I love ramen. It's one of the last available inexpensive yet flexible foodstuffs out there (I noticed even house brand frozen pizzas are $8 now. Ya girl got borderline-gubmint frozen tenders instead - they'll be made to last a month, lol). Normally I go for the Maruchan packets, portion them out, and add my own meats, veggies and whatever to up the nutrition factor. Cup ramen has its place, though, and probably the best known and most beloved brand is Nissin. Yes, I do own that model kit.
Lately, they've been doing some collaboration thing with Walmart and shocking the shelves with flavors like Breakfast, Everything Bagel, S'mores, and apparently now also Pumpkin Spice. I'm not sure about that last one as I have moral objections to the Basic-Beckyization of pumpkin spice, but since I tried all the others I'm honor bound to try that one too. If anyone wants my opinions on the other flavors, though, feel free to ask.
Ramen-esque and themed toys have been appearing in recent years. The "sensory" and fidget craze includes rubber noodles, for example. Today I came across a new cup-ramen style blind box doll series and grabbed one, as well as another cup noodle surprise toy I've had before and not mentioned. Both are under $10 each at the moment, fairly cute, and the water aspects of both are actually avoidable if you're not into that.
Let's begin with the doll - Cup O' Style seems to be a new line (at least to me, I have a bad habit of scooting through the toy section whenever I'm at walmart just to looky-loo). In the usual move, the ten surprises listed include the chopsticks you're supposed to use to get the items out of the cup, if you use the water feature. I will note this one also comes with a stand, though.
According to the top of the packaging there are 12 dolls in the series, but only six in rotation right now? "Some dolls coming soon" would imply this, anyway. Personally this seems like the perfect setup for future themed releases, such as zodiac signs. The character art is very cute.
Getting the contents out, if you follow these 13-step illustrated instructions, seems fairly easy. The faces on the ramen cup are cute, but personally, I tried not to think about it being involved that deeply in the process. The speed lines had me hearing anime sound effects.
So here's what you get when you peel the top off. Chunky-crayon extendable chopsticks with a training clip, two mystery packets, and a cup of unseen objects with a few pieces of meltable paper on top. Note that the one with the noodles printed on it seems to be what the instructions imply you should use as a parasol, which....nah, I ain't seeing it. The two foil packets contain bath bombs, essentially.
Luckily, the melty-paper/bath bomb fizz aspect is entirely avoidable. You can just take the noodle print paper out and tear open the fish cake and ramen egg printed packets. No fuss, no slimy paper muss. But what's all that raffia-looking stuff in there? Shades of Boxy Girls...
It's hair! I got Rory Rainbow. Her facial features are both molded and printed, and very glossy. I thought at first they might be a color-change feature or stickers, in fact, but they're not. She has molded hair for the most part, with a couple of rows of permed-looking rubber noodles in pastel rainbow colors. I'd say overall she's a Hairdorables-sized Shoppie, to be honest. Rory comes with shoes (left and right, btw), a simple dress, some sunglasses, a cell phone, a purse, one rainbow-themed object that I can't figure out (it may be a hair clip, idk), her stand, and the molded noodle insert from the top of the cup that acts as a kind of secondary stand, based on the instructions. So yes, counting the chopsticks that is in fact 10 items.
She has the Basic 5 when it comes to articulation, and it's good she comes with a stand, because she needs it. These dolls are pretty top-heavy, given the rubber-noodle hair design choice. There are pegs on the stand for her feet (both the feet and the shoes have holes btw), but she'd still lean back without the chopstick there to help with her posture. Rory is cute, though, and can very likely wear Hairdorables clothes no problem, though I think she's a little smaller than your average Shoppie. I'll have to tinker with that later.
ETA: People have already found out how to get around the blind box aspect - the cups each have a code on the bottom. If you're looking for a specific doll from this line, this post has all the known codes.
Insta Poodles have been around a little bit longer - I think I found my first one at the local Kroger around Easter? They hit walmart a while later than that, though. Personally, I like the packaging on these better, but that's my bias as a miniatures addict - the cup and chopsticks have more potential as accessories for larger dolls or plushies. They're still cute, inexpensive, the process is pretty simple for them and they can serve as toys for other dolls as well.
The cup is more Nissinesque, too, and I like the presentation of the chopsticks better. Plus the barcode is a doggie bone.
Once you pull off the lid this is what you get. The training clip for these chopsticks is a rubber sleeve that comes wedged into the saucer-looking "stand". There's a molded noodle topper inside the cup with a fizzy bath bomb cake under it, hiding the contents. The topper can be pried out with minor amounts of effort, but be warned it is slotted in there pretty securely. I just use the chopsticks to pry it out.
With the fizzy cake removed, you have immediate access to your surprises. One play house (with opening door), one ride-on, and five Poodles. Pretty instant!
I think my first one had this same Poodle Palace, but the Poodles and ride-on are different. Left to right, I got Goldie, Luna, Belle, Crystal, and Kiki. Luna is listed as "special" on the collector guide. The ride-on is the shopping cart. The Poodles and the cart are all made of a squishy soft rubber, and the Poodles have holes in the bottom so you can sit them on their playhouse, ride-on and saucer stand. The instructions imply the Palace is supposed to be able to sit on top of the saucer, but I may be extra uncoordinated because I can't make it look good, lol.
These are very small figures. And I should rinse them off, because they keep shedding bath bomb sand everywhere. But they're also very cute and undeniably "collectible", probably much moreso if you're a little kid or just into super kawaii aesthetic than if you're me. Like I said, the packaging on the Poodles is more versatile, and you could repaint the Palace pretty easily to add detail to it.
Both would make decent stocking stuffers or just impulse gifts for the ramen fanatic in one's life.
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