MH's reboot is... a thing.
Dec. 30th, 2015 10:03 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
impyJust once I'd like my days off to be drama free. Just once is all I'm asking. (Tip: if your flaky sibling finally introduces you to someone and is talking marriage, I'm gonna need you to run. Run far and don't look back because I promise you, drama llamas are waiting patiently to appear. Run.)
Moving onward, I believe we were going to discuss Monster High's new direction. I wish their little video hadn't been taken down as it was just a giant video of WTF. "They say MH is TOO DARK... has no message ..." and then we get a burst of "Well that's now who we are, it's time for a new look" and the new faceups appear.
Pictures under the cut because I think we both know I'm gonna go to town.
So... that's some special 'shop going on there, Mattel, but considering the Shriek Wrecked issue you have, I'll allow it.
A couple of things immediately pop out at me.
1) Why are Frankie and Draculaura sporting entirely new looks while Cleo and poor Clawdeen are wearing their usual sig looks? I might buy that they consider Cleo's look either timeless or just figure that even with the Original Ghoul ReRelease they just did, not as many people have Cleo as have the rest... but still. What the heck.
2) The differences aren't super drastic. Draculaura's is the most obvious, but she was never meant to be a somber vamp so it fits. Frankie looks sweet and Clawdeen is clearly dubious about this whole venture, while Cleo is above it all.
3) Draculaura's fashion continues to be exceptionally hit or miss for me. This is cute but I'm gonna get really tired of it, really fast and I can tell that already. Sigh. Frankie, however, is looking pretty adorable, ugly yellow earrings not withstanding. (Also, no plaid!)
So on the new face front, I'm still firmly in the camp of "this isn't bad." It's a little less... good when you realize that they're switching CGI formats again, which leads us to the next point.
Welcome To Monster High seems to be a reboot of the line. Which is well and good, but we've been introduced to Monster High so many times that at this point I feel like you've got twenty different openings to the line, be it in book form or CGI, or animation, or the dolls or... honestly, I'm pretty sure each movie takes time out of it's little hour long format to introduce you to the wonders of MH the school and the world. It's a bit much. Kids might have attention problems but seriously, it's only going to be worse if they tune out for the same information given over and over.
But mostly I'm not here for Count Fabulous being replaced by a spider who reminds me of Operetta's pet. NO. Just a thousand, billion times no.
So the switch to new faces isn't to match the current looks they've got going, it's to match the new look they'll be rolling out. Which again begs the question of why Clawdeen and Cleo didn't get makeovers, too. (Also, Count Fabulous. Neptuna. COME BACK.)
Well... lines have to reboot, I guess. At this point I'm a little less on-board than I was initially, but I'm willing to give it a shot, y'know?
And then the rest of the survey things leaked and it was just painful.
Neptuna, why are you a (very cute) turtle? But okay. Lagoona here hasn't changed much. Her outfit is kind of hideous and kind of not, as a lot of Lagoona outfits tend to be. There's nothing about this that says I wouldn't buy it, though some part of me wishes they'd given her a little change, too. But considering it could have been a change I hated, well, thank your lucky stars, self.
Okay, well. First things first, Nefera has the cat connection and while Hisette might not have been my favorite pet, it worked for Cleo, and made her relationship with Deuce even cuter somehow. Giving her a cute but bland cat isn't exactly a step in the right direction. But whatever.
You'll note the molded bandages on Cleo's body but also the fact that she seems to have her current face, mostly. So maybe it's not going to be all huge eyes all the time? I dunno. I dislike blonde Cleo so... this is a very mixed bag for me.
Compare her to this, however, and... Sigh. I get that there's a reason to have Budget dolls. Little hands coming off is really great for fun outfits (not that the average MH outfit lately has been anything more than these blasted mini dresses, so who needs the removable hands for those) but not so great for little kids, but the initial budget dolls are usually 11.99 or so on Amazon. And I'll grant you that Frankie is stunning, but 11.99 is more expensive than the articulated basic beach kind of lines, and at Christmas you could easily find regular MH dolls for under $10 without even trying all that hard. So I'm not buying that the budget line is meant to loop in kids or people without all the disposable income, though I will buy the going for the much younger kids.
Which is dangerous, Mattel, and I'm not sure how often this has been brought up. Older tween/teens (is tween a thing still?) aren't exactly thrilled when their 4 year old sister is getting the same thing that they are at the ripe old age of 13. It's a bit of a buzzkill for a lot of kids. Go ask the skewing ever younger AG market how much they like it, and those suckers are infinitely more expensive.
All that without even discussing Cleo's abnormally large eyes. I've made that face, Cleo, when attempting to see just how innocent I could look right before getting a headache because it hurts to force your eyes to be that wide. Sigh.
Here we have an example of the SUPER budget dolls. These remind me of the ones you can find at grocery stores. Pretty sure that top ain't coming off and those knees aren't articulated, so yeah, 5.99 is a fair enough price. That said, I don't see these coming home with me. Ever. At least not until we break out of Frankie/Draculaura territory, and even then I'll bitch mightily.
Including this one because I think Frankie looks adorable. I'm wondering whether people have been rebodying the current budgets or not with any luck.
Also adorable, but for 24.99, I want some articulation.
So... lab coat, but no hands that come off easily. Mattel, have you ever tried redressing a doll with a lab coat? Specifically one of YOUR toy lab coats that's usually kind of a mess inside the sleeves? Yeah, I thought not.
Good God almighty, we're like, three dolls into Budget world and Clawdeen has had the same look for every last one of them. I don't understand. She was set up to be a quick change artist who could have different hair twice a day if she wanted (if not sooner) because of how fast her fur grew, but for the last century you've saddled her with green and purple. Your fashion designer character wears nearly the same outfit EVERY TIME. On what planet? She's supposed to be so scary good at this but you never, EVER see her creations put to use for herself. Or really for anyone else these days. It's a disservice to the character and it's boring as hell for people looking to buy a Clawdeen. If she's not selling well (and I have no idea if she is or isn't) maybe it's because you've reduced her to three looks? The lime and purple look she's sporting here, her Sig look as sported above, and then this:
And this is kind of a take off on her Sig look anyway, so it's more like two and a half looks, really.
I get that the expectation is not for everyone to buy everything. But it's not unreasonable to expect things to get mixed up more often, especially in a line as over the top as MH has the ability to be. GSR Clawdeen is amazingly different in so many ways. One of the only dolls in the Shriek Wrecked fiasco I like is Clawdeen because she rarely gets to rock something simple and classic (what, pink stripes can be classic) when they're busy throwing her in animal print everything.
When you look at them piece by piece, things don't feel as weird, and there are some gems that I'm really looking forward to, like:
♥
But when you look at it all together, there's definitely something missing. Perhaps it's the edge MH frequently had (even the puns had some bite) and maybe it's just I'm used to the more subdued faces so all the smiles and smirks and things are going to take a bit of getting used to, but I don't think it's just that. It's that very few of these would look out of place in the fakies section. Few would look out of place in the dollar stores. (Lala above being one of the exceptions, obviously.)
I know it's not fair to just assume that everything is going to have this feel, but when your big fall movie seems to be reinforcing the kinder, softer MH, well... I worry.
Moving onward, I believe we were going to discuss Monster High's new direction. I wish their little video hadn't been taken down as it was just a giant video of WTF. "They say MH is TOO DARK... has no message ..." and then we get a burst of "Well that's now who we are, it's time for a new look" and the new faceups appear.
Pictures under the cut because I think we both know I'm gonna go to town.
So... that's some special 'shop going on there, Mattel, but considering the Shriek Wrecked issue you have, I'll allow it.
A couple of things immediately pop out at me.
1) Why are Frankie and Draculaura sporting entirely new looks while Cleo and poor Clawdeen are wearing their usual sig looks? I might buy that they consider Cleo's look either timeless or just figure that even with the Original Ghoul ReRelease they just did, not as many people have Cleo as have the rest... but still. What the heck.
2) The differences aren't super drastic. Draculaura's is the most obvious, but she was never meant to be a somber vamp so it fits. Frankie looks sweet and Clawdeen is clearly dubious about this whole venture, while Cleo is above it all.
3) Draculaura's fashion continues to be exceptionally hit or miss for me. This is cute but I'm gonna get really tired of it, really fast and I can tell that already. Sigh. Frankie, however, is looking pretty adorable, ugly yellow earrings not withstanding. (Also, no plaid!)
So on the new face front, I'm still firmly in the camp of "this isn't bad." It's a little less... good when you realize that they're switching CGI formats again, which leads us to the next point.
Welcome To Monster High seems to be a reboot of the line. Which is well and good, but we've been introduced to Monster High so many times that at this point I feel like you've got twenty different openings to the line, be it in book form or CGI, or animation, or the dolls or... honestly, I'm pretty sure each movie takes time out of it's little hour long format to introduce you to the wonders of MH the school and the world. It's a bit much. Kids might have attention problems but seriously, it's only going to be worse if they tune out for the same information given over and over.
But mostly I'm not here for Count Fabulous being replaced by a spider who reminds me of Operetta's pet. NO. Just a thousand, billion times no.
So the switch to new faces isn't to match the current looks they've got going, it's to match the new look they'll be rolling out. Which again begs the question of why Clawdeen and Cleo didn't get makeovers, too. (Also, Count Fabulous. Neptuna. COME BACK.)
Well... lines have to reboot, I guess. At this point I'm a little less on-board than I was initially, but I'm willing to give it a shot, y'know?
And then the rest of the survey things leaked and it was just painful.
Neptuna, why are you a (very cute) turtle? But okay. Lagoona here hasn't changed much. Her outfit is kind of hideous and kind of not, as a lot of Lagoona outfits tend to be. There's nothing about this that says I wouldn't buy it, though some part of me wishes they'd given her a little change, too. But considering it could have been a change I hated, well, thank your lucky stars, self.
Okay, well. First things first, Nefera has the cat connection and while Hisette might not have been my favorite pet, it worked for Cleo, and made her relationship with Deuce even cuter somehow. Giving her a cute but bland cat isn't exactly a step in the right direction. But whatever.
You'll note the molded bandages on Cleo's body but also the fact that she seems to have her current face, mostly. So maybe it's not going to be all huge eyes all the time? I dunno. I dislike blonde Cleo so... this is a very mixed bag for me.
Compare her to this, however, and... Sigh. I get that there's a reason to have Budget dolls. Little hands coming off is really great for fun outfits (not that the average MH outfit lately has been anything more than these blasted mini dresses, so who needs the removable hands for those) but not so great for little kids, but the initial budget dolls are usually 11.99 or so on Amazon. And I'll grant you that Frankie is stunning, but 11.99 is more expensive than the articulated basic beach kind of lines, and at Christmas you could easily find regular MH dolls for under $10 without even trying all that hard. So I'm not buying that the budget line is meant to loop in kids or people without all the disposable income, though I will buy the going for the much younger kids.
Which is dangerous, Mattel, and I'm not sure how often this has been brought up. Older tween/teens (is tween a thing still?) aren't exactly thrilled when their 4 year old sister is getting the same thing that they are at the ripe old age of 13. It's a bit of a buzzkill for a lot of kids. Go ask the skewing ever younger AG market how much they like it, and those suckers are infinitely more expensive.
All that without even discussing Cleo's abnormally large eyes. I've made that face, Cleo, when attempting to see just how innocent I could look right before getting a headache because it hurts to force your eyes to be that wide. Sigh.
Here we have an example of the SUPER budget dolls. These remind me of the ones you can find at grocery stores. Pretty sure that top ain't coming off and those knees aren't articulated, so yeah, 5.99 is a fair enough price. That said, I don't see these coming home with me. Ever. At least not until we break out of Frankie/Draculaura territory, and even then I'll bitch mightily.
Including this one because I think Frankie looks adorable. I'm wondering whether people have been rebodying the current budgets or not with any luck.
Also adorable, but for 24.99, I want some articulation.
So... lab coat, but no hands that come off easily. Mattel, have you ever tried redressing a doll with a lab coat? Specifically one of YOUR toy lab coats that's usually kind of a mess inside the sleeves? Yeah, I thought not.
Good God almighty, we're like, three dolls into Budget world and Clawdeen has had the same look for every last one of them. I don't understand. She was set up to be a quick change artist who could have different hair twice a day if she wanted (if not sooner) because of how fast her fur grew, but for the last century you've saddled her with green and purple. Your fashion designer character wears nearly the same outfit EVERY TIME. On what planet? She's supposed to be so scary good at this but you never, EVER see her creations put to use for herself. Or really for anyone else these days. It's a disservice to the character and it's boring as hell for people looking to buy a Clawdeen. If she's not selling well (and I have no idea if she is or isn't) maybe it's because you've reduced her to three looks? The lime and purple look she's sporting here, her Sig look as sported above, and then this:
And this is kind of a take off on her Sig look anyway, so it's more like two and a half looks, really.
I get that the expectation is not for everyone to buy everything. But it's not unreasonable to expect things to get mixed up more often, especially in a line as over the top as MH has the ability to be. GSR Clawdeen is amazingly different in so many ways. One of the only dolls in the Shriek Wrecked fiasco I like is Clawdeen because she rarely gets to rock something simple and classic (what, pink stripes can be classic) when they're busy throwing her in animal print everything.
When you look at them piece by piece, things don't feel as weird, and there are some gems that I'm really looking forward to, like:
♥
But when you look at it all together, there's definitely something missing. Perhaps it's the edge MH frequently had (even the puns had some bite) and maybe it's just I'm used to the more subdued faces so all the smiles and smirks and things are going to take a bit of getting used to, but I don't think it's just that. It's that very few of these would look out of place in the fakies section. Few would look out of place in the dollar stores. (Lala above being one of the exceptions, obviously.)
I know it's not fair to just assume that everything is going to have this feel, but when your big fall movie seems to be reinforcing the kinder, softer MH, well... I worry.