Wednesday, May 15, 2013

Review: Picture Day Frankie Stein

Well, folks, the buck stops here. Frankie is the last Picture Day doll left to review. In terms of writing these reviews, I'm honestly kind of ready to finish this line off so I can move on to the multitude of dolls still to come this year! Plus there are only so many ways you can say a doll comes with a funny picture on the box, there's a Fearbook with stickers, and she has a Trapper Keeper. I'm fresh out of ideas on writing a Picture Day intro that offers a new approach. Well, aside from the whole "I'm tired of writing about the same doll line" intro I just threw at ya. I just got meta on yall's asses. So about that funny picture...




Aside from the awesomeness of Frankie going voltageous right as her picture was snapped, there's the fact that the problem was caused by her "runaway" right hand. I love when Frankie's hands go rogue and wreak havoc. Funny stuff! On the box back is the expected bio, and inside you'll find her... say it with me... Fearbook and sticker sheet. Um... surprise?







I'm glad Picture Day Frankie is hitting shelves. Its been a while since we've gotten a Frankie doll people actually liked en masse, but that certainly seems to be the case with this one. Deservedly so, I say. Take a look...



Welcome to the jungle...





I think what really works about this Frankie for myself and for MH fans in general is how bright and cheerful she is. Her Scaris doll was very understated, something that just doesn't work for a lot of fans. And as for Ghouls Alive, well, not many people liked any of those dolls. Viewed that way, Picture Day Frankie is definitely a breath of fresh air. She's bold, she's sweet, she's funky.








I actually think, despite that colorful face and outfit, that the first thing that jumps out at you about this doll is her hair. Frankie has bangs that front a severe ponytail holding straight hair that's extremely long. If taken down this would surely be the longest hair we've seen on Frankie to date. I find Picture Day Frankie's hair to be considerably softer and finer than usual. Frankie always has great hair (except for the occasional Scaris doll), and this is no different. You can spread it out so that it frames her face or tilt her head a little and let the long ponytail rest to one side. It's really fun to play with. And for what it's worth, I far prefer this ponytail to her DOTD one. I love the exaggerated length, and I think having bangs is a vast improvement over the bang-less DOTD doll. The ponytail simply looks better resting behind bangs. I took all these pictures outside on a fairly windy day and in many of the shots her hair has blown in front of her face. It's an effect I quite like! This of course would've happened with any Frankie doll who was being photographed in the wind, but since we're talking about her hair I thought I'd mention it.










Frankie has a very bold faceup. Electric blue shadow surrounds the eye. Above it, glittery, yellow shadow goes to her brow. Another layer of yellow runs under the electric blue that lines her eye underneath. It's not too often that Mattel puts two colors under the eye, although I've noticed they've been doing it more and more. I hope they keep it up because it's definitely an effect I love. Her lips are a bright, semi-glossy fuchsia. Frankie looks really sweet here, very kind. The subtle melancholy of her Scaris faceup is nowhere to be found on the Picture Day doll. She's kindness personified. (Er, doll-ified?)









In keeping with the rest of the line, Frankie's outfit is a doozy, and one of her best to date. She wears a sleeveless, one piece dress paired with a funky leather-look jacket. Interestingly, the dress is made of the same smooth knit fabric used for most of the MH swimsuits. At first I was a tad put off by this. Are they getting so cheap that they're using swimsuit material for deluxe dolls' clothes, I wondered. But it didn't take long for the dress to win me over. The material is just one more thing that adds to the general uniqueness of this outfit.









The bodice is formfitting and features a yellow collar that lays over the jacket (very cool). It bares a print of diagonal stripes in black, white, and electric blue; a couple of the stripes are lined with little blue lightning bolts. The bodice has a v-neck that scoops into a bright yellow lightning bolt the rests over the bust. Just above the hips the dress flares into a pleated skirt with two tiers. The top tier has an amazing harlequin print in electric blue, black, and silver. Encased in the black diamonds are tiny blue and white lightning bolts. I love this print! It's contrasts the other print perfectly and adds a touch of retro to the look. The second tier features the same print as the bodice and lands about halfway down the thigh. Everything is hemmed in blue except the yellow collar, which has it's own matching hem.








Frankie's jacket comes in blue with black and yellow embellishments. The sleeves are half length and hemmed with fairly wide black ribbon. On the right breast piece is a tiny yellow pocket. The left sleeve has two stripes of ribbon, one black and one yellow. The stripes of the left sleeve give the jacket an asymmetrical look. I don't quite like this jacket as much as Picture Day Operetta's somewhat similar one, but this is undeniably cool and one Frankie's best clothing pieces to date. It's retro, hip, stylish.







Her shoes are contrasting block heels. The right shoe features an electric blue hood and white body with black industrial nuts painted on the side. A white platform sole gives way to a black wedge heel with an open center, not dissimilar to Picture Day Spectra's heels. The left shoe is the same, but with the blue hood and white body reversed.






Frankie comes with a rather wicked purse that may just be my favorite of the entire line. (Hooray for that since my eyes are still bleeding a little from the day-glo colors of Lagoona's purse.) The front is split in two, with electric blue featuring a diamond mold on the left and smooth bright yellow on the right. The back of the purse is solid blue, although it only features the molded print on one side. There's also a solid black, triangular flap, but the best thing here is the handle: a huge, silver safety pin. It's extremely cool. I do have one minor complaint, in that the handle is so wide it really slides all over the place on Frankie's arm. But it's a small price to pay for such a cool-looking touch as a giant safety pin handle!








Frankie has a few more smaller accessories. Her earrings are small, solid silver screws. On her left wrist are simple bracelets, one blue and one black. She also carries the standard Picture Day folder. It's solid blue and features the same molded diamond print found on the purse. The flap has two small stitches molded into it and a skullette that rests over the clasp. She wears a solid yellow belt of grommets with a skullette buckle. The belt really adds to the look, covering the hem where the bodice meets the skirt and delivering a nice pop of yellow where there otherwise is none. It's the finishing touch that pulls the look together.










Overall: After the comparative disappointment of Scaris Frankie for so many and the general dislike of Ghouls Alive as a whole, I'm glad to see a new Frankie on the shelves that seems to be going over really well! As you know I'm a huge Frankie fanboy so I can't help but get a little sadface when her dolls are met with jeers. Picture Day Frankie is fun and funky, bold and exciting. I think we can agree this is more or less a new 'do for Frankie, always welcome. The outfit is very unique and stylish; perfectly Frankie. It has plenty of nice little details. The yellow collar that rests over the jacket comes to mind. As a basic Frankie I think she works extremely well. She almost feels like a sort of "rewrite" of what a basic Frankie should be, giving us the expected sweet face and streaked hair, but introducing the bright yellows that have been sneaking into her designs over the past year. Now we have them in a basic doll and it works well. As I said earlier, Picture Day Frankie is a breath of fresh air and exactly what was needed to renew some excitement for this character within the MH community. I've refrained from fanboying out over this doll throughout this entire review, so I'll end on this note: Holy hell I love this doll so much!!! She's gorgeous and cool and bold and her hair is amazing and I love her! Her face is incredible, so bright, so pretty, I love it! And that outfit, have you seen it!?! Holy crap! So cool! Nothing about her isn't amazing! Did I mention I love this doll??? Because I so totally, completely do! Thank you.




34 comments:

  1. sorry that by the time you got to frankie you were over picture day but all in all she is awesome and i so appreciate the pics because i haven't had the opportunity to see her yet !! i know i asked for this review a lot but it was because frankies my favorite in this line and i was excited to see the pics so no... thank you john !! :) and also if you haven't seen it yet check out my comment, on your things are happening post, about the power ghouls line some major cool shit is happening there :)

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    1. I really love the PD line, it's just after 7 dolls it's hard to come up with new ways of covering the same extras lol. Tbh Frankie may just be my favorite from the line. Then again there's Operetta... and Lagoona. Lol! I'm with you though, Ricky. I'm a huge Frankie fan and this is a great doll for her! I'm glad you liked the review!

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  2. Ermahgerd! She's amazing! So bright and colourful!
    I think what I love about this doll is her resemblance to DotD Frankie, one of my faves of her. The ponytail, the diagonal striped dress, the bright pleather jacket. KA-POW! Awesome!
    Can't wait to add her & Operetta to my collection. Although, I was sure she was going to have red lips based on her promo pic?

    Nice pictures, btw. Love how her white hair has a blueish tinge to it (if only from the light).

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    1. I know right! PD Frankie is a-ma-zing! When i was writing the review I went back to her promo pic and, yeah, the color on the doll is much pinker than the pure red looking lips from the promo shot. In any case, I love the color they went with and I love her! Frankie's hair is really reflective I've noticed, it's a great effect.

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    2. This is her hair under blacklight...
      ILF Frankie
      It's alive!

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    3. Wow, that's amazing! Check out the white parts of her hair! It's otherwordly. Very cool!

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    4. I just got my PD Frankie on Saturday. She looks great in pictures, but even better in real life. I think I might just buy another one someday. They also had Lagoona, who I'm gonna pass on, but no Operetta. I don't think I'll be able to get her until the mask issue is sorted out.
      I think I'd say Spectra is the best from the first wave and Frankie is the best from the second wave.
      People say that Monster High is going downhill, but I just look at the Picture Day & Scaris lines & I think they're the best (IMO).

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    5. Woo-hoo! :D I still haven't even seen PD Operetta in person. I guess masks take a while to paint or something. ;) My opinion on the best seems to shift constantly. Today I'd say my faves are Spectra for wave 1 and Operetta for wave 2. But it may be different tomorrow lol. I agree about Scaris -- it's probably overall my favorite line. Everything came together perfectly, I loved the designs, I love Paris, we got a great Rochelle, good playsets, and I liked all three new characters. It's gonna be a hard one to beat.

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    6. Yes, it'll definitely be hard to beat!
      I'm not a completist, but once I get Catrine & the Cleo/Lagoona 2-pack, I'll have almost everything from that line. (I passed on Frankie, Draculaura and the convertible - I just don't have the room for *every* doll.)

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    7. That's a real shame about Frankie, but you know how I feel about that criminally underrated doll. ;)

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    8. Aww... It's not that I don't like her, it's just that I can't afford to buy every doll (and like I said before, I don't have the room). TBH, I *really* disliked her Scaris doll at first, but after reading your review on her a few times (yes, I re-read your reviews quite a bit), and discovering her 'London Calling' vibes, I've opened up to her.

      While I'm at it, Frankie is one of those dolls who *hardly* ever fails to impress me. I'd say the Ghoul's Alive! doll is my least favourite. I'm not a fan of the gimmicks some dolls have.
      Here they are all together; Link

      As for Draculaura, I'm passing on the basic Scaris & going for the ILS doll instead. Because, as I said on the primer part 2, it's a much more fitting Scarisian look (and much more mature).

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    9. Lol I was just joking around about the Scaris doll :) Well, for the most part -- I really do think she's pretty fab, as everyone surely knows by now. I probably should just shut up about her and move on lol

      Wow, seeing them all in one pic it really hits you that she has a ton of dolls out there! I agree, they're almost all fantastic. I actually really like GA Frankie. But I'm pretty open to gimmicks on toys. I can definitely see why so many dislike her though. She's off-model and has limited body movement -- those are two big strikes right there.

      Don't blame you about Draculaura. I'm ready for the ILS dolls myself. I'm guessing they'll be hitting shelves very soon. (Woo-hoo!)

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    10. Well, on 'toys' I don't mind gimmicks, but on 'Fashion Dolls', I just don't like them. True, dolls technically *are* toys, but idk, I prefer it when they're focused on fashion, accessories & hair styles.
      To me, it's a cop-out when you rely on gimmicks to sell dolls.
      Have you heard of the Novi Stars? I think they're cute & really unique, but they sacrifice good hair, outfits & articulation just to focus on each character's little 'feature'. They're more like an action figure/fashion doll hybrid than a true fashion doll.

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    11. Well yeah, fashion should always be the main draw on a fashion doll! But in some cases I think a gimmick can be pretty fun in a kitschy kind of way. It seems Ghouls Alive is pretty universally disliked and I always see a bunch on the shelves so maybe Mattel won't be trying anything else like that with MH. But taken on her own terms, I thought that Frankie was pretty cool.

      Novi Stars seem more like figures than dolls to me. Some of the designs are cool but the lack of poseability would bug me. They seem to be really popular.

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  3. Love all the photos! :D And love your fanboy freakout at the end! :D

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  4. Yay! Glad to see you again!
    Although most of the MH clothes are (let's face it) unwearable because they're more like costumes... Man, I'd TOTALLY wear this. Like holy fuck, it's amazing.
    And, I already mentioned this to you but... I'm happy to see a non-lazy coloured pair of shoes! Same with the purse!
    (There, there, have a washcloth for the blood in the eyes... I wasted two boxes of washclothes already...)

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    1. I'm glad to be back! I actually hadn't realized how long it had been. When I did I had a major guilt moment, and I'm not joking. Luckily I found Frankie at just the right time. Of course I don't have any other new dolls yet and who knows when I will, but I have a few ideas in mind for somewhat smaller posts until I can get my hands on more new ones.
      MH clothes really are way stylized, I think that's why I love it so much when they do outfits that are rooted in real fashion, like this one. I bet you could rock this look like nobody's business! :D
      I'm not surprised you like these shoes, they have a lot going on and everything's got it's own color. Very nice! As for the purse, it's slowly but surely easing the pain of Lagoona's fluorescent atrocity lol. (Thanks for the washcloth!) ;)

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  5. yes i love that her hair is reflective it is putting the blue off nicely !!

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    1. As a fellow Frankie fanatic I'm sure you can relate to my fascination with the multitude of colors her hair reflects. Here it's blue, but when she's wearing pink, it turns her hair into shimmery cotton candy. On the SRM doll, the green streaks made the white ones give off a sort of otherwordly green glow. I love that it does that!

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  6. Thanks Astro! I figured an entire review of me freaking out wouldn't be a very compelling read, so I saved it for the very end. But I had to get it in there lol

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  7. As always, thank you for the in-depth review, John! I enjoyed all of the fantastic photos, too... How cool that the wind caught her hair in several of the shots. It may seem silly, but I totally love this Frankie's purse with the safety pin handle! I also dig how her outfit is more realistic and less costume-y, as you and Ainara pointed out. Although I do have an appreciation for theatrical ensembles, some of the MH fashions can be a bit too literal for my taste. You may have mentioned it already somewhere on the blog, but which Frankie face up is your favorite?

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    1. Thanks for reading it! And commenting! Glad you liked it :D I just think the more realistic outfits are more fun because the MH designers come up with some great ideas. The costume-y outfits can be fun and inventive too, but they also feel very much like "doll dresses", fantasy outfits made for toys, rather than something rooted in reality. My favorite Frankie faceup? Man, that's tough! I almost always love her faceups; there's SO many great ones. I'd say my personal faves are Classroom, SRM, School's Out, and Scaris. My least faves by far are Sweet 1600 and Ghouls Rule.

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  8. SRM Frankie is near the top of my list right now, because from the photos I've seen, her face up looks beautiful. I also like her hair; specifically, I like the length. I find that I don't care for the super long, Crystal Gale-style hair. Thanks for sharing your fave Frankie face-ups! Now I feel convinced that I need SRM Frankie.

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    1. SRM Frankie is a cool doll. I agree, the length of her hair is part of what makes her so great. Throw in the mild wave and you've got a mellow rock chick. And those green lips -- how cool! What are your favorite Frankie faceups?

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  9. I can't say for sure which Frankie face-up is my favorite yet, since I have only the ILF one. From the photos that I've seen, however, SRM looks very striking to me.

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    1. If you ever get her I'm certain you'll love SRM Frankie. If you'd like I can keep an eye out in my area for her and pick her up for you. I still occasionally come across the SRM dolls.

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  10. Thank you for the kind offer, John! :) but no worries... SRM Frankie is still circulating in my area as well. She just hasn't made it to the checkout lane yet!

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    1. Of course! :) But if you're ever looking for something and can't find it, feel free to hit me up and I can see if it's in my area.

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  11. i really must say that time after time of walking in to walmart and target it is always scaris scaris scaris... i mean really come on and get the new dolls already !! i really want the last 3 picture day dolls and im ready for i love shoes, 13 wishes, ghouls night out, i love fashion, the second wave of power ghouls the third wave of dead tired, music festival, and all the exclusives to come along with those... what is taking soooooo long !! :)

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    1. For me it's Ghouls Rule -- so sick of seeing those everywhere... still! I'm definitely ready for the new stuff. C'mon Mattel!

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  12. yeah my walmart is filled with ghouls rule too :) oh... and get this... i just seen on the MH facebook page that a walmart in TN has put out the very first basic cleo and duce 2 pack, it is an up to date pic because they took a pic of the whole section and scaris and dance class is right there with them but really tell me how that is possible because i wish that was my walmart because they don't even make that 2 pack anymore and i would love to have it but what... did walmart just hold on to it and then put it out later how is this possible !?!

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    1. It could be a random set they found in the back and put out? It'd be *really* cool if they were re-releasing it, like the original favorites of Frankie, Clawdeen, and Draculaura coming this summer!

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  13. I'm just as anxious for the new releases as well! Every day, I'm checking retail websites; and as often as I can, I'm checking the stores. I'm SO excited for the remaining PD (esp. Oppy), Ghouls Night Out and ILS and ILF (I just love all of those extra clothes and accessories, even if they aren't new molds).

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    1. I just plain love doll shoes, so even though the ILS shoes aren't new molds, sign me up anyway! I'm definitely excited for the GNO dolls, and ILF Scarah... I have no words for how amazing she looks.

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