Last November (holy cow, it was that long ago?) I blogged about Mattel’s Monster High line. I’m back with more Monster High info, starting with a review of Draculaura’s and Frankie’s bed playsets
Both of the bed playsets released so far double as room décor accessories. Frankie’s laboratory exam table bed swivels up to reveal a vanity mirror. Draculaura’s coffin bed hides a jewelry box in its lid. Both sets retail in the US for $19.99 USD.
As mentioned above, Frankie Stein’s bed is a lab table. One of the support posts has a compartment for Frankie’s pet Watzit. The other has a holder for a comb. The included blue comb is large enough for human use, adding to the double-duty design factor. The under surface of the bed is a mirror. The head of the bed has what look like two electric plasma balls, and a storage cabinet with hinged doors. The foot of the bed has a pull up flat-screen TV for Frankie, tuned to a sewing channel. The bed comes with a pillow and a blanket, each with elastic loops on the corners. The loops stretch around bolt pegs on the bed. This allows them to stay in place when the bed is tilted completely vertical, as it has to be if one wishes to use the mirror. Frankie can even be placed into the bed, and she will be held secure by the blanket when the bed is tilted. Aside from the bedclothes and comb, this set comes with a juice box for Frankie, her tiny diary and pen, a Frankie-sized stapler, and a needle and thread.
The Frankie bed set is a lukewarm success in my book. It’s somewhat lacking, especially compared to Draculaura’s coffin, which I’ll get to in a minute. There just isn’t as much to it as the Draculaura set. My bigger complaint is that to get the bed to lie horizontally, one has to employ finesse with regard to positioning the doll, or even how her hair is arranged. My daughter’s Dawn of the Dance Frankie can’t lie horizontally in the bed, because her ponytail weighs that end down. You have to push the bed almost vertical before she’ll balance (as shown in the photo). My standard Frankie can lie horizontally, but if you breath too hard, the bed will tip. It’s silly in my opinion that they didn’t use any kind of ratchet, even just a simple catch, or a stop, which would let the bed locked into position. A member of my Livejournal MH community reported resorting to a rubber band to hold the bed still. I’ve now done the same thing, but with a ponytail holder wrapped around the crank handle. Don’t get me wrong, this is still a very cute set. I just think it could easily have been better.
Draculaura’s bed is, of course, a coffin. Adorned in Draculaura’s signature hot pink and black, the top of the coffin is held up by four telescoping legs. A fabric curtain hangs down, as well as a pink “chandelier”, a fold-down flat-screen TV, and a slot for Count Fabulous the bat, which enables him to hang upside down. There is also a bow-shaped pillow, a blanket, and a collapsible tea tray. The top of the coffin lid opens to reveal a segmented jewelry box for the doll’s owner. The set comes with a human-sized (though still too small for me) plastic ring. Other included accessories are Draculaura’s doll-sized diary and pen, her heart-shaped cup and saucer, and a matching decanter. There is also a place inside the coffin to hang the closed parasol which comes with the standard Draculaura. With the accessories and small parts arranged inside, the whole coffin can be pressed shut, making it easy to carry from place to place without a fear of losing bits and bobs.
We have two Draculaura coffins in our house, one for myself and one for my daughter. A small irritation is that the tray table on my coffin will not lie flat. It looks like the post supporting it is positioned a little too far down inside the coffin. On my daughter’s, the post is a few millimeters taller, and the tray sits as it should. I think some filing could fix mine, but I haven’t gotten to that as of yet.
Little things like that are my only real complaint with the MH toys. The quality control from one item to another isn’t always great. I’ve lost count of threads from other MH fans, talking about going through every doll on the store shelves to find one with a perfect paint job, no visible cracks, and no extra plastic flashing on the fingers. That’s a shame, because this is a terrifically fun line, and the designs are gorgeous. The attention to detail on both of these beds (but particularly Draculaura’s) is wonderful. It’s the practical end of things where they seem to lose it a little. Even so, if you’re a MH fan, they remain must-haves.
Confirmed coming soon:
The remainder of this year will see some very cool new MH toys.
Among other things: A new set which has already made it to some collectors’ homes is the Draculaura and Clawd Wolf gift set. The back of the box for this set shows photos of two new characters: Abbey Bominable (daughter of the Abominable Snowman) and Spectra Vondergeist (a ghost’s daughter). Also confirmed is a new version of Ghoulia, which will be a limited edition doll for this year’s San Diego Comic Con (last year’s was the black and white Frankie). Also upcoming are new Dawn of the Dance dolls, new plushies, and a new assortment of dolls wearing outfits for their favorite classes. There will also be two new playsets: Clawdeen’s bed, and Lagoon’s long awaited “hydration station”! Still no word on Operetta, even though she was mentioned by name in Holt’s diary. Curiously, there also seem to be no immediate plans for Toralei, the orange cat-girl featured in several of the recent MH webisodes. Time will tell!
