There are a lot of exciting new dolls coming out from Monster High, and one of the lines that I was most excited for was Monster Exchange. If you remember the posts I made during San Diego Comic Con, you'll remember how excited I was for the reveal of Lorna McNessie! As soon as we heard Lorna's trademark, long before we saw the doll, I was already excited and had a really clear image of how I thought she should look, and it turns out, my imagination was right on! I wasn't initially as excited about Marisol based on those early promo photos, but once she came out in stores and people started posting their own photos, I was definitely won over.
As soon as I heard that the Monster Exchange dolls had been spotted at the local Toys R Us, I went right there the next day, armed with a $15 coupon. They had this lone, including the Lagoona and Draculaura, and also the new Haunted line (minus Porter), and let me tell you, it was a hard decision picking just two to come home with me! But since I knew I definitely wanted Lorna, I figured it just made sense to get Marisol too, and have a look at these two very different dolls together!
So without further ado, let's get into it!
The first thing we have to talk about is this new packaging. How awesome is this? I love the giant artwork on the back of it, and I like the front as well. It has a unique shape, and there's a lot of detail happening. Also, it was really easy to get the doll out of the box without ruining the packaging, which, even though I don't keep my doll boxed or even usually keep the box, is still something I appreciate. The stand and brush are tucked in behind the backdrop in this new packaging, so just a heads up on that! Make sure you're not throwing anything important away!
I also reviewed these two together in a video, so check that out, if it's something you're into!
And finally, Lorna out of her box! She is just too cute for words, isn't she? I love how her red hair plays off of her aqua skin, and she just has such a sweet face! She comes with a tiny passport (which is really just a piece of cardboard), as well as a passport for us to read, and a purse. The larger passport functions as her diary, and has a bio in it which is adorable. She loves photobombing because her parents are so camera shy, and her favourite food is haggis, because it's made for monsters. Love her! Oh, and in case you didn't know, she is the daughter of the Loch Ness monster!
Her purse is pretty big, and more like something between a purse and luggage, which makes sense for this line. It's definitely styled after a sporran, a pouch worn with traditional Scottish dress. It's bright red with Celtic knotwork on the front, as well as an emblem that is reminiscent of a sea monster, though I'm not exactly sure what I'm seeing. It opens, and is quite roomy inside! Certainly big enough to store her tiny passport inside.
From top to bottom, I don't think there's one thing I don't like about Lorna. I love her red hair, her cute face, her outfit...She's perfect! She's also on the smaller body, which I happen to really like, so even that's exciting!
She has a really sweet face with big teal eyes and pink soft pink lips. I like the shades of grey they used for her eye makeup as well. It's a different choice, but one that looks good with her skin tone and outfit I think. On her head, she's wearing the cutest little hat which is definitely inspired by Scottish tams. It's plastic tied into her head, and normally that annoys me and I'd cut the ties immediately, but there is not way this hat is going to stay on her head without them, so there they shall stay!
Her hair is really interesting as well. The top part is a very natural looking shade of red, pulled up into a curly pony.
The rest of her hair is this kind of amazing Creamsicle orange colour. Seriously, with the curls, it kind of looks like magic somehow. It's soft and lovely, and the color is just dreamy. I've never seen a doll with hair anything like this colour, and I love it!
She's only wearing one earring, a black mass of swirling vines and Celtic knot detailing curving up around her ear.
Outfit-wise, she's wearing a top, skirt, and a large black belt. The top is bright red with frilly sleeves and a black net neckline. The pattern is reminiscent of argyle made up of crosses and dashes. The skirt has kind of a window pane pattern featuring waves and sea monsters,with a ruffle of fabric on one hip.
Her belt is pretty huge, with straps that wrap over one shoulder. It reminds me of a sash, but in an edgier more "fashion-y" way.
Her shoes are black booties with a lot of lacing, and soles that resemble stone walls.
And a shot from the back, mainly to get a look at her tail. It has fins all the way down it, and a large fin on the end. She also has arm and leg fins much like Lagoona, though Lorna's are shaped differently and remind me more of the spines on the back of a stegosaurus.
Underneath her clothes, it's clear that there are definitely some differences in Lorna's body! In addition to the scales on her arms and legs, there is Celtic knotwork all over her belly and chest. I think this is just such a neat detail to include, even though it's hidden.
Another thing about her body that is different but isn't immediately noticeable, is her neck. Front-on, you can't see too much of a difference between her and Howleen...
Without further ado however, let's get on to Marisol Coxi!
Marisol is the daughter of the South American Bigfoot, and according to her webisode debut, she is "all about big hair, big shoes and big attitude!" Sounds like a girl after my own heart, honestly.
I wanted to share a quick shot of these two dolls boxes together from the side. I really like how this looks, and I might keep the boxes so I can put them like this on my shelves. It's very eye-catching!
Marisol herself is pretty eye-catching too, isn't she? So many bright colours, I love it! She comes with the same accessories as Lorna: tiny passport, passport journal, and big purse.
Marisol's purse is bright green with big foot prints on either side. Very appropriate, I think!
And matching her bag, is her little green hat. I'm admittedly not wild about this hat. Once I removed the intense amount of plastic holding it onto her head, it doesn't stay on that well (which is my fault!), but even if it didn't slip off, I'm not really into the look of it so much. I'd rather Marisol have big crazy hair than this hat, I think,
Without her hat, her hair is pretty messy. For some reason, even after brushing her hair, it just wants to be a bit messy. I've since washed it and it's behaving better though! Her hair is a super interesting colour, and like Lorna's, is a colour that I haven't really seen in a doll before. It's sort of a raspberry colour underneath with a brighter pink on top, and they blend together into a really neat colour. She also has two twists of lime green hair at her temples, with dangling orange tassels at the end. Overall, it's a really gorgeous look!
Her face is really unique as well, both the mold and the way it's painted. She has a more mature look than some of the other dolls, and I think it's interesting that her face looks kind of serene when the character seems to be anything but! Her skin is a really interesting colour as well, kind of a blend of purple, grey and brown, and her bright green and pink eye shadow stands out really brightly against it. She has a sweet smile, and her lipstick is painted in a mauve-y pink colour that actually kind of matches her hair. My favourite thing about her face though, is her big eyebrows! I love how thick they made them, as someone with eyebrows that tend to be a bit bushy, I definitely appreciate that!
The most interesting part of the outfit to me is the sweater! It's orange with blue stripes, and a pattern of big lime green feet. I just think this is so cute, and I would totally wear it myself!
Like with Lorna, Marisol has a lot of changes to her body mold to make her more unique. The first thing is her hands and forearms. Her hands are even bigger than Abbey's, and both her forearms and hands have hair molded onto them. This is kind of amazing, honestly! She's hairy, and not only is she gorgeous, she totally owns it. Love her!
And of course, you can't talk about the daughter of Bigfoot without talking about her feet, right? Let's start with these phenomenal shoes! They're certainly not something that you'd ever miss with the hot pink colour and the lime green tassels! And I really like the design of them; I think Marisol's "Monster Picchu" heritage really shines through in the cutouts on the sides. I think my favourite thing is how her toes hang over the edge just a little, like they just simply don't make shoes big enough for her feet!
Once you get the shoes off, you'll find that her ankles are hairy too! Seriously, I love this.
Now...just how big are Bigfoot's daughter's feet, you may be wondering? Well, to figure that out, I enlisted some help from Clawdia Wolf.
You can see that Marisol is actually just a little big taller than Clawdia, thanks to bigger feet and longer lower legs.
Much, MUCH bigger feet!
Clawdia's foot is totally dwarfed by Marisol's giant shoe! This does mean that Marisol can't share shoes with any other Monster High dolls, but I'm okay with that sacrifice in this situation, honestly. I want the daughter of Bigfoot to have BIG FEET and I'm glad that Mattel just went all the way there with this one!
And so that's Marisol! She's giant and she's gorgeous, and I'm really glad I decided to pick her up!
...Hey, Lorna, you had you turn! Let Marisol have a turn in front of the camera.
See? Totally a supermodel, right? She really knows how to work a camera!
Aaaaaand so does Lorna, photobomber extraordinaire!
They share the camera pretty well, I think! Both of these dolls are really amazing, and they both feel like really unique, interesting additions to the Monster High line. I'm constantly surprised that Mattel can keep coming up with dolls that feel different when the Monster High family is so huge and diverse already, but I hope they keep it up! With these dolls and the new characters in the Haunted line, I have a really good feeling about the future of Monster High, and I can't wait to see what's coming up in the future!
So, what do you think of Lorna McNessie and Marisol Coxi? Will these exchange students be finding their way to your collection? Let me know in the comments!
I didn't realize Lorna had a Celtic knot theme as well. I can't decide whether it's awesome or too much to have that *and* scales on the body, but I love her earring. Looks like something out of the Lindisfarne gospel!
ReplyDeleteAlso I love that Marisol has claws on her feet. (Maybe Clawdia does too? I don't have her.)
I can definitely see how it might be too much, but...let's be honest, my dolls are rarely sitting around naked :P Her earring really is lovely, and you're totally right about that! There are a lot of medieval inspirations in Lorna's look, so it makes sense that they would have looked at illuminated manuscripts!
DeleteClawdia doesn't have claws on her feet, just Marisol! Pretty much every part of Marisol's body is a mew mold except her torso, which she shares with Nefera, Bloodgood and Clawdia.