One of the most controversial toys – if you can call a toy controversial – released in the past few months is the Camille Rose Garcia set from Necessaries Toy Foundation.  It seems like everyone has strong opinions, one way or the other, about the CRG girls.  Personally, I bestowed the 2005 Toy Line of the Year upon the set of four 14-inch tall rotocast vinyl figures.  However, they have had their detractors.

At 14 inches in height, NTF continues their creed of bigger is better.  This might actually be their smallest endeavor, as Antoinette, Enid and BunnyDuck are all imposing vinyl pieces.  With the height, there have been some complaints about the ability of these figures to balance.  Personally, I have found that two of my figures - Katie and Sadie and Cherry Girl - have balancing problems.  Lulu and Patch both appear to have weights in their feet.  I am not sure if the problem was realized and then rectified, but they have been stable for over a month now.

The sculpt was done by Dave Pressler.  If anyone follows sculptors in
the vinyl toy world, you’ll recognize his name.  The sculpting work is
superb.  Each character is the spitting image of Garcia’s work.  They
truly are some of the most beautiful figures of the past year.  I have
read and seen pictures of problems folks have had with glue marks, but
I have not had any of those problems with the set I received.

Of course, with a line of 4 figures, you are bound to pick favorites.
For me, it’s Patch and Lulu.  Not because they are the two that stand
perfectly, but because Patch is the most colorful and Lulu is the most
ordinary of the set.  I feel that the Katie and Sadie figure is very
complex and applaud NTF for attempting this character.  However, I
would have rather seen one of her characters with one head and two legs
rather than Katie and Sadie.  My wife’s favorite was Cherry Girl…she
likes the cherry muffin on the top of the figures’ head.

Overall, I was very impressed with this line.  Aside for the balancing
issues, it’s a wonderfully sculpted set of vinyl dolls.  Necessaries
Toy Foundation continues to release some of the most spectacular and
imposing figures out there.  And their products seem to fly under the
radar.  That will probably soon change as they are planning on
releasing their Fafi figure as well as what will probably be my
personal favorites…a three figure line from Fawn Gehweiler.


Pop Thirteen has the CRG set of 4 dolls for $225.  They also have Patch and Lulu in stock (individually) for $60 apiece.

3DRetro has the entire CRG set in stock for $208.99.

Overall Grades: