LOL dolls

[ambereeree]

They are hideous aren't they? You can't even style their hair or pose them like a Barbie. DD has taken to watching them unboxed on youtube and they really do seem pointless.

They are pointless.

My GD has got about £150 worth. Even the play sets that you can buy for them, doesn't add much, because of the lack of movement.

Luckily she's gone back to MLP.

For in mine I've bought a load of Shopkins secondhand. I've paid £30 for about £200 worth.

Anything plastic can be disinfected.

And the amount of plastic! It’s disgusting!

Oh i used to love mlp. You used to get hair accessories for the them as well. That's how i learned to plait hair!

They are absolute SHITE.

DD got some for Xmas, I hadn't really come across them before. I was horrified to be honest (that sounds a bit hyperbolic but I was!) at the several layers of plastic to unwrap, the plastic casing, the plastic shit inside, and the bloody price as well. And the whole concept comes from the 'unboxing' craze and 'not knowing what you are getting' which is just perpetuating the buying for buying sake culture. The products themselves are total rubbish.

It's disgusting to be honest and I won't be buying any more for her!

I hate them. I watched an unboxing on YT out of curiosity as alot of my parent friends were talking about buying them for Christmas.

I couldn't believe how much the surprise balls cost for what you get. Some tiny plastic toys, an outfit and some stickers for £60-80 iirc

And the individual packaging is just unnecisary and bad for the environment.

I hope they're long gone by the time my DD is old enough to ask for toys

Overpriced kinder eggs without the nice chocolate.

I don't like the plastic waste aspect but my DC play with them for several hours a day. We haven't bought any of the branded houses or accessories and they go nicely in the Sylvanian houses we have. They enjoy dressing them up, undressing them and duplicates don't matter because they just become "twins." We have around 20 in total and they've definitely had £200 worth of fun from them over the couple of years they've had them.

Parents aren't supposed to like them, or "get" them - we're not the target audience.

Parents aren't supposed to like them, or "get" them - we're not the target audience.

I won't be buying them any more purely for the plastic waste aspect. I think it's a shitty message to send to kids. Why does there need to be several layers of that plastic on the outside?!

They’re a pile of shite but one of DD’s most consistently played with toys. They’re the only thing she’s ever spent her own money on, too.

Yes the whole “twins” thing is a load of shite. No you have the same bloody doll.
When they were being unwrapped it reminded me of a mummy. A bit creepy.

Yes there's loads of plastic waste but my two love them and play with them every single day (no exaggeration). I think they encourage creative open ended play. And as a pp said they're the perfect size for the Sylvanian families sets.

I do like the new Hair Goals dolls. You can style their hair and the plastic capsule it comes in can be turned into a hairdressers chair.

Why does there need to be several layers of that plastic on the outside?!

As you identified it's because of the unboxing craze. We've got some of the packaging still and they use it for storing the accessories or as beds, chairs etc for the dolls.

It obviously depends on your child but I don't believe the plastic wastage has been any more than some families might have with a months' worth of Fruit Shoots or magazine / Hook-a-Duck / party bag tat. It doesn't make it ok and it is thoughtless wastage, so if your kids aren't overly enamoured with them anyway then it's fine to avoid buying them. However mine love them and would be happier with a single LOL for birthday / Christmas than a mountain of other plastic. I've always got them what they ask for for birthdays and Christmas otherwise its a false economy (financially and environmentally speaking).

My friend has spent thousands of ££..

Yes it's over priced plastic tat but like others have said, my dd has played with hers consistently since she started her collection. She's played more with them than any of our other much nicer, better quality toys. I didn't get the appeal to start with but when she talks to me about them and spends ages swapping their outfits and role playing with them I can see why she likes them so much. It's just kids toys. It doesn't matter whether we get it or not.

I'm loving the defending of the LOL dolls. It's a bit like when people say they do 5 washes and tumble dries a day but it's OK because they only go on one foreign holiday a year or whatever. Do you just get your kid a single LOL for Xmas then?

I'm not talking about the plastic packaging you can keep, I'm talking about the plastic wrapping on the outside. There is several layers of it!

Plus I think the 'unboxing' message is not one I want to give to my kids anyway.

They are crap and awful for the environment but the unpacking can be a great distraction. DD had to go through multiple, painful medical procedures and LOL dolls saved us. We bought a large bag for the hospital and they are using them to distract other children.

I've acknowledged it's wasteful and I'm not defending them as such, just saying my DC like them and that on balance I don't mind them having them. The plastic wrapping is wasteful and if it wasn't an integral part of the design then perhaps I'd avoid it, I just don't think it's hugely freakishly wasteful compared to most people's modern lives and other products available. I think the real reason many parents on here don't like them is snobbery because they're not "naice" or worthy toys.

The DC had one LOL doll, a Lego set and some second-hand Sylvanian Families each from us, plus a small, specific and carefully-chosen present from each grandparent, so hardly a mountain of waste. Certainly we, as a family of 5, didn't find the usually-fortnightly bin collection taking an extra 10 days a problem at all as ours still wasn't full, while most houses had 2 or 3 extra bin bags over Christmas. It is all about balance imo.

The wrapping is wasteful, of course it is, but I also have in my house a great many "worthy" craft and science kits, all of which come in huge cardboard boxes with equally huge moulded plastic inserts and a bazillion little pieces all individually wrapped/bottled. But they never get slated for being terrible toys, I wonder why...even though one LOL doll gets about 100 times more hours of play than the oh-so-educational science kit!