Monster High g3 - Spectra Vondergeist

 Well this one was a surprise. Yesterday Spectra just appeared in stock on Smyth's website. No fanfare, no preorder, just bam, we have her.

I was unsure whether to just order her right away or wait for other people's reviews/photos but in the end I decided to take the plunge because I was assured she'd NOT have poly hair. 

I admit, i've been buying a lot of my g3 MH secondhand because they're dolls I need to "fix" thanks to poor hair choice or badly painted eyes (i'm looking at YOU MH Boys) 

But Spectra looked beautiful in her promo images. My only real fear was whether her hair would be okay. Has Mattel listened and stopped resorting to poly for everything? Or was she going to be yet another nice redesign ruined by Mattel's cheapness? 

only one way to find out. 

VIP Hair Academy

 In terms of toy lines I expected a doll spinoff of, I cannot say VIP pets was one I would have had money on. Then again, I wouldn't have put money on that line getting a reboot either but there you go.

So for those not aware, I "heart" VIP Pets are a line of small plastic dogs with rooted hair who's whole gimmick revolves around hair play. 

The return of the Living Dead Dolls - Sadie

 It took about a year, but Sadie's finally here!

Preordered back in early 2023, there were some delays with this release though i'm not sure why. Her release kept getting pushed back without any information being offered. So hmmm.

Living Dead Dolls are BACK though, after a hiatus of a few years (excluding their "presents" line of movie tie in dolls) and a big drama involving one of the creators being removed from the project. 

I don't know the full details on that beyond "he was scamming people for money for work he never did for years and everyone was sick of his shit and then his business partners cut ties"

That's all I know. 

I'm sure there's some juicy gossip involved, i'm just not privy to it and his former partners are being hush. 

Anyway, that whole thing was a big reason I believe for the massive delay between now and the previous series 35 which came out back in 2018. Yeah, we haven't  had a core doll release for LDDs since 2018!??? We've had a few movie dolls in that time, but no original dolls. 

So when in 2023 it was announced that LDD was coming back and in a new form, it was pretty exciting. 

The only downside was the price point which was a rather eye-watering $120 +P&P

Mezco have at least it seems, finally sorted out their international shipping. But with postage and customs fees and all that, Sadie cost me a pretty penny.

So was it worth the money? And was it worth the wait? 

Defa Lucy - It's been HOW long since I posted?

 Man, I really dropped the ball on keeping this updated didn't I?

I'm so sorry for that. I have bad episodes of exhaustion which leads to me not even opening boxes, let alone having the energy and motivation to take all the photos I need to. 

I'm slowly getting through the backlog but it's gonna take a while. 

so let's ease back into things with a look at Defa Lucy. 

Style Bae by Just Play

 I always enjoy a bloody weird doll line and this one is pretty weird. 

take a paper doll, make it plastic, and inexplicably give it a 3d head despite everything else being 2d and flat.

profit?

well, let's have a look shall we?

Monster High G3 - Venus McFlytrap

 

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!

And now for something different. - Stuff I bought this month.

 Yes I still have more Sindy stuff to get to, but i'm taking a break for christmas.

but that doesn't mean I don't have some things I want to ramble on about. 

I may not have energy for full box openings or massive amounts of historical research but I CAN buy bundles I shouldn't. Lol. 

So let's get into it