REVIEW: Monster High Potions Crystal Ball Series 1 CHEAT CODES

 

I have been good with Potions and only bought the ones I wanted off eBay/Mercari or used a cheat code to get the couple set I wanted (Clankie). 

But when I saw the new Crystal Ball ones with Heath on Amazon, I decided to go for it. 

The cheat code is at the top of the cardboard circle on the right. I'll post a list at the bottom of this review. 

There are multiple ways you can be spoiled with this series. On the back of the instruction sheet is a card that clearly identifies which character you got. 

So if you see this before you go through the whole process, there's zero surprise. 

The charm is hidden in the top of the crystal ball. That little black round piece pops out and then the pink Skullette pops out and the charm is inside there. Be careful not to forget to get it out!

I didn't do the water reveal, just twisted the ball part off. The stand is in the black base, very visible once you take the crystal ball off. 

I was happy to get three different ones, but sad to not get Heath. 

Still, I'm also glad because I love all three of these and I don't think I would have sought them out if I'd opened up Heath. I would have just been done with the series. But now I want all six. 

Frankie without their hand is SO CUTE! And they have a pink undercut. 

This is also the cutest Laura by far. I love her, even though she really does not want to stay on her stand. 

And I love Clawdeen's hair. She's finally wearing glasses, too. I mean, sunglasses, but still. I'll always hate that they took her glasses away from her when she clearly needed them to see in the show. 

I'll hopefully be back to edit this post on Saturday with new characters. I bought five more. 

Had a bit of a delay. These weren't delivered until Sunday and then I was too busy with work to do anything but open them. But here I am now with the update!

Better view of the cards. 

Lagoona is SO CUTE!

Catty is my least favorite of the six, mostly because I think they made her too small. 

My boy Heath, the entire reason I started buying these. 

PHOTO CREDIT: Mine.

CHEAT CODES: 

Each character is 10 apart. 

The order they go in doesn't change. Mine with this last batch were 765, 775, 785, 805 and 815. I did not get a Clawdeen, so she's 795. It's also proven from my first three that Clawdeen is 10 before Frankie. Frankie was 805, so that makes Clawdeen the missing 795. If you have at least two bottles from the same batch, you should be able to figure out who they are.

DRACULAURA

LAGOONA

CATTY

CLAWDEEN

FRANKIE 

HEATH

REVIEW: Wild Manes HALLEY

 
Jakks got a little crazy with their newest Wild Manes character and it certainly isn't because they're enby. It's because you can only buy Halley directly from their website and FedEx, the only shipping option, costs more than the price of the toy! 

Did I pay it anyway because I desperately wanted this black, astronomy-themed horse?

Yes. Yes, I did. 

Back of the box. 

Note the they pronouns.

Good for you, Jakks. 

Here are the cart and all the accessory pieces. 

The obvious best accessory. 

They are STUNNING. 

Shipping was so worth it. 

Yep, worth it. 

I don't have a set place for these yet, so they're in limbo with some of my other lines. But these are the five Wild Manes that I own. Halley is definitely my new fave. 

PHOTO CREDIT: Mine. 

She-Ra New Additions

 

Not comprehensive reviews by any means, but I wanted to share some pics of my new She-Ra additions. 

This is Masterverse Frosta. I think she's my favorite Frosta ever, even a smidge over the vintage. 

Cartoon Collection She-Ra is really the one that sent me down this rabbit hole, because she's just so darn CUTE. 

Then I had to have Frosta. Also Cartoon Collection. 

And then Cartoon Collection Catra just came out. 

She-Ra is the cutest, but Catra is my favorite. She's awesome. Even though her cat form is way too small, but what do you expect? 

All three of them. These ladies are smaller than the Masterverse figures. 

Can't wait to see who will be next! I love this series!

PHOTO CREDIT: Mine.

Five Below SSC Fashions

 

All righty, I am getting around to doing some reviews to distract myself. We had to say goodbye to my oldest dog yesterday morning, so I've not been in the greatest frame of mind. Tuesday was hard because it was the last day and yesterday was obviously harder. I've not been sleeping well. I think I've channeled a lot of my feelings into writing motivation, so my sleep hours have been all screwed up because I don't like to stop writing when I'm really motivated. Pre-dawn hours have been my most productive, but I'm definitely going to regret that this weekend unless I can switch my sleep schedule fast. (I doubt it. Coffee is a BFF for a reason.)

Anyway! I got the Strawberry Shortcake theme fashions from Five Below. Love that these were only $3.25. 

I didn't take any pics of them in their packaging. Each pack has two full outfits, though only one pair of shoes. The Blueberry Muffin pack is the only one where I didn't have a model for the boring second dress, so I'm just showcasing this outfit. I love it on this doll. She looks super cute. 

The Lemon Meringue pack looks great on these two. 

The dress has a matching scrunchy that she's wearing, but it's not really visible. 

This one had a fanny pack accessory. Directly into the trash. 

And the Orange Blossom pack. This one had an ugly hat. Not into the trash, but definitely not to be worn. 

I like both of these pieces, but the girl on the left would have suited a Strawberry pack much better. She needed out of her ugly Fashionista clothes though. 

The shoes are for high-heeled feet, so girl on the left is without. I need to dig out my shoe bag and see if I have anything that will fit her. 

I'd love to see Five Below do more fashion packs. These are cute and you can't beat $3.25. 

PHOTO CREDIT: Mine. 

FOR SALE

Someone asked me about sales items, I sent an email with pics and never heard back. I realized I forgot to add a couple pics of one doll to that email and now cannot find it. So if you're reading this, I apologize. It's been a crazy few weeks. 

But since I can't find that person anymore, I thought I'd offer up some of the items I'd offered her. 

W.I.T.C.H. Cornelia by Giochi Preziosi.

This is the original casual wear Cornelia. She is complete. 

$50

She's in excellent condition. 

Great hair and an interesting outfit, though honestly, I don't think it's a very Cornelia outfit. 

But she's still gorgeous and these older Giochi dolls are harder to find now. 

Giochi "New Look" Irma

Pretty sure she's complete. 

Another lovely doll whose outfit I don't think really matches the character. 

$50

I'd do $75 for the pair. 

Hottiez Kiara. She's not the original Kiara but one from the second series. They released a bunch of second series characters and looks, and then proceeded to make a version of Kiara wearing the same outfits. But I have no idea which Kiara this was. I remember a friend giving her to me. She's gotten a haircut, I think? Hottiez pics are so hard to find. She is wearing the same top as first series Kiara, but the skirt and shoes are from other dolls. (Though obviously the shoes are from some version of Kiara.)

$30

Winx Stella. Prettier face, so I think this is Simba and not Witty. 

She's pretty basic but cute. 

$25

Okay, so this is a Simba (or Witty?) Tecna doll. The doll is from the City Girl line. The outfit is definitely Witty and came from a much later basic line. 

$20

Jakks Pacific City Style Aisha.

Doesn't have her "bonus wings" or her pink sunglasses, but she picked up a necklace somewhere. 

$50

As always, I'm open to offers and dropping prices if you want multiple pieces. I'm not sure I'll be selling any other Winx pieces. If I do, it will probably be some of the Jakks action figures. Though I do need to go through my Winx clothing and see if there are Mattel outfit pieces I'd let go. So if you're looking for anything like that, let me know. I'm definitely not selling any other W.I.T.C.H. items. 

REVIEW: Monster High Scary Sweet Birthday FRANKIE & CUPID

 

Okay, everybody bear with me here. I've had a lot going on these past few weeks. My oldest dog is not doing well, there was drama and uncertainty over my recent concert plans (that's fixed now), it was just the busiest weekend of the year at work, my temporary filling has been driving me nuts (and just fell out so now that feels better, but it still needs to be fixed), and my laptop died. I'm working on my old Chromebook, which I do not care for, but at least I can upload pics and still do reviews. Not that I've had much lately. I've been spending more on plushies than dolls. 

SO! I didn't know if I could do reviews, so I opened both dolls. Boxed pics can be found online, of course. No big. 

Accessories from Frankie.

The balloon is cute, but not my favorite one. The gift bag is dull. The purse is dull and gapes open at the side. The makeup and bracelet are cute though. 

This doll though! I'm always happy the rare times they remember that Frankie has a shaved side. 

Love the hair. Love the makeup, especially the lipstick. 

I think they have the best outfit of the line. I dislike the icing accents and I think they hide more nicely on Frankie than on others. (This is the first Cleo I'm actively not buying. I only like the balloon.)

Love that lipstick accessory, too.

This is a sass Frankie. Always here for that. 

Giving Laura her bracelet. 

I think this is one of the best Frankies. Not my overall fave, which is Monster Fest, but in third place after Ghoul Spirit (redressed). 

Here are Cupid's accessories. 

Love the balloon. Frankie's I put away, but Cupid's is displayed by her. 

Love the gift bag, though the perfume bottle is a bit boring. 

Ah, the quiver. Wish she could hold it better though. 

At first, I was not into this girl. She had elements that I liked, but other things I hated. 

I love the doll herself. Those legs? Awesome. The pale pinkness? Awesome. The hair? Well, it needed some work, but I still like it. 

I LOVE the wings. This is a massive upgrade from both her MH and EAH versions. 

I don't like the kiddie-print romper. I like that it's a romper, just not in that print. I don't like the cage skirt or how the overskirt doesn't want to lay over it nicely. Don't like that she can't sit because of it. 

I don't like the huge earrings, but I don't utterly despise them. 

I was going to take the headband off, because again, it's so kiddish. I'm not normally one to bitch about dolls for kids that depict teen characters having kid-friendly elements, but these accents on Cupid don't even match the vibe of the rest of the line. I may still take that off, but now I'm kind of used to it there. 

I don't like how cluttered her front is. The big black bow blocking the gold with the candy heart print screaming behind it. It's a lot. 

I do love the wrist crossbow and the red bracelet though. And the black choker, which I keep forgetting is there. 

These shoes are stunning. Honestly, they were a good percentage of the reason why I got her. Like from the thighs down, she's perfect. 

These wings are another big chunk of her draw for me. 

Gorgeous. 

Oddly enough, posing her for this photo made me go from liking her to loving her. I'm not even sure why. Something just clicked for me. 

I'm not too thrilled that she got a doll before Skelita and I would have loved to have seen Iris get one, too. As well as other prominent members of the original cast that have yet to be G3ed. Like why do they hate Robecca? Where is she? Even in Skullector. Where is she? Where is G3 Rochelle? But I do think she's a more solid design than the original MH version. Not EAH though. She was amazing in EAH. 

PHOTO CREDIT: Mine.

REVIEW: Good Smile Near Harmonia MELLOW

I can't remember when this doll was supposed to come out. February? But she got delayed. I actually thought I'd never get her, so I was surprised when Amazon gave me a new delivery estimate. 

She arrived today and she's absolutely adorable. 

Good Smile makes a lovely brand of quite expensive small dolls called Harmonia. I don't have any, though I definitely regret not getting one of them that came out a few years ago. These little girls are a basic version of Harmonia, so the line name is Near Harmonia.  

I love this type of stand because it's so flexible. 

But if you get one of these, be careful putting the post in. I wasn't pushing hard, but the base still cracked. 

Here's her little dress and ribbon belt. 

Mellow comes dressed in little bloomers. 

She is wigged and it's quite slippery. I may end up doing a little velcro treatment for her. 

She sits nicely. 

The dress was interesting to put on. Her arms aren't flexible at all, but they do pop off at the shoulders. I got one in the arm hole the regular way, but took the second one off, then popped it right back in. 

She's so cute! Very ethereal. Almost like a fairy alien or something. 

Look at those teeny feet! They're like the most dainty thing ever. 

Overall, I love her. These aren't cheap dolls, so a lot of people would balk at the $46 price considering, say, the lack of articulation that's a sticking point for so many. But a fully articulated Harmonia is going to run you anywhere from $200-$400. I think she's adorable in a very different way from other dolls I own, so she's a nice addition to my collection. I already have one of the second series preordered!

PHOTO CREDIT: Mine.