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Abby Bominable is the latest character to return as a G3 release in Mattel’s Monster High line. The daughter of a yeti, Abby has been given an extreme makeover like the rest of the Monster High gang. Let’s take a look at the new, revamped Abby.
The most obvious difference between G1 Abby and G3 Abby is her size. G3 Abby is taller and fuller-figured than G1 Abby.
G1 Abby
In fact, Abby is the tallest of the female G3 monsters.
Out of the box and and in all her glory, Abby looks like she’s on her way to a Siberian music festival, complete with her icy fanny Pack.
Like other G3 Monster High dolls, Abby is articulated under the bust so she can bend sideways.
Like G1 Abby, she has claws for hands.
The fur around her ankles are a nice detail that wasn’t found on G1 Abby.
She still has her underbite, though. And I love the blush of purple on the tip of her nose to show how cold she is. She has white freckles and a single snowflake on her face. G1 Abby’s skin was glittery to show how frosty she was, but I like G3 Abby’s more subtle approach.
Another new detail for G3 Abby is the addition of horns.
She still has pointy ears, adorned with icicle earrings.
I must admit I’m not crazy about Abby’s shoes. They look like frozen fur straps on icy platform soles.
Her snowflake backpack is cute.
Abby comes with a purple fur stole…
…and sunglasses made of ice.
Like other G3 dolls, Abby comes with an iCoffin, a beverage, and snacks. The lid of the beverage is removable, and has horns like Abby.
The “Sno-Corpse” candy is a parody of Sno-Caps. The fudge-sicle is shaped like a coffin.
Abby comes with her pet wooly mammoth, Tundra. Abby’s pet has also undergone a makeover from G1, as well as a new name. G1 Abby’s wooly mammoth was called Shiver. I think Tundra is a cooler name than Shiver (no pun intended!).
Abby wasn’t my favorite doll in the G1 line, but she wasn’t my least favorite either (that honor belongs to Jane Boolittle). However, I love the new Abby. She’s really sweet. I just wonder how much we’ll see of her. Given her larger size, will Mattel bring her back in other collections, like the Creepover or Monster Ball lines? Only time will tell.
I bought the Barbie the Movie Disco Barbie on a high after seeing Barbie the Movie. I eagerly anticipated the movie, as did countless women across the country who played with and loved Barbie as children. Barbie the Movie did not disappoint. Barbie the Movie Disco Barbie Doll did.
Barbie the Movie Disco Barbie (henceforth referred to as Disco Barbie) retails for $50.99. I bought mine from Walmart.com.
Disco Barbie is pretty, I’ll give her that. Her hair cascades into long spiral curls. She wears a headdress of either petals or a butterfly, I’m not sure which.
Disco Barbie is part of the Barbie Signature line, which is another way for Mattel to justify the higher price tag. She even comes with a Certificate of Authenticity. The Certificates of Authenticity that came with both Disco Barbie and the Barbie the Movie Fashion Packs are printed on thin paper, almost like copier paper, rather than heavier card stock like Integrity Toys certificates. Even Barbie certificates are declining in quality.
A few things that could almost justify Disco Barbie’s price tag: 1. Metal snaps.
2. Better quality (but still plastic) earrings.
3. Better quality (but still plastic) bracelets.
4. Painted fingernails. Basic movie Barbie doesn’t have painted nails. But the paint on Disco Barbie’s nails is spotty and inconsistent.
Cons: 1. As with the basic movie Barbie, the shoes on Disco Barbie won’t stay on her feet. Is this a trend with Barbie dolls these days? I remember when I played with Barbie as a child, Barbie had two styles of shoes (not counting her lace-up knee boots): chunky square-toed pumps, and, later, those strappy Superstar Barbie heels that fastened in the front. These shoes stayed on Barbie’s feet better than the shoes that come with contemporary Barbies.
And these are how the shoes came out of the box. First of all, the heels are so spindly that it would be impossible for the doll to stand up in them. But one of the heels got bent out of shape, due to the weight of the doll, before I even took it out of the box.
2. The B50 Poseable Body. I don’t like it. While I appreciate the articulation as opposed to the Fashionista or Model Muse bodies, I hate the thick, dull matte plastic it’s made from. It feels like the quality is only a few grades up from 3-D-printed plastic. I thought Disco Barbie would come on a Made-to-Move body, given her $50 price tag, but she didn’t. She came on the same B50 Poseable Body, a.k.a. the Gigi body, as the $24.99 basic Barbie the Movie doll. Sure, Disco Barbie’s outfit and accessories are more detailed than those of basic movie Barbie. Oh, and it does come with a stand. But Made-to-Move Barbie dolls cost $16.99 with no accessories. Using a MTM body for Disco Barbie probably wouldn’t have greatly affected the price of Disco Barbie, just the profits.
It’s Girl’s Night (every night is Girl’s Night), and some of the other Barbies are coming over to the Dreamhouse.
Barbie Fashionista #59 stopped by to – wait for it – Dance the Night Away! I put her on a MTM body for extra poseability when dancing. She’s wearing a jumpsuit from the defunct Avastars doll line.
Silver and gold
Having bought two Barbie the Movie dolls so far, I have to say I’m just not “feeling it” when I play with and photograph them. I can see in them how the quality of Barbie dolls has declined while their prices go up. I didn’t find joy in these dolls like I once did with Barbie. Maybe that’s why I’ve been buying more dolls from other lines like Rainbow High and Monster High. Considering Monster High dolls are also made by Mattel, I’m surprised at how much more creative and fun they are compared to Barbie. In fact, I’ve been having a lot more fun with Monster High dolls since their comeback last October.
The Monster High Skulltimate Secrets Fearidescent line is the second series of the Skulltimate Secrets line. The first series of the Skulltimate Secrets was released earlier this year. It consisted of five dolls: Frankie Stein, Draculaura, Cleo De Nile, Lagoona Blue, and Clawdeen Wolf. Each doll came with a dress-up locker and 19+ surprises. The second series, called Fearidescent, just dropped. As the name implies, each doll features one piece of iridescent clothing. The Skulltimate Secrets Fearidescent line retails for $29.99. The second series features the same five characters as Series One. I bought the Fearidescent Draculaura at Target.
The Skulltimate Secrets line capitalizes on the popularity of surprise dolls such as LOL Surprise and Hairdorables. I bought the Draculaura Skulltimate Secrets because I was drawn to the wintery vibe of her outfit. Even the locker has pastel colors and a snowflake motif, a cooler, softer feel than the locker from Series 1.
Like L.O.L. Surprise dolls, each compartment contains a bag that contains a few surprises. There are four items in each bag.
The first bag contained a skirt, a top, a fur stole, and another key.
The second bag contained ear muffs, earrings, a lacy collar, and a clear pink glittery key.
The third bag contained a skullette key fob, a second pair of shoes, and yet another key.
You can put all the keys on the key fob so you don’t lose them. All the keys are the same, by the way. All the keys fit into all the compartments. If in the unfortunate event you lose all four keys, you can turn the lock with your finger to open it. The silver keys can be dropped in a bowl of water to reveal a color. The color of the key will match the color of a compartment on the coffin.
The fourth bag contained a coffin purse and a black bat soft-serve ice cream cone. But wait, something’s missing. According to the instruction sheet, and the many YouTube unboxing videos of this doll that I watched, the fourth bag should also have contained a black skullette compact and a pink tube of lip gloss. I double-checked the bag to see if I missed them, since they’re so tiny, but they weren’t in there. How disappointing.
The purse actually opens and closes. It can hold the skullette compact and the lip gloss – if I had them. 😡
Draculaura’s makeup is entirely in pink. It features pink glittery eyeshadow and pink glittery lipstick. Even her trademark heart-shaped beauty mark is pink instead of black. Here she’s modeling the earrings from one of the surprise bags. They’re spheres with bat wings on a chain.
Draculaura’s first outfit consists of a black crop-top with pink spiderwebs on it. There’s a heart at the center of each web. The top features long net sleeves that are puffed at the shoulder then become tight down to the wrist. The “fearidescent” pink A-line skirt has a large ruffled hem.
Her light-to-dark-pink-gradient knee-boots are extremely detailed. They feature open-work heart motifs up to the heart-shaped tongue at the top. The zipper down the front has a heart-shaped zipper pull.
The tips of the boots feature spats with studded straps that wind around up to the ankle, ending in a heart-shaped buckle.
The heels are heart-shaped.
Not having quite recovered from the disappointment of the missing compact and lip gloss, I experienced yet another shock. When I removed Draculaura’s top, I had to take her hands out in order to pull the tight sleeves down. Now I’ve removed hands from Monster High dolls countless times in the eleven years that I’ve been collecting them. In all that time, I’ve never had a hand break on me, not even the spindly G1 hands. When I bought my first G3 doll, I was impressed by how much sturdier the hands were. But Draculaura’s hands felt “off” when I pulled them out, and when I tried to put them back in after I changed Draculaura’s top, they broke. Both of them! Both had the same issue. The soft rubber peg inside the hand that allows for articulation at the wrist split. I tried putting the hands back on but they’re not secure, and they fall off sometimes when I’m trying to pose the doll. So if Draculaura’s hands look a little wonky in the rest of the photos in this review, that’s why.
Nothing a little crazy glue can’t fix, right?
Draculaura’s second outfit consists of a pink sleeveless crop top with a large black heart with corset lacing. Her pink circle miniskirt is printed with a black spiderweb design and has a black ribbon around the waist.
Her jelly platform shoes have pink glittery uppers with double straps featuring hearts and winged hearts.
The black fluted platform heels feature a heart-shaped recess in the center.
After opening all of the surprise bags, I dressed Draculaura in my favorite pieces from the Skulltimate Secrets Fearidescent set. I love the first top with the second skirt. The removable lacy collar looks so good with the first top. I removed the earrings because I felt they were a little busy. And I love the boots with this outfit. In this ensemble, Draculaura is perfection.
What appealed to me most about the Skulltimate Secrets Fearidescent line was its winter-themed accessories. Sure, it’s the end of July and ninety-five degrees out, but I’m ready for some cooler weather. Here Draculaura models the bat-wing earmuffs.
From the side you can see that the earmuffs are heart-shaped.
She’s added her fur stole to keep the chill away.
So what do I think of the Skulltimate Secrets Fearidescent Draculaura? I love her. She’s a beautiful doll. The coffin-shaped locker she comes in reminds me a lot of the Monster High Draculocker but with the element of surprise. However, as much as I love her, this doll is the first Monster High doll to ever let me down. I was disappointed that the hands broke, and that two of Draculaura’s accessories were missing. Did I just have a bit of bad luck, or is this indicative of a decline in the quality of Monster High dolls? Nevertheless, I had a lot of fun with this doll.
Although Series 2 of the Skulltimate Secrets line just came out, details about series three have already been leaked. It’s called Skulltimate Secrets Neon Frights, and it consists of Draculaura, Frankie Stein, Ghoulia Yelps, Toralai Stripes, and Twyla Boogeyman. I’m excited to see another Ghoulia Yelps doll. It looks like Mattel has given Ghoulia her bold-but-brainy personality back. This was a slight issue that I had with the first Generation Three Ghoulia. I felt she looked bland and kind of vacant. I’ll be on the lookout for the Skulltimate Secrets Ghoulia when Series Three comes out.
Last weekend Ghoulia13 and I saw The Barbie Movie. We actually did Barbenheimer, starting with Barbie. We loved it! Since then we’ve been on a Barbie the Movie kick. We bought some of the dolls, and Barbie the Album has not left my turntable since last weekend. I bought the Barbie the Movie Margot Robbie as Barbie doll from Walmart.com, and the Barbie the Movie Fashion Pack with Three Iconic Film Outfitsand Accessories from Target.com.
Barbie as Margot Robbie is the “basic” Barbie doll, or as Barbie described herself in the movie, she’s Stereotypical Barbie. It retails for $24.99.
Barbie comes in the pink gingham dress that we see Barbie wearing in the beginning of the film to start her Best Day Ever. The doll uses an articulated body, but it’s not the Made-to-Move body. Mattel is using the less-articulated B50 Poseable Body, (a.k.a.the Gigi body because it was used for the Tommy Hilfiger x Gigi Hadid Doll in 2017). The Gigi body doesn’t have the extra joints at the knees and elbows and it’s not articulated at the ankles, waist, or bust.
Barbie wears white floral earrings with a matching necklace and bracelet.
Hi Barbie!
She wears pink pumps with a heart motif on the toes. Unfortunately, the shoes don’t stay on the doll’s feet very well.
The Barbie the Movie Fashion Pack with Three Iconic Film Outfitsand Accessories retails for $50.99. The box looks like a wardrobe.
The three outfits are a pink gingham beach romper suit, Barbie’s shorty pajamas, and a blue-and-white sundress. The outfits come in large, flat boxes reminiscent of the original Barbie fashions from the late Fifties through the Sixties.
I didn’t realize when I purchased the Fashion Pack that it’s a part of the Barbie Signature line until I discovered the Certificate of Authenticity on the underside of one of the boxes.
Barbie’s pink gingham beach romper comes with matching shorts and large-brimmed sun hat. Accessories include a pink seashell necklace, a pink bracelet, and cream espadrilles.
The back features a large heart-shaped cutout.
The heart-shaped cutout is in the perfect spot to align with the Barbie trademark on the doll’s back!
The second outfit from the movie is Barbie’s shorty pajamas set. It’s adorable. It comes with a velvet hair ribbon and a hairbrush. The shoes are pink high-heeled slides that look like the shoes that came with Barbie dolls from the Fifties and Sixties.
The third outfit is the blue-and-White ensemble that Barbie wears on her less-than-perfect day. The bodice features a heart motif. It comes with blue striped shorts and a polka-dotted headband, two bracelets, one blue and one white; and white shoes. The shoes are made from the same mold as the pink shoes that came with the Barbie as Margot Robbie doll.
So, I have thoughts about the Barbie the Movie Margot Robbie as Barbie doll and the Barbie the Movie Fashion Pack with Three Iconic Film Outfitsand Accessories. Let’s start with the doll. As I mentioned, the body isn’t on a Made-to-Move body. I was expecting better articulation from this doll considering its $25 price point, which is more expensive than Made-to-Move Barbies that retail for about $17. The outfit on the Barbie the Movie is simple and it has few accessories to justify the $25 price tag. The articulation is okay but it’s not the smoothest when posing the doll. Also, the doll’s hair is very frizzy. The doll is cute, it kind of looks like Margot Robbie, and I like it as a tie-in to the movie, but the quality of the doll is more playline than collectible.
As for the Barbie the Movie Fashion Pack with Three Iconic Film Outfitsand Accessories pack, while the presentation is reminiscent of the vintage Barbie fashions, the quality of the movie fashions isn’t the same. They do use snaps (albeit plastic) instead of Velcro (unlike the Barbie the Movie doll), but the material is thin, and the Fashion Pack uses the same cheap plastic accessories as playline fashion packs. There is repetition of accessories like the beaded bracelets, and the white shoes made from the same old as the pink Barbie the Movie doll shoes. I expected better from the Barbie Signature Collection lines. In the Nineties, Mattel made collector-quality fashion packs such as the Barbie Millicent Roberts line of dolls and fashion packs. These fashion packs used quality fabrics and accessories that had great attention to detail. The collector dolls and fashions produced today show a decline in quality at the expense of the profit margin.
Did you see Barbie the Movie? Did you buy any of the merchandise?
Ever since I caught the Rainbow High bug last autumn, I’ve been stockpiling Rainbow High dolls. I’ve got so many Rainbow High dolls at the moment that I’ve fallen behind in blogging about them. Gabriella Icely is from Series 3. I bought her at the end of last year, when Series 4 had already been released. Now that Series 5 dolls were released earlier this year, I suppose it’s time to give Gabriella her time in the Dollsville USA spotlight.
Like all Series 3 dolls, Gabriella comes with a second outfit and a second pair of shoes (Series 5 has been criticized for no longer including the second outfit, opting instead more more plastic accessories such as hangers and the same plastic sewing machine that came with the Jett Dawson deluxe set). Gabriella also came with the same stand, comb, and hangers as most if not all of the Rainbow High dolls.
I love the Rainbow High combs. This one came in handy to comb Gabriella’s hair which, surprisingly, didn’t have any glue in it. Excess glue to style hair has been an issue that has plagued many Rainbow High dolls, to the point that many collectors wash their dolls’ hair to get it out. Gabriella’s hair was very soft and easy to comb. This is her hair right out of the box with just a comb-through.
Gabriella Icely gives Wintertime realness. As her name suggests, her hair, makeup, and clothing are in tones of ice blue and silver for a super-frosty effect. And when I first saw Gabriella, I thought she was super-frosty too. She seemed a bit difficult when we first met her. I thought she was going to be one of the Mean Girls of Rainbow High, like the Devious Twins. But Gabriella mellowed out later on, like when she used her skills as a fashion technology major to help her roommates in the first season’s fashion show during Radiant Week. And it looks like love is in the air between Gabriella and Finn.
Her hair is made up of strands of icy blue mixed with streaks of snowy white. It’s secured by two plastic barrettes.
Her eye makeup is done in hues of icy blue and silver.
Gabriella’s second outfit features a sleeveless dress that’s shirred at the sides.
It’s paired with a faux snakeskin jacket and blue strappy sandals.
Gabriella’s faux snakeskin purse from the Rainbow High Mini Accessories Studio perfectly complements her second outfit.
The choker that comes with the second outfit spells “Rainbow.”
While Gabriella seemed to be a mean girl at first, she’s mellowed out over the course of the second and third seasons of the Rainbow High webisodes. So is Gabriella Icely the girl you love to hate, or the girl you hate to love? I like her!
When I first saw Monst dolls on an Instagram post I immediately fell in love with them. I’m a sucker for smaller, child-like fashion dolls that collectors dress up in little toggle coats or Mori-Girl-style dresses and sweaters. So adorable! But being unfamiliar with them, I didn’t know where to buy one, so I turned to eBay. I found several listings, but I had to get Chou Chou. Of the five different Monst dolls, she’s the only one that looks mad, or annoyed, or maybe she’s majorly pissed off. Anyway, I liked her edge. I bought Chou Chou for $71, which seemed to be the going price for Monst dolls on eBay, only to discover shortly after hitting the “Pay Now” button that Ali Express sells them for around $26 – and AliExpress is where everyone is buying Monst dolls (including, I’m sure, the person from whom I bought mine on eBay). I could kick myself!
Monst Dolls are made of vinyl and are eight inches tall. They’re made in China by a company called Spade Designs. According to the pamphlet that came with my doll, the full name for Monst Dolls is “Monst Yemanbaobei Dolls.” I’m not sure what that means, but I think the (very) loose translation is “Savage Baby Rubber Joint Dolls.” At least that’s what sellers on AliExpress are calling them! They’re being sold as “bjd dolls” but they’re not bjd dolls in the traditional sense because they’re not held together with rubber bands. They are articulated in the head and limbs, but they don’t bend or twist at the waist.
Okay.
I don’t think Monst dolls are generic fashion dolls. They seem to be their own brand, like Kuhrn dolls. They come in a cute but understated box featuring a simple font and cute graphics. The front of the box appears to indicate that Monst dolls are intended for ages 15 and up, but their quality is more playline than collectible so in my humble opinion I think they would be appropriate for most children except perhaps very young ones.
Aaaawwww.
There’s a sticker on the lid of each box with a photo and the name of the doll that comes inside, so you know which one you’re buying.
Monst dolls come undressed but the outfit is included. The doll comes in a plastic tray and is held in place with only two twist ties. They’re much easier to unbox than Monster High or Rainbow High dolls, that’s for sure.
Here’s Chouchou out of the box. Her bangs need trimming compared to the promo photos. Monst dolls can’t stand on their own.
The outfit comes in a cute plastic bag with kawaii illustrations of bears and food.
Chouchou’s outfit is simpler and more tomboyish than the outfits of the other Monst dolls. I think it suits her cranky personality, like she’s a fussy little kid in baggy overalls.
No I won’t go to bed early!
By the way, Monst dolls don’t come with shoes. I thought Chouchou’s outfit screamed “Crocs,” so she borrowed the platform Crocs from Rainbow High’s Lila Yamamoto.
No I won’t eat my broccoli!
No I won’t take a bath!
Crocs with socks
The articulation for Monst dolls is pretty good but a little awkward. She can sit cross-legged, and put her hands on her hips, but not in a natural way. And she kind of passes my articulation test (putting her hands to her mouth in surprise or horror).
Gasp!
Chouchou looked sad, so I thought some of her favorite things might cheer her up. Things such as skateboarding, hanging out with a furry friend, or eating her favorite foods.
Nope, still sad. Unless she’s not actually sad. Maybe she has RBF.
So what do I think of Chouchou? I think she’s so stinkin’ cute. Her bangs need a trim but I can deal with that. I can’t wait to dress her in other outfits and do more photo shoots. If you’re interested in Monst dolls, please don’t buy them on eBay and pay overinflated prices like I did. Monst dolls can be found on AliExpress, where prices average about twenty-five dollars. I might be tempted to go there to buy more Monst dolls.
This is Poppy Rowan. Winter Break Poppy Rowan, to be exact. I bought her nude off of eBay with the intention of customizing her to look like me. I have red hair, and I’m partial to red-headed fashion dolls because most of the fashion dolls of my childhood didn’t have red hair, so as an adult I’m trying to compensate for the lack of red-headed dolls when I was young. Since I started collecting Rainbow High dolls last month, I’ve seen doll collectors on YouTube who customized Rainbow High dolls to look like them. Since Rainbow High dolls have the vivid hair colors of the rainbow rather than natural hair colors, these doll customizers used two methods to change their dolls’ hair colors: dyeing, or re-rooting. I don’t have the experience or patience to re-root, so dyeing it is!
I chose Poppy for my mini-me because she has auburn eyebrows, freckles, and blue eyes – a perfect base for my Mini-Me.
Here she is from the back. Her hair is styled in two long sausage-curl pigtails, and, like all Rainbow High dolls, she has a lot of glue in her hair to keep the curls in place. So I rinsed her hair with hot water until the glue dissolved. You can use shampoo, but you don’t need to. Then I combed out all the tangles with a hairdresser’s fine-toothed rat-tail comb.
STEP ONE: COLOR
My goal for Poppy was to turn her bright orange tresses into a natural-looking auburn color. I watched a few videos on YouTube to learn how to color Rainbow High doll hair, and also to get an idea of which colors of dye I needed. I found a series of videos by Darling’s Dollhouse that I found extremely helpful for technique and color. Then I went to my nearest Michaels craft store to buy everything I needed. I bought Rit All-Purpose Dye in the colors Tan, to neutralize the orange, and Scarlet, to add red to Poppy’s hair. I also bought wooden dowels and a plastic organizer to use as a tub.
I filled the plastic organizer with hot tap water. I added the Tan Rit Dye to the water and swirled the dye with a wooden dowel. The Tan is light enough in color to change the bright orange hair without making it too dark. Then I swirled Poppy’s hair in the colored water for about two minutes. It didn’t look like her hair was taking any of the color, so I added more dye, a little at a time and then swirled the doll’s hair some more until her hair started taking the color. I eyeballed it, taking Poppy out of the water and putting her back in until I liked how it looked. I stopped when her hair looked like a strawberry-blonde/ light auburn. This is her hair while still wet. She looks like Lindsay Lohan.
I immediately rinsed the excess dye from Poppy’s hair with cold water and let her hair dry for a couple of hours before deciding whether to do a second dye job with the Scarlet dye. Her hair color looked a little lighter after drying so I did go ahead and color her hair with the Scarlet over the Tan. Unlike the Tan dye, the Scarlet dye took to the hair immediately so it was a very quick dip. Then I did another dip with Tan to tone down the fiery copper a little. Here is the finished result:
I thought it would be fun to give Poppy a tattoo, like me, so I used a leftover tattoo from the Monster High Create-a-Monster Design Lab.
STEP TWO: BANGS
I wanted my Rainbow High mini-me to have bangs like me, but Poppy doesn’t have bangs. YouTube to the rescue again. This tutorial by Quinsdolls was just what I needed. The one thing I did differently was, after brushing the hair down in front of her face to make the bangs and securing it with a rubber band, I took the hair from the back out from under the rubber band so there wouldn’t be a line across her hair from the rubber band after the hair was boil-permed. The one problem with Winter Break Poppy is that her hair was rooted for pigtails. It was full when parted in the center from the back of the head, but when I combed hair down in front of her face for bangs, it exposed the patchy rooting on the top of her head. I saved the hair that I cut off when I made the bangs, in case I feel ambitious later and decide to re-root the patchy spots, but for now I’ll stop here.
The finished result: kinda punky, kinda funky.
Sweater and leggings by Mags Rocking Style on Etsy. Shoes from the Rainbow High Mini Accessories Studio.
‘Rainbow Vision is entering its exciting conclusion as the finals are getting underway. The finalists include Neon Shadow from Shadow High, Rainbow High’s own Rainbow Divas, and Royal Three from Seoul Select. Royal Three are arguably the underdogs of the Rainbow Vision song contest. Since Shadow High campaigned for Rainbow Vision to be open to all schools, in an effort to end Rainbow High’s dominance in the competition, new schools have auditioned for Rainbow Vision. Royal Three have come all the way from Korea to try out for Rainbow Vision, and now they’re in the finals!
Royal Three are Tiara Song, Tessa Park, and Minnie Choi.
From semi-finalists to finalists.
Minnie Choi.
Tiara Song.
Tessa Park.
Each member of Royal Three comes dressed in her main outfit. They also come with an additional outfit, a headset, a concert program, and a logo t-shirt. The outfits are very detailed, and although they look great, it proved to be time-consuming to change their clothes. I would imagine that children who play with these dolls might become frustrated with changing their clothes. And some of the faux pearls and beads had already fallen off the outfits before I even took the dolls out of the boxes (see below).
Tiara’s, um, tiara is based on the tiara on the cover of Blackpink’s first album.
The Royal Three dolls have holes for earrings but don’t come with earrings. However, Tiara’s headset fits into her earring holes. The headsets of Minnie and Tessa sit on top of their heads.
I like Tessa’s outfit the best. The attention to detail is amazing, from the elaborate embroidery on her jacket to the hangul characters on her belt and choker. I love how she wears pants and activewear as opposed to skirts like her band mates. She’s like the Sporty Spice of K-Pop.
Each doll comes with a concert program that features the lyrics to “Spotlight,” their Rainbow Vision song. I thought all three dolls came with the exact same program, so I was pleasantly surprised to see that each doll had her own program. While the programs are mostly identical, the centerfold of each program pertained to the doll it came with.
The second outfits that came with the dolls are the girls’ stage clothes.
The Royal Three girls have long fingernails and molded rings, like Demi Batista.
Minnie’s nails are pink and have pearls to match her dress.
Tiara’s nails also match her top.
Tessa’s nails are shorter, in keeping with her sportier lifestyle.
Ainsley and Lila are ready for the Rainbow Vision finals.They even got to meet their favorite act.
The Royal Three dolls were highly anticipated when Royal Three debuted at Rainbow Vision. I think it’s fun that the Rainbow High line includes K-Pop dolls. From their highly detailed fashions and accessories to the quality of their articulation, the Royal Three dolls are everything that Lulu Pop Daisy dolls are not.
Who do you think will win Rainbow Vision? I hope it’s the Royal Three.
After reviewing Lila Yamamoto, my first Rainbow High doll, I bought more of them. A lot more. I picked up a few more at Target, and I’ve got a few packages coming from Amazon (please don’t judge me!). When I went back to Target to pick out my second Rainbow High doll, I saw the Ainsley Slater Trunk Show. I loved her goth vibe, and the fact that she came with not one but three extra outfits! She was also on sale for $44.99 down from $49.99. So I bought it. I didn’t notice until I got her home that her box says Shadow High. Wait, what?
Why does Ainsley’s box say Shadow High when her stand and all of her accessories have Rainbow High on them? I thought she was a Rainbow High doll because her skin tone is a natural one, not the grey, pure white, or pure black skin tones of Shadow High dolls. Since I’m new to the Rainbow High universe, I’m still getting acquainted with the characters and their backstories. So I started watching the Rainbow High webisodes on YouTube. That’s where I discovered that, in Season 3 episode 6, during the intense competition of the Rainbow Vision song contest, Ainsley drops the bombshell that she’s transferring schools. It’s like the Ainsley doll was too far into the production stages to change the accessories by the time this episode aired but MGA was able to change the box before the doll was released.
Image courtesy of MGA Entertainment Image courtesy of MGA Entertainment
The Ainsley Slater Trunk Show special edition doll comes with three tops, two skirts, one dress, two jackets, one belt, one pair of pants, four pairs of shoes, one purse, two bracelets, four hangers, one comb, and one doll stand. Despite the name of this edition, however, it does not come with a trunk. It also doesn’t come with earrings, even though Ainsley’s ears have holes for them.
I love how Ainsley is posed in her box as if to say “Here I am!”
All of Ainsley’s accessories say Rainbow High.
The Ainsley Slater Trunk Show doll debuted at the Rainbow High x Shadow High Pop-up Shop in L.A. in late May and officially launched in retail stores on June 1st. It retailed for $60 when it first debuted. I’m glad I didn’t pay that much for her, because if I did I would be even more p.o.’d about all of the black marks on my doll. Marks that won’t come off, I should add. The first one is on her face. There are also a few stray bits of glitter on the right side of her nose that was used on the pearlescent finish on her face. It makes her look like she has blackheads (she is a teenager, after all). There is also some mottling of the pearlescent finish above her left eyebrow. I’m not usually the type of doll collector that compares faces before buying a doll, but I guess I have to check for marks on Rainbow High dolls. Apparently a lot of Rainbow High collectors have this problem with their dolls.
However, marks on the face were not the only problems I had with this doll. There were black marks all over her body, caused by the unlined black outfit she came in. And now I’m nervous because the Shadow High Storm Twins will be arriving from Amazon any day now.
Another issue I had with Ainsley that is common with Rainbow High dolls is that her hair had so much styling gel in it that it was super-crunchy. I’ve never washed and styled a doll’s hair before, but I decided to try it with Ansley. I took all the ties out and washed her hair with warm water and a little shampoo, and let it air-dry.
After her hair dried I restyled her high ponytail and wrapped two sections of hair around it, securing them underneath the ponytail with another rubber band. I left a long tendril one either side of her face. Now her ponytail looks like Ainsley’s hair in the webisodes (and the artwork on the box), where her ponytail is secured by a section of her hair. I still haven’t figured out a solution to that pesky flyaway doll-hair problem, though. And dang, that black mark next to her eyebrow is still bothering me!
In the webisodes, Ainsley’s hair is mostly purple. The Ainsley doll has black hair with indigo strands that are more visible in the right lighting.
Ainsley wears bright makeup colors to brighten up her black wardrobe. She has rainbow-colored eyeshadow and rose-pink lipstick. But in true goth/emo form, she wears black nail polish.
I love the artwork on the back of the box that illustrates the four outfits Ainsley comes with. They look kind of retro and remind me of those big-eyed-kids paintings by Margaret Keane. The outfit she comes in is called “Better with Boots.” It’s her signature outfit that she wears most of the time in the webisodes.
“Better with Boots” features a black cropped jacket with one sleeve paired with a black corset-laced miniskirt accentuated with a removable belt with letters that spell out the word “RAINBOW.” Her black combat boots have clear spikes on them. Ainsley seems kind of goth for a Rainbow High student. No wonder she’s transferring to Shadow High.
Ansley’s second outfit is called “Jewelry Completes the Look.”
The outfit consists of a fitted cropped pleather mock turtleneck top and a matte black skirt with white trim and a silver fastener.
The pleather motorcycle bustier is a separate piece.
She wears black plastic knee boots with a “silver” harness with alternating upside-down and right-side up letters “R” all over it and a printed zipper down the inside.
The soles of the boots have the colors of the rainbow on them. I think Ainsley must have an ironic sense of humor, because the only pop of color in her mostly-black wardrobe is on the bottom of her shoes, where it remains largely unseen.
This is the outfit Ainsley wore when she stunned the audience at Rainbow Vision with her announcement that she’s changing schools.
“I’m leaving Rainbow High for Shadow High and we’re gonna win Rainbow Vision.”
Ainsley’s third outfit is called “The Bag for Any Occasion.”
“The Bag for Any Occasion” consists of a black tube top with buckled shoulder straps, and long black pleather pants.
The black pleather low-rise pants have corseted gussets on the side. They remind me of Jim Morrison from The Doors. Is Ainsley the Lizard Queen?
The outfit comes with a black quilted cross-body bag, hence the name of the ensemble.
The bag has a real zipper that opens and closes. It has a clasp that also opens and closes. The word “Rainbow” is embroidered in gold tinsel.
Her shoes are stiletto slides with the letters “R” and “H” for heels. Ainsley is going to have to buy a new purse and shoes when she gets to Shadow High.
The fourth and last outfit is called “Leather for Any Weather.”
It has a black minidress with a clear plastic double-buckled halter, and purple lace at the hem.
The dark purple boots feature a harness-and-medallion design.
The best part of “Leather for Any Weather” has to be the graffiti motorcycle jacket.
It has real but non-functional zippers. The buckled belt might fasten but it’s so tiny that I left it open.
So out of the four outfits Ainsley comes with, and the 400 fashion combinations that MGA advertised on the box (and no, I didn’t try them all), my favorite look on Ainsley is a combination of the top from Jewelry Completes the Look and the pants from The Bag for Any Occasion. They’re made from the same material, and they look so cool together. Ainsley is giving me Emma Peel vibes. The shoes I paired with this outfit, however, are not from Ainsley’s Trunk Show. They’re the Rainbow Sparkle Ankle Boots from the Rainbow High Mini Accessories Studio. They’re very Stephen Sprouse.
The jacket from Leather for Any Weather goes well with the boots. Ainsley looks like she belongs in Greenwich Village circa 1985.
Ainsley is only my second Rainbow High doll, and I’ve noticed some of the same issues that plague other Rainbow High collectors. I was disappointed by the quality issues of the black marks on the dolls, but I won’t let it dampen my enthusiasm for Rainbow High dolls just yet. Ainsley is very pretty but her original hairstyle was a little awkward. The excessive amount of hair gel could have been an issue but it was easy to fix and I love how her hair looks now. I’m still enjoying the quality of articulation of the dolls and their highly detailed clothes and accessories. The fashions Ainsley came with are fierce. They’re all black and goth. I had so much fun mixing and matching them.
Will Rainbow High win Rainbow Vision for the eighth year in a row, or will Shadow High win? Personally, I have a theory. Have you noticed during Season 3 that every time we see Seoul Select’s contestants, the Royal Three, up on stage to perform, the story cuts away to other characters? We haven’t yet heard their song. I think we’ll hear it in the final because – dare I say it – I think Seoul Select will win. My theory is that both Rainbow High and Shadow High will both be disqualified due to cheating from the two sets of twins everybody loves to hate: the Devious Twins from Rainbow High, and the Storm Twins from Shadow High. Crazy, I know! I look forward to more episodes to see who will win Rainbow Vision.
As if I haven’t already spent enough money on Rainbow High dolls since becoming a convert about a month ago, MGA Entertainment has introduced something else to separate me from my money. The Rainbow High Mini Accessories Studio surprise boxes have arrived at my local Target and Walmart stores. The Mini Accessories Studio is a collection of fashion-doll shoes and purses. There are twenty-seven different pairs of shoes or handbags, many of them styled for specific Rainbow High characters. The color of the box matches the color of the shoes or purse. However, that doesn’t mean you’ll know which item you’ll get. There are between one to four different purses or shoes for each box color, but you won’t know which one you’ll get until you open it. The concept is identical to MGA’s LOL Surprise dolls, which is the same concept behind the Japanese “blind boxes” that have been popular with adult designer-toy collectors for many years.
There are two versions of the Mini Studio Accessories cases of shoes and purses, Case A and Case B. Apparently only Case B has all twenty-seven different options in it. You can identify Case B as having the black Shadow High boxes. When I went to Walmart to look for the Mini Accessories Studio boxes, I was greeted with a fresh Case B of shoes. Yay! I took out my iPhone and checked the Instagram account of babydolldolls. She made a guide, with graphics, of the Mini Accessories Studio cases indicating the location in the case of each style of shoe or purse. This was invaluable, and it allowed me to locate the shoes I wanted. And she as spot on, with one exception (but more on that later). I bought eight boxes of shoes. The boxes are styled to look like trunks, as in fashion trunk-shows. I didn’t notice until I got home that the boxes I bought at Walmart are the international versions. It features three languages on the box: English, French, and German.
A box of shoes I bought earlier at Target is the U.S. version and only has the English language on the box.
Here are the box tops side-by-side.
The international boxes also have a brochure taped to the bottom with product information in multiple languages. The letters “CE” indicate that this product complies with the European Union Toy Safety Directive of 2009. Neat!
One side of the box indicates that these surprise boxes are Series 1, which suggests that there will be a Series 2.
The other side lets you know some of the contents of the box.
The certificate of authenticity, the receipt, and the receipt envelope are taped inside the lid of the box in a small plastic bag.
The Certificate of G.L.A.M. (or Certificat de G.L.A.M.) indicates that these shoes are from the Fall 2022 collection. Does this mean there will be a spring collection? I’d better start saving my money now!
I love how detailed the receipt is. I tried scanning the QR code to see if it would bring up a website. It does. Just click on the photo below to see the larger image, and scan the QR code. It takes you to the official Rainbow High website.
“Your receipt, Madame. Thank you for shopping with us.”
Inside the “trunk” is a drawer-like box that contains a shoebox.
The side of the box shows which shoes are inside.
The shoebox holds two surprises – well, three if you count the shoes. The first surprise is that the shoes are wrapped in tissue paper, like real shoes in a shoebox when you first buy them. The paper is sealed with a sticker that emulates a wax seal. The paper also matches the color of the box. The designs printed on the colored paper is different for each colored box.
The second surprise is a dust bag to store the shoes in.
Each box of shoes and purses comes with a collector’s guide. One side features the shoes, with the purses on the reverse. I’ll just show the shoes in this review and save the purse collectors’ guide for a separate review.
The first pair of shoes I got were Poppy Rowan’s thigh-high boots. One down, seven to go.
1. Poppy Rowan – Monarch butterfly boots.
2. Sunny Madison – kawaii graffiti boots. They’re like Doc Martens.
These shoes were the one exception to babydolldolls finder’s guide to the shoes. I intended to get Sunny Madison’s pastel platform sneakers and took the yellow box that was on the top row, in the center front, as per the finder’s guide. When I opened the box at home, however, I discovered that I got the kawaii graffiti boots. But I’m not mad. These boots are cooler than I thought they were. The illustration in the collector’s guide doesn’t have the graffiti on it and shows plain white boots. I actually like these more than the pastel rainbow sneakers. A happy accident! In my rush to get the boxes I wanted while I was in Walmart, I didn’t see babydolldolls’s comment on her post that explained that, while the four cases she bought all had the pastel platform sneakers in the same spot, others had the same issue I had. But her guide was super helpful. Thank you babydolldolls.
5. Jade Hunter – buckled combat boots. They’re loosely based on the Versace Medusa harness boots. I love how MGAEntertainment looks to designer fashion houses for inspiration.
8. Rainbow High – rainbow-sparkle slouchy knee boots.
I have bought an awful lot of tiny doll shoes and purses in the past couple of weeks, and I’m probably not done yet! At ten dollars each, I could have bought myself a purse or a couple of pairs of shoes with the money I’ve spent. The ten-dollar price point for the Mini Accessories Studio items is a bone of contention for some collectors. For little more than twice the price, collectors can buy a Rainbow High doll, including the shoes. While ten dollars may seem a bit steep for a pair of doll shoes, I’m not mad at it. MGA could have put the mini accessories in carded plastic bags and just hung them on a peg at Target or Walmart. Instead, they come in an aesthetically pleasing presentation box, wrapped in tissue, and placed in a mini shoe box, accompanied by a real cloth drawstring dust bag. As they say, presentation is everything. I had a lot of fun opening each box. It feels like I’m buying designer shoes in an exclusive boutique, just like Lila below.
Have you bought any of the Mini Accessories Studio shoes or purses? What do you think of them? Let us know in the comments.
Dollsville, USA 