Monster High - Frights Camera Action! - Clawdia Wolf

The Wolf family really need to invest in a big book of baby names... seriously. How many variations on "claw" are they really expecting to use? And doesn't it get SUPER confusing around the house when you have a Clawdia, Clawdeen and a Clawd? Is there a Clawdette as well?

Not to mention the super confusing for parents in the toy aisle aspect.

"I want Clawdia Wolf, she's the daughter of the werewolf."
"Oh Clawdeen Wolf, that must be it."

*headdesk*

Mattel... why you do this? WHY?

Anyway, here she is:

Clawdia of the red blazer... Clawdia of the yellow hair... Clawdia of the manic grin!

 

 

AHHHH! AHHHHH this image... oh god... her teeth... that gaping maw.

Anyway, on the back of the box we get to learn a bit more about Clawdia. Apparently her look isn't "Red Blazer realtor" but "tribal prep"... go figure. I still say she looks like she should be showing me around a 3 bed apartment on the upper west side with good transport links and a central location.
Ahem.

Her flaw is cute, apparently she chews... everything. I can identify with this, i'm a terrible chewer as well lol. Mattel always have fun with the Wolf sibling flaws, it amuses me.

 

Clawdia's colour scheme is striking, that's for sure. Gold/yellow and red is a bold combo and I kinda like it. The more recent MH dolls have really opted for a far more muted, pastel sort of palette or a great deal of black and pink. Now, much as I like black, it's nice to see some really strong primary colours for a change.
Not sure about the canary yellow hair though, it's an odd choice I feel. That beautiful dark skin and that bright... yellow... bletch. Poor girl. She must dye it that colour right? But one has to ask WHY? Why would you want bright yellow hair?
I wonder how she's look with dark hair, I suspect she'd look quite beautiful.

 

 

Speaking of that canary yellow poof, it's a ball o frizz. Curly hair always is but poor Clawdia gets a combination of a hideous shade AND frizz madness. Makes her look like a clown.

Ignoring the hair, which is hard believe me... it's so bright. Her faceup is interesting. Her eyes are rather similar I feel to Music Festival Clawdeen, a lovely burgundy shade of eyeshadow and then gold.  Then she has this wide, grinning sculpt with prominant fangs.

This grin has polarised people, and I admit, I was not impressed when I first saw it and even in person, i'm still not totally sold on the idea. oh it gives her personality certainly, but it also makes her a not particularly pretty doll.
She oozes personality, not sex appeal, which is an interesting change of pace in an industry where dolls are always selling on the rule of "ooo it's pretty".

I DO however like that they sculpted teeth and particularly fangs into this grin. It's a really cute touch.

Underneath her real estate blazer, Clawdia wears a printed gold dress with a very subtle Union Jack motif. Now that's a neat touch.

Around her neck she has a chunky tribal necklace which seems to me to be inspired by the moon. A large "full" moon in the centre and then crescents on each side.

She has a tribal swirl in one ear and a small crossed bone motif that looks a bit like a clover... uh.. yeah. Random.

She also has a black bracelet with like a carved geometric pattern. 

 

Her tights/socks are really nice, thick knit fabric. They feel really robust actually, unlike a few of the mesh socks which never felt like they'd survive much play and redressing.

Her shoes are studded heels with cross bone clasps. They're not hugely complex shoes but they're cute and do the job.
I feared they'd be a nightmare to get on and off but actually they're very soft and slip on without you having to put much strain on the cross strap at all.

Horah!

Clawdia comes with two accessories, a tablet/Itomb? and this little journal and pen. The pen has a prong on it so it can be held, but the book doesn't open or anything. It's just a solid prop, but it's cool. There's chewed edges to the cover lol, a nice touch.

Clawdia also comes with glasses that have slightly magnifying lenses. I do love that the MH doll glasses actually do magnify slightly, it's a fun touch that differentiates the "glasses" from the sunglasses.
Clawdia's glasses come perched on top of her head, a trend i've noticed with recent releases no doubt in response to all the complaints of hidden eye flaws and dents in the faces thanks to glasses elasticated on too tight in the packaging. It is nice to be able to inspect the eyes without glasses in the way and it's great to not have to worry about those dents any more. So thank you Mattel!

I do however have to ask. How the HELL do werewolves keep their glasses ON? They have nothing to hold the things on with! It's annoying enough on the dolls, having no ears at the side of the head to hold the arms of the glasses in place, they tend to slip and end up lopsided, but imagine in reality? Lol. Yes, I think about this sort of thing.You lean forward and bam, glasses have fallen off your face. They'd need like elasticated things on the back to hold them onto their heads!

Continuing the theme of the Wolf Sibling skin tones getting darker with age, Clawdia's skin tone is a beautiful rich brown. She's darker than Clawd by several shades, which is awesome. I love me some variations of brown. Particularly nice dark shades because they're pretty uncommon in dolls in this country. Unlike the US, we don't tend to see AA doll lines, so lovely rich mahogany skin is somewhat of a novelty.

I wonder if we'll ever see any older Wolf siblings, and whether we'll eventually end up with one that's almost nubian black. I can dream of a doll that deep a shade can't I? Wow she'd be stunning.
But anyway, Clawdia's diary yet again deftly avoids the subject of how many Wolf kids there ARE. I'd love to see a younger brother and an older brother at least. We need a "little brother" body and an "adult" male body already, so bring on the wolf brothers!

 

Overall Clawdia gets 7 unsettling grins out of 10.

While the smiling face was a bold move, I don't really think it paid off this late in the game. We're what, 3 or 4 years into the franchise and now they decide to debut "character sculpts" ? It's a bit jarring. While I do like that she has the fangs, the grin coupled with the yellow frizz hair makes for a pretty unattractive doll I feel. Oh yes, she oozes character, but she isn't pretty and she's a doll that seems to be polarising people. She's the Marmite of Monster High. You either love her, or you hate her. 

Her outfit is also an odd choice colour wise. Much as I LOVE the primary colours, the red blazer screams real estate agent to me, and coupled with the bright yellow, I can't help but think "do you want fries with that?". Perhaps if she had a different hair colour or they'd picked a different colour than red? I like red, but the combo here is just a bit... unfortunate. 

The hair is just a pain. Even after a boil wash and curl it's STILL frizzy as hell and I don't believe there is any way for it not to be a ball of fuzz. While one could argue frizzy hair is in keeping with her character, it's never a good thing for a doll. This hair will not tolerate brushing and that's a problem. 

However, on the plus side, this is the first taller body mh doll i've had that's had no joint issues! Both Nefera and Bloodgood had iffy knees while this girl's seem to be fine. No stiffness or odd looseness, could it be Mattel finally worked out the kinks in this sculpt? Or did I just get lucky?

I like Clawdia's personality, I do like that she's more an action figure than she is a doll. I look forward to seeing her in the special when it finally airs. Her diary has a few really sweet moments, particularly one featuring Clawd which i'm curious to see if they'll build on in the special (I doubt it though, the specials always squander opportunity to have character's display depth. Grrr)

I also like that while we've got "yet another Wolf sibling", Clawdia's style is totally unlike anything you'd see Clawdeen or Howleen wear. (Now they just need a super girly frills and ruffles sister ahahaha)

I suspect this doll would look stunning with dark hair. The canary yellow just isn't working for me. It's my biggest gripe, which is odd as I thought i'd be hating on the grin more. I look foward to seeing someone reroot her.