Tag: Toy Reviews

Monster High’s Sirena Von Boo

Posted on by tyrant

Sirena Von Boo is from the Monster High movie Freaky Fusion. I like this character a lot. She’s a “Hybrid” which is a cross between two different kinds of Monsters. She’s a Mermaid-Ghost, which is a pretty interesting match up from her parents if you think about it. Anyway, the “Hybrids” are new to Monster High and feel like outcasts. Then some of the Monster High ghouls get fused together and the “Hybrids” help them take control of their new bodies. Sirena is a lot of fun because she’s a little flighty and has a very short attention span.

The Freaky Fusion “Hybrid” female dolls are some of my favorites out of all of the Monster High dolls. The boy (Neighthan Rot) isn’t very great, but the females. None of them need a stand to stand up, they’re very high quality and have great looks.

Pros: Stands up by herself! Gorgeous doll, very original looks, and a fun character from the movie.

Cons: To be honest, can’t really think of any.

Would I buy again? Absolutely. I love this doll!

Check her out:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MeNtNau-kKs

Shopkins Season 1

Posted on by tyrant

So, Shopkins are a toy that I swore I would never buy. They come in groups of 2-12 (that I’ve found so far) and are teeny tiny little toys of common household items and food with faces on them. I swore they’d never be in my house! They are also collectible which sounds like a nightmare to me, especially at the rate my kids lose things! Well, my kids begged and I have to admit, they are adorable!!!

Season 1 comes with up to 148 different Shopkins to collect. They come in 5 different categories – Common, Rare, Ultra Rare, Special Edition and Limited Edition. This is where the whole collectible thing comes in. It’s addicting. We’ve gotten two different 12 packs so far and I’m just as hooked as they are! You can sort them by the sections they come in – Frozen, Pantry, Sweet Treats, Dairy, Party Food, Health & Beauty, Fruit & Veg and Bakery. They sometimes come with baskets and bags to play with as well.

Pros: Absolutely adorable little toys! Affordable (I believe I got 12 Shopkins for $12.99) and make very good rewards for kids!

Cons: They are very small, easily lost and highly ADDICTIVE!

Would I buy them again? Absolutely. They are so much fun and so cute. The mystery Shopkins are a lot of fun too.

Here’s a video of my oldest and I trying to figure out what Shopkins are all about. We were very confused. She and I were both immediately hooked though and she’s 13! We’re having as much fun with them as the little ones!

Monster High’s Ghostly Twyla from Haunted

Posted on by tyrant

Twyla is the daughter of the Boogeyman in Monster High world. She appears in the new Monster High Movie, Haunted. As of this post, the movie is not out yet, but I have pre-ordered it and it should arrive on 3/24/15. This Twyla doll is called “Ghostly Twyla” because in Haunted, the Monster High ghouls go to Ghost World.

This Twyla doll is really cute. All of the Haunted dolls come with a very pretty Blue Hair Brush and Blue Stand. They all have chains on them (to keep them from floating away???) and very cute outfits.

Pros: Very cute doll, cute outfit, cute everything.

Cons: Overpriced, like most Monster High Dolls, does not come with a diary.

Would I buy again? I’m not sure yet. I’ll have to update after the movie comes out and see how big of a role Twyla plays in the movie. I’m thinking no right now though, because she’s not one of the kids’ favorites and it’s just another marketing ploy.

Hot Wheels Mystery Models

Posted on by tyrant

I’ve mentioned before that one of our favorite types of toys are “Blind Bags.” Blind Bags are just different types of toys, in a slightly smaller version (usually) that you can collect and try to find them all. The “Blind” part is that you can’t see what you’re getting until you open the bag. They are a ton of fun. Most kids love the surprise. I was at the store and I happened to see Hot Wheels blind bags for sale. I was so excited! My girls have so many toy cars, it’s a little ridiculous. I like to encourage them to not only play with “girly” things. So, that’s why I had to pick these up. They come with a full size Hot Wheel and a very large sticker of the car in the bag. Here’s the problem – on the outside of the bag, you can tell which car you’re getting. LAME!!!

Pros – The cars are pretty cool and the stickers are huge. You can avoid getting duplicate cars.

Cons – Complete false advertising! There is no Mystery whatsoever. That’s the fun of blind bags, being surprised with what you get.

Would I buy again? I don’t think so. Blind bags are fun for the surprise.

Here’s a video where I figured out the supposed “mystery” pretty quickly:

 

Student Disembody Council

Posted on by tyrant

This is not one of my favorite Monster High purchases at all. I believe it was specially made for Target, but I bought it from Amazon. It comes with 5 characters: Scarah Screams (Secretary), Slo-Mo (President), Lagoona Blue (Vice President), Gilda Goldstag (Treasurer) and Cleo de Nile (Social Chair). I mostly purchased this set because my daughters love Slo-Mo and he’s really hard to find and my youngest saw Scarah Screams in the Monster High movie 13 Wishes and had been asking for her.

Pros: The set comes with 5 dolls and 3 of them are pretty hard to find sold by themselves.

Cons: This is going to be a long one: none of the dolls come with stands, brushes or diaries. The brushes I don’t mind (we have a ton of them!), but the stands are really nice to have. Sometimes my daughters just like to display their dolls and these all have to sit down when they make a “Set-Up.” Cleo and Gilda have really gross hair. It’s very stiff. My middle daughter calls it “Syrup Hair.” Lagoona’s hair is like that on one side, but is mostly soft. I don’t know why they have been doing that with shorter hair dolls, but I don’t like it all. Gilda’s hand fell off when I tried to get her out of the box and was difficult to get on. All of the dolls were pretty stiff, except for Slo-Mo who had a crazy wobbly head, which I didn’t like. Lastly, the set comes with 5 dolls, but only 4 cheering accessories. I didn’t get that either.

Would I buy again? NO. Even though I got dolls my daughters wanted with this set, it wasn’t worth the poor quality or the cost. These dolls are rarely played with by my daughters and I think it’s because of the hair and the poor quality.

If you’d like to see what I mean by “Syrup Hair” and the Slo-Mo’s wobbly head, check out this video:

Frights, Camera, Action! Operetta Doll

Posted on by tyrant

Operetta is one of my favorite Monster High characters. She’s the daughter of the Phantom of the Opera and spends most of her time in the Catacombs. She’s got a Rockabilly kind of look which is pretty fun. She is a very strong character and not as boy crazy as some of the other ghouls. Basically, this is just the basic Operetta doll in fancier clothes for the Premier Party.

She comes with a stand, a hairbrush, a very cute purse, a camera and a VIM (Very Important Monster) Necklace.

Pros: Operetta looks great, cute outfit and adorable shoes. This is a well put together doll. If your child loves Monster High, he/she will have no complaints over this one.

Cons: Monster High dolls can be expensive and this is just the same doll as the normal Operetta, in a fancy outfit. Her makeup and hair are slightly different, but it’s really just a marketing ploy to get kids to want different versions of the same characters, instead of selling different outfits. I get it, but it can be a bit annoying. Packaging, as always, is annoying, although this was not as bad as some of the other dolls.

Would I buy again? Yes, but only because my girls are obsessed with Monster High. If they weren’t as heavily invested in the characters, I would save my money and buy a different character instead of the same character in different clothing.

Monster High’s Elissabat Doll

Posted on by tyrant

Elissabat is the star of many famous Vampire “Boovies.” Draculaura is not her biggest fan because she says the boovies are not accurate as to what goes on in the real Vampire Court. This all goes down in the Monster High Movie Frights, Camera, Action! We have the movie and the chapter book (I recommend them both).

Elissabat the doll is very pretty. She is a high quality doll compared to some of the other Monster High Dolls I’ve opened. You can keep the backdrop that comes in the box for a setting for her. Her outfit is very cute and a little retro. She comes with a stand, a hairbrush, a “Boovie” Award and some sort of DVD/CD case with Lord Stoker on it.

Pros: A great doll, she looks very accurate to the movie, great outfit.

Cons: Monster High dolls can be a bit expensive and she is not an exception. Also, the packaging can be quite obnoxious as you can see in the video.

Would I buy her again?  Absolutely.