Simply Gene Raven
Review and Comments:
Introduction: After my accident with Shooting Star, I had to choose a new Gene doll. Of course, the lure of the 2001 line tempted me, and I had to eliminate all the Genes until I was able to choose just one. In the end, I decided that I wanted either Simply Gene Raven (because that way I wouldn't have to worry about messing up her hairstyle, and I could really "play" with her) or Blue Fox. The trouble with the latter, of course, is that it won't come out until November 2001, and I refused to wait that long. I could have gotten a Madra instead of a Gene (and then gotten Gene in November), but several Madras I am principally interested in won't come out until later in 2001, also. So, I just decided to get Simply Gene.
The Elbows: Of course, I began to hear all the rumors about broken elbow joints, and loose elbow joints, and such (including one horror story in which the new owner found a detached lower arm upon opening the box!), so it was with much trepidation that I removed Gene from the box when I finally received her in late March. Mercifully, however, Gene was just fine; in fact, neither elbow was even terribly loose (the left elbow is a little looser than the other, but it's not too bad). To be sure, there is a whole lot of movement in the elbows; they do not bend 90 degrees, and they're not especially pretty to look at. Still, I like the extra poseablity that the elbows allow.
The Hair: My biggest complaint about Simply Gene, is, strangely enough, the hair. Although Gene does come with a hair guide, several of the hairstyles specifically call for hair cutting, and the other styles really need less hair than Simply Gene provides. Her hair is quite thick, and very long. The only costume in which all that hair really looks good is Daughter of the Nile. A lot of people have complained about the fact that Simply Gene Raven's hair is not really Raven. Well, if I held up her hair to the black background of this site, then no, it wouldn't look raven. But I think that's okay, because Caucasians, when they have naturally black hair, never really have coal black hair. Of course, Gene is supposed to be "naturally" a blonde, so she would have had her hair dyed black (by the way, if Gene really dyed her hair as much as she would have needed to to have all those hair colors we see on the dolls, she probably would be have been bald by 1960). At any rate, I have not been displeased by the color. What annoys me is that I have refrained from changing Gene's hair at all since I've gotten her (other than trimming a tiny bit that was being pulled out, and other than brushing it out a little), for fear of her arm breaking off (because if I changed her hair, I couldn't return her). Gene's purple hair ribbon is sewed onto her ponytail, so to get it off I must cut the ribbon out, and that would mess up the hair, and then...anyway, I haven't had the courage to do anything yet. As a result, I've had to kind of hide Gene's extra hair in any pictures I've taken, and you can sometimes see little bits of purple from that dratted ribbon here and there in the pictures.
Update, 6/2/01: I have solved the Simply Gene hair problem! I cut her hair! I was really nervous about it, but now that I've done it, I am really, really, really happy with it. The hair kind of looks like Shooting Star's now. Anyway, see more on my Tips and How-I-Did-Its: Gene's Hair page.
Gene's new haircut.
The Makeup: Gene's lipstick and finger/toe nails are indeed darker, a sort of "berry" color. It's nice, but in some ways I would have preferred red, because that's more evocative of the era, and since this is the only Gene I've got, I'm not "sick" of that same old red lipstick yet. But the make-up, one way or another, is a minor issue for me.
Conclusion: Anyway, I would have preferred to have gotten Blue Fox, but I've got this Gene, and she's not bad (I have stated elsewhere that I only intend to purchase one Gene...at least, that's the plan... we'll see what happens. Maybe someday I'll break down and get more than one). Anyway, aside from the things I mentioned Simply Gene Raven is a lovely doll, as long as you get one with strong elbows. And now that I've cut her hair, I'm really quite happy with her. However, I've now heard that next year's Simply Gene will have bendy wrists, and I might be very tempted to get one of those...we'll see..
Pictures:
Here is Simply Gene, fresh out of the box. You can see the hangtag on her left arm.
The hair has been sort of rolled over all around the top, and then pulled down into an enormous ponytail [left]. You can see [right] (it's faint, though) the white net that Gene's hair came packaged in. You can also see that her lipstick is much darker (although it's not this dark in real life).
I am in no way affiliated with Ashton Drake or Mel Odom, other than as a proud owner of a Gene Marshall doll.
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These pages were last updated on 06/02/01