My Twinn

imageMy Twinn is a legitimate website selling dolls which look like the child you're buying them for.

First you pick an outfit, skin tone, and hair and eye colour. You send in a photograph of your child, and the artists craft the doll to resemble the photograph, including painting on such things as freckles or birthmarks. You can also buy matching outfits for the doll and child, and matching accessories.

The dolls do seem very well made - they really do look like the children they're made for. One of the testimonials from previous customers states that "Over the years many people have mistaken the doll as a real child!"

I think that is my trouble with them - they look very creepy to me.

Miscellaneous

Posted on Wed Sep 27, 2006


Comments

looks eerily reminiscent of the main characters in Jim Henson's "Dark Crystal" film from the 80's, which was creepy in its(elf). I much prefer "Labrynth". "Dance the magic dance," that's my motto. Actually my motto is "Pass the doughnut on the left-hand side," but I'm kinda criss-crossed, so what do I know.
Posted by Hairy Houdini  on  Wed Sep 27, 2006  at  09:22 AM
...
So creepy.

Next up in urban legends:
"Stupid brother rips of arm of doll
and girl loses her real arm. (mentally or physically)"
Or has that already been done in a movie.
Posted by FrostBird  in  The Old Continent, Chaos Kingdom  on  Wed Sep 27, 2006  at  09:40 AM
Dollfies are better...
Posted by Sakano  in  Ohio  on  Wed Sep 27, 2006  at  11:14 AM
"My Twinn is a legitimate website selling dolls..."

That depends on your definition of "legitimate," I guess.

"Over the years many people have mistaken the doll as a real child!"

I think I'm coming down with a terminal case of heebie-jeebies.
Posted by Big Gary  in  Granbury, Texas  on  Wed Sep 27, 2006  at  11:49 AM
American Girl sold a "Just like Me" doll as well. Not as detailed in thata you chose hair color, style, eye color and skin tone.

My daughter gave away all her old American Girl dolls, but her mom and I have kept the "Just Like Me" doll. I guess tht makes me creepily sentimental.

M
Posted by mmarvi  on  Wed Sep 27, 2006  at  12:14 PM
Anyone remember that Twilight Zone with Telly Savalas?

"You better be nice to me!"

SO ultra creepy!
Posted by Gee...  on  Wed Sep 27, 2006  at  12:57 PM
Very creepy. This company sent us a brochure recently and my first thought was to check whether voodoo pins were included.
Posted by Greg  on  Wed Sep 27, 2006  at  02:03 PM
Er, is this really very hard to believe? Between this and the pig snout novelty mugs I'm wondering if certain things aren't being put up here for advertisement deals...
Posted by Fox Mulder  on  Wed Sep 27, 2006  at  02:20 PM
I bought myself a RealDoll (TM) to replace my cheating girlfriend, but since I wasn't over her and I kinda wanted to get her back I ordered one that looked almost exactly like her. My bad! I came home one day and my RealDoll was cheating on me with my roomate. The similarity was very creepy.
Posted by Bob  on  Wed Sep 27, 2006  at  02:57 PM
I wonder if I can get one life sized that looks like Jenna Jameson?
Posted by FireFly  on  Wed Sep 27, 2006  at  03:14 PM
Oh man, these things are so creepy! I got the jibblies looking at them. I'm surprised nobody has mentioned the bibs. You can "Name your doll and have it embroidered on a bib." That's really freaky. The absolute worst part I noticed was the personalized stocking for your doll. That gave me shivers down my spine.
Posted by Archibold  on  Wed Sep 27, 2006  at  04:39 PM
"... my first thought was to check whether voodoo pins were included."

Amen, Greg!
rolleyes
Posted by Big Gary  in  an undisclosed location  on  Wed Sep 27, 2006  at  04:41 PM
Fox - I posted the snout mugs not to advertise them, but to wonder whether it was a legitimate site or not. I think the posting was obvious enough. I'm still undecided.

This site I thought was a hoax, but with further investigation turned out to be real.

If there's theoretical advertisement deals, I'd sure like to know about them...
Posted by Boo  in  The Land of the Haggii...  on  Wed Sep 27, 2006  at  04:55 PM
I wonder - if you ordered one, and sent in a picture of a kid who looks like 'Chuckie', would they build the killer doll?
Posted by stork  in  the spiracles of space  on  Wed Sep 27, 2006  at  05:00 PM
The thing with those dolls is they'll never look too much like the kid because they don't make a new head for each doll, they choose from pre-made ones.
Nice for the kids, but to me they look like eerily creepy baby dolls..
I prefer my BJDs..
Posted by anonymous  on  Wed Sep 27, 2006  at  06:54 PM
I actually got a my twinn when I was a kid, and I know of a few other people that have them too. It's not really that creepy. It's really fun for the kids (especially dressing up in the same clothes). Unfortunately they got my hair all wrong. It was way lighter than my natural hair, so I had a hard time seeing a resemblence, but everyone else thought it looked like me.
Posted by Iria  on  Wed Sep 27, 2006  at  08:20 PM
I got the catalogs from this company for years and years when I was a little girl.
Posted by Straight Outta Lynwood  in  La-la-land  on  Wed Sep 27, 2006  at  08:24 PM
Yeah, I, too, got that catalog for YEARS when I was younger. Genearlly, my parents would either throw it away, or toss it at me (not that they'd order it for me if I asked, as they're SO expensive xD)

I always thought the concept was a little weird, as I figured I had much cooler stuff to do rather than dress up like my doll... like I could totally play pretend velociraptor with my neighbors, or go build a dam/destroy some wildlife.

Of course, I grew up in a neighborhood of boys, so taht probably influenced my early decisionmaking.
Posted by Mera  on  Wed Sep 27, 2006  at  08:42 PM
I'm just wondering if the rabbit in that picture bites the doll, will she get simulated rabies?
Posted by Cranky Media Guy  on  Thu Sep 28, 2006  at  02:03 AM
I think the creepiest part is that you can buy the same outfits for both the kid and the doll...gulp
Posted by Smerk  in  to mischief  on  Thu Sep 28, 2006  at  05:15 AM
I wonder if these might actually be therapeutic for treating child molesters. Then I imagine someone discovered with dolls of the neighbor kids.
Posted by Phred22  in  Maryland  on  Thu Sep 28, 2006  at  09:53 AM
The effect of near-human creations giving people the creeps has been called the "uncanny valley". See this link for an explanation: http://www.arclight.net/~pdb/nonfiction/uncanny-valley.html

I first heard this mentioned in a review of the movie, The Polar Express. The life-like characters in that flick were quite off-putting to some audience members.
Posted by Tom  on  Thu Sep 28, 2006  at  11:07 AM
"I'm just wondering if the rabbit in that picture bites the doll, will she get simulated rabies?"

You'd need to buy a simulated twin of the rabbit so your simulated sibling could have a simulated pet. Then the rabbit doll would give the child doll a simulated bite, and you'd switch the original doll arm for one (an extra-price option) that was red and puffy and had bite marks. And you'd buy a little bottle of simulated foam for the doll's mouth.
Posted by Big Gary  in  Eddy, Texas  on  Thu Sep 28, 2006  at  11:31 AM
Uncanny Valley of the Dolls

(bet no one's made that joke before:))
Posted by outeast  in  Prague  on  Fri Sep 29, 2006  at  02:00 AM
Hey, these dolls are great! Parents whose children are in the hospital could get one so they don't get lonely. And, If one parent is in the armed forces, you could buckle the doll in a car seat and drive it around with the Flat Daddy.
Posted by Don  in  Calgary  on  Sat Sep 30, 2006  at  12:56 PM
I don't think the girls and the dolls look so much alike. Just kind of regular dolls, that's all. I was actually disappointed!
Posted by Emmie P  in  Finland  on  Sun Oct 01, 2006  at  10:20 AM
Especially on Ebay there is an especially alarming amount of sellers of My Twin who keep buyer's ID private. This is really only done if the item is... let's say... controversial. I translate the My Twinn private ID thing is to cover up for pedophiles who get turned on by a child's likeness and feel. Boy as well as girl. Why hide the buyer ID if it is an innocous doll rather than something lifelike. Another avenue for exploitation, especially because these dolls are custom made after real children!
Posted by gemma  in  CA  on  Sat Oct 14, 2006  at  04:48 PM
My daughter has a My Twinn, and she loves it. They are not creepy at all. Girls between the ages 8 to 10 love having a doll that looks just like them. Is it weird that girls play with dolls and pretend they are their daughters? Everyone says my daughter looks just like me. Is that creepy?
Posted by Elizabeth  on  Mon Nov 27, 2006  at  10:23 AM
raspberry i have a my twinn doll her name is kylie the only thing that does not look like me is the eyes on the doll i love my twinns there so cute my mom surprized me with my doll after school.
Posted by carly  in  not telling anyone.  on  Sun Oct 07, 2007  at  09:31 AM
i have a my twinn doll her name is kylie i sent her back for a replacement for the eyes
Posted by carly  in  not telling anyone.  on  Thu Nov 01, 2007  at  03:16 PM
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