Doll Review: Monster High G3 Cleo de Nile
Mar. 27th, 2023 12:36 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
hat_plays_dollsThe same day I picked up G3 Ghoulia, I also picked up G3 Cleo (and a 5-surprise ball, because there was a discount on $50 worth of toys and 4x$24.99 does not = $50).
Do I like her? Yes, with a couple of caveats. Is she going to bump Classic Cleo out of her spot as Definitively My Cleo?
... You know what? Read on and see.
Cleo under glass!
Right away just. That jewelry. Okay? One of the reasons I resisted getting Cleo at all for so long was because I knew once I had her? I would want all her stuff. It's so darned pretty.
Art on the front!
I kind of dig how everyone's names are in different fonts, but once again, the art looks like a talented freshman drew it, and... as far as I know, none of the main characters draw? For as heavy on the creative types as Classic/G1 Monster High went, it's really weird that MHG3... isn't.
Far as I know, Frankie's into STEM, Clawdeen's into STEM, Draculaura's into her witchy phase, Cleo's into social media, Deuce is openly into cooking (an improvement), Ghoulia's into video games, Toralei... comes with a microphone, and that... is all I know about G3 characters' hobbies. Does anyone draw? Play the guitar? Also I know Classic MH had a lot of fashion designers, but as far as I can tell, nobody in G3 lists fashion as an interest? Which is weird for a fashion doll line?
I will admit I dig the little line-art icons they give everybody, though. That's a lot of fun.
Back of the box! And a moment to sigh.
Mattel, you had to re-release the G1 girls in their Signature outfits because the cartoons never updated to current on-the-shelf second-signature looks and people wanted dolls in the outfits they saw them wear in the webisodes and specials.
Cleo is wearing a skirt in the box and pants on the package.
What are you DOING, Mattel?
Okay, "Sar-coffee-gus" is a passable pun. Well done there.
And note, this Cleo was made in China, so she's less likely to have eye wonk if you have to buy her blind.
Recycled packaging and a barcode!
Open box!
A couple of overall thoughts, one, there's a good amount of gold, well done there. Two, accessories oh yes. I am... not sure what to make of the jacket.
But I do like these little marquee jobberdoos.
Cleo's facepaint is beautiful.
I dig how pale and cloudy her pupils are-- though one of mine has a rub I didn't notice. Not a huge fan of the top lashes, I prefer the G1 heavy kohl, but I like how some of the lashes are shaped, and she got a little wadjet squiggle! Also, thick brows and that stripe of metallic gold on her lips.
There's a LOT to like about Cleo's face, and if she were the same skin tone as Classic Cleo-- or ANY G1 or Reboot doll-- I'd seriously consider a headswap.
Accessories!
Glasses are slightly-resized Gloom Beach, the sarcoffeegus is fantastic, the wrap made me go "burrito-- OH it's a WRAP I get it," and the compact is really cute but I will tell you right now, you won't see internal shots of it. I couldn't get it open.
Seriously, not sure about that jacket. I see what they're going for, but Cleo de Nile in a fringed denim jacket?
Sweet sweet freedom!
So Cleo comes with a dress and jacket, a headband, earrings, pectoral collar, belt, backpack, canoptic-jar-shaped coffee cup (that opens!), sunglasses, boots, pet, snack, compact, and backpack.
Not a bad haul for $25, really! Depending on your plans for it!
Her hair is so pretty.
Now, I will say, one of the things I liked about G1 Cleo specifically is that her black hair was, 99% of the time, highlighted with brown. (Streaked with blue or green, sure, but the highlights were brown.) It was a warm look and very natural.
G3 Cleo's navy-and-azure hair is... not a nice natural brown-black. It's BEAUTIFUL, but while I may love the color, I don't know that I love it on Cleo.
I definitely do not love the fiber. I am pretty sure this is kanekalon-- which, they discontinued doll-grade kanekalon. This is very nice, but it's a wig-grade fiber. It's thicker than a doll hair fiber really ought to be, and while it technically styles like a champ, it... does not fall or move well. And if you go to curl it, it's REALLY stiff and hard to wind around anything.
And thickly rooted.
Stuffs!
When I was taking these pictures, I didn't know Cleo had a fleet of scarab minions to do her bidding, so I thought her backpack was a reference to Classic Cleo's door mechanism.
See, I told you the top came off! And there's a little delicate gold paint detailing on the eyes and snoot of the jackal! (Which is why this is a coffee cup and not an actual canoptic (... canopic?) jar; Anubis was not represented there.)
The wrap is UV printed and it took some peering into boxes to find one that had good alignment. I'd complain, but... I don't want to paint tomato slices myself, so I will not complain.
As with Sir Hoots-A-Lot, I have a few complaints specific to G3 pets, again.
The jackal has human eyes. Why can the animal eyes not look like animal eyes? It bugs me aesthetically more than the fact that G3 Count Fabulous has four legs and two wings.
A jackal, seriously? Seriously? If you had to pick an exotic animal that no modern person should own as a pet but that wouldn't shock anyone if an Egyptian Princess had one, why not a cheetah? They actually make fairly decent companion animals, for a high-strung wild animal that could kill a human if it panicked, and were regularly kept as pets by high-status ancient Egyptians.
... Yes I was fine with Hissette, despite her being venomous, because Cleo has enough money to keep any reptile properly and a venomous reptile safely. ... Plus, honestly, even if Little Tiffany's parents are rich enough to think 'sure, we could get our baby girl an exotic pet, that's doable,' they're way more likely to balk at Snakey Thing than Canine.
But I was glad that Ghoul's Beast Pet Cleo came with a goddamn cat.
I do not like the phone camera. I hadn't figured out how to fix anything at this point.
But Cleo can wear her backpack! She can even fit a fair amount of her stuff in it.
See?
A better shot of just the Sarcoffeegus. You can clearly see the gold detailing on the lid, and can barely see the Anubis outline pressed into the cup itself! I'm really pleased with this accessory.
And although I still can't make the little finger loops work, I really like Cleo's phone case. It needs paint, but I got paint, and since the screen is UV printed, I don't have to worry about ruining a sticker washing the thing before painting it.
Plus, props for giving Cleo a smartphone right out of the gate. Poor G1 Cleo was stuck with that gold-plated Blackberry strapped to her thigh for a decade, even when she was visibly using an iCoffin.
Said UV printing! A Classic Skullette, a heart, a... mummified cat? A pyramid, call, video, and music buttons. I think.
The dress!
Arguably this is half-printed, but it's half the front so it works better than usual. Also, a detail I really liked-- those shiny foil iron-on bits add some serious sparkle.
Boots. Why is the grain so high, everything was on Auto.
And boots details.
My biggest gripe with G3 MH is that the shoes aren't backwards-compatible, and these are no exception... but you can finagle them onto a G1 girl, especially if she's wearing long pants.
That said, the bandages SUPER need paint.
Nudity!
Like G2/Reboot Cleo, G3 Cleo has sculpted bandages. Unlike Reboot Cleo, G3 Cleo only has one lower arm, one hand and one calf with sculpted bandages-- Reboot Cleo had everything BUT one arm and one leg fully covered. I think I would have appreciated a sort of 'whole hog or none' approach.
That said, Cleo has thicker thighs than Ghoulia, but a narrower waist. She's interestingly pear-shaped.
While I've got Cleo naked, all her spiffiest plastic accessories (none of the shots with the belt would focus). So much sculpted detail for me to paint, it's VERY exciting.
Oh, the earrings aren't backwards-compatible, either. G3 dolls use bigger posts.
So. G3 Cleo is very nice-- I appreciate her body shape, I like that she has a darker skintone, making her look much more definitively nonwhite (black, she's black, yes Egypt is in the Middle East but North African Black), but is she going to stay Cleo de Nile on my shelf, or am I going to do what I did with Ghoulia and declare her somebody else even if I don't know who?
... Well, I'm going to declare her somebody else, after I do a number of mods. But I know exactly who.
That's a She-Ra Bow body, right there, the Reboot Boy sculpt in a warm medium brown, and though the color match doesn't look great here, it's because Cleo shimmers. To the unaided eye, they blend really well, and I can always paint the head.
Why do I want this head on a male body?
You can just call me Pharaoh!
Because I have wanted a goddamn Seth "Pharaoh" Ptolemy doll since the Boo York movie came out, and because not enough people bought Porter (because Porter was a great character but his doll looked like a booger, and I say this as someone who bought his doll at retail), Mattel opted not to produce a Catty/Pharaoh two-pack, but a hard-to-find Catty-Draculaura-Clawdeen three-pack.
I have been searching for a doll that would work for Pharaoh for years, and tried things that just didn't have the right scale (EAH is too big, most other dolls I tried were too small), but Cleo is just the right size, and has great sticky-outy ears a defined mouth...
Gonna have to sculpt a nose on there.
And as I discovered after working on Pharaoh a bit, re-root. That stiff fiber wouldn't cooperate enough to get me to 'teenage boy.'
Next to a secondhand (slightly dirty, here) Winning Werewolves Clawd, to show how the bodies compare-- and the faces. I'll have to repaint the eyes a bit smaller, but there's a rub so that's no big, and... yeah, I don't think the jawline is too delicate for a boy.
(Yes, that microphone is, in fact, a spare Jinafire arm.)
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.
Do I like her? Yes, with a couple of caveats. Is she going to bump Classic Cleo out of her spot as Definitively My Cleo?
... You know what? Read on and see.
Cleo under glass!
Right away just. That jewelry. Okay? One of the reasons I resisted getting Cleo at all for so long was because I knew once I had her? I would want all her stuff. It's so darned pretty.
Art on the front!
I kind of dig how everyone's names are in different fonts, but once again, the art looks like a talented freshman drew it, and... as far as I know, none of the main characters draw? For as heavy on the creative types as Classic/G1 Monster High went, it's really weird that MHG3... isn't.
Far as I know, Frankie's into STEM, Clawdeen's into STEM, Draculaura's into her witchy phase, Cleo's into social media, Deuce is openly into cooking (an improvement), Ghoulia's into video games, Toralei... comes with a microphone, and that... is all I know about G3 characters' hobbies. Does anyone draw? Play the guitar? Also I know Classic MH had a lot of fashion designers, but as far as I can tell, nobody in G3 lists fashion as an interest? Which is weird for a fashion doll line?
I will admit I dig the little line-art icons they give everybody, though. That's a lot of fun.
Back of the box! And a moment to sigh.
Mattel, you had to re-release the G1 girls in their Signature outfits because the cartoons never updated to current on-the-shelf second-signature looks and people wanted dolls in the outfits they saw them wear in the webisodes and specials.
Cleo is wearing a skirt in the box and pants on the package.
What are you DOING, Mattel?
Okay, "Sar-coffee-gus" is a passable pun. Well done there.
And note, this Cleo was made in China, so she's less likely to have eye wonk if you have to buy her blind.
Recycled packaging and a barcode!
Open box!
A couple of overall thoughts, one, there's a good amount of gold, well done there. Two, accessories oh yes. I am... not sure what to make of the jacket.
But I do like these little marquee jobberdoos.
Cleo's facepaint is beautiful.
I dig how pale and cloudy her pupils are-- though one of mine has a rub I didn't notice. Not a huge fan of the top lashes, I prefer the G1 heavy kohl, but I like how some of the lashes are shaped, and she got a little wadjet squiggle! Also, thick brows and that stripe of metallic gold on her lips.
There's a LOT to like about Cleo's face, and if she were the same skin tone as Classic Cleo-- or ANY G1 or Reboot doll-- I'd seriously consider a headswap.
Accessories!
Glasses are slightly-resized Gloom Beach, the sarcoffeegus is fantastic, the wrap made me go "burrito-- OH it's a WRAP I get it," and the compact is really cute but I will tell you right now, you won't see internal shots of it. I couldn't get it open.
Seriously, not sure about that jacket. I see what they're going for, but Cleo de Nile in a fringed denim jacket?
Sweet sweet freedom!
So Cleo comes with a dress and jacket, a headband, earrings, pectoral collar, belt, backpack, canoptic-jar-shaped coffee cup (that opens!), sunglasses, boots, pet, snack, compact, and backpack.
Not a bad haul for $25, really! Depending on your plans for it!
Her hair is so pretty.
Now, I will say, one of the things I liked about G1 Cleo specifically is that her black hair was, 99% of the time, highlighted with brown. (Streaked with blue or green, sure, but the highlights were brown.) It was a warm look and very natural.
G3 Cleo's navy-and-azure hair is... not a nice natural brown-black. It's BEAUTIFUL, but while I may love the color, I don't know that I love it on Cleo.
I definitely do not love the fiber. I am pretty sure this is kanekalon-- which, they discontinued doll-grade kanekalon. This is very nice, but it's a wig-grade fiber. It's thicker than a doll hair fiber really ought to be, and while it technically styles like a champ, it... does not fall or move well. And if you go to curl it, it's REALLY stiff and hard to wind around anything.
And thickly rooted.
Stuffs!
When I was taking these pictures, I didn't know Cleo had a fleet of scarab minions to do her bidding, so I thought her backpack was a reference to Classic Cleo's door mechanism.
See, I told you the top came off! And there's a little delicate gold paint detailing on the eyes and snoot of the jackal! (Which is why this is a coffee cup and not an actual canoptic (... canopic?) jar; Anubis was not represented there.)
The wrap is UV printed and it took some peering into boxes to find one that had good alignment. I'd complain, but... I don't want to paint tomato slices myself, so I will not complain.
As with Sir Hoots-A-Lot, I have a few complaints specific to G3 pets, again.
The jackal has human eyes. Why can the animal eyes not look like animal eyes? It bugs me aesthetically more than the fact that G3 Count Fabulous has four legs and two wings.
A jackal, seriously? Seriously? If you had to pick an exotic animal that no modern person should own as a pet but that wouldn't shock anyone if an Egyptian Princess had one, why not a cheetah? They actually make fairly decent companion animals, for a high-strung wild animal that could kill a human if it panicked, and were regularly kept as pets by high-status ancient Egyptians.
... Yes I was fine with Hissette, despite her being venomous, because Cleo has enough money to keep any reptile properly and a venomous reptile safely. ... Plus, honestly, even if Little Tiffany's parents are rich enough to think 'sure, we could get our baby girl an exotic pet, that's doable,' they're way more likely to balk at Snakey Thing than Canine.
But I was glad that Ghoul's Beast Pet Cleo came with a goddamn cat.
I do not like the phone camera. I hadn't figured out how to fix anything at this point.
But Cleo can wear her backpack! She can even fit a fair amount of her stuff in it.
See?
A better shot of just the Sarcoffeegus. You can clearly see the gold detailing on the lid, and can barely see the Anubis outline pressed into the cup itself! I'm really pleased with this accessory.
And although I still can't make the little finger loops work, I really like Cleo's phone case. It needs paint, but I got paint, and since the screen is UV printed, I don't have to worry about ruining a sticker washing the thing before painting it.
Plus, props for giving Cleo a smartphone right out of the gate. Poor G1 Cleo was stuck with that gold-plated Blackberry strapped to her thigh for a decade, even when she was visibly using an iCoffin.
Said UV printing! A Classic Skullette, a heart, a... mummified cat? A pyramid, call, video, and music buttons. I think.
The dress!
Arguably this is half-printed, but it's half the front so it works better than usual. Also, a detail I really liked-- those shiny foil iron-on bits add some serious sparkle.
Boots. Why is the grain so high, everything was on Auto.
And boots details.
My biggest gripe with G3 MH is that the shoes aren't backwards-compatible, and these are no exception... but you can finagle them onto a G1 girl, especially if she's wearing long pants.
That said, the bandages SUPER need paint.
Nudity!
Like G2/Reboot Cleo, G3 Cleo has sculpted bandages. Unlike Reboot Cleo, G3 Cleo only has one lower arm, one hand and one calf with sculpted bandages-- Reboot Cleo had everything BUT one arm and one leg fully covered. I think I would have appreciated a sort of 'whole hog or none' approach.
That said, Cleo has thicker thighs than Ghoulia, but a narrower waist. She's interestingly pear-shaped.
While I've got Cleo naked, all her spiffiest plastic accessories (none of the shots with the belt would focus). So much sculpted detail for me to paint, it's VERY exciting.
Oh, the earrings aren't backwards-compatible, either. G3 dolls use bigger posts.
So. G3 Cleo is very nice-- I appreciate her body shape, I like that she has a darker skintone, making her look much more definitively nonwhite (black, she's black, yes Egypt is in the Middle East but North African Black), but is she going to stay Cleo de Nile on my shelf, or am I going to do what I did with Ghoulia and declare her somebody else even if I don't know who?
... Well, I'm going to declare her somebody else, after I do a number of mods. But I know exactly who.
That's a She-Ra Bow body, right there, the Reboot Boy sculpt in a warm medium brown, and though the color match doesn't look great here, it's because Cleo shimmers. To the unaided eye, they blend really well, and I can always paint the head.
Why do I want this head on a male body?
You can just call me Pharaoh!
Because I have wanted a goddamn Seth "Pharaoh" Ptolemy doll since the Boo York movie came out, and because not enough people bought Porter (because Porter was a great character but his doll looked like a booger, and I say this as someone who bought his doll at retail), Mattel opted not to produce a Catty/Pharaoh two-pack, but a hard-to-find Catty-Draculaura-Clawdeen three-pack.
I have been searching for a doll that would work for Pharaoh for years, and tried things that just didn't have the right scale (EAH is too big, most other dolls I tried were too small), but Cleo is just the right size, and has great sticky-outy ears a defined mouth...
Gonna have to sculpt a nose on there.
And as I discovered after working on Pharaoh a bit, re-root. That stiff fiber wouldn't cooperate enough to get me to 'teenage boy.'
Next to a secondhand (slightly dirty, here) Winning Werewolves Clawd, to show how the bodies compare-- and the faces. I'll have to repaint the eyes a bit smaller, but there's a rub so that's no big, and... yeah, I don't think the jawline is too delicate for a boy.
(Yes, that microphone is, in fact, a spare Jinafire arm.)
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.
