#interactive doll

The G.U.R.L.Z. Irwin Toys Ltd

The 2000s was an exciting new era for doll manufacturers and consumers alike! It was the start of the digital age where fashion dolls now had interactive & technological components. You may know of Mattel's DivaStarz or you possibly have even heard of Playhut's MystiKats.. but have you heard of The G.U.R.L.Z. Robot Interactive Dolls produced by Irwin Toys Ltd in 2002?

Fun Fact! Irwin Toys Ltd had their foot in the doll industry by being the primary American toy distributor in Canada!

There were four different robot dolls produced and each came with a robot pet, "Franiko + Tiko" "Zazi + Yazoo" "Daloola + Mizoo" "Shishi + Kwak Up". The main gimmick (besides the fact that they were robots) was that they could talk. Their pets came with leashes that once plugged into the doll, allowed them to talk too! The talking mechanism was based upon movement and positioning meaning that they were able to tell when they were being posed.

From the research I've done, the dolls seemed to have sold moderately well. They aren't super rare and can even be found online NIB on sites like eBay for under $50.00 USD. The doll's long term failure was most likely a result of the financial issues in the company Irwin Toys.

In 2001 the company had been sold to a private investment group and just a mere eighteen months later declared bankruptcy and went into liquidation. Though in 2003 the old employees (George and Peter Irwin) purchased the company back, they did not attempt to manufacture any new products into the market.

I had the pink one of these as a kid

Disclaimer: If you are interested in the doll I’m about to review, please keep in mind that these dolls should only be used by adult collectors and NOT be given to children. Fake toys do not receive the same quality control and safety standards that legitimate toys from real manufacturers go through, so this toy might not be safe for children. 

For like a couple of years, I searched high and low on the interwebs for this strange, elusive Baby Alive doll. As difficult as she was to obtain, I finally scored one around the start of the quarantine last month, and she finally arrived yesterday. This special Baby Alive is called: My Dreamy Baby.

Does that sound familiar to any Baby Alive collectors? Probably not, because My Dreamy Baby is not a real Baby Alive to begin with. I mean, she exists, but she’s not supposed to... Issa knockoff lmao.

There’s not a lot of info on this doll, besides a couple of videos about her from YTer Fun with Baby Alive: 

https://youtu.be/igB_k89s2-Q

https://youtu.be/AEB0hZ-pefE

https://youtu.be/2sbcmHynIW8

There was an additional video of her actually unboxing her [badly crushed] My Dreamy Baby doll, but I believe it was deleted. 

My Dreamy Baby is a counterfeit version of My Baby Alive 2010. She is only available as a white blonde, but in three outfit variations: a hot pink dress (as seen in FWBA’s videos), blue, and white (the one I got). Like FWBA, I also had an issue with the way my doll was packaged. When she arrived to my doorstep, it looked like she had survived a train wreck:

Fortunately, once I pulled her out of the wreck, she and all her accessories were still intact. I looked around what remained of her box to find any similarities to a typical “real” Baby Alive box, but aside from using Hasbro’s own descriptions and stock photos of the My Baby Alive 2010 doll, there wasn’t anything else that stated this was a “Baby Alive”, nor did I see any Hasbro markings or labels. I have seen some of these My Dreamy Baby dolls with actual Baby Alive and Hasbro labels, but I guess they changed that to avoid legal troubles. 

Anyways, here's the back of the box:

Peep the laughably-bad shoop of that random child’s face on Hasbro’s own child model. Fun fact: On the authentic My Baby Alive 2010 box, the child model is a girl with brown hair. But I will elaborate more on that in a future post.

Finally, I checked the doll and all her accessories. She comes with her own doll-food (two “orange juice” packets), a magnetic spoon, and a plain baby bottle with a diaper that was a little too big for the doll, but I made it work. She requires 2 AA batteries, like your standard Baby Alive, only instead of battery door that matches her skin tone, My Dreamy Baby has her own hot-pink battery door. Barbie and Paris Hilton are quaking.

Finally, when I popped the two batteries in, flicked her “On” switch (which is also hot-pink), and squeezed her left hand (there’s no button on her bracelet unlike her authentic counterpart), she started talking in English. She uses the same exact audio track from the My Baby Alive 2010 dolls. She also has a magnetic mouth, so when you feed her with the spoon she makes eating sounds.

Lastly (and the most important function of any Baby Alive doll), does she poop? The answer is, yes she does! Like I mentioned before, My Dreamy Baby comes with two “orange juice” doll food packets, so you can make her drink it and it will come out the other end... Which speaking of, there’s something else about this doll that sent me into the abyss from laughter- she has a HOT-PINK BUTTHOLE TO MATCH HER BATTERY DOOR AND SWITCH. I’M NOT KIDDING. XD

Again, I will go more into detail on all her features (including her pink butthole) in a future post when I make a comparison between her and my authentic My Baby Alive doll, Serenise. But before I stop here, allow me to formally introduce you to My Dreamy Baby:

Her name will be Ellis-Dee. I’m sure her and Serenise will get along greatly. 

Chose the finest ones and prepared Interactive Doll Reviews for you. It was very effective to shortlist the ideal Interactive Doll from thousands of products online. However, We tried to make sure that you get only the Best Interactive Doll from our selection 

While your child may be learning their ABCs and numbers at their preschool or kindergarten, one thing that schools have a difficult time teaching are soft skills, especially communication and emotional intelligence.

A classroom environment can help your child learn basic communication skills, such as how to raise their hand, say “please” and thank you, and listen to instructions.However, many important communication skills and other soft skills cannot be taught at schools.

The sad fact is, because of larger classroom sizes and lack of personal connection with each student, it’s impossible for most teachers to devote the one-on-one, personalized time it takes to demonstrate these soft skills to everyone in their classroom. Kindergarten is a great first step, but it alone won’t teach your child how to voice their emotions, practice active listening, or fully develop their language skills.

Why Soft Skills Are Important

These and other soft communication skills are vital to success later in life. In fact, there have been numerous studies released that indicate this. Communication skills, empathy, emotional intelligence, understanding social cues, and more are all soft skills that employers look for in their next hires.

If your child possesses these soft skills, they are much more likely to be hired, find a job they love, and be successful in their career.

Soft skills are vital to your child’s personal and emotional lives too! Communication, empathy, emotional awareness, and self-esteem bring clarity and understanding to family, friend, and romantic relationships and tend to make us more satisfied with our lives in general.

The Bad News: You Can’t Teach Soft Skills

All that might sound pretty great, but there’s one major catch. The common consensus is that you can’t actually teach soft skills, at least not like you would teach your child their alphabet or their basic math.

As one emotional intelligence site points out, soft skills aren’t teachable because they’re not really “skills”, as we commonly define them. Soft skills may be better explained simply as personal benefits that come from possessing a strong awareness of ourselves and others.

While hard skills are trainable things, like how to use a computer or how to memorize a call script, soft skills are defined as “personal attributes that enable someone to interact effectively and harmoniously with other people.” In other words, it’s difficult to teach soft skills because they are personal traits, not skills.

On top of all that, soft skills are very difficult to measure, whether in school or education environments or in the career field. This makes it very difficult for educators and school board members to tell whether their efforts are making a difference.

But don’t lose hope! There are many things you can do to encourage your child to develop or learn these soft skills on their own. It just takes some creativity!

Things You Can Do As a Parent

As a parent, you’re in a great position to help your child develop these all-important soft skills of communication, emotional intelligence, and more!

The best thing you can do is be an example to your child and take every opportunity to help them discover what good communication is! Your child is always watching, learning, and mimicking behavior and words around them, whether that’s from you, their peers, or the TV they watch. You can take advantage of that to demonstrate soft skills that will be valuable to them later in life.

Here are three simple ways you can help your child develop these soft skills:

Step 1: Spend Time Without Screens

Help your child unplug! Instead of letting them have unlimited time to watch TV or play games on a tablet or phone, regularly allow your children some exposure to life beyond the screen!

Letting your child spend time interacting with others will allow them to become familiar with social cues and good forms of communication. Letting them spend some “quiet time” playing by themselves will also help them to develop better emotional self-awareness.

Step 2: Play Make Believe

Most children love creative, imaginative play. Pretending to be a doctor, the president, or even a princess, are not only sources of fun and joy, but also great ways to learn important life skills!

Whether you’re playing with them yourself or taking them to a friend’s house or a play group so they can interact and play with peers, giving your child the gift of imaginative play will help them develop better soft skills.

Step 3: Listen to Your Child

Listening to your child is one of the most important things you can do to contribute to their personal development. There are several ways that you can create a safe and fun environment that will help your child learn to communicate their emotions and ideas.

Really listening to your child as they tell a story, talk about their ideas, or try to express a feeling will help them develop great soft skills through practice and affirmative action. And it all starts by simply listening to them and encouraging them to express themselves through open-ended questions.

How Educational Toys and Games Can Help Your Child Develop Soft Skills

A great way to supplement make-believe games and real-life peer and parent interaction is to use toys and educational games.

Playing with dolls, stuffed animals, or learning toys can help your child learn language skills. This play will then translate to improved communication with others.

With the right toys and games, you can create a fun, no-pressure context in which to talk and bring up real-life conversational situations. By simply playing with toys, you can introduce children to important life concepts that will translate into soft skills.

One such toy I’ve found to help encourage soft skill development is the new Ask Amy Doll. It’s an educational toy that can help your child build communication skills, emotional intelligence, and self-confidence! By responding to vocal statements and questions, such as, “Do you like school?”, “Tell me a story”, or “Am I pretty”, this interactive doll’s answers will encourage soft skills like communication, positivity, self-esteem, and love of learning!

<amazon capsule link:

https://www.amazon.com/Talking-Interactive-Singing-Storytelling-Educational/dp/B016MYFSW2?ref_=bl_dp_s_web_15747657011