REVIEW: Monster High Alivia Stein

I'm going to try to make this a semi-decent review, but honestly, my heart is not in it. Aside from making the purchase, every single step of getting this doll has been terrible.

I ordered her on Monday and the estimated delivery day was Friday. She finally shipped on Thursday, the same day that a friend who lives in the same zipcode as me received her Alivia...which she ordered Tuesday, the day AFTER I ordered. Being that we are both Prime members and therefore, deserve the same service, I was livid and contacted Amazon, who gave me a $5 gift card. I don't understand why I was overlooked, but it better not be a regular occurrence. It's not like Prime is cheap.

My Alivia went out for delivery on Friday. And did not show up with the rest of the regular mail. After I got to work, I received a "delivery attempted" text at 5:14pm. This was a lie, because there was no delivery attempted. The front office was open and the package would have been left there. I contacted Amazon again to complain about USPS and got my entire purchase refunded. So I got Alivia for free and was up five bucks to boot. But still.

Now we get to Saturday. Out for delivery again. This time the carrier took the packages to the office when the single employee was out showing the model apartment. (I have contacted the apartment complex management and told them their policy of one person on a weekend is ridiculous.) Instead of waiting even a couple minutes, the carrier left. How do I know he didn't wait? Because I was maybe two minutes behind him and the office employee was thirty seconds behind me. He didn't wait or attempt to deliver the packages.

So my Alivia, who had I been given fair Amazon service, should have arrived on Thursday, I did not get until today. I have a case open with the post office about this entire mess, because that carrier was not my normal one and should never be given a route again.

Now Alivia is pretty darn cute, so she's kind of won me back over, but I hate poor service of any kind, having been in multiple service industries myself, so I'm still angry over the entire mess and worried this might happen again with something not as easily replaceable or refundable.

Anyway, that's why my heart's not really in this.

I bought Alivia on Amazon, obviously, and she cost $14.80.

The doll comes with a short dress, boots, a plastic bow that's only on the front of her ponytail, her pet mouse/rabbit, and the pet carrier.

Alivia can stand on her own with those big clunky Frankenstein boots, which is pretty cool. Although if you put the carrier on her arm, she can't. Totally throws off her balance.

Alivia resembles big sister Frankie, but is different enough that she doesn't look like baby Frankie. Not that there ever was a baby Frankie.

The main difference is that Alivia's hair is light blue with black streaks, not white like Frankie's.

Her enormous bolts come out of her head, not her neck.

Her eyes and cheek stitch are the reverse of Frankie's.

She has a huge molded line of stitches across her forehead that's hidden by her bangs.

I love her hands. That's the best part about her, that she can do the awesome reaching for you with monstery fingers pose. And that's why I'm glad she's not articulated, because weak elbow and wrist joints would ruin that.

Her pet is adorable and nicely detailed, although most of that detail isn't painted. It still shows though.

The carrier has a hinged top and the bottom looks like a litter pan.

Here is Alivia with Twyla, Frankie and Lux, representing the regular height, original little sister height, and even younger sibling height.

As you can see, she's a lot shorter than Twyla, which means Howleen, who's in the same line, likely is, too. I haven't ordered her because I despise pink hair on Howleen, but I might cave and do it. The new Cushion is ridiculously cute.

I like Alivia a lot. I might even grow to love her once my irritation with Amazon, the post office and my front office wears off. Is she worth $14.80? No. I don't think so. Maybe $11.99? Sadly though, Amazon has raised their prices and she may never hit stores, so we have to overpay if we want some of these hard to find things. Mattel has raised their prices on their more basic stuff, too, so there's that also. It's one of their faults. If not both.

I'll review Howleen if I end up getting her. Not sure yet.

PHOTO CREDITS: Mine.