Monster High - Honey Swamp

Let's dive straight in. It's Honey Swamp!

 

Like Viperine, Honey has her air brushed looking artwork. I don't really like this image, she looks kinda creepy andnot in the good way. Her hair looks like she glued a sheep to her head rather than it being a proper afro like her doll, and there's just something very off about her face. I get what they were going for, but I really dislike this art style. 

 

 

 The back of the box makes up monster years ago. Swamp Monster years, which are special and different to Vampire and Werewolf and Boogieman years.
Man the aging of MH characters is confusing.

Honey is a stereotypical Southern Belle by the looks of things, which makes a degree of sense, though I keep expecting her to say "Well I do declare"as a spiffily dressed Gargoyle sweeps her off her feet.

This doll was purchased in the UK and i'm delighted to inform the UK collectors that yes, we have the exact same boxes and diaries as the US release. YAY! We often get the "international" version of things, and they suuuuck.

Can I just say I freaking LOVE Honey's hair? I know people were anxious when they saw her promo doll that the hair would be a nightmare, but I had faith in Mattel. I speculated they'd use the same fibre they used for My Scene Bryant, this thickly curled stuff that springs into thick coils. I was right, it is the same fibre and it's awesome.

Honey comes with two accessories, a video camera and a clip board.
I find it interesting that the clipboard the doll at comic con was holding had the name "Allie Gator" on it, and the Mattel website even list Honey's replacement arms as "Allie Gator arms"... hmmm... working name? Apparently there IS an Allie Gator in the movie, which is just plain confusing.

Anyway, the camera is just a camera, the clipboard clips. Not hugely exciting but they're cute enough little accessories.

Her hair was a bit flat at the back but just teasing it out with my fingers poofed it up nice.

Honey's hair is massive, tightly curled and tow toned green. It's all held in place with a hairband with a pink hat attached, and there's no way i'm trying to remove it because I don't know what her fro would do without it.

She has simple bubble? earrings, and her bracelet is similar. Is it frog eggs? Bubbles? pearls? I really don't know.

Honey's colouration is very very vivid. She's a saturated green that really does stand out. She's nothing like any of the other green/blue dolls, she's so much darker and brighter. She practically GLOWS in comparison to Frankie, Scarah, Gil and Lagoona.

She has teeth like Venus, i think they're supposed to be like Gator teeth but they look more like Venus flytrap teeth to me.
Her eyes are very strangely done, with white around the diamond pupils, the pupils in fact stand out over the top of her lashes, which is a strange choice. Usually the lashes go on top, you know.. like a real person's eyes. It makes her eyes stand out, that's for sure, but it also gives her a somewhat starey gaze.

Like Lagoona, she has webbed hands, but unlike Lagoona, the webbing is the same colour as her skin and not translucent.

Her dress is cute, a pastel purple blouse with a lace collar and faux buttons with a patterned poofy skirt with a vine and flower pattern (with monster faces in the flowers... whee. Look at them angry flowers! They so mad!)

Her belt is um... pink... blobby things. I'm not sure, I know nothing about swamps but i'm sure it's supposed to be something swampy.

This is where things get wierd. When I deboxed Honey I thought "hey, what's shedding?" as I noticed a lot of black fluff all over me.
Examining the doll revealed this oddness. Her underskirt, which I had assumed was going to be tuel or something, is actually fake... fur? What?

Dear god she's wearing a tribble!

This underskirt is frankly bizarre and mine sheds like crazy. It's annoying. I'm not convinced about this as a stylistic choice, what does fur have to do with swamps? And since when was it a good idea for a petticoat?
Well I suppose at least her... legs are warm?

Honey's shoes are stylised gator heads, they have teeth! They again remind me of Venus, but a closer look shows there's even a snarky looking gator eye (look at him, he's totally smirking) and nostrils and everything. Nice.

If there IS a gator monster in the movie, I wonder how she feels about the camera girl wearing Alligators on her feet.

Honey's body sculpt is unique again, wow... Mattel really went crazy with detail for this FCA line.

Honey even has custom panties, they're like leaves hahahaha.

She has vines crawling all over her.

There's vines on her legs.

There's vines on her body and arms.

and then there's these markings on her back which are reminiscent of a gator's skin.

The copyright info on Honey's body is shunted to one side to accommodate the vines. I find that interesting. Looks like the torso was designed and sculpted before they thought "oh yeah.. we gotta put copyright stamps here.. uh... "

Unfortunately at this point my camera died on me, so that's all the photos I got.

Overall i'm very impressed by Honey Swamp. I love her hair, her colouration is striking and she's the only character who's tried to pull off a Bratzillaz style fur number lol. Sashabella wants her petticoat back Honey.

I give Honey Swamp 9 leafy panties out of 10.
My only gripe with an otherwise beautiful and detailed doll is that underskirt, it doesn't feel like it's going to hold up to any sort of play and I don't like being covered in fur, I already have a cat to do that!