Doll Review: Missy Kissy

Missy Kissy is an interactive Berenguer doll made by JC Toys. Although Berenguer dolls were originally made in Spain, the Missy Kissy doll is made in China. She currently sells for £29.99 at Smyths Toys.

I think Missy Kissy is a really cute looking doll and looks quite realistic. However, her interactive part is HIGHLY annoying. She's plays music, sings in a very loud American accent and makes quite unpleasant 'drinking' sounds. It's weird and jarring because the doll looks like a pretty realistic 6 month old baby so she shouldn't be able to speak, but she speaks in full sentences and sounds more like a 4-year-old. I believe magnets in different areas of the doll are triggered by magnets in the doll's potty, dummy and bottle which cause the doll to sing different songs and say different phrases depending on what you're doing with her. There does not appear to be a volume control. You might want to just avoid putting batteries in her!

Because of the batteries and interactive parts, she is quite heavy compared to other dolls her size. She also has speaker holes in her chest. Obviously, being an interactive doll, she couldn't be taken in the bath or allowed to get wet. Her body is solid shiny plastic and her head feels as if it's made from a solid matte plastic. Her limbs are vinyl but they're a pretty solid vinyl with very little give to them. She has sleepy eyes that close when you lie her flat, which is nice. Because of all the hard plastic, she's certainly not a cuddly doll.

My Missy Kissy doll has very slack leg joints. Her arms are perfectly fine and will stay where you pose them, but the legs are very floppy. Since mine is second-hand, I don't know if the legs are meant to be slacker than the arms or if they might have become that way after lots of play. Because the doll comes with a potty, the legs may be purposely looser to allow a child to place the doll easily on the potty. The loose leg joints don't affect the doll's ability to sit though. My doll also makes weird metallic sounds that sound a bit like a spring when you lie her back. I'm not sure if this is connected to the sleepy eyes or maybe part of the interactive mechanism. It's not very realistic to have a metallic sounding baby!

Since my doll was second-hand, I can't speak for any of the clothing and accessories that would come with the doll. It looks as if she comes with two outfits, a bib, a nappy, potty, dummy and bottle. Overall I think £29.99 is good value for an interactive doll and accessories.

Smyths Toys say that Missy Kissy is suitable for children age 2+ years, but because of her hard and heavy body and head, I would say she is more suited to slightly older children.

In terms of what sort of clothing fits, Missy Kissy really seems to be between sizes for most of my dolls clothing. Although she is a bit smaller than Baby Born, she actually fits into quite a lot of Baby Born size clothing. Her legs are a bit shorter than Baby Born's but shorts fit really well on her. The T.shirts fit her fairly well too. The cardigan was also made specifically to fit Baby Born and it fits her nicely.

This is Missy Kissy compared to another Berenguer doll, the Berenguer Boutique Twin Baby. Both dolls are sold as 38cm dolls, but there looks like quite a big difference between their sizes in the photo. It doesn't look as if they will be able to share clothes easily. They do look quite similar though, with similar eyes, a similar skin tone and painted hair. You can tell that they are both Berenguer dolls.

Here is Missy Kissy compared to the popular Baby Born doll. Missy Kissy is 38cm and Baby Born is 43cm. Despite their size difference, the length of their bodies is quite similar, so they will be able to share a lot of clothing. Missy Kissy looks a bit chunkier overall. There is also quite a difference in their skin tone. Neither of them are terribly unrealistic, but I think Missy Kissy's looks better as Baby Born is a bit orangey. One difference between them is that Missy Kissy has more detailed 'hair' markings and her head is lightly painted, making it look like she has hair. Baby Born looks bald, despite having some markings for hair.

I think Berenguer does doll's faces well. They have many different newborn faces that look quite realistic. I believe when reborn dolls started to take off, people would use Berenguer dolls to 'reborn'. Missy Kissy is more of a play doll, but I think her face looks cute. Mine has a fine cut or scratch in the middle of her nose which you can't really see in the photo. I did buy her second hand, so I don't know how it got there. I think it may have been made by a knife as someone cut through some wrapping around her because the material her head is made from doesn't look as if it would easily be marked or scratched.

This dress was made for dolls Missy Kissy's height but because her neck is much thicker than most dolls, the dress wasn't able to fasten. It still holds, and the dress wouldn't fall off her, but it doesn't look as nice to have a dress that doesn't fasten properly. Even some clothes made for larger sized dolls like Baby Born, you might find a struggle to get fastened at the neck. Her feet are also quite chubby and may not fit into shoes that other dolls her size fit

This jacket and the jeans were made for Baby Born. The jeans actually fit quite well, despite Missy Kissy having shorter legs. One thing to note is that her legs cross over each other, which can make it difficult for younger children to dress her in trousers or shorts. The jacket is quite a roomy jacket for Baby Born so that it can be worn over the top of sweatshirts or knitted cardigans. Despite this, it fits not too badly on the body, but the arms seem a bit long. It's not terrible though.

Overall, Missy Kissy is a nice looking doll at a good price. I am not a fan of her interactive parts and would highly recommend not putting batteries in her! Otherwise she'll become one of those annoying noisy toys that you'll quickly want to ban. I also think that the fact that she has a predetermined set of phrases really limits the play value of the doll.

Missy Kissy can be quite hard to find outfits for because of her unusual size. Smyths Toys sell some accessories for Missy Kissy, but not outfits. If you are in the market for an interactive doll, Zapf's Baby Annabell might be a better choice. Despite being double the price, Annabell has a lot more accessories and clothing available and her body type means she fits more easily into other dolls clothing, like clothes for Baby Born.

That said, I do like Missy Kissy and would recommend her because she is a nice looking doll.