I'll admit it, I freaking LOVE IT when the UK actually gets new dolls early.
we usually get them late or not at all so it makes a nice change. And seeing America wait for once is satisfying okay? Sorry guys but it feels vindicating to see you getting impatient.
Anyway, Smyths got Venus in early which was a great christmas surprise.
to put it into perspective, smyths also JUST got Ghoulia, Toralei and the Neon Frights dolls. We haven't gotten the fearidescent dolls at all from what I can tell and several of the multipacks are still MIA.
So it was nice to see a new doll.
My father bought her for me along with Neon Frights Ghoulia who i'll talk about in a later blog post. I have... thoughts lol.
But let's look at Venus!
this THING is an abomination. Chewlian was a plant, this is a freaking dog/cat thing wearing a costume. I loathe it. It's big grin disgusts me. I want to carve it's gross little face out and resculpt a mouth or something.
I wonder what Venus' new character is going to be like because nothing about her style screams "down to earth" and her g1 doll was an eco punk and rather activist in her whole "save the earth" stuff. Of course, with Mattel being Mattel that's probably a little hypocritical of them to have a character talking about pollution and microplastics and shit.
I mean the doll herself was packaged in plastic with more plastic holding her in and with multiple plastic logo elements as part of the box.
the box is for sure not environmentally friendly. To recycle it i'd need to pull every element of it apart to separate the card from the plastic and i'm not convinced all the plastic IS recyclable anyway.
Mattel, like may big corporations, is passing the buck on trying to reduce waste by making the consumer do all the actual work.
I am however glad the boxes are no longer taped shut. They're just tabbed shut like the original g1 monster high boxes.
of course, those were predominantly card with just a small plastic window. These new boxes are 60% plastic with sharp plastic tabs holding them shut.
What i'm saying is, that's probably why Venus' eco activism is likely to be a bit toned down in g3. Mattel don't have the balls to call themselves out.
the side of the box features the usual iconographs. Mostly images of Venus' belongings. Though we also get a fanged set of lips, a fanged flower, a tree sign and a heart shaped earth.
She also comes with the now standard "bundle of plastic bullshit".
she has a little folder, her phone, some candy, a water bottle and a spritzer bottle that the "bio" on her box tells me is "hair hydrator". I preferred to believe it was to spray her whole body, being as she's a plant and all. Also, in the summer that's exactly what I do with a plant mister/spritzer bottle lol. It's the only way I can keep cool.
It is however an addition that, along with her features, help to absolutely confirm that Venus is now Black coded. Of course we'll still get people who, like they did with Honey Swamp, will argue she's "just green" *sigh* but come on.
Anyway, here's all her plastic shit.
The hydrator bottle interestingly has a picture of Venus on it. Does she make and distribute/sell her own hair tonic?
The "Bootany" folder is designed like the old trapper keeper folders of the original doll boxes. We don't really get folders like this in the UK commonly, most folders you see in schools are ring binders or envelope style. You see the button ones every so often but i've never seen one just like the monster high style which seems to be very familiar to American collectors.
Go figure.
The whole thing does open, though it's stiff and difficult to do so. Inside there's a single plastic moulded page with scratches across it that you can see in the "collection of plastic shit" photo.
Did Venus get pissy and gouge up her own notes?
girl, it's not very eco to waste paper like that!
I don't know what her candy thing is supposed to be. It says "bites" so it could be anything from chocolate or candy to a brownie to one of those protein bars.
Her phone case is all vines and fangs on the front with the usual pixelated shit resolution image on the phone screen. Venus' apps include a blue heart, a flytrap (plant id app maybe?), and a recyling app of some sort.
The thumb ring is a little big for her so it slips out of her hand a little too easily without elastic bands holding it in place.
The back of the case has a flytrap. Chewlian, is that you? REAL Chewlian, not that cat imposter.
Her two bottles. The water bottle appears to have a watering can style spout lol. And there's that heart shaped earth again.
Do you think it's an "air up" bottle? The strawberries suggest flavoured water but the shape of the lid makes me think of those air up bottles with the "scented air" gimmick.
Whatever the case, BOTH bottles had terribly applied stickers. The water bottle's was too low and part of the bottom of the sticker was hanging underneath the bottle. I had to unpeel it and restick it before it tore.
The hydrator bottle was even worse with a massive fold in the sticker and a tear. I reapplied it as best I could. Thankfully they're both super sticky and leave a residue on the bottle when you gently peel them, so you can stick them back correctly if you're gentle.
The lids of both of these comes off but neither bottle is fillable.
She also came with a pair of tiny sunglasses which I completely forgot about/failed to notice until I was editing photos of the packaging and saw them.
they're the same colour as the backing card and they're really small so they sort of just blended in.
Imposter Chewlian is horrifying.
Who did this? Who's idea was this?
I've said before that the g2 and g3 Monster High dolls all suffered from needless "kitten/puppy ification" and Chewlian is one of the most egregious examples of this.
Mattel is really out there saying "let's suck all diversity out of pets and make them all kittens/puppies. Kids love that shit."
-_-
This monstrosity comes out of the pot, revealing a horribly fleshy plant body. Pretty sure this thing is supposed to be a cat.... a cat plant...
wearing a flytrap hood.
what the fuck?
I'm gonna be real, I wouldn't hate it so much if the fly trap mouth was actually the thing's real mouth and not some novelty hat. Take the cat face out of the middle there, add in a tongue and a few more teeth to the bottom and it could be a funky screwed up flytrap headed kitty.
but as it stands, this thing is just horrible looking. It looks like a cat crawled inside Chewlian and is now wearing his corpse like a suit.
That grin. The side glancing eyes. The face inside a mouth which itself has a mouth.
I HATE IT and I hate whoever designed this thing.
You should feel bad whoever you are.
Real Chewlian was cute in a silly goofy plant way. I want him back damnit.
Venus' "bag" is also of questionable design. Initially I thought maybe it was meant to be worn like an Usherette's tray but nope, the straps are shaped to only go over her shoulders one way. So it's supposed to be worn like a backpack.
and okay yes, it does fit all her shit in. Or you can put imposter Chewlian in it. But all the stuff falls out easily and realistically as soon as she moved she'd lose all her stuff.
What even IS this design?
I don't understand!
Why does she have an ass basket?
Okay okay, enough of that. let's actually look at the doll.
Venus is bright green with pink lips, pink, orangeish pink and yellow eye makeup that pulls in flytrap shapes, green eyebrows and pink and green microbraided hair. She even has little painted baby hairs.
Her eyes are brown with a little thorny tendril and leaf for the eye shine. These thematic eye shines are a cute touch g3 has brought in. I think a few g1 and 2 dolls had them but they weren't common to see. Now they're a recurring feature. It's fun.
Venus has kept her punkish alternative fashion style, though she's giving more "music festival" vibes to me now.
Mine had misrooted hair at the back. A couple of strands of the braid were rooted into two holes forming a big loop. I managed to tease them out of one of the holes but yeah, it's something to be aware of. Check your girl over and gently tease out any loops you find.
Her braids are slightly curled which makes them springy, which is fun. However it doesn't look like the ends are in any way secured. Usually a company would burn or glue the ends of braids to stop them unravelling. Mattel of course are too lazy and cheap for that sort of thing so even just out of her box several braids are already starting to unravel at the ends. I might have to massage a little pva into the ends in a vain attempt to hold them together. I'm not entirely sure precisely what will help.
Her outfit consists of a bright striped mesh undershirt with a short tee over the top. The shorter tee is made from some sort of shiny synthetic which gives it a sheen. The collar and hem are finished with contrasting green thread. The sleeves are not. But because it's a synthetic I doubt it'll fray.
Again, another thing that doesn't feel overly "eco" for Venus here.
She then has a pair of "denim" shorts which are made of that thin textured synthetic feeling "faux denim" Mattel likes to use. It looks pretty decent and even feels okay when on the doll but once you remove the garment the thin fragility of the material becomes apparent. It has a texture looks like the weave you'd see on real denim from a distance, but it's clear this material is not denim. It's not even cotton. It's very plasticky feeling and stiff despite being paper thin. It's printed fabric, so the blue is only on the outside. On the inside you can see it's just white with an angled grain which is presumably to minimize fraying on those unfinished edges.
It works for the scale, but at the same time we have low weight actual denim out there. But Mattel LOVE their plastic printed fabric, they use it for everything.
Still, at least her mesh top is actually made of stretchy mesh.
Her mismatched socks are actually not socks at all but legwarmers, a little like Bratz "socks". they're just a tube with no feet. I kinda get why, the toes of socks on dolls always tear from putting shoes on plus they add extra bulk that makes putting the shoes on difficult. Leg warmer style "socks" gives the look, without that difficulty.
But I was surprised because previously Mattel have always opted for full socks.
Her shoes are made to look like stone or concrete planters, though I couldn't tell you why they gradiate into pink. It looks like spray paint so maybe that was the intention? Spray paint on concrete feels like a Venus sort of thing.
The boots themselves have a chunky zip down the side and are full of decorative holes. The heel is covered in vines, there are teeth at the front and the whole shoe has vines twirling around them.
these vines are a separate piece too, they're held in place with elastic bands which isn't ideal but without them they stick out at odd angles and slide around.
The soles of her shoes have roots. Even unpainted there's an uncomfortable fleshiness to this I feel.
Venus has lost her half shaved head in favor of a molded cornrow style which is quite similar to the Mattel DC Superhero girls Bumblebee doll. It's a fun variation on Venus's half shaved look and it's more durable than flocking. I don't mind this. It's painted neatly, the sculpting is good and for such a small area of her head it's a good solution. Actual cornrows at this scale would be difficult and get messy fast while flocking has it's own set of problems.
Venus has her leaf shaped ears but has lost her excessive piercings. Now she just has one earring in each ear, a spiked hoop made of twining vines with a fanged flower at one end.
Venus is tall, not as tall as Abbey mind, but still taller than most of the g3 dolls.
I wondered if she was maybe using a modified version of Frankie's body, and while the torso and arms look very similar, her legs seem just a touch chunkier.
I might just be going mad but I swear her thighs are a bit thicker.
she also has a longer neck than Frankie, which makes her a hair taller.
Her body is interesting. Her legs have swirling vines molded into them and her feet have a distinct cabbage-ness to them.
She has however lost her cabbage hands.
A pity.
her hands are now the standard monster high claws.
In fact, strangely enough ONLY her legs have any sculpted vines.
go figure.
Her outfit is all separate pieces which i'm always happy to see.
Her belt looks to be made of linked chains with thorns winding around them. It has little green flowers hanging off it.
Her necklace looks like thorns but the silver gives a certain degree of barbed wire as well. It has a little flower too, but it's silver.
her hair decoration is venus flytraps with those same fanged flowers.
they do KINDA look like actual flytrap flowers, though flytrap flowers are usually white not pink. But they're simple five petaled star shaped flowers with clear veining which is what you're seeing here.
that said, flytraps, like all carnivorous plants, don't grow flowers near their traps. They send them up on a very long stalk that stands waaaaay above the traps as they don't want to eat their pollinators.
Then again, Venus Flytraps also don't have thorns so... yeah.
Venus is like a bramble flytrap hybrid here lol.
Her shorts have a printed vine pattern with a heart and a peace symbol hidden in the tangle.
Her mesh top has twining thorn vines in purple and pink against an acid green. It's a cool effect that looks almost like tie dye.
and her over shirt has magenta spatters with a neon green or yellow colour surrounding the word "nature" with little stars. It looks like a band or brand shirt honestly. The style is very "band" to me.
Nature definitely sounds like a potential band name.
Like many g3 dolls, her skin tone has changed. She's now a more vivid green which is honestly more realistically plant-like than g1's soft pastel. Like all g3 dolls, Venus has jugged ears which allow you to see them from the front (a feature I really enjoy) and she has the same fangs as her g1 doll but that's about where it all ends.
G1 venus had half shaved hair in dull green and watermelon pink. G3's hair is grass green and hot pink and in half cornrows with the rest microbraided.
G1 Venus has blue eyes. G3's eyes are brown.
G1 Venus has a fairly narrow nose with a bulbous tip while g3 Venus has a broad nose.
They do both have the same squared off chin and leaf ears though.
but WOW they're different.
I always liked g1 Venus but g3 has so much more personality. Like many of the G3 dolls, I find that alongside G1 they tend to look far more characterful and cartoonish which I enjoy very much.
Venus is a really colourful doll and I am digging her new look.
I did tie my girl's hair up in a high side pony to keep it out of her face, but also to give it the volume her artwork depicted.
I'm delighted by her. Yes I have my gripes, and I LOATHE Imposter Chewlian with a burning passion, but Mattel did a pretty good job with Venus' design. I'm very pleased to have her in my collection.
I give her a solid 9 terrifying cats wearing the flayed flesh of their predecessor out of 10.
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