L.U.V by Far Out Toys

Been thinking about flash in the pan failed doll lines.... 

And so, I give you... 

L.U.V!

A doll line produced by Far Out Toys, the company who also made the Glow Up Girls, a line that had a thoroughly bizarre release here in the UK and was cancelled before we could even get the second half of the first wave. 

L.U.V was, like the Wild Hearts Crew, a line doomed to failure by being sold ONLY at Walmart. Walmart, where dolls go to die.  They also shot themselves in the foot by pricing them far far too high. At $30usd, that made them more expensive than a lot of  Barbie, a lot of Monster High, most Bratz and several other doll brands. 

now yes, I get it. Smaller companies can't get such good wholesale deals so their overheads are more expensive, meaning the final product needs to be more expensive. but when you're launching a new doll line against the big boys, you need to either bring something completely NEW to the scene to justify that price point, or you need to cut a lot of corners to get the price down to undercut the big guys and provide a "budget" alternative. on top of that, a lot of stores won't take a chance on the new guy, so getting your product INTO stores in the first place is hard. Which is why so many new lines end up as exclusives. 
The problem is that Mattel and MGA have such a stranglehold on the doll market that anyone new coming in has a seriously rough struggle to even be noticed. A high price point and a restricted distribution is not doing you any favors. Even if it all makes sense as to why it happens, it's just extra hurdles to overcome when the deck is already massively stacked against you.

what can new toy makers do? I don't know the answer to that sadly. but I do know that many have tried and almost all of them sink without a trace. 

Anyway, let's take a look

Monster High Eekend Getaway Clawdeen and Draculaura

 New year, same ol' inconsistent posting schedule. 

 Which I know, I know, isn't ideal for farming engagement or whatever the hell the social media term is but let's be real here, this is a tiny blog where I just get to ramble on about my special interest, if I wanted fame and fortune i'd be doing literally anything else. 

 But I still feel kinda bad that I don't keep up with this as regularly as I should because I DO want to share stuff, I just don't always have the energy to take photos or even, sadly, actually debox the things I purchase which is really bad. 

This is another reason i've taken to buying preowned dolls by preference. I mean there's the added bonus of it being cheaper but also, I don't have to fight the executive dysfunction to actually sit down and debox.

Anyway, i'm babbling. 

let's get to what we're actually looking at today. The Monster High Eekend Getaway playset. 

well.. i say playset. Car, it's a car. 

This set released in the USA like.. a year ago? And I had resigned myself to it being yet another mattel line we just weren't going to see here in the UK. But it bummed me out because I really did like the Clawdeen a lot.

well, surprise! Smyths got the set in just before christmas. they seem to be getting a lot of g3 Monster High as exclusives and i'm not sure if all the exclusives should concern me or not. I mean we got exclusives back in g1 too and they were a pain in the arse, but with Smyths at least it means one massive toy retailer is taking the chance. 

I  ummed and ahhed about getting this set because I didn't want the damn car and Draculaura didn't WOW me since they changed her hair from the original prototype. *sigh* but I figured for £25 per doll it was a pretty decent deal, especially as they each came with an extra little dress and shoes. 

Let's get into this.

Monster High g3 Skelita Calaveras

 I continue to find it strange not only the distribution of g3 monster high (some stuff never hits the UK, other stuff gets to us earlier than the US. Why?) but also the rather arbitrary choices of characters they bring in. 

Catty Noir, Cupid, Heath but no Rochelle or Howleen and Mouscedes who both have g3 designs already present in the animation.  

What the heck Mattel? Do they just pick names out of a hat you think? 

anyway, the newest character now is Skelita which actually isn't at all surprising as she got TWO holiday dolls. One last year and another this year. And hopefully this means we'll be seeing more new characters because I have to admit, i'm getting really tired of seeing the same dolls over and over again. How many Frankie and Draculauras do we actually NEED Mattel? 

 so, new character is always exciting to see. How did they redesign them, what changes have they made and what features have they kept. I always find it fun. 

so let's take a look at g3 Skelita who it turns out is already controversial. 

Monster High Skullector Alien xenomorph (A patreon review)

 I don't really tend to pay that much attention to the skullector monster high dolls because I generally prefer my dolls to be core franchise rather than licensed movie monsters. Now that said, some of the Skullector dolls have been very damn cool. ESPECIALLY this one which is quite something else. 

still, I intentionally didn't order her when she was available because I didn't NEED her in my life. I figured I could admire her from afar. 

But when one of my readers offered me the opportunity to actually debox one and review her, how could I say no? An up close look at one of the coolest things Mattel has ever released? Heck yeah.  

HUGE thanks to Muinn for letting me get my grubby mitts all over this girl. 

So let's just get into this shall we? 

Toni by Creata

 Now there's a story behind this particular acquisition. 

you see, back in February I purchased this exact doll on Vinted, but the seller then ghosted me and never sent my parcel. I got a full refund of course, but ever since it's pissed me off and i've pined for this doll. I assumed they'd either misplaced her (they're a clearance company or something, so likely have a big warehouse) or gotten a better offer elsewhere but I stalked both their ebay and vinted pages for weeks hoping they'd relist her. 

they never did.

until this week (October) 

A full 8 months later, who should appear on Ebay from the exact same seller? 

you got it, the same doll i'd bought back in February. 

For twice the price i'd paid originally.

typical. 

but I looked at her, I felt all those emotions again and I thought "you know what? Fuck it. I want her, I still want her 8 months later and i'm gonna try again."

so I bought her. 

and yeah, i probably shouldn't be supporting this seller's shitty customer service but eh, I really really wanted the doll okay?

and then I waited, wondering if THIS time they'd actually bloody post her. 

and they did! Which kinda surprised me, but then again, Ebay is a little more stroppy about sellers not sending items people purchase than Vinted who don't appear to have a strike system.

So, who is this doll who I have thought about for the past 8 bloody months? 

She's Creata Toni.

Let's take a look!

Hot damn, i'm alive I swear! - Susi by Plaggona

Okay I know, I haven't posted since JUNE! 

 In my defense, school holidays happened... family visited from overseas and I had surgery so i've had a busy few months and been rather distracted. 

I've also been trying really hard to maintain my "sell more than you buy" resolution. I'm not sure how that's going because while i've sold quite a few things, i've also bought various small bundles of things... oops. 

Anyway, that's not what today is about. today, I want to talk about a very strange clone doll I found.A Greek clone of a Brazillian doll who in herself is kinda a sort of copy too. It's uh... it's complicated. let's dive into this

Monster High Nefera de Nile g3

 Well, it happened. Rarely does the UK get something earlier than the US but sometimes we get lucky. 

Nefera came into stock on amazon via a third party seller in Belfast of all places, and she was retail price so I figured "yeah, let's go for it." 

Amazon's own listing has an uncertain shipping date of "any time within the next 3 months" which I just can't with. I don't like uncertainty like that. ESPECIALLY as several times i've had Amazon forget about my preorders and not send stuff for weeks after they've gotten stock in regularly. 

anyway, 

she took about 4 days to get here but she's here safe and sound so let's take a look!