As if I haven’t already spent enough money on Rainbow High dolls since becoming a convert about a month ago, MGA Entertainment has introduced something else to separate me from my money. The Rainbow High Mini Accessories Studio surprise boxes have arrived at my local Target and Walmart stores. The Mini Accessories Studio is a collection of fashion-doll shoes and purses. There are twenty-seven different pairs of shoes or handbags, many of them styled for specific Rainbow High characters. The color of the box matches the color of the shoes or purse. However, that doesn’t mean you’ll know which item you’ll get. There are between one to four different purses or shoes for each box color, but you won’t know which one you’ll get until you open it. The concept is identical to MGA’s LOL Surprise dolls, which is the same concept behind the Japanese “blind boxes” that have been popular with adult designer-toy collectors for many years.
There are two versions of the Mini Studio Accessories cases of shoes and purses, Case A and Case B. Apparently only Case B has all twenty-seven different options in it. You can identify Case B as having the black Shadow High boxes. When I went to Walmart to look for the Mini Accessories Studio boxes, I was greeted with a fresh Case B of shoes. Yay! I took out my iPhone and checked the Instagram account of babydolldolls. She made a guide, with graphics, of the Mini Accessories Studio cases indicating the location in the case of each style of shoe or purse. This was invaluable, and it allowed me to locate the shoes I wanted. And she as spot on, with one exception (but more on that later). I bought eight boxes of shoes. The boxes are styled to look like trunks, as in fashion trunk-shows. I didn’t notice until I got home that the boxes I bought at Walmart are the international versions. It features three languages on the box: English, French, and German.
A box of shoes I bought earlier at Target is the U.S. version and only has the English language on the box.
Here are the box tops side-by-side.
The international boxes also have a brochure taped to the bottom with product information in multiple languages. The letters “CE” indicate that this product complies with the European Union Toy Safety Directive of 2009. Neat!
One side of the box indicates that these surprise boxes are Series 1, which suggests that there will be a Series 2.
The other side lets you know some of the contents of the box.
The certificate of authenticity, the receipt, and the receipt envelope are taped inside the lid of the box in a small plastic bag.
The Certificate of G.L.A.M. (or Certificat de G.L.A.M.) indicates that these shoes are from the Fall 2022 collection. Does this mean there will be a spring collection? I’d better start saving my money now!
I love how detailed the receipt is. I tried scanning the QR code to see if it would bring up a website. It does. Just click on the photo below to see the larger image, and scan the QR code. It takes you to the official Rainbow High website.
“Your receipt, Madame. Thank you for shopping with us.”
Inside the “trunk” is a drawer-like box that contains a shoebox.
The side of the box shows which shoes are inside.
The shoebox holds two surprises – well, three if you count the shoes. The first surprise is that the shoes are wrapped in tissue paper, like real shoes in a shoebox when you first buy them. The paper is sealed with a sticker that emulates a wax seal. The paper also matches the color of the box. The designs printed on the colored paper is different for each colored box.
The second surprise is a dust bag to store the shoes in.
Each box of shoes and purses comes with a collector’s guide. One side features the shoes, with the purses on the reverse. I’ll just show the shoes in this review and save the purse collectors’ guide for a separate review.
The first pair of shoes I got were Poppy Rowan’s thigh-high boots. One down, seven to go.
1. Poppy Rowan – Monarch butterfly boots.
2. Sunny Madison – kawaii graffiti boots. They’re like Doc Martens.
These shoes were the one exception to babydolldolls finder’s guide to the shoes. I intended to get Sunny Madison’s pastel platform sneakers and took the yellow box that was on the top row, in the center front, as per the finder’s guide. When I opened the box at home, however, I discovered that I got the kawaii graffiti boots. But I’m not mad. These boots are cooler than I thought they were. The illustration in the collector’s guide doesn’t have the graffiti on it and shows plain white boots. I actually like these more than the pastel rainbow sneakers. A happy accident! In my rush to get the boxes I wanted while I was in Walmart, I didn’t see babydolldolls’s comment on her post that explained that, while the four cases she bought all had the pastel platform sneakers in the same spot, others had the same issue I had. But her guide was super helpful. Thank you babydolldolls.
3. Krystal Bailey – teddy bear slippers. They’re flocked and feature faceted-glass faux-gemstones eyes.
4. Poppy Rowan – strappy platform sandals.
5. Jade Hunter – buckled combat boots. They’re loosely based on the Versace Medusa harness boots. I love how MGA Entertainment looks to designer fashion houses for inspiration.
6. Shadow High – silver fabric knee boots.
The buckle has the word “Shadow” on it.
7. Amaya Raine – rainbow-paint-splattered platform sneakers. Styled like platform Adidas Nizza sneakers.
8. Rainbow High – rainbow-sparkle slouchy knee boots.
I have bought an awful lot of tiny doll shoes and purses in the past couple of weeks, and I’m probably not done yet! At ten dollars each, I could have bought myself a purse or a couple of pairs of shoes with the money I’ve spent. The ten-dollar price point for the Mini Accessories Studio items is a bone of contention for some collectors. For little more than twice the price, collectors can buy a Rainbow High doll, including the shoes. While ten dollars may seem a bit steep for a pair of doll shoes, I’m not mad at it. MGA could have put the mini accessories in carded plastic bags and just hung them on a peg at Target or Walmart. Instead, they come in an aesthetically pleasing presentation box, wrapped in tissue, and placed in a mini shoe box, accompanied by a real cloth drawstring dust bag. As they say, presentation is everything. I had a lot of fun opening each box. It feels like I’m buying designer shoes in an exclusive boutique, just like Lila below.
Have you bought any of the Mini Accessories Studio shoes or purses? What do you think of them? Let us know in the comments.
Dollsville, USA 