Toyology Review: Lalaloopsy Littles Sew Cute Patient

I'd never heard of Lalaloopsy until I began to do a little research and found out that it's quite a big brand of 'rag' dolls. Wikipedia tells me that there are over 50 different characters, of different sizes, with more added all the time. I like the look of them, even though (or maybe because) I watched Coraline and was completely freaked out by things with button eyes. Maybe it's only when people have button eyes that the Fear sets in.

We were sent on of the 'Littles' which are siblings of the larger dolls. Our Patient, despite her eyes, is very cute and though not designed for '4+' my 2 year old daughter loves carrying her patient around.

Patient comes with a variety of accessories - few of which are suitable for my 2 year old. There's a bear which you can 'repair' (or kill) by attaching (or pulling off) his arms, legs and eyes. These parts are tiny and despite me doing my best to keep track of them in case I needed extra photos for the review, we've pretty much lost every piece. The eyes, especially, don't hold in too well and being black their days were numbered as soon as bear came out of the box.

Patient herself comes with a stethoscope which makes a variety of bizarre noises. A cast for her leg which even the most determined dad had trouble getting off and a slipper which was a lot easier. There's a feeding bottle, plus a bottle and cloth which you're supposed to dampen with warm water and then using the power of Heat, make her injuries vanish. This didn't work particularly well. There are a number of 'tips' in the instructions as to how to get this to work better, but we had trouble keeping the cloth warm enough for long enough to get this to work. I drowned the cloth in hot water, but by the time I reached the doll it was too cool. Drowning the doll herself worked a lot better, but isn't really that practical.

I do wonder what age this is aimed at. The tiny bear accessories and cast problems would seem to indicate an older child, but the look would seem, to me, to be targeting younger children.

My 2 year old loves this doll, however with the accessory problems I'd think twice before buying this at full price.