Casta Fierce Goes to Salem

Casta Fierce, that bewitching pop star who recently held a concert at Monster High, has been spotted recently casting her spell upon the city of Salem, MA. Otherwise known as Witch City, Salem seems like the perfect getaway for the teen singing sensation, especially with Halloween approaching.

Casta’s first stop was the Witch House. It sounds perfectly inviting to a nice witch like Casta.

But the Witch House was once home to Judge Jonathan Corwin, who was known as the “Hanging Judge” because of his participation in the Salem Witch Trials of 1692. Hanging Judge?!

This looks like a nice building. What does that sign say? “Witch Dungeon Museum“??? Are those stocks in front? Moving on…

Gallows Hill Theater? Gee, Salem doesn’t seem to like witches very much, does it?

Finally a friendly face! At least Samantha Stevens seems to welcome Casta to Salem.

And Casta’s trip to Salem wouldn’t be complete without some ice cream, so she stopped off at Salem Screamery.

They even have a special flavor called Witches Brew, which is right up Casta’s alley.

And a final stop at the Old Burying Point, the oldest cemetery in Salem.

Monster High Draculocker

The Draculocker is like the Monster High version of the Barbie Wardrobe. I haven’t been able to find the Draculocker in stores, so I bought it online from Kmart.com. As with my Ghoul Chat set, I received prompt shipping and had the Draculocker in a couple of days.

The case is shaped like the coffin-shaped lockers at Monster High. It has a pink retractable handle for carrying.

The side features a Monster High skullette lock that you can push down to hold the locker closed.

The Draculocker opens to reveal a faboo walk-in closet for Draculaura that also includes a study area for her. It comes with several accessories, an extra dress, and even her pet Count Fabulous is included. One side is the closet, with shelves and hangers.

It even has space for Draculaura and Count Fabulous to sleep upside-down, suspended from a support that slides into the locker.

The other side is Draculaura’s study area. It has shelves, two pull-out drawers, and comes with a chair.

The Draculocker comes with several accessories for Draculaura, including several hangers, an extra dress, two extra pairs of shoes, three handbags, a pair of sunglasses, an extra pair of earrings, and a parasol.

Draculaura comes dressed in a pink dress with a print of hearts with bat wings, tied at the waist with a red ribbon, and paired with black leggings and pink sandals.

She also has a pair of pink lace-up boots.

The other outfit is a pink dress with a pattern that looks like the shirred fabric that lines a coffin, paired with white sandals with heart-shaped cut-outs in the heels. Here she is wearing it with the sunglasses and one of the three handbags that came with the Draculocker.

The other pair of earrings are shaped like a bow.

We’ve seen the other two purses before. The pink coffin-shaped purse is from the same mold as the black purse that came with Draculaura in the Forbitten Love two-pack with Clawd, and the black heart-shaped purse is from the same mold as the pink purse that came with the Day at the Maul Draculaura.

Which purse should I take today?

When taking photos with the Draculocker, I was lazy and didn’t add extra accessories, but you could fill the shelves with other Monster High purses, shoes, dresses, and accessories. It would be fun for little girls (and big girls too) to fill the closet with all of Draculaura’s stuff to really make it look lived in.

Hard at work.

Do you have the Draculocker or are you thinking about getting it?

Monster High Ghoul Chat

Ghoul Chat debuted this summer at San Diego Comic Con. When I saw the photos taken by fans who attended Comic Con, I knew I had to get my grubby little hands on this set. There was just something so adorably retro about it. The Ghoul Chat set consists of Catrine De Mew and Rochelle Goyle, the two Monster High exchange students from Scaris. Each is dressed in a vintage-inspired dress and comes with a ghoulishly girly telephone. Even their hairstyles seemed inspired by the Sixties. I didn’t realize then that Ghoul Chat was a K-Mart exclusive. Since there aren’t any K-Mart stores near me, I ordered online from Kmart.com. My order was processed the same day, and since their warehouse was only two states away from me, I received my order the very next day. I’m impressed!

Catrine and Rochelle come in their box already chatting on their telephones. The back of the box has a cute illustration of them chatting about a boy.

What boy are they talking about? We don’t know. It’s definitely not Garrot, Rochelle’s boyfriend, but a love interest for Catrine. Who could it be? He’s shy but sweet, so that rules out Heath! Clawd, Deuce, Gil, Invisibilly, and Manny all have girlfriends. Could it be Jackson? He has an on-again/off-again relationship with Frankie, but I think they’re officially considered a couple. Maybe a future webisode will clear this matter up – or the Freaky Fusion movie that’s coming out. Could it be Neighthan Rot?! Trailers for Freaky Fusion hint at a romance between Neighthan and a Monster High girl. Who do you think it is?

Rochelle is dressed in a short dress with a stained glass design of pastel shades of grey, mint, pink, and white. It’s meant to symbolize the stained glass in the magnificent cathedrals of Paris. The dress is topped with a black swiss-dotted bodice and short puffed sleeves. Her pink hair is streaked with mint green that matches her lipstick. I was a little disappointed in her hairstyle. In the promo photos, her hair looks like a short bouffant a la Doris Day in Pillow Talk. The actual doll has a high ponytail. She’s still cute, though.

Mint green shoes with a Rococo C-scroll motif complete her look. It’s obvious that mint green is a theme with Ghoul Chat Rochelle.

She comes with a mint green telephone, the cord of which forms a heart.

Catrine mirrors Rochelle, but her theme color is purple. As with Rochelle, her colors are all delicate pastels. The bodice of her dress features a ruffled bib design with a dripping design, and the skirt features a design of cat heads. At least I think it’s cat heads. It’s kind of weird and stylized and I can’t really make out what it’s supposed to be.

Her hair is pulled back into a low ponytail, purple, with pink streaks. Her lipstick is also pale purple.

Her shoes are the same color purple as her hair and phone (although it looks darker in this photo), and are in the style of booties with ankle socks.

Some people on Monster High forums have complained that their Ghoul Chat Catrine dolls were missing the hole in the back to insert her tail! This was the first thing I checked when I received my dolls, and I’m happy to report that my Catrine does have her tail hole. Thus, she’s able to wear her tail.

The Ghoul Chat set is adorable. I couldn’t wait to set them up in equally adorable retro bedrooms and make them chat with each other.

Catrine at her vanity

Rochelle in her walk-in closet

Do you have the Ghoul Chat dolls? What do you think of them?

For the Love of Tulabelle

When I reviewed French Kissed Tulabelle in my last post, I mentioned that I didn’t quite feel the same excitement that I felt with my other Tulabelles. So today I did a major photo session with all four of my Tulabelles and I think I figured out what the problem was. When I compared the three Tulabelles from the 2013 debut collection, J’Adore, Violet Femme, and Pomp and Circumstance, to French Kissed, I noticed that the face-up is a bit different for French Kissed. French Kissed has eyelashes painted on her lower lashes, giving her a more “adult,” made-up look. The 2013 Tulabelles don’t have lower eyelashes.

French Kissed also has heavier eyebrows, thus contributing to her more dramatic appearance compared to the 2013 dolls. Her eyebrows before the arch are thicker, and after the arch, they’re shorter and don’t extend to the outer corner of the eyelid like they do on the 2013 dolls.

That being said, I’m feeling more love for French Kissed than I did when I originally photographed her. Maybe it’s because the lighting was better today and I’m pleased with the photos I took. And photographing her with her “sisters” was a lot of fun. French Kissed is really pretty, although I think I still prefer Tulabelle with simpler makeup and clothing. Tulabelle is supposed to be a teenager, after all, and I thought the 2013 collection was simple yet funky. The 2014 collection makes Tulabelle too grown-up and sophisticated. But I do still love her.

What do you think of the difference in face-ups? Which do you prefer?

French Kissed Tulabelle

J’Adore Tulabelle

Pomp and Circumstance Tulabelle

Violet Femme Tulabelle

French Kissed Tulabelle

French Kissed Tulabelle has finally arrived.  She is one of the four new Tulabelle releases from Integrity Toys for 2014. Of the four new dolls, French Kissed appealed to me the most because I really liked her outfit.  And she had kind of a Taylor Swift vibe with her high ponytail and bangs.

French Kissed Tulabelle is dressed to attend Paris Fashion Week. She wears a black blouse with a large bow at the throat, paired with a black satin bubble skirt cinched at the waist with a belt. A purple tweed short-waisted jacket completes the outfit. Purple satin heels match her jacket. She carries a black clutch purse and wears cross earrings and a matching multi-strand cross necklace. She also wears black leather fingerless gloves. She wears two pairs of tights – black fishnets over shiny nude-colored tights.

The fingerless gloves stretched over her hands with a little bit of effort, but after I took a few photos of Tulabelle wearing them I took them off and put them back in the box forever. I’m afraid that if I leave them on the doll they’ll stain her hands. Plus, I also think they’re a little too rock ‘n roll for her otherwise dressy outfit.

As with Pomp and Circumstance Tulabelle, I actually liked French Kissed Tulabelle a little more when I removed her jacket and paired down her outfit. She looks more refined dressed in all black, and the silver jewelry looks more striking when its not competing for attention with the purple tweed jacket, though I think the earrings and the necklace threaten to overpower the outfit, as was also the case with Pomp and Circumstance Tulabelle.

As with my other Tulabelles, I had a bit of trouble putting the earrings in French Kissed Tulabelle’s ears. Integrity just doesn’t make the holes in her ear big enough, and, as with J’Adore Tulabelle, I sort of broke the earring. One of the crosses came off of the stud as I was forcing the post into the tiny ear hole. I had to take a pair of needle-nosed pliers and close off the jump-ring on the stud after I placed the cross back on it. It looks good as new, though. Can you tell I broke it?

Besides the earrings, I had a couple of other issues with French Kissed that I didn’t have with my other Tulabelles. I had a little trouble getting the shoes on. Tulabelle has jointed toes so she can wear flats or heels. But I couldn’t really bend the toes enough to arch her foot to fit in the heels. I think it might be the fact that she’s wearing two pairs of tights. It felt harder to move the toes. As a result, her shoes don’t fit quite right, especially on her right foot.

Another issue I had was with her bangs. They are choppy, and when the doll first arrived part of her bangs were sticking straight up. I had to continually smooth them down until they stayed down. It looks better, but it doesn’t look as good as the prototype in the promo photos.

Photo courtesy of Integrity Toys

But I do really like her platinum blonde hair and her high ponytail.

French Kissed Tulabelle is my fourth Tulabelle, and the only one from the 2014 collection that appealed to me. When I was photographing her, I couldn’t help but think that I wasn’t “feeling it” like I did when I photographed my other Tulabelles, and I’m not exactly sure why. Two of my three Tulabelles from 2013 are basic editions (none of the 2014 Tulabelles are), and I think maybe I prefer Tulabelle when she’s simpler. I really liked Pomp and Circumstance Tulabelle better when I removed her extra jewelry and accessories and put her in flats. Perhaps French Kissed is a bit overdressed? Maybe I like her better casual than dressy? I don’t know. I just didn’t feel the same excitement, or that sense of really falling in love with a doll, that I did when I photographed Pomp and Circumstance and J’Adore. Maybe the new line just doesn’t measure up to the debut collection. Do you collect Tulabelle? What do you think?

Monster High Inner Monsters

Inner Monster is a new concept from Monster High. It’s sort of like MH’s Create a Monster, but it’s more interactive. There are three dolls in the line. Each doll has two personalities and comes with a variety of accessories to convey their personalities. The Inner Monster dolls were introduced at NY Toy Fair and San Diego Comic Con before they hit the shelves earlier this month. I ended up buying all three because I totally fell hard for their unique “gimmick,” which I’ll explain a little bit later. There is also a separate fashion pack for each of the three Inner Monster dolls, sold separately.

The packaging for the Inner Monster looks different from the usual Monster High packaging. What really appealed to me is the illustration on the box. Instead of the usual cartoon-like image of the character, the Inner Monster artwork has more of a Kawaii feel to it. It looks like manga, or Tokidoki. It’s colorful and vibrant. The image is a half-face of each of the two personalities of the doll, and when you put two boxes together side by side, it creates one whole face (see above).

Here’s a closeup of one of the faces so you can see how attractive the artwork is.

I had seen a few photos of the Inner Monster dolls online, but their unique gimmick wasn’t obvious to me until I saw them in person. On the box, in large letters, are the words “Try me.” Upon closer inspection, it reads “Push brain to change my eyes.”

There is a hole in the box over the head that exposes the brain so you can try it.

When I pushed the brain in the store, I was thrilled to discover that you can change the eyes for the Inner Monster doll to one of three different looks. Monster High meets Blythe? Shut up and take my money!

Each Inner Monster doll comes with a variety of accessories, including a stand, a hairbrush, a wig, a diary, a purse, a mask, two pairs of shoes, and two sets of accessories to show two different personalities. Two of the dolls, Fearfully Feisty/Fangtastic Love and Spooky Sweet/Frightfully Fierce, come with a pair of sunglasses, while Scared Silly/Shockingly Shy comes with a headband that matches one of her two outfits. Each doll also comes with a set of tiny plastic pieces that I’ll call emoticons, for lack of a better word.

Since each doll is basically the same in terms of how they work and what accessories come with it, I’ll do a full review of one of the dolls, Fearfully Feisty/Fangtastic Love. I’ll add a few photos of the other two dolls, Spooky Sweet/Frightfully Fierce, and Scared Silly/Shockingly Shy to highlight certain points.

Fearfully Feisty/Fangtastic Love has pink skin and pink hair. Her arms and legs are covered in tiny red hearts.

She comes with her brain exposed, and a wig that you attach to her head with two prongs inside the wig that fit into two corresponding holes in her head. It’s similar to the Create a Monster, but the CAM wigs have one prong and the dolls have the hole at the top of the head, which is impossible for the Inner Monsters because of their brains.

 

I was a little disappointed with the wigs of all three dolls. Fearfully Fiesty’s wig fit the best, but it shed a lot and it’s very uneven. The wigs for the other two dolls didn’t look as good because the plastic wig cap showed, due to the hairstyle of the wig.

Scared Silly/Shockingly Shy

Spooky Sweet/Frightfully Fierce

Fearfully Feisty and Scared Silly come with sunglasses and a skullette purse. Spooky Sweet comes with a purse but no sunglasses. I think this is because she comes with a headband for one of her costumes, whereas the other two dolls don’t.

Each doll comes with two different “costumes.” Fearfully Feisty’s first costume consists of spider legs that clip on to her shoulders and her waist. There are six spider legs, which means she has ten limbs instead of eight when you add her two arms and legs! The spider legs are individually jointed for articulation.

The spider legs feature a spider on the back.

She comes in a pair of shoes with red heel-less soles and black straps that wind up to the ankle.

The second costume for Fearfully Feisty consists of fiery  orange wings. I changed her eyes to the dragon eyes to go with the wings.

She comes with a second pair of shoes that complement the orange wings.

Each doll also comes with a separate mask to reflect a different emotion. Fearfully Feisty/Fangtastically in Love’s mask features heavy blue eyeshadow, dual-toned lipstick, and tiny hearts on her face. I’m thinking this mask reflects the Fangtastically in Love aspect of her personality, so I changed her eyes to the hearts option. Isn’t she sweet?

Spooky Sweet’s mask

Scared Silly’s mask

Each Inner Monster doll comes with a blank diary so you can customize it. You can even create a name for her. I think this would be fun for little girls who have this doll, as it could really stimulate their imagination and encourage them to be creative.

 

But perhaps the most unique and creative aspect of this doll is the true “Inner Monster” feature.  Her torso consists of two pieces of clear plastic that snap together over her skeleton body. Her inner skeleton is reminiscent of Skelita Calavera’s body, but it has tiny holes in it for the insertion of tiny  plastic symbols that, for lack of a better word, I’ll call emoticons.

I fall to pieces

The two pieces of the torso come apart fairly easily. The torso snaps back together well depending on what emoticons you put in it. There were certain emoticons that, when placed in the hole on the left side, were too big for the torso to snap back together, so you might have to play around with them to see what fits where. I had fun putting the emoticons in the doll’s body.  So did the girls.

I really like all three Inner Monster dolls, but I can’t decide which one I like the most. Spooky Sweet/Frightfully Fierce (purple hair) initially appealed to me the most because she has the sweetest facial expressions, but I’m disappointed in how her wig fits. The same goes for Scared Silly/Shockingly Shy. I also wish Scared Silly came with sunglasses like the other two Inner Monster dolls, but I like that her two outfits – the peacock and the purple wings – are the least “monsterous” or threatening of the trio. I think Fearfully Feisty looks the best because her wig has bangs, so you don’t see the clear plastic wig cap. I also love that one of her hands does the “rock ‘n roll” gesture (which is, perhaps not coincidentally, the international sign language symbol for “I love you.”). So each doll is sweet in her own way. I think the Inner Monster dolls would be a lot of fun for girls within the intended age group because of the many combinations of accessories, eye looks, and emoticons. Heck, I had fun playing with them too.

Do you have any (or all) of the Inner Monster dolls?