Monster High - Haunted - Porter Geiss

New boy new boy new boy!

Ahem.

So, new season of toys means new characters for Monster high. And a new dvd special too. (well that's not out yet but yeah...)

Anyway, this season's dvd linked line is Haunted, a ghost themed line featuring 4 brand new ghost characters and ghost versions of several of the existing MH cast.
it's a bit gimmicky, much like Freaky Fusion was, but the ghost designs look pretty solid (get it? i'm sorry... I feel bad now)

Anyway, naturally we have one boy character/love interest/eye candy doll.
This time it's graffitti artist Porter Geiss, a poultergeist.

Now here in the UK the new stock hasn't hit yet, and likely won't hit till the new year (end of jan usually) which means a huge delay for us and an annoying drought in the toy aisle.
This happens every year.
However, Amazon.com do really reasonable international shipping so they're my "go to" place for dolls that won't be coming out for months.

I was honestly tempted to buy all the new characters, but this close to christmas I just couldn't justify it. I decided to grab Porter when I could because I knew he'd be a pain to find in stores.
Now, he may be like Neigthan and shipped one to every single case, making him crazy easy to find in any store that carries freaky fusion, or he may end up more like the other boys where he's shipped in some cases but not others. I don't trust Mattel so I bit the bullet and ordered Porter from the US.
It means I don't have the stress of trying to find him when the Haunted range hits the UK, which is a great relief.

So let's get to this review malarky.

Makies

Makies are, for those uninitiated, 3d printed dolls you design.

The basic idea is that you toddle on over to the website ( www.mymakie.com) and click "make a makie"

From here you open the makie maker, which resembles one of those avatar creators you'd get for an MMORPG or Create a Sim.

You pick an gender and skin tone, then move on to outfit, wig and eyes.

TY Li'l ones

TY girls, I remember TY Girlz. Back when Moxie Teenz were still in stores someone realised they could fit into TY Girlz clothing, so i'm sure there was a random surge in sales of those strange plushie fashion dolls.

The TY Girlz (Who the hell decided a Z was edgy and cool?) were a line of  14 inch tall plush dolls with removable fashions (but sewn on shoes... kinda defeating the point but there ya go). They had rooted brushable hair, stitched on eyes and no noses.

They had internal wires so they could be posed, but honestly these things kinda freaked me out and I thought they were super ugly.

However, they did have some nice clothes. And at the time Moxie Teenz came out, TY Girlz were hitting the clearance bargain bins. A couple of quid for a full outfit seemed a good deal to me, and so a lot of these things came home with me.

(For the record, the shirts fit Moxie Teenz pretty well but Teenz have narrower waists, meaning a lot of pants and skirts are a bit loose. Nothing some alterations couldn't fix i'm sure though, and given the crappy selection of Moxie outfits, these tops were a great help. The shirts also fit, albeit baggily on barbie sized dolls.)

Anyway,

for some reason TY decided to move away from creepy plushie fashion rag dolls and instead turn these characters into small plastic toddler dolls, similar to Barbie's little sister Chelsea.

These are the TY Li'l ones.

I love VIP Pets - Nyla

A little change of pace, as usually I only really review dolls.
But the VIP pets have been out a while and their faces keep attracting my attention in stores.

however, their full retail price of between £7:99 and £9:99 I think is a bit too much, so i've passed on them on multiple occassions thinking "what would I do with one anyway?"

For those who have no clue what i'm on about, the VIP pets are a line of giant headed dog figures produced by a company called IMC toys (who i've never heard of.) A look online reveals they're the company behind a lot of licensed "random tat", like the Monster High walkie talkies, the Barbie branded toy guitars and electronic diaries. Pens, watches, musical lockers, board games... basically all that "non doll" branded junk that finds it's way into TK Maxx on a regular basis.

Now the VIP pets are marketed as "hair play" toys, which explains the giant head and rooted hair.
I've never been one for hair play I have to admit, I couldn't even plait till I was in my 20s! I'm flat out useless with hair, it's just not my "thing". So the hair element of these dogs really isn't what attracted me.
Instead, it was the vibrant colours and their kinda cute faces.

They all use the same mould, but come in a wide variety of colours and styles. Some more fantastical than others (there's a purple one, a pink one but most of them are actually sort of beige.)

Each doll has a character and a mini bio that gives them some personality.
there's the party girl, the writer, the photographer, the pop star... and so on.
Some are uh.. more interesting than others.

So, wandering around the shops on Saturday we popped into the Entertainer and I happened to spot two of these toys on the shelf, marked down to £5 each.
With only two to chose from, my selection was pretty limited but for £5 I decided to take the plunge.
I picked out Nyla, the brown haired, brown skinned/furred dog with the funky beads.

Look at that adorable smiley doggy face!

Bratzillaz - Witchy Princesses - Carolina Past

Bratzillaz, or are they House of Witchez?
Anyway, MGA's witch dolls may be dead in the water, but they're still clogging up shelf space in just about every toy store I go into.
Sadly many places haven't gotten the memo about reducing the prices, and even those that have are charging a little more than i'm willing to pay for more of MGA's half arsed madness.
But I liked Carolina's colours and I wanted at least one of the princesses. When I spotted her for £7 in TK Maxx, I snapped her up. Yes, under a tenner is a perfectly reasonable price for a Bratzilla thank you very much.

Anyway, I haven't been able to find the other two for a similar price since. Booo. While Angelica looks like she may in fact murder me in my sleep (Get in line girl, Vampelina has first dibs at my jugular) I think Siernna's pretty. Despite her drunken slur of a name.

Anyhoo,

right now Carolina is the only one i've got and can I just say... firstly... OMG she has such a normal bloody first name! No extra letters, no stupid "yooneek" spelling, it's just... a regular name. I'm shocked MGA, SHOCKED. I was so sure you were trawling bad baby naming sites for trendy terrible names for your dolls.

I suppose though, after naming 20 billion Bratz, a few normal names had to sneak in there somewhere huh? Like Jade and um... Ciara? There was a Ciara right? I lose track.

Anyway, name is beside the point, I could rant for days on the trendy ridiculous names a lot of Bratz dolls have been given. (Brogan is still legitimately the worst name i've heard from MGA, i'm not letting that one lie, if you named your kid Brogan, you should feel bad.)

I'm getting distracted.

Box of OMG - Ever After High Megabox

So, first things first, what the hell is a box of OMG?
Well, here in the UK they're a website that offers freebies. Boxes of random samples, advertising bamph, and so on and so forth.
Every few months they send out a box mostly full of fliers and advertisements, a tiny bag of Haribo (which is instantly claimed by one of my kids and devoured), stickers and trading cards, sometimes a book or a book sampler and every so often, some little toys as well.

Best of all, it's FREE.

You can go check it out right here:

http://www.boxofomg.tv/

There's also the Box of Awesome which is the exact same thing, only instead of pink sparkly "girl orientated" stuff (I hate the term boy toy and girl toy) it's more typically boyish stuff like wrestling and sports trading cards. http://www.boxofawesome.tv/

Interestingly, the pink box tends to be a bit more popular with my three sons lol. Probably because it often has more candy in it. as soon as a box arrives the younger two rush to the door and wait impatiently for me to open it, at which point a fight breaks out over the Haribo.

Anyway, several weeks ago OMG ran a contest to win a "megabox" themed around Ever After High.
The megaboxes are two or three times bigger than the regular boxes and often contain less samples, more actual products.
In this case, the big draw for me was a copy of the latest Ever After High book.

I and many others won (I think they had quite a few to give away so i'm not about to claim i'm hugely lucky) and I eagerly waited for my giant box to arrive.

Well arrive it did, so here's a little look at what came in my "thronecoming party megapack".

Novi Stars - Nita Light Energy Pod playset

Oh Novi Stars...

It's been a while since they went on "hiatus" or whatever, but stock still clings on in stores at clearance prices. Sadly not super clearance enough for me most of the time, that is, until tru decided to mark Nita Light and her ridiculous giant pod of whatever down to £10.

I'd always kinda wanted Nita, she's a cute little doll but £30 for a doll with a playset I didn't really think i'd use was just a bit excessive.

But £10? Heck yes, that's what they've marked down most of the regular Novis too anyway.

Monster High - Casta Fierce

Here in the UK Monster High prices have become a joke. A really bad joke, where nobody is laughing.
You see, Casta Fierce hit our shores a few weeks ago, but with a hefty £26:99 price tag. (that's almost $44 to our US friends)
The price alone was enough to make me blanch, so naturally, I was in no rush to order the doll till Mattel saw sense and stopped trying to rob us blind (yeah not gonna happen).

Thankfully I managed to get a hold of £16 in Amazon gift vouchers thanks to doing surveys and other random things. Yay vouchers?
But even so, I was reluctant to order Casta at full price. Her full price made me too unreasonably angry.
So when Amazon temporarily (like for a day) dropped her price to £21, I pounced and ordered her. Used my vouchers, got her for a brilliant £5:45. SWEET.

Twilight Teens - Pantheria

Really bad photos this time. My camera has completely died on  me, the ribbon cable has snapped in two so it's kaput. And I can't afford to replace it.

So you'll just have to tolerate terrible cellphone photos. I'm sorry!

Monster high - "Mansters" 2 pack

*snort* Mansters.... seriously, I can't say it outloud without feeling like a right pillock.

Anyway, after waiting and waiting.. and waiting.. and being unable to order from the US due to a system glitch hating my computer, then waiting some more, finally the news came.
Wydowna Spider and the Mansters 2 pack had hit the UK!

So of course I had to get my butt to Toys R Us.

I was delighted to see case upon case of Wydowna, but more delighted when I noticed a whole case of the mansters on the bottom shelf as well.
better yet, the price tag! Instead of the £35 I was expecting (the price of the previous tru exclusive 2 pack) they were £24:99.
HECK YES!

honestly that's a damn bargain for a two pack in this country. Nevermind two boys.

So a set of each came home with me and I got to deboxing my new boy dolls.

Ever After High - Dexter Charming

I admit it, i'm not hugely sold on the Ever After High line. The story line is muddled and riddled with flaws that piss me off (and no, i'm not reading the books. people keep saying "oh it makes much more sense if you read the book" and I keep saying I shouldn't freaking have to read a book to understand why anyone shouldn't just punch Apple in her stupid head gah.)
But my biggest problems with the line are NOT the story (which I get stupidly wound up about lol, I know! it's a kid's line! but it bugs me ok?), my biggest problems are twofold.

1: the price point
and
2: those huge flat moon faces.

I HATE those flat moon faces the girls have. They look like Moxie Girls or something and the fact they all look exactly the same is a huge let down after the uniqueness of Monster High.

The price point is a huge sticking issue for me. In the Uk the EAH dolls retail at anywhere from £19:99 to £26 which is ridiculous. Monster High is creeping up to those prices too now, but Monster High has 5 years of success behind it, it isn't an emerging line trying to gain fans. And pricing your product so much higher than the big kid on the block (Monster High) is just asking to be left in the dust.

This said, I like the boys. They remind me of the Bratz Boyz with their soft, somewhat effeminate faces. I love the Bratz Boyz, so the EAH boys give me something MGA never has. Cute boy dolls with full articulation!

Monster high - Dawn of the Dance slim box rerelease - Frankie Stein

What an unexpected surprise this line was. The first Monster High dance line, rereleased way back in 2010/11!?? Dawn of the Dance was a popular line and sadly for the UK, only the second wave ever made it to our shores.
This meant we never saw Frankie, Clawdeen or Draculaura available in our stores, and being exclusive to Argos, finding the ones we wanted was an excercise in immense frustration.

I only ever saw Deuce once, and his glasses were broken in half. Boo.

I always wanted Frankie and Clawdeen, so much so that I eventually ended up buying a Clawdeen on Ebay. But Frankie I never could quite justify the expense of shipping, so when slim box versions of Frankie, Lagoona and Cleo popped up randomly on Ebay.co.uk, I couldn't help but excitedly hope they were legit.

I'm glad I held out on paying the £20 the ebay seller was asking though, because only 2 weeks later what should hit Asda supermarkets? You got it, the DOTD rerelease! And better yet, they're £9:98, a good £4 CHEAPER than any other budget line.
Wowza.

I popped to my nearest store hoping they'd have them in, and I was right, they'd just stocked one case. 2 Frankie, 1 Cleo, 1 Lagoona. I grabbed Frankie.
She didn't scan at checkout though, despite being on the shelf someone hadn't bothered to put the codes into the system *eyeroll*. Thankfully the staff were feeling helpful and scanned her through at a flat £10. I wasn't going to quibble over a few pennies.

Monster high - Freaky Fusion - Bonita Femur

I wasn't going to pick up Bonita till she went on clearance, but on Friday my father offered to buy me a doll and who am I to refuse the offer of a doll? lol.
So Bonita came home with me. I decided on her over Dracubecca or Lagoonafire because i'm still certain those two will go on clearance at some point and be fairly easy to find. I was starting to get a bit paranoid i'd miss out on Bonita completely.

As it turned out, Toys R Us had about 6 of her on the shelves and all seemed to have pretty good faces. But that £26:99 price point is just plain ludicrous. I don't know what the hell stores are smoking, but it's not good stuff if they think that price is reasonable.
But tru had Buy One, get one half price going on. So I grabbed I heart Fashion Venus (who I have wanted for a while) and got Bonita for half price, sweet!
well... my DAD got her for half price lol. But hey, semantics.

Anyway. Bonita was the only freaky fusion new character I honestly considered completely passing on. Much like Gigi, I felt like her pink skin was just a terrible idea pandering to the "little girls like pink" stereotype. and I was one of those little girls who came to DETEST pink for how shoved down our throats it was.
I  have a term for these dolls, they're called "pinkrifices". Those dolls that get "pinkwashed" so other dolls in that line can be released as intended by the designer. I have absolutely no doubt that with Freaky Fusion the exec at Mattel got a bit antsy when presented with a skeletal fairy chick, a centaur, a ghost mermaid and a half rotting zombie unicorn. Something had to give, and the sacrifice, or rather, the pinkrifice, was Bonita. "Girls like pink! Girls like fairies, moths are kinda like butterflies and they're kinda like fairies right?"
So she becamse inexplicably pink, despite the fact there's only 2... TWO moths that i've been able to find that are actually pink. Most people think of browns and greys when you say "moth" right? just like you think "bone coloured" when someone says "Skeleton" not Strawberry milkshake pink!

So for me, Bonita just felt like a hugely wasted design. A skeletal moth with a fairy vibe could have been so wonderfully gothic and creepy, a wonderful "twist" of what is fairly staple "girliness". Sirena managed to pull of the twisted mermaid look with the black and purple and chains, but Bonita just felt like she belonged in a Barbie movie instead of Monster High.
She was offensively pink and the pink bones just drove me batty.

But as time went on and I saw more photos, I came to appreciate how sweet her face was, and how damn awesome that body sculpt was. Under all the "pinkwash" was a truely macabre design. But this only served to irritate me more. Why oh why hide that detail! And why that HIDEOUS dress?

Poor Bonita. She was never going to be a doll I loved but she was a doll the completist in me needed just to be a completist.

Monster High Manny and Iris SDCC

They're here, they're here! My giant box is here!

Monster High Invisibilly and Neighthan Rot

Boys boys boys, omg boys.

<_< >_>

BOYS!

Ok I think I have that out of my system.


This season Monster High has given us not one, but two brand new male characters. I feel spoiled.
Better yet, they aren't proving to be an absolute needle in haystack to find! YES!
Neighthan a good friend from the US sent to me, while Billy came from Amazon.co.uk, so let's get around to actually reviewing them shall we?
I can't wait to get my hands on these boys... wait... that... came out wrong.
*cough*

Monster High - We are Monster High 5 pack

omg omg omg omg omg... you guys... seriously...omg.

Ahem.. ok, allow me to compose myself...

holy crap GILDA!

Bratz Boyz Masquerade

I reviewed Bratz boyz last time, but considering my love/hate relationship with all things MGA, I couldn't just leave it with the Cool Boyz. Not when the Masquerade Boyz are also available in TK Maxx for £4:99.

So let's dive into this obvious bandwagon leap. What bandwagon you ask? Monster High of course.
Bratz Masquerade came out shortly after MH became seriously popular, and of course was trying to do it's own take on the "kids like monsters" deal. Bratzillaz came soon after.
But we had this attempt first, Bratz dressed up in random costumes.

The girls included a mermaid, a vampire, an ancient Egyptian inspired girl, a fairy, a witch and an er... tea party princess? wth?
Uh...

The girls, naturally, all came in outfits that seemed to be pulled straight from the Ann Summer's catalogue.

The Boyz however?

We'll let's take a look.

Bratz "cool boys" Boyz

Twilight Teens School dolls

I already talked about these Monster High bandwagon jumpers with the hilariously named Nemonia (who you can read about here)

Pixy Punks

Pixy Punks...

Yet another in a long tradition of knock off, cash in, bandwagon hopping monster dolls aiming to catch a little of Monster High's success.

These dolls are, first and foremost, very very cheap. I have to stress that. You know what you're getting when you pay £3 for a fashion doll, and it's gonna be pretty craperific.

These dolls actually have a large range, of various price points. From the dirt cheap £3 a pop slim open box ones, to "deluxe" (snort) larger box versions with more detailed fashions and even two packs and a four pack! There are also giant ones and styling heads, so the guys who make these went all out when it came to market saturation.

Also interesting for cash ins, these dolls are readily available in multiple stores here in the UK. Wilkinson's stock the slim box budget ones, TK Maxx have them, Argos have them, even Smyths sells them! They're the Steffi Love of Monster High it seems, that cheap off brand version your grandma buys you or something. (Odd because by all rights Twilight Teens should occupy this spot, being as they're made by the same company who makes Steffi, but there you go)

Today i'll be looking at the slim budget doll, mostly because the local Collect + store has lost my 4 pack -_-

Monster High - Picnic Casket for Two

Not my photo

Picnic Casket for two, another two pack from Monster High featuring two characters who might be dating, and probably aren't. 

Pinkie Cooper and the Jet Set Pets

I think i've mentioned before my absolute love for totally demented doll concepts. Pinkie Cooper fits the bill perfectly, an anthropormorphic dog fashion doll? whut?

Of course, she isn't the first attempt at an animal fashion doll. Back in the 1960s we had Peteena the poodle, yes... a mod... poodle.. fashion doll.
Laynard even had a go back in the early 2000s with Catwalk Kitties, working I assume on the reasoning "hey, kids like kitties, kids like Barbie, let's merge the two! That'll totally work!"

It.. didn't.

Anyway,

Pinkie Cooper is a line conceived by Bratz creator Carter Bryant, which in itself is interesting. Apparently his sister helped and they based the dolls on cocker spaniels because his sister happened to own one.
Well, i suppose we should be thankful his sister didn't own a pet goldfish or a toad or something, that could have been awkward.

The Bridge Direct evidently thought this was an awesome idea, and the first wave has 3 budget dolls and 3 deluxe dolls.

Bizarrely, despite there being 3 characters in the line, the deluxe line only features 3 Pinkie Coopers in different outfits. Huh? Why? What?
This makes no sense to me.

The dolls themselves retail at £14:99 for the "budget" line, and an eye watering £24:99 for the deluxe dolls. A price that's more than a little painful for UK consumers. WHY do companies keep doing this? Sure fire way to kill a line before it even has a chance is to price it so high at launch. Bratzillaz did it, Moxie Teenz did it, Novi stars did it and even Ever After High is attempting the same ridiculous move, and very rapidly ending up on "sale" at £16:99.
I've been waiting for Pinkie and her friends to come down in price.

Finally it happened, I picked up Pinkie in London, one of the three deluxe sets for £10 including postage. SCORE!

So let's have a look at this madness shall we?

My flash hates me.

The boxes are quite a good size, solid, rectangular and stack beautifully on a shelf. Must be a real relief for toy stores after the recent spate of doll boxes in wierd unstackable shapes. Just imagine the shelf stackers "wait.. this box... stacks normally!??? It's a normal shape! I don't have to invent new geometry just to try to get them all on the shelf!? Hallelujah!"

And you know what? Even though the box isn't a strange shape, these boxes are really attractive to me. They're bright pink and brown stripes with a large oval showing off the doll and accessories, but really it's the "feel" of the box I like. I know that sounds weird, but the box is heavy and strong feeling. It's not a light, flimsy thing, it feels pretty high end really. I'm used to those light, recycled card boxes of Monster High, but this box feels like it'd take a bit of effort to actually damage, unlike MH boxes where looking at them wrong causes them to tear.

This set is "london" themed, though i'm not certain what about her outfit is london. It's a raincoat? I think... she has an umbrella and a camera but that's about it. Now a nice tweed suit, i'd maybe see London, but a brightly coloured coat/jacket thing? That could be anything.
The other two in this deluxe line are Beverly Hills and Paris. A rather random assortment. Paris and London I get, but.. Beverly Hills? I'd have thought New York would have made more sense given the fashion link.

The box states mix and match hairstyles, though presumably that means you have to buy another doll to do this. I wonder if we'll get "ear/hair" packs lol. I know they've released 3fashion packs that have ear pieces included, but like the rest of the line, they're stupid overpriced and all similar looking dresses which don't interest me.
Why oh why do doll lines these days seem allergic to pants?

Only ONE of the 6 Pinkie Cooper dolls wears pants, and they're a pair of frankly hideous animal print pink things. Ew.

The back of the box gives some detail on the concept. World of Original Fashion... woof... cute. But again I ask, why Beverly Hills? Is that where Pinkie's from originally or something? I have to assume so, because there's no obvious reason for that destination to be featured with fashion capitals London and Paris. Who visits Beverly Hills anyway?

There are animated webisodes that probably elaborate on this, but I honestly haven't the courage to watch them. I just... KNOW they'll be terrible like most of these doll line webisodes. *shudder*

I find it odd the back of this box has pictures of the budget dolls, not the deluxe ones on it. There's the other two characters, Pepper and Ginger, and their... pets...
Yes, the dog dolls have pet dogs. It's kinda like if Barbie owned a chimp. It's just weird and a bit wrong.

I find it more iffy that while Ginger named her dog "Sprinkles" (not a great name honey, makes me think the dog has a bladder problem... ahem) and Pepper named hers a rather cute "Saltine" (get it, salt and pepper? hur), Pinkie named her dog... after herself? How vain do you have to be to name your dog after yourself?
Little Pinkie? Are you serious? What the hell? I mean, that's just stupid. Couldn't you guys come up with another word for "pink" or something?
Unless... it's not her pet at all, but her daughter... who she keeps on a leash. AHHHH.

Seriously though, that dog's name is stupid.

Apparently she comes with a passport sticker... yet no passport. So... what do I do with the sticker? Wear it on my lapel? Stick it to my bedroom door?

Anyway, let's open this box.

The box is AMAZINGLY simple to open. There's two pieces of tape at the top near the handle, peel those off and the entire inside slides out smoothly.

Omg omg omg, this is incredible. A box I can open without tools or fearing i'm gonna tear a tab or injure myself!

The inner box is made if very thick card, this is what was giving the box that heft and solid feel. The outer sleeve is just that, a sleeve.

Inside the plastic bubble holders are barely attached to the backing card so you can easily get your fingers behind them to free the pieces.

The umbrella and Camera are held in my an elastic band. Slip it off the umbrella and you can pull the camera free.

The dog has an elastic band but also around her throat is a very tight very thick plastic strap that I had to take scissors to. And it was seriously awkward.

Pinkie herself is strapped in with plastic shackles, that her feet and hands thankfully slide out of relatively easily, and those thick plastic straps. It took me a while to free her, she's so small and the straps are quite tight around her so finding a spot where there was enough slack to get the scissor blades under was tricky. I also hurt my hand doing this because those straps are REALLY thick, thicker than the kind i'm used to in doll packaging and it took a lot of force to snip em. Probably didn't help that my scissors are blunt as heck, but yeouch.

The back of the inner box. This is adorable to me. I just love that they bothered to include that sort of detail. I mean, there's no reason for the back of the inner card to have anything on it. The outer sleeve totally covers this up!
That side profile face is the same face used for the hairbrush.

It.. kinda reminds me of the Equestria girls brush as well.

So this is what you get for your £25, and honestly? It's not a lot.

The doll itself is very small, she's slightly taller than a Novi star. She is however extremely weighty for her small size. She feels very solid, which is actually quite nice. She has blushing over her body, which is interesting.

But, her outfit is very simple. It's just a coat an a hat. It's well made, but it's minimalist with no options for mixing and matching unless you buy more dolls. This is a real bummer, for £25 i'd kinda expect a more detailed outfit.

Her boots are long pink, peep toe boots. Seriously, why do all dolls at the moment have peep toe boots? Are those seriously a thing? They look stupid and if I see you wearing them, i'm gonna laugh at you. I have to say, I would NOT want to be wearing open toed shoes on the London Underground. Ouch ouch ouch.

The little dog is a static thing with detachable ears, looks like those are mix and match with the other dogs as well. She's a very strange looking dog, all gangly limbs and hoof paws.

She comes with a silly dog coat that matches Pinkie's, or should I say "big pinkie's" jacket.

There's that brush, which is just a brush, nothing very interesting there.

and two mini wig ear piece things. Now these are interesting. They're half blonde, half brunette and can be attached to Pinkie's head either way around. So she can be blonde, or brunette. Much like Tuesday Taylor back in the 70s with her rotating scalp lol.

I like that she has that option, it allows for a little more mixing and matching that previously assumed.

Sadly the dog ears and the doll ears are not interchangeable, because that would have been amusing to me.

Here she is straight out of the box. Her hair fibre is actually very nice. It's soft and thick, easy to comb and doesn't look like it's going to frizz. I'm pretty sure it'd hold up to a curl pretty well too.

The ears actually attach on OVER the hat (it has little holes in the side for the ear pegs) which is a great idea. It keeps the hat ON the doll's head. I always have the problem of doll hats falling off and disappearing. Doll hats hate me.

The ears just plug into two little holes in either side of Pinkie's head, and they stay there nice and snug.
I can't say the same for lil' Pinkie's ears. Hers tend to swivel. They won't come out, but they will twist around and around with a gentle breeze.

the camera unpegs that strap from the sides of it so you can get it around her neck. It pegs in quite solidly which is nice, quite often I find these sorts of things like to come apart if you dare breath near them.

The umbrella needs elastic banding on. Though I do like that Pinkie's slightly clasped hands mean she looks like she's holding the brolly if you put it into her hand.

I think I prefer her as a brunette.

The jacket is well made, with teeny buttons that are purely decorative and a shiny satiny trim. There's no loose threads, no unhemmed bits. It doesn't open all the way, it unvelcros to about the waist, leaving the bottom of the coat stitched together, presumable to avoid it gaping and exposing her moulded on panties.
This makes it slightly more awkward to get off, but it's not too bad to slide on and off the doll.
Likewise her shoes are very very soft so slide off and on really nicely, but are a snug enough fit that I don't worry they'll fall off if I pick her up.

Pinkie's face paint is really quite detailed. She has inset plastic eyes and rooted lashes, as well as a large number of painted lashes. Her eyes are HUGE and very expressive. She has a slightly asymmetrical white splotch in the middle of the face and a white muzzle. The asymmetrical thing works though, no real dog is gonna be symmetrical in their markings. The heart is I believe actually central, it just looks offset because her white isn't central.
She has a cute little pink nose, three spots for whiskers, a doggy mouth and a detailed lip.
I do like how canine this face is. She is well and truly an anthro dolly heh.

She looks so cheerful.

Her hands actually even have paw pads and teeny claws. Love it! She only has 4 fingers on each hand.

She also has four brown spots on one leg, a detail covered by her clothing. I love me some hidden details.

Her elbows are articulated, but her legs don't bend, well.. they bend a little but it's pointless. She's certainly not going to be able to sit like a lady while she sips tea in a posh cafe.
Half articulation annoys me, like... if you're gonna give them some, give them knees as well please! But if I had to pick, i'd prefer articulated arms to legs, at least it allows for more natural poses while standing.

So, because she's such a diddy little thing, I wanted to see what other small doll clothes she could fit.

Monster High is way too long in the torso, this dress really emphasises Pinkie's rather pear shaped body. she has no bust to speak of, and very very wide hips.

La dee dah is better in terms of torso length, but her wide hips present a problem here as well.

The velcro will not do up all the way.

Bratz clothes seem to work. The skirts are slightly big but work well enough. The tops fit a big baggy.
Trousers are too long unless they're short styled ones.

These pants fit really well, they weren't full length. The top however, looks really baggy.

Long sleeves are too long, but this top works well enough having the sleeves rolled up a little. This skirt fits perfectly and the top is a bit gaping around the boob region, but it'll do.
Poor boobless Pinkie, it makes finding a shirt for her a bit of a trick as most other dolls her sort of size have a much more.. endowed chest area.

Stacie clothes perhaps might fit? I haven't got any to try.

I also didn't get around to looking at what other shoes she could wear. Her feet are TINY but don't look at teeny as La De Dah feet, which are seriously insanely small.
I suspect it'll be very awkward to find shoes for her that aren't specifically made for her.

Head wise, she can fit Bratz headbands as pictured here, her head is really big.
La dee dah will be far too big though, as their noggins are gargantuan.

She sadly can't wear Monster High hats or glasses, they're to narrow in the face. Besides, her eyes are so huge that finding a pair of specs for her would be pretty much impossible.

Overall, I like Pinkie Cooper. yes she is WAY overpriced. £25 for a basic 2 piece outfit (hat/coat) and a dog? Not worth it.
Yes she feels very high quality, much higher quality than anything else currently on the playline market. She's a solid little doll, feels very robust and is adorably unusual. But her fashion choices let her down I feel. While there's nothing wrong with her clothes, they're just a bit too simple, too.. budget for what's supposedly a deluxe doll. She doesn't even come with a bloody handbag!

Her articulation is adequate but nothing to write home about. She can't touch her face or really do much with her articulated elbows, but it allows a little bit of a more natural look in photographs, as opposed to the robot arms of more static dolls.
Knee articulation would have been great purely so she could SIT DOWN. Even as a kid it pissed me off that Barbie couldn't sit on a chair without kicking the table over.

Her detailing is great. She has some really adorable little touches like the paw pads and her little nose. The body blushing makes her feel a lot more collector line than playline as does the weight of her vinyl but these are first and foremost marketed as playline dolls.
As a deluxe line, at £24:99 i'd expect a stand, a more detailed outfit, you know, something to wear UNDER that coat. She's not a stripper, she needs clothes under her jacket!

You can see where the money went, producing the doll itself. But it's all things that aren't obvious to the consumer in the store. It's all little things that really weren't that necessary. Her box is nice and all, but if a simpler box had meant a better outfit, i'd go with the better outfit.

They made some odd choices in terms of dressing these girls (and why don't their dogs have leashes?) and pricing them.

Now whether it was the price point or the fact that kids just really aren't that into anthropomorphic dog fashionistas I don't know, but whatever the case, it looks like Pinkie Cooper is a doll line that's failed to make any sort of splash.

While a second line was designed and there are promos on the net, there have been no sightings of them in stores.
It seems Pinkie has been put to sleep, which is a shame.
She is a very good quality little doll, so if you see one on clearance, it's worth a second look. She needs better clothes, but otherwise, she's adorable.

I really like my Pinkie, and i'll be keeping an eye out for Pepper on sale. She's more the colour I associate with a spaniel.

Pinkie Cooper in London gets a solid 8 blatant disregards for leash laws out of 10.

EDIT:

Husband came home with Pepper, so let's see what the budget Pinkies are like and how they compare to the deluxe.

The box is, from the front very similar. Rectangular and half the width of the deluxe, the doll inside is packaged barefoot for some reason with her shoes next to her. O... kay?

The back of the box is also similar, but here the girls take front and centre. The blurb is a little different though.
"Join Pinkie Cooper and the Jet Set Pets as they turn looking fab into an international adventure! Yhis talented team met as students at fashion design school and instantly because jet set BFFs who help solve fashion dilemmas around the world. Join them and their fashion adventures at PinkieCooper.com"

Global Fashion Dilemmas? I can't help but think of that episode of Barbie life in the dreamhouse where she and the girls form a super fashion squad and go around the globe doing... precisely that... solving fashion problems lol.

Also I notice the back of this box shows you the hair clip switching feature, which was not mentioned at all in the deluxe doll's packaging.

Pepper's dog looks angry.

For some reason Pepper's box art outfit and her actual outfit aren't the same. For starters, in her art she's wearing blue not green, and the cut of the dress is totally different. I wonder why.

I like the names Pepper parson and Ginger Jones though, they work well as dog and human names, while Pinkie just doesn't sound like a real person's name. It honestly sounds a bit trashy to me.

The budget boxes are about as easy to open as the deluxe. The card of the box is a little flimsier because there's no inner box, just a backing card in an outer slip case. But the box is taped at the top and the whole backing card just slides out.

The back of the card is more what i'd expect from a doll. No fancy hidden art here, just your usual tabs and tape.

Pepper didn't seem as firmly attached to her box as Pinkie was. Maybe a fluke. 

Another thing the deluxe doll didn't come with. An instruction sheet! I'm not sure why the deluxe didn't have this, are the deluxe ones not supposed to be taken out of their boxes or something? Are they not meant to be played with like these ones? I mean the dolls look identical, just different packaging really.

The sheet has some interesting elements. There's detail of a bow attachment I haven't seen on any of the dolls, perhaps the bows come with the fashion packs? And a hat showing the holes in the sides as detailed on deluxe Pinkie.

So here's Pepper on her backing card. Same articulated arms as the deluxe doll and this one comes with a handbag! Another inexplicable absent element of the deluxe line.

Her shoes are nice and soft and slip on pretty easily. Here she is with her default black hair to the front.

And the brown/auburn hair. I think the black looks better tbh.

Pepper has green eyes with a tiny line of brown.
Her colourings are much more what i'd expect from a spaniel, this is the colours I think of when I think Spaniel I have to admit. It's kinda why I wanted this girl the most.
She's got a cute lopsided splotch of white and big brown eyebrow markings just like a real dog. Though I don't believe any real dog has a heart shaped spot like that lol.

 

I didn't get pictures of these last time, so here's those cute paws. Like Pinkie, Pepper has little claws and a heart shaped paw pad on each hand. 

And the same 4 dots, only this time in black not brown.

I'm not totally sure what the pattern on these shoes is meant to be. Some kind of vine pattern? I don't really know, it's quite difficult to make out and even harder to photograph. Her shoes are odd little chunky heel, maybe ankle boots or something? They have open heels and peep toes (because of course they do) and moulded bows on the backs.

Honestly they're not hugely exciting shoes, but the do the trick, they're shoes and they aren't ugly so that's a bonus.

The purse is heart shaped and has the same side profile head of the hairbrush. It doesn't open, it's just a hollow lump of plastic so it's a pretty pointless bag. I kinda wish it had some painted detail but i'm sure I could do something with it. It's a bit boring really and i'm somewhat glad they didn't bother to give these to the deluxe dolls. The deluxe umbrella and camera are far more interesting accessories.

Her dress is sweet. It's an aqua green colour at the bodice, then has this big green flower thing and a green and teal animal print underskirt covered by an aqua net overskirt.
It poofs out nicely.

So excluding the brush, this is everything the budget dolls come with.
So... headband, dress, shoes... and a bracelet and handbag.
So let's get this straight... for your extra £10 you're getting a dog, a small camera and an umbrella instead of a handbag? Not sure the dog and camera are really worth that extra tenner to be perfectly frank.
Honestly I feel like the budget dolls are much better value at full price.

The two dolls are very similar. Same body though Pepper seems to have brighter blushing than Pinkie. The blushing is random, why do they have pink knees? no seriously... why? Wouldn't extremities be pinker than like knees and elbows? or do all these dolls suffer from psoriasis or something? Heat spots they've been gnawing on? Do we need to construct them couture head cones to stop them chewing their fur off?

Pepper and Pinkie's eyes are pretty much the exact opposite of one another in colour. I think Pepper somehow manages to look more dog-like without her ears though. Not sure what it is, perhaps the darker colours just lend themselves to a more canine appearence?

Another thing I missed in my initial review. Showing those chubby hamster cheeks and flat faces lol. Yes, that's what Pinkie without her ears reminds me of! A hamster!
Anyway, side on they have next to no muzzle, massive eyes and no real bust to speak of either. I kinda feel a bit thankful for the no bust though, if they had boobs they'd sorta creep into that squicky furry territory with the busty animal girls. Nothing against furries, i've met some perfectly nice ones who weren't creepy perverts, but there's that stigma you know? That stereotype. And I get the feeling that with a larger bust, Pinkie and her friends would fall into that realm of creepy furry porno.
So i'm happy they're flat chested. Also I do like seeing alternative body shapes represented. No bust and big hips? Not your traditional representation of "attractive" and I approve wholeheartedly with it being represented here.

The backs of their heads aren't hugely attractive, they're kinda big and flat and the colour markings look strange on them. I almost wish the markings came down to the nape of the neck of something, just to make the line between colour and white less jarring.

Pepper's deeper blushing does her no favours here. She looks like she has some sort of skin condition.

Mix and match ear fun. Pinkie kinda pulls off Pepper's black hair but Pepper really doesn't rock the blonde.

Pepper's brown is more reddish then Pinkie's brown. Pepper can pull of Pinkie's brown hair better than her own alternative hair colour I think, and Pinkie looks ok with the reddish brown hair.

In the end though, I think they look best with their original ears.

Pinkie I rather like in Pepper's outfit here. It brings out the tiny flash of green in her eyes. Pepper looks ok in the pink coat and hat too. But neither of these outfits is really that "omg awesome" to me. Both are really a bit too simplistic and Pepper's is far too dressy for my taste. I've never been one for dolls in formal outfits and Pepper's dress screams "party dress" to me.

Thankfully Bratz come to the rescue. Pepper's hat just needed a slight tweak, I stabbed a hole in either side with a pair of nail scissors so I could jam her ear plugs through.
Head size wise, without their ears the Pinkie Cooper dolls can indeed wear Bratz hats. Which is good to know.

I rather love Pepper's new punk persona.

Here she is alongside the Monster High crew, which gives a good idea of how tiny these dolls are.

They can't stand unsupported either, expect to be using some clever propping techniques like walls or other dolls.
But honestly? If I wasn't a collector, a lack of stand wouldn't really concern me.
Still, I find it surprising the deluxe doll doesn't have a stand. Given she seems to be more of a collector item (what with the super deluxe box and all) i'd kinda expect a display stand or something you know? Unless she's just supposed to be displayed IN the box which is kinda... lame and space consuming.

Overall, the budget dolls feel like better value than the deluxe ones. At full price, you're better off with the budget ones where you get three different characters instead of the deluxe where it's just three Pinkie clones.
Unless you super adore one of the deluxe outfits, i'd opt for the budget all the way. Unless of course, you're like me and find both deluxe and budget for £10 each lol.

I love Pepper, I love her colourings and I love how much personality the little gal has. I'm pleased to have her and Pinkie, though I don't think i'll bother getting Ginger as well. They all use the same face sculpt and Ginger's outfit isn't interesting to me either. Nor do i think i'll bother with the pets, I find them a bit freaky and more than a little pointless honestly. They're strangely scaled to the dolls, they're strange looking and they just aren't worth the extra money in my opinion. They're much like the Bratzillaz pets for me, really what's the point of selling them separately?

I'm still confused as to why they decided to make 4 Pinkies and only 1 Ginger and 1 Pepper. Why didn't Ginger and Pepper get deluxe versions as well? It's such a bizarre choice and such a missed opportunity. Was it the only way they could think of to get people to buy the budget ones?

But anyway, good quality, unique little dolls. I recommend them but with the proviso, they are NOT worth the full deluxe price and i'm really not convinced the budget ones are worth £14:99 either. If you look at what you can get on the market for the same price point, £12:99 are budget Monster High in most stores, £14:99 will get you a Once Upon a Zombie doll, it'll get you a decent articulated Barbie, heck, often the actual full Monster High dolls drop to £14:99 in supermarkets.

Pinkie Cooper, a strange doll line but a cute and well made one. Effort was put in, and for that, I applaud The Bridge Direct. Kinda a bummer we'll never see any casual fashions for the girls.

Pepper Parkins gets a full 8 unusable handbags out of 10.