Monster High's Operetta by Mattel

This beautiful monster has a name like a title: Operetta! Just like her father, The Phantom of The Opera! She is a stunner! I got her online but I have seen her at Toys R Us for $14.99!

Great graphics telling all about her schedule the day of the big party!

I won't put you through the pictures of the extraction again! It is exactly the same as the other Monster High dolls I have reviewed. Let's just say that I am thankful that these dolls are easier to open than most other dolls on the market! The box is not taped shut and the inside cardboard just slides out. If you snip everything on the plain side of the inner cardboard, everything will just fall off. (Make sure you do that step over a table so you don't lose any small pieces, like accessories, purses, and such!) The only part I will openly complain about is the fact that Mattel feels it is necessary, with all the ties and elastics holding the doll down, that plastic ties be shot through the doll's head. This is just terrible! It is probably the only complaint I have been able to come up with against these dolls! It is very difficult to get the hair aside enough to snip the ties level with the scalp so they won't stick out and poke you when you are brushing and styling the hair! (They can be very sharp too!) And when you snip, it is very difficult to make sure you don't snip any hair!!!

When all that is done, this is what we have out of the box! The doll, her accessories, a trading card, a useful stand, and a useless, but cute, brush.

This doll is absolutely stunning!

Her fiery red hair and lips are beautifully contrasted with her pale skin. A beauty mark is a nice touch against the intricately molded "deformation" that runs from her face, down her side!

 And even extends down into her armpit!

As a tattooed Grandma, I love her tattoos!!!

She has her hair up in a ponytail with tightly rolled bangs. Her hair is really, really crunchy with product but I decided I am going to leave it that way, at least until I get a less elaborate dress. I do love her giant hair bow that matches the dress!

Very dramatic! Matches Operetta's personality very well!!!

Her dress is very well made. It has nice, even stitching and is hemmed well. But the fabric is just a little too stiff. It looks very full and pretty when Operetta is standing but if she tries to sit, she has a little problem......

I like her accessories. Except for the fact that her purse doesn't open.

I couldn't believe when I went to shut her compact, there was a plastic tie around it. I snipped it and found out that the brush actually COMES OUT!!!

This doll is all about the details! She is highly recommended! Her mold is amazing and she is definitely unique! I am getting enough of these dolls to really appreciate the differences and, as far as features go, Operetta is definitely one of my favourites!!!

I am not a big shoe person but I must say, all Monster High shoes are great, but these are the best shoes I have seen yet! Love the spiders!!! I am in a Halloweeny mood lately!

Monster High Rochelle Goyle by Mattel

Monster High is a cartoon based doll. Many of the different styles of these doll characters refer back to an episode or special. (There is a TV special coming out this month called 13 Wishes! Monsters and Halloween! How perfect!) The Rochelle Goyle I got at BJs Wholesale for $15.99, when I bought my Lagoona, is from the "Scaris: City of Frights" assortment.

The story is that the students of Monster High get to enter an international fashion competition in Scaris. This is the city that Rochelle is from, so she shows the other "ghouls" around! (It is a little silly, but, I admit, I do love the play on words running through all of this!)

Again, a beautiful presentation in the box.

Thew graphics are really great and you can read about the story enough to know what is going on, even if you have never seen an episode of the cartoon! (Like me!!!)

And...open sesame, snip, snip.....

And gorgeous Rochelle is ready to play! She comes a suitcase and a neat booklet that tells more of the story! And she come with wings!!!

Her hair is super long but, 

one turn to the side, 

and it is obvious how to attach the wings!

It's too bad her thick hair obscures the wings. They are probably her best accessory! I think Rochelle should have had a short, cute bob style haircut to show off the adorable little wings! The wings really couldn't have been bigger or she would have fallen over! But the hair could have been shorter.

The spaghetti straps are helpful!

But the cut is low in the back also,

to accommodate the wing placement

If you can't figure it out though, there is a handy, dandy how-to sheet!!!

A short haircut would have made her jaunty hat much cuter too!

She is darling in her Eiffel Terror dress!

Her skin is really neat! It has flecks of black and grey to make it look like stone! Her curled bangs are really crunchy with product, like Lagoona's, but I think a couple of brushings would soften them up! If they weren't curled they'd be awful long! They pink offsets the grey beautifully!

Her hair is super duper thick! Not like Lagoona's hair at all! Rochelle's hair is very thickly rooted! My only complaint was that one side was smooth and wavy and the other side was frizzy.

Her outfit is absolutely adorable!

Again, very well made and well sewn.

Stunning high heels with marvelous detail! 

They have a large slit in the back for getting on and off easily but grip the doll's feet very nicely, staying on tight. They are even easy to put on over the nylons!

And, I must say, I was nervous about these nylons. I am nervous about any doll in nylons, quite frankly! I put a run in my own hose about 5 min into the wearing of them!!! I am quite thrilled to report that these are quite stiff and strong! They even stand up by themselves!

The one drawback that I saw was that they don't quite come up high enough so poor Rochelle has permanent crotch sag!

It doesn't show with the dress on but I am sure it is uncomfortable for her!

But she has fantastic hair!

And she's a GARGOYLE! Love those wings!!!

These dolls are just so great at posing and supporting their own weight! Even Barbie rolls over more often than not when you just try to sit her in a simple sitting position on a smooth surface! These girls can do so much! They can even kneel!

Here's that bowed back that these girls are famous for! It is quite solid and easy to grip between your thumb and forefinger when brushing their hair! Despite their thin arms and legs, these dolls are relatively heavy! The weighting seems to allow them to hold poses well!

The travel bag she comes with is nicely detailed, with a retractable handle.

It doesn't snap shut but it does hold all of Rochelle's accessories, along wit all of Lagoona's!

This doll came with a brush and a stand also. The brush is useless but I am very glad to have a stand for her, even though she stands well on her own. Here are both Monster High ghouls next to Tinker Belle. It is amazing to me that Tink cost only $3 less that either Lagoona or Rochelle. They are worth so much more, being better quality and more poseable!

All in all, I am very impressed with Monster High dolls. The quality and flexibility and creativity! Being able to put bracelets on by removing the hands is brilliant! Plus, if I wanted to, I could mix and match their parts! Maybe Lagoona will turn to stone slowly if she doesn't get to water.......

Endless possibilities! I love dolls that foster creativity and these dolls, even with their written bios, do that in spades! I still think that Rochelle would be better with shorter hair, to show off those great wings! Who knows! Perhaps there is a haircut in her future! I am getting creative now too!

UPDATE! I did give Rochelle a great hair cut! I am recording the crafts that are inspired by the dolls I review on a new blog called Christina's Crafty Dollhouse! I want to keep this blog just for reviews but I really, really, really love to craft so I will post tutorials and pictures of my work on the Crafty Dollhouse! Come visit soon and see what I'm up to.......

Monster High Lagoona Blue by Mattel

So I have been OBSESSED with Monster High dolls lately! It happened quite unexpectedly when I ran across this great blog by Toy Box Philosopher. I had really brushed these dolls aside when they came out in 2010. Actually, my reaction was a little stronger and quite a bit more negative. My step-daughter liked these dolls and, to me, they seemed a little outlandish. I couldn't stand the tight, splashy print clothes my step-daughter was becoming fond of and I just thought these dolls were going too much in that direction. I really, really wish I had given them a chance, asked more questions, looked a little closer. I wish my step-daughter had tried to show me why she thought they were great. These dolls perhaps could have been the key to open the lock on a much better relationship. Ah, regrets.....

Reading about these dolls and their quirky stories has been quite an education! Each doll is the daughter of some sort of monster and each doll has their own bio, complete with their fashion style, favourite food, favourite subject in school, and such!

I normally am not terribly happy when the Christmas decorations go into stores in September but since that means my local BJ's Wholesale has an entire aisle of TOYS, I will let it slide! I wasn't 2 feet down the aisle when I spotted the Monster High dolls! They were only $15.99! I picked out my two favourites of the bunch that was offered, figuring by the end of shopping I would decide which I preferred. Needless to say, I walked out of the store with two dolls......

The first review will be Lagoona Blue! This particular Lagoona is from the Dot Dead Gorgeous line of dolls. The outfits are based on a webisode more commonly known as Night of a Thousand Dots.

I was so excited to open my very first Monster High doll! She was just beautifully displayed in the box!

The back has some great graphics and Lagoona's schedule for the day of the party!

It was frighteningly easy to open the flaps on the outer box and take out the cardboard insert holding the doll and her party accessories. No tape, no fuss....

I knew I would pay the price with all the elastics to snip and ties to unravel....

But, honestly, it could have been much, much worse! Tinker Belle, in my last review, was more complicated! Before I knew it, I had all the pieces out of the box and ready to play!

She was just beautiful!!! I have heard mixed reviews about the doll stands that come with Monster High dolls. I have heard that they muss up the clothes and break easily. But I still am happy that it is one of the accessories. I like stands for my dolls. It makes display easier, for me at least! I have a 140 pound Saint Bernard that is as clumsy as she is huge! She is always bumping into tables and things, knocking over dolls all along the way! These probably won't "stand" up to her bonking around but they are definitely better than nothing! The dolls are actually pretty solid and stable. Just added "insurance", I guess!

Plus, with a stand you can do this:

Lagoona's outfit is very pretty. A strapless bodice with a multi-layered, asymmetrical skirt and a belt with a starfish on it. Since Lagoona is the daughter of the Sea Monster, everything has an oceanic feel to it. Her shoes are shells with a pearl on the strap. She has a netting sleeve for one arm and "bubbly" jewelry.

If she had one fin at the waist instead of removable ones on her legs, she'd be a perfect mermaid!

 I love the "wave" that her bangs are in, even though they are very, very crunchy with product! Her eyes are gorgeous and the sprinkling of freckles is just too cute!!! She has rosy lips an just a touch of iridescence on her upper eye shadow. 

Her ears are fins! The details on this doll are terrific!

Her hair is super soft and styled in a side-ponytail, with a matching shell and pearl holder. Her skin tone is a lovely, watery blue and even her hands are webbed, with fins on her arms!!!

When I took off her ponytail holder, it resembles a little ring. I think it may be split like that so it can go back on easier, but it is a good enough size that I can see a little girl happily wearing it!

I wanted to see her hair down, it is so silky and long! But it was a scary mess!

My days working at American Girl served me well because a little spritz and a wire brush did the trick!

I took a look at her scalp and her hair was rather sparsely rooted and thicker on one side. I don't know if this was just my doll but her hair seemed to be more thickly rooted right where the ponytail originally was.

But Lagoona is a very peaceful looking doll. She really has a very distinct personality!

The straps on her little dress are a little tough to get over her webbed hands but the dress is well made for such a small piece of clothing! Also, her hands are removable, which you have to do to get her bracelets off anyway! I was very nervous about this! I felt like I was going to break her! But I was happily surprised when her hands came off easily and snapped right back on! 

To get her tight little dress on her, you have to remove her leg fins. I think this is a nice feature of these dolls. There may come a time when I want her to wear a pair of pants and the fins may get in the way! The notches on each leg are different so you can never put the fins on wrong!

She comes with some other accessories too. A phone, with a slide-out keyboard (wow!), a purse that doesn't open (huh?), a compact that snaps closed (but I can't see it lasting very long, the plastic joint was already wearing thin and white after a few snaps), and a Monster High skull brush. The brush really doesn't work well. It's cute but a wire brush is much better on the saran wig hairs.

These dolls are beautifully articulated with 9 joints. Lagoona can touch her hair and face!

The body is very solid and sturdy. The legs and arms are long and slim, making her easy to pose. I don't know how they do it (maybe the bigger head size?) but she can easily stand on her own!

With heels like that though, I know she is as happy as I am that she came with a stand!

All in all, I know that my Monster High obsession is going to be long and involved! These dolls are just amazing! They pose in such expressive ways that they convey all sorts of emotion very easily! I can see why my step-daughter enjoyed them! They are definitely NOT your average fashion doll!!! A very playable doll for an excellent price!