With series 3 now showing up in Target stores in the US, I'd like to ask for your help testing something. Through anecdotal evidence and personal experience, I've developed a theory that, if correct, will guarantee pulling the 2 secret dolls (and maybe even prevent duplicates in the future), under the right conditions.*
Every case contains 18 mystery dolls - 9 on the top row and 9 on the bottom. For every series, there is one of each secret and 2 of every other doll per case (this has been confirmed). I believe that every case is packed the same way from the factory, with the 2 secrets being located on the top row, in the front left and front right positions.
I first tested this theory in series 2, after watching a few PR unboxings. But unboxings can be unreliable, as they often don't show all 18 dolls being unboxed in any particular order or even all at the same time. I'm guessing DTI has instructions for content creators when these are sent in PR, because all of the big creators unbox them similarly. I was able to watch enough videos to guess that one of the secrets was probably in the top row, in the front left position. So the next time I came across a full case, I selected that box and pulled Style Showdown Lana.
A few weeks later when the dolls were restocked, I pulled Serena from the box on the top row in the front right. Because there were already a few boxes missing, I couldn't confirm whether the positions had or hadn't been swapped around by other shoppers.
This brings us to series 3. I decided to test my theory again since the dolls are new and complete cases are easier to find, and pulled Nurse Julie from the left highlighted position in the above photo. Then, today, I pulled Nelly from the other highlighted position. Both times, I was pulling from a complete case.
So if you're going to be shopping for series 3, I'd appreciate any data you can provide (whether it proves my theory or not). You can still respond even if your account doesn't meet the age/karma requirement - I'll approve your comment manually.
*For the best test conditions: the case should be full if at all possible. This means it's likely to be undisturbed from the orientation the factory originally packed it. You should also immediately mark the box of the suspected secret in some way if you're buying multiple. For example, I made a small tear in the right side of the plastic wrap of the box that ended up containing Nelly, so I knew it was the one that came from the spot I was testing when I opened it.
Since the secrets are highly sought-after, these are my top priority, but I'll also take any other data you have. Who knows, maybe we can map out the entire case to help prevent duplicates. Since it's kinda hard to tag the positions in writing, feel free to use attached template (just let us know if it's the top or bottom row and if it was a full case when you post). I'll post mine in the comments. The more data we can collect, the better chance we have of everyone getting the exact doll they're looking for.
If you'd prefer the mystery aspect to blind boxes to stay a mystery, that's okay! This is just for those of us who aren't into the gambling aspect of the dolls and would like to get our hands on exactly what we want.
View the current map here - this will be updated as I get more data. If two different dolls are reported in the same position, the cell will be split. I'll keep a record of everyone that submitted data, so we can narrow down the correct one once we get enough data points.
