Cleo finally arrived from Amazon.
Plastic sleeve off.
Anyone who's been following me a while knows that I'm a stickler for them using the ancient Egyptian palette for Cleo and Nefera. I wasn't a big fan of the purple used in the earlier versions, but I let it slide, as purple is definitely an older color. It's not Egyptian, but it was certainly around. That bright pink however... I'm no expert in which colors other ancient peoples used, but as far as I know, there is no famous ancient shade of pink, as there is with purple. Beyond the inaccuracy, this coffin really slams my other point home: the pink simply doesn't complement her color scheme. Yes, Cleo is modern and could wear pink things. I prefer the palette because it makes her feel more real. But it just doesn't look good!
Her locker door.
Trapped on the liner.
And she's free.
I'm still wondering if someday they'll give a reason for making Cleo's eyes the way they do. I had a feeling there would be a story reason for Count Fabulous and his additional legs and I was right, but so far, there's been nothing about Cleo's eyes.
She does not have great hair. It's simply not as nice as my other two G3 Cleos. It's almost like it got a little fried farther down in the spots where it's kinda wrinkled from the packaging.
Her bangs are nice though.
Makeup-wise, the pink is not nearly this bright in person. It just catches the light well. It's not horrid, but I still don't think it's complementary to her skintone or color scheme.
Darker blue key leads to the scarab headband, winged scarab earrings and lotus choker. I adore this choker! It's gorgeous. I actually love all the pieces, though how much more fabulous would those earrings have looked in red? Sigh.
The golden key has the pink shoes and keyring.
The lighter blue key has the top, shorts and gold poofy thing.
And the pink key gives us the snacks.
Okay, let's do some clothes swapping.
Both tops go well with the blue skirt, which I like a lot more than expected, but I think this one goes better.
What even is this thing? I don't know why they put this piece with Cleo. It's ridiculous.
Ghoul Spirit joined in to show the best pairings for these pieces. I didn't try the lighter top with the black shorts, but I don't think it would go very well. They're much better as a matched set.
I love my sig Cleo, but man, I really think this is the prettiest one. She is just so special! She looks like a superhero.
Stunning!
The lotus choker doesn't really go with this, but I don't even care. She needs the best piece of jewelry.
The GS shoes don't look bad with this.
I tried taking the earrings off and having the lipstick be the only hint of pink, but I actually missed the earrings then.
I would love to see these shoes in a different color. They don't use green for her nearly enough.
Final looks!
Ghoul Spirit looks amazing in this darker, badass outfit. It suits her fiercer beauty.
And if Skulltimate is going to wear pink, she may as well go for it and wear all the pink. The shoes seemed necessary to balance out the earrings and lipstick. Again, this is less bright in person so it's not quite as in your face. I still wish they'd use red for more than just lipstick and accents, but the pink is growing on me. I do think she's the weakest of the three Cleos, but she's worth getting.
PHOTO CREDIT: Mine.
While I'm less of a stickler for it, I do agree that the pink feels out of place. Maybe a darker shade or something. (I'm having a Virtuelle next to me and the more darker, almost maroon-ish pink color her hair uses would've probably looked great on this Cleo.). I actually kind of love the 80s Business Suit Bolero (I think? That's all I got), but the material makes it sit weird.
ReplyDeleteI don't hate the bolero as a piece. I just don't get how it fits Cleo's style at all. It's definitely got some 80s Barbie vibes.
DeleteI don't know why G3 is so scared of deep colors, especially deep red. If you see the original G1 lineup, Frankie, Clawdeen, Cleo and Draculaura all had a deep rich shade of red, burgundy and almost black to their lips, which made them look very elegant and different.
ReplyDeleteHot pink is definitely not Cleo's color imo.
I know you said her bangs are good, and they don't look uneven or unruly, but it somehow bothers me the way they did them, I somehow think bangs look more natural when they come from the hair parting, like, again, they always did with original Cleo, I somehow think this new face sculpt does not look good with bangs, maybe she has a too short forehead
Well, good bangs to me do have a low bar. If I don't have to trim or flatten them, they're good. (*cough*MGAE*cough*)
DeleteI do think they look off, like maybe they should have been back farther. The other two Cleos without bangs are much prettier, so I think you're right. It's something about the face shape.
I think Cleo's eyes are supposed to look dulled and deadened to emphasize that she's an undead mummy and increase her monster aspects even more third time around.
ReplyDeleteI feel like it's gotta be more than that, because a lot of them are undead bodies and she's the only one with the shiny eyes.
DeleteMaybe Cleo gets the dead eyes because she's at most risk for being identified as a living human otherwise?In G1, it was only her clothing identifying her as an undead mummy, and maybe Mattel decided the bandages added to her sculpts in G2 still weren't spooky enough for her. With characters like Frankie and Draculaura, they're not really at risk for being mistaken for living humans. Cleo's eyes are weirdly only dulled on the dolls, not in the show, so maybe there won't be an acknowledgment of it.
DeleteAlternatively, I'd offer that Cleo is the oldest of the cast, but I don't know if that's really true or meaningful. G1 Draculaura was eventually stated to be Ancient Roman, so she could have been born near the same time as Cleo, and I think she's still about 1500 in G3.