Average Reviews:
(More customer reviews)We have both of these. The doll comes with two 'flowers' that keep her upright when in water and a windy hair piece to play with her hair.
To use the doll, you wind up the tail fin and then let it go. The 'motor' (a rubber band?) turns the fins. The problem is that the elasticity of the drive means that when you let the fin go after winding it, it goes very fast and then stops. I think this would have been much better if the fin always turned at about the same even speed. As it is, you spin the tail forever for about half a second of frantic jerky motion of the fins in the water. Whether standing upright (won't work in a bathtub) or 'swimming' under the water, neither works smoothly or easily. It's just a quick jerk couple of spins and that's it. The motor just spins too fast and the water pressure isn't enough to slow it down.
The doll is quite large and doesn't fit into a bathtub - certainly not in the upright position for the 'dancing' motion with the flowers on her wrists. I think she is far better suited to a pool where she has room to move around. Even then, she doesn't really 'swim' and my 7 year old quickly lost interest in winding up the tail only to have it spin wildly for half a second and then peter out. The doll just jerked more than swam when you put her in the water. She doesn't really go forward and we had a serious issue with the tail spinning but the body not - kind of ruining the feel of swimming and appearing more like she's in her death throes.
The tail fins are made of thin vinyl type of material and if left into a bent position too long, keeps that position permanently. Then she no longer swims at all. And the tail bends 45 degrees - I believe to make it easier to spin but it just ends up getting stuck there - further taking away from any 'swimming action'.
In all, we've already lost the two flower pieces, the tails are all bent from bathtub play, and my 7 year old long ago stopped trying to wind her up. Which makes a big waste of money in having that motor in there in the first place. She definitely does not live up to the hype of the commercial.
We haven't been able to try this in a pool - I think that is really where she might be useful. Definitely too large and clunky for a bathtub.
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Barbie In A Mermaid Tale Swim 'N Dance Mermaid Teresa Doll
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