Review Time: Maru and Friends Tanya Mini Pals Doll

   It's review time again. This time around we're looking at another Maru and Friends doll. This time it's the Tanya Mini Pals doll. 

The Mini Pals are 13 inches tall. Tanya also comes in the larger, 20 inch size, wearing a knitted dress and hat, and sporting long, curly hair. The Mini Pals doll is a little different, but still has Tanya's face and tan complexion. Let's start, as usual, with the box. Tanya arrived in a brown packing box.

Inside the packing box was the cheery peach coloured Maru and Friends box, tied with a sheer orange ribbon.

It's probably for appearances, but I find the ribbon makes it easier to get the box out of the packing box.

  Tanya is attached in her box with ribbons and her parts are protected from the ribbons rubbing by Styrofoam sheets.

She's wearing a hairnet to keep her wig neat.

  

A certificate of authenticity is included.

  Tanya has a cute Dianna Effner face sculpt.

She has 'real' lashes and brown glass eyes.

Her iris' have detail in them that give them some depth and realism.

Her brows are made of individual strokes, instead of a solid line. I'm not sure I wouldn't have preferred her lips to be a darker, more realistic pink, but they aren't bad. She also has lightly blushed cheeks. 

Tanya comes with two beautiful wigs. The one she was wearing when her box was opened is the long, crimped style wig. 

It's a mixture of brown, and red shades.

  

It's quite a mane.

The other wig was a long straight wig with bangs.

It has a mixture of colours too. The colour is pretty realistic. I know I never had two hairs the same colour on my head. Is that just red heads, or is everybody that way?

The wigs attach to her head with Velcro. They stay on really well, but I was having some trouble pulling the wigs down over the Velcro all the way. Is that just me? Or is having wig problems with your dolls a common thing? I'm thinking I had an easier time with other Maru and Friends dolls.

  The crimped wig was easier to deal with than the straight one. I found it a little stiff, and it didn't hang as naturally as I would have liked. I'm not good with my own hair, so doll hair has to be easy to deal with or it's beyond my talents.

  Like all Maru and Friends dolls, Tanya is made of a nice smooth vinyl that has a realistic flesh look to it.

  Her hands and feet have some detail, like palm wrinkles and nails.

She even has a belly button.

  She comes wearing a pair of cut off denim shorts.

If she had a belt she could really wear it because the belt loops are real. The pockets are fake, but the snap is an actual working snap.

She also has a pair of white undies.

  On the top she wears a pink  hoodie.     

                                                       

  I keep saying how the quality of Maru and Friends clothing is so good that they're almost like tiny real clothes, and it's true. 

The hoodie has a little drawstring in the hood, (Which, for safety reasons you don't find in real children's clothing these days.), and it actually works.

How cute is that?! The hoodie closes in the back with Velcro.

The hood has a small opening in the back so her hair can be pulled through is she wants to wear her hood up...

... or, of course she can always leave her hair hanging out the front of the hood.

I didn't try it with the crimped wig. That's a lot of hair for the hood, whether you put it in or out. The straight wig was a bit...stiff? for hanging out the front. Not stiff, but not as limp as real hair would be. I mentioned before that this hair doesn't lay naturally like the crimped wig does. It could be the length. I love the colour of the wig, but I prefer the crimped one. Of course, the same goes for my own hair. I always wanted it to do something besides just hang there, and I used to braid it to get that crimped look. (I later got a crimping iron, but it takes forever to crimp this much hair. Braiding is easier!)

  To finish off her outfit, Tanya has a pair of black boots.

They Velcro closed and slip on and off pretty easily.

  

They have a bit of texture to the sole, like all Maru and Friends shoes.

Because you don't want your doll slipping and falling, do you?

  They're nice boots, but she's a kid. I'd like to see her in some cute tennis shoes or something. That would be cute.

Anyway, onto the articulation. Tanya is strung, and has articulation at the neck, shoulders, and hips. Her jointing allows her to tilt her head in cute ways, making her very photogenic.

She can even tilt her head slightly up or down, but not much.

  Her legs can move outward too.

She can even cross her feet too.

  She can stand on her own if balanced properly and given some nice flat ground...which was not available in the woods where she was posing! But she managed to stand.

  So, to sum things up, I like Tanya's chubby cheeks and cute Dianna Effner face sculpt.

Although I might have preferred her lips to be a more natural pink colour.

 

  I like that she has the combo of brown eyes and reddish hair.

As I've mentioned before, it's a combo you rarely get in a doll, and as a red haired, brown eyed person, it's something I always look for. 

  I love the crimped looking wig.

Both wigs are a lovely colour, but I found the straight one looked more artificial.

  I like her cozy hoodie, and the high quality of her clothes.

But I would have liked her to have come with cute shoes instead of boots. 

But of course you can always change her shoes.

  There you have it in, (and out of), a nutshell. As usual, there's nothing I really hate about these dolls. I can nit pick a few things, but overall, beautiful dolls.

  There is currently a contest on the Maru website for a Chad Mini Pal doll. (You can see my review of my Chad HERE.)You can find the contest by clicking the 'contest' heading on the Maru About us page HERE. The last day to enter is June 24th, 2022, so you still have a couple of days. Good luck!