Voicething Returns! ... to talk about a car.

Bonjour, readers! Your eyes do not deceive you -- I really am back! With a new review and scans and pictures and everything! Why the long absence? Without going into too much boring detail I had a one-two whammy of family stuff combined with an extra heavy workload. What little time I had away from work was spent lulling myself to sleep each night watching Brian De Palma and Val Lewton flicks. Luckily the work stuff was temporary and I'm back to my usual schedule. And that means we can convene with our regularly scheduled blogging! An unfortunate casualty in all this is the Clawdeen Extravaganza, which was supposed to happen this month. Response to the extravaganza was muted anyway, so I suppose it's no big loss. I have to admit I was hoping to return with a review of Catrine DeMew but alas, her purple perfection has evaded me so far. Dot Dead Gorgeous 3-Packs and Ghouls Rule Abbey came in droves, and quite quickly, but the doll I actually want more than oxygen itself is a very elusive creature. I can't even find any of the new swim dolls to serve as a consolation. There is much sadface here at Voicething headquarters at the moment because of this. But the show must go on! And what we're covering today is pretty cool, especially if you like convertibles...

You're doing it wrong, Frankie.

For their second MH car (after Draculaura's Roadster), Mattel kept things succinct, labeling this one simply Convertible. It comes in a large window box showing off the car and features cardboard cutouts of Frankie and Rochelle sitting inside it.

The box back features a large drawing of the convertible being driven by Ghoulia with Frankie riding shotgun and Rochelle sitting on the back (quite literally... we'll get to that). Clawdeen is standing nearby, so near in fact that she looks in danger of becoming a vehicular homicide statistic. Given the car's color scheme and wrought iron decor I assumed this was Rochelle's ride, but a quick read of the supplied blurb reveals that the convertible was in fact a POS that Ghoulia found and restored. First the scooter, now the convertible -- Ghoulia sure loves her some wheels, doesn't she?

The convertible comes in a nice dark lavender (well, purple) shade, with touches of grey, black, and silver. The basic idea behind the design seems to be wrought iron and webs, and lots of it. Not that I'm complaining; this baby looks pretty damn cool. The hood, the sides, and the rear all have curling, fanciful designs molded into them. In places the designs have been cut out of the plastic completely, creating a peek-a-boo effect with the car's nonexistent innards. At times these cutouts flow naturally with the molded designs while at others they're overlapped on the molding creating a nice contrast.

The hood of the car features a small skullette in the center front and is flanked by clear headlights. The headlights have a curlicued web design that matches the rest of the car's detailing. I like them quite a bit but wish they lit up -- how cool would that be! Below the hood at the very front of the car is a grill of silver webs, a nice touch. Underneath it is more molded detailing.

The car doesn't have working doors. Where the doors would be is more molded detailing combined with swooshy cutouts. They start at the bottom of the vehicle's body and work their way up over each back wheel, getting smaller as they progress backwards.

The back of the convertible is where things really get interesting. Surprisingly, this tiny little car seats four. Two in the front, two in the back on top of what is ostensibly the trunk. I have a feeling this seating arrangement makes this car officially not street legal. But who cares, the dolls look great sitting here. It's even wing and dragon tail compatible. And at least they threw some seatbelts back there, just in case. Seriously though, I was surprised how well my dolls sat on this uniquely placed seat. And as I've mentioned in previous playset reviews, if nothing else this gives your stand-less dolls a place to rest, and look good doing it.

Jinafire, why you gotta go and steal Rochelle's thunder, looking all cool and fierce and stuff.

The trunk/seat has a molded spiderweb pattern; lift it up and you'll find a skullette inside. A sticker license plate bares the word SCARIS in red and white. It's awfully cute, but my very favorite thing about this car is the taillights. Check 'em out -- they're silver dragon (or gargoyle?) heads! And with those glaring eyes and snarled grins, they ain't the friendliest-looking things, either. So cool! 

The inside of the car has two purple bucket seats, a teal steering wheel and matching seatbelts. There's a fairly large console that has a working gearshift in teal and two drink holders. There's also a display that looks like something straight out of the 60's Batman TV show -- it's weird and anachronistic and I love it. The dashboard is solid black and has more molded cobwebs.

The windshield is clear, of course, and is held in place by metallic silver, curlicued plastic. I love the design in particular here -- it reminds me of Operetta's deluxe fashion pack mask for some reason. There's also a black roll bar decorated with more wrought iron. You'll notice this car is a convertible in name only -- it has no top to convert. This makes sense as I imagine that would've been a manufacturing nightmare, but how cool if they could've somehow pulled it off. Oh well. All four wheels have shiny rims of wrought iron centered by a skullette -- flashy!

Overall grade A I have one complaint about the Scaris Convertible -- the dolls sit way too low in the bucket seats! Seriously, it looks like grandma's out for a drive, the doll's heads rest so low when seated. All you can see are the tops of their heads. It took some finagling to get my dolls to sit down just right without sinking too low so I could get these pictures. Other than that the Scaris car is pretty great. I love the design, the colors sync up well with the cafe cart playset, and it has some nice little touches (the working gear shift, the headlights, the mag wheels). The dragon/gargoyle taillights in particular are way cool. The trunk seats in the back may not be legal but they work great and show off your dolls well, especially compared to the deep bucket seats up front, which seem to be on a mission to hide your dolls from the world. At the very least this is a step up from the roadster, which I only got because I wanted the Draculaura doll that came with the re-release. The Scaris Convertible, however, sells itself. No doll necessary.