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<\/a>Noisy is away for a few days and the site is mine! Ha! Don’t worry, loyal readers, I won’t break anything, but I’ve got a few fun ideas. For one, we need monster reviews! It’s difficult to find a decent monster toy line these days though. There is Mattel’s Monster High line, but I was worried it might just be Halloween Bratz.<\/p>\nBefore I get into the meat of the review, I wanted to touch on a debate we\u2019ve been having here at IAT. Can monster toys appeal to young girls? Being a manly man, who only occasionally buys girl toys, I\u2019m obviously clueless when it comes to this. But from what I can recall, there hasn\u2019t ever been a monster toy line directed toward girls, and specifically toward the Barbie crowd (ages 6+ according to the box). I\u2019m not sure Mattel put much more thought into this brand than to cash in with the current uber-trendiness of vampires and werewolves. But I think they might have also stumbled onto an untapped subsection of the girls market. Women who like werewolves and vampires must have liked them as kids, right? So, what do you think readers? Can a line of fashion dolls that loosely resemble classic horror characters sell to the tweens?<\/p>\n
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<\/center><\/p>\nWhen Mattel announced Monster High, my first impressions were mixed. As I said, I liked the idea of a girl monster series, but I wasn\u2019t quite sold on the look. Then I watched the animated shorts online, and they won me over. Now I\u2019m not saying these episodes are the best animation I\u2019ve ever seen, or that the writing is on par with Stephen King. But even though most of the plots are superficially silly, there is still some depth to the ideas. Like how Frankie Stein walks in the clomping style of Boris Karloff. Or when they show year book pictures and you only see Draculaura\u2019s clothes and hair. I like that Ghoulia, the shambling zombie girl who only speaks in groans and moans, is the smartest girl in school. And I like how the flashbacks are shown with a black and white film reel look, complete with scratches. Little details like that I really appreciate, and they\u2019re not just in the series but also in the design of the figures.<\/p>\n
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<\/center><\/p>\nOut of the first wave released, I decided to go with Lagoona Blue for my test figure. She had an interesting look to her with some uniquely sculpted body parts. Plus, who doesn\u2019t love blue women? Lagoona\u2019s bio states she\u2019s the daughter of a sea monster, although her appearance seems very much inspired by the Gill-Man from the Creature from the Black Lagoon. But, since Gill-Man is owned by Universal, I can see why Mattel went with the generic Sea Monster.<\/p>\n
The overall sculpt of the Monster High dolls is interesting. With their large heads and long legs, the first thing you may compare them to is Bratz, that\u2019s what I did originally. But if you look at them closely, you\u2019ll notice the Monster High figures, even with their exaggerated proportions, still have a youthful innocence about them. They actually look like teenagers. Contrast that with the creepy prostitute-trying-to-look-young feeling that Bratz dolls give off. I would show you a comparison picture, but I refuse to sleep under the same roof as a Bratz doll. So, unlike Levar Burton, you\u2019ll just have to take my word for it.<\/p>\n
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<\/center><\/p>\nEach of the Monster High girls has a different head. They all look very similar, but each has a unique tooling. Lagoona has unique ears that look like fish fins. It wasn\u2019t even necessary for Mattel to do, since you have to pull her hoodie off and her hair back just to see them. Although I\u2019m glad they did do it, and I appreciate the extra detail. All the girls share the same body, just in different colors. But where Lagoona differs from the other girls is extremities. Her calves have two holes on the outer sides so you can plug in her translucent blue fins. This is another nice touch, and very functional since you have to take her fins off to change her clothing. Her forearms also have fins, but this time they are molded on. Luckily, all the monster girls\u2019 forearms are made to be removable at the elbow for dressing purposes. Lagoona\u2019s most distinct difference is her hands. She was characteristically given webbed fingers. The webbing is the same translucent blue as her fins while the hand is the light blue skin tone of her body. Even though this is a small feature, it really adds some unique character to her figure. <\/p>\n
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<\/center><\/p>\nLagoona\u2019s paint job is a mix of simple and detailed. Most of her body is molded icy blue with clear blue used on her fins. Her head is where the paint was focused though. The red of her lipstick is slightly metallic, giving her mouth a wet look. Her large green eyes are encircled with three different shades of purple eye shadow, and the middle color is used again on her eyebrows. There\u2019s also a slight touch of glitter just above her eyes, while her cheeks are speckled with little blue freckles. Who\u2019d of thought sea monsters have freckles? Continue to Page Two…<\/A>.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Her articulation is actually really nice for a doll, but a little lacking for an action figure. She\u2019s got a ball jointed neck, although the movement isn\u2019t as extensive as I\u2019d like. She can only slightly look up or down, not all the way. Her shoulders, elbows, wrists, and knees are all swivel\/hinges. Her thighs are interesting. They would be a swivel\/hinge, except that they aren\u2019t held in by a joint. They\u2019re connected into the body with a stretchy piece of fabric. They can move forward, back, and even to the side like a DC Classic\u2019s, but they can\u2019t swivel and they don\u2019t want to stay in place if moved too far out. Maybe it\u2019s a doll thing, but wouldn\u2019t this be better with an actual joint instead of a piece of fabric? Also, she doesn\u2019t have a waist joint or ab crunch. I realize those are action figure features, and that dolls don\u2019t usually have torso joints of any kind, but I really feel these dolls could benefit from one. Their bodies and legs are long and stuck in a perfect posture position. This really cuts down on the kind of posing or even movements they can perform. She can\u2019t even put her shoes on.<\/p>\n Since Lagoona is a doll, I should probably talk a little about her hair and clothes. Her hair comes down just below her butt, and is curly blonde with streaks of ocean blue. Because of the hoodie she wears, her hair is divided up into three main parts. On either side of her head are two large locks, while grouped coming out the back of a hole in her hoodie is the rest. Her hair is styled also. She has a swooping curl of bangs in front which has been stiffened in this shape. I\u2019m sure it can be undone, but that would ruin the look of the character. There\u2019re also two strands that reach from the front of her head on either side to the back, where they are intertwined into a braid. This all looks really nice, except for one thing. When in package, the back part of her hair was smashed against the cardboard. So instead of getting these flowing curly locks, I got a flattened and matted nest. Mattel really needs to figure out a way to fix this problem, especially if it\u2019s prevalent in the other figures. They are a doll company after all, this shouldn\u2019t really be an issue.<\/p>\n I was surprised to discover that Lagoona is wearing two outfits. If you take off her hoodie and short shorts you see that her halter top is actually part of a swimsuit. This was a cool little surprise. I also like the faux fish scales and thigh covering fishnets that are part of the swimsuit. I never thought about mer-folk wearing fishnets before.<\/p>\n Last, but not least are Lagoona\u2019s accessories. She comes with the essential doll comb in the shape of the Monster High skull, and a doll stand. I\u2019m a little leery on that stand. It seems like it\u2019s made to fit around her waist, but the plastic clip feels very brittle. Also, trying to slide it over her swimsuit gave me the impression that the stand could easily snag the fabric and tear it. So, if you\u2019re a braver soul than me and want to try using your stand, just be careful. Lagoona also comes with her diary, which you can use for online things. Then there\u2019s her pet fish Neptuna. Neptuna can be placed in a fish bowl\/purse or just carried around. All the monster girls come with pets, but I\u2019m not sure why Lagoona got a fish. In the cartoon she always seems to have a three eyed frog around, and I\u2019m kind of confused why they didn\u2019t go with that for her pet.<\/p>\n All around, I\u2019m pretty happy with Lagoona Blue and Monster High in general. The show is certainly entertaining, and you can tell the writers at least put some thought into it. The figures are also nice. Not quite as much articulation as I\u2019m used to in my boy lines, but it seems there\u2019s more than a normal girl line. So that\u2019s a plus. The style is unique yet still cute, and the nods to the monsters that inspired them are appreciated. My biggest annoyance was the really the messed up hair. I\u2019m sure there\u2019s ways to fix it, but as a casual fan I\u2019m in the dark. I would just prefer that Mattel not ruin it in the first place. You can find these dolls for about $20 at retail, which I think is a decent price. Wave 2 will be showing up later this year and includes the zombie girl, and I can tell you now that I\u2019ll be doing her review. If you\u2019re still not sure on these, do what I did. Watch some of the episodes<\/a>.<\/p>\n It\u2019s difficult to find a decent monster toy line, much less one made up of female monsters. There was Resurrection of Monstress a couple years back that was very stylized, but other than that the market\u2019s been sparse until now with Mattel\u2019s new Monster High line. But is it monster enough or just Halloween Barbie?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":8412,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"_themeisle_gutenberg_block_has_review":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_options":[]},"categories":[34,10],"tags":[633,632],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.itsalltrue.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/08\/blueTN.jpg?fit=50%2C50","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pObc6-2bF","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":9989,"url":"http:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/?p=9989","url_meta":{"origin":8411,"position":0},"title":"Vault Review: Monster High’s Ghoulia","date":"October 29, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"I like Monster High. And ever since I started watching the webisodes, Ghoulia has been my favorite character. This week, I was lucky enough to find wave Wave 3 at my local Target and have Ghoulia for review. But even though I love this character, I have conflicted feelings about\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Reviews"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":20536,"url":"http:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/?p=20536","url_meta":{"origin":8411,"position":1},"title":"Monster High Robecca Steam Review (MonsterHighFearBook.Com)","date":"August 24, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"This addition of Reviewapalooza II is a bit of a shameless plug\/cheat on my part.\u00a0 I wrote this for my other site, MonsterHighFearbook.com!\u00a0 This is one of the more interesting figures to debut in the Monster High line.\u00a0 Not only is she a steampunk styled robot, but she's also a\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Reviews"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":21754,"url":"http:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/?p=21754","url_meta":{"origin":8411,"position":2},"title":"Review Round-Up (October 22nd-28th)","date":"November 2, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"This week\u2019s Review Round-Up played dirty pool! We\u2019ve got our awesome mix of cool reviews of hot new toys and interesting reviews of toys that time forgot, but Toyriffic is on my naughty list! If not for them, I\u2019d never have known about the awesome Halloween repaint of the Hot\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Reviews"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":21828,"url":"http:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/?p=21828","url_meta":{"origin":8411,"position":3},"title":"Review Round-Up (October 29th-November 4th)","date":"November 9, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"It\u2019s been a hectic last couple days, but I couldn\u2019t miss Review Round-Up! This week could be called Metalhead week! It\u2019s not all TMNT this week though. There weren\u2019t many comic book toys, but Hobbit figures are getting more love and we\u2019ve always got a healthy chunk of MOTU reviews\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Reviews"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":19585,"url":"http:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/?p=19585","url_meta":{"origin":8411,"position":4},"title":"MonsterHighFearbook.com Reviews: Ghoulia\u2019s Scooter (TRU Exclusive)","date":"July 13, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"Since Vault\u2019s responsible for a good chunk of IAT reviews, it seemed only fair to let him select a guest reviewer. After an exhaustive search, he selected\u2026 himself! See, Vault\u2019s branched out on his own with MonsterHighFearbook.Com! (Don\u2019t worry, he\u2019s not leaving IAT!) Vault, take us out! Vault: Our last\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Reviews"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.itsalltrue.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/07\/gsco09.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":19531,"url":"http:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/?p=19531","url_meta":{"origin":8411,"position":5},"title":"DoomKick.com Reviews: Monster Fighters Vampyre Hearse #9464","date":"July 10, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"Day Two of Guest Review Week rolls on with a look at Lego Monster Fighters from the resolute DrRampageo! Doc recently launched his newest site, Doomkick.Com, and can often be found here in our comments section and forum. Only seemed right to put him to work! Have at it, Doc!\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Lego"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8411"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=8411"}],"version-history":[{"count":12,"href":"http:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8411\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8506,"href":"http:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8411\/revisions\/8506"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/8412"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=8411"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=8411"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=8411"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![](\"reviews\/advimages\/2010\/blue6.jpg\")
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