Mattel's releases of Monster High are... pretty random honestly. We've got G3 which has mostly just not hit anywhere outside the USA (We in the UK have gotten the core 5 but NOTHING else. We're like 5 lines behind at this point and it's ridiculous!), the overpriced "haunt couture" dolls available only from Mattel which sell out stupid fast and their "howliday" dolls which like g3, simply are not being stocked in regular stores outside the USA.
Suffice to say, it's getting pretty damn frustrating being a Monster High fan who doesn't live in the USA right now. I thought we were past those days of toy companies forgetting that a whole planet was out there beyond American shores and yet, here we are again. Second class consumers who's money Mattel apparently neither want or need. -_-
Meanwhile MGA is, for the most part, actually managing global releases. Here in the UK we've missed two Rainbow High releases (slumber party and the band group) but have gotten every other one and more importantly, get them within weeks of the USA rather than 4 months later. I don't understand what is going on with Mattel and their distribution right now. They aren't just ignoring other countries, they're screwing up distribution within the US as well. So many of their Monster High releases particularly have had really spotty distribution, not hitting whole regions at all and there's honestly no excuse for it. In this day and age it shouldn't be this bad and i'm honestly starting to wonder if this is some form of self sabotage on Mattel's part. I mean it's bizarre, it really is. They cry about how MGA is beating them in doll sales but it's like... guys, maybe if your product was actually making it TO SHELVES that wouldn't be such an issue.
The fact is that in many places MGA products are the only big mainstream option because Mattel's apparently forgotten how to distribute product.
Anyway, this is not really the point of this review. I just wanted to get it off my chest.
Today we're looking at the Howliday Monster High dolls, which from what I can establish are a low price point "collector" doll line more on par with Barbie Looks or BMR. You know, basically playline, but with an inflated price tag.
And Mattel's spotty distribution is relevant here because both the Howliday edition sets haven't been readily available outside the USA.
Draculaura had really wierd stocking in the states too where she kept dropping in and out of stock and selling out in minutes every time she DID restock. I get the impression that the first few restocks at least, Mattel didn't send many cases. Why? God knows. Mattel's ability to actually sell toys seems to be rapidly abandoning them.
Anyway,
I preordered Draculaura from the ONE UK stockist who actually got them in, a third party small independent who of course wasn't buying in bulk so wasn't getting a sweet discount from Mattel. Small independents often pay literal retail for their product, which is why they're so much more expensive to buy from. The profit margin just isn't there otherwise.
Anyway, I also had a friend in the USA who found me a Howliday Draculaura at retail and shipped her to me.
I was going to cancel my UK order but it shipped the same day I was told "oh we have stock in the US!" by the friend.
DOH.
But it's fine, I sold on one of them so didn't really lose any money on it.
Howliday Draculaura retails for $42:99 USD and in the UK was about £60 from a third party.
Draculaura's box is fine, I mean, it's a box. I like the spiderweb snowflakes though, those are fun.
Why is Draculaura the doll chosen for "winter edition" you ask? Not a clue. People like Draculaura? Though I mean, that said, while characters like Abby would have been more obvious at the same time it's nice to see them go with a less obvious one just for a bit of a change of pace.
The back of the box is really boring. It's just photos of the doll and some words. No artwork or anything. I mean yeah it's servicable sure, but it's boring.
The blurb is in multiple languages and just describes the outfit, it feels like they just copy/pasted the listing description.
Pink and black is such a good combination.
Deboxing was a bit of a pain in the arse because Mattel decided FOUR plastic staples in the head was a good idea. WHY? And her lace coat.. jacket.. thing was tabbed like.. everywhere. Eugh.
Like the BMR dolls the certificate of authenticity is just a printed piece of regular paper. No shiny stuff, no fancy thick paper, no it's literally just something you could print on your home printer. Mattel certificates are dumb, I fail to see their purpose. What, is there a big problem with bootleg collector Barbies and Monster High dolls?
Draculaura's makeup is unusual with a spiderweb over her heart birthmark and angled dark purple eyehadow with a sort of... uh... beige? eyeshadow above that with a pink highlight.
She has blushed cheeks and soft pink lips.
I admire Mattel's restraint in not giving her a load of glitter everywhere, because let's be honest here, nothing about this makeup screams "winter time". That's not a complaint, just an observation.
Her hair is mostly pink, which is again unusual for Draculaura. It's streaked with thick black streaks that are far more distinctive at the front, forming very crisp stripes in her bangs. Her hair is styled in a high ponytail and falls to ankle length, it's probably longer than the doll is tall when untied which is impressive and certainly feels deluxe.
Her hair is lovely and soft, but it's prone to static and rather messily cut at the bottom.
She has a black snowflake headpiece but I didn't try to remove it, fearing i'd never get it back on if I did.
Draculaura's outfit isn't overly complex, but it manages to pull off a pretty damn fancy look all together.
Her outfit consists of a pink mini dress with a lace coat/jacket worn over the top and finished off with a fancy necklace that covers her whole chest and a chunky belt.
The coat/jacket doesn't fasten at all, it's cinched with the belt piece.
It's a gorgeous item made from a somewhat coarse feeling lace mesh... net? I don't know materials okay! It has embossed snowflakes and sparkle in the fabric and these absolutely incredible puff sleeves. The "skirt" part of the coat is flared like a bustle which gives it a ballgown sort of look despite her main dress literally being a simple mini dress. I love this coat/jacket thing, it's fabulous.
As I said, her outfit isn't hugely complex, this is literally the whole ensemble, but combined it works so well.
Her black and white striped arm warmers have a little loop of elastic that goes around her finger to hold them in place and they give me major Tim Burton vibes. Or that Sweet Screams Monster High line.
The necklace piece is large and has an ornate sort of wrought iron look to it. I can see Rochelle wearing something like this too.
It's hard plastic and quite awkward to get onto the doll as the neck piece is fairly rigid. It also requires elastic bands to stop it from twisting and moving around.
Her shoes are short boots with embedded silver glitter with an embossed snowflake pattern up them. The pattern is hard to make out with the black and glitter and i'm not sure really adds anything, but eh.
The heels are ice or rock and on my doll one of the shoes has a heavily distorted heel from the packaging.
They're not too awful to get off, i'm glad Mattel have learned their lesson about really hard plastic shoes like the first wave Monster High shoes. Those things were just painful to try to get on and off and often took the doll's whole damn leg with them.
Her belt is also black with embedded glitter, but unlike her shoes it's made of quite firm vinyl. It's stiff and awkward to fasten.
The belt has a pink "rhinestone" effect buckle that's surprisingly matte and it's molded with drippy dribbles that I don't fully understand. Is it.. melting?
The earrings don't match... which is... really odd. They're different shades of pink right? I'm not going insane, they're different shades of pink.
They're designed as dangly pink uh... baubles? with a bat perched on top of each.
Her dress is made from a shiny polyester fabric, it's all pink, this photo just reacted wierd with my flash.
The spiderweb pattern is, quite strangely, painted on with a textured fabric paint. It's not printed on, it's raised from the fabric. Which is unexpected. That feels like way more work than just printing the fabric.
But being Mattel, the print doesn't extend to the back of the dress. Ahh, a return of the half print dress. Great.-_-
thankfully you'll never see this budget cutting measure thanks to her gorgeous coat.
I guess that was their logic there.
But still really wierd that the front of the dress appears to be painted on. That's really bizarre.
Now remember I mentioned one of the boots had a distorted heel? Well that's not the only thing the packaging has warped. One of Draculaura's legs is bent in such a way that it can't actually fully straighten and skews outward instead of straight. This is the result of packaging forcing her knee joint into an unnatural position for the sake of "box pose!"
I can't fix this, her leg is forever warped like this. But thankfully it doesn't screw up her balance too badly once she has her boots on.
It is frustrating though. I wish companies would stop packaging dolls with their legs and arms in wierd "dynamic" poses because it only results in issues like this. Her box pose isn't even that dynamic, it's literally just one slightly bent leg but it still messed up her knee. *sigh* All that issue for no real gain.
Redressed, even without her little arm warmers she looks amazing. No, I wouldn't call this outfit "wintery", it's anything but with those bare legs and that thin lacey jacket, but it is pretty gothy.
I'm going to believe that she's actually going to some winter ball and will be indoors in a nice warm location all night so doesn't NEED a thick coat or stockings.
this is though, literally as straight as that leg will go. It cannot straighten up, the hinge is distorted.
She's so pretty though, I forgive her dodgy leg.
Yeah, she's hugely overpriced here in the UK, but for her US price point i'd say she's probably just about worth that.
She feels like high end playline, which her price point reflects.
Oh, her stand is sparkly black too. So that's neat.
The second Howliday edition is a two pack for Valentines day featuring the OG couple, Deuce and Cleo. This set retails for $60 USD and around £60-70 here in the UK. Unlike Draculaura, this set is actually not that hard to find. A lot of independent online toy retailers got it in and Mattel's own UK site has them for sale. I got mine off Ebay for £40, which feels like a significantly more reasonable price.
As an aside, i'm finding it confusing how G3 is mixing up the couples so Cleo and Deuce aren't even a thing now but also that the diaries that Haunt Couture (which is supposed to be a continuation of G1) state that Cleo and Deuce have broken up. So... are the Howliday dolls ALSO a separate canon?
I mean I admit I was hoping that this set would come with a diary or something to explain, but nope.
Cleo and Deuce are now Shrodingers couple, are they together? Aren't they? Who the fuck knows!
I acknowledge that these Howliday sets are supposed to be aimed at those familiar with G1 rather than G3, but I still think it's really confusing to have both available in stores and on shelves next to one another. I feel like it's just messy and confusing for consumers you know?The fact g3 and g1 aren't compatable in any of their clothing or shoes just adds to the messiness as well as the baffling thing of having the same characters but looking completely different. I dunno, I just feel like Mattel maybe don't have full confidence in g3 so are hedging their bets by making both available, and in doing so are muddying the water too much and failing to get brand consistancy.
Anyway,
The two pack is controversial. Why you ask? Well as I said, Mattel seem to be aiming the Howliday dolls at those familiar with G1, who are predominantly teen or adult collectors at this point.
And Draculaura set the tone everyone expected for the line. Darker, a little more edgy, playline quality but not designed with the sensibilities and taste of a 6 year old in mind.
Then the two pack was released and it was.... quite a departure from that precident that Draculaura set.
You'll see what I mean as we go through this.
I'll give it one this, the box is really attractive. It's a wide square shape with two snakes twined together into a heart shape. Adorable.
The back of the box is boring like Draculaura's box was, just a lot of text and a photo of the dolls.
And the description does nothing to explain how and why they're suddenly a couple again. Did Mattel just forget?
Honestly Deuce puts up with so much crap from Cleo in canon.
It's kinda cute that the chocolates are apparently for him. I admit I assumed they were another gift FOR Cleo, not from her. So that's nice.
(sorry blurry)
The box is very large and doesn't actually have a lot in it. The stands are shoved at the bottom and both cardboard hearts are just cardboard with nothing on the other side which I found a little disappointing. I'd have loved the "be my creepy valentine" one to have something written on the other side, it'd be cute if it was an actual valentine you know?
Anyway,
Deuce has his typical sticking up snake hair, again... I do wish Mattel would change it up there, like come on guys! there's so much you could do, snake man bun, snake ponytail, snake mullet, snakes slicked back, snakes slicked forward.... but nope, we either get floppy to one side snake-hawk or snakes upright snake-hawk.
BORED.
He's packaged without his glasses on which makes no sense from a canon perspective, but does mean he doesn't get glasses dents on his face so I appreciate it.
Cleo has unusual side glancing eyes which I think we've only seen once before in her SDCC two pack with Ghoulia.
Her hair is cut with asymetrical bangs but otherwise just straight and long. I know some people HATE this hair cut but I don't mind it. My favourite Cleo, School's out, also has the asymetrical bangs.
Her eyes are fish shaped lol. A do prefer this way of doing her eyes to the wide wrapping around her skull style most g1 Cleo's had.
Her cheek "gem" is a heart for this edition.
The snake hearts are very cute. Why couldn't they incorperate them more rather than the emojis?
The very empty chocolate box. Three chocolates? What a rip off!
A fanged rose for Cleo.
So now we get to the "controversy" part. I didn't bother taking photos of either doll in their default outfit because I can't stand their default looks. I bought the set knowing full well I was redressing these dolls ASAP just like most everyone else.
Because here's the thing, Cleo is a beautiful doll with distinctive face painting and unique hair, but her outfit is so childish that it makes her look cheap and not like the princess she's supposed to be.
The thing is, the dress itself isn't actually badly made. It's the fabric that's the problem. Those big colourful emoji skullettes are so kiddy, they aren't something you'd expect to see on an elegant mermaid dress. it's like having a fancy ballgown covered in smiley faces.
it also suggests that the skullettes exist in universe, rather than just being an icon for the marketing of each doll. Which is... really wierd.
it also suggests Cleo had this fabric specifically made with her and Deuce's personal insignias.
basically the more you think about it, the less sense it makes.
but mostly it just looks BAD.
The dress is a mermaid style which people online have expressed frustration and boredom with as well. Mattel seem to be addicted to this style of dress.
As an aside, the hearts are actually metallic inclusions, foil printed I think on top of the fabric.
the material itself is some sort of shiny polyester but it's fairly thick and the dress itself has a whole petticoat sewn in.
Which is for some reason bright pink.
Cleo's never had pink in her colour pallette previously has she? And yet this doll has a lot of random pink parts which feels jarring and out of character.
I mean yeah, I get it, pink because love hearts and valentines day right? but wouldn't red work just as well and still tie in with the "ancient egypt" motifs?
Along with the dress Cleo also comes with metalised pink heart earrings which look like they've been stolen from Draculaura's jewellery box, a gold snake corset thing, some kick ass heels, a small gold bracelet and some semi opaque mummy wrap pieces for her arm and leg.
These pieces are all well made, they just don't neccisarily go together.
Her shoes are fabulous. They're a sort of blue/teal colour and slightly irridescent while the heel is a gold coiled snake. From the front they look quite simple but that heel is *chef's kiss*
Her bag on the other hand is a resounding sad trombone noise.
Not only is it boring, being just a simple heart shape, it also has those stupid skullette emojis on it.
They had that adorable heart snake design on the box but they didn't use it here!?? Insulting.
and even if they felt like it was "too many snakes", surely they could have "Egypt-ed" up this bag somewhat. You could do like a heart ankh or something. Literally any bloody thing other than an uncreative heart with some skullettes rammed on it.
It's completely blank on the other side and the molded strap makes it annoying to get the doll to wear anyway. It doesn't open or anything, it's just a solid lump of gold bullshit.
I have very very few Monster High clothes these days, which it a pity as Cleo deserves something better. She has such a stunning face.
So she got this cobbled together from my "stuff I have" box.
I wonder how she'd look in Frights Camera Action's dress, because that dress is so damn pretty.
Cleo's hair is predominantly black and quite choppy at the ends. There are blonde streaks at the sides (a much larger one on her right with a small streak on her left) along with pink and gold tinsel which is only present in the streaks.
I always HATED the tinsel in Cleo's hair because it frays so easily and makes her hair really difficult to brush, so I appreciate that the sparkle is limited in this case.
Her blonde streaks are a platinum-like blonde rather than her usual yellow blodne which I also like.
the pink streaks are an unusual addition but they at least attempt to tie into the pink parts of her outfit an accessories. Problem is, really only her earrings and the underskirt/petticoat of her dress are actually PINK. I feel like maybe it would have worked better if she, dare I say it, had MORE pink (NOOOO)
Still I don't hate the subtle pink in her hair. Combined with the blonde it gives her a sort of strawberry blonde effect which I find quite attractive.
I don't think the earrings work at all for her, but Dracualura will look amazing with them. There's just nothing in their design that screams "Cleo" you know? they're just hearts.
I didn't bother taking her headband thing out because it's tacked to her head and looks like it won't stay on without those tags.
Cleo definitely needs a proper glam outfit, but I need to stock up on MH clothes and decide what I think would work with the accessories I actually DO like from her set.
Deuce's outfit didn't escape the emoji shit either. His shoes have an inexplicable heart shaped snake head that looks like it's either crying or sweating profusely. I think the teardrops are supposed to be gems but seriously, that's not what it looks like.
His outfit when I first saw it in promos I described as looking like one of those BTS suits, and I stand by that.
However, while the jacket IS made of similar plasticky feeling polyestery crap, the pants surprised me by being made of some sort of denser fabric that feels more like denim or suiting. Huh... Like they're actually made of a rather nice feeling fabric, which I was shocked by because in photos they look horrible.
Also elevating this mess about the BTS dolls, his shirt is a separate piece, with a "lovely" elastic thong to stop it from riding up. Mmm comfy.
It took a lot of fiddling around before it clicked what Deuce's outfit might be referencing.
The skinny tie was what clicked it for me. That and the sunglasses.
2 tone or ska! Which makes perfect sense in my head for a fashion style Deuce might wear. Least based on his original doll.
This may be wishful thinking on my part though, hoping for some method to the madness.
Deuce's suit is... quite something. A clashing mishmash of snake motifs. The jacket has twining snake bodies, the trousers have abstract scales with occassional foiled gold scales amongst them.
Coupled with the white tucked in shirt which has no details on it (no buttons or anything) it just looks... bad.
It's too much without being unappologetic about that, if that makes sense. It feels simultaniously tacky AND restrained which is not a good combo.
Deuce uses his G1 sculpt and has a wierdly misplaced ear piercing. His scales are green gradiating into yellow and look crisper than some of my older Deuce dolls which tend to sort of fade out as they go down the arm.
Like Cleo, Deuce has side glancing eyes. unlike Cleo his side glance is quite subtle. He also has asymetrical eyebrows which give him a slightly quizical expression.
His eyes are larger than his oldest dolls and it gives him a more youthful and less annoyed look.
Alongside first wave Deuce he looks kinda goofy and blank, but in isolation he's cute.
His skintone is pinker than original Deuce but I can't be sure that's not my very old, very dusty signature Deuce being a little yellowed or not.
I'm also certain that the newer Deuce's face mold is softer and less angular. Monster high used two factories and one having a slightly softer "chubbier" face was fairly common (Spectra comes with a similar variant). His cleft chin is harder to see for example, and his cheeks look wider.
Howliday Deuce reuses both signature Deuce's glasses mold AND his shoe mold, something I didn't actually realise til I got signature Deuce down and noticed the shoes.
I don't mind reused accessories for the most part, but it's frustrating when Mattel are charging a premium for a "special collector edition" product. Monster High boys always got screwed over when it came to shoes though.
The plastic accessories are nice enough, though i'm not sure I have any real USE for them. The chocolate box actually closes which is nice, but it has no ability to be held by the dolls. The rose is cute and actually CAN be held which I appreciate, though it's top heavy so will need elastic bands to stabilise it.
At first glance I thought the "chocolates" in this under supplied chocolate box were stickers but they're actually molded shapes that are then UV printed over the top of. The result is typically grainy and wierd, but the fact they're 3d does help a bit.
still, why are there so few things in this box? Also only one of them actually LOOKS like chocolate and the blurb on the back of the doll box clearly states these are "chocolates". I find it a bit wierd and distracting how they kinda look more like christmas ornaments than food and how the box is so sparten. Why didn't they opt for a more chocolate box style filling? You could have still had fun shapes but at a smaller scale and more of them. This just... this is just odd.
The balloon is a proper 3d balloon (i'm looking at YOU Disney store) and it should be able to be held, but like the rose is a bit top heavy.
I was therefore delighted to see that Cleo's stand came with an extra piece FOR the balloon!
this is BRILLIANT! I've never seen this before and it made me so happy to see that they'd actually thought about it.
It means you can pose the dolls WITH the balloon and it looks like they're actually holding it/it's floating. HECKYEAH!
Unlike Draculaura, the stands for this two pack are normal boring black ones. What a pity.
Deuce, like Cleo, got changed into a lot of different outfits but the only one that really "clicked" for me was this very simple change. A dark tee instead of a white shirt and the suit goes from "oh god it's so tacky" to "hmmm... that... actually might be okay".
I feel like he needs socks with those shoes though, and the stupid crying snake emoji needs to go but I don't have any magic erasers right now or the energy to scrub.
I expected with this set that i'd only keep Cleo but having played around with Deuce for a while I don't hate him like I thought I would.
I mean that suit is definitely... a choice... but without the lame tucked in shirt (with no belt so it looks especially ugly) he grew on me rapidly.
I'll of course keep looking for clothes for this pair because I think they deserve it, but i'm glad to have them in my collection.
They are however MASSIVELY overpriced at retail, which is probably why they're not selling out very fast.
Mattel need to get their shit together, not only with their distribution but their pricing as well. I swear they pull a random number out of a hat half the time.
I mean ultimately with a rrp of $60, the two pack works out about $30 per doll which maybe isn't too steep but Cleo's outfit is just SUCH a misstep that no matter how nicely made I cannot look beyond that juvenile emoji fabric and how cheap it makes it look.
Draculaura is a more expensive single doll, but you can see that far more thought went into a cohesive and mature design.
That both sets are nominally the same line is just astounding. And I think you can understand why people were so disappointed in Cleo and Deuce after seeing Draculaura's doll.
SHE is stunning. She's a gothic princess with a cohesive and clear colour scheme and motif.
Meanwhile Cleo and Deuce are a hot mess of clashing fabric patterns, childish skullettes and too many different colours. (Cleo's outfit is blue AND pink AND green AND red AND gold) and an overreliance on a heart motif that for the most part lacks any "monstery" elements (look at Draculaura's snowflakes, they're all also spiderwebs. Meanwhile Cleo's hearts are JUST a classic heart shape, with the exception of her corset top thing which features the snakes forming said heart shape.)
And it's a pity because as I said, Cleo's face is gorgeous. I love side glancing dolls and her hair is so unique as well. But her costume really lets her down majorly and I can't work out what the hell Mattel were thinking there.
precisely WHO is this line aimed at? Because the price point and the certificates of authenticity (Cleo and Deuce also have one, it's just like Draculaura's) point to "adult collector", but the design of the Cleo and Deuce two pack seems to skew distinctly young.
Do Mattel even know who their target market are anymore? Or are they just as confused as we are?
I hope I can find outfits that these two dolls deserve, because unfortunately they were seriously let down by Mattel's costume design department who as far as i'm concerned, massively missed the mark.
Draculaura set the tone for the Howliday dolls, Cleo and Deuce brought that all crashing down. It's a huge downgrade and it's a pity because there's some cute little ideas in there. But when your box motifs are more clever and cohesive than your actual DOLL, you done fucked up your design process.
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