Ghoul Sports Spectra Vondergeist and Toralei

I had a lovely surprise the other night when I went to my local Wal-Mart and turned down the doll aisle. I was all set to complain that it was a mess because the same box of One Direction Oreos had been sitting in the same spot for three days (don't ask why i was at Wal-Mart three days in a row...) when I saw something out of the corner of my eye that looked like bubblegum. I moved juts a bit quicker, and sure enough, what I'd seen was Ghoul Sports Clawdeen's bubble, and behind her was the rest of the line! Ironically, I ended up leaving behind Clawdeen, but both Spectra and Toralei came home with me.

Spectra grabbed my attention as soon as we saw the prototypes from Toy Fair, but Toralei snuck up on me a bit! I'm not generally the biggest Toralei fan, but this doll is GORGEOUS.

Click through to see more photos, and an unboxing video!

First, I'm going to share my unboxing video with you guys, since I talk about both dolls together. It just made sense, since they're part of the same line and not particularly "deluxe" in terms of details.

 Just as in the video, let's start with Spectra! I was so excited to get her, and I am not disappointed. Even in the box, her colours are eye-popping, and I just love her drawing on the back. Too cute!

And here she is with her stuff! Her racket is tucked away inside her racket case. I wish the ball fit in the case too actually, that's a tiny piece begging to be lost, as witnessed by how I dropped it immediately upon getting it out of the box!

She comes with a journal, but as per usual for the international versions of these things, it's disappointing. What you're looking at here is the entirety of the English in the book and it doesn't really give us much info. I do like the image on the inside cover though, made to look like an embroidered patch is taped to it!

All of her accessories together.

And a close-up to show the mean little face on the tennis ball!

Spectra herself! In addition to this outfit just being completely adorable, I also think it's totally tennis appropriate. I played tennis every summer when I was a kid, and I never looked this cute, but I sure imagined I did in my head!

Spectra always has a really pretty, striking face, and this doll is no different. Her eye shadow is done mostly in a bright yellow-green, reminiscent of the colour of a tennis ball, but even brighter. Her lips are a bright but soft pinky-lavender colour, that reminds me of a lipstick I actually own, so I love it!

The visor is simple, but does the job. It's a cool translucent  yellow-green colour, and has chains embossed around it.

With the visor off, we can get a better look at her hair, which is lovely! Spectra's hair is always some of my favourite just because of the colour, and this time is no exception. The majority of her hair is a bright violet, with large sections done in a softer lilac. It's pulled into a high side pony, and curled really nicely into soft curls with no gunky styling product. Yay!

Her dress is a very simple shape, but with a lot of detail. It features a black mesh neckline with a green plastic accent and a small Monster High crest. The mesh is cut into jagged points on the bottom which fall over the bust of the dress and form one sleeve. The majority of the dress is made of a very thin cotton material with an all-over pattern of light purple chains. This fabric is very thin, and the bottom of the dress isn't hemmed, and it's already starting to fray. This does not bode well for this doll holding up to play!

She's also wearing a belt in that same green colour, that it made of chains forming a bow in the front. Very cute!

She has two identical chain cuff bracelets. It's hard to see the details because this colour makes my camera freak out, but it's there!

Also, you can see the fraying along the hem in this photo. I may try some Fray Check on it, even though I'm not really going to be playing with her.

There is what amounts to an attached crinoline under the skirt, which is mostly made up of white tulle, The edge is trimmed in two layers, one of green netting, and one of black fishnet. Both are cut with a jagged edge, and just peek out from under the hem of the skirt.

Her shoes are basically sneakers, which what looks like molded socks at the top. They have chains all over them, and the soles are that green we're seeing everywhere!

And that's Spectra! She can hold her racquet, but it can be pretty tricky. The problem is actually that it's heavy enough to drag down her wrist and elbow joints, causing them to flop over.

 It's resting on her visor here. I don't think that's very good form, but it does the job!

Using two hands helps!

But I think it looks pretty snazzy if she carries her racquet in its case too!

I just love that yellow-green with the purple of her hair, it makes both colours look even brighter, I think.

And there she is, off to practice! She just looks so prim and proper, and exactly like the fantasy tennis players in my head always look. It's always so nice when a doll lives up to your expectations, and Spectra has definitely done that!

Now that we've looked at Spectra, let's move on to Toralei! As I said, I'm not always the hugest fan of Toralei, in doll or webisode form, but this doll was impossible to pass up. She is just gorgeous from head to toe!

And here she is with all her accessories. Toralei's sport is soccer, and as such she comes with a ball, ball bag, and a water bottle.

She also comes with a fairly useless journal!

A quick accessories shot. The ball bag is so neon pink that my camera freaks out at the colour and makes it look a lot more coral than it does in person. The ball has a spiderweb pattern instead of the traditional soccer ball pattern, and the water bottle is simple, but a cute touch.

What's really special to me about this Toralei is her face. For some reason she just looks so much more beautiful than I'm used to thinking about Toralei looking, but even after holding her up next to my basic Toralei I can't put my finger on what's doing it, unless it's just the makeup. Her eye makeup is done in bright aqua and hot pink, and her lips are very hot pink. It's so much brighter than it looks in these photos, and it plays beautifully off of her skin. This hot pink is Toralei's version of the yellow-green in Spectra's outfit, and we can see it again in the studs in her ears.

Her hair is Toralei's signature orange colour, and her cat stripes are across her bangs this time. I love Toralei with bangs, even if they are glued down with a vengeance. She also has a lighter orange and a black stripe to one side of her face which are pulled back and twisted into her high pony. The pony is tied halfway down, and decorated with a simple jersey tie in a neon coral. It's not the same pinky-coral as her other accessories, it's much oranger, almost melon-coloured.

Her outfit is really cute, even if it is very tiny. I'm not usually one of those that is super concerned about what Monster High dolls wear, but dang, those are some short shorts there, Toralei! On top, she's wearing a blue and white striped tube top that looks tie-dyed, underneath a loose-fitting cropped mesh top with cap sleeves. There's a large '9' stuck on one side, with a skullette in the centre.

The short shorts are made of mesh, and are actually pretty see-through in certain places. They are unlined, so it's just her skin you're seeing through the mesh. They shorts also have a plastic...belt-thing around the waist in a hot pink and black checkerboard pattern. Overall, I really love this outfit, even with the tiny shorts!

On her legs, Toralei is wearing shin guards unlike any shin guards I have ever seen! They're stylized cats, with studded straps that wrap around her legs to hold them on. I love these, and I haven't removed the elastic bands that were holding them on in the box just yet, because these types of accessories often need the extra help.

Her shoes are awesome, and completely inappropriate for playing soccer! They're that same camera-searing hot pink, and have studs all over them. There is a skullette molded into the tongue of the shoe, the soles are made of claws or teeth and there is no heel. I'd be worried she'd put a hole in the ball kicking it with these things!

And that's Toralei! The ball bag slips right over her hand, and since it's made of flexible material, it's easy to get the ball in and out.

She can easily hold her water bottle as well, and can even drink from it!

I don't think I'd want to mess with her on the field, would you?

But she can still relax with the best of them!

And that's it for Ms Toralei! She was totally a surprise hit for me, but I think at this point, anyone reading this blog knows how much I like to be surprised by a doll! In fact, she MAY be my favourite out of the two, even though I do really love Spectra too.

Overall, I'm really impressed with the Ghoul Sports line. Both of these dolls are well designed, with lots of fun accessories that would be a total blast to play with. Even though I didn't pick up Clawdeen, she is really cute as well, and may eventually join my collection. I love her little bubble, and that her baseball is an eyeball!

What do you think of these Ghoul Sports dolls? Do they hit it out of the park for you, or strike out?

 (See, I should've bought Clawdeen for the sake of the baseball puns! :P)