Goodreau Wizard of Oz Kitty The Cowardly Lion 17″ Ball Joint Doll

Please join me in welcoming Kitty the Goodreau Ball Jointed Doll to my collection.  Goodreau is no longer producing dolls and I believe this is one of the last vinyl styles still available for sale.  I did a little research on Goodreau dolls and found that they were created by Paulette Goodreau and the tagline was "The American BJD".  Turns out they were made in China but an American owned the factory.  I suppose that qualifies.  Whoever made Kitty, American or Chinese, did a super job.  As I opened the box I could immediately tell this was going to be a happy ending.

Kitty came wrapped in a satiny pillow like wrap tied with ribbon.

At first glance she looks a little freaky, but it's just her face protector.

She's wearing her Cowardly Lion jacket, because she's from the OZ doll line.   Note she doesn't have any hair of her own yet.

She has a blonde bob style wig that comes in a separate box.  It's very soft and tightly rooted.

I took off her head cap to see inside and here's the contents.  She's a ball joint doll which means her torso and limbs are jointed and all strung together with elastic.  The elastic is held into place inside her head.  You can also see the magnets that hold the top of her head into place.

I'm really a novice on BJDs but basically what I understand is that typically they come with just a body and faceplate, and the buyer customizes the eyes, face paint, hair, etc.  And they're expensive as all getout.  Thankfully all choices been pre-determined in Kitty because I'm too intimidated to make such decisions at this point.

Here is Kitty with her wig in place.  It slides off easily and I think a dot of Velcro on the top of her had may be called for.  She's got a pretty face.  And I love her brown acrylic eyes.  These can be changed for different colors but I like her the way she is.  Her make up consists of deep red lipstick, feather style painted eyebrows, and blue eyeshadow.  She also has rooted lashes which is a plus.

While I'm not a fan of the jacket faux fur fabric, the craftsmanship is superb.  In fact all of the clothes are really high quality.  After I took these pictures I immediately ordered whatever else I could find made by Goodreau for this size doll.

A little history of the Goodreau dolls that I found from reading different websites.  Paulette Goodreau began making limited edition resin ball joint dolls in 2007.  There were several different sizes, including the 17" dolls, and also smaller 12", 8", and 5" dolls.  Soon afterwards the less expensive vinyl dolls were available.  Kitty is a one of the large 17" vinyl dolls.

In 2011 Paulette and her sister Annette, who ran the business together, ceased production of the dolls.  I bought my Kitty doll on eBay as part of a seller that has new old stock items.  There is a very limited selection of dolls left, and Kitty was the only one that inspired me to purchase.

This is the back of her Cowardly Lion jacket.  It closes with snaps in the front and the buttons are non-functional.

Under the fuzzy jacket Kitty wears a cute corduroy  high waisted jumper.  The top and ruffle trim at the bottom is a pink floral print.

It also closes with snaps and the bodice is completely lined.   All of the seam edges are finished nicely and like I stated before, extremely high quality.  So are the fabrics.

After the jumper comes off she's got yet another layer of clothing.  This time it's a soft knit long sleeve top and footed legging style pants.  These slip off easily. Her boots are the same faux fur as the jacket.

And they close in the back with little zippers.

Even the inside of each boot has nice stitching.

And a sturdy non slip sole.  Kitty didn't come with a stand but these boots allowed her to stand on her own.

Here's a shot of her torso and the pants.

And here you can see all her joints.  She even has a joint at her thighs.  I'm not exactly sure what extra that enables her to do.  I'll have to play around with poses and figure it out.  One thing I noticed is that her elastic is tightly strung.  When I was trying to pose her she seemed to snap back into place a little too easily.  Meaning she didn't hold her pose very well.  I'm so new at this that I don't know if this is normal.  My only other pseudo BJD is the little 5 1/2" Jun Planning Ai Doll and her joints were so loose they all kept spinning out of place.  I'm in educational mode right now so I'll have better bearings in the future.

One thing I can tell is that the Goodreau doll is durable.  She isn't fragile at all.  The vinyl is soft but thick, and the elastic is strong.  She is a well made doll.

A view from the back.

And sitting on a bench.

I ordered this tank and shorts outfit with my doll so she would have something a little cooler to wear.  We live in Florida and are already running our air conditioner in February.  Those long knits would get hot quick here.

It looks cute on Kitty.  I found through my online research that Ellowyne Wilde fashions fit the 17" Goodreau dolls so I'll have to try some of my Ellowyne Doll outfits on her soon too.

Kitty looks so comfy I wouldn't mind having that same outfit in my size.  Once again this is nice fabric and sewn very well.  Love Goodreau clothes.  Too bad I'm so late to the party and there isn't much left to choose from.

And a final close up of Kitty's Goodreau doll face.  Her wig needs brushing but her face is beautiful.  I love her.

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