My Life As Dolls

The "My Life As" dolls... I've always heard of them as just "The Walmart Dolls" (since they're sold exclusively at Walmart) with sometimes a positive tone and sometimes a negative one. I have several of their accessories, since they're wonderfully cheap and sometimes the accessories will be something I want from American Girl, but can only get in a larger (and thus very expensive) set or it'll be something that American Girl hasn't done yet. But I've never owned one of the dolls before.

A while ago (back in 2018) I saw pictures coming out on other collectors Instagram stories of a My Life As doll with a prosthetic leg. I love dolls that have something different about them, and I also love including diversity in my collection. A doll with a prosthesis is something that I've wanted to see for a long time, but never got around to making myself nor have I seen it in other companies. So when I saw this doll, shortly after I decided I needed to get a My Life As doll for comparison purposes, I knew that THIS was the one. She was hard to find, I went to several Walmart's in my area trying to see who had her in stock, finally checked to see if I could find her online, and figured out that the newer "fancy" Walmart in my area had her.

The My Life As dolls are another contender in the world of 18 inch play dolls. Like most (if not all) they're made of vinyl, and they also have sleep eyes (meaning the eyes are open when the doll is standing or sitting and closed when they're laying down.) These dolls have rooted hair, meaning that the hair is attached to the doll's head by being threaded through little holes (think of Barbie's!) so if you want to customize their hair, you'll have to cut it before you put a wig on them. You could also try re-rooting the hair, I don't think I've seen anyone do that! (Hmm... maybe a future project for me??)

The good things... I am in love with the concept of this doll. I think the world of 18 inch play dolls is getting better about diversity through an increase of offered skin tones, hair types, and facial features, but that's where it ends. So seeing a doll with a prosthetic limb, yes!! I am really excited for what this could mean for the world of 18 inch dolls. I would absolutely love to see more dolls with prosthetic limbs, and I really hope that this doll is the starting point for that. And to make her a gymnast? Yes please!

Also, the My Life As doll line is very pretty in the face. Even when I would just pass by the dolls in their boxes on my way to look at the accessories I was struck by how pretty their facial features are. These would be fantastic dolls for a display, as models for doll clothes, or for anyone with a doll photography hobby.

Unfortunately, though, I do have a complaint, and it's a pretty major one: these dolls are made extremely cheaply. The vinyl on this doll is extremely squishy: I can squeeze every single part of her! The face isn't as malleable but I can still squish it without too much effort, and so I don't think these dolls would do well if left in a car or if they were in a warm storage building. At first I thought that's just how cheaper dolls were (I grew up with American Girl) but I gave my Our Generation doll (which runs at a similar price point to the My Life As dolls) a squeeze and no part of her budged. So this is a case of the vinyl the company uses being very very cheap.

Possibly related to this... I can't get her to sit! I don't know if it's just this doll in particular or what. I'd like to say so, since I know these dolls are pretty popular play dolls, but it makes me nervous that this happening with other dolls would even be a possibility. These dolls are cheaper than some, but money is money, and for a doll to have good play value, they need to be able to move their joints. With most of my dolls, I could take her apart to figure it out, but these dolls have a partially vinyl chest, so this one is going to be harder to take apart than my American Girl's to figure out the problem, and I'm unwilling to risk not being able to put her back together again. But making a guess, I'd say it's a combination of cheap vinyl and the way the joints are put together.

I love the concept of this doll so much, and I wanted her to just be perfect, but these dolls are so cheaply made that I find it hard to recommend them for anything more than a display or clothes model. I don't understand it: the My Life As accessories are awesome, I have several sets in my collection and I don't plan on stopping collecting those, so I thought the dolls would be just fine. But based on my experience with this doll, I think she'll be the first and last My Life As doll in my collection. For the money, Our Generation dolls appear to be much better quality, and they run in the same price range, or even a few dollars cheaper.

If you'd like to check out these dolls (or their AWESOME accessories) you can find them at your local Walmart!