PLASTIC DOLL TO MAKE LIFE WORTHWHILE

I've been cautious in my appreciation of the forthcoming Twyla doll. To me the daughter of the Boogeyman looked more like the daughter of the Pastel Chalk Monster (which, of course, doesn't exist -- that we know of). The doll's been making the rounds in covert ways as always seems to be the case with new characters. I've heard talk that this is due to the fact that big box retailers simply have a complicated ordering system that delays these things, while certain smaller stores with less complicated systems can get them considerably faster. That sounds like something that is probably quite accurate and true. Nonetheless, I'm still not entirely unconvinced that Mattel doesn't have some sort of black magic deal with the devil that makes these things happen, therefore leading to feverish excitement and that "gotta have it!" mentality that so often takes over us collectors.

Pictured: black magic. Copyright Mattel Inc.

ANYWAY, with these covert Twylas infiltrating the various online social media sites, we've gotten to see more and more of her. And I gotta say -- she looks pretty damn amazing! No, I still don't think she looks like the daughter of the Boogeyman. In fact, as I've said before, she very much doesn't look like any particular monster at all. But she does look gorgeous. Like I said over at MHD, she looks fun, flirty, and mischievous. Her drawing looks amazing, as well. At first I actually liked the drawing more than the doll; now that I've seen the doll out-of-box I think she perfectly matches her artwork.

You can see her drawing in glorious HQ here. My Dolls Are My Models has a wonderful closeup of her face here. And pictures of her diary can be viewed here.

PS -- Bonus points to anyone who can guess what fictional cartoon newspaper I paraphrased for this posts (very tongue in cheek) title.

Review: Picture Day Lagoona Blue

Way back in my Picture Day Abbey review, before we knew Mattel would be releasing the doll I'm reviewing today, I bemoaned the fact that we weren't getting a Picture Day Lagoona doll in place of the Abbey one. I just felt it was time for another basic-y Lagoona, especially since all her recent dolls at that point had been budget ones. I also pointed out that Lagoona, a very cool but sometimes overly serious character, could use the lighthearted comedic touch that came with these dolls' school pictures. Of course we now know Picture Day Lagoona was planned all along, and just a few months after my Abbey review Lagoona is here! And surprise -- of the seven Picture Day characters Lagoona is the only one whose photo doesn't have a comedic tone. God, Lagoona, why you gotta be such a downer!? Well, then you see the picture...

It may not be too funny, but man is it gorgeous! Lagoona looks beautiful here, floating as she is, hair and bubbles wafting all around her. Neptuna even joined in the fun! (Although it does leave one wondering if Lagoona insisted to the photographer she jump in a giant fishbowl to get her picture taken.) Whatever the case, Lagoona's afloat and her hair is working some pretty great magic to flatter her. She almost looks witchy; a siren of my theorized fishbowl.

The picture is repeated on the box back, along with a brief bio. Lagoona also came with her Fearbook and sticker sheet. Lagoona may consider Howleen "Most Creepy Cool", but I couldn't tell you why. Have these two ever even talked on the series? They probably have. I'm not a big Howleen fan is what I'm getting at, people. It's almost enough to worry a person that she seems to be the anchor of the upcoming 13 Wishes line. Anyway, back on topic...

Picture Day Lagoona makes for a rather intriguing doll. I'm glad I waited a little while after getting her before I wrote this review because it took some time for my thoughts to really settle on her. By turns sultry and whimsical, it was hard to gauge this new Lagoona.

I think most people agree that of the MH characters Lagoona has always been one of the sweetest looking. Lagoona's face always conveys an openhearted kindness; she just looks friendly. But in Picture Day form something's a little different. She still looks friendly, but somehow not as much as she usually does. There's a sort of seriousness to this Lagoona's face; she looks a little older, a little wiser. If she's sometimes too serious in the webseries, she's often not serious enough in doll form. In my opinion this doll stands alongside her Dance Class doll as the most sultry Lagoona to date. It's a good look for her.

She has very light pink eyeliner above the eye. Above this is hot pink eyeshadow and a layer of glitter that travels to the brow. Under the eye runs electric blue eyeliner. Her lips are a muted pink. Considering how colorful her face is, I was thrown off as to what exactly is making her look a bit subdued. Maybe it's the combo of this face with this hair.

After a string of great-haired Lagoonas (Dance Class, Swim, Scaris), we now see a return to the Lagoona hair of old -- curly/wavy, and somewhat prone to frizz. But you know, I gotta say I don't mind it! Although it's prone to frizz it's definitely not as bad as those first Lagoona dolls' hair was. And it really does look great. It's very long, landing right below her rear. She has a part on her left, with the portion that falls to her right banded behind her ear. I'm glad they've banded it because this Lagoona doesn't have bangs and I can imagine that long hair falling right into her face if left loose. In a throwback to her original basic doll her blue streaks are concentrated only in the part. The rest of her hair cascades behind her and has no blue at all. The overall effect is loose and tousled, styled but not overly so. So somehow the combination of face and hair is giving this Lagoona a rather groovy vibe.

Lagoona wears a cocktail dress in a muted aqua shade. It features a print of black fish bones along with kelp in neon green, hot pink, and bright orange. It ends just below the thighs in neon green tulle. The bust is made of iridescent taffeta in pink. I think this is supposed to create a sort of seashell bra effect, like you always see on drawings of mermaids. Sparkling ribbon ribbed in pink ties behind the neck.

When I first saw pics of this dress I loved it; when I actually saw it in person my feelings were a little more mixed. The taffeta bust seemed a bit silly and the overall vibe of the dress struck me as overly whimsical, especially when matched with the more mature vibe of the doll's face and hair. The dress has since grown on me. I can appreciate all the textures, and as for the prints and colors, they're certainly fitting for a sea creature.

Two things I loved right away on this doll were her black mesh shrug and sparkling pink tights. Both look great with the dress and add even more varying textures to the mix. The tights in particular feel great to the touch, extra-smooth and silky. And they really do shine -- they have a great glistening effect that gives them an almost wet look.

Considering all the wackiness going on with the dress I'm surprised Mattel chose such simple shoes for Lagoona -- wedge sandals in dark aqua. Billowing bubbles make up the wedges while a simple beaded strap covers the toes. Normally I like when the designers are smart enough to pare certain things back when matched with something as loud as this doll's dress. This time, though, I would've liked to have seen something a little more detailed and interesting on Lagoona's feet. Plus the sandals fit a little loosely; they always feel like they're in danger of falling off her feet anytime I move her around.

Lagoona's purse looks like a highly modded version of her original fishbowl purse. It has the same basic shape but doesn't open. The bowl is spikey and comes in a bright coral pink while the handle seems to be two woven strands of kelp. They come in neon yellow. Not gonna lie: I don't much like this purse. The colors are extremely garish. I suppose they match the outfit -- everything involved with this outfit is colorful, after all -- but it's just too much, in my opinion.

There are several accessories included beyond the purse. Lagoona wears mismatched earrings, one a series of small pink shells connected by beads, the other a lime green curlicue. Both earrings are translucent. I like them both but feel the curlicue is particularly unique and works really well with the overall look. I actually wish both earrings were curlicues. A belt of golden, braided rope wraps Lagoona's waist. It fastens with a tab shaped like a knot. Two molded tassels dangle below, themselves ending in knots. It's a cool belt; the plastic has a sheen to it and the tassels hang at an odd angle. Very unique. Lagoona also wears a simple pink bracelet on her left wrist and a beaded gold one on her right. Her last accessory is her Trapper-Keeper folder. It comes in pure aqua and has a diamond print molded into it. A cute little seahorse covers the clasp.

When I was still in my "this dress is meh" phase I changed Picture Day Lagoona into Scaris Lagoona's simple aqua tank dress (minus the black and pink Scaris top), but keeping the shrug and tights. I added a few other random accessories and found myself totally in love! As I said over at The Sequel, where many of these pictures were first posted several days ago, this look gives Lagoona a "Hollywood starlet leaving the club at 4AM" kinda vibe that I really dig. Check it out...

And since Picture Day Lagoona wasn't wearing her dress I thought I'd try it on the Scaris doll. To me the whimsical vibe of the Picture Day dress is a much better match with Scaris Lagoona, especially what with her fun middle ponytail. Putting the dress on Scaris Lagoona is actually what turned me around on it. It went from "meh" to "yeah" pretty quickly once I did the clothes swap!

Overall: This is probably the most mature looking Lagoona released to date, at least in terms of face and hair. There's just something... knowing, about this Lagoona. I absolutely love it; not just because I love dolls who look a bit older in general, but also because it's such a nice contrast to the usual "sweet and kind" Lagoona dolls we see. The outfit is a bit wacky and it had to grow on me. I think it's very telling that it took me putting the dress on a different doll to gain an appreciation for it. That said, I don't think Picture Day Lagoona looks bad in it or anything. Once the dress won me over and I put it back on the Picture Day doll, I actually loved her in it. Truth be told, Picture Day Lagoona looks good in just about anything. She's a genuinely gorgeous doll with a slightly different vibe than what we're used to from her. Not everything here works -- mostly the purse and the somewhat boring shoes -- otherwise this doll's a keeper. Consider me a fan of sultry Lagoona.