New Doll or Knock-Off?

[Rainbow Brite]

I recently bought an RB doll off of Ebay which the seller claimed is, and appears to be, new. I could tell from the photo that she was slightly different from all of the other 12" RB dolls I owned, so I bought her to see just how different she was. Turns out...quite different. The problem is, the description said she would come with tags and there are no tags on her. The back of her head has the "©1983 Hallmark Cards, Inc" stamp on it, but that's as official as it gets. It's quite poorly sewn together...so part of me thinks it's some type of knock-off. I've emailed the seller asking for more details...but in the meantime, what do you think? She's the doll on the right:















The seller has at least 7 more of these dolls, so if it really is one of the new dolls (a 25th anniversary version perhaps?), I wonder where he/she got them from? I'll be sure to let ya'll know how they respond.

[Chibi Rachy]

I dunno what it could be. She does look interesting though. She has the same puffy sleeves as the 2004 dolls, which also had the 1983 stamp on the back of the head as well. The work does look a little sloppy...the boots are so uneven.

[Rainbow Brite]

Unfortunately, the seller couldn't give me much more info. They said that the entire lot is tagless and that they bought them from Toy Network - which looks to be a bulk toy wholesaler from my Google search. They also said that it's an old, discontinued item.

The doll that it most closely resembles is the 20th anniversary doll, but the dress has velcro on the back instead of a snap, the face paint is slightly different, the bangs and hairline are different and it's not nearly as well made.

Sooo...I still don't know what to think...lol. As Watercolor reminded me, Toy Play was supposed to put out their own version of the 20th anniversary doll, including a reprint of the Star Stealer comic book...but it was never released:



So perhaps this is one of those prototypes? Are prototypes usually made this poorly though?

[Chibi Rachy]

I always thought prototypes were a bit better made... aren't they usually made by hand?

[Regina]

Hey,

I am not sure what to think either ... It looks like it could be a prototype as the head seems to have been attached differently from the other doll, and the legs are one shorter than the other! Prototype person was not an expert? Have the tags been removed or not there at all???
Also sometimes there are certain items made in China who looks exactly like the original but are knock-offs and you can tell from small details.
Hopefully we can solve the mystery...

[Rainbow Brite]

Have the tags been removed or not there at all???

They're just not there at all.

Also sometimes there are certain items made in China who looks exactly like the original but are knock-offs and you can tell from small details.

What kind of details would you look for? I don't think you can tell from the pics, but the face paint on this doll is lower quality as well - not nearly as crisp and clear as the other dolls. The yarn hair is a thinner yarn as well.

[FanChan]

The idea that it's from China crossed my mind, too. Just the fact that it's similar but not the same, and poorly made, are good indicators that it's a Chinese knock-off. There's no way to know absolutely for sure - there are millions, probably billions of different toy knock-offs that come out of China and make it into the market thanks to street vendors and shady toy distributors. I'd never heard of RB stuff coming out of that, but that doesn't mean it hasn't, especially with the various re-releases in recent years.


Be that as it may, I still think it's pretty neat if that's what it is. I'd say just think of it as a custom doll.

[Regina]

Have the tags been removed or not there at all???

They're just not there at all.

Also sometimes there are certain items made in China who looks exactly like the original but are knock-offs and you can tell from small details.

What kind of details would you look for? I don't think you can tell from the pics, but the face paint on this doll is lower quality as well - not nearly as crisp and clear as the other dolls. The yarn hair is a thinner yarn as well.

It depends on the item in question; an example: for Gucci bags, is the stitching, I heard that if is double means is fake if single is original. Normally RB knock-offs are always very different and we can clearly see the difference so for this one I'll say that if it is really a knock-off the things you have mentioned: face paint in lower quality and yarn hair thinner are the details that make the difference, but as FanChan says, we cannot know for sure, so think of it as a custom doll/prototype a it is very very similar to the original and has no tags and as far as I have seen the knock-offs are never that similar. However, in case is really from our dear China well done to them, even if we spotted the difference!
Good find after all

[Rainbow Brite]

I think you guys are right. Thanks for taking the time to talk it out with me I don't regret buying the doll. In fact, if any of you would like one, the seller has several:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vi ... 0224525527

Just don't believe the description when it says it's official and has tags. The seller said they were going to change the description, but never did...which further proves that it's a bit of a shady deal. Ah well. She is cute

[mtaylo28]

this is my hot topic doll from 2000. maybe it is one of these, but i think the hot topic one had different feet...