I've always been an advocate for Polly Pocket as she was originally intended to be - a tiny plastic doll who lived in teeny, tiny worlds. When Mattel discontinued such an idea in favor of Polly more like this in the early 2000's, I thought it was disappointing. IMHO, they basically took away everything that made Polly Pocket special and turned her into a smaller Barbie wannabe (don't take that the wrong way - I love Barbie too, but Barbie is Barbie and Polly is Polly - they should be enjoyed for who they are!). When I heard that they would make a comeback in a scale much closer to the original size, I was ecstatic! Originally, I wasn't going to collect the larger dolls, but I decided to purchase the bedroom playset because I found it for a good price and it had a lot of great features for the tiny dolls too. As such, I decided to try getting this, just so that my larger Polly could have her friends to play with in her own bedroom scale as well. On the whole, I'm glad I decided to buy this after all! Each character has some great outfits that're very true to their personalities if you watch the animated cartoon. The outfits are nicely detailed and I really couldn't pick a favorite of all the different dolls/outfits. I do like being able to change their outfits rather than having a bunch of dolls stuck in the same outfits, but I do still feel partial to the smaller Polly sets. They also have lots of fun accessories - from boards to handheld video games to jewelry, these four friends have quite a lot to choose from! I'm giving the set four stars because I could see areas for improvement - for example, several of the pieces can be hard to get on at first and if those handling them aren't gentle and/or patient enough, I could easily see the clothes tearing (and this material isn't like fabric that you can sew up - it's a stretchy, rubbery material of sorts). A lot of the tops are also only slightly opened in the back, which requires putting them on by pulling them up over the legs, which means we'd also have to undress the doll completely so that anything they're wearing on their lower half won't be in the way. I might try cutting a few open fully on the back because that would've made it much easier (some of the tops are and I like that - it also requires less stretching that can result in tearing). Lastly, while the set comes with a lot of outfits, I would've still liked to see a bit more - for example, since Polly has a one-piece swimsuit, I would've liked to have had more swimsuits included so that all four friends could have a beach day together. I also wished that Nicolas could've had long black pants to go with his tuxedo shirt, or maybe a scientist outfit/accessories for Shani. On the whole, though, this really is a good set - while this won't be my preferred Polly, I still am very happy to have this set. I might purchase the Party Pad so that they can all play in it, and I'd also be interested in seeing some of the other characters from the show make an appearance in toy form (for example, Polly's family, the Grandes, etc. - I'd prefer them in pocket size, but I'd probably buy at least one doll of each if they had them in this scale too). Overall, I'm impressed with this set, and I love that they're actually incorporating both scales this time around - that way, fans of the fashion size and the pocket size can both join in on the fun! :) Keep this up Mattel!
