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Tuxedo Cat Family
The Tuxedo Cat family has been around for a while already. They were one of the few that wore fancier clothes than everyone else who wore plaid, stripes, polka dots and aprons. Along with that they were one of that had the same names as their Sylvanian Families counterpart.
Here they are in their Calico Critters and Sylvanian Families catalogue. For the Sylvanian Families catalogiue their number is #5181. It's shown in the Calico Critters Catalogue that they also have a set of Tuxedo Cat triplet babies.
Just like most if not all family sets, it consist of four critters. Two parents and two children (sometimes two standing babies or a child and a baby). Again, unlike most sets this family has two daughters instead of a son and a daughter. On the box (which we sadly threw away) the bottom has a sticker or paper that gives you the names of these critters and a short biography. Here we have Mason (father), Natalie (mother), Rose (daughter in pink) and Lily (daughter in blue).
Like we've been saying throughout this review the Tuxedo Cat family is different from the typical family sets. One more unique feature is how they aren't an identical family with the exact same fur/color pattern. In this family the males have black fur and the females have white fur with black tipped ears.
Calico Critters/Sylvanian Families also include a special feature in their toys. Most families have tails! This is excluding babies because they have smaller bodies. Luckily, these cats also have tails. Long white tails for the ladies and black tails for the father.
All child or adult figures have 5 points of articulation, meaning they can move 5 parts of their body. In this case it's both arms, both legs and their head.
Personally, we think that the critters have been getting taller, so here are some comparison photos with their clothes on. We're comparing, Rose Tuxedo, Freya Chocolate, Bell Hopscotch and Karen Doughty Chiffon. Rose and Freya are our most up to date character molds and Bell and Karen are older critters. You can also see in the photo of their backs that their tails vary. Dogs have a shorter, furrier tail, while rabbits have a ball-ish pom pom and cats have a long thin tail.
It seems like the Freya wins, but it isn't very fair since rabbits have long ears. Here are the ladies again, but clothless. (If naked doll photos offend you, it's suggested that you skip this small section) We decided to measure their torsos to see if who is the tallest. Here are their torso lengths and heights:
Freya Chocolate-H 2.5 cm-L 1.9 cm
Rose Tuxedo-H 2.5 cm-L 2.1 cm
Bell Hopscotch-H 2.5 cm-L 1.9 cm
Karen Doughty Chiffon-H 2.5 cm-L 2 cm
So Epoch has been making these critters' torsos longer, but making sure their torsos are all the same height. Rose's shoulders do seem to be placed higher than Bell's though.
Lastly, I believe the Tuxedo Cats were some of the first to have their clothes be made of something else and have a fancier look. Of course, now with the Town Series, there is a wide variety of fancy dresses and tuxedo's, but they were the first.
I think their clothes are all made of satin. We''l start with the lovely ladies in this set: Natalie dress is light green, Lily's blue and Rose's pink. Each dress is decorated witgh cute white silk trim with flower designs. At the top part there is a ribbon for each dress.
(A small thing to note for Lily and Rose in heneral is that they are mirror images of each other! These 2 twins are the exact image of each other but in reverse! Their dresses are also in the same style)
Here's the final piece of clothing and part of the review: Mason Tuxedo's tuxedo! It's also made of satin, and unlike most male outfits it's all one piece! The silver pants is connected to his white shirt. The emerald tie is sewn on to the shirt. I guess this makes removing the clothes easier, since it comes on and off like a dress. Mason's long tail would get in the way if he wore seperate pants. Like all clothing, he has a slit in the back, for his tail.
That's all for these elegant critters, are they a must have for you or do you prefer the country style?
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