Happy Family, a Sylvanian Clone (Review)

I have been buying a number of Sylvanian Families (by Epoch) accessories for my LPS Blythes and Marvel Universe action figures but like most popular toy brands, they are quite expensive for my taste. I'm glad that there is an alternative, the Happy Family. This is a review for the Happy Family extension house. It is similar (but not exactly the same) to the Beechwood extension house and the Summer House. The latter is priced at around US$80 while I got the Happy Family house at around US$16. Now that makes me happy!

The Package

The package was successful in attracting this buyer. The box has a clear window that displays the contents. It also shows photos having the Sylvanian Families vibe all over the box. The language used is Chinese-English (as opposed to British-English and American-English).

 

One thing peculiar is the logo on the box. The original one is covered by a sticker. I doubt it's a misprint. I bet it has a story but I'm not in the mood to speculate.

The Contents

Unlike the Sylvanian play set, this one comes with a lot of items aside from just the house! There is a dining set, a bed and a family of animal dolls. And guess what. Batteries are included (for the light fixture). The quality of the furniture is comparable with the Epoch products.

I only have the Sylvanian furniture but not the dolls so I cannot compare the quality of the dolls. I don't really care about the animal dolls. Apparently, the clones are screwed while the Sylvanians are not according to this review.

I was happy that this house had working lights but it pissed me off to find out that it is blinking, changing color between red and blue. How can a room be peaceful with lights like that? I decided not to turn it on unless there is a party going on.

The bed works good enough for a Happy Family doll but it doesn't work well with my other smaller dolls, except when you pose them sitting on the bed. The Sylvanian bed (lowest right below) wins against the Happy Family bed because of this reason.

Overall  Comment

The bed size and the blinking lights are the only details I considered as flaws. Aside from that, I consider this toy one of the best buys I made this year. I actually bought some more Happy Family items to give as Christmas gifts for my nieces. These are less sexualized than Barbie dolls. I don't have to regret spending a lot of money for something that they could destroy while playing.

This may not be as inexpensive for others especially for online buyers as this is a bulky product, meaning higher shipping cost. This is not a popular brand so it is not widely available. Buying online could be the only option for some.

X-Mansion

I wouldn't really suggest this item to the loyal collectors of Sylvanian Families especially those who believe in brand loyalty like a religion.