Monster High returns again!

[Zapper]

https://creations.mattel.com/pages/monster-high-2024-fang-vote

This year's Fang Vote is about to start. This time for Jinafire Long. Looks like people will be voting on the shoes and hair and the full box design will be revealed together with the doll prototype in February.
The Rochelle they did last year seems to have pretty bad quality, crunchy hair and her eye screening looks different on each doll. So I hope this time they'll do better.

I never had a single Jinafire doll because for some reason I only ever saw ones with bad eyes. If this one ends up wonky it'll be extra upsetting. I hate the stare they put onto Fang Vote Rochelle, too.

[Lady Frostbite]

Well, can't say this isn't the appropriate year for her! 

There's a new Polly Pocket-type MH toy, I'll get the pics and link later

[Zapper]

https://www.youloveit.com/dolls/3547-monster-high-jinafire-long-fang-vote-year-of-the-dragon-skullector-doll.html

This page is being updated with the voting options and winning looks. I am really impressed with all of these. Some might say the doll is overdesigned but for 90$ she better be
I am curious what the final look will be like. I assume people will want to give her the golden headpiece and the flower make-up, those seem to be popular based on the comments on social media.

[brightberry]

I like the flower design option.  She’s going to be beautiful no matter how she turns out.

[Lady Frostbite]

The options are all good, I'm just disappointed again at the sheer amount of plastic. Maybe a touch more colour like on the dragons can really make it seem better rather than the mass printed plastic that it is?

Here's the Polly Pocket I spotted on Entertainment Earth:

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Link on Entertainment Earth

Link on YouLoveIt

It's very cute, gotta love Polly Pocket, I would have loved it for G1!

There's a new Nefera coming with a vanity set according to YouLoveIt. I'm curious what she'll look like, it seems Cleo is hogging the blue hair and they're giving Nefera green hair instead ... I will need to see it in the plastic, I miss the vibrant blue hair on Nefera and keep squinting at Cleo when she has it in G3 like 'oh my Ra Cleo Nefera is going to tear your earrings out for stealing her look!'

[Zapper]

The dragons in the front should have been fabric, imo. Embroidered at best, there's machines that can do that for mass production even in doll scale. But plastic chunks are cheaper.
FV Rochelle had that massive plastic cage as well, that doll was unposeable unless you took off the cage and dress to reveal the bodysuit underneath.

What I dislike about that G3 Nefera is the lack of Ancient Egyptian "royal" color palette. That hair is green and yellow, it should be turquoise and gold. Pink should not be there at all. G1 gave both of them lapis lazuli blue touches as well as gold. Also dislike the cartoon outfit as a whole, looks kinda like a late 80s fitness video instructor.

I am much more looking forward to the G1 Cleo/Nefera set that's supposed to come out in July.

[Carrehz]

Nice to see a new Jinafire, I'm interested to see how the final product turns out. It's difficult for me to get excited about her either way until I know what she'll actually look like :p especially given that everything about Fang Club Rochelle was kind of a mess, plus she's $90 so probably won't be joining my collection anyway x)

I do think they're handling things better than they did with Rochelle though. With Rochelle it felt like they hadn't fully thought through some options and thus weren't able to pull them off as originally advertised when it came down to actually *making* the doll, if that makes sense... it feels like they're thinking ahead more with Jinafire, making sure they can actually do something before they put it up for a vote. So that's good.

The Polly Pocket set is so cute! I hope it turns up over here, I'd like to get it but probably wouldn't go out of my way to buy it online.

G3 Nefera.... I'll wait and see what we get. It's hard for me to get too excited about G3 dolls too, lol. Especially since most of them haven't even turned up over here x)

I wonder when G3 Catty will be released... I've seen two leaked protos and neither were very good IMO. I have my fingers crossed the final doll will be better, but I'm not holding my breath ;

I'm excited about the prospect of a new G1 Nefera! I hope she's good.

[Lady Frostbite]

Oh I hadn't even seen the G1 Nefera news!. I REALLY hope she has her regular bright blue hair and isn't smothered in plastic, but at this point, I'm not optimistic. I've not seen any Catty leaks yet but I haven't been looking hard. I was super super SUPER thrilled with Abbey, and if that's the only G3 doll I like, I'll be content <3

[Zapper]

https://www.youloveit.com/dolls/3481-monster-high-monster-fest-dolls.html

High quality Monster Fest pics, almost no changes made to the prototypes. Only thing I could see was Cleo's food. They look actually worth their money, has Mattel stepped up their game? I see a lot of plastic printing and different cloth textures. Frankie's leg is an all new sculpt, there's removable fingerless gloves. Very fun line overall. I'd give Cleo, Lagoona and Clawdeen a 9 or 10 out of 10. Only outlier is still Frankie to me. That outfit is thematically all over the place and we've already seen similar make-up on older dolls. Would have liked seeing something more rave-ish (allthough I don't think Coachella is a rave but you know what I mean).

[Zapper]

Fang Vote Jinafire, on pre-order starting tomorrow (two weeks time period) for everyone, no need to join the club:

https://creations.mattel.com/cdn/shop/files/MH_HXJ07_Droppage_Imageset_D_02_6b755e64-75be-458c-b21a-651d40d0c05c.jpg?v=1707354962

[Lady Frostbite]

So Catty Noir is out ... (via YouLoveIt)

... I HATE it DX You'd think as a very obese person who likes body diversity I'd like this, I liked the wider hips on Abbey. But this I just super hate! It feels, like I said before, like a REALLY bad idea to do this with a previously established character. Again, I feel like her proportions are wrong, even if I know there are people with her proportions in real life (and I'm probably related to a few).

It hurts because I like her head and hair. Most Catty dolls are a miss for me because the hairstyle is awful but the ones that I like I LOVE like 13 Wishes or Londoom. If she had that head on a different body, she might have been a must-buy, but this is a 1/10 for me and I feel so mean saying it's because of her body type but I cannot lie about it I know people were upset Abbey's doll wasn't more plus-size, but this doesn't feel like a step in the right direction to me.

Yes, I know people had an issue with the stick-thin original dolls, but AGAIN this doesn't come off right to me!!

[Taffeta]

I don't really have an opinion on the decision to make Catty plus size, aside the potential original reasons for choosing her...if true.

Maybe the only thing I have to say about it is how much the line has tried to embrace diversity, and how jarring it makes the alterations around Ghoulia, which are honestly in the opposite direction. Making invisible people more invisible by celebrating other differences more visibly?

But overall I think they've done a decent job on what they set out to do...I just do wonder if it was the right character to do it to as it feels a bit more like "we've done this because we want to look inclusive, but don't really have a backstory to it". A new character would've been a chance to create someone unique.

On another note, freaked my Dad out with the (growing) MH section in Smyths today. I saw Twyla. Don't think I'd seen her before in person. There sure are a lot of them...no idea how they are selling. I still can't get used to Lagoona's colour scheme though.

[Carrehz]

I really hate to say it, but I agree I think she IS a definite improvement over the prototypes that leaked a few months ago - those were just awful - and I'm still reserving proper judgement until I see her in person (...whenever that may be >_> these stupid distribution issues...), but... gah. I WANT to like her, I love Catty and I'm HERE for diversity in playline doll lines - that's fantastic. But these proportions just don't feel right somehow? I think it's her arms, they look really out of proportion to the rest of her body.

I dunno. I wish they'd done this with a new character, it's hard to properly judge it because I keep thinking of G1 Catty, you know? Maybe I'd be all over it if it wasn't a drastically altered version of an existing character :/ It's hard not to compare the two, even though I'm trying to look at G3 as its own thing and such.

I do love her head/face, and her pet is adorable. Also I love the big thick fluffy tail they gave her! I just... I dunno. I hope owner photos turn up soon so we can get a proper look at the body and such. I'm not opposed to the idea of a plus-sized Catty if done well, I'm just not really feeling this execution of the idea so far.

If she had that head on a different body, she might have been a must-buy

This makes me wonder, has anyone done any G3/G1 bodyswaps? Like, a G3 head on a G1 body, or vice versa. In general, I mean, not specifically Catty. That'd be interesting, but I don't think I've seen it anywhere...

edit: Taffeta ninja'd me :p

I don't really have an opinion on the decision to make Catty plus size, aside the potential original reasons for choosing her...if true.

Reasons? :o I haven't heard any of this?

But overall I think they've done a decent job on what they set out to do...I just do wonder if it was the right character to do it to as it feels a bit more like "we've done this because we want to look inclusive, but don't really have a backstory to it". A new character would've been a chance to create someone unique.

Ahhh that's it! I was trying to figure out what bugged me about it but this is it, I think. It's hard to explain but it feels like they just went "Okay new character, how can we make THIS one inclusive?" and then pulled a trait out of a hat, if that makes sense? I'm not sure how to phrase it, exactly.

She has grown on me quite a bit from the original protos, I'll admit. I'm just still not 100% sure about the design.

[Zapper]

I think that Catty will be loved by customizers who just want to have a cuddly looking cat doll. I agree the face is cute and I also love the tail! Better than MH's other cat tails, they always reminded me of a rope.
The outfit is a big NO from me. I don't understand these choices at all. So much pink, so many hearts and chains, she still has those high boots and the chunky belt. It makes the doll's proportions look weird. In real life, the fabric of the dress and material of the belt might work together to pull in her waist more but since she's a doll that stuff doesn't work

G3 has a big chunky belt problem in general. They love to slap that onto a doll to elevate a look since the belts have lots of moulded details (not so much paint apps though). It's just like with the end of G1, it just makes the dolls look incomplete. I also just hate that everybody gets chains. Chains are for ghosts and sometimes Frankie and Clawdeen. And then they add that big old heart backpack onto a doll with massive hair and shoulder flares. Why?
I miss the themed styling choices. Wait a moment, hearts and chains... Unchain my heart, set me free. Maybe Catty likes Joe Cocker now, or - Boo Shocker as his MH name would be
Happy Valentines Day!


Post Merge: February 14, 2024, 03:29:32 AM

This makes me wonder, has anyone done any G3/G1 bodyswaps? Like, a G3 head on a G1 body, or vice versa. In general, I mean, not specifically Catty. That'd be interesting, but I don't think I've seen it anywhere...

G1 Scarah and Frankie and G3 Ghoulia seem to have the same skin tone. I saw a really good looking G1 Scarah head on G3 Ghoulia body swap once. This way you can create curvy G1s.

[Taffeta]

My understanding was that the plus size Catty was somehow inspired around Lizzo? Or was that just speculation?

The whole thing reminds me of IDW's rework of Stormer as a plus size character. Don't get me wrong, I don't have an issue with her being plus sized, but that she's portrayed as "bullied Stormer" in conjunction with "plus sized Stormer". I hate most things IDW did with Jem, so I am biased, but it seemed like an unhappy stereotype to push on in there.  (At least Mattel haven't taken that line with Catty, so that's something).

As I said, I don't hate the design. I just don't really feel why Catty, as opposed to anyone else. I'd have been fine with a plus sized Ghoulia if she'd still spoken zombie...but this is a bit..."tick box."