Now, you might be thinking to yourself (you know who you are - the one crawler bot who religiously scrapes my blog. You never comment, but I know you're out there and you care) "Oh dear, is Setsu dead? Did she just give up?"
Nope. I just have a bad habit of falling off of the social internet every few years. I've still been here, doing things. Changed jobs again, getting back into shape, disgustingly healthy in spite of everything, and very jazzed to be having my first vacation since 2018 this coming October.
But enough about me. We're here to talk about toys, because it's a Tuesday, so let's get to that.
I'm always on the lookout for things that will fit Mini!Sim. She sits in a weird niche where some 1:6 things work, and some 1:12 things work, and a whole lot of everything else just plain doesn't. I have plenty of little accessories for her and Regular!Sim, but the hunt is forever on for a little camper or things I can use to make whole scenes.
For this, I'm a fan of what MGA's been doing lately with their Miniverse Spaces. More on that later. In the right now, there's this little brand at Y'allmart called Suite Spaces. They're similar to the Rolife kits from what I can tell, but are all plastic, petty solid, designed for kids to be able to set up, and most importantly...pretty affordable. The highest MSRP I've seen is on the bedroom set, which is a full room with accessories and runs about $24 with tax on.
I got the aforementioned bedroom and the "space starter" sets to see what was up.
The packaging is actually mostly cardboard and thus recyclable. Shown here is the bedroom set, which was held in a cardboard sleeve that when empty gave me some storage ideas.
The instructions are easy to read and follow. The floor and both walls have different molded textures - one wall contains the transforming gimmick which we'll see in a minute - so if all else fails, just match what's in your hands with the pictures and you'll do fine.
Each of these sets comes with several printed and laminated cardstock sheets featuring wallpaper and floor patterns, which are double-sided and can be slotted into the walls and floor. Only one of the walls has the peg holes in it, unfortunately, though I suppose with sticky-tack you could use the unholy wall as well.
The floors are neutral, thankfully, given the saturation on everything else, and they're actually pretty conservative with the wall options as well. Each set has at least one fairly busy pattern, but neither of these are as eye-bothering as what's under that purple up there on the gimmick wall.
Shades of things to come. If you look close enough, you can see the pattern under the coating. I mean, it's not much of a secret if you pay attention to the outside of the box, but kids likely wouldn't expect the pattern to be right there.
These are the REAL TOOLS! advertised on the box, by the way. A little foam paint roller and a paint tray, and a non-moving screwdriver. They're cute, to be honest, and about the right size for 1:6/playscale dolls, so there's potential for further play with them.
As promised in the instructions, all you have to do is wet the paint roller and roll it over your magical purple wall. It's the same stuff you find on the Color Reveal Barbie dolls and anything else with that particular gimmick. Th gimmick wall is solid plastic, thankfully, so all you really have to worry about is whatever surface you - or your kid - is doing this on. I eventually gave up and just hosed it down in the sink. The roller rinsed clean, and my island wiped down spic and span. Just don't let this stuff sit, I assume.
And after all that, here's your magical transformed wall. It gives off powerful SailorMoon vibes. It can be covered, so that's what I did. There's a time and place for Moon Princess Inhalation, and 2300 in the kitchen wasn't it.
And here's everything that was in those plastic bags - including the tools (the sponge was for the headboard). I didn't bother fussing with the headboard on the bed, which is also a transforming piece. I just washed that right off in the sink. It's not a bad haul for the space you're getting. A bed, bedspread, rug, pillow with a giant tag, record player and three records with sleeves, three coathangers, some ivy to hang up and fulfill all your cottagecore home-decor mobile cozy games dreams, some stickers to act as posters, and a small wall shelf. The records come out of the sleeves and can be put into the record player, by the way.
Here's the open wardrobe, which was inside the other box. It's pretty easy to put together even if you ignore the printed instructions. The design is intuitive, and if all else fails, just use the pictures for reference. That drawer is meant to work, but it fit pretty tightly on mine. If I can get it open again I might sand it down a little.
Here's our finished bedroom next to the starter space (which came with the armchair, rug, drippy shelf, ladder, cat-eared mug, and two-piece cube table shown. You can either snap these together on the horizontal or set them on top of each other using the tabs and slots on the walls and floors. The fit's pretty secure. Of course, we all know what I had to test next.
Mini!Sim doesn't stand a chance in here. She's on an OB11 body with longer legs now and her antennas are missing and need to be replaced, but let's ignore that last bit for a second. She can sit on the chair or the bed, but both have that kiddie chair in the kindergarten room effect. She's also way too large for everything here except the cat mug.
It's really a better fit for 1:12 dolls like LOL (the head here), Itty Bitty Pretty/Angel High (the body), or Calico Critters/Li'l Woodzeez/Honey Bee Acres figures.
But wait! There's more! There are also little blind boxes for these that sell for about six bucks each. These come in four themes: Pastel Kawaii, Cottage Core, Boho Vibes, and Live Happy. The only one I haven't found yet is Boho Vibes, but pictured above are the results of two each Pastel Kawaii and Cottage Core - I got them mixed up here, but it doesn't matter too much.
Inside that Live Happy box are some tissue-wrapped goodies, a little book or magazine made of glossy printed cardstock, and a collector's guide. Each theme has three sets to collect, one of which will always have a stuffable character pillow (I love the little bags of poly-fill, lol). This one wasn't a pillow set. Here we have a table shaped like a flower, three coathangers, the aforementioned book/magazine, a succulent with a purple planter, and what looks like a bathroom rack which had to be assembled. It's worth noting that the plants thus far are completely swappable - each one is a separate piece with that little bulb on the bottom that fits into its planter. That's a huge point in their favor, as well as some of the nice little details like the plastic panes in the propagation station, the sturdy reusable stuffing bags, and the fact that the lid on that crockpot up there is removable. I'm a simple creature, what can I say.
Here's a picture of the guide with all its sets listed, if you're curious.
It looks like the base theme for the bedroom is Boho Vibes, based on the collector guide, but the items seem to mix well enough as it is. The low price point and plastic construction make most of these prime candidates for a repaint and custom job. Incredibly Pink isn't my personal favorite shade, though I do like the combo they use for the Boho stuff. The wardrobe got filled out with some items from the 5 Below Zoey doll spa set.
Now that I think about it, I do have some tiny BJDs that might work in this space. I'll have to mess around with that next. I do wish you could get a room without any accessories, but repeats of the armchair and the cubes aren't the worst thing you could get. I plan to cover my chairs with felt.
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