![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
Entry tags:
Monster High Mystery Review!
Remember when I said I had exciting doll-related news on the horizon? (Warning, this got kind of long).
Ta-da! Headless Headmistress Bloodgood, the doll I had trouble finding a decent one of a few weeks ago. I went back to TRU, armed with a coupon, and managed to score this one, who has even eyes and hair that isn't a complete disaster.
"Why is this so exciting?" you ask. Well, this is why:
She comes with a horse! The first ever MH horse, Nightmare. (Andrew and I had a discussion about whether this horse is a Nightmare, because that's totally a real myth, or if her name is Nightmare... As far as I can tell, via my very scientific Googling, the answer is both.)
Now, there has been some (read A LOT) of complaining about this set on the internets. People were annoyed that the horse wasn't poseable, that the materials used to make the clothes were cheap, but the set costs $42, that HHB looks weird with her neck peg sticking up, etc. I have to say that none of that (barring the price tag, but I used my coupon) was an issue for me, and I am pleased as can be with this set.
First of all, the horse. Yes, maybe she's not made out of the sturdiest materials, but DAMN. It's a blue fricking horse! There are no other MH horses, so this is kind of a big deal for me, and I can understand why Mattel and/or TRU may have overpriced this set a tad; because everyone wants a blue horse!
Besides being quite striking in appearance, Nightmare has amazing hair. It's a great color (she's more or less the MH version of an MLP, seriously) it curls perfectly and beautifully, and it's made of the softest fiber I've ever encountered in doll hair. I love it. At first I was a tad disappointed that Nightmare's tail is so short, but I got over that real fast. It being short makes it unlikely to get tangled in her hooves, and it's probably a more realistic horse tail length then the super long MLP tails I was comparing it to.
Also, and this was really important to me for some strange reason, both the bridle and saddle come off relatively easily. I mean, maybe the horse doesn't want to wear that stuff all the time, you know? Anyway, the only thing I don't like about Nightmare is that the bridle has no reigns. How can anyone ride a horse with no reins? But whatever, I can get past that. (it is a magical blue horse, after all; maybe it's controlled by telepathy or something).
The biggest complaint I've heard is that Nightmare isn't poseable. To this I say: Have you ever had a toy horse that was? I didn't but I knew people who did, and those things were a pain in the ASS to keep standing, especially with a doll on their backs. Nightmare has yet to fall over, for any reason, and it's easy to balance Bloodgood on her in a variety of poses. A poseable horse would have necessitated joints in the thighs, knees, and/or ankles of the horse, which would have severely compromised her ability to stand and balance (at least, this has been my limited experience with toy horses). Now, perhaps Mattel could have come up with a stable poseable horse, given that they have billions of dollars to work with, but they didn't, at least this time. Mattel, again, in my experience, tends to improve on things. This is their first MH horse, but maybe it's not the last, and maybe the next one will be poseable. So please, internets, try to enjoy what we have right now.
Anyway, enough about that. Time for more pictures!
Bloodgood and Nightmare. Both standing on their own!
The lurve between a headmistress and her horse is not to be trifled with.
As you can see from these pictures, it is a breeze to put Bloodgood on her horse and pose her. They're both capable of balancing like champs, and she sits on the horse like it was made for her (which it was!) I had some trouble getting her to stay on at first, but then I slid Bloodgood forward in the saddle about half an inch, and we were golden.
So. We've talked at length about the horse, now what about the doll?
Headless Headmistress Bloodgood (who apparently doesn't have a first name) is a very unique doll. First of all she's of a bigger body type, which means that she's taller, and has bigger feet and a more mature figure. There has only been one other MH doll with this body type, and that is Nefera de Nile, Cleo's big sister. I have her, but I haven't gotten to her in my reviews yet, so for now just smile and accept that the two of them have the same body. In fact, I took a picture to prove it.
This comparison makes Bloodgood looks like she could really use a tan.
Despite being an adult, and the Headmistress of Monster High, Bloodgood is described as the "daughter of the headless horseman". I'm not going to get into the math involved with how the daughter of the headless horseman is older than the daughter of Dracula, or a mummy, but whatever, it explains why she has a horse. (And I'm not about to complain about the horse).
Bloodgood's outfit is very simple, consisting of tight black shiny leggings, a white shirt with a pink tie, an AWESOME long purple coat, and sweet riding boots. The boots are made of a very soft material, which worried me at first, because the heels can bend totally in half. However, she has no trouble standing in them, and their softness, coupled with the big slit up the back, makes it super easy to pull her leggings back down after they ride up when you jam the books back on her feet. This is a good thing, trust me, because nobody wants to ride a horse with wrinkled leggings. Pro tip: If you're trying to put the coat back on, detach her arms at the wrists and not the elbows. The material of her coat is very stiff, which makes it hard to get it to slide up enough to put the arms back in at the elbows after removal. Its not impossible, but since she has wrist joints too, just use them!
The other really unique aspect of Headless Headmistress Bloodgood should be no surprise:
Her head comes off! (The doll is actually packaged in a pose somewhat similar to this, so it's no great surprise that you're about to buy a headless doll). It took me.... a while to get her to pose like that, because her head is surprisingly heavy, but she was eventually able to hold it up by herself.
She can also hold it like this. It's really neat to me that you can actually get her to hold her own head; this seems like a detail lots of people are going to want to act out, so it's an important part of the design to make it feasible.
Now, as you can see, Bloodgood does indeed have a peg sticking up out of her neck, which has aroused no lack of ire in various collectors. To which I say: CALM DOWN. This is a doll, dolls have pegs to hold their heads on, and that bit sticking up allows her head (which pops on and off like BUTTAH) the full amount of rotation that normal MH dolls have. You could put her head on and leave it there forever, and no one would ever know that she was meant to be headless. In my opinion, the peg is barely noticeable (it just seems like part of her neck) and its appearance is a small price to pay for full and natural head posing possibilities.
And guys? It is SO MUCH FUN to pose this doll, with and without her head. You can see that I took like 500 more pictures than I usually do, because I kept thinking of new cool ways to position her. (The only one I wasn't able to get was her holding her head aloft with one hand, which I though would have been awesome, but I'm going to keep working on it.)
Here's possibly my favorite shot:
Lost her head!
And here's Bloodgood without her coat, and Nightmare without her bridle and saddle:
Nightmare looks a little softer sans bridle, and Bloodgood a little more relaxed sans jacket. She can ride sidesaddle (if you want her to) with or without the actual saddle, which opens up even more posing possibilities. I'm not sure why her white shirt doesn't have sleeves (maybe so it won't interfere with the jacket?) but I dig it. It gives her a casual fashion option, even with the tie.
Another reason I was so excited to get Bloodgood was so that Nefera could have some other clothes to wear. There aren't very many regular MH clothes that she can squeeze into, and I wanted to see her in something else. So, naturally, this happened:
Nefera looks all right in Bloodgood's outfit, though the purple coat SERIOUSLY clashes with her hair. Bloodgood, on the other hand, looks awkward as can be in Nefera's clothes. In fact, she looks more than a little bit like a hooker, which is weird because Nefera doesn't when she has it on. I don't know if it's Bloodgood's skin tone, or her facial structure, but this was the only possibly outcome:
Hey baby, you looking for a good time tonight?It's a shame she didn't come with her whip, or I could have really gone to town.
Nefera looks better without all the purple:
In fact, I seriously dig this on her.
Finally, before we get to the rundown, I know you're all wondering if Bloodgood and CAM's can trade heads. The answer is yes:
It's possible, but it looks odd because Bloodgood is a slightly bigger scale. Her head is too big for a CAM body, and a CAM head is too small for hers. But it can be done if you have a burning need to put a CAM head on a larger body for some reason (and you might have that reason, I don't know your life.)
Whether you're made it this far, or if you've just skipped to the rundown, here it is!
Theme: You know, I don't know that HHB has a theme... Riding clothes? Is that a theme?
Evidenced in: Riding pants, riding boots.
Favorite thing about the doll: Her easily removable head. It goes on and off smoothly, and has a full range of motion when attached. Also, I love being able to pose her in new and interesting headless ways! (I suppose you could have done that with any given CAM, but it's just not the same.)
Least favorite thing about the doll: Her hair. Her bun is done in such a way (and it's hard to explain) that it's quite frizzy and I'm slightly terrified that it's going to come undone. It's such a perfect hairstyle for her, I don't want to lose it. It also makes her head heavy, which thwarts some of my best pose ideas.
Favorite thing about the outfit/accessories: Besides the horse? It's got to be her boots, which are great looking, allow her to stand on her own, match her riding aesthetic perfectly, and are well designed for redressing.
Least favorite thing about the outfit/accessories: The shirt. It's not hemmed at the bottom, and it's already starting to fray. It looks good without the jacket, but I have this feeling that Mattel didn't really intend for it to be seen that way, so they didn't put as much effort into it as her other pieces.
Bottom line: There are so many things about this set that could have gone wrong (horse that doesn't balance with the doll on its back, inability to get the doll to stay on the horse, boots that don't go on and off easily, leggings that ride up, head that's removable but has limited mobility, head that's too hard to get on and off, etc.) but didn't, that I feel it's a great effort on the part of Mattel. Bloodgood is a lot of fun to play with and pose, Nightmare is striking in appearance and balances well, and it's awesome to have another doll with the larger body type. The price is a little steep for many people, and understandably so, but there are ways around that. This doll is out right now, and (between the removable head and the horse) makes a very unique addition to any doll collection, MH or otherwise.
Last, but not least, here are two shots of Bloodgood in Monster High:
HHB, teaching in the classroom. It was semi-important to me that she look at home doing this, since I really need a teacher for my school, and she does! It's a lot of purple all in one place, but that's ok.
Riding Nightmare through the halls of Monster High. She's perfectly balanced like that too; I carried her all the way to the other room and she never fell off the horse. Woo!
Song quote for today: It's plain to see we're over, and I hate when things are over, when so much is left undone.
Answer to last Sunday's song: Sweet Caroline, by Neil Diamond. No one guessed this. :(
Ta-da! Headless Headmistress Bloodgood, the doll I had trouble finding a decent one of a few weeks ago. I went back to TRU, armed with a coupon, and managed to score this one, who has even eyes and hair that isn't a complete disaster.
"Why is this so exciting?" you ask. Well, this is why:
She comes with a horse! The first ever MH horse, Nightmare. (Andrew and I had a discussion about whether this horse is a Nightmare, because that's totally a real myth, or if her name is Nightmare... As far as I can tell, via my very scientific Googling, the answer is both.)
Now, there has been some (read A LOT) of complaining about this set on the internets. People were annoyed that the horse wasn't poseable, that the materials used to make the clothes were cheap, but the set costs $42, that HHB looks weird with her neck peg sticking up, etc. I have to say that none of that (barring the price tag, but I used my coupon) was an issue for me, and I am pleased as can be with this set.
First of all, the horse. Yes, maybe she's not made out of the sturdiest materials, but DAMN. It's a blue fricking horse! There are no other MH horses, so this is kind of a big deal for me, and I can understand why Mattel and/or TRU may have overpriced this set a tad; because everyone wants a blue horse!
Besides being quite striking in appearance, Nightmare has amazing hair. It's a great color (she's more or less the MH version of an MLP, seriously) it curls perfectly and beautifully, and it's made of the softest fiber I've ever encountered in doll hair. I love it. At first I was a tad disappointed that Nightmare's tail is so short, but I got over that real fast. It being short makes it unlikely to get tangled in her hooves, and it's probably a more realistic horse tail length then the super long MLP tails I was comparing it to.
Also, and this was really important to me for some strange reason, both the bridle and saddle come off relatively easily. I mean, maybe the horse doesn't want to wear that stuff all the time, you know? Anyway, the only thing I don't like about Nightmare is that the bridle has no reigns. How can anyone ride a horse with no reins? But whatever, I can get past that. (it is a magical blue horse, after all; maybe it's controlled by telepathy or something).
The biggest complaint I've heard is that Nightmare isn't poseable. To this I say: Have you ever had a toy horse that was? I didn't but I knew people who did, and those things were a pain in the ASS to keep standing, especially with a doll on their backs. Nightmare has yet to fall over, for any reason, and it's easy to balance Bloodgood on her in a variety of poses. A poseable horse would have necessitated joints in the thighs, knees, and/or ankles of the horse, which would have severely compromised her ability to stand and balance (at least, this has been my limited experience with toy horses). Now, perhaps Mattel could have come up with a stable poseable horse, given that they have billions of dollars to work with, but they didn't, at least this time. Mattel, again, in my experience, tends to improve on things. This is their first MH horse, but maybe it's not the last, and maybe the next one will be poseable. So please, internets, try to enjoy what we have right now.
Anyway, enough about that. Time for more pictures!
Bloodgood and Nightmare. Both standing on their own!
The lurve between a headmistress and her horse is not to be trifled with.
As you can see from these pictures, it is a breeze to put Bloodgood on her horse and pose her. They're both capable of balancing like champs, and she sits on the horse like it was made for her (which it was!) I had some trouble getting her to stay on at first, but then I slid Bloodgood forward in the saddle about half an inch, and we were golden.
So. We've talked at length about the horse, now what about the doll?
Headless Headmistress Bloodgood (who apparently doesn't have a first name) is a very unique doll. First of all she's of a bigger body type, which means that she's taller, and has bigger feet and a more mature figure. There has only been one other MH doll with this body type, and that is Nefera de Nile, Cleo's big sister. I have her, but I haven't gotten to her in my reviews yet, so for now just smile and accept that the two of them have the same body. In fact, I took a picture to prove it.
This comparison makes Bloodgood looks like she could really use a tan.
Despite being an adult, and the Headmistress of Monster High, Bloodgood is described as the "daughter of the headless horseman". I'm not going to get into the math involved with how the daughter of the headless horseman is older than the daughter of Dracula, or a mummy, but whatever, it explains why she has a horse. (And I'm not about to complain about the horse).
Bloodgood's outfit is very simple, consisting of tight black shiny leggings, a white shirt with a pink tie, an AWESOME long purple coat, and sweet riding boots. The boots are made of a very soft material, which worried me at first, because the heels can bend totally in half. However, she has no trouble standing in them, and their softness, coupled with the big slit up the back, makes it super easy to pull her leggings back down after they ride up when you jam the books back on her feet. This is a good thing, trust me, because nobody wants to ride a horse with wrinkled leggings. Pro tip: If you're trying to put the coat back on, detach her arms at the wrists and not the elbows. The material of her coat is very stiff, which makes it hard to get it to slide up enough to put the arms back in at the elbows after removal. Its not impossible, but since she has wrist joints too, just use them!
The other really unique aspect of Headless Headmistress Bloodgood should be no surprise:
Her head comes off! (The doll is actually packaged in a pose somewhat similar to this, so it's no great surprise that you're about to buy a headless doll). It took me.... a while to get her to pose like that, because her head is surprisingly heavy, but she was eventually able to hold it up by herself.
She can also hold it like this. It's really neat to me that you can actually get her to hold her own head; this seems like a detail lots of people are going to want to act out, so it's an important part of the design to make it feasible.
Now, as you can see, Bloodgood does indeed have a peg sticking up out of her neck, which has aroused no lack of ire in various collectors. To which I say: CALM DOWN. This is a doll, dolls have pegs to hold their heads on, and that bit sticking up allows her head (which pops on and off like BUTTAH) the full amount of rotation that normal MH dolls have. You could put her head on and leave it there forever, and no one would ever know that she was meant to be headless. In my opinion, the peg is barely noticeable (it just seems like part of her neck) and its appearance is a small price to pay for full and natural head posing possibilities.
And guys? It is SO MUCH FUN to pose this doll, with and without her head. You can see that I took like 500 more pictures than I usually do, because I kept thinking of new cool ways to position her. (The only one I wasn't able to get was her holding her head aloft with one hand, which I though would have been awesome, but I'm going to keep working on it.)
Here's possibly my favorite shot:
Lost her head!
And here's Bloodgood without her coat, and Nightmare without her bridle and saddle:
Nightmare looks a little softer sans bridle, and Bloodgood a little more relaxed sans jacket. She can ride sidesaddle (if you want her to) with or without the actual saddle, which opens up even more posing possibilities. I'm not sure why her white shirt doesn't have sleeves (maybe so it won't interfere with the jacket?) but I dig it. It gives her a casual fashion option, even with the tie.
Another reason I was so excited to get Bloodgood was so that Nefera could have some other clothes to wear. There aren't very many regular MH clothes that she can squeeze into, and I wanted to see her in something else. So, naturally, this happened:
Nefera looks all right in Bloodgood's outfit, though the purple coat SERIOUSLY clashes with her hair. Bloodgood, on the other hand, looks awkward as can be in Nefera's clothes. In fact, she looks more than a little bit like a hooker, which is weird because Nefera doesn't when she has it on. I don't know if it's Bloodgood's skin tone, or her facial structure, but this was the only possibly outcome:
Hey baby, you looking for a good time tonight?
Nefera looks better without all the purple:
In fact, I seriously dig this on her.
Finally, before we get to the rundown, I know you're all wondering if Bloodgood and CAM's can trade heads. The answer is yes:
It's possible, but it looks odd because Bloodgood is a slightly bigger scale. Her head is too big for a CAM body, and a CAM head is too small for hers. But it can be done if you have a burning need to put a CAM head on a larger body for some reason (and you might have that reason, I don't know your life.)
Whether you're made it this far, or if you've just skipped to the rundown, here it is!
Theme: You know, I don't know that HHB has a theme... Riding clothes? Is that a theme?
Evidenced in: Riding pants, riding boots.
Favorite thing about the doll: Her easily removable head. It goes on and off smoothly, and has a full range of motion when attached. Also, I love being able to pose her in new and interesting headless ways! (I suppose you could have done that with any given CAM, but it's just not the same.)
Least favorite thing about the doll: Her hair. Her bun is done in such a way (and it's hard to explain) that it's quite frizzy and I'm slightly terrified that it's going to come undone. It's such a perfect hairstyle for her, I don't want to lose it. It also makes her head heavy, which thwarts some of my best pose ideas.
Favorite thing about the outfit/accessories: Besides the horse? It's got to be her boots, which are great looking, allow her to stand on her own, match her riding aesthetic perfectly, and are well designed for redressing.
Least favorite thing about the outfit/accessories: The shirt. It's not hemmed at the bottom, and it's already starting to fray. It looks good without the jacket, but I have this feeling that Mattel didn't really intend for it to be seen that way, so they didn't put as much effort into it as her other pieces.
Bottom line: There are so many things about this set that could have gone wrong (horse that doesn't balance with the doll on its back, inability to get the doll to stay on the horse, boots that don't go on and off easily, leggings that ride up, head that's removable but has limited mobility, head that's too hard to get on and off, etc.) but didn't, that I feel it's a great effort on the part of Mattel. Bloodgood is a lot of fun to play with and pose, Nightmare is striking in appearance and balances well, and it's awesome to have another doll with the larger body type. The price is a little steep for many people, and understandably so, but there are ways around that. This doll is out right now, and (between the removable head and the horse) makes a very unique addition to any doll collection, MH or otherwise.
Last, but not least, here are two shots of Bloodgood in Monster High:
HHB, teaching in the classroom. It was semi-important to me that she look at home doing this, since I really need a teacher for my school, and she does! It's a lot of purple all in one place, but that's ok.
Riding Nightmare through the halls of Monster High. She's perfectly balanced like that too; I carried her all the way to the other room and she never fell off the horse. Woo!
Song quote for today: It's plain to see we're over, and I hate when things are over, when so much is left undone.
Answer to last Sunday's song: Sweet Caroline, by Neil Diamond. No one guessed this. :(
no subject
That was one of the many MANY things that annoyed me about Twilight; if you've been alive for thousands of years WHY IN GOD'S NAME would you spend it going to high school over and over and over? At least go to college every century or so! I mean, I liked high school well enough, but come on.
I had never thought of the teachers being kids of anyone either, until I saw it written on Bloodgood's box. She didn't come with a diary, sadly. Maybe they thought that was too teenager-y?
no subject
RE: Twilight & school. Right? And if you don’t want to get your 10th college degree, just chill at home for a few decades & if anyone asks, say you’re home schooled!
Yeah, a diary would be a bit teenager-y. Still, it would be nice to know a bit more about her. A resume or file instead, perhaps? ;)
no subject
I FINALLY managed to snag PD Frankie, but I had to pass up on the science two pack and all the Haunt the Casbah girls. They had one Twyla, but I still can't decide if I want her or not, and this one was seriously cross-eyed.