Review: Dot Dead Gorgeous Spectra Vondergeist

Maybe I should rename this blog Spectrathing. She's on quite a roll at the moment 'round here, hogging all the posts with her shiny purple hair and grubby little (clear) hands. I'm going to be honest with you: Spectra usually doesn't get much attention at my house. It's not that I don't like her -- I actually think she's extremely cool and remarkably unique. It's just that, as I covered in my spotlight of her, there's literally not much of her around that we can get excited about. She's had two dolls and one fashion pack, and they're all great (her fashion pack might actually be deserving of it's very own blog post, it's that awesome), but when you've got new characters and tons of lines constantly being released she tends to get lost in the shuffle. Doing her character spotlight really put me in a Spectra mood, plus I'd already been planning on reviewing her Dot Dead Gorgeous doll, so why not do it now, while the proverbial iron is hot? And for anyone feeling Spectra fatigue, take heart, because she likely won't be showing up again on the blog in a major way until her Power Ghoul doll is released next year.

"He's right, I ain't coming back for awhile..."

As you've probably gathered from my previous reviews, the Dot Dead Gorgeous line is a personal favorite of mine. I feel it strikes the perfect balance of style and function. The line isn't as basic as Skultimate Roller Maze, and it's not overly elaborate like Ghouls Rule. If it were the porridge in a fairy tale it'd be the one that's just right.

"Did you just compare me to soup? Uh... okay..."

Spectra Vondergeist is the third and final of the wide release dolls left to cover. She's the second Spectra doll to be released, and in terms of hair and face she doesn't stray far from the Basic doll. She still has long, straight hair in streaks of lavender and purple. This doll has bangs where the basic one didn't, and her hair is pulled into a ponytail to the back left side of her head. It's held in place by a thick row of molded silver chains. The piece has a rubber band around it, which is a good thing because there's a pretty big gap in it, and since it doesn't have a buckle or clip I doubt it would hold her hair at all without that rubber band. The texture of her hair is very soft and silky. This doll's faceup is pretty similar to the Basic one, as well. She has the same turquoise eyes with a hint of purple, surrounded by more purple where typically the eyes would be white. On Basic Spectra these purple eyes have always stood out to me and given her a unique, otherwordly vibe, and it's the same on the DDG doll. This doll's makeup is painted in the exact same shape as the Basic doll, but most of the colors are different. The eyeshadow that surrounds her eyes is a bright magenta color while the second layer of shadow that goes to her brows is the same silver color, but much lighter. She has the same strip of blue-ish eyeliner. DDG Spectra's lips are still purple, but they're a much brighter, almost pink, shade. Her lips are pursed tightly, emphasizing her cheekbones, just like the basic doll.

This is how you give good face.

While I'm on the subject of faces, I just want to say I've always found Spectra's face to be one of the fiercest of any of the dolls. If Mattel was going for accuracy in representing a teenager with Spectra they were way off, because there's no way this doll is any younger than mid-twenties. As I've mentioned previously, in my mind these dolls are somewhere around their mid- to late-twenties, so I like the Spectra facemold in particular.

Anyway, moving on from that tangent, Spectra's dress is one of the best of this line. It's a lavender sheath dress with black dots. It has one strap, on her left. The length is just past mid-thigh. It's covered completely by soft tulle in purple, with a print of magenta chains connecting large, dark purple dots. I'm pretty sure this is meant to be a ball-and-chain print. The seam around her chest is lined with magenta ribbon while the seam around the bottom of the tulle skirt is magenta thread. At her abdomen is an asymmetrical hem and from there the skirt flares out. The skirt is pretty big and folds in on itself, creating a layered look. Over this Spectra wears one of the most interesting accessories we've seen from MH yet. It's a molded, silver piece that rests on her left shoulder. Six strings of chains hang from it and reconnect at her left shoulder in the back. The first string hangs over her right shoulder, then four more strings hang under her right arm, getting progressively longer. The last string loops under her left arm. This is a really cool piece, and I'm not even sure what to call it. It more or less functions as a sort of necklace but is much more elaborate than any necklace I've ever seen. Well done, Mattel. I'm impressed. Matching silver cuffs wrap each of her ankles, while on each of her hands she wears a corsage made of black elastic with a little magenta bow with black dots attached. I don't really care for the corsages and I'm not sure why. Maybe they seem like overkill? I don't know. Molded onto Spectra's hands are silver cuffs, with a string of chains that "dangle" over her hands and connect to a ring on her middle finger. These hands look really small to me, but I compared them to her Basic doll's hands and they seem to be the same size. Anyway, these are really cool hands. The chain detailing adds a lot of visual interest. Her purse is black and has a silver chain handle. More chains are wrapped around the purse haphazardly. Her shoes are solid purple high heels with molded chains all over. They're not the most interesting MH shoes we've seen, but I like them nonetheless.

Basic but pretty.

She has mismatched earrings. One is a silver chain with a heart connected to it; the heart has a lock in it. The other earring is a white skullette key. Pretty cute! She comes with a silver stand and matching brush (I love these DDG stands), and a collector's card featuring her Dot Dead Gorgeous drawing on one side and all six DDG characters on the other.

Overall grade: A- This is yet another great doll from this line. The theme is executed well; I don't exactly know what a dot party is supposed to entail, but I imagine this is how you should look for one. The multi-chain thing on her shoulder is way cool and very distinctive. The doll itself is well-made; very high quality for a playline doll. She lost a few points for having a face that's a little too similar to her basic version, but there's no denying she's really pretty in her own right. I'm glad we have another Spectra around; she's a cool doll.

"Ta! See ya next year!"