The New Clone on the Block

Xianxian Princess dolls may not be cloning Barbie, but they do appeal to the adult Barbie collectors. Considered as an IT doll clone, they offer the FR vibe (minus the fashion sense), but come at playline Barbie  prices. (Note: Prices may have gone up since I first ordered but there are still other sellers/apps offering at lower prices.)

The 1st doll I got (above) including the two fashion sets shown (sold separately; the hat came with the swimsuit set but the wedge shoes are from my collection) costs less than the discounted Barbie Looks dolls (the ones with the pastel 90s looks)! The Barbie Looks doll came with just one meh look.

The Xianxian Princess dolls only come in two skin tones and I won't be expecting more. There's another clone doll (Mengf) that offers more skin tones but I haven't tried them. I tried another unknown clone doll body and I had a problem color-matching it with Barbie heads. That failure kept me from trying Mengf specially since Mengf doll bodies cost at least twice as much as Xianxian dolls and even that unknown doll body. At least, Xianxian comes with its own head, in case none of the Barbies match.

Unknown Clone Doll

Just like the Miss Melody doll, this unknown clone doll has a cheap hollow plastic body. It also has thinly rooted hair, located only in the middle part. The vintage hairstyle and the austere look got to me so I decided to take her home. Let's call her Cosette from now on.

Miss Melody

This clone doll came packaged like those vintage baggie Barbie dolls. Its body is made of hollow plastic. It had the label "Miss Melody". Aside from the blond hair, the actual doll didn't look like the doll on the label. The doll on the label had round eyes. Her austere expression and almond-shaped eyes appealed to me. Even if her eyes used to be blue, I saw a possibility.

I have been wanting an Asian counterpart for the Barbies with the nostalgic head mold. I don't mean the nostalgic head painted with Asian features like in the BFMC. I want something like Fabiola of Hollywood, but she is hard to get. (Hey, Mattel. Here's an idea. Instead of selling the nostalgic mold all by itself, give her more vintage friends with distinct molds and ethnicity. Rewrite some of what was wrong in Barbie herstory.)

While I wait for the re-imagination of Barbie's past, Miss Melody will have to be one of Barbie's vintage friends. I plucked all her blond hair out. It was just rooted in the middle part, so it wasn't that hard. I painted her eyes brown and lend her a vintage Fashion Queen Barbie wig. She is Miss Melody no more. Let's call her Diyan.

Defa Lucy

 

If you need no bourgeoisie dolls, clones are the way to go. One of the more popular clones comes from the Defa brand, Lucy. She knows how to make a scene with an upcoming relaunch.  Despite the criticism of inclusivity, she do what she do. A doll with Chinese roots, she don't need nobody to tell her how to run it. She got herself some baddies, it's simple as that.

Defa-neatly, we love her once, but will we love her twice with the relaunch? She will run it, run, run it. This is no debut. Will she go the bourgeoisie way? It's time to roll the dice.

Filipina Igorot Doll

 

My first dolls were modern Barbie clones. After nearly 2 decades of collecting Barbie dolls, I now find myself collecting clones dolls. I feel like they have their own stories to tell, just like this Filipina Igorot doll.

This doll appealed to me because it was made in my country. I also like the details (the authentic Igorot fabric and wooden beads) on the costume. Most importantly, it came in a clone doll price. It was inspired by the Ethnic Barbie dolls released in the 90s, but unlike the Mattel dolls, these dolls have flat feet. The face sculpt seems like a clone of the Teresa face mold.

A quick search on the web showed other variants. The dolls below were searched from the web, and are not mine.