Freaky Fusion Avea Trotter

Wow, it feels like it's been forever since I've written a post! Feels good to be back though, and I have something that I'm really excited to share! Monster High's Freaky Fusion line is basically huge, with four new hybrid characters, fused versions of existing characters, ghouls dressed as other ghouls, and that isn't even everything. The majority of these dolls aren't really up my alley, however, some of the hybrids were absolute MUST-HAVES! The first of those is Avea Trotter, and she is a doll that I knew I needed to have as soon as I saw a picture of her. She's a fusion of a harpy and a centaur, and I mean. CENTAUR. I wanted her so badly I did something I have actually never done before, and ordered her (as well as Sirena Von Boo) from Amazon US.

After what felt like the longest 10 days of my life, I finally got her, and promptly tore into the box! And well, she has her issues, however, I am completely head over hooves in love. 

I've actually decided to give something new a try this time as well, and I recorded a little video of me unboxing Avea, and doing a bit of a first impression review on her. So, click through to see that, and ever so many photos of this pretty incredible doll!

 Here she is in her box. These Freaky Fusion boxes are shaped a bit differently than normal Monster High boxes. They have kind of a jagged, lightning bolt-esque shape, that goes along with the overall lightning bolt design featured all over. And because I got this from the US Amazon, it's all in English, which is always a fun change from the international boxes we get in Canada. There's so much more stuff on them!

I also really love her drawing. She looks a bit mean, or maybe fierce is a better word. I just love everything about this!

If you want to watch me get her out of this box, and see Avea in motion, you can take a few minutes to watch the video before scrolling on down to all the photos. I think doing the video and these photos is a pretty good combo to get all the details in, what do you think?

And here she is! You guys, she's really, really cool. She comes with a diary and a brush, but none of these hybrid characters come with stands, as it's advertised that that can stand on their own. With Avea, this is basically true, though using a stand with her does allow her to strike some fancier poses. I actually have her on a stand right now because of how I wanted her to stand, and it works just fine going around the side of her rib cage instead of her back.

And a shot of her bio. I love that she doesn't like being ridden! It totally makes sense, and I bet it would get really annoying to be asked all the time. Mental note to never pose another doll sitting on her back!

It's pretty clear that Avea has a LOT going on. Her outfit is elaborate, her makeup is pretty intense, and obviously, she has a body we've never seen before! So, I'm going to just take it piece by piece, and try not to forget anything!

Let's start with her face, because what a stunning face it is! Her face mold is really beautiful, and I think they did a great job of bringing in some equine features. The bridge of her nose is pretty wide and flat, and she has a very interesting profile. You can definitely see the horse in her, but she is still strikingly beautiful, to me anyways! This is maybe one of my favourite Monster High faces ever.

Her harpy heritage is brought in through her eye makeup, which is pretty incredible. She has red shadow around her eyes, but towards the outside, her makeup explodes into a spray of brightly coloured feathers. Despite the bright colours, this somehow manages to not look over the top, and it really makes her eyes stand out, and look wonderfully almond-shaped. Her lips are a deep purple, and they're painted kind of interestingly. They're painted slightly wider at the corners, extended out in a thin line that gives her a coy little smile. Her face really has a ton of personality!

I really like how she looks in 3/4 profile. I think it highlights the interesting shape of her nose really well.

And of course, she has horse ears! They have a very graceful shape, actually, and I like hose obviously different they are from the werewolf or werecat ears.

Also, look at her cute hat! It's a little top hat with red feathers, that attaches under her chin with a strap made to look like a bridle. I really love this hat!

This is what I was referring to when I mentioned my Avea isn't quite perfect. She has some imperfections on her face, but those don't really bother me, but this did. There's a little hole in her ear, and the tip of it is basically hollow, as if there was a bubble in the mold or something. I contacted Mattel about it actually, for the very first time, and they are sending me a voucher for her, so I really have no complaints about that! I don't think this is in any way going to be a common defect, so I wouldn't worry if Avea is on your list.

Now, her hair. Her hair is STUNNING. The photo on the left is right out of the box, and the photo on the right is after being brushed out. There's not a hint of frizz or fuzz on this hair, and it feels so smooth and thick and just gorgeous. It reminds me of the smoothness of Spectra or Ghoulia's hair, but without the tendency to get flyaways. And obviously, the colour is to die for. It's a blend of bright teal and green, and it has a really beautiful shimmer to it. I can't stop brushing it! I'm thinking I might take it down to really play with it, since the factory style would be pretty easy to recreate.

I will say that her head is very heavy, potentially because of all this hair or glue inside? It makes it hard for her head to hold poses, and it wants to tip backwards from the weight. This could potentially also be due to a defect in her neck peg, but I'm not taking her head off to find out!

Moving on down to her outfit! There is a lot going on here, so let's start with a bit of an overview. She's wearing a reddish-pink plaid jacket over top of a teal blouse, with an assortment of belts and harnesses.

She's wearing a bracelet on each wrist, one red and one purple. Both have a similar theme, being molded to look like straps of leather held together with buckles. Very reminiscent of horse-riding tack! Also, while we're looking at her hands, we can see that they're painted black as if she's wearing gloves, with a little blue ruffle at each wrist.

Oh, and her forearms have molded feathers on them! It's another aspect of her harpy heritage, and a nice connection to the harpy Create-A-Monster who has the huge, winged forearms.

And here's a better shot of the harness that goes back over her horse body. It appears to be a combination of leather straps and chains, with dangling horseshoes.

On each of her four legs, Avea is wearing these things that are basically shin guards. Obviously, horses can't wear typical shoes, so I imagine wearing these is a way for Avea to wear shoes without wearing them! They don't stay put though, especially once you've taken them on and off a few times, so my Avea may end up bare-legged to save my sanity.

 

And here's a good look at her wings. They're really kind of stunning. I love how big the feathers are, and the green colour of the tips is really gorgeous. They do fall out of her back without much encouragement though, which is kind of annoying. This is a problem I've had with Rochelle in the past as well though, so it's not a surprise.

And without her clothes, Avea is almost as interesting! Check out that joint underneath her bust! She's the first Monster High doll to have a torso joint, but I'm really hoping she won't be the last. It really would add a lot to their posing ability, and they're already pretty amazing!

 The joint has a really great amount of twist to it. There's also a decent amount of side to side and front to back, which was hard to photograph. You can see me testing the joint out in the video above though!

Her front legs are articulated in three places, at the shoulder, the knee and the ankle.

This hilarious photo is showing her four legs going as far as they can, both forwards and backwards.

Here's a closer look at her jacket. It looks and feels really nicely made, and feels like it'll stand up well over time. There's a hole in the back to account for her wings, but even if a doll who didn't have wings were to wear this, I think the open back would look nice.

The blouse underneath the jacket is simple, but it's really lovely. I love the high, dramatic colour, but I especially love how the fabric is still soft. It feels romantic and feminine and contrasts in a really nice way with the structured jacket and the black belt and harness.

 I love the way the lower part of the shirt drapes over her back. I think her body has really graceful lines, and this really highlights that.

And I love how it looks with the belt as well!

And back in her complete outfit. This really is the definition of a deluxe doll for me, so many details! 

 She is just so much fun to pose! She can't stand on two legs herself, but with a little help and photographic trickery, you can make her do a lot of things!

 So stunning!

I thought I'd include some of my favourite things from Avea's journal before I continue on with the photo fest, because there is some good stuff here! On the left, she explains a bit more about why she doesn't give rides to other monsters, and on the right, she talks about misconceptions of Monster High (the school) which sound a lot like some things I've heard people say about Monster High (the doll line). I see what you did there, Mattel!

Today, Avea and I went for a little field trip to my parents' house to take advantage of their garden. Avea just screamed to me that she needed to be in a more natural environment, so I made it happen. These are going to be presented basically without comment, because I think they speak for themselves!

And she's off! I think it comes across in this review just how much I love this doll, but I'll say it again. I LOVE this doll! Mattel has really outdone themselves with Avea, from the amazing design of her centaur body, to the design of her outfit and makeup. Playing with Avea has made me even more excited to get Sirena Von Boo out of her box, so that'll be coming up soon!

Let me know in the comments if you're planning on getting any of these hybrids or any of the other Freaky Fusion dolls, and what you think about me adding videos to my repertoire!