No new release since I started collecting Sylvanians has
made me as excited as the new Persian Cat Family, just released in Japan this
Valentine’s Day. So, it is quite fitting that my first post on my new blog
would be a review of them. Like all Japanese Sylvanians, they don’t have names.
Since they were released on Valentine’s Day, I have decided to give mine the
surname Love. Also because of this, the review is full of conversation hearts.
(I really like these candies, I also used them when I made the V-Day forum banner!)
Anyway, without further ado, The Love Cat Family!
I will call the father Michael, because of this epic leaning
pose!
Here they are, out of the box and looking sweet enough to
eat! I don’t collect unjointed babies, so I don’t have the twins, but they were
released, as usual. I will start the review with the baby and work my way up
backwards through the numbers.
Here is the little baby, I think I will call her (the Persis
baby was a boy, so this one will be a girl) Heather. It is a shade of grayish
purple.
Here she is next to Marcus Persis, and you can already tell the striking differences in head mold. The new Persians have lower set eyes and nose, smaller, pointier ears, and a more oval head shape.
Here is the sister. I named her Daisy, because of the
daisies on her dress.
And next to Sadie Persis.
I did a body comparison, the new Persians have the new tall
body mold, while the Flair Persis have this shorter mold with large feet and
narrow shoulders. I don’t know what the flat-handed Persis look like. You can
also see here that the Persis have a creamier off-white color, while the new
Persians are paper-white.
The tail length varies by family member, but in general, the
Persis have a much longer tail.
Standing next to Nolly. I just realized how long the Persis’
whiskers are! It’s so weird, they just seem super long for some reason. Anyway,
I put these two in front of a darker background in order to get a closer look
at the flocking.
See how it is sticking straight out, and there is so much
space between the fibers. I think they might have used higher power to make the
strands stand up straighter, and perhaps they mixed short and long fibers to
create the spaced look? Certainly worth giving it a try, once I get my flocking
apparatus worked out.
And the Persis has more wild fur, it goes in different
directions, and it is denser. It also sparkles more in bright light, and
(though it doesn’t show up in pictures) you can see the shine of the plastic
through the flocking. That is why I think the new Persians have short flock in
addition to the long flock, because they don’t have a shine.
It seems that they hit upon a happy medium between the Chantilly/Simpkins
molded fur and the Persis long fur on a small head. They have a wide head with
enough long fur to simulate a longhaired cat. It is interesting. Also, for the
record, the new Persians feel just as prickly as the older ones. If the nylon
fibers were thin enough to be soft, they would bend and break and generally be a
problem.
Here is mama Belle. She also has daisies on her dress, and
the genus of daisies is Bellis. (And that is what a dollar store buggy looks
like unpainted)
With Salome Persis.
The adults have the same body difference.
Finally, papa Mike.
Standing next to Septimus Persis.
He has a felt vest. It looks quite snazzy, but it is also
really bulky and he can’t move his arms very much. I also worry if the felt may
stretch out over time, so I will avoid undressing and redressing him too often.
Let’s take a quick look at the packaging before we go!
They had this pretty background insert.
The clear windows had this sticker on them.
The back of the box. I don’t understand anything here,
except the box on the left, which says PVC, PS, and TPE. This means polyvinyl chloride,
polystyrene, and thermoplastic elastomer, the materials that make up the head,
body, and arms respectively. I had my suspicions, and now I know for sure! I
wonder, why did they change materials?
The best part was that they came with little booklets! They
each have a unique short story with pictures. How cool! I will scan them in,
some parts are clear from the pictures, others make no sense without knowing
what the words say. Maybe someone who knows Japanese could translate.
Also, the sister figure had this in the box. I have
absolutely no idea what it is. I will be holding on to it, and perhaps I can
figure out a way to get it typed so I can google translate it. That and
everything else here.
Lastly, a few silly pictures:
This concludes the review! The Loves have one last thing to
say before they go:
Quite a way with words.