Wednesday, March 21, 2018

Charlie Bears on QVC

Charlie Bears are back on QVC in a little over 4 hours! The listings for what's available are already up and I've made my purchases. Here's a link:

The cheaper prices and Easy Pay should only last for 24 hours, so if you are interested in any, grab them now. However, some of these are available from US stockists for cheaper prices and they'll let you pick out your own personal bear. I love to choose my own face, so I only buy ones on QVC that are part of the "Secret Collection," AKA: not sent to stockists. They don't have all of these bears in yet, but it's worth the wait to choose your own.

Stitch, Tiddles, Kiri, Clawdia, Annabelle and the 3 keychains are leftovers from the first show. 

The new Secret Collection (QVC only) bears are: Mish Mash, TC and Flapjack. (I ordered the 3 of them.)

2018 bears are Karen, Julian, the 2018 Year Bear, Higgle, Karl, and Ainsley. My stockist has Julian in stock right now and Karen coming in soon. Karen is only $126.95 from my stockist, so QVC is over $20 more. I really do recommend supporting the stockists for these ones. I have the year bear on pre-order myself.

The others are all older bears stockists should have right now. 

If you're in the US and need some recommendations for stockists, let me know. 

Wednesday, March 14, 2018

RANKING: Ever After High

In December 2015, I ranked the Ever After High signature dolls from least favorite to most. I'm not going to repeat the entire list here, but the top 5 were Melody who barely beat out Raven, then Duchess, Cerise and Lizzie. (And Ginger was #6. I love Ginger.)

Since then, more characters were added, so I thought it might be fun to revisit this.

I'm not sticking to just the signatures, but looking at the dolls' entire body of work, so some may shift based on a stellar non-sig, but I'm still looking at the design on the whole, so Melody, who got a lone doll, is still going to place up there with Raven, who has 5 stunning dolls on my shelves.




Alistair was the bottom the first time and he remains the bottom now. I redid the hair on mine to make him more handsome, but the animated character is far better-looking than the doll. His main use to me was as a body donor for the basic Daring doll. He and Bunny are cute together, but the fact that he got a doll and Hopper and Sparrow didn't will always irk me, too.








Poor Dex will never be a favorite of mine, because I despise his awkward relationship with Raven, who said very early on that she was not interested in relationships because she had so much of herself she had to figure out. That's respectable and mature decision and it was tossed aside for a stupid weak romance. Sorry, Dex, but you suffer because of that.







Crystal was a pretty doll, but not enough to hold a candle next to the more established characters. I do love her color combination and she draws me in, especially her face, but then Mattel went and put their stupid everpresent brown eyebrows there and she's weaker for that.













I was excited for this doll, but her execution was not so good. Every single one I saw had at least one wonky eye and something like that brings a design down a lot. She's got a lot of amazing elements, but all I see is that wonk. And the brown eyebrows. Again.




Blondie has never interested me as a character. I don't think every single girls' property needs a gossip, which is a type of person I dislike. And she's another blue-eyed blonde, so she never stood out. I used to have her sig and the cupcakey one from Target, but both got sold. Now I only own two Blondies: this one and Birthday Ball with the neat blue hair. This doll is really nice though, which actually puts her above Mira and Crystal. She would have been farther down if not for this Back to School doll.











Poor Meeshell. She has a stunning animated version, but the doll doesn't look a thing like it. Her outfit is rather a mess and her hair color really disappointed me, because not only is it not coral (like in the book) or a more coraly-pink (like in the cartoon), it resembles Mira's too much. What puts her above Blondie is actually her only other doll, the Back to School one. That one is so different from the sig that it made me appreciate the sig a lot more. Plus, Blondie has the original standard EAH face and Meeshell has a cute different mold.




Justine is another poorly-handled character. Not in the same devastating way as Meeshell, because Justine looks like her animated self, but just in general. The doll itself is stunning, but her outfit is the worst of all the signatures. It is SO BORING. It's such a shame to see a pretty doll wearing something so dull in a line of lovely dresses.




Bunny has gotten wayyyyyyy more dolls than her character deserves. The fact that she got several while poor Faybelle got only one makes me angry. Faybelle had lovely designs in the show and was the antagonist so many times. Bunny's done very little in comparison. And her sig doll was always wonky. I only have two Bunny dolls: this Archery one and her sig. The Archery is actually a really cute doll. They finally fixed her poor eye. So this doll with her adorable face is the reason she's above some of these other girls.





I've never been a huge Rosabella fan. Her sig doll was pretty, but she didn't hold my interest for long as a character. I find her with Daring to be kinda meh. This doll however earned her a higher place than others, because the new smile really suits her and I love that neon melon color. It's one of my fave colors and she does it well.








Nina is adorable and I'm always a sucker for a flower fairy-type theme. She would have benefited from painting on her necklace and belt and not just everything else, but at the point the line was at during this time, I'm pleased enough she got her flower crown, shoes and purse painted. She might have ranked higher if she'd gotten more dolls.






I don't have solo photos of my Epic Winter girls. Argh. We're looking at Maddie here, not Ashlynn. She'll place a lot higher.

I always liked Maddie, but never loved her. She's too much for me. I love that she can hear the narrators though. That's hilarious. But she's one of those characters that suffered from the original EAH mold. it didn't capture her essence one bit. I love the Legacy Day doll, but she looks too serious! So when the smiling ones began, they were perfect for Maddie and finally there was the character we knew. I only have the EW doll for the smiling versions, because it's the best. I skipped Epic Winter when it came out, except for Crystal, but I bought all but Blondie and the 2-pack on sale after they'd been out awhile, and they're quite lovely.





Darling is one of those popular characters that I don't get into much. She very quickly started to appear in everything. I like her concept, but I never cared for her sig design and I honestly can't remember if I still have her doll or not. This Dragon Games doll though? I mean WOW. She's absolutely perfect. She's actually prettier than several of the ones who will rank higher than her, but I'm taking entire doll body of work into consideration here, as well as my attachments to the character, and in both of those, she can't hold up.

This doll though. WOW.




Courtly is amazing. Her doll perfectly captures her wild character, except they gave her long hair. I soon took care of that, but I only have close-up shots of the doll with the hair cut, so I went with this one because it shows the full outfit. She isn't one of my favorite characters and she does only have the single doll, but as I said, it does such a good job of depicting her that she deserves a good placement here.




I don't have a photo of my one Daring Charming doll. I don't know how I never took one. I didn't get the 2-pack with Rosabella. I got the basic $9.99 doll with the less poseable body. So I body-swapped him with Alistair. He's wearing Alistair's pants and boots and an old Ken shirt. Heh. But he looks good because he's Daring. I actually am in favor of the molded hair because Daring's hair needs to be PERFECT and I'm thrilled he got his trademark grin. So imagine him in this spot.

And then Hunter is in this spot. Hunter's not my favorite boy, but he's pretty up there. Hopper, Daring, Hunter. Sometimes Sparrow's mixed in there, too. But Hunter is easily the best boy EAH doll. He's hot.



Holly and Poppy bored me at first, but after reading their book, they got more interesting. My issue with Poppy is her lack of consistency. She's got a decent sig doll, but not that great. The outfit is kinda meh. Her Through the Woods doll's outfit is great, but the lighter makeup was less interesting to me. Dragon Games brought her to life the best, I think. Great outfit, cute dragon, good makeup and hair. I own four Poppys though and the fourth is Fairest on Ice. I was very against her at first, because they lengthened her hair for no reason, but the doll is lovely, so I got her. I'm pretending she's just not cut it that day because it's cold or something.








Okay, I have no other photos of Spring Unsprung Holly. I must not have liked her when I got her, as she's not even in my shot of the line displayed by my laptop, which is where they've been sitting for ages. At some point, my feelings for Holly changed. It may have been after I read the twins' book, it may have been before. But she's actually my favorite Spring Unsprung doll and has been ever since I decided I liked her. Holly's body of work is not as strong as the girls ranked higher though, because while she's in a lot of lines, she has few standout dolls. I sold her sig, and I only have Spring Unsprung, Dragon Games (her other really strong doll) and Back to School.






Ashlynn's never been a fave of mine, because she's kind of flat. She's got interesting storylines and quirks, like her romance with Hunter and how her clothes turn to rags if she's late, but the character's never had a ton of dimension for me. Some of her dolls are stunning though like Fairest on Ice here. My favorite Ashlynn is actually Through the Woods, but my one photo of her has a stray piece of hair in her face and that annoys me, so here's Fairest instead. My third and final Ashlynn is Epic Winter, who's very pretty with her smile and has the best color combo of that line.


Legacy Day Apple is actually one of my favorite EAH dolls. She is beyond gorgeous. She's better than the super fancy special Apple Toys R Us had. The reason Apple ranks this low is because she's not consistent. She doesn't look like this nearly often enough. I only have three Apple dolls: this one, Hat-tastic and Epic Winter. (And maybe signature. I can't remember if I sold her or not.) It's because this Apple doll created such a high standard that the others that followed were not good enough. She also loses the red lips too often. If you're going to have a complex about being blonde and not "black as ebony" in the hair department, then always sport those "red as blood" lips. Hat-tastic is super gorgeous, too, but not to this level. Epic Winter is special because she captures the smiling, sweet Apple character better, but her hair and outfit are lacking compared to Legacy Day and Hat-tastic.







Faybelle is a unique doll and I love her look from head to toe, but she's ranked this low because this is her ONLY doll. Faybelle is one of the most developed characters in EAH, but they only gave her one, single, lone doll and that is wrong on epic levels.






Now this is getting difficult. I like Briar's character enough that I want to put her higher than this, but it did take me awhile to like Briar and her body of work is not that strong. She has a lot of dolls, but less variation than other characters, which isn't good. My four Briars are Legacy Day, Signature, Spring Unsprung and Epic Winter. Legacy Day has been my fave since early on. I think she's the third strongest LD doll after Raven and Apple. Spring Unsprung is stunning, too, and Epic Winter is very cute. It's her sig doll that gives her a lower ranking than the next girl, whose character I like about equally to Briar's and who also has four dolls in my collection.






So I basically outlined why Cedar beats Briar. Equal character love, but better body of work in my collection. Each of my four Cedars is strong, while Briar's sig is weaker. Hat-tastic will always be my fave for her. Look at her. She's spectacularly beautiful. Then there's her cute sig, her gorgeous Spring Unsprung and her wild and crazy SDCC puppet exclusive.







Cupid has fallen a bit for me. She was quite a favorite when she first showed up, but then her appearances faded and her dolls became more boring. Honestly though, Thronecoming is a hard act to follow. She had a stellar signature and then this stunning beauty. And her Heartstruck doll is excellent, too. She has three dolls on my shelves, but she doesn't quite compare to the ladies ahead.




A bit of an odd choice for such a high placement, but I love Farrah. She's a sweet character and her doll shows off that sweetness. If it's not obvious, I like it when a character's doll shows the personality we know and love (or hate) from the animated shows and books. To be honest, her animated design is about a hundred times prettier than this doll, but I love the doll just the same.



You would think Spring Unsprung would be my favorite Kitty with the dark lips and all, but no, it's signature. Her outfit is darling and the custom arm pieces from my friend Rayedelsol really bring her to life. What helped her grow in my heart is that I originally had her displayed sitting on the books on my shelf, mischievously peeking out from behind the dolls in front of her in typical Cheshire fashion. The only Kitty I'm missing is the book one. I may have to track her down someday.




I adore Jillian. I'm glad we got one last awesome-looking newbie before the line fizzled. (I'm still mad Ramona didn't sneak in there. I will always be mad because she was supposed to be made.) Jillian is not as obviously pretty as most of the other dolls in the line. Hers is a very unique beauty and I always appreciate things like that. In animated form, she's stunning, but in a more traditional way. I prefer both doll and animation for her. I just wish she'd gotten another doll before the line turned into what it is now.



I super adore Ginger. Excellent headmold, adorable outfit, GLASSES. Did I mention glasses? Because glasses are the reason I only have two Gingers and not all three. I almost bought that book doll so many times, but never did because they took away her glasses. Although I'm seriously sitting here right now kind of wanting all three from that line. Maybe someday. I wish they'd made a Hopper so he and Ginger could have hung out! Sigh!




Lizzie! I love Lizzie. I should just stop repeating that, because I really love every one of these top girls, but I can't help saying it over and over again. Red, black and gold is a fave color combo of mine and Lizzie's outrageous personality won me over from the get go. She's got a lot of depth and I like all of it. Doll-wise, she does not quite hold up to the four girls left above her. For example, I had to create her proper hair using gel. It didn't come this way. Her Spring Unsprung doll is dull compared to the looks she designed for the other girls. Her Tricastleon doll is cute, but nothing special, and the same goes for Way Too Wonderland. Her only really standout doll is the signature, but that single doll does stand out a lot. She has not left her spot beside my laptop since I got her.



I fell for Cerise with her first doll. While Lizzie has the better outfit and I favor her character by a hair, Cerise ranks higher because of her very unusual headmold and her stronger body of work. Every Cerise I own is a hit. I actually have more Cerise than any other character. She even beats Raven by one. Signature is my favorite and, like Lizzie, hasn't left my desk ever. Hat-tastic and Spring Unsprung are both stunning. Her Tricastleon doll is the weakest of my six, but still lovely. Legacy Day uses the eyes I don't like for her, but the outfit is strong. And Cerise Wolf is the best SDCC offering EAH ever did by a long shot.





Duchess has the most beautiful face in the entire line. There's just something about her mold and her facial screening that is so perfectly gorgeous. It's a shame then that she only got three dolls! Despite her sheer beauty, I've got to put Duchess in third place, because the two girls above her appeal to me as a full package more. I do love Duchess and her dedication to dance, but dance outfits aren't very interesting to me, so that holds her back. Her Fairest on Ice is spectacular, but it's basically another dance dress just with winter touches. And Birthday Ball being a basic line doesn't provide an outfit that can compete.




When I first did this ranking years ago, Melody won. Her headmold is second only to Duchess for beauty and even as I'm looking at her now, I'm honestly feeling like it's more of a tie. Sorry, Duchess, but Melody is that pretty. Melody has some of the best makeup in the line. Of course I would say that because I've worn her look before. If you remove the pink eyeshadow line, I've worn it A LOT. She also has a fun outfit, despite the fact that her vest, top and skirt are all one single piece. I think Melody is the most striking doll in the line and for that, she makes it to second place, despite only having a single doll.






I have five Ravens. Every one is stellar.

Dragon Games has phenomenal edge that she'd lost a bit with some of her other releases between the beginning and that point.







Thronecoming is a gothed out ballgown pleasure.

SDCC is a delight, although admittedly not as much as Cerise or Cedar.









Legacy Day is perfection.






And her signature is quite likely the EAH doll I'd grab if you made me pick only one to keep.

Despite some dolls in the line that are her but not quite, Raven's best looks are so good that she wins first place. She'll always be the face and heart of EAH to me.

PHOTO CREDITS: Mine.

Friday, March 9, 2018

TOY FAIR 2018

Better late than never! Idle Hands has been updating a lot of photos recently, so let's look at some of the exciting stuff they shot better than anyone else even tried. (They are the perfect example of how still photography will always trump videos.)

BARBIE:

A better look at Barbie than anyone else attempted. I'm not that into the majority of the new Fashionistas lineup, but this one is one of the best they've ever done:

ENCHANTIMALS:

I can't remember if I showed this or not, but it's the most exciting thing Enchantimals had at Toy Fair and it was from Just Play, not Mattel. (Mattel only brought the new Danessa with smaller Sprint, plus the swan, wolf and tiger, which we've seen on Amazon.) I adore their plushies and I'm thrilled to see the turtle, who was one of my early faves. The flamingo is a nice, more unusual choice, and the monkey and lamb are darling. Give me them now!

LIVING DEAD DOLLS:

I have never been into LDDs, but that Batman Returns Catwoman is pretty amazing. The only one I've ever seen by them that I like more is the Lydia from Beetlejuice that I stupidly never bought. The blind box figures have a cute little Skelita-esque character, too.

MYSTICONS:

It's been awhile since I watched a few eps of this and I've completely forgotten the white-haired villainess's name, but her figure is amazing and I need her. The non-transformed Piper is super cute, too. 

PIKMI POPS:

Far cuter ones in Series 3 than the current Series 2. The big ones are really cute. I might get that tiger and llama. A pony and a poodle are also coming there. The smaller ones have some very cute ones, too. 

SCRUFF A LUV:

Okay, I'm not one for gimmicks, but this looks fun. You get a fluffy ball that you wash and reveal its pet type, then you dry it and groom it. They're really cute and fluffy, and you get a dog, bunny or kitty. I'm definitely trying one!

SHOPPIES:


These are the new Polly Pocket-style teeny tiny Shoppies. Not thrilled they're blind-packed. Ugh. I'm over blind-packed stuff. New Donutina and Marsha Mello dolls come with their own, which is cute. Marsha is clearly channeling Mystabella so maybe disappointed kids will be happy with her instead. (Yeah, right.) Note the new articulated elbows. Not a big deal to me, because they're never going to be a very articulated doll, but eh, some people like that sort of thing. 


Happy Places has some amazing stuff coming up. I love a lot of the new character designs. There's a white-haired girl driving the car that I'd love to see better. She's in the tub in the house, too, but still not shown well. Ah, her name is Kokonut! She's on the packaging of the bigger set behind Coralee. Good. Then she'll be easier to find. The single pack ones with unicorns are all awesome, but my fave hands down is Popsi Blue and her uni. Then Faith and Isabell. The new Li'l Pets are pretty cute but not super cute. 

There's a Cutie Cars album, too, that you can find yourselves if you're so inclined. 

SPIRIT:

I'll likely never buy any more of these, but some nice stuff here. 

SUNNY DAY:

A new hairplay line for the younger set. 

I think those were the highlights for me, but you may like something totally different, so follow one of the links and then find yourselves in Idle Hands' loads of albums. 

Tuesday, March 6, 2018

RANKING: My Little Pony G3 Birthflowers

June Rose
In 2006, a special set of Toys R Us exclusive birthday ponies came out. They'd already done birthstones, so now it was time for birthflowers. 

I somehow never noticed these ponies or if I did, I saw mine and was disappointed, so I never collected them, but I rediscovered them when I rediscovered G3s in 2016 and I've had the full set awhile now, though only tonight did I photograph the last two arrivals. 

I decided it would be fun to rank them, as my weird orderly brain likes to do. 

Each birthflower has a tri-color mane with one of those colors repeated in her tail. They have eyes with a highlight color and a heart, star or dot. 

So starting with my least favorite: June Rose. June is a nice yellow pony with pink, yellow and light pink in her mane. Her tail is the darker pink. Her eyes are turquoise with a lighter turquoise highlight and a pink heart. June is a pretty pony, but she's a bit boring. I honestly think she would have stood out more if she was pale pink and not yellow. 

April Daisy
My mom's an April, so this is one I always look out for. I actually got April and September (me) both boxed fairly early in my collecting of these and it's kind of obvious why. They're not very interesting. 

April's the same pink as a load of other ponies. (I think she would have been so much better if she was orange, yellow and white.) She's got a lavender, pale pink and regular pink mane with a lavender tail. Her eyes are lavender with a yellow highlight and pink star. Mine's mane falls really nicely and I like her eyes, so that and the less boring pose put her above June Rose. 

September Aster

This is likely why I never collected these. I was irritated mine was pink and purple so I ignored all of them. Unlike Daisy, I can see why they went with this color combo for an aster though.

September's a regular purple pony with a dark pink, lavender and regular pink mane. The regular pink repeats in her tail. She's the only one to use the dark pink in the front of her mane, which is actually a pretty neat color. Her eyes are turquoise with a yellow highlight and pink star. They give her a nice pop of extra color. I ranked her above April because of the unusual dark pink streak in her mane and the pretty eyes. 

October Calendula
October's the second yellow pony we've seen, but she's got a more monochromatic thing going on, which I prefer to June Rose and her pink. October's mane is a golden yellow none of the others use plus white and butter yellow. The golden yellow is also used for her tail. Her eyes are green with a light blue highlight and a yellow star. 

October is by no means a boring pony, so there's a large gap between her and the bottom three in my eyes. 

December Poinsettia
  



December is a lovely pony that would have benefitted from a more interesting pose. This early pose kinda bores me, so I judge more harshly that way. Then again, the competition is stiff from here on out. I think she also suffers from being a mint green pony with pink in her mane like Minty. 

So yes, December is mint green and her mane is quite a light pink, white and darker red. This is a more pinky-toned red than January's. Her tail is light pink and her eyes are green with a light green highlight and a pink dot. Cute, but can't compete with the others above her. Although if she was red like a stereotypical poinsettia, she'd probably be my favorite.

May Lily of the Valley

These were getting to be some hard choices. I think May was the second last of these I bought. She was not easy to find and it's easy to see why, because she's quite colorful and pretty. Lily of the valley are some of my favorite flowers, too. 

May is a light sky blue with a pink, white and green mane and a pink tail. Her eyes are green with a blue highlight and a pink heart. She's awesome. I love her. 

November Chrysanthemum





And November is the pony that just barely beat her out. I had a hard time picking between these two. November though is the most colorful of the twelve and she's just neat-looking. Her body is an unusual shade of light pinky-purple, so that alone makes her stand out, but then there's the bright mane with its medium pink, sky blue and bright yellow and the blue tail, and she's just all colorful. Her eyes are a lighter shade of sky blue with a yellow highlight and pink heart. I'm also a fan of the Seaspray pose, so that and her more unusual, brighter color scheme beat out May. 

July Larkspur


July is the sleeper hit of this set. I didn't expect to love a purple and pink pony, but I do. It helps that she and May, too, are in the Waterfire post. I do love Waterfire. July was the last one to join my collection. Not easy to find at all! 

July is light pink with a purple, light pink (almost white) and wine purple mane and a wine purple tail. I saw the "wine purple" description on a pony ID site and it's perfect. I'm a huge fan of that color, so that helps her rank as high as she does. Her eyes are neon green with a bright purple highlight and a pink dot. They're gorgeous eyes. 

January Carnation

July almost edged this girl out, but she has one particular weapon: her mane. January may be just a white pony, but in this set, both the white ones are heavy hitters. Her mane is a dusty pink (repeated in the tail), pale pink and this dark red that makes me think of Moondancer. It's a different shade than December's, but closer to that than anything else. And a white pony with a Moondancer red streak? You know she's gonna rank high. January also has her own new pose that's really pretty. September has the same pose, which also gave her a bit of an edge over the two that were below her. January's eyes are turquoise with a matching lighter highlight and a pink star. 

February Violet

I think this girl was the first one to arrive when I was collecting these. She's one I went right for, because she's gorgeous. She's got the lavender body with a lavender, white and dark purple mane and lavender tail. Her eyes pop because they're green with a lighter green highlight and a lavender heart. Violet's secret weapon is her pose. Not only is she gorgeous colors, but she's in Beachberry's pose and that's my favorite pose. 

August Gladiolus

I barely pick between these last two, so they're practically tied for first. August is the other powerhouse white pony like January. Her mane is light pink, yellow and that lovely dusty pink January also used. Her tail is light pink and her eyes are turquoise with the lighter turquoise highlight and a yellow heart. Basically, January's eyes except for the yellow heart instead of a pink star. August edges out January for two reasons though. She's in the Beachberry pose and she's got that yellow pop. Mine's just got a gorgeous mane, too. 

March Daffodil




Who knew my number one would be a yellow pony? March has the distinct advantage of nostalgia though. Her color is the same shade as the filling in buttercream candies from my favorite childhood chocolate shop, so she makes me think of delicious candy every time I see her. Her mane is butter yellow, white and very light pink and her tail is the butter yellow. Her lovely lime green eyes have a yellow-green highlight and a pink dot. March is in Seaspray's pose like November and it suits her really well. She's just adorable.

So there are my rankings of the birthflowers. I was having a bit of anxiety and this helped me relax, which is what I've needed after the work week I've had. I hope you enjoyed my pony rambling!

PHOTO CREDITS: Mine.

Friday, March 2, 2018

NEWS: Hearts For Hearts Girls



This year's new Hearts For Hearts Girls additions are the long-awaited Shola and Mosi! I'll definitely be buying a Mosi to keep boxed this time around. She's still my favorite.

Sadly, we will not be getting the Syrian girl, Aya, this year. This is the second year in a row they have not produced this gorgeous doll after showing her at Toy Fair 2016.

Some Targets have the new pet line for HFHG. The DPCI is 086-14-0734. So far only one animal, a tiger in connection with Nahji, has been found. Sadly, my closest store carrying them is an hour away, so I don't know when I'll be getting one.

I hardly ever do this, but information and pictures for this line is next to impossible to find, so here's a photo from a Facebook member:



You can see that they're pretty big! Size and price are definitely bigger than I expected. No idea if there are other animals in this line. The company is being obnoxiously tight-lipped about them.

PHOTO CREDITS: Hearts For Hearts Girls Facebook (Mosi and Shola), a member on HFHG Facebook (Nalini)

Thursday, March 1, 2018

NEWS: Monster High

Two new Monster High lines were mentioned a little while back by Tumblr user and promo photo finder extraordinaire darth-alinart: Ghostly Tea Party and Howling Hoodies. Well, today pictures have surfaced thanks to buried Amazon listings!

These are quite a surprise, because as we all know, MH has been putting out less and less these days, and the majority has been more younger fan-oriented. Both these lines, at least in the promos, feature the old level of MH articulation: neck, shoulders, hips, elbows, knees and wrists.

GHOSTLY TEA PARTY:

Ari:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B079M159KJ/

Being that she's the ghost, Ari's the one hosting this teeny tiny party of three. She's got some out of the box hair going on, although it doesn't fit with the rest of the line. It's growing on me as I look at the close-ups, but she decidedly looks like a poodle with the top pouf and then the bottom looking like the ears. Her dress is simple yet elegant and the print and color scheme are great. The lime green brings a fresh touch to her usual colors. Her shoes are absolutely awesome, all chains and teacups. Her accessories are mostly lovely. The self-pouring tea is a very monstery touch and the translucent fan, too. I'm not thrilled she stole Spectra's purse though. Didn't she take enough from poor Spectra? I'll be buying her though. I just might put an Ari without poodle hair into the elegant dress instead.

Clawdeen:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B079LWP7QJ/

Clawdeen has not looked this good in a long time! The elegant hairstyle is absolutely splendid on her and I like her makeup look as well. Those sunglasses have got to go though. Her accessories are cute, too. I do love the cut of the dress on her, but Clawdeen is the only one whose outfit loses Clawdeen. Ari's got her theme and Lagoona has hers, but Clawdeen's is very generic. Food on top, monster words on the bottom. Only the mostly obscured animal prints give any hint that this is her outfit. I'll be buying her and giving her some old clothes. Sweet 1600 would look excellent, I think.

Lagoona:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B079LWP7QK/

Perfect. Absolutely perfect. Simple, elegant hairstyle with a pretty hair ornament. Looks a little Venusish, but there are seaflowers, too, so Lagoona makes it seem like her own. The ruffled top is adorable, but it's that pencil skirt that brings this look home. The print and colors are fabulous. Her teacup accessory is great, though I'm not a big fan of the dripping food tray. Definitely buying this girl.

HOWLING HOODIES:

They had me from the concept of this. It just sounded super cute. The dolls come with a going out dress and shoes, then a hooded pajama outfit and shoes, AND their pets!

Draculaura:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B079LWP9BY/

This is perfect for Laura. Shorter, cute hair, simple makeup. The dress is cute and the shoes are very nice, but it's the pajama outfit that's obviously the best here. Aside from the cute, furry hood, it has BAT WING SLEEVES. Her boots are great, too. I do insist though that pink bat is not Count Fabulous. It's Draculaura in bat form.

Venus:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B079LMYHJK/

While the doll looks like many other Venuses, the outfit makes this a must buy. The pajamas are perfect and those boots are hilarious!

Twyla:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B079LTPL4F/

I like Twyla best. You're so shocked. She's got some black in her hair, which is a nice touch, although I'm not thrilled they kept the weird scallops under her eyes from Garden Ghouls. They made them darker, too, so she looks a bit sleepless. She kinda works it though. The pajamas are perfect. The boots are a bit strange. They seem like they should be for a different character, but all of the boots are odd, so they all match at least.

Definitely buying all six of these dolls. If MH is ending soon, at least they're giving us some great last stuff.

REVIEW: Scary Godmother Doll

I don't think any of us, creator Jill Thompson especially, knew that when we fully funded the production of the Scary Godmother doll on Kickstarter in September 2013 that it would not be until four and a half years later that the project finally came to an end with the delivery of the dolls. It's been very interesting watching the birth of the doll step by step and all the little details that had to be tweaked and tweaked and finally approved.

It's been a very long time, but the doll was worth the wait.

She's only 13" tall according to the website, but she's so lithe that she feels taller.

Here she is in her awesome haunted house box.


And the back. I didn't photograph the sides, but there's art there, too.

I opened the bottom of the box for easier removal of the purple liner.

Scary Godmother is seriously strapped down to that liner, so expect to invest quite a bit of time undoing a bunch of twist ties to free her.


Fresh out of the box!

She looks exactly like her art, which you can't say about most dolls and their art.

Her outfit consists of a black bodysuit (with a zipper), a black glittery skirt (with metal snaps), a pair of striped stockings, a pair of shoes, and a hat (elastic strap).


She sits quite easily, although the stockings did have to be broken in a little bit. They're a little restrictive, but not too much.

Her arms hold poses quite well.

She's packaged with her hair tied back with a black rubberband, but I wasn't have that. Those curls need freedom!










Her hair is quite nice. It's rooted, as you can see in the photos.

Love that face. The painting is great.

But the best part...




That profile!

I actually think she's prettiest in profile. I adore her nose.




Her body is highly articulated. There are the standard places of neck, shoulders and hips, but also wrists, ankles, mid-torso AND waist, and double joints at the elbows and knees.

She holds poses quite well, although as I said, the stockings do restrict some of that motion when they're on.

She doesn't feel incredibly fragile, but she is quite thin-limbed, so I wouldn't put her somewhere she could easily be knocked over. She's not playline doll-level sturdy.






See? Very bendy!

I'll put her clothes back on and stop embarrassing the poor thing.




I didn't photograph her back, but she has two round holes where her wings insert. The wings are solid purple plastic. This was the only bit of trouble I had with her. You have to push the round peg on the wing through the hole in the bodysuit and get it to match up perfectly, while keeping the bodysuit material away from both the wing hole in her back and the wing hole in the bodysuit itself. The one on her right shoulder went in easily, but the one on the left was tricky because the holes in the bodysuit didn't quite match up. But I got it after a couple tries.




Here's the skirt. Expect glitter shed.

And the shoes are superb! Love the molding and the paint job.






Scary Godmother has three spooky purses to choose from. the best one is the pumpkin with an actual metal snap closure. The skeleton one is a bit more crude, but has a nice pink lining. The bat is a bit on the rough side. It's not quite the level of accessory you'd expect with a doll this price. It's cute, it's just...rough.







The Boozle!










More Boozle!













I really love her and I'm looking forward to rereading the Scary Godmother stories with her nearby. She is available to purchase on the website for $75. (Kickstarter backers paid $50, so there's a plus to supporting your favorite artists early!) I'll put a link down below.



PHOTO CREDITS: Mine all mine at last!

RELATED LINKS:
https://www.thescarygodmother.com/products/scary-godmother-fashion-collectible