It's been awhile since we actually talked about dolls over here, hasn't it? Well, I've finally gotten to this lovely Ghoulia doll in my stack of things to blog about, and it's about time! It felt like it took forever for me to finally get my hands on her, and now she's been sitting boxed up in my kitchen for what feels like weeks since I got home, but it was finally her turn in front of the camera!
With the exception of the Hybrid characters, Avea and Sirena in particular, most of the Freaky Fusion line doesn't really appeal to me. I've seen all of the Fused Ghouls in person now, and only Dracubecca and Cleolei are even a bit appealing to me, and I definitely am not a fan of Neighthan's style, though his sculpt is really cool. So, I'm not sure how many other dolls from this line you'll be seeing me review, at least not until they start going on sale...but that might change once I see the movie too, that always changes my mind on some things!
Anyways, without further ado, let's take a closer look at Ghoulia, and see what Draculaura thinks of Ghoulia's interpretation of her style!
Her box is very similar to the larger Freaky Fusion boxes, like those of Avea and Sirena. It has the same jagged plastic front that looks really cool but makes it very difficult to photograph! There's not a lot of info on this box, but we are told that Ghoulia decided to dress as Draculaura to go along with the "fusion trend". I'm sure we'll see a lot more of that in the movie!
And onto the doll herself! I am very pleased that she came with a stand! These doll are "budget" dolls, and it's been a long time since budget dolls came with stands and brushes, so this was a great inclusion. The stands for this line are bright yellow, and that's fun too, since all the stands have been black for a few years now. I actually really like the pop of yellow from the stand against Ghoulia's outfit as well, it's fun!
Let's have a look at Ghoulia's accessories first. She comes with an umbrella which is the same mold as Draculaura's original umbrella, only in bright blue. She also, of course, comes with a pair of cat-eye glasses which bat wing detailing on the corners. I like that the glasses are packaged separately and not on Ghoulia's face, it makes it easier to see the paint on her eyes, and it also means she doesn't get dents in her face which can often happen. If I were an in-box collector it might bug me though, since she just doesn't look like Ghoulia without her glasses.
Ghoulia's makeup is pretty simple, but I think it's really striking. She has bright blue eyeshadow all around her eyes in a shade that matches her hair, and deep blue lips. I love this lip colour on her particularly, since most of Ghoulia's dolls have shades of red on their lips. Though the red goes well with her retro-inspired style, I like the change with the blue against her skin colour. Very cool!
She's also wearing a very cute batwing headband, which is attached with rubber bands but thankfully stays on just fine without them as well, which is not always the case. Actually, all of the dolls in this line are wearing some kind of headband, now that I think about it! Frankie and Scarah are wearing headbands with ears on them, and Operetta is wearing a headband with lightning bolts on it. I hadn't noticed that until right this moment, but I like when lines have something like that to tie them all together.
Her hair is Ghoulia's standard colour and texture, pulled into two low pigtails, a very Draculaura look. I do wish that maybe she'd gotten some different colours in her hair for this doll. Ghoulia's hair is just always blue, and with the exception of Roller Maze (and now Sweet Screams) shes never had any other colours introduced into it. Some black streaks would have be fun, seeing as I don't know how well pink would go with the rest of her colour scheme. For some reason, there is also a lot of gel in these pigtails and they're really crunchy. I don't know why that is, since long, straight hair doesn't usually need to be gelled into place, but here we are. It's nothing a quick brush or rinse won't fix up though!
Onto the outfit! I think this outfit is completely adorable! It's definitely Draclaura's style, but it has Ghoulia's flare to it. It's a really good blending, I think! The majority of the dress is a bright blue with a pattern of winged brains all over it. It has black puffy sleeves, and a gathered black underskirt.
There's a big red bow around her waist, and this piece is actually a separate overskirt! It attaches with velcro underneath the bow, giving the dress that wrapped look.
And it's kind of cute without the overskirt, even! I think if you added a belt to this, you'd totally have another outfit.
Her shoes are a recast of Draculaura's Picture Day shoes, in that same bright blue we're seeing throughout the outfit. They have little red skullette details on the sides.
And lastly, she has a bracelet! It's pretty simple, a red dripping heart cuff, but it's very cute, and goes well with both Draculaura and Ghoulia's styles.
Just some glamour shots...
Draculaura decided to snap some photos for the Gory Gazette to remember this whole Freaky Fusion thing.
What do you think of these Fusion-inspired ghouls? Even though I don't think I'll be bringing home any other Freaky Fusion dolls, at least not without a pretty good sale, it's definitely a striking line with a lot of interesting details happening, and I'm glad that these budget dolls weren't left out of the fun! Plus, I'm always happy when I get a new Ghoulia doll!
Ghoooulia! I got her about three weeks ago, I adore her! Draculaura is usually gets what I feel are the cutest outfits, and I agree her style does work very well on Ghoulia, especially in these colours. And that dark blue lipstick is so sooo goregous. The mouth hole practically vanishes in the dark colour, and it looks really good with the rest of her outfit.
ReplyDeleteMy only problem with her is that the way her bat-wing headband is tied to her head, is that I cannot get her glasses to sit nicely on her face because her ears are blocked by a wad of hair. Which is a real shame, as you said, since she really isn't Ghoulia without 'em! Thankfully her face is incredibly pretty with or without them.
I'm sorry to hear you'll be doing less reviews as time goes on; I loved all your detailed insights and nicely formatted blog. Still, I wish you all the best in your collecting future!
Yeah, her glasses really don't play well with her hair and headband! I'm thinking about redoing her pigtails and pulling them a bit tighter in hopes that might help, but right now I do have her glasses on pretty well. It just looks a bit weird from the side where they're shoved over her hair!
DeleteI still have some things I'll be reviewing, and I'll review as many dolls as I can, but it's hard to be an unemployed doll collector! I certainly don't want to stop or slow down, but we can't always control our circumstances, you know? At the very least, I know I'll be getting some dolls for Christmas, so I look forward that! Thanks for reading!
Thanks for the review, it eases my impatience, since I happen to know that my FF Ghoulia is stashed somewhere waiting for the perfect excuse for my husband to gift her for me ;) (Fingers crossed for Halloween, I think that would be the right time!)
ReplyDeleteI feel almost exactly the same way as you about FF line. I have Cleolei, I want to get Avea, and I'm considering Dracubecca and Sirena. There's one difference though; I have Neightan and I adore him! I got rid of most of his stock and left only his pants on, and wow. I hope you get to see him in person without his awful gear and see if you fall for him too ^_^
Halloween would definitely be the perfect time, I hope you get her then! She is very cute, and really detailed for a budget doll!
DeleteThe thing with Neighthan is that I think is sculpt is amazing, with all those exposed muscles and everything, but his hair and stock are...well, a lot of look. It's kind of over the top, and that's coming from me, a lover of all things flashy! I'm thinking that if I ever find him at a really good sale, or second hand or something, I'll strip him, give him new hair and paint his face to highlight the sculpted muscles and make him look a little...scarier. There is potential there, it's just all the primary colours are a LOT to take in!
Ooh, I'm sure he'd look amazing with all that exposed anatomy painted properly! I like his hair and tail but I guess it's my sense of humor they tickle.
DeleteIn general I really didn't find the FF theme very appealing because of all the bright, clashing colors. Cleolei is a lovely doll but I don't like her stock garments (particularly the yellow/teal) and it's hard to re-dress her as well; the shade of her skin easily looks "sunburnt". Lagoonafire I find hideous, just everything about her, and I'm tempted to get Clawvenus... to reroot and repaint her since I love her leaf ears :D But man, I really hate her hair and make-up.
I'm sure there are people who love FF for the exact reasons I don't like it. At least it's not yet another pink Draculaura, I suppose :D And it did give us this super cute Ghoulia!
I like the long hair, I just think the red/blue/yellow streaks are a bit odd. I'd like him better with just the blue maybe, or shades of blue even!
DeleteI normally LOVE bright colours, and in fact, a personal motto of mine is "the more colours the better" but I definitely agree about FF being a LOT. I think Cleolei and Dracubecca are the least objectionable, but in person, Clawvenus is just...ugh. I love the leaf ears, but the colour of her skin is awful. It looks like baby poop, to be honest. Lagoonafire gives me mixed feelings, because I can't decide if she's hideous or amazing haha
And I definitely agree! I'd rather see Monster High swing big like this and not really love the result than to see them make the same boring choices over and over again
I haven't seen Clawvenus in person since they haven't launched in Finland yet, but a friend of mine saw her abroad and used the exact same words when describing her skin to me. I saw a beautiful repaint of her that used the same green as is in her hair to accentuate the face and the body, and it looked great (in pics at least) so I'm dreaming that right color choices might make it less poopy :D
ReplyDelete(Bah. I meant to put that as a reply to the thread. )
DeleteI've seen some gorgeous repaints of her as well, so it's definitely possible! I think with highlights and shadows you could up the green-ness of her skin and downplay the brown and she could be gorgeous. I'd need to reroot her too...
DeleteHubby likes this Ghoulia but I wish they'd made the outfit red rather than blue. It looks like Frankie doing Draculaura to me. Ghoulia would have more red and black.
ReplyDeleteI think the blue is kind of a new colour they're working into Ghoulia's palette. Her GNO outfit had this same shade of blue throughout it, but before that there wasn't really a lot of blue, you're right!
DeleteAwesome blog and photos! I made a dress based in your photos, check it on: http://contosetrocados.blogspot.com.br/2014/10/ghoulia-inspired-dress.html
ReplyDeleteYour blog helped me a lot! Thank you very much!
Wow, you did an awesome job on that dress! I'm glad my photos could help you out!
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