Monster High Review: Toralei Stripe
Jun. 9th, 2013 11:42 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
leia131The Dash game was fun, and they won 6-1, but there's not really much else to say about it. Plus, my camera batter was dead, so I didn't get any pictures.
Please meet Toralei Stripe, 15, daughter of the werecat.
Aside: This is the point in Monster High where Mattel started getting away from classic movie monsters, and branching out into anything that could be vaguely considered a monster, especially ones that might have a wide appeal, like cats. I know I already reviewed Rochelle, but I would say that she fits into this category as well, being a gargoyle, and I believe she was released around the same time as Toralei. I have absolutely no problem with Mattel doing this, I just wanted those who aren't as familiar with this line to understand what's going on.
I wholly support Mattel moving beyond a narrow definition of monster, because this is the result:
She knows she's badass.
And that's basically Toralei: she is a badass. At the point in my life where I got this doll, I had never seen a MH webisode, and I wasn't in the LJ community yet, so all I knew about these dolls came form trolling Amazon to see what new ones were slated for release. When I saw the promo pic for Toralei I had two thoughts: 1. She looks like my cousin Emalee, and 2. I MUST OWN HER, OMFG SHE HAS A TAIL! You all know how much I like dolls with non-standard body parts, and how cool is a doll with a tail?! Too cool, that's how cool.
And Toralei is AWESOME, at least in doll form. The reason I mentioned the webisodes is because her character in them is the mean girl/bully/antagonist to the main characters, which is kind of a disappointment to me because her doll is so amazing. (Her character is also inconsistent; in the diary that came with her doll she was shown to have a tough exterior with a squishy center, but in the webisodes she seems more nasty. And then in one of the movies, she progresses from high school pranks, like stealing Ghoulia's scooter, to assisting Valentine in stealing Draculaura's soul (or whatever he was trying to do) and thereby dooming Draculaura for all eternity. I was like, "WHAT THE HELL?!" because that's kind of extreme, even for a bully. ANYWAY). Enough about her webisode character, because that's neither here nor there; the doll is one of Mattel's best.
First of all, as you can see in these pictures her color scheme is red and black, which is semi-unusual for MH (Operetta's and Ghoulia's are similar, but overall MH features softer color palates) and totally kicks ass. Her leggings are ripped in a fashion suggesting that she did it herself either in a fit of pique, or to make them looks cooler, or both. Her jacket is like the modernized version of Fonzie's: the epitome of cool (and it has studs on the collar!). Her purse has a feather cat toy hanging off of it, which is yet another example of the small and subtle details that I love about Monster High.
Toralei can also pull off poses that other ghouls just can't:
I mean really, look at her! She looks like she was made to lounge like that. This picture also shows what her shirt looks like without the jacket. It's a little more relaxed.
As you can see above, Toralei also has some really fantastic details. Her eyes are a very bright green (as befits a cat), her hands feature red, finger-less, studded gloves (which are molded onto her hands, making her look a little silly if you put her in a bathing suit or PJ's, but it's worth it because they just make her look so fucking COOL), and her hair has those kicky stripes. Toralei's hair is pretty heavily gelled to keep it in that shape, and I haven't messed with it (nor do I intend to). The hard hair doesn't really bother me, and I've heard that she'll lose her black stripes if you wash it out, so it's staying just as is. I did separate out that one little chunk in the front though, just to give her a little extra style.
Now let's take a look at some of the unique features of the doll itself:
Here you can see all of Toralei's stripes. They run from her hair, down her right arm, and all the way down her left leg. This was a neat surprise for me to discover the first time I went to change her clothes.
And here is a picture of her tail. Toralei's tail meshes seamlessly with her character and complexion, curls around her, so you can see if from the front, and is designed in such a way that it doesn't interfere with her being in her stand. It pops out easily so you can dress her, and is located in such a place that she has very little trouble wearing any outfit, since the Velcro closures of most of them have a small gap at the bottom right where the tail goes. It also, as I was trying to show in this picture, fits into her back in such a way (round on top and flat on the bottom) that it can't rotate (an issue Mattel later fixed with Jinafire's tail) but I think it helps it stay in better.
Supposedly, as you can see in her character art and some shots of the doll itself, half of Toralei's face is a darker shade of orange. My Toralei either doesn't have this, or it's so light that her face looks like it's all one color to me. I do really like the stripes on her face though, which evoke war paint or eye black. These, along with her pierced and tattered ears, really give her a tough girl vibe that you don't find in many other dolls.
Toralei's pet is an adorable saber-tooth tiger cub named Sweet Fang. I can't imagine what pet you would give to a cat (it seems like dogs, birds, fish, and small rodents or reptiles would be right out) but it still reads a little strange to me to give a cat a cat for a pet. But whatever, how cool is it that she has a tiger cub? Everything about her is awesome. I have to say though that I can't really see a tough kitty like her naming anything 'Sweet Fang'. Could we not have come up with anything better, Mattel? I guess not.
Here's the rundown!
Theme: Studs and claw slashes/stripes (however you want to interpret them).
Evidenced in: Studs on her gloves, jacket, purse, and shoes. Slashes/stripes on her hair, body, leggings, shirt, purse and pet.
Favorite thing about the doll: I know you're expecting me to say her tail, but I actually think it's her head. The tail is great, don't get me wrong, and I love it, but there's just so much personality in her face/hair/ears. The ears are a different shape (and I think have a slightly different placement) than Clawdeen's, which is so cool because they could easily have been made the same. Even without the outfit or the stripey body, you would know what Toralei was all about just from her face.
Least favorite thing about the doll: This is tough, because I really think she's a triumph of design. It's probably going to have to be the fact that her tail can only be in one position; some kind of bendy rubber tail with wire in it would have been really cool, especially as cats are always moving their tails and using them to express themselves.
Favorite thing about the outfit/accessories: The jacket. There is no one who looks bad in that jacket, and it's badass and extremely well made. Also, it's shiny!
Least favorite thing about the outfit/accessories: Her bandanna, which I didn't even take a picture of. Oops. You can see it in her art, and in some of the other pictures I linked. She came with a small orange bandanna around her neck, similar to the black one that Sweet Fang is wearing. I'm not a huge fan of orange to begin with, and it's so bright that it clashes with both her skin and the rest of her outfit. She's not wearing anything else orange, except her own fur, so I don't know why they threw in that accessory. She never wears it, nor do any of the other dolls, and I totally forgot to dig it out and put it on her for the photo shoot.
Bottom line: There's a reason that Toralei is selling for an astounding $200+ on Amazon right now: She's amazing, and everyone wants her. I was fortunate enough to find her in TRU when she first came out (and I'm not ashamed to say that I let out a totally undignified shriek when I saw her on the shelf) and only paid $25. I would totally and wholeheartedly recommend that you buy her, but I can't really justify paying $200 for a single doll that originally retailed for less than $30. In any case, this doll is full of perfect (or purrrfect) little details, is unique even among MH dolls, and is so popular that she sparked a small werecat making craze in Mattel, despite her mean girl attitude. If you want a tough kitty to add to your collection, and Mattel ever re-releases her, this is the ghoul for you.
Song for today: Was in the spring, and spring became the summer
Answer to last Sunday's song: There was no song last Sunday. Sorry!
Please meet Toralei Stripe, 15, daughter of the werecat.
Aside: This is the point in Monster High where Mattel started getting away from classic movie monsters, and branching out into anything that could be vaguely considered a monster, especially ones that might have a wide appeal, like cats. I know I already reviewed Rochelle, but I would say that she fits into this category as well, being a gargoyle, and I believe she was released around the same time as Toralei. I have absolutely no problem with Mattel doing this, I just wanted those who aren't as familiar with this line to understand what's going on.
I wholly support Mattel moving beyond a narrow definition of monster, because this is the result:
She knows she's badass.
And that's basically Toralei: she is a badass. At the point in my life where I got this doll, I had never seen a MH webisode, and I wasn't in the LJ community yet, so all I knew about these dolls came form trolling Amazon to see what new ones were slated for release. When I saw the promo pic for Toralei I had two thoughts: 1. She looks like my cousin Emalee, and 2. I MUST OWN HER, OMFG SHE HAS A TAIL! You all know how much I like dolls with non-standard body parts, and how cool is a doll with a tail?! Too cool, that's how cool.
And Toralei is AWESOME, at least in doll form. The reason I mentioned the webisodes is because her character in them is the mean girl/bully/antagonist to the main characters, which is kind of a disappointment to me because her doll is so amazing. (Her character is also inconsistent; in the diary that came with her doll she was shown to have a tough exterior with a squishy center, but in the webisodes she seems more nasty. And then in one of the movies, she progresses from high school pranks, like stealing Ghoulia's scooter, to assisting Valentine in stealing Draculaura's soul (or whatever he was trying to do) and thereby dooming Draculaura for all eternity. I was like, "WHAT THE HELL?!" because that's kind of extreme, even for a bully. ANYWAY). Enough about her webisode character, because that's neither here nor there; the doll is one of Mattel's best.
First of all, as you can see in these pictures her color scheme is red and black, which is semi-unusual for MH (Operetta's and Ghoulia's are similar, but overall MH features softer color palates) and totally kicks ass. Her leggings are ripped in a fashion suggesting that she did it herself either in a fit of pique, or to make them looks cooler, or both. Her jacket is like the modernized version of Fonzie's: the epitome of cool (and it has studs on the collar!). Her purse has a feather cat toy hanging off of it, which is yet another example of the small and subtle details that I love about Monster High.
Toralei can also pull off poses that other ghouls just can't:
I mean really, look at her! She looks like she was made to lounge like that. This picture also shows what her shirt looks like without the jacket. It's a little more relaxed.
As you can see above, Toralei also has some really fantastic details. Her eyes are a very bright green (as befits a cat), her hands feature red, finger-less, studded gloves (which are molded onto her hands, making her look a little silly if you put her in a bathing suit or PJ's, but it's worth it because they just make her look so fucking COOL), and her hair has those kicky stripes. Toralei's hair is pretty heavily gelled to keep it in that shape, and I haven't messed with it (nor do I intend to). The hard hair doesn't really bother me, and I've heard that she'll lose her black stripes if you wash it out, so it's staying just as is. I did separate out that one little chunk in the front though, just to give her a little extra style.
Now let's take a look at some of the unique features of the doll itself:
Here you can see all of Toralei's stripes. They run from her hair, down her right arm, and all the way down her left leg. This was a neat surprise for me to discover the first time I went to change her clothes.
And here is a picture of her tail. Toralei's tail meshes seamlessly with her character and complexion, curls around her, so you can see if from the front, and is designed in such a way that it doesn't interfere with her being in her stand. It pops out easily so you can dress her, and is located in such a place that she has very little trouble wearing any outfit, since the Velcro closures of most of them have a small gap at the bottom right where the tail goes. It also, as I was trying to show in this picture, fits into her back in such a way (round on top and flat on the bottom) that it can't rotate (an issue Mattel later fixed with Jinafire's tail) but I think it helps it stay in better.
Supposedly, as you can see in her character art and some shots of the doll itself, half of Toralei's face is a darker shade of orange. My Toralei either doesn't have this, or it's so light that her face looks like it's all one color to me. I do really like the stripes on her face though, which evoke war paint or eye black. These, along with her pierced and tattered ears, really give her a tough girl vibe that you don't find in many other dolls.
Toralei's pet is an adorable saber-tooth tiger cub named Sweet Fang. I can't imagine what pet you would give to a cat (it seems like dogs, birds, fish, and small rodents or reptiles would be right out) but it still reads a little strange to me to give a cat a cat for a pet. But whatever, how cool is it that she has a tiger cub? Everything about her is awesome. I have to say though that I can't really see a tough kitty like her naming anything 'Sweet Fang'. Could we not have come up with anything better, Mattel? I guess not.
Here's the rundown!
Theme: Studs and claw slashes/stripes (however you want to interpret them).
Evidenced in: Studs on her gloves, jacket, purse, and shoes. Slashes/stripes on her hair, body, leggings, shirt, purse and pet.
Favorite thing about the doll: I know you're expecting me to say her tail, but I actually think it's her head. The tail is great, don't get me wrong, and I love it, but there's just so much personality in her face/hair/ears. The ears are a different shape (and I think have a slightly different placement) than Clawdeen's, which is so cool because they could easily have been made the same. Even without the outfit or the stripey body, you would know what Toralei was all about just from her face.
Least favorite thing about the doll: This is tough, because I really think she's a triumph of design. It's probably going to have to be the fact that her tail can only be in one position; some kind of bendy rubber tail with wire in it would have been really cool, especially as cats are always moving their tails and using them to express themselves.
Favorite thing about the outfit/accessories: The jacket. There is no one who looks bad in that jacket, and it's badass and extremely well made. Also, it's shiny!
Least favorite thing about the outfit/accessories: Her bandanna, which I didn't even take a picture of. Oops. You can see it in her art, and in some of the other pictures I linked. She came with a small orange bandanna around her neck, similar to the black one that Sweet Fang is wearing. I'm not a huge fan of orange to begin with, and it's so bright that it clashes with both her skin and the rest of her outfit. She's not wearing anything else orange, except her own fur, so I don't know why they threw in that accessory. She never wears it, nor do any of the other dolls, and I totally forgot to dig it out and put it on her for the photo shoot.
Bottom line: There's a reason that Toralei is selling for an astounding $200+ on Amazon right now: She's amazing, and everyone wants her. I was fortunate enough to find her in TRU when she first came out (and I'm not ashamed to say that I let out a totally undignified shriek when I saw her on the shelf) and only paid $25. I would totally and wholeheartedly recommend that you buy her, but I can't really justify paying $200 for a single doll that originally retailed for less than $30. In any case, this doll is full of perfect (or purrrfect) little details, is unique even among MH dolls, and is so popular that she sparked a small werecat making craze in Mattel, despite her mean girl attitude. If you want a tough kitty to add to your collection, and Mattel ever re-releases her, this is the ghoul for you.
Song for today: Was in the spring, and spring became the summer
Answer to last Sunday's song: There was no song last Sunday. Sorry!
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2013-06-10 04:31 pm (UTC)I originally didn’t want Toralei because of her personality in the webisodes, but a little girl who sits near us @ hockey games got her and brought her to a game to play with and I was like “SHE IS SO CUTE, MUST HAVE!!!” so after the hockey game got out @ like 11pm, my mom drove me around town looking for a Toralei lol. Unfortunately, I got one that’s perfect in every way except for her tail…it would just not stay in, no matter how I positioned it, so I had my brother glue it in lol. (Did I ever tell you about how when my brother was hanging my MH shelf he built for me & he knocked over Toralei & her tail fell out but he didn’t know where it came from or that it was a tail & he thought it was a non-feathery boa and put it around a random doll’s shoulders…?[This is what prompted me to finally just have her tail glued in lol.] I know I told somebody that story so if it was you & that’s a repeat, I apologize!)
I really wish they’d include Toralei in more lines. She would’ve been perfect in Scaris since she was in the movie a lot…they could do a beach version (well, maybe not, cat’s don’t like water!)…I can’t see her in a slumber party line since her only friends are the Werecat twins…she would’ve been perfect for the Picture Day line, since everyone was marking her out in their yearbooks in that line, would’ve liked to have seen what Toralei did to everyone else’s photos! But I’m really excited for her Power Ghouls incarnation!!!
(This is just my own headcanon, but I always sort of wondered if all the Werecats were LOOSELY based on the movie Cat People. Well, other than the sexual arousal part lol!!! I’ve seen that movie, it’s wonderfully cheesy.)
no subject
Date: 2013-06-10 10:56 pm (UTC)She should definitely be in more lines! I actually kind of liked her in Scaris, even as I was annoyed that she didn't get a new outfit for the occasion.
I had no idea there was a movie about cat people... I may have to check that out, just for the sheer lulz.
no subject
Date: 2013-06-10 10:30 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2013-06-10 10:58 pm (UTC)Maybe you'll be able to track that one down once she's released! The outfit is different, but the ears and tail are the same. :)