Man your battle stations, because Amazing Ally is about to blow!! What does she want this time? The bow, the brush, the cup or the teapot - it could be anyone of them, so soldier you'd better move fast because once this girl wants something she needs to have it ASAP!! There will be no excuses, no wrong items attached, and you'd better move at black belt speed because you really don't want to see her angry. All I can say is once she gets in one of her moods don't leave her near the Comet or wire hangers.

Sound charming? Wouldn't you like one of your own? I can box her up and ship off tomorrow - free of charge to you. I'm sure if you could find a way to keep her running and ranting she'd make the BEST scarecrow ever - although you might not have any neighbors left who like you.

Take a minute - close your eyes and imagine if you will a doll with the charm of Eddie Haskell, the patience of an ill-behaved two year, more instructions then a new washing machine, and the explosive personality disorder of Joan Crawford - slap a purple jumper on it, take off the shoulder pads, add a pair of tights and Mary-Jane’s and you have my arch-nemesis of the doll world - Amazing Ally (the equally spooky, far more vocal female version of the doll I love to hate - Evil Eddie).

This weekend I was trying to chill with some quality me time. I just wanted to forget my worries and veg. After having a disagreement with my eldest (don't they just always know the best time to push your buttons) I decided to treat myself to a pick me up - any time she calls me the worst mother ever, I dust off one of my favorite movies "Mommie Dearest" and watch - just to prove to myself that I'm not a bad mother - one of these days she'll be old enough to call into the room - "You think I'm a bad mother - no my dear, that's a bad mother!"

About half an hour in I began to think - I hadn't seen or heard "Joan" for a few weeks. Joan you ask? Aren't you reviewing Amazing Ally? Yes, yes I am, but my pet names for the doll are Joan or Dolly Dearest. After reading about my countless run-ins with Ally, the reason for the nickname will become crystal clear.

So just how did Ally worm herself into my home and why do I still let the doll have batteries? Simple, starting in the late summer/early fall of 2000 my youngest daughter was brainwashed. At 3 1/2 she was far to young to have Amazing Ally, but everywhere she looked on TV (except PBS), you saw Ally’s face and commercials telling you how “amazing” she was. [Please, the only thing amazing about the doll is that the word appears in her name].

Now, as an experienced toy buyer I knew Claire and Ally would be like oil and vinegar – shaken just right they would mix and get along, but left alone they would go their separate ways. I love my kids, but I have things to do, and can’t always sit 24/7 with one of them helping them play with a toy. The suggested age is 5 to 9, but they say it’s ok for anyone above 3 – as some parts are small and are a potential choking hazard. I think the age limit is a joke – at the time we got her my kids were 3 1/2, 5, 7, and almost 12 (three within the range of the toy, and none of them could operate it without assistance [more about that later]. Even this 30 plus mom had trouble operating Ally.

Every day for months Claire begged and begged to get Ally for Christmas. I put a “firm” foot down and said my favorite word “NO”. “No, you’re too little. No, it’s too expensive. No, it would just freak out Trevor (my then 5 year old).” At approximately 60 dollars for the doll, I was like No Way, no three year old needs an interactive doll that costs that much money and has that many parts that can accidentally get lost or broken.

I truly meant NO, even when she pulled out the big guns. At three (and with three older siblings to observe) she learned the fine art of getting what she wanted – she said, “It’s the only thing I want for Christmas.” She refused for months to ask for anything else. Even then we were willing to break her tiny heart, because I knew she couldn’t operate the doll – the commercial made it seem like Ally was “alive” and working on her own – Claire didn’t understand that nor did she understand all the work involved to get her to act like that. I also knew how much this doll scared my one son and didn’t want to deal with the nightmares it might give him.

Let me take a quick break and explain the “freak out” factor of this doll - but only if you promise not to tell Trevor I told you. The original commercials for Ally ran when Trevor was about 2 and were shown on Nic Jr all the time. The beginning of the commercial was harmless enough, but towards the end you’d see this half body shot of Ally and a ghost like image of the doll would rise out in front of the doll and say, “I’m Alive.”

Poor Trevor was too little to comprehend the poorly thought out ad campaign and would just flip whenever the commercial came on. We’d go down the doll aisle in Toys R Us and he would see the box and start screaming, “It’s Alive, It’s Alive.” To this day if Ally is left out, he’ll gently kick her face down with his foot or grab a few hairs on her head and drag her under the couch or into a closet (he’s 7 1/2 now). The two of them would make a great talking dummy movie – who needs Chuckie when you have Ally.

So after the firm no, how did this doll end up in my home? Simple, I made the mistake of walking down the toy aisle in Costco and saw Amazing Ally for an Amazing price $39.99, for the doll and one Adventure Set. While not a fantastic price, it was better than 60 plus the adventure set price and less than an American Girl doll.

It surely was worth the price to see the look of joy on Claire’s face when she unwrapped the box (we saved it for last). She squealed with delight and begged to open it. We did put her off, explaining that it had lots of pieces and we didn’t want to lose any. She seemed ok with that. After all the paper was tossed, I grabbed a cup of Joe and sat down to free Ally out of her plastic and cardboard home – if only I had left her in there, she was so much nicer and easy to get along with before she came alive.

Being a prepared mommy, I had already purchased an 18 Qt. Sterilite container with a locking top to store Ally and her stuff in. That way nothing would get misplaced (ha ha ha!).

So just what did Ally come with?

Here goes (keeping in mind this was a “bonus” set)

Ally – dressed in a purple jumper, top, tights, shoes and headband (harmless enough – School Girl by day, Evil possessed doll by night)

Card Reader (that plugs in to Ally’s wrist)

8 cards (to program Ally with info about your child)

Hairbrush

Necklace

3 sets of barrettes (bow and butterfly designs)

Tea party stuff

Cake, Teapot, Cups, and four more cards (maybe some of that stuff did get lost – seems like there was more, but maybe not)

Set Up

Ally comes with 40 MB of memory, which is about 39 too many. She requires six batteries - 3 AAA and 3 AA. Once the batteries are installed you need to install her Adventure Ware pack, which let's Ally know which items she is wearing and what she should ask you for. Word of Caution - You need to make sure her clothes, shoes and hairpiece match the pack or she will have a fit when you turn her on – in this case the outfit she has works for both sets of cards.

Side note – so just how does Ally “know” what she is wearing and if it matches? Simple, she has plugs on her head and body with matching plugs on the accessories and clothes. This something that bothers me about the doll – on all the plugs are notes that say, “Use properly when inserting the electronic plug to avoid pin damage.” Huh, these are tiny plugs with two rows of pins – did the person who made the doll and set the age at 5, think any young child – 5 to 8 or 9 could insert the plus gently without bending the pins? That’s just asking for trouble and a damaged toy – factor in the fact that Ally has no patience and you need to move quickly, and you’ll have a lot of kids forcing these plugs in and breaking them.

Once you’re sure the outfit matches, you can turn Ally on and begin programming her. Another good/bad feature is the On/Off/Pause switch. Once programmed Ally is set to go, but should you turn her off by accident, all that info is lost and you need to start again. Pausing her allows Ally to rest and save data, which takes forever to get into her.

Two other features she has are reset and skip. Skip is good because should you lose a book, you can skip over having to enter that data. Reset is BAD, because again without meaning to, you child can erase everything. Again, just reading this, does this sound like a good toy for a five year old?

With outfit checked, the book reader plugged into her watch and the first book in, you’re set to go. Just be cautious, because once she's on you plug her Adventure Ware book in, she turns into the Bride of Chuckie. Ally has not trouble or shame telling you what she wants, and you’d better move fast, because Joan has zero patience.

The first book is easy enough, but then the game starts - "I need my book," she rattles on and on as you try to search for the next one. The she complains you don't set up the card fast enough - enter you birthday she demands, enter the time and date, enter the year, etc. There are 8 of these cards (which allow Ally to recall your child’s favorite color, holiday, pet, activity, etc. –along with the date, time, year and your child’s birthday). My head was pounding by the time I was done entering all the data – not just because of the difficulty in working the cards, but because Miss Smarty Pants was just so rude about it.

Then you begin to "play" with Ally – and how much fun is that? Again, she has no patience. She’s like, “I want my bow!” So by the time you unhook the headband, she’s already like “I asked for the bow, I want my bow.” You find a bow and shove it on to shut her up. She’s like, “Not that bow, I want the flower bow!” So you find the other bow, snap it on and then she gets mean “Put back the headband.” (And I’m sure I heard her mutter under her breath – “Because you’re too slow stupid”). It’s like some bad joke and your kid is the punch line.

Things don’t get much happier in Tea Party Land either. Ally has plugs on her hand so she can hold and recognize objects. Problem is it takes a big shove to get them into place and you feel like the handles might break on the cups and teapots. You’re trying to cautious and she’s like, “Chickadee, I want my teapot.” “Girlfriend get me my cup.” But don’t leave Joan hanging for too long without her desired object or she’ll snap on you – “No MORE Wire Hangers EVER!” Oops, I mean, “Get me my Tea Cup [Stupid]”

Ally also has other Adventure Sets – she can In-Line Skate and be a Cheerleader – and let me say when Ally says,“M-O-V-E gotta move, gotta move” you’d best move out of her way.

Overall Ally is a great idea, but she has way too many flaws to make her worth the money. She needs things too quickly, it's hard to plug objects in, and it's hard to keep up with her. On the other hand my 5 year old loves her and drags her around with her. She loves her so much she has asked for the Ally with the cat and for Amazing Maddy. I have said no, but if the price is right it may be worth getting one more just for the Epinion. At 5 Claire still can’t operate her without help. She has to ask a grownup to help her use the books – my 7 and 8 year old still can’t figure it out either.

Would this make a good toy? I don't think so, my original opinion of "No Way" would have been the correct choice – if I weren’t such a sucker I could have been headache free all these years. The only ones this doll might make a good gift for would be a teen, who thinks having a baby would be fun. Keep Ally on all day long for several days and they’ll see how much “fun” a toddler is. It might even make them think twice about they way they ask and demand things (but that might be asking too much).

Next time you see Ally – think like Trevor – run, don’t walk away from her.




Recommended: No

Amount Paid (US$): 39.99
Type of Toy: Other
Age Range of Child: 9 Years or Older