Freaky Fusion Sirena Von Boo

As I mentioned in my review of Avea, I also picked up Sirena Von Boo in my Amazon order. These two were totally my must haves from the Freaky Fusion line, since they vary the most from the regular Monster High body. I may yet pick up Bonita Femur as well, but I think she's going to need to be an in-person decision. Based on photos, I'm still unsure, but who knows once I have her in my hands!

But, back to Sirena! She's a fusion of a mermaid and a ghost, and she has a mermaid tail! Like many little girls, I grew up loving mermaids and wishing I could be one. My friends and I even used to put our feet through those weighted rings that you'd throw in the pool and swim down to retrieve so that our legs were held together and pretend to swim like mermaids! So, I was definitely very excited to get my hands on Sirena, and I was not disappointed.

For more photos, my thoughts, and another unboxing/first impressions video, please click through!

Her box is exactly the same as Avea's, except it obviously has her own information! I think part of what I like about Sirena is that this bio reminds me a bit of myself. I'm definitely a daydreamer and often get caught just staring off into space, lost in my own thoughts. AND I love antique stores!

I love her drawing just as much as I love Avea's. Though we obviously haven't seen the movie yet, I think these drawings do a good job of capturing both Avea and Sirena's individual personalities, based on what I've read in their journals. Where Avea looked fierce and ready to take on the world, Sirena looks a bit softer, more dreamy. Love these!

As with Avea, I did an unboxing video and included my first impressions of Sirena, so watch that if you're interested! It's also a lot easier to show the details of her articulation in the video than it is in still photos, so check it out.

And there she is! As with Avea, she doesn't come with a stand because they are all supposedly able to stand on their own. I admit that I was skeptical about this, but thanks to a tip from Garrett Sander (designer for Monster High) she does in fact stand on her own! Every photo of her standing in this review is of her standing unassisted. It takes a minute to get her situated just right, but it's totally doable!

A quick shot of her diary so you can get an idea about who this lovely lady is. I love that her favourite subject is archaeology!

On first glance, she doesn't look like she has quite as much going on as Avea, but the closer I looked, the more little details I found! She's not as over the top in terms of colours as Avea, but there was certainly no small amount of thought put into designing this doll from head to fin.

Starting with her face! It's really hard to capture in photos, but her skin is kind of translucent, and has this really pretty blue shimmer to it. She actually sparkles! Her eyebrows are blue and painted to resemble fins, and the irises of her eyes are actually a cluster of bubbles! I love these kinds of small details, they really show a lot of thought. Her eye makeup manages to be bright and soft at the same time, using shades of yellow and peach. Her lips are a gorgeous pinky-purple colour, and I just love the shape of her mouth. It's such a contrast to Avea's sly smile!

She has little fins for ears that are similar to Lagoona's. In one, she wears a simple silver pearl, and in the other, she wears a huge earring made of looping chains.

And this photo is just to show that she does in fact have a nose, and an adorable one! The colour of her skin makes her nose disappear, and it's not just in photos. Even in person it's hard to see. But look how cute her profile is! Especially with those big swoopy bangs.

Speaking of those bangs...they are rock hard and completely coated in whatever that horrific styling product Mattel loves to use is. You can see the white flecks in some spots. I don't want to wash it out though, because I do like the swoop, so I'm just going to try to wipe away the worst of the flecks.

The rest of her hair is also kind of a mess... It reminds me a lot of Lagoona's hair, texture-wise, that kind of fluffy, prone to tangling fibre. It's going to need a bit of work!

Style-wise, the front of her hair is pulled back into a ponytail right behind her bangs, and a section on her right has been twisted into three rope braids. The rest is pulled back into a low pony on the opposite side, and I have already taken down this ponytail. Mermaids should have loose, flowing hair, am I right?

The colour of her hair however, is completely gorgeous. It's a blend of three colours, a lilac, a cornflower blue and a periwinkle. The colour of it makes the texture worth it, I think. It's really striking, and the colours blend together so well that it's hard to figure out where one stops and another starts, especially when you're moving her around. I'm thinking Sirena needs a quick boil perm, and she'll be good to go!

Now, onto her outfit! When I did my video review, I thought her top was one piece, but it's actually two. It's made up of a top with a sweetheart neckline, and a separate ruffle that is put on her like it's a one-shouldered strap.  The shirt itself has a completely amazing pattern! It's all tentacles and bubbles, overlaid with a lime green mesh on the front. LOVE the tentacle motif! It fits in with her mermaid theme, but at the same time it's a little bit unexpected, and unexpected choices are something I love. The ruffle is made of two layers, an under layer of black fishnet with blue sparkles, and an over layer of tulle patterned with black printed seaweed.

As for the rest of her upper body, she's wearing a large three strand chain necklace, and some looped string around her wrists. Honestly, I don't love this necklace and it'll probably get put away. It sits awkwardly on her bust, has a tendency to flip around to the back, and interacts weirdly with the ruffle. The string around her wrists falls in long loops, and is clearly meant to emulate chains. I love the movement this has, and I'm really glad it's not hard plastic!

Her arms fade from white to translucent black, and she has webbed hands. There are ridges in her webbing, which is something that is different from other dolls with webbed hands, I believe! She also has these incredible fins on her forearms. I feel like calling them fins is kind of underselling it actually, they are really something!

Now, just like with Avea, this is where it gets really interesting! Sirena, as a mermaid, has no legs, and instead has this really incredible tail. It fades from the iridescent white of her body into a translucent black just like her arms, with just a hint of blue shimmer.

On top of her tail, she's wearing a chain mesh...thing. I'm not sure what you'd call it, but it's pretty cool, and is removable.

The fin itself is HUGE, and is actually made of two pieces.

Here you can see how those two pieces make it possible for her to stand on her own!

Both pieces are articulated separately, but she stands better with them closed. The fins are also articulated separately from where her tail is articulated. It's hard to explain, but you can see a bit more of how it moves in the video above!

From behind, we can see how the cage around her tail is attached, with three simple peg closures. We can also see a hint of another hidden detail...

She has a fin on her back! It's similar to the ones on her arms, though it's simply translucent grey with none of the blue shimmer her arm fins have.  I love finding things that this that aren't visible when looking at a doll in the box!

And of course, with any doll that has a new mold, we have to take a good look. Here we can see that Sirena has a waist joint, but no knee joint, and a joint above her fin. The waist joint doesn't quite allow her to bend a full 90 degrees at the waist, especially if she's wearing the cage on her tail, so it's tricky to make her sit down.

With the cage off, we can also see how much detail has been molded into her tail. There are shells and starfish and all sorts of other textures, and these are pretty hard to see with the cage on. Again, there is a lot of detail in this doll that you've really got to be look for to see!

See what I mean about her waist joint? Her bum kind of hovers above the floor, but she IS a ghost after all, so maybe that works!

Back in her clothes and looking fabulous! As per usual, I took way too many photos of Sirena, and I have plans to take more. My aunt has a house on the beach, so I might traipse down there and take some pictures of Sirena in the sand, if there's a nice day coming up. If I do that, I'll share the photos on my Flickr and my Facebook!

Can't you just imagine her lounging on the beach, with the waves lapping over her tail?

Or maybe her skin sparkling in the sun?

Basically, I think she is going to prove to be very photogenic, nose or no nose! :P

She has a very sweet face, but tilt her chin down just a little, and suddenly she's giving you fierceness! Those giant bangs really give her a lot of attitude too, I think.

I just love the way her hair fans out behind her. This is with it removed from the ponytail, and despite the not great texture, it really does look awesome all spread out. The colour is just so special.

You can see the shimmer in her skin pretty well here! It's subtle, even in person, but it gives her a real otherwordly vibe, and feels totally appropriate for both a mermaid AND a ghost. Her face is just so lovely, isn't it?

And there we have it! I'm just as impressed with Sirena as I was with Avea, and that's really saying something! These hybrids are really a step above anything else Monster High has released, in my opinion, and I hope that this level of creativity is a good sign for the future.

Coming up soon, I think I have lots of good stuff for you guys! I found Ghoul Sports last night and picked up a few, AND my birthday is on Sunday, so I imagine (hope!) I might be getting a doll or two.

So, what do you think of Sirena? And what are you most looking forward to from Monster High in the near future? Let me know in the comments!