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hat_plays_dollsWith Pawla, Weredith, and Packlyn!
This one was my birthday present to myself this year (I wanted to get IHF Cleo, but she's not, you know, at Toys R Us right now).
My nephew also wanted this one like a lot. He enjoyed stacking the boxes, and after I finished doing my review pics, he stole the frickin bunk bed out of my danged office and wandered off with it.
Ahem.
Box art on the front! Poor Packlyn is a pasty baby-- fairer than Howleen, I think.
But on the SIDE of the box--
On the SIDE--
Box art I could save! I'm delighted, I already cut it out. I don't know where it ended up (nephew again), but I cut it out. The art on these is delightful and I love it. For the record.
Back of the box! Art with names stamped on, as usual, also a prototype photograph... and the actual name of the actual set. Whyfor is that not on the front of the box, Mattel?
And without... some of the plastic in the way. This one came with SO MANY rubber bands, some of them AWESOMELY BIG, but I had to cut two of them because the bed had been assembled around them. Bummer.
And here we have a pile of accessories! A cute monster teddy bear rug, three blankets, three pillows, a recast of Pawla's storybook in a very similar if not the same color, and since Pawla's single release came with a teddy bear, Packlyn and Weredith get bears now.
This is how the blankets and pillows were arranged in the package...
... And this is which colors are whose. Purple for Weredith, blue for Pawla, and lime green for Packlyn.
I love this storybook. I haven't had a chance to paint in months (cats and kids everywhere, you can't paint with cats and kids everywhere), but I REALLY wanna paint this storybook.
The electric navy of the bedrails and head and footboards didn't respond terribly well to digital photography,but I think you can see how well-loved this set of bunkbeds is.
These bows tying back the bed curtains pop right off. There's one missing in my house. Somewhere. I don't know if I did it or if my nephew did it but ONE of us did it, and now I can't find it frickin anywhere. I'm sure it'll turn up, probably under something or in something, but for now it's really frustrating because it happened literally within the first two hours I had the dang thing out of the box.
And the bottom bunk. The mattresses are simple, but they've got little bits of sculpted detail to help make them look like fabric, which is a really nice touch.
Not the greatest focus, but hey, tiny claw marks!
Better focus and more tiny claw marks! I really like how used this bed looks, like it's been through several generations of 'just ready for a big-wolf bed' Wolf kidlets. Like this is normal play scarring for furniture used by itty bitty werewolves.
Okay, rug. I think he's a dragon teddy bear? His fur sure looks like scales.
And like a lot of the Wolf Family stuff, the rug has been patched. Which I also like. We're up to-- hang on I gotta count-- Clawdia, Clawd, Clawdeen, Howleen, Barker, Pawla, Weredith, Packlyn-- eight Wolf siblings who have dolls made, and they range from nineteen years to, like, eighteen months. I know there are some problematic elements (racist or classist) to seeing things like rugs and blankets and teddy bears with patches, or furniture with visible claw marks in it, but none of the kids' clothes are ragged except in artful, deliberate ways... To me it smacks of 'mend it and make do.' It's one little hole in the rug, don't throw it out (or let it get bigger), just patch it. The bunk beds are a little dinged up, but they're not falling apart, we'll just repaint them the next time someone outgrows them. Oh, baby, you tore your teddy bear? Don't you worry, I can fix that!
I am currently living with an implausibly tall and strong three-year-old and an eighteen-month-old who likes to chew on things. I do a lot of fixing.
Okay, so, this? This is Pawla #2, and... those don't look like pajamas to me.
She's still barefoot (I think I have some shoes that'll fit her but I have to dig), but that's a cotton-- or cotton blend, woven, anyway-- romper printed all the way around, in mint, pink, and white. Pawla has day clothes and a color palette.
So, Pawla's got something to wear to Disneyland, if I can find her some shoes! Look how summery and cute that is. And simple to reverse-engineer.
Since I had her handy, here's Pawla and Pawla-- looks like mint, lavender, and pink are her colors, with black and white thrown in. I think they might have the same rooting pattern-- they definitely have the same arms-- so it's entirely possible Bunk Bed Pawla is repainted leftovers of Single Pack Pawla's run. (Remember 50,000 is a limited edition, for Mattel.) I do prefer the pinker lips to the purple ones, but that's mostly because the purple ones are obviously lipstick and my mother never let ME wear lipstick to bed. (Partly because when I was Pawla's age, I thought the more lipstick you put on, the darker it got.)
Packlyn, first issue Weredith, and Bunk Beds Weredith. I do feel like I got a good Packlyn, so I'm happy there. Weredith... BB Weredith has better eyes, while Debut Weredith has better markings on her head. And Weredith's hair is a different color, so evidently someone's dying the toddlers!
While Pawla has Clawd's skin tone, Barker's close to Howleen, and Weredith is pretty Clawdeen-like, Packlyn's coloring looks like Halle Berry.
Contrasting the Werediths. I think I can tidy up BB Weredith's... "hairline" if I'm careful and do a good job paint matching, because her eyes are considerably less blobby than Original Weredith's. Plus her onesie is cuter-- and not half as busy.
I can make clothes for this size doll, but the cubs' hands and feet are so big I'm not sure I want to.
Bunk Bed Weredith on her own. This poor kid just keeps getting the short end of the stick in every three-pack.
So here are all the littlest Wolf girls, piled up in the bunk bed because why not. Sure, the package had Pawla on the bottom bunk, but that's safer for the littlest ones, railings or not.
Really, the cubs look fine from any reasonable distance, I'm just picky. And despite only having six points of articulation, including tails, they actually have a lot of posing possibilities.
And Pawla, up top, enjoying a good book.
Okay, so, conclusions:
Glad I got it! Not glad I waited until it was on closeout, because while it was worth the $25 MSRP... the only place in town I'd seen it was Toys R Us, and Toys R Us is closing.
I'm delighted to have some daytime clothes for Pawla, glad to have a Weredith who's less... messy, and hey, I've got Packlyn now, too! The only Monster Family kids I don't have are Howleen (who's cute but so's Classic Howleen) and Ebbie (if I'd ever found one with her eyes on the same plane of existence as her face, I'd have one). I really do love the whole line-- and I love how it plays well with both Classic and Reboot older siblings. Whatever Mattel is doing at the higher levels, the MH and MF designers are obviously doing the best they can with what they're allowed to use.
You don't get a whole lot of accessories, but what you do get is really cute; the bunk bed feels like it would display well with Clawdeen's Room to Howl bunk beds, but... I don't have that. Sadly. The bed is the main draw and main justification for the deluxe price point, so if the bed itself feels like something that you HAVE to get in order to get Packlyn and Pawla's romper, definitely check your local TRU and try to get a cheap one, or hold out for a sale elsewhere.
And watch out for the bows. They're apparently easy to lose.
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.
This one was my birthday present to myself this year (I wanted to get IHF Cleo, but she's not, you know, at Toys R Us right now).
My nephew also wanted this one like a lot. He enjoyed stacking the boxes, and after I finished doing my review pics, he stole the frickin bunk bed out of my danged office and wandered off with it.
Ahem.
Box art on the front! Poor Packlyn is a pasty baby-- fairer than Howleen, I think.
But on the SIDE of the box--
On the SIDE--
Box art I could save! I'm delighted, I already cut it out. I don't know where it ended up (nephew again), but I cut it out. The art on these is delightful and I love it. For the record.
Back of the box! Art with names stamped on, as usual, also a prototype photograph... and the actual name of the actual set. Whyfor is that not on the front of the box, Mattel?
And without... some of the plastic in the way. This one came with SO MANY rubber bands, some of them AWESOMELY BIG, but I had to cut two of them because the bed had been assembled around them. Bummer.
And here we have a pile of accessories! A cute monster teddy bear rug, three blankets, three pillows, a recast of Pawla's storybook in a very similar if not the same color, and since Pawla's single release came with a teddy bear, Packlyn and Weredith get bears now.
This is how the blankets and pillows were arranged in the package...
... And this is which colors are whose. Purple for Weredith, blue for Pawla, and lime green for Packlyn.
I love this storybook. I haven't had a chance to paint in months (cats and kids everywhere, you can't paint with cats and kids everywhere), but I REALLY wanna paint this storybook.
The electric navy of the bedrails and head and footboards didn't respond terribly well to digital photography,but I think you can see how well-loved this set of bunkbeds is.
These bows tying back the bed curtains pop right off. There's one missing in my house. Somewhere. I don't know if I did it or if my nephew did it but ONE of us did it, and now I can't find it frickin anywhere. I'm sure it'll turn up, probably under something or in something, but for now it's really frustrating because it happened literally within the first two hours I had the dang thing out of the box.
And the bottom bunk. The mattresses are simple, but they've got little bits of sculpted detail to help make them look like fabric, which is a really nice touch.
Not the greatest focus, but hey, tiny claw marks!
Better focus and more tiny claw marks! I really like how used this bed looks, like it's been through several generations of 'just ready for a big-wolf bed' Wolf kidlets. Like this is normal play scarring for furniture used by itty bitty werewolves.
Okay, rug. I think he's a dragon teddy bear? His fur sure looks like scales.
And like a lot of the Wolf Family stuff, the rug has been patched. Which I also like. We're up to-- hang on I gotta count-- Clawdia, Clawd, Clawdeen, Howleen, Barker, Pawla, Weredith, Packlyn-- eight Wolf siblings who have dolls made, and they range from nineteen years to, like, eighteen months. I know there are some problematic elements (racist or classist) to seeing things like rugs and blankets and teddy bears with patches, or furniture with visible claw marks in it, but none of the kids' clothes are ragged except in artful, deliberate ways... To me it smacks of 'mend it and make do.' It's one little hole in the rug, don't throw it out (or let it get bigger), just patch it. The bunk beds are a little dinged up, but they're not falling apart, we'll just repaint them the next time someone outgrows them. Oh, baby, you tore your teddy bear? Don't you worry, I can fix that!
I am currently living with an implausibly tall and strong three-year-old and an eighteen-month-old who likes to chew on things. I do a lot of fixing.
Okay, so, this? This is Pawla #2, and... those don't look like pajamas to me.
She's still barefoot (I think I have some shoes that'll fit her but I have to dig), but that's a cotton-- or cotton blend, woven, anyway-- romper printed all the way around, in mint, pink, and white. Pawla has day clothes and a color palette.
So, Pawla's got something to wear to Disneyland, if I can find her some shoes! Look how summery and cute that is. And simple to reverse-engineer.
Since I had her handy, here's Pawla and Pawla-- looks like mint, lavender, and pink are her colors, with black and white thrown in. I think they might have the same rooting pattern-- they definitely have the same arms-- so it's entirely possible Bunk Bed Pawla is repainted leftovers of Single Pack Pawla's run. (Remember 50,000 is a limited edition, for Mattel.) I do prefer the pinker lips to the purple ones, but that's mostly because the purple ones are obviously lipstick and my mother never let ME wear lipstick to bed. (Partly because when I was Pawla's age, I thought the more lipstick you put on, the darker it got.)
Packlyn, first issue Weredith, and Bunk Beds Weredith. I do feel like I got a good Packlyn, so I'm happy there. Weredith... BB Weredith has better eyes, while Debut Weredith has better markings on her head. And Weredith's hair is a different color, so evidently someone's dying the toddlers!
While Pawla has Clawd's skin tone, Barker's close to Howleen, and Weredith is pretty Clawdeen-like, Packlyn's coloring looks like Halle Berry.
Contrasting the Werediths. I think I can tidy up BB Weredith's... "hairline" if I'm careful and do a good job paint matching, because her eyes are considerably less blobby than Original Weredith's. Plus her onesie is cuter-- and not half as busy.
I can make clothes for this size doll, but the cubs' hands and feet are so big I'm not sure I want to.
Bunk Bed Weredith on her own. This poor kid just keeps getting the short end of the stick in every three-pack.
So here are all the littlest Wolf girls, piled up in the bunk bed because why not. Sure, the package had Pawla on the bottom bunk, but that's safer for the littlest ones, railings or not.
Really, the cubs look fine from any reasonable distance, I'm just picky. And despite only having six points of articulation, including tails, they actually have a lot of posing possibilities.
And Pawla, up top, enjoying a good book.
Okay, so, conclusions:
Glad I got it! Not glad I waited until it was on closeout, because while it was worth the $25 MSRP... the only place in town I'd seen it was Toys R Us, and Toys R Us is closing.
I'm delighted to have some daytime clothes for Pawla, glad to have a Weredith who's less... messy, and hey, I've got Packlyn now, too! The only Monster Family kids I don't have are Howleen (who's cute but so's Classic Howleen) and Ebbie (if I'd ever found one with her eyes on the same plane of existence as her face, I'd have one). I really do love the whole line-- and I love how it plays well with both Classic and Reboot older siblings. Whatever Mattel is doing at the higher levels, the MH and MF designers are obviously doing the best they can with what they're allowed to use.
You don't get a whole lot of accessories, but what you do get is really cute; the bunk bed feels like it would display well with Clawdeen's Room to Howl bunk beds, but... I don't have that. Sadly. The bed is the main draw and main justification for the deluxe price point, so if the bed itself feels like something that you HAVE to get in order to get Packlyn and Pawla's romper, definitely check your local TRU and try to get a cheap one, or hold out for a sale elsewhere.
And watch out for the bows. They're apparently easy to lose.
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.
