week. Tomorrow is Skipper Saturday.  Today's doll is another Ai doll. It's Phlox.

Like all the dolls in this line, Phlox is named after a flower. Real phlox looks like this:

 And this...

Phlox comes in the same book style box as the other Ai dolls in this line.

The lid is held shut with strong magnets, but opens easily if you hold the base down.

The inside is covered by a clear plastic that just lifts out.

Phlox and her accessories are nestled in a cushioned satiny insert.All the accessories just lift out. They include a pillow, a hat,her shoes, and a box of eye putty, to use to position her eyes.

Her hat is stuffed, lined with fabric to match her dress, and closes in front with Velcro.

 Phlox herself is held in by two ribbons,one at her throat and one around her ankles.

 As usual with these dolls, the ribbon around the neck is hard to dig out.

 

Once the ribbons are untied she lifts out. As with the other Ai dolls, her arms are covered in plastic.

...which easily slips off.

Lest you are wondering why she has red ribbons on her socks when she has a blue and pink outfit... 

She has red and white gingham undies!

She has cute shoes with real buckles. The soles are a bit thick though.(You can see them farther down this post.)

They even have tread on the bottoms.(Although you can't see it here. Keep going.)

 Although it looks layered, her dress is one piece and closes in the back with Velcro.

Again, as usual with Ai dolls, she can't really hold her giant accessory.

She has to sit and hold it on her lap.(Notice the tread on the shoes.Finally!)

The Ai dolls all seem to have very tight stringing.They can do various poses with their hands, but have trouble bringing them in close to, for example, hold their fat accessories,or touch their face. Other than holding that pillow,Phlox seems a little better at it than my others.

 .
 And she can use her hands to explore the world.

Look. The last of the sweet peas.

I don't think anybody ever told her that it's not polite to point.

 And then, of course, you have to relax, because exploring the world is tiring.(I sound like Eloise.)

And then you're ready to get up and do more stuff...

I think the tiny Fisher Price lawn mower goes to the chubby Little People.

Phlox, like all the Ai dolls has a removeable wig, held on by Velcro strips on her head and her wig. Her wig, unlike,Hyacinth's, the Ai doll I reviewed yesterday, is nice and tight. Due to this, and the tiny curls on the back of her head...

...and my hair-doing disability, I'm not even going to remove her wig. So I'm showing you Coreopsis's head.

The joint is covered by clear plastic.

 Once the plastic seal is slid off, the head can be opened to change the eyes. They can be repositioned for side glancing looks, cross eyed if you want,or you can change the eyes entirely from one doll to another, or buy other eyes. I believe the size these dolls take is 4-5.

The head is held closed by a set of strong magnets. The metal ring holds the elastic that strings the doll together. The pointy thing in the middle is the device that holds the eyes. Uh...yeah. Good luck with that...

 The Ai dolls have plastic eyes and come with eye putty to hold them in place. (Because once you open that head the eye holder pops out, and I challenge anybody to get that thing back in and the head closed again and still have the eyes not look goofy before you can get it closed!)
 Phlox has bright blue eyes.

She has tiny stripes on her lips, but the stripes aren't noticeable as stripes unless you look REALLY close. Like the dots in an impressionist painting the stripes look like one colour from a normal distance.

The eyes have beautiful detail.

 The Ai dolls are made of plastic, not resin like the more expensive ball jointed dolls. It's very smooth feeling plastic though. It feels so nice to the touch.

Phlox has a different head mold from any of my other Ai dolls.

She has an 'open eye mold'. But she has almost a smiling face, where as my other 'open eye' Ai dolls, Leptospurmum and Coreopsis, have a pouty face.

Leptospurmum. He was reviewed back around March.

Coreopsis. He was reviewed this summer.

 The other two molds are 'closed eye'...
 

...like yesterday's Hyacinth...

 ...and 'sleepy eye'.

...like Bee Balm, who I reviewed around March too.

  See you tomorrow for Skipper Saturday.