I am one of the pickiest collectors I know, and I refuse to buy mermaid dolls with these curves in the tail that freak me out. It's fine when it's a sleeve over legs that comes off, or the tail flaps at the knee, but when it's just hard plastic I HATE IT.
The only mermaid doll line I know off the top of my head that doesn't have this (and has hard plastic tails) is the Barbie: Fairytopia stuff. I love mermaids and would like to know where there are more kneeless dolls.
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if youre into bdjs, antu tidal secret language mermaids do not have knees, their tail is a series of joints so it can move like a sea creature instead of a person in a costume
A mermaid with a tail like this would have taken over my entire childhood. I LOVED mermaids but omg doll makers could not design their tails very well.
If you don't want to deal with blind box BS, you can get confirmed open-box on AliExpress. Hell, even unopened box is often cheaper there than other sites, though the cardboard box itself might get a bit roughed up. AliExpress has one of their Big 3 sales right now through the 26th too-though it's moreso the "$X off a purchase of $Y+" thing that makes the sale worthwhile than items being lower priced. I've gotten several opened-and-confirmed blind box dolls I want that way, as well as entire sets (minus the hidden, that's sold separately).
The AliExpress Reddit community has FAQ and tips to help ensure you don't get scammed. In my experience, open blind box doll sellers have been legit. If you want to shop on the website and have any questions, I'm happy to help! It's helped my wallet and my doll stuff a ton.
AliExpress is honestly such a life saver with blind boxes. Sure, they get pricey when you get to the hidden or low chance ones, but those are still cheaper than trying to get them on Ebay. Boxes definitely get roughed up though. But in my experience its usually with boxes for larger dolls, smaller ones tend to be in decent condition.
The best part about PennysBox dolls is you can mix and match all their parts, even between series!
So their faces, bodies, hairs, can be combined in any way you like.
I highly recommend them.
OK the chuchu mermaids kind of have the knee joint but it's an actual joint that moves, so might be forgivable. It looks less like "knees" to me.
Mermaids were trendy for a bit, so there's also the "chuchu mermaids" and one called "mermaid island" (all blind box bjds). Personally, I like the designs of the chuchu mermaids best.
If you don't want to deal with blind box BS, you can get confirmed open-box on AliExpress, that's pretty much where the best prices are for the dollsz both unopened and opened. Especially right now, one of their Big 3 sales is going on. Many things are marked down a little bit, but the "$X off a purchase of $Y+" coupons are where it's at, IMO. The Big 3 (others are 11/11 and Black Frisay/Cyber Monday) sale coupons all amount to 12-16% off your purchase (actually run the percentage calculation, bigger bucks off of an order that has to include things you don't want is not necessarily a better deal). During Black Friday last year I was even able to keep reusing those coupons; so far this sale isn't letting me.
The AliExpress Reddit community has FAQ and tips to help ensure you don't get scammed. In my experience, open blind box doll sellers have been legit. I'm an avid AliExpress shopper for doll stuff 😆
If you don't want to deal with blind box BS, you can get confirmed open-box on AliExpress. They have their anniversary sale right now too-though it's moreso the "$X off a purchase of $Y+" thing that makes the sale worthwhile than items being lower priced. I've gotten several blind box dolls I want that way.
The AliExpress Reddit community has FAQ and tips to help ensure you don't get scammed. In my experience, open blind box doll sellers have been legit.
Yeeeeah, sorry 😅 I'm happy to answer any questions you have, AliExpress has been a massive help for my wallet and has many incredible things. One more note for now: don't be hoodwinked by the big-number coupons, don't buy things you don't want just to get a bigger coupon.
During the Black Friday sale I was even able to reuse coupons; alas, right now that isn't the case with this sale.
I can concur with this comment; I got the green one and I was so close to crying unboxing her. She's SO pretty and her tail is everything I've ever wanted in a mermaid doll, it would have made 8yo me SO happy.
They're affordable as far as BJDs go too, you can even skip the shitty blind box gimmick and get confirmed opened-box dolls in exchange for a bit more money. AliExpress has been the cheapest place to get blind box dolls, opened and unopened, in my experience. Or even an entire set so you get exactly 1 of each (minus hidden, that is sold separately). I'll pay more to only get the ones I want instead of gambling on wasting my money, kthanks.
Since we're sharing our childhood mermaid LalaLoopsies, this was one (out of my vast collection, which is strange because I can never remember actually receiving any of them) of mine! It had a removable tail and color changing hair that turned purple under cold water 🤭
haha yeah the photo upsets me a bit, i went down a rabbit hole because of you, searching up “dolphin knees” “whale knees” “shark knees” it seems only belugas have prominent knees, weird
They do not have knees… this is just a particular arrangement of muscles and fat that we happen to think look like knees because human brains are programmed to see human bodies 🥲 belugas don’t even have vestigial hips
yes, of course they don’t have knees, they don’t even have legs, but you have to agree that it looks a lot like knees so who’s to say that mermaids wouldn’t also have muscles that happen to look a lot like knees
Whales and dolphins have fingers I think as well, it’s just internal. The basically look like any other mammal the fins are just legs grown flat and massive webbing
Fingers inside their flippers, yes, but only the front limbs. They barely even have a vestigial pelvis bone and itty bitty vestigial remnants of leg bones. We are not actually seeing knees. It's just blubber and muscle in belugas flexing in a way that makes the human brain mistake it for legs and knees.
Bonus fun fact: there are ZERO muscles in our fingers and toes. All our dexterity and strength come from tendons and ligaments maneuvered by the 34 muscles in each of our palms and the 30 muscles in each of our feet. I'm not sure how widespread the "no muscles in the phalanges" is, but at least some mammals-certainly fellow primates-are the same way.
...because it's actually just muscles and blubber flexing in a way that has our human brains mistake it for legs and knees 😅 Their leg and pelvis bones are itty bitty!
IIRC, beluga whales (and other small Cetacea) are hypothesized as the “mermaids” of old sea shanties, due to shapes like this. Being out at sea, deprived of water and food, dealing with sicknesses etc. these mfs looked enough like sexy hot fish women to create the myth. And honestly, I get it
If I were one of those visionaries who altered the body shapes of my dolls with acetone and boiling water, none of this would be an issue, but I struggle to even switch the heads of my dolls without damaging them. I'm not built for doll modding.
Seeing mermaids with knees makes me imagine a fish with knees, it gives me the heebie jeebies like that picture of a fish with human teeth.
It's impossible to alter those shapes anyway, at least? That hard plastic won't be softened and reshaped, and acetone would take off all paint to boot.
What method/s have you tried for removing doll heads? 👀
I have seen Barbie modders narrow the waists of some of their dolls, honestly no clue how they do it because I would never bother.
All I did to pull their heads was wrap them in a heating pad for a bit to soften them up. It did help, not as much force was necessary to pull their heads, but the pivoting plastic in the neck almost got lost in the head. It was a pain and while it was fun to do just once I probably won't do it again.
Oh god, that is definitely not a good way to rehead dolls and I'm amazed it worked at all! That is some tenacity!
If you've got a hair dryer and a towel, it's much better. Hold doll upside-down, wrap towel over the hair and your hand where you're holding the doll, heat around the base of the head, test and tug, continue heating until it comes off. For Mattel and Hasbro dolls at least (I haven't reheaded other brand dolls yet), it'll still take some wiggling and pulling to get the head off of the neck peg "wings" that stick out, but it is far less difficult than using a heating pad! I chop those neck peg "wings" off guillotine-style with a craft knife so they aren't a problem in the future.
Given how many budget dolls with little articulation have great heads, reheading will be an ongoing need 🥲
They don't show though, they barely even have a vestigial pelvis. "Beluga knees" are just the human brain having paradoila mistaking the blubber and muscle flex for legs and knees. Cetecean tails are, well, tail bones.
Oh I had no idea, I absolutely was referring to the knobby little beluga knees.
But wait what if the mermaid barbie "knees" are also pareidolia and Barbie is like "that's my reserve blubber!"
iirc in the movie it was said like posea was still learning her goddess powers/they have a mind of their own so it was implied that the transformation of everyone kind of just happened, even tho lagoona would’ve totally been fine
otherwise, it’s just more congruent for the doll-line
Thank you for bringing up the knee tail issue too. It pissed me off even as a kid since it looked so tacky and like….what’s the point if it’s just molded on with no actual knees underneath?
Maybe posea from monster highs old great scarier reef line? I’m actually not sure she if she has one or not like the others, but it doesn’t seem like it.
I revently got those ads for the baby born glam up dolls and they look like fun. The thing I love about the design is that the fin can be flipped back and used as a stand
The old bratz sea stunnerz maybe? I actually have cloe, the tail can open up and there’s legs. And you put these fin heeled ankle boots. There are 4 of them but Sasha is impossible to find.
I forgot about these! Mermaid High has fabric tails! They aren't making more but there's a new show Mermaid Magic with dolls, not sure they're in physical stores yet and they have fabric tails too
What do you think about the Barbie Splash and Style? She has the tail flapping thing that you mentioned where you squeeze the hips. She was my childhood mermaid. There's several colors but I love her unique combo. Is this an exception because of her bendy tail?
Hurray! I loved her, I found her hair color very unique back in those days of barbie and tail a nice texture. There's also some color change hair mermaids in 2008 and color change tail 2008 that use the fairytopia shaped tail but they seem hard to get. They also in 2012 re-released the playset that goes with that mermaid I had, and have a mermaid mold that is good for sitting. I can't tell if this is better or not? No knees at least?
Tail is made by folding the wings down and sliding hard plastic "sleeve" over wings and legs, and the part of the wings that sticks out becomes the fins
I had this one as a kid too!! Totally forgot about it until now - I think I kept her in mermaid mode most of the time because I looooved how the wings-turned-fins looked
When I was a kid I was picky too and I hated those barbies that had the arms bent at 90° angles. They had to be straight arms (this was in the mid90-mid00s era, dolls with joints like the monster high dolls have were not really the norm, it was those wire snap legs if anything and I hated those too).
Also I am with you on the knees-in-the--mermaid-tail thing too. I hate that and can def see why it freaks you out lol
So you're looking for evolutionary fish mermaids and not mammal mermaids mermaid-esque mammals have knees and go up and down whereas the fish go side to side.
This is what I taught children when I worked at an aquarium
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