I had every intention of posting the review of SDCC Exclusive Pullip Wonder Woman Dress Version next but then Dal ho-ho arrived last week and I had so much fun photographing her that I decided to post her review first.
Many dolls lines release swimsuit themed dolls on a nearly annual basis, every summer a new series of swimsuit dolls get released with a slightly different theme than last year’s. The swimsuit dolls are normally come with a swimsuit and maybe a beach themed accessory or two, they are normally priced much cheaper than other dolls in the line. Not many swimsuit themed Pullips have been released over the years, off the top of my head Pullip Summer Purezza is probably the closest thing we’ve had to a swimsuit release up to this point but her release was over ten years ago and she was limited to 500, Dal Tweety comes with a bikini but it’s inclusion in her stock almost seemed like an afterthought and she was released in 2008 so just shy of ten years ago.

Pullip Summer Purezza                              Dal Tweety                      

Earlier this summer, Groove announced the forthcoming releases of Pullip ha-ha and Dal ho-ho. Both dolls came with a swimsuit bikini as well as a cover-up outfit as well as sunglasses and float accessories, finally we have some swimsuit releases! The pair were released in August in Japan but released one month later here in the US. The MSRP for each of the dolls is 18000 yen, I preordered my Dal ho-ho via Pullipstyle where she was priced at $120 plus however much shipping was.

Let’s all take a closer look at ho-ho!

Dal ho-ho in the box

For a swimsuit doll I was kind of surprised how much stuff she actually came with! I feel like for her price point that she came with a lot of stuff and I was surprised by the versatility of some of the items in her stock. I was overall impressed by the quality of her stock and stock items.

How is the quality of the wig? My initial impression of the wig that it was a bit of an impractical choice for going to going to the beach, I felt that she should have had a short summer-y hairstyle. In reality, the length didn’t bother me as much as I thought it would I still think I would have preferred it if it was a little shorter. Overall the quality is really nice, it’s very soft and silky feeling and the color is great my only real complaint is that it is a bit prone to flyaways thankfully she comes with a couple of different hair  accessories that help keep her hair keep in check.
Dal ho-ho has a very fresh face, you wouldn’t really expect a girl that is heading to the beach to be overly made up with dramatic makeup would you? Her fresh face is very refreshing, she doesn’t have an overwhelming amount of blush and her lips are a nice soft pink. The eye makeup is well done and I absolutely love the pop of color that her bright blue eye shadow provides. The eyebrows are a bit heavier than usual for a Dal. Her eyechips are a wonderful celedon blue, the color is reminiscent of brilliant blue ocean waves and the heart detailing is a great detail that suits her really nicely.
Dal ho-ho’s stock consists of a two piece bathing suit, sunglasses, a one-piece dress, a sprout/leaf/floral accessory, a float, rain boots, hair bow and a belt that doubles as a hair accessory. The bathing suit is cute but perhaps a bit more revealing than I would like on Dal, I mean Dal is only supposed to be 13 so I would have preferred her in a one-piece bathing suit personally. I will say the bright blue color of the bathing suit is really fantastic! The sunglasses are a splendid accessory not only are they thematically tied in with ho-ho being a beach doll their style really suits her, they are adorable and the color is very fitting! The cover-up dress is darling, the contrasting pink and blue gingham is a refreshing color choice. The sprout hair accessory is on a alligator hair clip, the flower is plastic the (I think it’s a) berry’s stalk is a bit poseable. Surprisingly, the uni-bunny for lack of a better term float is actually functional, I dropped it by accident in the water and it floats. It’s a cute enough addition to her stock though I think I would have preferred a larger float.  The boots are an interesting choice, they are not something you would expect to see with a swimsuit themed doll but they really work for her! The mold is something we’ve seen before, I believe it debuted with Dal Fiori but they styled it a bit differently and the little bit of lace elevates them a bit into the absurdly adorable category! The pink polka dotted hair bow is a very playful addition to her stock, I love the color and the contrast of the white and pink! The ribbon doubles as a belt for the dress as well as an alternate hair bow, I really like how versatile it is!
She really does look like a young girl getting ready to go to the beach!

Of course she can’t forget her float!
Such a gorgeous face up <3.
I decided to name my ho-ho Daytona after the beach in Florida, I live in CT but I’ve been to Daytona beach before and none of the CT’s beach names I could think of really seemed to suit her as well as Daytona.
While I do love my popsicle/ice cream background, I decided it would be a crime not to at least take some photos of ho-ho at a beach. I took her a local lake where she enjoyed playing with some sand toys! 
She was trying to build a sand castle but quickly lost patience in the endeavor.
I’m going to take a moment to discuss doll water safety since I took photos of Dal ho-ho in around water at a local beach as well as a stream and it probably has a few people wondering how safe it is to get a Dal wet. The biggest concern with getting Pullip or one of the other dolls in the line wet is the eye mechanism, which should not be exposed to water under any circumstances as it has metal parts and could rapidly become a nightmare to deal with if it becomes wet and subsequently rusts. So if I am photographing a doll in or around water I make sure not to submerge them past the waist or so as to avoid water coming into contact with the eye mechanism which brings us to the secondary concern the screws! The screws on the back of the doll can rust if exposed to water as well so I covered the screw holes with small circular  waterproof bandages to lessen the risk of exposing them to water. The bandages cover the screw holes in the back of the doll but can’t really be seen in any of the photos. Type 4 Pullips have an additional metal bit in their knee to be aware of. I normally towel dry the doll’s hair if it gets wet, I wouldn’t use a hair dryer as if it gets too close it could melt the doll’s hair.

If the unthinkable should happen and a doll does decide to go for a swim ie. accidentally becomes fully submerged in water, all metal parts will have to be dried. The eye mechanism would have to be disassembled as well as any screws would have to be fully removed from the doll and dried before being put back into the doll. It’s just something to be aware if you choose to photograph your doll in or around water, I’ve personally had to completely disassemble a doll to dry it out before when I, my camera and the doll took an unintentional dip in a lake so I’m sharing my own experience. I’m prepared to dive in after a doll if I have to ^^; .
Why did I risk it? Well ho-ho is a beach themed doll, she just belongs at the beach and I think I managed to capture her spirit in my photos.
It is a tremendous help when you manage to find water that is not that deep to photograph your dolls in, she is balancing on an underwater rock here so the water level doesn’t quite go up to her knees.
Dal ho-ho sure loves the beach!
While I am now aware that the sprout hair accessory was a popular trend in Asia (you can read an article from CNN about it here) it’s one of those things that maybe I am too old to truly get or understand. It’s a cute enough addition to her stock even if it’s not something I’m particularly that interested in but I would be remiss if I didn’t at least include a few photos of her wearing it in this review.
Believe or it not even more photos of Dal ho-ho can be seen on my flickr! She is available for purchase via Pullipstyle and/or JPGroove. Playing with ho-ho has made me miss summer already.