Deconstructing Monster High Part 3: Fashion!

Monster High couldn't be more postmodern if it tried. Everything about it, from the characters to the very concept itself, is based on taking pre-existing ideas and throwing them into the proverbial blender. So it's no surprise that the clothes these dolls wear are full of references. When it comes to the fashion of Monster High nothing is off limits -- there are references to vintage clothing, film, music, literature, you name it. And yet when taken as whole, MH is completely original and innovative. And boy does innovation look good...

Part of what gives Monster High it's multi-generational appeal is the clever way the designers have conceptualized and implemented their ideas. The dolls are colorful and cute so it makes perfect sense that they would appeal to kids. But within that colorful cuteness is a healthy dose of cleverness. When it comes to the clothes, the references are varied and smart. I feel this is why the line appeals to adults. At least, it's a big part of why it appeals to me. Now before I get too far ahead of myself I have to point out that for both kids and adults the biggest factor in the success of MH is that it's fun! It's a dynamic world Mattel has created with these dolls, and within the line there's enough variety to always keep you interested. Because the dolls are so unique you never know what to expect so there's also the element of surprise.

Crack. Or as normal people call them, doll purses.

Grey and green Frankies.

The basic idea behind Monster High is taking historic monsters and updating them to modern times. Each character has a monster they’re based on, and that monster is the creative starting point for the theme of each doll. Frankie Stein is based on Dr. Frankenstein’s monster. In addition to the physical attributes she shares with him -- bolts in her neck and green skin that has been stitched together -- she also wears clothes that reference this theme. Electricity brought Frankie to life so a running motif in her clothes is lightning bolts. Since she was stitched together from other human parts Frankie’s clothes reference this by having mismatched seams or fabric prints that feature seams. Scissors show up a lot on Frankie too, as earrings or the heels of her shoes.

Lightning bolts for Frankie. (This is still one of my favorite MH outfits, by the way.)

Ghoulia Yelps is a zombie, a monster known for it’s appetite for brains. Her clothes often feature patterns that look like a human brain and accessories that look like stylized gore.

Stylized gore meets glam for Ghoulia. (And yes, I know SS Ghoulia is wearing one of Frankie's outfits. I love her in Frankie's clothes.)

Every doll uses a visual motif based on their monster and the theme is carried through from the clothes to the smallest of accessories. Clawdeen wears clothes that feature claws and rips and her accessories have had bites taken out of them. Lagoona is from the sea so her clothes always have a nautical theme of some sort; Cleo is a mummy so she often wears wraps and Egyptian-themed pieces.

Mummy wraps never looked so good.

Within their broad monster theme, each character also has a specific color palette. Clawdeen’s colors are purple matched with either gold or green.

Lagoona’s colors are aquatic shades of blue and green with touches of pink. Draculaura is pink and black while Spectra is white and purple (literally). Operetta‘s colors are black, white, and red.

Rockabilly Rebel

Color choices are always good on MH dolls. With few exceptions the dolls don’t come across as garish, just colorful and fun. The use of signifying colors goes a long way in maintaining the identity of the character. We all know ice blue is Abbey. Pink and black is Draculaura; it’s a major part of who she is.

Draculaura tends to sport a gothic Lolita look. Her recent Scarily Ever After doll has elements of kawaii. Here she wears her Day at the Maul outfit.

Ice blue Abbey

But where things really get interesting is in the choice of fabrics and actual cuts of the clothes. Here is where we see references to other eras. The 1950s, 60s, 70s, and 80s are all referenced. Although some characters are specifically linked to one era (Operetta is always the 50s, for example), others have dolls that have referenced several eras (Ghoulia comes to mind here).

50s...

60s...

70s

I always enjoy looking out for which era a particular doll is going to reference; it’s a huge part of the fun of MH dolls for me! And I’m almost always impressed with what the Mattel design team comes up with. They’re good at touching on past eras while still maintaining a thoroughly modern look for the dolls. Sometimes the references are very subtle and other times they’re obvious.

Skull Shores Cleo hints at the 70s.

Toralei has a 50s bad girl vibe.

It's the 80s for Venus...

...and the werecat twins appear to be Michael Jackson fans.

In many ways MH clothes are ageless. For instance, Spectra’s fashion pack outfit, with it’s chic head scarf and Grace Jones-style sunglasses, isn’t something a teenager is likely to wear, but it’s not stuffy and boring either.

She's not perfect, but she's perfect for you. (Love you, Grace!)

 I know this varies for everyone, but in my mind the dolls aren’t teenagers but rather women in their mid- to late-twenties. MH dolls have unique bodies and I can’t imagine it’s easy designing clothes that function well on them, but Mattel has done just that. The toe anchor utilized to hold shoes in place is a perfect example of the innovation found in this line. It’s simple, but yes, very innovative. The shoes are just as innovative in their design. Monster High are easily the most exciting doll shoes currently being made.

Zippers and claws...

Hourglass heels help one perfect their Egyptian diva walk. Obviously.

Grab you shoes and bolt ;-)

Lightning sneakers

Egyptian gods hold Cleo's heels up. (Seriously, these shoes are amazing.)

Little (Shoe)Shop of Horrors

Still one of my favorite pairs of MH shoes.

Steampunk rocket boots for Robecca.

Fleur de lis and Chanel for Rochelle.

Best shoes ever?

Monster High dolls can wear multiple layers of clothing without looking bulky. To us it’s simple, but someone had to design these clothes to lay correctly, and do so within layers as well. And it has to fit that odd doll body. It’s not as easy as the dolls make it seem.

Cleo and Clawdeen make layers look effortless.

Sometimes the clothes are very elaborate, such as with the recent Ghouls Rule line, and at the other end of the spectrum we have the beachwear lines. Those lines have simple clothes and minimal accessories (although Skull Shores did take a surprisingly sophisticated approach to swimwear). Then there are the lines that fall somewhere in the middle -- Dawn of the Dance, Dot Dead Gorgeous -- which have fairly elaborate clothes, and often feature the most interesting outfits within the entire MH doll line.

Skull Shores Lagoona models her Dawn of the Dance dress.

There are also individually sold fashion packs for the characters.  These seem tailor made (hey, a pun!) for the dolls in the beachwear and pajama wear lines. Often the fashion packs offer clothes just as good as, or even better than, what the doll originally came in.

Skultimate Roller Maze Frankie rocking Day at the Maul.

Dead Tired Clawdeen ditched those boring pj's and styled up.

With Monster High you should expect the unexpected; there always seems to be a new character or cool, unique doll line on the way. And the flawless fashion is sure to continue to surprise and entertain too!

All images: yours truly

Review: Dot Dead Gorgeous Lagoona Blue

When I first discovered Monster High Lagoona Blue was the doll that drew me in. I was fascinated by her unique look, interesting body modifications, and beautiful face. To this day Wave 1 Basic Lagoona is still one of my favorite MH dolls. Unfortunately since then I haven't always been impressed by her dolls. I loved the dress and accessories on her Dawn of the Dance incarnation, and admired the ambitious hairstyle, but felt her faceup was too overdone. Her Classroom doll was the exact opposite -- I found her outfit boring and her face a bit mundane. Really, aside from that first Lagoona doll the only other one I've really loved is her Skull Shores doll. There have only been eight Lagoona dolls released to date, peanuts compared to Frankie's 15 dolls, and Draculaura's 16. But in two of the most recent lines - Dot Dead Gorgeous and Skultimate Roller Maze - we've gotten a brand new Lagoona. Considering that's literally a fourth of her total dolls available, it's the toy equivalent of a Lagoona tidal wave. And I'm happy to report that they're both beautiful dolls! Today I'm gonna take a look at her Dot Dead Gorgeous incarnation.

Do you like my shell?

Let's start with the hair. Lagoona dolls are infamous for having bad hair. It looks so pretty in the box, but the moment you take her out it turns into a mess of frizzy, gnarly, yellow puffs. Combing it doesn't help; in fact over time I've learned to simply not comb it at all. If I want to rearrange a Lagoona dolls' hair I just use my fingers. Unfortunately this Lagoona is no different, and in fact there's been a new development here: it's also crispy. We've seen this crisping gel used on Lagoona's bangs in the past but never on the back of her hair like it is here. That said, the gel does have a bit of an anchoring effect; her hair is staying put a bit better than usual for Lagoona. Not dissimilar to DDG Operetta, having Lagoona's hair in a ponytail also seems to mitigate the frizz problem. She has an interesting thing going on with her bangs. Like her ponytail they've been gelled, then set in a large curl. In her box these gelled pieces were laying on top of her head and jutting out in four directions. This worried me when I bought her but happily I was able to gather them into the large wave you see above. I actually really like the look. Check it out in profile...

Talk about catching some waves...

Her ponytail is held by a hot pink, open shell. There's a pearl inside that has a bit of a sheen to it. It's a great accessory. Her earrings are white bubbles -- on her left is one simple bubble (it could be a pearl, but I'm saying bubble because it's not shiny like the pearl in her hair). On her right is what you see above. It looks like another bubble, but this one has a molded detail hanging from it. It's pretty elaborate, to the point that I can't entirely make out what it's supposed to be. But it looks pretty cool anyway.

This is a beautiful faceup for Lagoona. She has a thin strip of magenta eyeshadow over which is an even thinner strip of blue eyeshadow, which is all surrounded by a large layer of light pink eyeshadow. It all has a thin layer of glitter over it. Her eyes are the usual olive green with a hint of light green. Her lips are also light pink and have a light sheen to them. Her eyebrows are the usual lavender color and her freckles are green.

She's wearing three necklaces in pink, blue, and pink again. Surprisingly these aren't molded together but are individual pieces. They get progressively larger as they go down. The top of each one is jagged. She wears a strapless slip dress with a print of blue stripes and white bubbles. There's a little bit of pink in there as well. The hem at the top and bottom is black. Around her waist is an electric blue belt with a molded pink starfish attached on her left. The belt is attached to the dress. Under the belt, also at the waist, are three layers of tulle in an asymmetrical cut. The top layer has the same print as the dress while the other two layers are hot pink. I really love this dress. I like that they used bubbles as the "dots", the use of different materials for each piece of the dress creates visual interest, and the materials they've used all feel nice.

Lagoona's shoes are open toe wedges. The wedge of the shoes work similarly to how DOTD Lagoona's shoes worked -- that is, the wedge is a flat piece attached to the front of the shoe but not the back. I love this style of MH shoe - DOTD Cleo's shoes functioned the same way -- and here it creates a visual effect of an open clam holding her foot. This coordinates with her hairpiece nicely, especially since the strap over her toes has another shiny pearl on top. The plastic used for the shoes feels sturdy, but not as hard as her DOTD shoes.

The last three accessories we have to talk about (yes, there's three more to go -- girl got DRESSED for this dot party!) are her purse, bracelet, and armband. Her purse is a thin, translucent orange piece with a kelp design and little dangly bits hanging off of it. I think these are supposed to be choral but I'm not certain. They look cool, though, and I like that the purse is the only orange used on the outfit. It keeps everything from being too matchy-matchy.

On her left wrist is a white tentacle bracelet that matches her earrings. It has two layers of bands and several twisted arms hanging down from those that frame her hand nicely. Lastly, she has an electric blue armband on her right arm that wraps her elbow. It's a soft mesh material and perfectly accents the blue of her belt.

Overall grade: A This would've been an A+ but that hair is still a problem for me. Although it's much more manageable in the ponytail I'd like to see a Lagoona doll who has thick, silky hair that isn't impossible to maintain. Otherwise this is a great doll! I love her dress, the color scheme is nice, and the bubble dots are a simple but creative way to execute this theme. She has plenty of accessories and her faceup is beautiful. Quality control was very good for this doll, or at least it was for this particular one.

"I like me, too."

 All images: yours truly

Walk Like An Egyptian: Cleo De Nile Character Spotlight

I love Cleo De Nile. When I became aware of the Monster High dolls Lagoona was the one that first grabbed my attention. But Gloom Beach Cleo was the first MH doll I owned (still a great doll, by the way). And when I started watching the webisodes it was Cleo who immediately stood out to me.

Image: Mattel

This is the first in a series of character spotlights, in which I take a closer look at each ghoul individually, covering their monster inspiration, web series presence, and, of course, their dolls. When I brought the idea for this series up over at Monster High Dolls, Cleo was the first character mentioned as a good candidate to be highlighted, and I couldn't agree more. Cleo De Nile is the daughter of The Mummy. The most obvious reference point is Universal's classic film The Mummy, featuring the titular character portrayed by Hollywood legend Boris Karloff.

Images: Universal Pictures

Of course, Cleo's name directly references Cleopatra, the ancient Egyptian pharaoh who was also worshiped as a goddess. Another classic Hollywood film, Cleopatra, starring the late, great Elizabeth Taylor in a truly iconic performance, also seems to have influenced the character of Cleo De Nile. Her last name is a play on the Nile River (the longest river in the world, by the way) that runs through Egypt; Cleopatra herself gained much notoriety for the elaborate barges she would use to traverse the Nile. And she always did it in style.

Elizabeth Taylor as Cleopatra. Images: 20th Century Fox

Of all the characters, Cleo is the least "monstrous" -- her skin is a human tan color, she has no signifying monster details on her body, and she doesn't seem to possess any inborn monster abilities. She does use amulets and incantations to create "magic", but these are outward forces she likely picked up in ancient Egypt (in her bio it is stated she is 5,842 years old). The only real connection she has, physically at least, to her mummy ancestry in that her clothes always feature a wrap detailing of some sort. Her style seems to align much more with Cleopatra, but in a modernized way. She wears elaborate jewelry and shoes that are vaguely reminiscent of her namesake. Her hair, whether it's long or short, has a similar silhouette to Cleopatra, as well. And lastly, we are told she is royalty, another analogue to the real Cleopatra.

Image: Mattel

The character of Cleo De Nile is a cornerstone of the web series. She is the captain of the ever-present Fearleading Squad, the most popular girl in school, and a natural leader. Cleo is given many of the series' funniest lines and seems to be the most prominent comic relief character (along with Abbey and Draculaura). She also gets the most amount of screen time in the show after Frankie, so if Frankie is the main character, Cleo is right behind her. With the introduction of Nefera De Nile, Cleo's villainous older sister, we got to see another dynamic to Cleo's personality -- the sister who must live up to an older sibling. This added another dimension to her character, and went a long way in making her more relatable. Cleo adds a lot to the show, and to the world of Monster High in general. It wouldn't be the same without her.

Royalty. Image: Mattel

Initially she filled the role of the "villain", causing the other core girls much grief. But as the MH universe expanded other characters were brought in to play the antagonists to the girls. From that point on Cleo was written as a true friend to the other girls. In the web series Cleo is a petulant, melodramatic, drama queen. Despite this, she is very likable. Although her flair for drama can cause her to get down on herself, with a little help from her friends she always comes back around, and is ultimately the one who takes the lead to handle whatever problem is at hand. Thanks to her flawless style and moxie Cleo is an influential girl at Monster High; combined with her ability to make things happen (thanks to her family's wealth) this makes Cleo a strong contender to have in your corner. One of the most endearing things about Cleo is that, despite being a bit bossy and demanding, she never asks those around her to work any harder than she does. Cleo likes to succeed, and she understands this takes hard work. Nor is she selfish with her family's money. She loves her friends and likes to lavish them with things she knows they'll enjoy. She may be a diva through and through, but she's a diva with a heart of gold. Have I mentioned I love Cleo? Because I really do, a lot!

2.0 Basic Cleo

Dead Tired Cleo. Both images: Mattel

Unfortunately, Cleo sits alongside Lagoona Blue as the core character with the least amount of dolls released to date. This really disappoints me because, in my opinion, Cleo's dolls are always gorgeous and among my favorites of any of the characters. She's had eight dolls released to date.

Dawn of the Dance Cleo

Gloom Beach Cleo. Both images: Mattel

Cleo's dolls have striking green eyes, usually with a bit of yellow and grey mixed in as well. Her makeup directly references Cleopatra, with mascara that comes to a sharp two-pronged point at the edge of each eye. With one exception (Dead Tired), Cleo always has bangs. Sometimes her hair is long and other times it's shoulder length. It's always dark brown with tinsel rooted throughout (except for her Skull Shores doll). Cleo's most recent dolls have had prominent amounts of turquoise in the hair. I like this look for Cleo quite a bit. It really stands out from the other character dolls, not to mention it looks quite chic. I don't know if Mattel has pulled back the amount of Cleo releases to make room for newer character dolls like Abbey and Operetta within the themed lines, but I hope she starts popping back up more in the lines soon.

Ghouls Rule Cleo

Skull Shores Cleo. Both images: yours truly

And that's Cleo De Nile! Let me know what you think! Do love Cleo, too? What are your favorite versions of her? Have we seen too much or her, or not enough?

Review: Dot Dead Gorgeous Operetta

Oh, Operetta. Last fall we were all so excited about you. Your profile art looked amazing. Your bio was so cool -- who can resist a rebellious rockabilly chick? And your doll looked oh-so-exciting. Those victory rolls. The scars and tats. Your musical note/heart mask sealed the deal. We all had to have you. And then you started showing up in stores. And you were cool, for sure. Those victory rolls looked great -- so polished, so glam. And your clothes were indeed rockabilly retro. But your mask, attached as a barrett to one of your rolls, was kind of a problem. It smushed your left roll down in middle which just looked odd. And if I wanted to remove it, it required messing your hair up even more. And speaking of -- while your victory rolls truly were victorious in their soaring doll hair perfection, the back of your hair was a completely different, very messy, very crispy, story. It seemed your hair, in philosophy at least, had much in common with the mullet: business in the front, party in the back. But we loved you anyway; you were so unique and so ambitious in your design, we simply had to.

It seems Mattel may have agreed with us because since your first doll there have been some design changes, or at least, your hair and mask have seen some changes. No victory rolls, no barrett mask. It's for this reason that I declare your Dot Dead Gorgeous incarnation the best version of you to date:

Beautiful

Okay guys, let's get one thing clear right up front: the new earring mask is a vast improvement over the barrett mask. It looks just as good, but is much more user-friendly. It can be easily removed, and just as easily reattached. The cobweb and spider it's attached to is pretty cool, too. With that out of the way, let's continue.

Her hair has upward curled bangs (a simple alternative to the victory rolls that achieves a similar visual effect), and while the texture of her hair in the back still seems a bit ratty, it's at least pulled into a cute ponytail so it's pretty manageable. Let's see how she looks without the mask:

Gorgeous indeed.

Her faceup is lovely. She has a thin strip of hot pink eyeshadow over each eye, which is in turn surrounded by brown eyeshadow that goes halfway up to her eyebrows. This is coated with a thin layer of glitter. Her lips are a deep red. This version of Operetta uses the red, black and white color scheme established by her basic doll, but much more prominently. She also maintains her retro 50's vibe thanks to a nicely buoyant poodle skirt. The bodice and skirt are white with black polka dots, with two layers of red tulle over the skirt. The top layer of tulle has large black dots printed on it and a hemmed seam. Her bodice has a molded cobweb detail in the middle of the bust and red straps with small black dots. This print matches the large bow in her hair. She has a white, beaded necklace, with three black musical notes hanging off of it. These coordinate nicely with her piano key-themed belt.

Her purse is also piano themed, although it looks like a pretty old, beat up piece of equipment (aka it looks really cool). The handle is a string of musical notes, and black, molded cobwebs hang off the sides.

Creepy and cute.

Her shoes are amazing. They're red, open toe platforms with black wedges. A pair of die cover the toes, and a black spider with long, loose legs grips the back of each ankle. The spiders lower legs can be moved and adjusted.

Her other earring is a silver cobweb. It matches her stand and brush (I love the DDG stands, by the way). I'm not always a fan of the mismatched earrings Mattel puts on these dolls, but I like the effect here. Plus it's kind of necessary since the other earring doubles as her mask.

Overall grade: A- She loses a few points because her hair is still a bit of a mess. But overall this a big step up from her basic release, at least in terms of mask functionality, and how they've tamed the hair somewhat by putting it in a stylish ponytail. There are lots of great little details, her theme is emphasized in a creative way, and quality control is good on this doll. Take us out, Operetta!

"Y'all come back now, ya hear!"

Top image: Mattel. The rest: yours truly.

Deconstructing Monster High Part 2: Nuts (and Bolts) About Dolls

I'm pretty sure my computer hates me. After spending a good portion of the morning taking pictures for this post my computer decided this would be the perfect time to not read my camera. It took about an hour but I was able to get the problem sorted out. The relationship is strained, but my computer and I are still on speaking terms. Onward we go...

In part 1 of this series I looked at the creation of Monster High and it's rise in popularity. It probably doesn't cover much you didn't already know, but you've gotta start somewhere and, to me anyway, the quick ascent in popularity the dolls took is pretty fascinating. Today I'm gonna take a look at the actual dolls themselves --  their functionality and their unique features. The nuts and bolts I guess you could say.

Help, I've fallen and I can't get up!

I should immediately get one thing out of the way: I don't collect male dolls. In fact, I don't think I own any male dolls at all; they're just not my thing. I can't say much on them other than that I know the MH guys are a bit taller than the females. So I will be focusing exclusively on the ladies today.

The female dolls all have the same basic body. They stand about 10" tall and weigh a little less than a pound, give or take. As a doll collector I have to admit I was pretty surprised at just how light the doll was the first time I held one. She felt extremely fragile; I was actually worried I might break her in half if I tried to change her clothes! I needn't have worried - the dolls are lightweight, but also very durable. The materials used to make the dolls are light but sturdy. The torso, arms, and legs are made of a hard plastic. The hands and head are made of a much more pliable vinyl. Every doll has rooted hair, usually made of either a lightweight saran or kanekalon fiber.

Lagoona is infamous for her... problematic hair. But we love her anyway.

The other thing that really struck me when I held that first doll was just how thin her arms and legs were. She was downright gangly, almost awkwardly so. And the last thing that struck me about the body was the severe curve of the back. Without a doubt these dolls have a very unique figure.

But what's interesting is that even though their bodies look a bit odd, when clothed and posed these dolls are extremely expressive, and most of the poses are very lifelike, albeit stylized. I think this is one of the biggest factors in the appeal of the dolls -- they're extremely posable.

"Are you calling me a poser? Oh, you meant it in the good way? Cool."

The shoulders, elbows, wrists and knees work on a joint pivot system. This means you can twist and turn those joints any which way you please. There is a block on the front of the knee, where a little wedge stops the lower leg from swinging into an awkward forward position (except for Robecca, a robot). There's also a small wedge at the elbow for the same purpose. The first dolls used a piece of elastic to string the legs together but recently that has been replaced by a sturdier plastic pivot joint. The plastic joint also allows for a wider range of movement in the legs. In contrast to the dolls limbs, head movement is pretty limited on these dolls. Although the head works on a ball joint the dolls can't look downward when the head faces forward. They can, however, tilt their head from left to right, and they can also look directly to their left and right. When the head is turned in either direction they can look downward.

The dolls do not have a joint at the waist or ankles. Their feet have a severe arch and their big toe sticks out a bit from the others -- that toe works as an anchor to hold their shoes in place. The lower arms and hands of the dolls can be completely removed. They're made this way so that you can easily change the dolls clothes, but this function gives the dolls a bit of an interactive action toy feel. This further separates MH from other fashion doll lines. When you remove the limbs to change the doll's clothes you feel like you're rebuilding the doll yourself. It's similar to how one pieces together a model airplane or car, but without the glue. These are the basic functions of the female MH body. But MH has upped the ante on these dolls by adding unique, creative body modifications to certain dolls. Most of the mods were simple -- Frankie Stein, daughter of Dr. Frankenstein, has bolts in her neck and stitches painted onto her body. Clawdeen Wolf, a werewolf girl, has wolf ears molded onto the top of her head, rather than human ears on the sides. All the dolls have different skin colors. Frankie is light green, Ghoulia, a zombie, is grey. Draculaura (do I really need to tell you who her father is?) has pink skin, while Lagoona is light blue. In the first wave of dolls, Lagoona had the most modifications. Being a sea monster, she has small translucent fins on her forearms, and larger, removable fins on each of her legs. The leg fins are removable so you can change her clothes, then put them back in. The sockets for the fins are simple, but in my experience they stay in place very well.

As more character dolls have been introduced, more unique body mods have been utilized, to the point that it now seems every new character doll has to have a unique, signifying body feature. Abbey Bominable, based on the Yeti, has gigantic hands and a textured sparkle over her entire body and head, giving her a frosty, cold look. Spectra Vondergeist, a ghost girl, has a pure white body and face, but her lower limbs fade to clear plastic, giving her the appearance of a ghostly apparition.

Ghost legs...

These modifications were successful, and Mattel took it a step further with their next doll, Operetta. Based on the Phantom of the Opera, Operetta has stylized scarring molded into the left side of her face. The scarring cascades down onto her shoulder blade and left arm. Her left arm also has a detailed red and black, cascading musical notes tattoo.

Scars and tats for Operetta

Toralei Stripe, a werecat, has tiger-like stripes running down her left leg and right arm. She also has a long, posable tail, and a dark orange spot on the left side of her face.

C.A. Cupid has a white face and body, but her lower limbs turn to jet black with white lace detailing. Most recently, Mattel debuted Robecca Steam, a steampunk robot whose entire body is molded to look like pieces of copper riveted together. She even has rivets surrounding her face and ears.

One of the most surprising things about the dolls is that, with one exception (Cupid), they all have completely different face molds. I really have to applaud Mattel for this, as it would've been considerably easier, not to mention cheaper, to just use a revolving set of 3 or 4 basic head molds for all the dolls, and just paint them differently for each character. This makes each and every doll feel unique, and like you've truly got something special since she's not like any of the other dolls. Another signifying feature is hand molds. It's a small detail, but the different hands add a lot of personality to the dolls. Lagoona has webbed fingers, Abbey has giant Yeti hands, Spectra's hands are clear. The shape of the hands add a lot as well. I think my favorites are Lagoona's "hang ten" hand mold and the witch CAM's "a-okay" finger mold.

A show of hands.

A discussion of MH bodies isn't complete without going into the Create-A-Monster playsets. These were created to give kids (and collectors) a chance to create their "own" MH doll. The sets include two completely disassembled dolls. You put the doll together yourself, slide her wig on, and voila! New doll! The starter sets were augmented by add-on packs, which add further customization possibilities. All the sets include an outfit (some better than others), and once again, completely new head molds for each CAM doll.

One of the most interesting developments in the MH world has been the introduction of new character dolls who are a different size from the standard dolls. The first was Nefera De Nile, older sister of Cleo. Although her body functions the same as the standard dolls, she is considerably taller, and her faceup has a more mature look.

The sisters De Nile.

Another new body size was introduced with Howleen Wolf, Clawdeen's younger sister. She also has the same basic body, but is shorter and has a younger looking face. Next year Mattel will be releasing a doll of Headless Headmistress Bloodgood, the superintendent of Monster High. Her prototype was unveiled at this year's San Diego Comic Con, and although it's hard to tell from pictures, it looks as though in addition to being taller than the standard dolls, her body will also function a bit differently.

Photo: Mattel

We'll also be getting Skelita Calaveras, a skeleton girl based on Dia de los Muertos, who looks to be a more complete version of the skeleton Create-A-Monster add-on. There's also Jinafire Long, a Chinese dragon girl with scaly limbs and a dragon tail. So it seems the uniqueness of the MH dolls will be continuing for the foreseeable future, and why wouldn't it? The dolls are doing great and the designs continue to inspire. I can't wait to see where MH will go next.

Jinafire and Skelita. Photo: Mattel

I know I said I was going to cover facial screening in this part, but the post was getting too long and I have a lot I want to say about the topic, so expect to see it in a later part.

Moving on, I'm really excited about part 3! I'm going to be looking at the fashion of MH, one of my favorite things about these dolls! Expect some rambling on the shoes alone (they're amazing). Til next time!

Photos by yours truly unless otherwise noted