Monster High Die-ner with Draculaura AND Operetta

Asda does this odd thing, it gets exclusives in at insane prices (UK prices for dolls are painful ok?) then a few months after release, they drop them to crazy cheap omg this is almost US level of reduction.
It's AWESOME.

So, initially the Asda exclusive Die-ner set was retailing at £45 which seemed a bit steep, especially given the single doll set was only £30 so you were paying £15 just for Operetta? I mean, she's a nice doll but no way worth £15!

So when they dropped the set price to £25, you bet your tooshy I snapped up a set for myself at last.

So I ordered online and impatiently awaited my set to arrive. Which it did, after about a week. I came home to find the courier had lobbed it over my fence. *sigh*
Thankfully nothing damaged, despite the fact the parcel was just this box shoved into a jiffy bag. A little scuffing to one side but regular shelf wear can do that as well.

So the box, much like all the playsets, they don't give a lot away. The photo on the front inexplicably shows Picture Day Lagoona and Ghoul's night Out Spectra... odd. You'd think they'd have just used GNO or something but eh.
It's a pretty simple box from the front, photo of product in use, two dolls not included and a window showing the two dolls.

Draculaura's holding a tray, Operetta's just kinda standing there all "huh? what? Oh yeah, i'm here too."

 

Side of the box has adorable cartoons of Draculaura working hard.

And the back shows another photo of the set plus the two dolls. Is it terrible that I immediately think "no Ula! Why is your interior red! you clash with your own establishment!"

Anyway, let's rip this thing open and see what we have.

The box pries open in the usual cardboard tab fashion. Inside all the pieces are arranged tetris-like inside little boxes and baggies.

This is everything that's in the non doll section of the box. That bag is stuffed full of random stuff.

Inside the bag are legs, a table top, some lamps, a spider web.. thing. A cover for a tray, a cauldron, a menu.. thing... and a drinks dispenser. And ANOTHER baggy.

Sadly, second baggy doesn't contain yet another baggy and so on like some maddening sort of baggy Russian doll.
Instead it contains a sign, a coffin shaped clock with no numbers (how do you tell the time then!??), some blue tickets and 3 odd shaped cups. Why 3? Is it the magic number?

The entire thing is really easy to put together, there are instructions but I only bothered with them to figure out where to put the lamps and the spider web thing, which it turns out is a ticket hanger.. thing. I'm sure they have a technical official name but i'm not a chef so sod off.

It's a very small die-ner obviously, only one table? and a tiny table at that, how am I supposed to fit my eggs special on that tiny pathetic thing? For shame Draculaura, for shame!

It'd be cool to be able to get just chair and table sets and like.. booths to add to this. I'd love to have little booths set up all over the place haha.

Anyway, now the dolls.

Oh my god this bit was awkward. I don't know if i'm just stupid and couldn't work out the arcane ritual that had to be invoked to remove this cardboard section from the rest of the box, but considering how taped and glued in it was, it's a wonder I got it to come away THIS cleanly.
I thought maybe I should open it from the other side and slide the dolls and backing card out but nooo, the card was taped in so as to prevent sliding the dolls out. And I couldn't access the tape because it was right inside the box. Boo. So going in the other way, nope, doesn't just swing open either. I had to pull and to be fair, but this point I was getting somewhat impatient.

So Operetta's just... standing around with one arm in an awkward pose while Ula disinterestedly offers her soup... or something.

Draculaura managed to claw her way to freedom first. Her hair is soft and no trace of gel at all, excellent! Not even in her bangs! SCORE! I love that.
Her outfit is adorable though i'm not certain about the fabric of the dress. It feels, dare I say it, a little cheap. It's a sorta thin polyester, hmm.

She has cute little lace up heels with a big bow at the top. Under that she wears little black and pink socks made from stretchy... well it feels like spandex ok? I don't recognise this show mould so is this one a new one?

Her bracelet is awkward. I think it's supposed to be a charm bracelet and they've tried this before with other dolls, it always just comes out clunky and unattractive. I think those are chains dangling down, it's a random and rather garish item. It also totally messes with her hand movement, it just gets in the way. Stop with the ugly dangly bracelets Mattel, they don't work.

You can see how shiny her dress is, ew. It's a really cute dress though. Retro style with an adorable bat graphic and heart "buttons". I almost wish they were actually buttons, I think sewn on buttons would have really made this outfit pop but what can you really expect from a doll that comes with a playset? They're always a bit budget.

Around her neck she wears a pink neckscarf with a heart/polkadot pattern. It's ADORABLE.

I wish they'd matched the colour of the pink plastic better to the pink of her outfit though, the bracelet and shoes look red in photos and are pretty reddish irl as well. It looks messy to me.

Her headband has little hearts cut out of it! SO cute! What a totally random and unnecessary touch, but such a Monster High thing to do.

Hair is looking a bit messy thanks to me moving her about.

Her earrings are a better match to her dress, and are big ol' bows.

What strikes me about this ula are two things. one, the closed mouth. I LOVE this closed mouth on her, it's really attractive and i'm sure those fangs look sharper and longer as a result. Secondly, the smoky blue eyeshadow. Wow... what a change. Most Draculaura's have a purple/pink sort of scheme in their makeup, but the blue gives her a totally unique look. It's subtle, it's understated, I really do like it.

This Ula looks a bit sad to me though, there's a certain melancholy about her. Maybe she's just sick of explaining the specials to people.

Operetta:

Operetta... oh dear Operetta. Poor girl seems to have had an accident with the hairspray, her hair is ROCK SOLID.

I'm not even kidding, this stuff is probably bulletproof.

And it's slightly sticky, that's just nasty Operetta, go have a bath immediately, then we'll talk.

Though this is probably the best view I have of her earring which is MASSIVE and some kind of spiky spiderweb thing. 

Right, so shoes. They're odd lace up... with a gap... what the heck are these? That gap is so random, like.. what point does it serve?
Anyway, she has shoes. The details are a bit washed out thanks to not being painted, I think I should get a brush onto those laces to pick them out from the sea of red.

Operetta's outfit really reminds me of her red outfit in her fashion pack, but it isn't quite the same.
The skirt is gorgeous and totally something I would wear myself. It's a tight fitting pencil skirt with a fishtailed hem and little cutouts in a plaid and skull pattern.
The top has that same plaid and skull thing going on and is cut to fall off the shoulders. I've always found these sorts of tops really annoying to wear, I always feel like my shirt is falling down lol.
Around her waist is a broken up keyboard belt, in red. I think it's a keyboard anyway, again it needs the details brought out with a little black paint.

She has no other jewellery aside from her mask and single earring, but she has a cute neck scarf like Ula. This one is simple black and white polkadots and is made of quite thin fabric, but it pulls the outfit together nicely.

After a hair wash Operetta decided she wanted to raid the closet a bit to complete her ensemble. She picked out a different pair of shoes, a bracelet, a handbag so she could pay for her food and drinks, because goodness knows poor girl has no pockets, and a headscarf.

Washed, her hair is actually pretty nice. Certainly an improvement over several of her other releases. It falls into natural looking curls and doesn't feel or look frazzled like her first wave did. All she needed was to be run under hot tap water, and voilà, no more helmet hair.

Her makeup is very muted, a sort of dusky grey and gold? tone. It goes well with her monochromatic outfit.

Certainly the most subdued of any of the Operetta's makeup wise. First wave has stunning yellow and red and quite narrow eyes, while Dance Class has a muted purple shade. In terms of eye shape, Dance class and Die-ner are most alike, first wave really stands out with her totally different eyes. I wonder why they've decided to give all subsequent Operetta's the larger eyes... hmm.

Anyway,

So let's see that die-ner in action!

Overall it's a cute set, though I do wish that table was bigger and the set had maybe come with another booth seat as well. I'd have loved like, a small table and two chairs and then a full boot with larger table and two seats. I may have to buy a second set second hand to expand my die-ner heh, much like I want another coffin bean sofa.

Much like the coffin bean, the chairs are a bit rickety and the weight of a doll makes them prone to toppling. The booth seat is a little too low for a doll to sit comfortably but a little fiddling with their legs means you can get acceptable enough poses down.
Still, it's a shame they can never put their damn legs under the table.

The set comes with a lot of little bits and bobs, easily lost i'm sure. Mixed and matched with the random foods from the maul fashion pack and the coffin bean foods, it means I now have a fair selection. Though i'd love MORE to stock both establishments with goodies. you listening Mattel? Add ons!

But despite little irritating niggles, it makes for a cute scene setter and my ghouls are enjoying their gossip over a big ol' helping of clawberry pie, al a mode of course.

I hope Mattel continue to release playsets like these ones. Beds and vanities I just cannot find a use for, but classrooms, lockers and social gathering places... heck yes. I'd love more school themed playsets, more lockers and freestanding desks and stuff, without having to buy the school itself.

I give the playset itself 8 "whatever the hell those ticket/order spinning thingies are called" out of 10.

Draculaura gets a solid 8 out of 10 hideous charm bracelets. She is cute and her outfit is nice, but it feels a bit cheaply put together. yes she's a budget doll, and that's why she gets an 8 despite the icky shiny polyester and printed buttons.

also i'm a sucker for a bit of 50s vintage ok?

Operetta gets 7 bullet proof hairdos out of 10. Her hair rinses out nicely but there's something about her face that feels... off to me. I love her outfit, but it's missing details and just isn't quite finished. She suffers "multipack" syndrome, whereby everyone loses a few details that would have really made them pop, in the name of keeping the cost down.
And while I don't mind that for the price I paid, when you consider Asda were trying to charge £15 extra for this one doll, it becomes a bit hard to stomach.
For that price, she SHOULD be better. She should have painted detail, she should have jewellery, she shouldn't have bullet proof bloody hair.