Operetta Didn’t Look Like The Cartoon So I Re-Painted Her

Operetta looks like this in the webisodes (she is really pretty I think):

From  phototvs.com.

But the doll looks like this (not as pretty at all  I think):

From instant_music on Flickr.

So I like it when the dolls look like the cartoon and I don’t like it when the dolls don’t look like the webisodes (with 2 exceptions: I think the Venus and Toralei dolls look better than the cartoon).

So anyways, I repainted Operetta to look more cartoony. She is not perfect, but I tried my best.

I tried to fix her hair to look like the cartoon too.

Well, c’est tout. Comment anytime!

Skelita Calaveras of Monster High Scaris Review

So of course there was no Jinafire on account of the fact that Monster High is plagued with the most incompetent dum-dums possible in their logistics department who, for some inscrutable reason, think we want another stupid version of Frankie and/or Clawdeen but have no interest in new character dolls.

BUT, they did have Skelita, which was pretty exciting.

Skelita has a gorgeous hairdo, I really love it. The orange hi-lights add some spiciness, and her “sugar skull” make-up gives her a very kind looking face. She looks so sweet! And maybe it is just the power of suggestion, but to me, she really looks Mexican (like her, not just the clothes). I know that sounds weird, because she is a skeleton doll, but she (to my mind) is so well done, she really captures the Hispanic spirit and just seems genuinely to be what the designers set out to make her. So the concept was incredibly well executed.

As for the outfit, it is pretty awesome. I’m not sure they can outdo the coolness factor of the colorful “paper flags” skirt (which is removable, her blouse is actually a sheath dress), and her orange necklace is intricate and pretty too. I don’t particularly care for her belt, which is fairly plain brown plastic. Maybe it is supposed to replicate tooled leather handicrafts? But it just isn’t very special. Her green espadrille shoes are very cool though. The lime green plastic is almost transluscent, and the wedge heels have subtle designs on them.

WHAT I DID NOT LIKE ABOUT SCARIS SKELITA CALAVERAS:

1. NO PET. She comes with a suitcase. And while the suitcase does not entirely get my disdain because it does open up, the handle slides up and down like on the real thing, and the wheels on the bottom really turn, the suitcase should be either: 1.) like the purse, in addition to the pet, or 2.) a accessory that can be purchased in a fashion pack. Skelita (ESPECIALLY if this is her basic doll) should have come with a pet. It is disappointing that she doesn’t come with the skeleton dog on the cover of her sketchbook or the butterfly she mentions in her writing.

2. Her bones aren’t as detailed as the Create-A-Monster Add-On skeleton. This really irks me. Maybe she is a sugar skeleton? In that case maybe she wouldn’t be as detailed as a real skeleton? I don’t know. That just doesn’t seem right, especially since her torso is so detailed. And because she is the daughter of skeletons, not candy people. I do like that her torso, thighs, and upper arms are bones and not just fleshy like the CAM skeleton had to make do with, but I do not like that the leg bones and lower arms don’t have spaces between the bones like they should. This just seems sloppy to me, especially when the CAM is already so detailed and they could very easily have made her the same. Also, the details on the feet don’t stand out as sharply on Skelita, and her hands are soft, almost rubbery. Again, the CAM is better done to my mind, as it is more realistic. The Create-A-Monster Add-On skeleton hands are hard plastic. Very stiff, like actual bones, and the detail on the feet are so beautiful and realistic that I don’t put shoes on her feet. Maybe I should stress how cool her torso is. IT IS SO COOL! The ribs are separated by spaces. That is yet another reason I can’t figure out why they did her lower legs and lower arms stupidly. WHY DID THEY DO THAT? AND WHY DIDN’T THEY USE HARDER PLASTIC? bleh. dumb. I also hate that unlike CAMs, the heads do not pop on and off. You have to hope you don’t break the piece holding it on. Heaven help you if you want to swap the heads on the regular dolls. I hate those stupid neck pieces, both on Monster High and on Barbie. These pieces limit head mobility and cause broken hearts when the heads get broken off. RETIRE THESE STUPID EASY-BREAK NECK/HEAD CONNECTOR PIECES ALREADY MATTEL! GAH!

Bonita Calcic the French-Cambodian and Skelita Calaveras the Mexican, new friends

 

Bare Bones

Leg bones comparison. The one on the left (Create-A-Monster skeleton) is better

Arm bones comparison: CAM skeleton has realistic cool spaces, Skelita does not. Skelita’s fingers are flimsy and not as well defined either, although they had the decency to put the spaces in the hands.

Awesome hollow ribcage with spaces between the ribs, detailed vertebrae all the way to the head, even the fused bones in the pelvis are detailed.

L. H. O. Q.

I also think it would have been better and less disturbing if Skelita had a CAM-like head, so that her hair would be a removable wig. This is mostly psychological, but it nags at my mind that her hair is root. She is bones! She doesn’t have a actual scalp, you know, the part ABOVE the skull? Plus, I like the ability to swap out hair styles, but I know lots of people like rooted hair better (not me), so I guess I am just nit-picking about my ‘druthers. Again, I think her hairstyle is really beautiful and perfect for her character.

I would also have liked her sketchbook to be like the diaries: more personal content, more action. This is more like her goals and hopes. Not much writing, although the pictures were cool.

Should you buy this doll? Haven’t you learned to buy a basic of every doll because they become insanely desirable the exact moment they are nowhere to be found (or in approximately 3 weeks from now) by now? Even without the past experience of wanting all the dolls that are no longer available, Skelita is such a pretty doll and a very interesting-looking character. I also have a feeling that she will play a fairly good-sized role in the webisodes, especially because she is ethnic. So I would recommend you get her. Her cool torso alone is worth the buy, but she has a lovable face and a lovely, unique outfit. I wish they had done a couple things better or differently, but on the whole I am really impressed by Skelita. They obviously put a lot of thought into her design, and they really pulled off the effect they were trying to create very well. Rating:  4.6 Smileys (out of 5)  🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂

I just thought I would mention that a few people don’t like the painted-on stitches designs on the corners of her mouth. I personally think they work fine. But if they ruin the doll for you, a little acetone (nail polish remover, but it should be pure acetone) and a Q-Tip (or generic cotton swab even) will wipe them quickly and precisely away. Be careful and use good lighting if you decide to do that though.

I hope they put Skelita in the Monster High marching band. I speculate that she plays ocarina or percussion. Or trumpet.

But no, she’ll be into clothes like everyone else. humph.

Anyways…

FELIZ NAVIDAD!!!!

 

More Monster High/Adventure Time Love (Featuring The Mystical Design Lab Add-On Pack) Lady Rainicorn!

So it started with this picture from Tumblr:

And when the Monster High Mythical Design Lab Add-On pack was released, I knew instantly what I wanted to do with it.

Introducing the newest student at Monster High, Lady Rainicorn!

You may be asking, “Why is her dress so obviously clear vinyl covered in hot glue and table-scatter diamonds?”

Here’s the long answer:

Originally I wanted to make her just like the drawing, and I thought I would be able to because in the Design Lab Add-On pack there was a prominently placed torso, and on the back there was a picture of a pearl pink thigh that clearly matched the pearl pink leg. “Wonderful!” I thought, “Mattel has finally heard us and put all the pieces to make whole, matching dolls in these Create-A-Monster packs!” Although I didn’t actually see the thighs or upper arms in the package window, I thought it was pretty obvious that they were behind the label.

You know what’s coming next.

Th torsos are now in there, just like we pleaded for, but in a big fat stingy move of ill-will (or control, not sure which), they still don’t include the crucial upper arms and thighs (although, they do put a conveniently misleading picture of the matching thigh and leg on the back). I was absolutely furious. Felt very cheated too. No clothes, no wig, no make-up, but same price as the regular CAM Add-Ons and more expensive than the CAM 2 packs, if you divide the $20 cost by 2 because now you get 2 full dolls in them as well as a comb and stand.

I wish Monster High would ditch the “Add-Ons” concept and just release the dolls in the Create-A-Monster 2 packs that they would have released as add-ons. The way it is now, it’s frustrating and poor value.

Anyways, so having no matching upper arms or thighs (the pink limbs of the unicorn most closely match Operetta’s skin tone, but they are pearly), I had to improvise. I used the upper arms and thighs from a extra set of Mattel.com-purchased torsos and sacrificed a witch CAM for the lower arms and legs. 😦

So instead of the first idea, to do a solid pink doll and outfit her in a rainbow dress, I did a rainbow-limbed doll and put her in a diamond crystal dress.

But why a acrylic diamond dress?

Because I couldn’t afford real diamonds (ha ha). Actually, I couldn’t think of what to do, but you know how Rainicorns live in the Crystal Dimension? Well, that’s what it is: a Crystal Dimension dress.

More pic spam (I’m way more proud of her than I should be, but darn it I think she’s pretty. Also, I love Adventure Time). The face was painted with acrylics. The wig is a Moxie Teenz wig (it is very good quality, only cost $5 at Toys R Us). Jake came from a action figure 2 pack with BMO I got on sale at Wal-Mart for $7.

“Remember that time we ran naked through that farmer’s cabbage patch?” (Lady allegedly says this in Korean in “My Two Favorite People”.

Bye! Comment anytime!

Happy Halloween!

Hope the Great Pumpkin brings you many treats! And if I don’t talk to you before then, may you also have a Blessed All Saints’ Day and All Souls’ Day!

Evicted! (Because I Love Monster High And Adventure Time)

Oh Marceline

Can’t you see these guys are in pain?

“No I can’t.”

“I’m invested in this very cute video game.”

My Version Of Selma Slime of Monster High

So there are a ton of awesome custom and original characters for and from Monster High, but one of my favorites is Selma Slime by Dr. FrankenDesign. She epitomizes creepy cool.

I wanted to make my own version, so when I saw the bright green lipstick and hair highlights on Roller Maze Frankie, I decided I would make my own Selma Slime.

Ta-Da!

Now please bear with me as I explain: I didn’t repaint her and this is why:

I think her facepaint is pretty wonderful as it is. I really like it. But the Frankie dolls never looked like Frankie does from the cartoon, which bothers me. So I intend to repaint Wave 1 Basic Frankie to look like Frankie from the cartoon instead, so they won’t look like twins, they will look like 2 totally different characters.

I put green teardrop beads in her hair to look like slime is dripping from her scalp. I put drips of hotglue on her legs, arms, back, stomach, neck, and forehead. I also painted her fingernails and toenails lime green to match her hair and lips. I thought the dress she came with was also pretty perfect for the character, so I am leaving it on. I hope to buy the shoes from Draculaura as Snow Bite from the Scarily Ever After editions so she will have shoes to wear.

If you want to know how to bead your doll’s hair too, here is how:

You know how doll hair is a bunch of tiny plugs coming through tiny holes? Take one small hank of hair (one hole’s-worth), wet the end with water (just like you would wet thread before putting it through the eye of a needle so that the fibers all stick together) and thread it through a crimp bead.

I hope you can see here that the lock of hair was threaded through a crimp bead and then the crimp bead was pushed to the scalp. I’m a designer Jim, not a photographer! *

Take a bead and string it on a length of fishing line. Decide how long you want the bead to hang. Then put the 2 ends of the fishing line also through the crimp bead. Crush the crimp bead closed with flat pliers.

Tell me what you think! Leave me a comment!

* That was a  Original Series Star Trek reference.

New Arrivals Monster High Wave 4

I finally found the new ghouls (Wave 4) from Monster High at the local Wal-Mart! Was I excited? Yes. Was I delighted? Yes. Here’s what I think about them starting with:

ROBECCA STEAM

I fully expected that Rochelle would be my favorite. I like her ALOT, but Robecca is my favorite of the 3. She is BEAUTIFULLY done. She is incredibly detailed, her face paint (her eyes are large and like the cartoon! Good!) and mold is gorgeous, and her wavy hair is lovely and luxurious. Her penguin is also very cute and detailed. One thing I really love is that she looks so tribal. I can’t tell if she is from Spain or Africa or from a tribe in Sri Lanka, but she has a very ethnic flair. I know that Monster dolls are not supposed to have a racial base, and I am not one of those people that thinks that a group of white people is somehow inferior or illegitimate if there is not a “person of color” or 2 with them, because they are not. But variety is the spice of life, and I appreciate the looks of this doll.

The details are awesome! Her entire skin looks like plates of metal secured with rivets. The pets are improving in detail and cuteness. And her clock-purse has a articulated pendulum that dangles side to side and actually opens! It has a oilcan nozzle coming out of it, ha ha!

Her eyes are even painted to look like sprockets! In my Monster High “universe,” she is best friends with Graphite Metallica, the daughter of the Alchemist and the feisty Clawdeen Wolf.

What I really did not like about Robecca:

Her shoes and goggles (with antenna!) are awesome and the best parts of the outfit. The “metal cage” skirt would be cool too, but that bright blue color just spoils the look. The same for the purse and the arm cuff. I guess they were trying to balance the copper with the blue in her hair or something, but it looks cheesy, unrealistic, and cheap to me. I really don’t like the earrings either, I think that they should have looked cooler than flat clocks on “chain”. The same for her shirt and jacket. Sort of dull really. I really wish she would have come with a ring like Operetta and Nefera did.
Would I recommend this doll though? YES. She is one of the prettiest and coolest Monster High dolls they have released so far.

ROCHELLE GOYLE

She is soooo pretty. There is not one thing about this doll that was not done impeccably. Her face mold and paint is so delicate and lovely (her eyes are large and look like the cartoon! Win!), the details are wonderful, well-thought and executed (the upward tilting eyebrows, the cool ears, the claw nails, the cracks running throught the wings.) The best detail is the flecked “granite” skin. The flecked rock skin really wowed me. Again, the pets seem to be getting better and better. Her pet griffin Roux is so tiny but highly detailed and very cool looking.

Her outfit is worthy of the doll. Her headband, chandelier earrings, necklace, bracelet cuff, and shoes are very nice. The iridescent flock skirt is gothic chic, and the Breton stripes of her shirt made me laugh. Stereotypical French wear. My favorite part of the outfit? Those dainty pink stockings. Perfection. I would have liked her to come with a ring like Operetta and Nefera, but no complaints.

In my Monster High “universe”, Rochelle would be best friends with Draculaura, Chariclo, and Operetta.

VENUS MCFLYTRAP

Venus was a cool concept, and the doll is cool too I guess, but to me she was disappointing. So I’ll start with what I liked, and then move on to the long list of what I wish had been different.

What I liked:

The concept of a plant monster doll

She is environmentally conscious and she has a realistic reusable shopping bag as a purse. Ha ha! Cool!

He ear has 4 rings in it.

Her pet plant Chewlian is probably my favorite of all the pets. He really is creepy cool, and well done and detailed.

Her leafy textured, long fingered hands.

What I didn’t like:

Everything else. For example…

The fact that they already had a awesome background character plant monster who looks just like the daughter of the plant monster (picture from the Monster High Wiki). She would have been a awesome cool doll, unusual and not like the others. Venus looks too humanoid, like this guy:

The Green Man! Picture from Antares Design. So it would have been cool if she was the daughter of the Green Man. Or a dryad. Or a Ent. But they could have done that better, by making her face and body and limbs textured (they did with the Dragon Girl Create-A-Monster, remember?) with leaves, just like they did with her hands and ears. Her eyes are way thin and don’t look like the cartoon, which is a major annoyance to me. Her clothes are ugly and unoriginal and garish, the shoes are clunky and unattractive and garish, albeit detailed. I mean, I get it that she’s all about reducing, reusing, and recycling, but did she have to pick the ugliest rags from the garbage to wear? The 4 rings in one ear is soooo cool, but is ruined by the other ear not matching, instead having a single dangly earring. The mismatched earrings deal was cool once or twice, but now that every single new doll has earrings that don’t match, it just is gimmicky and irritating to me. I feel likewise unimpressed (read “hate”) about the half-shaved head. So should you buy Venus McFlytrap? Well, that is up to you. She’s okay, but she had so much more potential, that she is just disappointing and schlocky to me.

Venus and Oleandra, the 2 plant monster dolls.They aren’t friends, I just wanted to picture them together.

Even though her story says she feeds on Sunlight and water, Venus has 6 (yes, 6!) white fangs. That would be really cool on some other doll, but is out of place on her.

We’re HUNGRY!!!!!

We want Bone Meal!!

(Run Bonita! Run!)

Why Is Monster High So Cool?

Why is Monster High so addictive? There have been a lot of cool toys since I became a adult (like this, for instance), but Monster High is so cool I have actually bought the dolls. And bought them. And bought them. I really think they are neat, but I can’t pinpoint exactly why. To be fair, when I first saw them, I was disgusted. “Monster dolls?! What are they thinking! That’s twisted.” But then I saw Lagoona, and I was like, “Wait, is that like a mermaid or a water sprite? That’s…kinda cool.” And then, when I saw the online cartoon, I was completely won over. I keep doing that. I’ll see a new Monster High doll, be very not impressed, but it will grow on me and grow on me, and then I’ll buy it. And once it’s home, out of the package, I’ll think “Whoa. Pretty.” They are just too unique and cool. Can’t explain it.

One thing I truly love about Monster High is that someone knows what they are doing. Finally.

They shoved the marketers out of the way and let the designers do their thing. Result: Less pink, more realism, highly poseable, good quality, detailed dolls. Best of all (to me), they RELEASED BACKGROUND CHARACTERS. Characters that you can swap the hair on and the heads can pop on and off easily (and theoretically other body parts, even though they look silly with mismatched arms and torsos)! I just have to say that it is maddening that all of Mattel’s other dolls have heads that break off… and do not go back on. What is so hard about making dolls that have heads that go right back on if they come off!?

If you have grown up in the past 2,000 years or so, you had about 3 main character dolls to choose from (exception: Star Wars, but only because Kenner and Hasbro are the best toy companies ever). That’s it. I had always wanted more characters, the background people. 800 variations of Barbie or Mulan or whatever still look like Barbie or Mulan. Not like the mom, or the funny grandma, or anyone else. Even if your imagination is hyperactive, you can only suspend disbelief so much. (And it is impossible to customize your dolls at age 7 when you can barely draw a house much less paint a realistic eye and Mom won’t let you think the word “paints” because of the new carpeting that cost a ungodly amount of money and is the color of bleached cotton). Now it seems, the people who were young when I was a child felt the same way and are doing something about it.

Anyway, enough ranting. Here are my Create-A-Monsters and their fan-fiction backgrounds.

Oleandra StranglerFig

Resisting the urge to make her a witch named Ephaba, she is instead the offspring of a dryad or Leshii (her name implies a Banyan dryad, but how cool would a Teak dryad be? Or a Cannonball tree! Neem (toothbrush) tree?) and the Forest Wizard. So she is basically a plant monster. She spends most of her time reading. She plays trumpet (and sometimes piccolo) in band and is secretary of both History and Dead Languages Clubs. She has lots of friendly acquaintances, but no close friends. She doesn’t know it, but she wants to be a designer and interior architect when she grows up. She is a latent bohemian free spirit, but hasn’t really found herself. She is considered “the second smartest ghoul in school” because her parents demand good grades from her and expect her to be a doctor, but she doesn’t have a passion for academics like Ghoulia. She is painfully shy, but loves to laugh. Her middle name is Rafflesia.

I LOVE this doll’s face mold and painting. I think they did a marvelous job, she is so lovely. She is wearing the blue wig from the Skeleton Create-A-Monster pack, which I think is just perfect for her.  And darn it, I LOVE that little hat. Ooh, perfection. Also appreciate the hand making a “o.k.” sign. Or adding a pinch of something to a cauldron. Or holding a pencil. Very cool.

Which brings us to…

Bonita Calcic

The name Bonita is not my idea. I read someone else had named their Skeleton Girl CAM that, and I thought it was pretty funny. So I did too. Bonita makes me think of the nun and novice on the episode “The Road Not Taken” from Season 2 of MacGuyver. Bold, daring, generous, capable, and determined. She is in the Nursing program at Monster High, and also is in Auto Shop “because it’s good to know how to fix things”. After she graduates, she becomes a RN (Registered Nurse)
and helps out the International Red Cross for many years, to do good and have adventure. She’s got the heart and faith of the Sisters of Charity, the impeccability and determination of Florence Nightingale, Mary Seacole, and my own grandma (who was a nurse too!), and the some of the gritty attitude of Major Houlihan of M*A*S*H.

Being bare bone, she has no hair (her eyelashes are fakies). Instead she wears bindis, like cool women with cancer do. Despite looking like death, she has a great bedside manner.

She has a pet cassowary named Ossuary. Just kidding, I just wanted to say that.

This doll’s face paint is not fabulous to me (I really don’t like it), but it’ll do (I’m not confident enough to try to do a re-paint on her). And the lack of matching torso, upper arms, and thighs, is just disappointing (she is using the Werewolf Create-A-Monster torso/upper limbs here). HOWEVER, the pieces they did put in the package made buying her worth it. Her hands and feet are BEAUTIFULLY done, the details on the feet (especially on the bottom of her feet) are awesome and accurate, so much so that I don’t want to cover them up with shoes. They are just too cool. The dress, wig, hair clip, and shoes they put with her look great on other dolls, but not her, I think. Here, she is wearing the Werewolf CAM dress and a purple jeweled bindi.

Graphite Metallica

Yes, I know she is Frankie from Skull Shores. But she looks like a completely different character, so I made her a completely different character. She is the daughter of a Alchemist. She is adorned with skeletal formula hexagons (benzene rings): earrings, bracelet, and shoes.

I’m saying that the silver stitches are actually veins of metal elements in her skin (vanadium, thulium, and bismuth, anyone?). She looks like a dreamer. I think she would do Renaissance-style paintings and metal working in school.

This is a really beautiful doll. The fact that they released a grey-scale Frankie a la the Comic Con exclusive gives me hope that they will release Scarah Screams and Hoodude too (oh I hope they do!). I love that they made her, and all her details, from shoes to silver shiny bolts to grey-scale heterochromatic eyes. I especially like her hair. It has been completely gelled down (not sticky, hard), so it’s basically impossible to mess up or get scruffy. Plus it looks cool. Bad thing: the stand base will not stay on the stick part of the stand. If you pick her up, the bottom falls off! But she was only $4.18 at HEB (the best grocery store in Texas), so a little Duco Cement (trademark) and I have no complaints.

Amarlda Agartha

I also thought of naming her Thora TreasureHoarder. She is a Scandinavian Dragondottir from the Norway region. Or maybe she is the offspring of giant, flying, lost world jungle lizards that look like dragons. Something like that. She plays trombone in the band and makes art books for fun. I think she grows up to be a explorer of some kind, either a mapmaker or maybe a freelancing naturalist for National Geographic. Her favorite books are by Thor Heyerdahl.

Another awesomely done background character (that we have never seen in the cartoon *frowny face*), the idea of a dragon girl was interesting to begin with and executed very well. I mean, the textured scaly skin and transparent little wings are so darn cool, as is the expressive, determined yet friendly face. One really cool thing about Monster High dolls is that they look BETTER at home, out of the package than they do in the store. You know how often that happens? Almost never. Monster High is pretty unique.

Coelacanth Cthulhu

Her middle name is Lathi. She is the daughter of the Kraken and a Sea Hag. She is in choir and runs track. She wants to be a model or a artist, or both when she grows up. I think she grows up to be a amazing jewelry designer like Temple St. Clair or Mikimoto.

Here she is wearing a Liv wig. I want to paint her tentacle tendrils and leg fins a teal to match her lips like I have seen some other people do. Her eye paint could have been better I think. I would have liked her to look a bit more cartoony and less heavily made up, but it’s o.k.

Some people have modified their Monster High Abbies and Frankies to look truly like the daughter of the Cthulhu. Very cool:

From DeviantArt

From CaityStrange on etsy $70 found on Pinterest

Here is a coelacanth picture if you’ve never seen one from here. They can get HUGE, up to 6 feet. They are AWESOME.

Also a arapaima because they are my favorite fish. From here.

Fright On! Vampires From Vampire Create-A-Monster Set

The vampire from the Create-A-Monster Vampire/Sea Monster kit looks just like Gory and her (unnamed as far as I know) friend from the film Fright On!

From here.

“Gory” is wearing the wig from the Witch/Werecat Create-A-Monster kit. I think this wig should have been black, even if used for the witch or werecat. I think the purple/blue color choice was terrible 😦

Gory is leader of the Belfry Preparatory School’s Fearleading Team. She must be on the Student Council. She probably becomes a accountant or a lawyer, and more than likely a control freak politician.

I need her some glasses and to add her mole. If you don’t know already, DO NOT USE SHARPIE/PERMANENT MARKER ON YOUR DOLLS. IT WILL BLEED OVER TIME AND LOOK TERRIBLE!! Really.

Her friend, who I am hoping that the designers and animators will eventually name (meanwhile I’m calling her Valpurgina or Nocticula in homage to The Secret of Platform 13 by Eva Ibbotson, my favorite author), is wearing the wig and barrette that came with the vampire pack. I’m thrilled that she actually came with parts that match her character in the show! In the movie she is on the Fearleading team, but I would like to add my fan-fic and say that she is surely in cosmetology. The cartoon version looks like she would also be in choir, but the doll looks like she would play French horn in band.

I LOVE this doll too. This doll has the best face of all the Monster High dolls in opinion. She is so pretty, especially the eyes. She just has a elegance to her. And I love the fact that she looks very similar to the cartoon characters and has accessories to reinforce this. The wig was poorly done, however. The bang-roll is too high, so that the forehead looks very big and one can see the clear plastic wig under-cap. But she is so, so pretty.

Werewolf

From SerenaMoonstone’s Flickr

I was really excited about this one too because she is also a background character from Fright On! the movie. I hope the designers and animators name her eventually and we get to know her better.
She looks very bohemian/hippie.

I also tried dressing her in the Skeleton CAM clothes. I think it works on her.

I don’t like the face paint. I plan on re-doing the eyes so that she looks more like the cartoon. As she is, she looks kind of ugly. But at least they made her at all! Also sucks: The Ears. They are like barrettes that clip into the hair. So they slip and look wonky and uneven and bad. They should have made the ears like jack prongs and corresponding holes in the wig. Clothes to match the movie would have been nice

Crysta Cat-Person

From Monster High Wiki

Crysta Cat is another character I sure wish we would see more of and would have more importance in the stories. I call her Crysta because…

From Animation Anomaly

She looks just like a catgirl version of Crysta from Fern Gully! Although it always bothered me that Crysta the Fairy had short, poofy hair. She should have had long, straight hair. But whatever. I liked Magi Lune the best anyway.

The doll looks like this:

Again, the wig that came with the Werecat/Witch set should have been black. The blue/purple just was a terrible choice I think. And her eye paint was not well done either, I don’t think. They should make the dolls look more like the cartoon! It just looks better! I am going to try to repaint her since MATTEL REFUSES TO MAKE THEIR DOLLS LOOK LIKE THE ART THEY ARE BASED UPON!!!

If I get another werecat CAM doll, I would like to make the catgirl extra with big cat ears and straight hair too. The doll comes with a pair of those bad ear-barrettes too.

Again from the Monster High Wiki.

Overall the Create-A-Monster kits, like the rest of the Monster High line, are too darn cool. And they are well made. Except for discount Skull Shore Frankie’s (Graphite Metallica) defective stand, I have had no problems at all, and besides the not-cartoony face paints and lack of torsos and upper limbs on some of the CAMs, I really like them, especially the clothes, hair, accessories, and concept.

Why are Monster High Dolls addictive? I guess because they’re alot of fun.

Give me some feedback! Leave a comment, I would love to read what you think! Seriously, do it! Thanks!

First

So my first post will be a tip I wish I had thought of when I first started using the internet:

When you save a picture, name it the website you got it off of (whatever com), the description it was given, and maybe even the date it was posted. It could save you

so

much

time.

Seriously, it’s nice to be able to quickly find the post the picture is from, or revisit the site for newer good content. Instead of cute but completely unhelpful and irrelevant titles (like I used to do.)