Can anyone explain LOL dolls to me?

[memaymamo]

My DD5 has said she really wants some LOL dolls for Christmas but I took one look at an online shop's LOL page and felt overwhelmed.

Can someone explain the different kinds of LOL dolls, and which is the most basic variety? ie, which is the original range of LOL dolls?

They continually evolve so the originals originals you cannot get any more I don't think they are always on a new season. The ball ones generally are cheaper than the tube ones.

You can also gets pets and lil sisters. Last year instead of buying the enormous balls which are maybe 1/2 dolls and loads of 'bits' I bought some dolls in the argos 3 for 2 and covered 2 plastic bowls in wrapping paper and stuck them together with the mini owls inside- a giant ball!

They are generally. Very expensive for what they are......

Collectible garbage. A very expensive pile of tat.

So they are a bit like blind bags.
Lots of layers to unwrap. Then inside there is a doll and another 5 or so blind bags with shoes, outfit etc in them.
The dolls either cry water, spit water or wee.
Some change colour in water, these are my DD favourites.
She loves unwrapping but then doesn’t play with them much after.

They spit ?!?
My three year old is desperate for some with hair things. Can you choose the type of accessory they come with? Like OP I have felt a bit overwhelmed every time I try to look, and they are expensive.

Very overpriced, hugely wasteful. Little play value.

My children do actually play with them a lot. There are no main characters or anything so just get some of the latest ones. We got some of the glitter series for birthday gifts recently and they were a big hit. (Obviously I do also think they are expensive tat!)

You play with them in water. And one of the surprises is what their “trick” is. So yes, some shoot water from their mouth!!!

Honestly? Incredibly expensive blind bags, but still far better value than close competitors/bandwagon jumpers. They're also the most played-with toys in my house and DD's friends' houses. The ball ones are definitely better and the discontinued confetti pop were the best of the lot. Some are BOGOF in Tesco and little ones are £4.50 ish on Amazon so they don't have to be too expensive.

And re some with hair things, they do the hair dolls, they have hair you can style, the rest have plastic hair.
You don’t really get hair accessories with them though, just a mini brush in my experience.
You can’t choose accessories. Everything about them is a surprise.

I have 3 daughter ranging between 13 and 7 and have seen and had to store many versions of pink plastic shite over the years all the way back to Laloopys and Moxie dolls.

Lol’s are by far the most played with toy here, my girls are absolutely obsessed and I’m not sure I have ever heard a more high pitched squeal than them opening one of the balls fo find a rare.

We have actually bought them the snow palace this year (between the two of them) and I can’t wait to see their faces! I would however never have bought any of it if I thought they were going to open and forget about them.

We haven’t gone down the route of the bigger dolls and I don’t think I will now (thought keep on going back and taking a sneak at the limited edition winter snow doll, well played LOL with Frozen 2 about to come out! ) I just get the feeling like the enchantimals and barbies before hand they are not going to get as much use.

I wont buy them for my girls, very excited to open them then they get forgotten about and the cat plays with them! Lots of plastic waste to go into landfill too. Luckily they also love barbies, which I think are much better value as actually get played with

@lanbro the new ones are now all fully recyclable.

Thanks for all that!

Good to know they are recyclable!

DD (6) was got a Lol doll and one of the Lol pets for Christmas last year. I thought it was overpriced rubbish, lots of fiddly little bits that get lost or trodden on and really poor quality for the money. She was excited to open it but I don't think she played with it again once Christmas day was over. I was glad I didn't fork out for one of the bigger ones. Fortunately she's moved onto Barbie's and Our Generation Dolls now which I don't mind spending the money on because they're decent quality and get played with all the time.

Waste. Of. Money.
(But we have some in this house anyway )

The new winter disco theme ones are nice - especially for Christmas and the ball turns into a snowglobe case that you can store them in.
My daughter likes them, I've never gone overboard on them but she has a couple from several of the series and I can say that the winter disco series in my opinion are one of the better series.
The hair ones are called hair goals I think but she may mean the OMG dolls that are barbie size and they have bought out a winter disco version that includes a barbie size one and an original size lol.
Hope that helps a bit....

@3littlemincemeatpies how/where do you recycle them?

The winter disco original style lol dolls are on sale at smyths for £10.99 (free delivery over £20) so you could just get two of those and see how she gets on with them

my daughter asked for them last year i bought one of each type of ball so there was no chance of doubles. I think i found about 4/5 types. I think at the moment there is winter disco, boys, hairgoals and sparkle ones in the shops.

for her birthday/christmas I've bought some opened ones or clue checked from lol Facebook groups for a fraction of the price (around £2-6 per doll)

and Poundland, toys for a pound.com, the works, Primark and Matalan have LOL themed bits like craft stuff, clothes, stationary for stocking fillers.

plus there are lol pez dispensers which Dh found in the shop he works in :)

My dd have 1 each. Pretty much not touched them. Difficult to play with (can't get clothes on and off). Smell funny.

My DD’s (7 and 10 at Christmas) like them but are not crazy about them. I do buy them one each at Christmas for their stockings though. This year I’ve gone for these ones, simply because I could chose which ones I knew they’d like and it’s more of a play set.

www.argos.co.uk/product/9347740

What I will say is if your going to buy from ebay or amazon be careful as there are a lot of fakes from China, some are not even that much cheaper. I know some people don’t mind the fakes but in recent years others have been caught out with fakes when they thought they were buying genuine LOL dolls.

Very expensive plastic - that although recyclable - will going into mainstream trash and never recycled!!!!

I buy my daughters 2 each for christmas to go in Their stocking (the stockings go on the end of their bed) and it keeps them entertained opening them and upstairs for a bit longer. But then when they open their other presents they are soon forgotten about.

My dd7 has about 20 they are not worth the money.

Women have been fighting in Smyrna over buying a 48 box of them. One woman near me even opend the first layer to see the clue. She was barred. Ridiculous