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In honor of the upcoming Halloween holiday, it's only fitting that Spooky Sooki steps up to the Review page. Spooky Sooki is a Dynamite Girl - a wonderful line of affordable articulated fashion dolls designed by David Buttry [and his team] and produced by Integrity Toys. This is the 2nd year for the Dynamite Girls, and this is Integrity's first "Holiday Themed" Doll. Spooky Sooki is a limited edition of 1000 dolls, and is sold through Authorized Integrity Dealers for a SRP of $45. You get a LOT of bang for your buck with these Dynamite Girls...and just goes to show that you CAN get quality for $35-$45 here! Here are the front and back of Sooki’s packaging.

Spooky herself is an adorable raven-haired beauty, wearing an adorable "Wednesday Addams-inspired outfit.” She sports 2 long braids each secured with black elastic, and has rooted eyelashes. Sooki also comes with her very own little black "stuffed" cat (whose name I can find anywhere, so I'll refer to it as "Boo").

Deboxing Sooki:

Holy Shades of Mattel! Sooki really put up a fight getting out of her packaging...and I had to resort to scissors in some tight places. Tape and clear plastic straps held her firmly (and I mean firmly) in place. I can now admit that "deboxing Fashion Royalty dolls" has completely spoiled me...because I haven't had to mangle a box like this in a long time. Once Sooki is free of her box, there's no putting her back -- not that you'd want to.

At first I was confused by her hair...the two braids were brought together in the back and tied into one by another black band, but careful observation and fiddling separated them into two large, shiny, thick braids. This is some gorgeous glossy hair -- it feels SO silky! Sooki wears a black dress, furry black vest, and striped tights. Here's the back. The dress & vest are lined. The dress has 4 snaps, and the tights fit like a glove...and are made of a fine cotton/poly knit. Not baggy at all!

Now, with the good comes the not-so-good -- the shoes:

Sooki's feet are "high-heel ready" [pointed] yet the black oxfords she comes with are FLAT plastic, square toed, and squishy, not hard. They stay on OK...but just not worthy of such a styling girl and they don't help with balancing on her doll stand. Wish they had been squishy short boots with heels of some sort. These just left me scratching my head. Sometimes Integrity just slaps on a pair of shoes -- much to the chagrin of the designer, and I suspect that's what happened here. I dunno...

As you can see in the photos above, Sooki comes with a basic doll stand that comes in 2 pieces: a rigid clear non-telescoping upper stand, and a black "Dyamite Girls" base. The only problem I have with the stand is that I wish it were a tad taller. When Sooki's shoes are on...she's just a bit taller than the stand - and it's sometimes difficult keeping her balanced on it. Sorry, here's a "crotch shot" showing the tiny gap between Sooki and her stand. It just takes some adjusting/posing on your part, to find balance, so this isn't a major issue at all (again, I'm just spoiled by the telescoping/adjustable stands from FR). Sooki has a body very similar to the Nu.Face/Model Behavior girls; you can feel that legs are made of a different material as they're a little "rougher/lighter" but it's barely noticeable. Her points of articulation are identical to the MB girls, and they can easily share most clothing items. As I was "playing" with Sooki, I noticed that ONE of her knee joints was much firmer than the other. I slid down her tights to find that only one knee had one of those clear plastic shipping sleeves on it; while the other one didn't. Problem solved!

The Dynamite Girls' hands are REMOVEABLE for easy dressing. This is a FABULOUS feature!! You gently pull on them gently and they'll pop right out. Genious!

Sooki comes with no jewelry, and her ears are "unpierced," so if you'd like to redress her...you can always carefully add holes with a needle. Carefully. Sooki features a new Dynamite Girl face mold...somewhat reminiscent of a Barbie/Steffie face mold....soft, young, girlish & mod.

Summary: Kudos to Integrity/David Buttry for giving us such an ADORABLE & AFFORDABLE doll!

Sooki is a sturdy, stylish, articulated doll AND has a quality outfit! She's so much fun to pose...and you don't have to be "afraid" of playing with your fashion dolls anymore (see Shuga-Shugs photos in the DollyDaily.com Community). For obvious reasons: the DG box is marked "Not for children under 3" - choking hazards. My first wave DG boxes are marked "Ages 3+" but I've noticed that Integrity has changed that to "Age 6+" on the 2nd Wave DGs. I actually think that Sooki could stand up to a well-behaved, mature 6 y/o girl under adult supervision. NOT!!! I'd still just give them a $10 playline Barbie as I've seen exactly what a 6 y/o girl can do with a fashion doll and a crayon!!

Doll: A++ Fashion: A+ Shoes: C- Stand: C

Packaging: Fabulous, Colorful Pop Art!!! Easy to display NRFB, yet non-reusable if you're a deboxer.