Ghoul Spirit Spectra Vondergeist

Gather round boys and girls and let me tell you a story. The sad, sad story of Ghoul Spirit Spectra.

The Ghoul Spirit line hadn't really been grabbing my attention. I'm desperate to get my hands on a Slo Mo, but that has nothing to do with the line, and everything to do with my Ghoulia's needing their man! The girls in the line are simply designed, which is fine, but just not my bag. However, Spectra's hair is kind of awesome, with the addition of the black streaks, and then I started seeing people who'd curled her hair and it looked amazing...and I was won over.

Now, because I said this is a sad, sad story, I'm sure you can figure out that things went awry at some point...and you'd be right. However, let's start at the beginning, when things were still rosy.

Does she look worried to you? She should maybe be worried...

The box is the standard slim box, and is very, very spare. Her cartoon is really cute, though the makeup doesn't match the makeup on the doll. On the back, we see the other dolls in this line, including the elusive Slo Mo, and an invitation to a pep rally. Are pep rally's really a thing? I went to a school without cheerleaders, but to me, pep rally's always seem like something only schools on TV do.

Spectra's face defies photography, with how pale she is, but it just makes her look ghostlier, right? Despite being very simple, she is really quite cute.

I've always loved Spectra's face, with the sunken cheeks and the spooky eyes and this one is no exception. She's lovely! Her eye makeup is done in shades of pink and lilac, and her lips are painted a deep purple. 

Her outfit is really simple and straightforward. It's a Monster High t-shirt, decorated with some chains wrapped around the crest. Her skirt has the same chain motif, in a pink and purple ombre fabric with a jagged, pointy hem. Nothing special here, but does the job.

Her shoes are bright pink, and molded with a chain pattern all-over. I believe these are a recolour of her Dot Dead Gorgeous doll's shoes. She has black shackles on her ankles, which are removable. They clasp together at the front, and these are one of my favourite accessories on a Spectra doll ever. This is the kind of detail that keeps me coming back to Monster High!

She has two stacked bright blue skullette bracelets, and black dangling skullette earrings.

Her bright blue headband is attached to her head with plastic ties, and I can't express how much I hate this. It looks so cheap and just...icky to me, to have the plastic ties exposed like this, and I don't like that it basically makes the headband unusable if you want to remove it. If you CAN remove it, even. Those ties are in there tight, and are very difficult to snip. It would be less offensive if the ties matched the headband, but I think I better solution is making a better version of a headband, with an attached stretchy band or something. I like the look of the headband, but the ties just ruin it for me.

Her last accessory is a red and white pom pom. It's simple, but she can hold it and it's pretty cute overall.

Her hair itself is really, really lovely. It's the standard smooth, straight Spectra hair done in shades of lilac and purple, but this time she has an added edge! There's a single black streak in the front, and the entire bottom row of her hair is rooted in black, giving her hair really nice depth and dimension. Her hair is basically the reason I bought this doll, and it's not a disappointment!

I thought I'd do a quick face mold comparison of the Spectra's I have (though I missed Polterghoul!). She's gone through some face changes over the years, but I always love her look, regardless.

There she is! Overall, I like this doll. Her outfit is nothing remarkable, but her face and hair are really gorgeous, and worth the purchase!

Just for fun, I fiddled around with some setting to try and make her look a little more ghostly, and it was a neat experiment! I like how she looks like she's glowing in the first one :)

Now that we've had a good look at her...we get to the sad, sad part of her story. Remember how I said I was going to try and curl her hair? Yeah...

This was the first time I attempted to curl her hair. I should have taken pictures of the results, but I didn't. It wasn't quite what I wanted; it was too curly in the front, and all kind of wonky in the back, so I combed it out and tried again. And well...it was worse. At this point I was ready to give up and just boil her hair back straight again, which I've done many times before on numerous dolls with good results. Sadly, Spectra was not so lucky. I don't know if the water was too hot, if I did it too many times, or if I left it in the water too long or what....but guys, she's kind of a hot mess.

It's fuzzy and fluffy and and has almost totally lost its shine. And look at those ends! 

There are also weird areas that are almost crimped looking, and it's just...so big and so bad. Oof. I feel like I need to apologize for doing this to her!

Don't worry, Spectra! I have plans for you, and you'll be better than ever!

She can kind of work it for now though, right?

I can laugh about it now, because the situation has been resolved, but man was I upset at myself when I realized what had happened! I bought the doll just because I loved her hair so much, and I ruined it! It's weird too, because she's just been sitting out in my living room the last few days, and I swear her hair is just getting bigger and puffier and fluffier as the days go by. I'm sorry, Spectra!

How has the situation been resolved, you ask? Well, my lovely husband saved the day, and I now have a brand new Ghoul Spirit Spectra, who is going to be rocking her standard issue straight hair, though I am going to get her in a new outfit, and get that headband off her head.

Hot Mess Spectra is fondly remembering the days when her hair didn't look like a brillo pad. She just looks so put out, doesn't she?

On the plus side, Spectra 2.0 now has two pom poms to shake!

The all Spectra cheer team! I've never had two of the same doll before, and for some reason I'm finding it hilarious. I wish I hadn't ruined the first Spectra's hair, but I am excited for the possibilities now. I've always wanted to try re-rooting, and I think she's the perfect test subject! I just have to decide what colour to try, and of course I'll update on how it turns out. I don't think I'm brave enough to try and repaint her face though, so she won't be a full-on custom.

So that's the sad, sad story of Spectra Vondergeist. I'm glad that I have a happy ending to this story now, because I wasn't in such good spirits (pun not intended!) about it a few days ago! Have you ever tried to change something on a doll and it didn't really go the way you intended? I'm going to be a bit more gunshy in the future, that's for sure!