'Haunted' River Styxx

Way back at Christmas, I was given Vandala Dubloons as a gift, and then the Haunted dolls kind of disappeared from my area until very recently. Their return happened to coincide with a 50% off sale at Toys R Us, and so I grabbed myself a River Styxx! Of course, she wasn't the only doll I got with such a good sale, but she was the only Haunted doll I picked up.

Speaking of Haunted, I bought the movie on Tuesday, and I really enjoyed it! Now that I've seen it, I need to pick up Kiyomi and possibly Porter as well...and maybe Getting Ghostly Twyla and Rochelle...sigh. Monster High knows how to hook me, I always want all the dolls after I see the movies. What did you guys think, if you're seen it?

But this post is all about River Styxx, the adorably spooky daughter of the Grim Reaper, so let's get to it!

Original Ghouls Cleo DeNile

I still remember, wayyyy back in 2010, wandering through the toy department at my local Wal-Mart while doing groceries, and seeing an end cap full of dolls that stopped me in my tracks. I'm a lover of horror movies, especially classic horror movies, a lover of dolls AND a lover of collecting things in general, and from that first moment I saw Monster High dolls, I was a goner! That day I came home with Draculaura, and soon after, Frankie and Lagoona followed, as did Ghoulia, as soon as she hit shelves. At the time, I didn't pick up Clawdeen, though I got her a few years ago second hand, but until recently, I'd never bothered to get myself a Cleo. Interestingly, despite my love of Ancient Egypt, Cleo was never a doll that grabbed my attention. She's not as "monstrous" as some of the other ghouls, and I think the fact that she originally came in a two-pack hurt her chances of joining my collection. Now I don't blink at buying a two-pack, and I love the boy dolls, but back then, that was more commitment then I was prepared to make!

That's a very long story to get to here...I recently purchased the re-released basic Cleo, and I am very glad to have her join my collection! I've been feeling the gap left by her lately, as I've really grown to love her character. I saw her numerous times in stores before I finally decided to take the plunge and grab her, and she is definitely worth it.

Let's have a closer look at the queen bee of Monster High, shall we?

Love in Scaris Rochelle Goyle and Garrott du Roque

I am basically powerless to resist a good deal (something you'll know if you watched my latest toy hunt!), and that's how I ended up with this set. I went to Toys R Us intending to buy River Styxx, but then I saw the sale sign. Monster High dolls $39.99 and over were 30% off, and they had just gotten in the Ghoulebrities in Londoom three pack AND the Love in the Scaris two pack. With the sale, the two pack was less than $2 more than River by herself...so my plans changed, and Garrott and Rochelle came home with me! Hopefully they'll do another similar sale, because I do want the three pack too...but that can wait for another day!

Today, I've got this gorgeous two pack to review, and I am very excited! I've been wanting this two pack since we saw it way back at SDCC, because the Rochelle is beautiful, and Garrott is a brand new character, which is always fun! I know he's been a highly requested character since Scaris came out a few years back, and I was eager to see if they'd do him justice. I also love the idea of these couple two packs, and I hope they keep doing them! I loved the set with Frankie and Jackson, then this one, and we know there's a Gil and Lagoona set coming up as well as a rumoured Ghoulia and Slo Mo set (!!!)...I'm a sucker for this kind of thing, so keep it coming, Monster High!

But this review is all about Rochelle and Garrott and their Scarisian love affair, so let's get to it!

Freaky Field Trip Gigi Grant and Toralei Stripe

A few weeks ago, my husband and I went to Target during their liquidation sales, and I was very pleasantly surprised to see the new Freaky Field Trip line on the shelves! I'd been looking forward to getting the Gigi from this line, so I picked her up for myself, and my husband really loved Toralei, so he grabbed her for me as a Valentine's gift. I love when he gravitates towards a doll, and those ones always join my collection! There is a third doll in this collection, Clawdeen Wolf, but I passed on her for now. She may come home with me eventually, but she didn't grab me nearly as much as these two!

This line is a great example to me of Monster High doing a budget line RIGHT. The details are creative and on-theme from top to bottom, and we even get a bunch of new accessories! I know not every budget line can have as much going on as these dolls do, and that simplified lines definitely have their place, but I appreciate this line so much for reasons that you'll see as we get into this review! As always, you can check out my video review of these two, linked in the sidebar of this blog!

Everybody have your permission slips signed? Then let's head out on our Freaky Field Trip!

Christina Revamps! A new series, starting with Christie!

So, I've decided to try something new over on my YouTube channel! From time to time, I pick up dolls at the thrift store and fix them up, and I decided to try filming a bit of the process and seeinf it was something people might be interested in. My first go was a Christie I found at Value Village for $2.99, who wasn't in bad shape, but definitely needed some love.



Let me know what you think!

Ever After High's Ginger Breadhouse (and some general Ever After High thoughts!)

I've been having a lot of mixed feelings regarding Ever After High lately. Actually, not even really lately! I've never been as in love with the line as I am with Monster High, but that feeling is only growing lately. I've been somewhere between unmoved and disappointed with a lot of Ever After High's new and upcoming releases, between the uninspired character choices, and the stripped down details of characters I had been looking forward to. Add to that the fact that is has been very difficult (to impossible in some cases) to find the new characters in Canada when they are released...and I'm beginning to think that my interest in this franchise has waned enough that I might be done.

That said, there was one doll that when she was revealed, I knew I was going to have to have her, and I knew I didn't want to wait! As soon as Ginger Breadhouse here was available on Amazon and able to be shipped to Canada, I pounced and grabbed one, since who knows when she'll be found on shelves up here. She arrived quickly, and and I couldn't wait to get her out of the box to see if she was as adorable as I'd hoped!

So let's get to it, shall we?

Monster Exchange Draculaura

This review is very overdue! I actually took the photos over a month ago, and I totally thought I HAD posted this review, but...clearly I had not! Even though this doll isn't super new anymore, I still think it's worth posting, because she is just so cool!

And the "she" to which I am referring is Monster Exchange Draculaura! I picked her up just before Christmas (which is why her boxed photo is still taken under my tree...) when Toys R Us was having a sale on these and the Haunted dolls. Just this past week the Exchange dolls have shown up outside of TRU for the first time, so I'm hoping the Haunted dolls follow suit, since we've neither hide nor hair of them since before the holidays!

I already review Lorna McNessie and Marisol Coxi from this same line, so I'm sure you're familiar with the concept of this line, and I have to say, I really love it. Not only does it bring us new characters from new places in the monster world, it gives us the chance to see beloved characters like Draculaura here imagined in new ways, through the lens of a different culture. I love this Draculaura a lot, for reasons we'll get into, and I really love the Lagoona too, and want to get my hands on her too.

Without further ado, let's take a closer look at Draculaura, dressed for her trip to Shibooya!