Sunday 2 February 2014

Ready for her close-up: Frights, Camera, Action Operetta (Wal-Mart Exclusive)

Well, this review has been giving me some trouble, but I'm getting it up! I had a heck of a time taking photos of her, and then I had surgery (planned, but knocked me down for a few days!) and couldn't get new ones...and here we are, finally! I'm back on my feet, and Operetta is here serving it up!

This is the Wal-Mart exclusive Operetta as part of the Frights, Camera, Action! line, and I was lucky enough to find her almost as soon as she started being spotted. Operetta is a character I tend to have mixed feelings on, and I'm not entirely sure why. I want to love her, and I love her in theory, but often her dolls fall flat for me. That is so not the case the FCA Operetta though, she is fierce from head to toe!



Isn't she ready for her close-up?




She comes in the same size boxes as the "deluxe" dolls in this line, Honey, Viperine, Clawdia and Elissabat. Pricewise, she cost me somewhere in the middle of the cost of the deluxe dolls and the slim box budget dolls. For all intents and purposes though, she's a deluxe doll, and even comes with a diary!


Unfortunately, because I'm in Canada, she has the international diary, which contains almost nothing. All I have is her basic bio, and one simple entry about her going to Hauntlywood and picking out a dress. This is one case where I'm missing that extra info because I want to know all about how Operetta fits into this story!



She has a really beautiful, classic Hollywood vibe, which really fits with Operetta's usual 50's rockabilly styling. Lots of great musical details here, like usual!


There's something a bit softer about her face than usual. She doesn't look any less fierce, but something about the colours and the expression reads just a little softer. I like it!

As usual for deluxe Monstr High dolls, Operetta is wearing a lot of accessories!


She's wearing large, dangling earrings, that feature stylized piano keys hanging from little spider webs. They're cute, and they go perfectly with the dress.


One small defect I noticed on my doll, her ear is pierced in the wrong spot! Or rather, they've actually pierced her face instead of her ear. It's not noticeable when the earring is in though, so it's fine by me! I only noticed because her earring was pushed a bit of out place, and I had a hard time turning it back because the hole is really tight.


What makes this Operetta different from others, is that she's not wearing a mask over her scars. Instead, she's wearing a fascinator with a little veil, which is a really nice, classic look on her. The top of the fascinator is a white dripping heart, with a painted design that's reminiscent of dice or dominoes. Underneath that, there's strips of curled tulle ribbon, and then the veil itself. The veil has a scalloped edge, and is made of a fairly stiff, fishnet material. It's attached around her head with an elastic, and there's also a plastic tie that would need to be cut if you wanted to remove the head piece.


Her shoes are a plain black re-colour of the ones in her deluxe fashion pack. They're cute, with lots of nice details, but I liked them better in the fashion pack done in red and white.


Her purse is AWESOME. It matches her earrings, with the same fan shaped and stylized piano keys, and it's accented with black beads. The beads dangle from the bottom and also form the strap that goes around her wrist. It is really, really cool! It doesn't open though, if that sort of thing bugs you.



She also comes with this camera, which is a nice addition. It has a fair amount of details, and she can hold it pretty well.



Her last accessory is honestly kind of a throwaway for me. This picture is bad, but it's the same V.I.M. badge that the Music Festival dolls came with. It adds nothing to the doll, and kind of makes no sense to me since none of the other FCA dolls are wearing them.


Smile! It's a little awkward, but she can hold it!



Finally, she's had her arms molded to look like she's wearing gloves. One is black and one is white, and there's raised stitching running up both sides of her arms and around her fingers. Each glove has a little bow on either side near her elbows. This is a cute detail, but the molded gloves would limit her redressing ability a bit. Not a huge problem for me as I don't intend to redress her, but it might bug other people. Oh, and she's also wearing a piano key bracelet on her left wrist, which is an accessory we've seen before on her basic doll.



One thing that's often...not great about Operetta dolls is her hair. It's always such a gorgeous bright red shade, but the texture leaves a LOT to be desired. That's not the case here! I mean, it's not the soft, silky hair we see on someone like Ghoulia or Spectra, but it's way softer and more manageable than usual, done in nice, soft waves around her shoulders.


The colour makes my camera freak out because it's so bright, but you can see here that the waves are soft without being super puffy and crunchy, and this is after I gave it a quick brush.


The front half of her hair from about the ears forward is done in black, and pulled to the side in a large, curled pony. It looks kind of crazy from the side, but from the front it's a nice style. The dramatic two-tone look is graphic and really sharp, and I think it would look cool in other styles as well! Of course, I am 100% useless at styling doll hair, but if someone who was good at it took a crack? I bet it would be cool!



As iffy as her hair can be, Operetta's face is always on point, and this Operetta is no different! She has a really gorgeous facemold to begin with, but I really like the way she's painted this time.


Her eyes are done in subtle shades of brown and taupe, which really allows her bright, shiny red lips to be the focus of her face, just the way it should be. Sometimes MH dolls have so much going on, there's almost too much to look at, but this really keeps the focus on Operetta's gorgeous face. It's a really classic look, something that reminds me of traditional pin-up makeup, and it's perfect for this Operetta!


I also just wanted to snap a few quick pictures of Operetta's gorgeous facial scars, because they're one of my favourite things about her and the outfit and the lack of mask on this doll really makes them stand out.


I love how they swirl down her neck and over his shoulder, and kind of meld into her tattoo. Gorgeous!


As for her outfit, it's simple, but has a lot of impact. It's a one-piece dress with a halter neckline, tied behind her neck with a ribbon.


The bodice is a shiny red with a sweetheart neckline trimmed in matching tulle, and the skirt is black and white, with a pattern than makes me think both of piano keys and of the tiles of an old-school 50's diner. It's finished off with a wide black waistband with a definite piano key pattern. The hem comes to jagged points, revealing a lining of red tulle underneath.


The tulle itself is pattern with dripping staffs and music notes. A nice little detail!


So, that's basically it for the review! I figured I should get all the Frights, Camera, Action! ghouls together for a group shot. Don't they look cute together?


There's so much variety in this line, and lots of really great details. I love it! I do have Black Carpet Cleo to review as well, but for some reason, she didn't make it into this photo. She's coming soon though! For all the 50's detailing Operetta has, Cleo is all 20's, and I love her too!

But I couldn't let Operetta go without taking a few more beauty shots. She did give me a lot of trouble getting pictures, but once I got them, she really sang!






Operetta is Sassy McSasspants anyways, but this doll really takes it to 11! Look at her working these angles!


 

Mwah! Best wishes from Operetta, all the way from Hauntlywood!

Coming up next, maybe Black Carpet Cleo...or, if things go according to plan, I MIGHT be able to get my hands on a Slo Mo soon! Wish me luck!











6 comments:

  1. Operetta has so beautiful scars, I've always wondered why would she want to hide them with a mask? Is she so much her father's daughter, or what?
    I really like this Operetta, it's a shame it won't show up in Finland. We don't get many of the exclusives, some days it annoys me so much :D

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    1. I like to think she's not really hiding them so much, but rather wearing the masks as an accessory to enhance her scars! She's certainly not ashamed of them!

      That's too bad! I'm sure there'd be someone out there who help you get your hands on this gorgeous doll if you wated

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  2. Oh she is gorgeous! Those gloves were painted on, as I expected, but it goes so well with her outfit I won't complain. The two toned nature of her hair really brings out how lovely and red it is. Speaking of which, is it the same shade as Wydown's hair?

    One thing that bothers me though is why she's holding a camera. Isn't that Honey's job?

    Overall it's another well-thought out and beautiful doll. I love Operetta; I'm pretty much the opposite of you, since I can't think of a single doll of hers I didn't like. :p

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    1. It is really similar to Wydowna's hair, but it's not the same. Wydowna's hair is a slightly deeper, richer shade where as Operetta's is a bit brighter and more on the orange side. I tried to take a picture for you, but they're close enough that my camera can't quite seem to catch the difference!

      Well, Honey has a video camera, and Operetta's looks like a regular camera. Maybe it's just Operetta's personal camera and she's brought it with her to commemorate her trip to Hauntlywood!

      It seems to me like when I LOVE an Operetta doll, I really really love them, like her Picture Day doll. That one is fierce and perfect, just like this one!

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    2. I've tried squinting at other people's photos but I still can't see the difference. I guess it's something that's only discernable in person.

      I suppose that's true as well. It'd just be nice for her to have a sound-related piece of filming equipment since the other ghouls all tie into movie production as well. Though fitting a boom mike into a box might be a bit hard...

      Oh yes, her PD is gorgeous! It's just a pity I'll never be able to get her correct mask version.

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    3. Yeah, the difference is very slight. I even asked my husband to come over and have a look to make sure I was in fact seeing a difference!

      Ha, I would've loved a big boom mike, that would have been a really amusing accessory :)

      I do wish I'd waited for the correct mask version since she's currently EVERYWHERE in the stores here, but I'm not terrifically bothered since I didn't have another doll with that mask already, so it wasn't a repeat for me. The right mask is way cooler, but not cool enough to buy the doll again

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