So, recently, I got the Very Last Doll I needed to consider my Monster High collection-- not
complete, exactly, but I now have one of every single currently released character (except Zomby Gaga, who is going for 'haha no what?' prices on eBay). And although the lighting in my bedroom is kind of terrible for taking pics in certain areas, I really wanted to show how my collection has grown.
See, okay, a friend in another fandom got me watching the Monster High webisodes probably in 2011. I'd seen the dolls but at the point they were brand new, I was still mostly a Tonner doll collector, and the stylized proportions and paint jobs didn't appeal to me
until I started watching the webisodes.
In March of 2013 (which I remember cos I wrote to Mattel about The Glue Issue that I now know how to fix myself), I got Scaris Rochelle, because the particular Rochelle I spotted at Target had a particularly charming spread of freckles. I was not, at this point, doomed. I wasn't even doomed when I hit eBay and started looking for Rochelle's basic outfit. (I was astonished at how cheap everything was, though, since I was coming from collecting MUCH more expensive dolls. Those were the days-- when eight dollars for a pair of shoes
didn't seem like highway robbery.)
My doom began when I got Rochelle's signature diary, read it, and discovered she had a crush on Deuce. I hadn't seen any of the specials at this point, let alone the Scaris movie (where we find out Rochelle has a long-distance boyfriend who suddenly stopped writing to her), and Cleo, in the webisodes, was only partway through her character arc from 'rich, controlling bully with a few good qualities' to 'vain but gracious princess with some control issues.' I liked Deuce, but was not a fan of Cleo, and suddenly I was intrigued! So I scoured eBay for a reasonable price on Signature Deuce, complete, with his diary. This... was not an easy task, but I did it. I figured as long as I was getting my favorites, I might as well get Abbey, who I loved all to pieces, and embarked on a search for The Perfect Abbey (who turned out to be Skull Shores Abbey). ... And frankensteined up a body with relatively even glitter distribution for her. Abbey was a process.
I got Bloodgood on sale because Abbey was living with her during the week for school. I got the Gorgon-Mummy CAM pack and the Gargoyle Boy singly on eBay in case I felt bad about breaking up a canon couple later. I accidentally won a Jackson on eBay. (Seriously I put in a bid thinking I'd never get him while heading in to a Burger King.)
And as of July 2013, my Monster High collection looked like this:
Gargoyle Boy not shown as apparently I was still searching for his wig. I take it back, you can just see his sneakered feet clinging to the mirror, I forgot I made up for my lack of boy stands by making him climb-- and I sure didn't get him in the shot.
Also that's a super-terrible picture, I acknowledge that, it was taken in a dark corner of my room under natural lighting with the built-in camera on the cheapest smartphone I could find.
So I got a couple DVDs, watched Skull Shores and Fright On and Why Do Ghouls Fall In Love and Friday Night Frights and Ghouls Rule, fell for a couple other characters, got Skelita because
skeleton fashion doll, I would've loved Skelita when I was six almost as much as I love her now, and decided okay, I could buy all the
clothes I wanted, but I had to limit myself to one of each
doll. 13 Wishes came out, and Twyla is my Haunted Mansion Baby, I love her. I got the Dance Class five-pack because Gil and a new Rochelle outfit, and snagged a Music Festival two-pack-- with Gil, Clawd, Deuce, and Jackson, I had the whole gaming group. I sold MF Draculaura before realizing it was weird not to have any of their girlfriends, though. Which meant I had to find Draculaura, and The Perfect Lagoona, and I held off on Cleo because I still didn't
like her yet (and also because she has so much gorgeous stuff. If I only loved minor characters, there was a cap to how much clothing I could get, right?)-- but I somehow managed to get
Holt. And, look, once you have Jackson, Holt, Clawdeen, and Draculaura, it's just weird not to have Frankie.
I was still doing okay! Particular faves only, only one doll. (Howleen, because I had Clawdeen and Twyla. Invisibilly because he's Twyla's friend, and a boy, and a stage manager. Operetta because Picture Day hit Costco and she was a stunner. Heath because of COURSE Heath.) I dragged Twyla to Disneyland for
photographic proof that she's my Haunted Mansion Baby. I finally landed a Phys Dead Ghoulia, rebodied Clawd onto a Texas A&M Ken body for height and buffness, and when Prom 2014 hit,
suddenly somehow I was shipping Jackson/Toralei. So I had to hunt down a Toralei. ... And I also needed Neighthan, for the world's most ridiculous reasons-- if you took the OFC I made up (twenty years ago) for a
very different toy-driven cartoon, paired her off with the canon character I made her up to pair off with, translated them both into the Monster High universe, and gave them a kid, that kid would be Neighthan Rot. I don't super-ship him with Frankie, but I love him for himself and for the fact that he genuinely appears to be my Fanfiction Lovechild. I got Sirena as a gift. Field Trip Gigi made me go "Oh wow a Gigi I like!" and I got her. Art Class Robecca was devastatingly lovely, so I got her too.
Things were still reasonable at the end of 2014-- my doll shelves looked like this:
( As a holdover from my LiveJournal days, it still feels rude to have more than one pic outside the cut. )
