Almighty Hat (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
hat_plays_dolls) wrote2018-06-24 04:44 am
hat_plays_dolls) wrote2018-06-24 04:44 am
Entry tags:
Doll Review: Monster High Casketball Champ Venus McFlytrap
Another installment of 'these boxes are piling up, let's do some reviews' theatre!
Okay I'm gonna level with you, I didn't just buy this doll because Toys R Us is closing and she was a closeout price. See, I figured, twenty bucks for Gap Joint Venus? No. No, I wasn't paying that. But when I scanned her to see how much she was, the computer said she was the Winning Werewolves two-pack. And, you know, she's not. So when I went to buy Party Ghouls Rochelle, who was down to like thirteen bucks, I brought Venus with me. She was a shelf-sitter, you see, and I did want that Casketball hoop, and I figured, if she's a closeout on top of a clearance, if she's like ten bucks, I'll get her.
The TRU employee looked up what her actual price was supposed to be on their in-store computer.
And came back with TWO DOLLARS.
$1.96.
So, yeah, I got a $20 Venus and a $15 Rochelle with tax for less than Rochelle's MSRP. I think they may have gotten her confused with a Monster High Mini, but the store's closing and she was a shelf-sitter, I really don't feel that bad about it.
So let's get a closer look at Venus behind the cut.
Box art on the front! Interestingly, Venus appears to have her Classic vines here-- and this is the first evidence that leads me to suspect this doll was actually supposed to be a Classic MH doll.
Back of the box, with ominous sportsball blurb. One team, one scream? Guys... what?
Yeah, none of these turned out really well. Ahem. And I will say again that I do like how easy it is to get into the boxes, while simultaneously being bummed that it's harder to save the box art.
Venus has a slight case of wonk-eye, but Venus is one of those dolls where only specific ones actually look like the character to me-- and that's Classic dolls made in Indonesia. My fate is glue headedness.
But here's a fun detail! Check out who's in the stands! Howleen, probably Lagoona from the arm fins, Manny, Neighthan, Draculaura, and Clawd-- I just keep seeing all these little details that tell me the actual MH design teams are kind of bummed about the reboot, and miss the Classic characters who haven't quite come back yet, like Manny and Neight (and, when Venus hit shelves, Howleen).
Okay, first thing, Venus does NOT come with a stand. That's just for photography purposes, I don't want anyone getting their hopes up. Venus comes with a romper that looks like a strawberry, a mesh shirt with the Monster High crest, two black bracelets, some actually pretty cute earrings, recasts of Clawdeen's Ghoul Sports baseball cleats, a recast of the casketball previously seen in Deuce's Scream Uniform fashion pack, the original school playset, and finally with SDCC Manny, a sports drink that's been used a few times, a fuzzy green towel that I did not throw out with the box but did forget to photograph, and finally, a fantastic toothed-and-tentacled casketball hoop, the likes of which has sadly never been seen in any special or webisode, because it's fantastic. It's fangtastic, I love it.
While I'm not a huge fan of Venus-- her character never gelled for me, the most she ever seemed like her own person and not 'how do we make Poison Ivy but nice?' was in Electrified-- and I have a couple of minor design quibbles, I really do like her makeup here. It's there, a little pearly shimmer eyeshadow and black mascara, light pink lipstick-- but it's not, you know, overdone for a nice sweaty game of sportsball.
(What are my design quibbles, you ask? Well, I'll tell you. If everybody's getting a redesign to one degree or another, why change Venus's eyes from blue to extremely pale blue? They could've gone green or even brown, there are hardly any MH characters with brown eyes. Ah well, at least she's still got her original head mold-- you can tell because it takes more work than Mattel wants to put in to get paint all the way between her lips.)
I don't know if I find the uniform practical, but I do find it cute. That romper is also a good piece to build other outfits on, which is always nice-- and yes, it is two pieces! You're not stuck with the mesh shirt if you don't want to be.
The shoes baffle me. Not the color, I get the color, the color is what it is. No, what baffles me is why baseball cleats. baseball and basketball are played on very different surfaces, even if Venus is playing casketball on the blacktop instead of in the gym, she doesn't need cleats meant for dirt. Those go-with-everything sneakers from Ghoulia's Comic Club fashion pack would've been a better choice, with or without socks.
The drink and some tentacles helping the drink stay up. I know I have a mess of these-- I can't think what all they came with (somebody's fashion pack? Ghoul Sports Toralei?) butI know I have some.
Loooook at this thiiiiiing I should've grabbed two at this price. I want to add paint details.
Pardon my slightly-dry hands. One thing I noticed about Venus's casketball is that Mattel didn't spring for a paint app for the Monster High logo, or even print up a sticker. Which leaves a shiny blank spot where you can just see the peaks left for the M and H that ought to be there.
Venus has sculpted vines, and that's great. (She has gappy, swollen joints, and that's not great, but that's where we are.) However, since Reboot Venus doesn't need Classic Venus's wrap-around vines, her wrists don't have any extra material to make these recasts of Deuce's signature wristband fit her. At all. I don't know if they were planned this way or a substitution for something that would've required Venus's hands to pop out.
But hey, if you lost your Deuce's wristband and you're handy with a paintbrush, grab Venus!
Venus retains her flocked "shaved" side, which is nice, but mine has a slightly raggedy edge.
Her twisty ponytail (... two-strand braid?) is saran. I do miss the kanekalon, but doll-grade kanekalon was discontinued, and hey, at least it's not nylon.
And a return to the Ridiculously Thematic Accessories! "Yeah, I'll go play a game of casketball! Let me grab my dangly slam-dunk earrings first." But the color is great-- that's the school's hot pink-- and it's nice to see a new mold with this set, above and beyond the casketball hoop.
Okay, so, things that make me think this Venus was initially designed for Classic Monster High-- one, separate vines in her box art, two, Deuce's wristbands might've fit over her vines, but don't fit her wrists at all, and three, this romper is painted on and straining the fabric. Check it out just above the stand gripper, her ribcage is desperately trying to break free.
Here's the same outfit on a Classic Lagoona body I had handy. The stretched area is still stretched, but you can tell that's from being worn so tight for so long-- there are wrinkles in that area. But despite needing to be washed and dried so it relaxes back into its original shape, the romper fits a Classic body way better than the shorter, wider reboot torso. There's not a lot of difference between the two bodyshapes, but there's just enough that the really fitted stuff requires finagling to work. And this is really fitted.
Okay, in conclusion:
I have zero regrets because I paid two dollars for this twenty-dollar shelf-warmer.
She's a Toys R Us exclusive, though, so if you can't find her at your local closeout sale before June 26th, she might still turn up at places like Ross, Tuesday Morning, Marshall's, so on and so forth, probably closer to Christmas. Which means they'll probably be $13 at the most, and honestly I wasn't ever planning on paying more than $10 for this set, because I can't even get a body donation out of it. My Venus will just have to stay willowy (pun absolutely intended).
Basically, a fun little set but don't overpay, the star is the prop, not the doll.
Like what I do and want to help me feed my cats, but don't need anything I have for sale on eBay? You can always support me on Patreon or throw some change in my tip jar.
Okay I'm gonna level with you, I didn't just buy this doll because Toys R Us is closing and she was a closeout price. See, I figured, twenty bucks for Gap Joint Venus? No. No, I wasn't paying that. But when I scanned her to see how much she was, the computer said she was the Winning Werewolves two-pack. And, you know, she's not. So when I went to buy Party Ghouls Rochelle, who was down to like thirteen bucks, I brought Venus with me. She was a shelf-sitter, you see, and I did want that Casketball hoop, and I figured, if she's a closeout on top of a clearance, if she's like ten bucks, I'll get her.
The TRU employee looked up what her actual price was supposed to be on their in-store computer.
And came back with TWO DOLLARS.
$1.96.
So, yeah, I got a $20 Venus and a $15 Rochelle with tax for less than Rochelle's MSRP. I think they may have gotten her confused with a Monster High Mini, but the store's closing and she was a shelf-sitter, I really don't feel that bad about it.
So let's get a closer look at Venus behind the cut.
Box art on the front! Interestingly, Venus appears to have her Classic vines here-- and this is the first evidence that leads me to suspect this doll was actually supposed to be a Classic MH doll.
Back of the box, with ominous sportsball blurb. One team, one scream? Guys... what?
Yeah, none of these turned out really well. Ahem. And I will say again that I do like how easy it is to get into the boxes, while simultaneously being bummed that it's harder to save the box art.
Venus has a slight case of wonk-eye, but Venus is one of those dolls where only specific ones actually look like the character to me-- and that's Classic dolls made in Indonesia. My fate is glue headedness.
But here's a fun detail! Check out who's in the stands! Howleen, probably Lagoona from the arm fins, Manny, Neighthan, Draculaura, and Clawd-- I just keep seeing all these little details that tell me the actual MH design teams are kind of bummed about the reboot, and miss the Classic characters who haven't quite come back yet, like Manny and Neight (and, when Venus hit shelves, Howleen).
Okay, first thing, Venus does NOT come with a stand. That's just for photography purposes, I don't want anyone getting their hopes up. Venus comes with a romper that looks like a strawberry, a mesh shirt with the Monster High crest, two black bracelets, some actually pretty cute earrings, recasts of Clawdeen's Ghoul Sports baseball cleats, a recast of the casketball previously seen in Deuce's Scream Uniform fashion pack, the original school playset, and finally with SDCC Manny, a sports drink that's been used a few times, a fuzzy green towel that I did not throw out with the box but did forget to photograph, and finally, a fantastic toothed-and-tentacled casketball hoop, the likes of which has sadly never been seen in any special or webisode, because it's fantastic. It's fangtastic, I love it.
While I'm not a huge fan of Venus-- her character never gelled for me, the most she ever seemed like her own person and not 'how do we make Poison Ivy but nice?' was in Electrified-- and I have a couple of minor design quibbles, I really do like her makeup here. It's there, a little pearly shimmer eyeshadow and black mascara, light pink lipstick-- but it's not, you know, overdone for a nice sweaty game of sportsball.
(What are my design quibbles, you ask? Well, I'll tell you. If everybody's getting a redesign to one degree or another, why change Venus's eyes from blue to extremely pale blue? They could've gone green or even brown, there are hardly any MH characters with brown eyes. Ah well, at least she's still got her original head mold-- you can tell because it takes more work than Mattel wants to put in to get paint all the way between her lips.)
I don't know if I find the uniform practical, but I do find it cute. That romper is also a good piece to build other outfits on, which is always nice-- and yes, it is two pieces! You're not stuck with the mesh shirt if you don't want to be.
The shoes baffle me. Not the color, I get the color, the color is what it is. No, what baffles me is why baseball cleats. baseball and basketball are played on very different surfaces, even if Venus is playing casketball on the blacktop instead of in the gym, she doesn't need cleats meant for dirt. Those go-with-everything sneakers from Ghoulia's Comic Club fashion pack would've been a better choice, with or without socks.
The drink and some tentacles helping the drink stay up. I know I have a mess of these-- I can't think what all they came with (somebody's fashion pack? Ghoul Sports Toralei?) butI know I have some.
Loooook at this thiiiiiing I should've grabbed two at this price. I want to add paint details.
Pardon my slightly-dry hands. One thing I noticed about Venus's casketball is that Mattel didn't spring for a paint app for the Monster High logo, or even print up a sticker. Which leaves a shiny blank spot where you can just see the peaks left for the M and H that ought to be there.
Venus has sculpted vines, and that's great. (She has gappy, swollen joints, and that's not great, but that's where we are.) However, since Reboot Venus doesn't need Classic Venus's wrap-around vines, her wrists don't have any extra material to make these recasts of Deuce's signature wristband fit her. At all. I don't know if they were planned this way or a substitution for something that would've required Venus's hands to pop out.
But hey, if you lost your Deuce's wristband and you're handy with a paintbrush, grab Venus!
Venus retains her flocked "shaved" side, which is nice, but mine has a slightly raggedy edge.
Her twisty ponytail (... two-strand braid?) is saran. I do miss the kanekalon, but doll-grade kanekalon was discontinued, and hey, at least it's not nylon.
And a return to the Ridiculously Thematic Accessories! "Yeah, I'll go play a game of casketball! Let me grab my dangly slam-dunk earrings first." But the color is great-- that's the school's hot pink-- and it's nice to see a new mold with this set, above and beyond the casketball hoop.
Okay, so, things that make me think this Venus was initially designed for Classic Monster High-- one, separate vines in her box art, two, Deuce's wristbands might've fit over her vines, but don't fit her wrists at all, and three, this romper is painted on and straining the fabric. Check it out just above the stand gripper, her ribcage is desperately trying to break free.
Here's the same outfit on a Classic Lagoona body I had handy. The stretched area is still stretched, but you can tell that's from being worn so tight for so long-- there are wrinkles in that area. But despite needing to be washed and dried so it relaxes back into its original shape, the romper fits a Classic body way better than the shorter, wider reboot torso. There's not a lot of difference between the two bodyshapes, but there's just enough that the really fitted stuff requires finagling to work. And this is really fitted.
Okay, in conclusion:
I have zero regrets because I paid two dollars for this twenty-dollar shelf-warmer.
She's a Toys R Us exclusive, though, so if you can't find her at your local closeout sale before June 26th, she might still turn up at places like Ross, Tuesday Morning, Marshall's, so on and so forth, probably closer to Christmas. Which means they'll probably be $13 at the most, and honestly I wasn't ever planning on paying more than $10 for this set, because I can't even get a body donation out of it. My Venus will just have to stay willowy (pun absolutely intended).
Basically, a fun little set but don't overpay, the star is the prop, not the doll.
Like what I do and want to help me feed my cats, but don't need anything I have for sale on eBay? You can always support me on Patreon or throw some change in my tip jar.