Tuesday, July 30, 2019

REVIEW: Catra!

I'm slowly getting these She-Ra dolls, although sadly, I haven't gotten any others. They seem to have stopped being listed on the website and my store is slower than molasses in Antarctica.

Catra got delayed because she was mishandled in California and then her shipping box was absolutely crushed. I'm glad the doll itself was okay!

As with the others, I've got mixed feelings on this one. There is one enormous flaw and one other that's secondary.




Here's her cartoon image from the back of the box.

Look at that hair.

I'm not even going to mess around. I'm going to dig right into my big issue with this doll.

See the picture?

She has a MANE.

But this is what you get.



It looks like a child cut this hair. It's several different lengths. The top part I get. It actually looks good. But the lighter brown pieces could easily have been locks right behind her ears like they are in the art. There are a couple shorter clumps, but they're a mess.







And it is THIN. This is possibly the thinnest hair I have ever seen on a doll. Especially a $15 Mattel doll. Their $5 MH basics had better hair!





This is a raggedy, sloppy mess.

Catra deserves better.

Fans deserve better.

Mattel can DO BETTER. I don't know what the hell they were thinking.

At least her ears aren't part of her headdress. Thank the dolly gods. I was afraid of that.



Okay, worst hair ever aside, she's a cool doll.

She's the only one where I think they actually nailed her face, because she has a real expression. She looks like Catra.

"Hey, Adora."

The outfit is superb. The belt is nice.




I forgot to stick her tail back on, so there it is.

Now my other problem is that they gave her these lovely clawed feet, but neither of her hands has claws.

Like...we just spent years with MH where one of the main cast had clawed hands and then loads of other characters did, too. I know you can do this, Mattel. So why did they declaw Catra?







From the back. Her tail attaches into a little hole, as you'd expect.

Hm, maybe I'll braid her hair...




And she comes with the staff. Is that really necessary? Could we not have taken the money spent to make that and given her more hair?

She's almost the same shade as Toralei, but I have a feeling a hand exchange won't work. I may give it a shot, but I think the pegs are going to be too small for Catra.




She doesn't look bad here. I did give her a conditioning treatment, but nothing's going to help that hair. I'll play around with it later...but I have no real hope of making it look okay. Poor mangy Catra.

Now that she's here, I'm going to start rewatching the show. The new season starts on Friday!

PHOTO CREDITS: Mine.

Friday, July 26, 2019

REVIEW: She-Ra!

We must be strong! And we must be brave!

She-Ra is here!

The struggle is so real with this line. I signed up for alerts on all of them and got one single email. I was able to get this She-Ra before she sold out and I opted to pass on the Swift Wind set, which was also in stock. Through some cat-like stalking, I managed to order Catra, too. She should have been here today, but UPS screwed up, so she'll arrive tomorrow. I've not been able to get Adora, Glimmer or Bow yet.

But it's fitting. She-Ra and Catra were my first She-Ra dolls when I was a kid. And now they're first again.







The back of the box is very simple, like most Mattel boxes these days.

She was easy to open, just like the Fashionistas and DC Superhero Girls. 




Boom! For the honor of Grayskull!

She-Ra very easily stands on her own, even when living the sword, which is quite heavy.

I did unclip the plastic bits holding her tiara on and it does not want to stay on now, so keep that in mind.

But her hair looks better without it clamped to her head, too.







They pretty much nailed the outfit design.





The face I am a little iffy on. I feel like She-Ra should be more stoic and determined, less smiley. She's not as vacant as some photos have made her look though, which is good.

The hair is lovely.











Giant clunky boots that match the giant clunky boots in the show. 








A little eh from the back due to the gaping hole in the cape. 

I honestly don't see why that hole is there. 







Her gold accents are all one plastic piece, which comes off and goes back on easily. I like this idea.







The body is what disappoints me most about her. After how awesomely muscular Wonder Woman and Supergirl are in the new DCSG line, I expected a more muscular She-Ra. Look at her art on the back of the box. She's bigger than this. 





With Rallee for a little size comparison. 

Maybe she'll look huge compared to the others in the line. I don't know. I haven't gotten any yet. But more muscle definition would have been nice. 




And that's it! Like I've stated before, I'm not 100% on board with how they did these, but I have bigger issues with the other dolls in the line. Not so much her or Adora. The muscles are my main issue with She-Ra. I can deal with the face, even though both more muscular and a more stoic face would have been preferable. 

She's still pretty and mostly well-done! I'm really excited for Catra.

PHOTO CREDITS: Mine.

REVIEW: Wild Hearts Crew Rallee Radmore




I got tired of waiting for my stores to get my favorite WHC girl in, so I overpaid for her on ebay. And then naturally that meant that today I got alerts saying she was in stock. But considering I'd probably have had to try to get her from the back, I regret nothing.

Rallee wear black, has a half-shaved head, a sassy expression and white hair. Was there any doubt this was going to be my favorite? I think not.





I honestly do not get her pizza obsession though. It's funny, but it's the majority of what she talks about. It's weird.








Let's look at the little booklet first.




Pizza, fixing things, playing guitar (possibly badly).







Pizza again.




Now that is more like it.







I think she should have talked much less about pizza and more about her "fixing" skills. If she's a mechanic/handywoman or something, that would be super awesome. Girls need to see more women doing this sort of thing. But no, let's just keep talking about pizza. Hopefully in the future, we'll see more of the handy side of Rallee.







I immediately yanked the plastic bits off her.




Gorgeous face and makeup.

Her hair is perfect.

She's a badass.




I prefer this to Venus's flocking. I like seeing the "hair" detailing.






Back of the jacket.



And the front, including the Skullette detail.

The jacket is disappointing though. It just doesn't look finished. This is confusing, because the jackets and vests on the other girls are so nice.

The earrings are a little oversized for my taste, but I'm leaving them on for now. She would have been good with some alternate piercings, even just more molded up her ears or something.





Short boots that I would totally wear.






This thing is gross. No girl like this should wear a fanny pack. Ew.









The goggles are also badass. You can't convince me she's not an industrial girl. Punk? Eh. Industrial? Yes.






Super cute, but it messes with the awesomeness of her hair. I may end up with a second Rallee so she can wear her goggles and some other black outfit pieces.






Rallee with my favorite, and one of my only, custom dolls. I've had Kyrie for years and she's always been amazing. Well, it looks like Rallee's her slightly younger sister.





Yep, definitely sisters.





All five together FINALLY.

PHOTO CREDITS: Mine.

Thursday, July 25, 2019

REVIEW: Enchantimals Hedda Hippo and Tadley Tiger

Unexpected Enchantimals review! I had these two as part of the same pre-order as the treefrog and lemur girls, and I didn't think they'd ever come in stock, but they did!

These sets are $13.99. Hedda is in stock right now and Tadley will be in stock on the 30th.

I actually got Hedda 2 days ago, but I didn't take any pics beyond this boxed one and the art, because I wanted to wash the gel from her hair.





She is SO CUTE.

I love the ones with short hair and her little bob is darling.


And here she is with washed and dried hair. Much better than gel helmet head.

I adore all her freckles, too. She has loads!

Lake is very cute, too.





Here's Hedda without her headband.

Cute li'l ears!

Those are the same shoes the zebra girl had, but they're cute enough to repeat.






And from the back.

The tails still weird me out sometimes. That should be down lower.




Riding on Lake.




Tadley I honestly was not very excited about. I get tired of the gray and white ones always having purple or pink hair.

But she pulls it off. She's surprisingly cute.





Cute art.





Kitty though? They couldn't come up with something better than Kitty?!!







She would have looked so cool with black hair. Or even white.







From the back.





Riding on Kitty. Ugh. It pains me to even type such a bland name. Low-hanging name fruit is not always to be picked, people.




It will be fun to display these with the other girls with larger animals.

I'll probably import the sloth set eventually. Not sure about the alligator. Maybe.

PHOTO CREDITS: Mine.