The Novi Stars were, in my opinion, MGAE's most underrated and underappreciated line.
These dolls were alien characters, each with a distinct (and sometimes gimmicky) feature.
Made to take a nibble out of that Monster High money, the Novis were adorably designed and by the later lines had some truly unique looks. However, this went unappreciated by the articulation snobs and sadly, the line could not compete.
 |
| Ari Roma and Alie Lectric |
The first four dolls in the line debuted in late July 2012. Alie Lectric lit up, Una Verse had legs filled with glittery liquid, Ari Roma was scented, and robotic Mae Tallick was a talking doll. Each came with an alien pet and a stand suited for their specific footwear.
Their tiny arms popped off for ease of dressing, but people complained they came off too easily. I never had any problems.
Both Alie and Una's gimmicks required their legs to be static, which led to more complaints.
 |
| Una Verse |
I did find them a bit overpriced at $19.99, when they were quite small and limited in articulation though. The lack of quality that people had become used to for the same price I think is what did them in. They would have been better off at, say, $14.99.
The dolls got a few fashion packs and then a big playset that featured a glow in the dark character, Nita Light. Her head glows while the rest of her body is clear.
 |
| Nita Light |
Nita had the best stock outfit by far at the time, but the clothing pieces were quite well-done for the small size.
January 2013 brought us two new characters that were starting to think outside the box more. The first five girls were cute, but they mostly looked the same and their features weren't very unique.
Malie Tasker, however, sported four arms.
 |
| Malie Tasker |
Malie is one of my favorite Novis. Her color scheme is lovely and her outfit is super pretty. I'm always a sucker for multiple arms, so even though she can't move them, they do stretch, which is kinda fun, and hey, all they really have to do is be there and I'm happy. Four arms equals yay.
A beach line, called Orbit Beach, came out around the same time and featured the original four girls with different hair and beach wear.
 |
| Orbit Beach Mae Tallick |
Mae is the only one I really feel was an improvement on the original. I did actually own all four at one point, but I believe I sold the others off. I do love Mae's new hair though!
Now for my favorite new addition. Malie is one of my big favorites, but Tula Toned edged her out for me.
Tula was not incredibly popular. I believe it's because she's really got a lot going on design-wise, but I like chimera-type characters with a lot of different elements, so she appealed to me a lot.
 |
| Tula Toned |
Tula has long navy and white hair, two different antennae, wings, a long tail, two different facial markings, and two different legs.
She is a lot to take in, but I think she's just glorious!
Late February produced another new character named Sila Clops.
 |
| Sila Clops |
I do not believe I ever saw Sila in stores. I had to order mine from Walmart.com. Her skin is a very dark glittery pink and it hides a lot of details. Her shade of pink is pretty and I always give credit for doll companies taking risks with the weird, but Sila's my least favorite of the Novis I own. She's just not as cute or expressive as the others. Her feature is a light-up eye.
The Novi line continued in 2013 with two lines I didn't care for. One was a pair of robots with hair play gimmicks and the other was the worst gimmick of the entire line: pull-on rubber skins. I didn't buy any of these dolls, so I can't remember where exactly they fell in the lineup.
 |
| Tula Toned and Mimi Merize |
I bought Mimi Merize on Taobao and she arrived in June 2013. Mimi was part of a new line of taller Novis called "Super Novas." These dolls had longer, thinner legs and feet and could not easily swap shoes with the original body types.
Mimi's gimmick is that if you pull her antennae, her eyes spin in a hypnotic manner. I love her crazy design, but dislike the visible wig cap a lot.
Because I'd bought her already, I never paid attention to how Mimi was released in the US. The pair of Super Novas and pair of Invasion dolls were not given wide distribution at all.
 |
| Ina Ferna |
I was tremendously pleased by Ina Ferna when I bought her off Amazon in August 2013. The doll uses a lot of molded elements, but she's still the best fire-themed doll in my entire collection, so I'm all for it. Ina's feature is glowing fire hair. She's part of the Invasion line that are regular-sized dolls.
I was very frustrated by the poor distribution of these awesome new lines in the US. I think Anne Arctic was being found at KMart, but my local stores never got her in. I ended up finally getting to order her off Amazon and she arrived almost two weeks after Ina.
 |
| Anne Arctic |
Anne and her poofy bear ears are just so cute. She also featured a fur wig, which was a neat touch. Anne has "snow" in her hollow legs, but I consider those adorable bear ears to be her real special feature.
So with Mimi, Anne and Ina secured, that just left me with Super Novas Vera Tabray to find.
Vera is my #1 Novi Star from the entire line. She's a wild mishmash of things, like Tula Toned, only multiply that by at least ten.
 |
| Vera Tabray |
Listings for Vera were on both Amazon and Walmart, and I remember an incident where people were finding her in stock and thoughtlessly not telling anyone else about it. I dislike people like that and I even left a messageboard when I learned I was surrounded by unhelpful people. Collectors are best when we work together to help each other, just like in a lot of areas of life, and I don't have time for useless people, which is exactly what that kind of selfishness makes them in my eyes.
I described Vera perfectly on my Flickr, so I'm gonna do a little copy and paste here.
Vera has butterfly-ish antennae and butterfly wings, but her wings are skeletal and include a tailbone. Her body is this lovely pearly peachy-pink fading into transparency at her hands, but her thighs are transparent and show silver bones underneath and then the same bones form her legs from the (unbending) knees down. She has adorable skeleton feet. She also has three glittering silver eyes with snake pupils and if you look at her pupils, you see tiny ghost faces. Then her outfit is simple and elegant until you get to the spinal cord bracelet.
Vera is a stunning blend of typically feminine things, like pink, butterflies, glitter and fairies, and horror elements like the 3 eyes, skeletal bits and ghost pupils.
 |
| Frostina Sprinkles and Carmela Sweet |
At this point, most people thought Novis were done, but then in fall 2014, four more of them were found. I managed to snag Frostina Sprinkles on Taobao and got her in November.
Frostina used Malie's stretchy four arms and the hollow leg effect, filled with sprinkles this time. She has a towered beehive wrapped in ribbon candy. She's very unique for a candy doll and I prefer her to Carmela from the same line.
Frostina and Carmela were a sweets-themed, normal-sized Novi pair, while Justina and Doe were taller Super Novas. These four dolls were initially only released in Russia, but eventually got a UK release and were imported by US dealer Toot's Toys. I, being my fabulously impatient self, imported the three I still needed in February 2015, thanks to a very helpful Russian ebay seller.
 |
| Doe A. Deer and Justina Hour |
Carmela was cute, but she was supposed to be "gummy soft" and really wasn't. I still feel both of them should have been candy-scented.
Moving on to the amazing Super Novas.
Justina Hour's neon green, black and pink color scheme is very appealing to me. She's lithe and gorgeous, the only one of the Super Novas to really remind me of a supermodel.
Justina's only flaw is her visible wig cap. Thankfully, it doesn't detract from her awesomeness much. Her feature is that her eyes move back and forth if you turn the hand on her clock. Really excellent!
And now Doe. Precious Doe. She has the sweetest little somber face, her legs are fuzzy, her antlers combine with her antennae absolutely perfectly, and her shoes are some of the best in all my doll collection. Her hair is rooted a bit sparsely, but it's really not bad.
That wraps up the Novi Stars line. I love that the line went out with a bang that left people wanting more, including those that initially naysayed it. That's what happens when you act like a snob about features you think you're somehow owed. Then you kill a line when all it ever really did (with a couple minor bumps in the road) was improve. I can only imagine what truly creative and mindblowing Novi designs we missed out on, but I'll cherish the ones we did get!
PHOTO CREDITS: Mine.
