From a galaxy far, far away...Astranova!

Long time, no real review! I've been working a lot, so I'm getting kind of backed up on my reviews...I have photos taken for at least four other dolls that I haven't had time to sit down and review yet! So of course, I'm choosing to review the newest thing in my collection purchased only a week ago...Makes sense, right? The others will still be there!

Anyways, that newest thing is Astranova and her Floatation Station from Boo York, Boo York! This is something that was pretty far down on my list of things to purchase, mainly because of the price. I thought Astranova herself looked pretty amazing, but up here in Canada her set costs nearly $70, which is kind of bonkers, and way too rich for my blood. Now, I could've waited a year and get it half price if I really wanted to (and maybe I should, because by then the desire would probably have died down and moved on to something else!) however, thanks to some stacking of sales and coupons, I was able to get her for a really good deal at Wal-Mart! The other reason I decided to take the plunge and pick her up now rather than waiting, is that a variant of Astranova has emerged, and seems to be replacing the first one to hit the shelves. I greatly prefer the original indigo coloured one that is featured in this post, but already, out of 8 Astranova's at the store, she was the only one. The others were the new lavender Astranova, which is definitely still cool, but I prefer the darker skin colour for a lot of reasons. It's totally a personal preference, but I'm glad I was able to get the original one while she's still around!

But enough chatter, let's just get into it and check out Astranova and her Floatation Station!

Her box is, of course, GIANT, as most playset boxes are. It has a big picture of the floatation station, and some info on what it does, as well as a window so you can see Astranova herself.

The back tells us even more about the floatation station, and has a TON of text on it, about Astranova, the movie and the playset.

I'm going to look at the playset first, because it's pretty simple, physically anyways. It comes out of the box in four pieces: the large white base, the entire vertical back piece and the two small decorative side pieces. It just snaps together, easy peasy, hardly need the instructions! Remember to get four AA batteries to put in the back of the black piece, and have your tiny screwdriver ready!

You can also see the purple guitar that she comes with, tucked into it's little slot on the base. It's a cool accessory on its own, but it's also essential to the floating process, so I like that it has a spot to keep it from getting lost.

She does come with a diary, which tells us a little about how she ended up in her ship heading straight towards Boo York.

And a bit about her likes and dislikes.

And now, onto the star (or should I say comet?) herself! Firstly, I'm not actually sure if I new that Astranova was on the little sister body before I bought her, because I felt pretty surprised when I took her out of the box! It's definitely a good surprise though, because I happen to love the little sister body. Astranova is the daughter of the comet aliens, and she definitely looks alien! She has a long face, an oddly shaped head, and interesting limbs with a completely unique body mold. Basically, there's a lot going on here that's new and exciting, and we have a lot to look at!

Let's start with her beautiful face! I just think she's really lovely. Her eyes are absolutely huge, and her pupils are filled with stars. There are also stars around her eyes, and this is the biggest reason why I prefer the darker Astranova. I think the stars stand out so much more and make her face look like the night sky, which is perfect! She has blue shadow around her eyes with three wings on the sides, and shimmery lips. Her lips look like she has a soft smile, and I think she just looks really sweet. There's also glitter embedded in her skin, giving her a subtle shimmer.

Her blue helmet is part of her head, and it's what holds the magnet. It also has shiny silver pieces over where her ears would be with large comet shards sticking out of the back, and a small microphone curving around her cheek on one side.

Because of her helmet, her hair is only rooted around the back of her head. It's a really pretty mix of blues and purples with silver tinsel. It's pin straight, and is the same type of hair that you'd find on Spectra or Venus.

Her outfit is a simple dress, jazzed up with flashy accessories. I actually like this concept a lot, because it makes it really mix and match. She can wear the fairly simple dress on its own, or with any combo of the accessories, and I think it would go well with a lot of other Monster High accessories too. Of course, some of the options are limited because Astranova is on the little sister body, but I still think it's really versatile. Let's have a closer look!

Firstly, her shoes. They look like they're made of shards of crystals, and have heels that remind me of ray guns from classic sci fi movies. The shoes are really rubbery, especially the heels, so they have a tendency to slip off her legs, and she's not very sturdy on her feet. It doesn't make a huge difference to me, since she'll be floating most of the time, but still, worth noting!

On her arms, she's wearing large cuffs that are so shiny, they made my camera freak out! The bit on her hand is shaped like a star, and the rest is broken shards, representing the comet's tail.

Over her dress, she wear this purple piece that matches her shoes. It goes around her neck like a collar, down her torso and then around her waist like a belt.

Underneath it her dress is a simple halter style with a black ribbon around her neck and an asymmetric hem. The dress is a very light blue with silver holographic stripes all over it, as well as purple constellations.

On the back is a sort of cape resembling a comet tail, made of two layers of tulle. I love how this looks when she's floating! She kind of gently spins in the air, and this tail trails behind her in a really lovely way.

Underneath the dress, Astranova has a totally unique body mold! She's faceted all over like a crystal.

And ever her feet have a different shape, with less definition and pointier toes than other dolls.

Neat, right?

Her hands are also different! She has three long, thin fingers in addition to her thumb, and they're very bendy. Alien fingers!

And that's Astranova! With the help of a rubber band or two, she can even play her guitar! I don't think she'd be able to hold it while floating though, because you need to use it to make the trick work. Still, it's a neat piece, matching the crystal shard theme of all her accessories.

So, about that floating...let's have a look at how it works, shall we?

First things first, let's switch this baby on (towards the I)!

Holding the doll in one hand and the guitar in the other, slide the guitar between Astranova's head and the comet. Then let go of Astranova, and slowly slide the guitar out from between her and the comet.

And voila! It's hard to take photos of this because it does need two hands, so if you want to see it in action (and see me struggle with it!) I did post a video review as well! You can also see how the lights flash in the video, which is hard to show in pictures.

A video posted by Christina (@christinaarticulates) on Oct 15, 2015 at 8:18am PDT

I also posted this little video on Instagram to show how her lights flash to music that is playing near the microphone. I wish the station played her distress signal from the movie actually, I really liked it, weirdly enough. But this is fun too!

Honestly, this is pretty darn cool. I love these fun, science-y playsets like Frankie's Recharge Chamber. They're fun ways to display your dolls, but they also open up space to talk about how static electricity or magnets work. Astranova will float for about 5 minutes before the station turns itself off, at which point she rises up to meet the magnet (or crashes to the ground...seems about 50/50 on that!)

But I think she still looks pretty darn cool stuck to the magnet, so it still works as a great way to display her, in my opinion!

What do you think of Astranova and her floatation station? I'm definitely glad I picked her up, but I'm also glad I got her for a good deal.  Will Astranova be crashing into your collection?