{"id":9989,"date":"2010-10-29T13:33:03","date_gmt":"2010-10-29T18:33:03","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/?p=9989"},"modified":"2010-10-29T13:33:03","modified_gmt":"2010-10-29T18:33:03","slug":"vault-review-monster-highs-ghoulia","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/?p=9989","title":{"rendered":"Vault Review:
Monster High’s Ghoulia"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/a> 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 her plastic portrayal.<\/p>\n

When I reviewed Lagoona Blue<\/a> in the beginning of August, I wondered if a monster toy line marketed towards girls could be successful. Almost three months later, it seems the answer is yes. Not only is Mattel marketing Monster High as one of their hot toy lines for Christmas (which is to be expected), but they can’t seem to make the dolls fast enough. The two-pack with Cleo and Deuce doesn’t move as fast, but the individual figures are becoming scarce. I felt pretty lucky to find Ghoulia at all. <\/p>\n

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Like I said in the opening, Ghoulia is my favorIte character. There\u2019s a lot of charm in the fact that she speaks with moans and groans, yet is the smartest student at Monster High. She shambles around in awkward poses, but is always there to help out the girls with their problems. It would have been easy for the writers to make her an outcast even among monsters, or have the girls ridicule her as the typical nerd archetype. Instead they made her part of the group. Even the catty Cleo considers her a best friend. She\u2019s the zombie that\u2019s always helpful, what\u2019s not to like?<\/p>\n

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Like all the other female Monster High characters, Ghoulia shares the same body with a uniquely sculpted head. She\u2019s got a ball jointed head with good side to side, but limited up and down movement. Her shoulders, elbows, wrists, and knees are all swivel\/hinges. Like the other girls, her forearms are easily removed at the elbows to allow for clothes changing. Her thighs are swivel\/hinges connected with a stretchy piece of fabric. I\u2019m not a big fan of this joint, but it works. All together these joints give the body a simple design, but still allows for a fairly large range of movement.<\/p>\n

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This Ghoulia figure leaves me with an interesting dilemma as a fan of the character though. The head is a nicely sculpted piece, but it doesn\u2019t really look like Ghoulia. Where Ghoulia has an almost vacant look to her wide eyes and a slightly grimaced mouth, the figure has been given makeover to make a “prettier” doll. Mattel isn\u2019t wrong in thinking that girls want to play with pretty dolls. But by creating the doll in a more attractive fashion they have also stripped away the character\u2019s true personality. Instead of the cute and quirky zombie girl, we are left with a very attractive, but generic figure.<\/p>\n

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To Mattel, Monster High is nothing more than a dollar sign. But like all good cartoons, there\u2019s still an underlying PSA message: What better place than a high school full of monsters can kids learn that the differences in how we look, act, and sound make us unique (and dare I say, even special). It\u2019s too bad the toys can\u2019t entirely reflect those same sentiments. Continue to Page 2…<\/a><\/p>\n

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Ghoulia comes with the standard set of Monster High accessories. There is the skull shaped comb and doll stand, this time both in red. This version of the doll stand seems to feel a bit softer. This is good because it doesn\u2019t feel like it will snap as easily as Lagoona\u2019s. Unfortunately, it still easily snags the clothing, so I still won\u2019t be using it. Ghoulia also comes with her diary that contains ton of character information, and a strange purse that\u2019s shaped like a large cassette tape. I find this strange because I\u2019m not sure the targeted age group knows what cassette tapes are? (Maybe that\u2019s just me being old though\u2026) Lastly, she comes with her pet owl, Sir Hoots A Lot. The owl can sit on her forearm, but I have it displayed here on a a Masters of the Universe Classics collector perch. That’s not included with the figure, but since it fits so well it makes me wonder why they didn\u2019t include one.<\/p>\n

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One thing that I love about the Monster High characters is the little bits of eye candy that are designed into their looks. Ghoulia\u2019s most prevelant homage is in the design of her pants – a nod to Michael Jackson\u2019s costume in Thriller. Then there are the similarities between her retro hair style and that of the character Barbara from the original Night of the Living Dead. Even her horn-rimmed glasses are a call back to the 1960\u2019s, when George A. Romero first unleashed his vision of the modern zombie. <\/p>\n

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Monster High dolls vary widely in price depending on where you are shopping. At Target you can get them for about $17. While at Toys R Us they will run you closer to $25. I\u2019ve even heard reports of mall stores selling them for $30 a figure. To me, $20 is an okay price. So if you can get them cheaper, you\u2019re doing great. <\/p>\n

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After all is said and done, I\u2019m still glad I bought this figure. I would still like an accurate version at some point (maybe Mattel could do it for next year\u2019s SDCC exclusive, that way the collectors and kids can all be happy). I love the characterizations in the cartoons, and the tiny call-backs to classic horror is right up my alley. So, even though Ghoulia is just my second purchase in the Monster High line, I have a feeling it\u2019s not going to be my last.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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 her plastic portrayal.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":9991,"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":[767,768,20,632],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.itsalltrue.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/10\/ghouTN.jpg?fit=50%2C50","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pObc6-2B7","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":19585,"url":"http:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/?p=19585","url_meta":{"origin":9989,"position":0},"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":12450,"url":"http:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/?p=12450","url_meta":{"origin":9989,"position":1},"title":"SDCC 2011 Exclusives: Official Images from Mattel","date":"April 29, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"Since Attack of the Show's strangly decided not to focus on the He-Man items last night, it fell back to Mattel to give us our first good look at the 2011 exclusives. They've come to our aid early this morning with images and information on the upcoming San Diego Exclusives\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Ask Matty"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":8411,"url":"http:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/?p=8411","url_meta":{"origin":9989,"position":2},"title":"Vault Review: Monster High’s Lagoona Blue","date":"August 3, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"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\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Reviews"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":21146,"url":"http:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/?p=21146","url_meta":{"origin":9989,"position":3},"title":"Sponsor Announcement: Ka-Razy Kings of Toys","date":"September 29, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"Hey there, folks! Fall is now upon us, and so is a lot of upcoming excitement! First, we have a question: ....are any of you still looking to complete your Voltron? Do you happen to need the Green Lion? Well, we're just Ka-Raaaaaaaaaaaaazy enough to give one away! We're happy\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Sponsors"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":14296,"url":"http:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/?p=14296","url_meta":{"origin":9989,"position":4},"title":"MOTUClassics.com Vault Review: Queen Marlena\/Captain Glenn","date":"September 1, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"I felt lucky about this year\u2019s SanDiego Comicon exclusives.\u00a0 Usually I\u2019m scrambling to get five or six, but this year I only wanted three: two of MOTU Classics Queen Marlena and a Monster High Deadfast Ghoulia.\u00a0 Not only were they both incredibly easy to get, but I spent a lot\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "MOTUClassics"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.itsalltrue.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/09\/marl09.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":21754,"url":"http:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/?p=21754","url_meta":{"origin":9989,"position":5},"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":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9989"}],"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=9989"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"http:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9989\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9999,"href":"http:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9989\/revisions\/9999"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/9991"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=9989"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=9989"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=9989"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}