What's the difference between Miniland and Minikane dolls?

What's the difference between Miniland and Minikane dolls?

Miniland is a Spanish company who have been around since the 1960s. Minikane is a newer French company. Both companies manufacture their dolls in Spain. Minikane dolls are made by Paola Reina, but I'm not sure about Miniland. I assume they manufacture their own dolls.

Miniland is a company that focuses on educational toys. Their dolls are diverse and include dolls with cochlear implants, Down's Syndrome and Vitiligo. Minikane also offer a range of diverse dolls but their focus is on selling children's clothing and decor.

The red haired Minikane doll is called Gabrielle. I believe the names of the dolls vary depending on what country they're sold in, but I'm not 100% sure. The blonde Miniland doll I don't think had a name. I'm sure she was just called "Blonde caucasian girl doll" but a lot of the Miniland dolls do have names.

The Miniland doll is much slimmer and slightly taller at 38cm, compared to the Minikane doll at 34cm. In inches, the Miniland doll is just under 15 inches and the Minikane doll is 13 3/8 inches.

The length of their bodies is roughly the same, with the Miniland only slightly longer, but the Miniland's arms and legs are much longer.

The Minikane doll has a larger head, although the Minikane dolls without hair have slightly smaller heads that are more comparable in size to the Miniland doll's head.

From the back you can see again that the Miniland doll has longer legs. It doesn't really show on the photo, but she also has little bumps at the back of her neck where her spine would be. You can also see that she has white printing on her back.

One thing you'll notice is the difference in skin tone. Both are Caucasian but the Miniland doll has a much more orange skin tone. Personally, I don't really like it and don't think it looks very realistic at all. I bought this doll from Amazon and one of the things people mentioned in the reviews was the orange skin tone.

Here is the Miniland doll with her smaller sister doll. The little Miniland doll is 32cm tall, which is 12 5/8 inches. The little doll is described as Hispanic and I believe her name is Ivy. Some Amazon reviewers said they thought her skin tone was too dark but I like her skin tone much more than the larger Miniland doll's. Her hair is not rooted, it is just painted on. She has a similar build to the larger doll but her arms are much more bent and can't be moved behind her body, which can make dressing the doll difficult.

Both dolls sit well and are quite stable in a sitting position. Since their bodies are a similar length and the Minikane doll has a larger head, they're about the same height when they're sitting down.

Both dolls leg joints move easily. They're not too difficult for young children to bend and they hold their position well. One of the things I don't like about the way the Miniland doll sits is that the position of her head means she is always looking down at the ground.

Here are the markings on the back of the Miniland dolls. There is quite a lot of white text printed on their backs, which I think spoils the look of the dolls a bit. Both have the brand stamped into the back of their necks, which is nicely hidden by the hair on the larger doll.

You can't see this on the photo but the smaller doll has some 'bald' patches on the back of her head. I had her leaning against a wall and when I picked her up she had marks on the back of her head. I thought some of the chalky paint from my wall had transferred to her head and would wash off, but the wall had actually rubbed the brown paint off the doll's head, leaving brown marks on the wall. If you are going to have the doll leaning against a wall you might want to make sure it is wearing a hat or has something to protect its head first.

The Minikane dolls don't have any printing on them. I'm guessing that the doll with hair is one of the exclusive designs that Paola Reina makes for the Minikane brand, while the the other doll is made with a Paola Reina Gordis doll mould, but I'm not sure. I prefer the way it looks having the logo stamped into the dolls neck rather than having it embossed. I have five other Minikane dolls without hair and two have Paula Reina embossed on the back of their necks and three have Minikane stamped into the back of their necks.

The Minikane doll with painted hair had also been leaning against the same wall as the Miniland doll and he had cream marks on the back of his head too. In his case, it was just chalky paint and wiped off, leaving the painted hair fully intact.

My photos of the dolls faces haven't turned out too great. The camera has made them look weird. All the dolls faces look much nicer in real life!

Neither of the dolls have eyebrows painted on, but the Minikane doll has eyelashes. I believe most of the Minikane girl dolls have eyelashes, except for the Asian dolls. This Minikane doll has freckles painted on, but not all of them do. Some of the Minikane dolls have slightly open mouths and some have fully closed mouths. I think both dolls have nice eyes. Both brands have several different eye colours you can choose from. The faces of the Minikane dolls are hand painted, which apparently gives them all a slightly different look. I don't have two of the exact same doll to be able to compare.

When it comes to hair, the Minikane doll's hair is softer and smoother. The Miniland doll's hair is quite rough feeling. I've only used mine for modelling clothes and her hair already seems kind of matted, especially the curls. I'm not sure how well it would stand up to regular play by a child. One of the things I don't like about the Minikane's hair is the way her fringe sticks out at the sides instead of lying flat. Maybe if I put a tight hat on her it might help to squash it flat again.

This is the smaller Miniland doll's face compared with a Minikane boy doll. The Minikane boy is called Rai. Neither of them have eyebrows or eyelashes. This particular Minikane boy doll's face is one of my favourite faces. It looks much nicer in real life! He has a small mark on his forehead that looks almost like a bruise. That was there when I received the doll (bought brand new) so I think it might be a smudge of paint from the factory. Despite being one of my favourite dolls, the quality of this particular doll wasn't all that great compared to the others. There is what looks like a tiny bubble in the vinyl on the painted section of his head and there are parts where the vinyl feels slightly rough.

To me, the Miniland dolls look as if they have quite sad expressions, the little one in particular looks as if she is about to start crying. The Minikane dolls have much more neutral expressions.

The Miniland doll seems to be designed to stay in a lying down pose because the feet are tilted downwards rather than flat so the doll is unable to stand up.

This is the doll standing leaning against my backdrop since she can't stand on her own. If you look at her feet you can see that it's only the tips of her toes that are touching the ground.

These are the Minikane doll's feet. I think they're probably the worst part of the doll. Because they cross over each other, it can be quite difficult to dress the doll, especially when you're trying to put leggings on the doll. It can be difficult get shoes on them too.

Again, the doll can't stand up on his own. He is leaning against my backdrop and you can see that he is only balanced on the outside of his right foot. His left foot is not touching the ground.

I don't think it's really a problem that the dolls can't stand up. They are supposed to be baby dolls, and babies can't stand and walk. If you wanted to have them displayed standing up you would need to buy a doll stand to hold them up.

The most annoying thing about the Miniland dolls is the position of their arms. They're curved in front of the body. With the smaller Miniland dolls, their arms can't move backwards behind their body, which can make them really difficult to dress. With the larger Miniland doll, one of the arms can move backwards, which makes it a bit easier to put a cardigan or jacket on.

Because the arms are curved, it means the length of the outside of the arm is longer than the length of the inside of the arm, so when you dress the doll in anything with long sleeves it doesn't sit right. Inside the arm fits fine but there is a big gap on the outside of the arm where the sleeves aren't long enough.

Can Miniland and Minikane dolls share clothes? These are clothes made for a Minikane doll. The short dungarees fit the Miniland doll pretty well. The length of the shorts is just above the knee on the Miniland doll whereas they're knee length on the Minikane doll. The Miniland doll's body is ever so slightly longer than the Minikane's body but the dungarees still fit quite well. They're not roomy enough to fit over a bulky nappy, but they will fit over thin underwear.

The long dungarees are too short for the Miniland doll, but not terribly short. I think you could get away with them, especially if they're worn with socks or bootees.

Again, the leggings are too short for the Miniland doll, but I think they're acceptable. The Minikane doll is a bit chunkier than the slimmer Miniland doll, but the leggings don't have any trouble staying up. The dress is a good length for the Miniland doll, but the sleeves are too short. Again there's that issue with the arms where the sleeves don't sit right. Despite the sleeves being too short, I think it looks as if they're supposed to be three-quarter length sleeves.

Like the leggings, the jeans are too short for the Miniland doll, but again, they look acceptable and they don't have any trouble staying up. Since the sleeves are short on the peasant top, the fit is good.

Overall, it looks as if the larger Miniland doll can easily share clothing with a Minikane doll. Trousers and sleeves will be a bit too short, but there are many items, like shorts, skirts, short sleeved tops and dresses that will fit well. For a young child, they probably won't mind their doll wearing trousers a little bit too short, but if you are a doll collector you would probably want to have trousers and long sleeved tops and dresses that are specifically made for a Miniland doll.

The smaller 32cm Miniland doll can't really share any clothing with the Minikane doll, even though they're only 2cm smaller. The smaller Miniland doll's body is much slimmer. You definitely need clothing made specially for the 32cm Miniland doll, but some slimmer cut clothing for 12-13 inch dolls may fit.

I just wanted to add a photo of the smaller Miniland doll in this outfit that is made to fit her because I think she looks quite sweet. Unfortunately I don't have any socks or shoes for her.

Overall, I don't think one doll is better than the other. It's more down to personal preference. Personally, I prefer the Minikane dolls. I think their expressions are nicer and I prefer their chunkier body type compared to the slimmer Miniland dolls, but thinking about myself as a child playing with dolls, I'd be more than happy with either doll.

The Miniland dolls are cheaper and you can easily find them on Amazon. Minikane dolls are more expensive and are harder to find. The official Miniland clothing is not cheap, but it's cheaper than the Minikane clothing, where it costs around £20 for a single dress, so if cost is a factor, you might want to go for a Miniland doll over a Minikane doll.