Oh, man, a lot has been going on these past couple days! I posted about MH yesterday and I still like the dolls. I don't care if some people think it's popular to be negative. I've dealt with those people my entire collecting life and I just ignore them. I'm gonna buy what I like because seeing it on my shelves will make me happy.
Anyway, I'm going to try to remember everything. Let's start with the no longer competing mermaid lines.
MERMAZE MERMAIDZ:
Mermaze has been busy lately. In the latest episode, we saw two new characters who as are yet unnamed. (I think.) There's a blonde photographer whose tail fluke is...a video game controller. GAH. Some of the 1st series designs were kinda gross because in real life, they'd involving mutilating flesh, but this is somehow worse to me because it's just plain stupid. Kinda like playing a guitar underwater. How do you play electronic games underwater? And why do they have a car? It's very clear the designers of Mermaze do not care about any semblance of reality and are trying as hard as possible to come up with the most ridiculous designs they can. And they are succeeding because Mermaze is definitely the WTF of mermaid doll lines. Anyway! The second new character has a crescent moon tail fluke. It looks cool, though I'm not sure how well she'd swim with it. I can't remember what she was doing in the episode. Makeup or something maybe? We know both will get dolls because there's the world's blurriest pic of them.
Then on top of that, we've got a winter doll line and even my nitpicking self has to admit they almost nailed it. Kishiko and Harmonique are travelling to Wintera and they meet three new friends there. You can see one of them here on Amazon:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B09PCBJ2VD/
I am now very glad I ordered one, because she's gone out of stock. Crystabella has a great personality description and I love her design. There are some elements I don't like, such as the weirdly hairy shirt, but overall I really love what they did.
If you skim Instagram, you can see the other girls. Harmonique is my least favorite because that darn realism just holds me back sometimes. She has half a tail fluke. The doll herself is quite pretty but that weird lump of crystal at the end of her tail that just randomly curves off to the side is not a look that works for me at all. On the other hand, Kishiko is STUNNING. Absolutely love what they did with her. New character Nera is a likely purchase for me. Yeah, just look at her. You know I'm gonna buy her. The third new character is a blonde named...Gwen. "Hi, I'm Harmonique." "I'm Kishiko!" "Hey, there, I'm Nera and this is Crystabella." "And who's that over there?" "Oh, that's...Gwen." Gwen. What the hell kinda boring name is that? Don't get me wrong, Gwen is a fine name for people, but in MGAE World, it's extremely vanilla and stands out as such. Anyways, Gwen is pretty but not quite pretty enough for me. I do love her tail fluke though.
So yeah, my criticism of the line aside, I am actually looking forward to some Mermaze. I do think they need to get a new facemold and lower their prices still though! Not backing down from that.
MERMAID HIGH:
From good news to bad. We learned today (or at least it was today for me) the depths to which Spin Master completely bombed Mermaid High. I haven't been supporting the line since someone said they dropped Mari because they didn't like her, so I for one don't care about this. Good. I'm glad they failed if they dropped the one really interesting design they had. It's Mari's curse! But a designer for the line said they had developed something totally different but were forced to keep revising it until an outside designer was brought in. Then apparently even the new designer said the "fun" was taken out of the line. So everything shipped late, stores lost interest and no future orders were made. They had potential but their complete lack of business sense killed the line. That...and Mari's curse. Reap what you sow, Spin Master.
ENCANTO:
There are some new Encanto dolls coming! Dolores, Bruno and a singing Isabela in her bright colors dress from the end of the movie. I already have Dolores pre-ordered. I was so mad she got looked over. I'd still love a single-packed Luisa, as well as Pepa, but I am thrilled we're getting Dolores!
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07KW3B2ZW/
I don't have links for Bruno or Isabela. If anyone knows them, please comment!
Hey, did we know there was a big Isabela, too?
https://www.amazon.com/Encanto-inch-Large-Isabella-Doll/dp/B09KTLWYTR/
A little odd-looking but I'm all for more Isabela.
RAINBOW HIGH:
Rainbow Vision came out? Did they? All of them? I bought Neon Shadow on Amazon, though I think they all are semi-sold out now. The old "ships in 1-2 months." Mine should arrive next Wednesday. But I didn't see any of the Divas. Not that I would have bought any. I was thrilled to see the $39.99 instead of $49.99, which is what I've been thinking they cost, but I still think that's too much for the Divas. Unless they really blow me away in person. And we still haven't seen a hint of the Royal Three.
Aha, Neon Shadow and Rainbow Divas are on Target, though none are in stock. Man, Sabrina is gorgeous in her stock photos, but I just did not like anything I saw from the freebie crew on IG.
The big leak today was the Dia de los Muertos doll...and NO. Just NO. She is so bad, guys. So bad. Apparently, the leak is a factory sample, but she's got art. You know they're not going to fix the issues. First, her makeup is terrible. The eyeholes are way too big. The nose black is too high up her nose. It doesn't even look right in the art. And the makeup ends in this weird line that cuts right through her mouth. The change in color right at the mouth makes her look like a puppet. The hat seems cute, though I'm not sure how she'd wear it with all her hair accessories. Hate the purple hair. The skeleton bodysuit looks really unstable. Like it's always going to be twisted around wrong somewhere and then look stupid. The hands are the coolest part...hands down. (Sorry. Sorry. No, I'm not.) And then we get to the dress. You know what this reminds me of? The original 1980 Barbie Dolls of the World...from SPAIN. Dia de los Muertos is a MEXICAN holiday. That is such a huge misstep I don't feel like I need to say anything more.
I think that wraps up the news. I'm coming off my two double shift days so my brain isn't the most functional right now, but it's my blog, so if I remember anything, I'll just post again!
Nera is so pretty! Not her tail fin. Or her fur coat. But she's the first mermaze doll I like! It's something about the faces. I think their eyes are too far apart? But I'm not sure if that's it. Also she isn't worth 40 dollars.
ReplyDeleteI'm so disappointed to hear Mermaid High is no more, because I was really looking forward to the Narwhal sleepover doll.
And as for the Rainbow High Collector Doll, I honestly just wish she wasn't day of the dead themed. I think her outfit is gorgeous (and I feel like I have no room to comment on the fact that it's a Spanish dress on a doll celebrating a Mexican holiday other than it's a yikes) I think I like the purple hair, but I'll have to see it in person/promo shots to really decide. Very happy the Neon Shadow dolls are 40$ Instead of 50 though, they are the first set of Rainbow/Shadow High dolls I've felt the need to complete and was not looking forward to spending 150 on them. Still going to take me a while to save up enough to get them though, I wish they'd slow down the releases at least a little bit. I still want to get Sheryl and Daphne from series three!!