Angel of Music: Operetta Character Spotlight

It has been almost two months since I did my last character spotlight. This isn't without reason. First of all we've had a slew of new dolls hitting shelves over the past month and reviewing them has eaten up a lot of the blog posts. The other thing is that I'm going to continue doing the blog for the foreseeable future and doing too many spotlights too closely together is going to leave me with little non-review material to work with. So the spotlights are going to be more widely spaced like this from now on. With that said let's take a look at today's spotlight character.

Operetta is based on The Phantom of the Opera. The story, by French writer Gaston Leroux, was first published in serialized form in 1909 to 1910. It was eventually turned into a novel which lead to many stage and film adaptations, most notably Andrew Lloyd Webber's smash 1986 musical. The most recent film adaptation was seen in 2004, directed by Joel Schumacher.

The story revolves around Christine, a young woman who sings in the chorus of the Paris Opera House. She begins to hear beautiful singing from below the House's stage. This is Erik, the titular Phantom. Scarred and unstable, he kidnaps Christine to the cellars below. Things build from there, a love forms, and it all ends in tragedy. It's a wonderful story; I'm not a musical person but I really enjoy The Phantom of the Opera.

This being Monster High, Operetta presents us with a whimsically post-modern take on the character. Now from the deep south of the US instead of France, Operetta indeed sports the same scars as her father, but hers come in the form of stylized musical notes. Wrapped around and twisted through her scars are tattoos in black and red. Her mask comes in the shape of a heart that frames her eye. Cleverly, Operetta has been set up as a rebellious rockabilly girl -- she adores music just as much as her father but has no taste for his classical music, and he none for her rock leanings. In her diary Operetta is transferring to Monster High. Much is made of her southern roots, with several nods to Elvis Presley, Buddy Holly, and her love and appropriation of retro music and style.

In the webseries Operetta is not a major character. Although her introduction into the series is one of the best we've seen yet, covering an arch of four webisodes and fully establishing Operetta's personality, once the show stepped away from multi-episode archs Operetta fell a bit to the wayside. When storylines involve the characters going to the catacombs Operetta usually shows up but otherwise we generally only see her in the background.

In the show Operetta speaks with a long southern drawl and spends her time in the catacombs mostly (which works as a nice analogue to her father's location at the Opera House). Initially Operetta had some of the best lines of the series - "Do I even know you?" she once responded to an outraged Cleo. She also had several subtle pop culture references in her dialogue, most notably when she referenced lyrics to Dolly Parton's "Jolene" in one episode. It has also been established in both her diary and on the show that people can't hear her live singing voice because "it does things to people". It's never made entirely clear what it does, but it's implied that it's bad. Therefore people can only hear her singing voice on recordings, made by Operetta in a makeshift studio she has set up in the catacombs.

Operetta fast became one of my favorite characters on the show thanks to her long introductory story arch and her general coolness. Unfortunately since then it's been downhill for the character, at least as far as the webseries is concerned. I really wish they'd go back to the serialized storylines in the webseries -- it gave the characters more depth and was in general simply more interesting than the one-off approach they take now.

Operetta has had five dolls released to date. There are a few mainstays of every Operetta doll: red hair with black streaks, a scar of musical notes that cascades down the left side of her face onto her neck and arm, red and black tattoos on her left arm, a mask in the shape of a heart, a color scheme of red, black, and white with the occasional purple, and a general 1950's vibe to her clothes. She has a style motif of piano keys, dice, and spiderwebs. You'll also find the occasional purse or belt buckle featuring grooves that mimic a vinyl record.

Some say her style is psychobilly but I don't see enough of the punk influence to signify that; to me she's pretty straightforward rockabilly. Whatever the case, she has a cool look and her dolls usually stand out from the others. My biggest problem with Operetta dolls is the quality of the hair. Her basic doll had an amazing set of victory rolls framing her face but the hair in the back was of very poor quality. Her next three dolls all sported ponytails, fitting of the era she's emulating, but a bit boring. And of the those three only the Kohl's doll had good quality hair. Her newest doll, from the Dance Class line, doesn't have a ponytail and the hair quality is improved but still not perfect. Rumors abound that a Picture Day Operetta doll is on the way -- hopefully she'll live up to the potential that this unique, fun character has.

Mer Girl: Lagoona Blue Character Spotlight

I love the sea. I know, saying that is a bit like saying I love breathing, or I love music. It's one of those things that's just a given. But as much as I love it, there's someone who puts my affection for it to shame. You know who I'm talking about...

Lagoona Blue is based on Creature from the Black Lagoon, the classic Universal film from 1954. I have a confession to make: I've never actually seen Creature from the Black Lagoon. For shame, yes. The closest I've come was seeing a musical based on the movie at Universal Studios Hollywood a few years back, but the less said about that, the better. But I know the basic story, and the monster himself is an iconic film creature. I'm certainly familiar enough with the story and monster to know Mattel took some major liberties in conceptualizing Lagoona Blue.

Where the original creature is mean and green, Lagoona is friendly and a light blue color. They both have webbed fingers and fins, but Lagoona looks much more human than the creature. Of course, Lagoona is said to be the daughter of the Sea Monster, which is pretty vague. Maybe the original creature is more of a distant relative. Or maybe her mother was human. That's a scary thought -- moving on!

In the web series Lagoona doesn't seem to get as much screen time as the other core characters. When she is involved in a plot line she usually moves the story forward significantly, either by assisting the main character in some way or by giving some friendly advice. Lagoona speaks with an Australian accent and uses Aussie slang. As she puts it, "I'm from down under... the sea!" She loves to surf, and with her blonde, streaked hair, there's no doubting she spends a lot of time in the water.

Lagoona is a bit of a bleeding heart; she's kind to everyone and hates to see anyone in pain. Her character is further fleshed out by being romantically linked to Gil Webber. Their relationship is given some gravitas by being written as a metaphor for a mixed race relationship -- she is a seawater creature while Gil is freshwater. This has caused problems for them, as Gil's parents are against his dating a seawater creature.

Unfortunately, I find Lagoona's portrayal on the show to be a bit, well, boring. Although she's admirable in her constant support of her friends and strong moral sense, she's not particularly exciting. To be honest I have a feeling the writers know this, and it's why we don't see her as much as many other characters. I imagine it's not always fun to write such an earnest character. Nonetheless, she's a great role model for younger fans of the show.

If you've read my previous posts on Lagoona you already know she was the doll that drew me in to Monster High. Looking around it seems she was the "gateway doll" for many MH fans. It's not hard to see why -- with her huge green eyes, translucent fins, and curly blond hair, she's easy to notice. She's unique, not just among playline dolls, but even within the MH line.

Her basic doll sported a vaguely hip hop-inspired look, with it's vintage 80s looking short-shorts, leotard (with attached knee length fishnets), and hoodie. Of the wave 1 basics she's still my favorite. Her subsequent dolls failed to really excite me, although this year she's made a bit of a comeback, with her Dot Dead Gorgeous and Skultimate Roller Maze dolls being among my favorites of her. Her upcoming Dance Class doll can now be seen online (and my initial thoughts on her are positive, as well).

Lagoona's signature colors are aquatic blues and greens, with touches of pink and black. Her accessories generally consist of bubble shaped earrings and bracelets and lots of assorted seahorses, clams, and fish hooks. Her makeup is done is pastel shades, usually of pink and purple. The only major complaint waged against Lagoona dolls is the quality of the hair. Her blond, blue-streaked curls never fail to turn into a tangled mess. Otherwise, Lagoona is pretty well-liked among collector's. She has 8 dolls released to date; her ninth is the forthcoming Dance Class doll.

Black Cat: Toralei Stripe Character Spotlight & Review

You know, there are about a million songs with cat in the title or cats as the theme. It was tough choosing one for today's spotlight. And even though she isn't a black cat, in a lot of ways today's spotlight character parallels the bad boy described in Janet Jackson's smash hit.

Image: Mattel

Yep, today I'm looking at Toralei Stripe -- werecat, villainess, involuntary math expert. I'll tell you right up front that I love Toralei, and for several reasons. But before I go into why, let's take a look at the mythology of the monster she's based on.

Thanks for the pic, Wikipedia!

Toralei is a werecat, a creature that can most easily be described as a feline counterpart to the canine werewolf. Werecats have long existed in European, Asian, African, and Mesoamerican folklore. A werecat is a shapeshifter, and can be a lion, tiger, lynx, panther, or even a domestic housecat. Although she looks very much like a tiger, based on the webseries Toralei seems to be of the housecat variety.

Werecats have never really taken off in popular culture the way werewolves or vampires have. They seem to pop up a lot -- they've been featured in the Harry Potter series and True Blood among many other things. But they haven't grabbed people's attention the way other monsters have. When they are featured in film and literature they're rarely the main focus. Two major exceptions are the classic 1942 film Cat People and it's 1944 sequel, Curse of the Cat People. Although both films are excellent, the 1944 sequel is one of my personal favorites. It's really less a sequel than a tangentially connected epilogue. With it's emphasis on atmosphere and tone, rather than straightforward storytelling, it comes across like an unassuming fairy tale. I recommend it. Okay, back on topic-

Images: RKO

Toralei is a major character in the webseries. Although she doesn't get a lot of episodes focused solely on her, as one of two primary villains she does get a lot of screen time. Toralei generally has a bad attitude, and loves causing problems for the other girls. So why do I get such a kick out of her? Well, first of all it's hard not to like someone who so thoroughly enjoys what they're doing. Causing trouble clearly makes Toralei happy, and it's fun to watch. But what I like even more about Toralei is that, despite being an antagonist, she's not one-dimensional. Although she's a troublemaker she doesn't like to out and out cheat to achieve her nefarious goals. And as she points out in her diary, what's the fun in kicking someone when they're already down? This is a far cry from the villainous characters from my childhood -- Catra comes to mind -- who were purely evil for evil's sake. Those are great characters for camp value; not so much if you're looking for a more sophisticated approach to character presentation.

That said, it can't be forgotten that Toralei is very much a nemesis to the MH girls. Backed by twins Meowlady and Purrsephone, fellow werecats, Toralei has helped take over the Fearleading squad, tried to break up Draculaura and Clawd, and generally been a big pain in the butt. She's a con artist through and through. She can imitate anyone's voice to a T and is a master of subtle manipulation. She's not dumb (yet another reason why I like her), and she can think on her feet. Fitting for such a catty, well, cat.

Toralei's partners in crime.

Me-ow! Images: Mattel

To date Toralei has only had one doll released, her basic doll, but it's a doozy. If I were to do some sort of top 5 all-time MH dolls list, she'd be there. She has orange skin, with brown stripes on her right arm and left leg. The left side of her face is a bit darker than the right, like a large spot. She has two brown stripes on each cheek. With her striking green cat eyes, arched brows, and full lips Toralei looks fierce. 

Her eyeshadow breaks a bit from the usual MH faceup. Rather than two fairly large layers over each eye, she has a surrounding layer in dark silver. Through the layer above her eyes are two strips of eyeliner, one dark pink and the other a pure green. Her lips are a deep mauve color. It's a great faceup. Her hair is short and straight, with a sidepart on her left. The color is a reddish orange, with a lighter orange streak on the right. The streak has several black stripes through it. Although her hair comes to just above chin length, the streak is longer, landing below her chin. Being a cat, her ears poke up through her hair. Both ears have a silver stud, while the left one also has a silver hoop. There's also a nick out of her left ear, suggesting she's been in a fight or two before.

Her general look has a retro 50s vibe while still looking completely modern. The theme seems to be a feminized greaser look, very fitting for the archetypal high school villain. She wears a long tank top with a diagonal pattern in red, black, and white. The stripes look like claw marks. Over this she wears a black jacket with a snakeskin-looking embellished pattern. It has long sleeves and an extremely cool hard collar that automatically pops up when she wears it. The collar has silver studs along the middle and a molded spiderweb piece on the back. The sleeves, collar, and breast pieces are lined in shiny red ribbon. Her pants are black tights that go well past the knee. There's an orange layer of netting peeking out through claw rips down both sides -- she must've been in a hurry when she got dressed that day! She has matching shoes in red and black. They're open toe wedges with silver studs lining the top and red straps functioning as the laces. The soles are red as well.

Molded onto her hands are red gloves. The left glove has a window over the top of the hand and several silver studs. The other glove is studless and the finger detailing is a little different. I love that each hand is unique. Her belt is molded with holes along the strap (perfect for poking her fingers into for pics!). It's gold with a square, silver buckle baring a skullette. She has a molded red purse with a long strap and feathers hanging off the side (wonder where she got those feathers? Hmm...). The front is black with red claw marks while the back is solid red and has a molded pocket. Silver studs line the top. Perhaps my favorite of all the accessories is her scarf. It's orange fabric and tied around her neck -- pure 50s. This is a fantastic outfit and easily one of my favorites for any of the characters. It conveys that she's not to be trifled with, without coming across as trashy or cheap. It looks polished and glam and tough and I love it.

Toralei has a tail and it's poseable. This adds immeasurably to the doll, and really makes me wish the later released werecat twin dolls had poseable tails, too. I usually have Toralei in her stand holding her tail in some way or another -- it looks really cool and adds to her bad girl mystique.

She comes with a diary and a pet. I don't usually go into the diaries in these reviews, but I wanted to touch on Toralei's because I feel it goes a long way in humanizing her and giving her character some dimension beyond being a troublemaker. Although it doesn't present her as an angel, the diary shows that she is capable of compassion and willing to help others. It's details like these that make her a more interesting character than some in the core group, in my opinion. There are shades of grey to Toralei, and that's always more interesting than purely good or purely evil characters.

Toralei's pet is a sabre tooth tiger cub named Sweet Fangs. She's orange with brown stripes and green eyes -- maybe she and Toralei are related? She has a black fabric scarf cinched around her neck.

As I mentioned, so far there's only been one Toralei doll released. There's a third doll in the forthcoming Power Ghoul line named Cat Tastrophe. It's assumed this is Toralei, which would make sense. What good is a superhero without a great villain to fight? In any case, I doubt we've seen the last of Toralei. She's always around somewhere, causing trouble and generally winning my heart.

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So Thursday morning I'll be leaving for a long weekend in Chicago. It's one of my favorite cities and I'm definitely ready for a small vacation. While I'm there a friend and I will be seeing Madonna in concert and doing a massive record store run. We might head up to Six Flags one day, too. I love Chicago's Six Flags! It's so much better than the one in STL. In the meantime I probably won't be able to post anything, or at least anything substantial, so I doubled today's post into a spotlight + review to cover the time away. I've also added a new block to subscribe to the blog by email. Just scroll all the way down to the bottom of this page and you'll see it. It's super easy and from now on when I post something it goes automatically to your email. Til next time!

Happy Phantom: Spectra Vondergeist Character Spotlight

Monster High was originally built around the core six female characters, and two males. (Yes, I'm counting Jackson as a core character since, technically, he's the same person as Holt.) These proved successful and it didn't take long for Mattel to start introducing new characters. Enter: Spectra Vondergeist.

Image: Mattel

Spectra, a ghost girl, was the first non-core character to be released. Looking back, I'm kind of surprised a ghost character wasn't in the initial lineup. After all, ghosts are probably the most prolific, universal monster there is. Some people even substitute the generic word "ghost" for "monster". The idea of ghosts has existed for about as long as humans have, and ghostly lore in some form or another is present in virtually every culture around the world. They take on different meanings and have differing mythologies but when boiled down, they all mean "ghost".

A ghostly specter...

Spectra aligns with the generalized Western views of ghosts. In most Western cultures ghosts are disembodied spirits of the deceased who have not passed on to "the other side". This can be for a variety of reasons -- they have unfinished business here on Earth, their death was so traumatic they are in shock and unaware of their situation, they simply don't want to move on, etc. Ghosts are said to appear as translucent figures, and common lore dictates that they can pass through solid fixtures such as closed doors and walls. Sometimes they are depicted as figures who walk, but more often they are represented as beings that float or hover. In the webisodes Spectra is constantly seen floating through doors and poking her head through walls and lockers. In her diary we learn that she and her family perished under traumatic circumstances; it's possible that Spectra has not dealt with this yet. Curiously, in her diary Spectra is written as an antagonist of sorts to the girls, but in the webisodes she admires the girls and becomes their friend. Spectra's first name is a reference to the word "specter", a synonym to the word "ghost". Vondergeist seems to be a play on the word "poltergeist", an offshoot of the common ghost, who haunts a particular person rather than place. Spectra's primary visual motif is chains. The most obvious reference here is to Jacob Marley, the ghost in Charles Dickens classic novel A Christmas Carol, who must wear chains and locks in the afterlife to atone for his sins against the poor during his human life.

"Why must I be burdened with these heavy metaphors?" -Jacob Marley (Not really.)

This being Monster High, Spectra gives the look a thoroughly postmodern spin by using them as a reference to 80s hair metal, where chains, studs, and grommets combined with flashy colors were the look.

It was a different time then.

In the webseries Spectra writes the gossip column for the school newspaper. Her ability to float through walls and peak into lockers aids her greatly in finding juicy stories to write about. Unfortunately she doesn't always stick around to fully investigate her findings, leading to comical misunderstandings and mishaps. But Spectra is never malicious in what she writes -- as she tells it, her creative side simply fills in the blanks. Spectra is presented as flighty and somewhat distant -- very much the "creative type". She speaks in a soft, hyper-feminized voice, not dissimilar to the breathy coo Marilyn Monroe affected when speaking in films or to the public.

Image: Mattel

Spectra isn't a major character in the show. She's not part of the core group, nor a villain, and unlike some of the other non-core characters she doesn't get much screen time. She's had a couple of webisodes that have focused on her, and occasionally she pops up and says a couple of lines, otherwise she's only seen sometimes in the background. I really enjoy her character when she's featured prominently and am disappointed that she's not utilized more often.

Basic Spectra. Image: Mattel

Spectra is one of the most interesting dolls in the line. To create the look of a ghostly apparition she has a pure white face and body with limbs that fade to clear plastic at the wrists and ankles. The whites of her eyes are colored purple, and her irises are turquoise, with a hint of purple. Her clothes always feature purple to varying degrees. I think it's safe to say purple is her signature color. She has long, straight hair that features streaks in shades of -- what else?-- lavender and purple. It's always in a sidepart. Her basic doll didn't have bangs, but her Dot Dead Gorgeous doll does.

Dot Dead Gorgeous Spectra. Image: Mattel

Spectra has only had two dolls released to date: her Basic doll and her new Dot Dead Gorgeous incarnation. Curiously, it was nearly a year after her Basic release before was saw a second Spectra doll. Abbey Bominable, who's Basic was released a month after Spectra's, had five more dolls released in the time it took to get just a second doll for Spectra. And Operetta, who's Basic came out a full seven months after Spectra's, now has four dolls available. I have no idea why Spectra has seemingly been picked over when it comes to doll releases. Encouragingly, a third Spectra doll has been confirmed for 2013 release. She's from the unique Power Ghoul line, in which the girls are re-imagined as superheroes, and will be called Polterghoul. She looks like she's going to be incredibly unique, and one of the most exciting MH dolls of 2013.

More Human Than Human: Ghoulia Yelps Character Spotlight

Okay, so the idea was to have each of these character spotlights use the name of an 80s song as it's title. But I'm at a loss for a good 80s song featuring zombies as a running theme or as part of the title. So I just went with the name of a White Zombie song I loved back in high school. ...It's a bit of a stretch, but it'll do I suppose.

So today I'm going to be covering Ghoulia! Hooray! There's a lot about this character I like; for a girl who speaks only in grunts and groans she's surprisingly multifaceted.

Image: Mattel

Ghoulia is based on zombies. The idea of the zombie was first introduced to audiences in it's original incarnation: as a corpse reanimated by means of witchcraft, derived from African practices. But our Ghoulia isn't influenced by those zombies. Her biggest influence is the more modern idea of the zombie, first seen in George A. Romero's 1968 horror film Night of the Living Dead. 

Images: Image Ten

This film set the template for the zombie seen in modern popular culture (despite the zombies in the film actually being referred to as ghouls, never zombies). Romero's cult film has been hugely influential on subsequent horror films (including his own slew of follow-up zombie flicks). With Night of the Living Dead he established the modern zombie tropes we see today: the dead becoming reanimated, a gun shot to the head being the only way to take them down (well, fire too). And these reanimated corpses have only one desire: to eat human flesh. Brains later became they're more specific, uh, "food of choice". Being reanimated corpses, they move very slowly; despite this, they're hard to defeat. They're virtually unstoppable. And as more people are bitten (a zombie bite kills you, then reanimates you) the more dangerous they become -- a strength in numbers kind of thing.

On a personal note, while I can admire and appreciate the earlier horror films Frankenstein and The Mummy, Night of the Living Dead is simply one of my all-time favorite films. The steadily rising sense of dread, the subtle social commentary, the claustrophobia you feel as you watch these characters try to survive the zombie onslaught while trapped in a rural farmhouse, and that gut wrenching ending -- it all adds up to an amazing movie. It's well-acted, with superb direction, and, most impressively, was made independent of the Hollywood studios, and on a shoestring budget. The original is in black and white but later releases were colorized. My advice -- go for the original black and white. And if you haven't seen it, get thee to the video store (well, or Netflix streaming) immediately!

Another influence on Ghoulia, or rather Ghoulia's clothes, is Michael Jackson's outfit in his iconic 1983 music video Thriller. Her red capri pants with black detailing is a direct nod to MJ's outfit in the video. And of course his backup dancers in the video are zombies. It all comes full circle.

MJ and his zombie dance crew. Image: Epic Records

In the webseries Ghoulia is one of the most interesting characters. No small feat considering she only speaks in those aforementioned grunts and groans. With Ghoulia we see some of the irony that makes the webseries so fun: despite being a slow-moving zombie she is the smartest girl in school (must be all that "brain food"). Ghoulia often seems annoyed by the insignificant dramas the other girls get caught up in; it's quite often that she rolls her eyes at them. At times she plays lackey to Cleo's demanding diva but she's not afraid to put her foot down when she's feeling a bit too taken advantage of.

Image: Mattel

She is also one of the most respected students at Monster High. Everyone looks up to her and comes to her for advice (or help with their homework). Although Ghoulia is always around, she enjoys time to herself, especially when she's reading her favorite comic book, Dead Fast. I really love how they've incorporated fangirl-ism into Ghoulia's character. Their approach to this is very clever, and has been incorporated into Ghoulia's character dolls (more on that in a bit). It's also refreshing to see a female character presented as a rabid comic book nerd. Usually those types of characters are male.

Although Ghoulia doesn't get as much screen time in the series as the other core characters (except Lagoona), the episodes that feature her among the series' best. We've seen Ghoulia have an elaborate daydream in which she takes on the role of Dead Fast, defeating the Dead Fast villain thanks to heroic derring-do. And when others aren't looking, Ghoulia can move much faster than she lets on, saving Monster High from destruction, all in the span of a couple of minutes. Far from being the nerd others think she is, Ghoulia is actually one of the coolest characters in the MH universe.

Basic Ghoulia

Dawn of the Dance Ghoulia

San Diego Comic Con Exclusive Ghoulia

Basic Ghoulia's outfit is very 80s influenced, but her subsequent dolls' outfits reference a wide range of eras, everything from 1950's bombshell to 1960s biker babe, and more. Her clothes use a visual motif of "brain matter" and stylized gore. Her signifying colors are red, black, and white, although there's been a wider variety of additional colors used on her compared to the other dolls. She always wears a pair of glasses.

Fearleading Ghoulia

Skull Shores Ghoulia

Dead Tired Ghoulia

Ghoulia always has pure blue and light blue streaked hair. There's been a lot of variety in Ghoulia's hairstyles -- short, long, straight, curly, bangs, no bangs. We've seen it all on Ghoulia. Although there aren't as many Ghoulia dolls as there are Frankie and Draculaura ones, she's nonetheless seen a lot of releases. To date there are 11 different Ghoulia dolls.

Skultimate Roller Maze Ghoulia

Gloom Beach Ghoulia

TRU Exclusive Ghoulia. All doll images:Mattel