"We Are Monster High" Five Pack--A Guest Review!

I am happy to share a guest review with you today, and am especially delighted to welcome back a previous guest, Toy Town, for another fun Monster High review.  Toy Town reviewed the Power Ghouls Cat Tastrophe doll for you last November, and is here today to look at the large "We Are Monster High" set.  This tempting multi-pack has five dolls, including a new character, Gilda Goldstag, and one of the elusive Monster High males, Sloman Mortavich--also known as "Slo Mo."  Please tell us more about this intriguing set, Toy Town!

Hello everyone, Toy Town here! Today, we will be looking at the new We Are Monster High 5 pack! I know a lot of you are wondering if it’s a must-have or not, so I’ll share my personal opinions about this pack and hopefully it will help you decide.

We Are Monster High set, $56.99.

Many of us were very frustrated when Ghoul Spirit Slo Mo came out.  Searching for him was like looking for the lost city of Atlantis! He was very hard to find.  However, when I heard of this new “We Are Monster High" 5 Pack, with Slo Mo and a new character, my first thought was “I don’t want this. I need this!” I waited for a couple of months until it was finally available for pre-order at Target.com. My sister bought it for me as an early Christmas/birthday gift and it cost just under $60 with free shipping (the price works out to about $11.40 per doll).

Now, let’s get on to the review. Drum roll, please! Presenting the Student Disembody Council:

The front is a window box revealing the five dolls in the pack: Sloman “Slo Mo” Mortavitch as the President, Lagoona Blue as the Vice President, Cleo De Nile as the Social Chair, Gilda Goldstag as the Treasurer, and Scarah Screams as the Secretary.

I was expecting that Ghoulia would be the Vice President. Hmm, I guess she’d rather be Slo Mo’s first lady....

The back of the box just shows a bigger illustration of the Student Disembody Council and their positions:

I love the handle on this box, it makes life so much easier.

 

As I was opening the box, I noticed that there’s a little instruction illustration on the side tab. It basically shows the dolls' removable parts:

The backdrop of the box appears to be an abandoned stage. It’s made out of cardboard so it can definitely be reused for playtime.

I also love how the podium creates a pop-up effect (the ghouls can even fit behind it!):

One thing I noticed is that Slo Mo’s left arm is popping out of its peg. I hope it’s not going to be a major problem in the future:

Disembodied, indeed!

The Accessories:

This set only came with a pair of plastic flags and a pair of plastic foam hands. No stands included. (Hmph! Not fair!).

The "foam" hands are actually plastic, and have a little handle at the back so the dolls can slide their hands in to grip them:

The Dolls:

And now on to the dolls!

Let’s begin with Scarah Screams the Secretary (anyone else notice the alliteration?). Scarah has the simplest style out of the bunch.

For her makeup, she’s only wearing pink eye shadow and green lipstick. It’s beautifully done and the simplicity of her makeup balances her strong facial features.

Scarah’s black hair is tied up in a high ponytail. I also noticed that she has pointy ears, but they’re not pierced.

The only difference I noticed between Scarah’s doll version and her illustration is the length of the hair. Scarah’s illustration has longer hair that goes down to her back, while the doll’s hair only goes down to her neck.

For her accessory, Scarah is wearing a plain white belt. It's very simple with no painted details.

Scarah’s shoes are a pair of light pink high heels with ankle straps. They match the eye makeup, but again--they're very simple.

I really love Scarah’s dress, it’s my favorite out of all the outfits that came with this set. It’s a green 60s mod dress with a screaming face print.

The back of her dress is secured by a Velcro strip.

Overall, I really love Scarah’s vintage fashion. It’s a perfect combination of the 60s and the modern time. I also adore the idea of the “screaming women” print; it’s so perfect for the banshee theme. However, I wish they added more details to her accessories. The shoes and the belt are too plain.

Next on our review list is Ms. Social Chair, Cleo De Nile:

Cleo is wearing an aqua blue eye shadow and an eye liner around her eyes and above her upper eyelids. Her irises are gray-green in color with a green and yellow glare. Her lips are red with a dark liner:

Cleo still has her signature painted jewel on her upper right cheek, but this time it looks more like a fruit than a jewel.

A kumquat?

Cleo’s heavily-gelled black hair is styled in a bob and highlighted with red tinsels.

Here’s how it looks from the back:

Cleo’s doll version lacks some accuracy from the illustration.  Cleo’s hair in the illustration looks more of a brown color rather than black. Also, her eye makeup in the illustration appears to have two layers of eye shadow: gold and teal.

Cleo doesn’t have any piercings.

The only accessory that came with Cleo is a red-orange choker.

For Cleo’s outfit, she’s wearing a short, black-and-gold dress that resembles a mummy wrap with a diagonal cut in the end. It also has a gold Egyptian-style collar.

The back is secured by Velcro.

I know they look red in the photo, but Cleo’s shoes are actually a pair of red-orange stilettos.

I expected more accessories and style for Cleo since she’s the social chair of the school. In my honest opinion, I think she either looks like an Egyptian flapper or an Egyptian office secretary. The plain stiletto shoes are too simple, as is the choker necklace. The dress and her overall makeup look okay. It’s nice to see another short haired Cleo, but I hope future dolls stick with the brown hair similar to the illustration. I must admit, I’m quite disappointed with this Cleo.

Next up for review is Lagoona Blue, V.P.:

This Lagoona’s face looks a little sassy to me, but I like it:

Her eyebrows are indigo-colored. She’s wearing a dull shade of blue eyeshadow and her irises are green with a light green glare. She still has the usual freckles on her cheeks. I’m not a big fan of her lips; they're light blue in color and make her face look like she’s suffering from a lethal disease. 

Lagoona’s face absorbs too much light from the flash of my camera, but I just wanna show that she doesn’t have any piercings:

Lagoona’s hair is light blonde with light blue highlights.

Here’s Lagoona’s hair at the back. It goes down to her buttocks.

Lagoona’s hair has a very oily texture and some of the hair that is clumped with hardened glue falls off. Ick.

Lagoona is also wearing a simple dress--just like the first two ghouls. Her dress is dark blue in color and has some random tentacles and shipwreck prints.

What's weird about this dress is that it's two separate fabrics sewn together. I think it would've been cute if they'd sewn that little extra piece into a pair of shorts.

Lagoona doesn’t have that many accessories except for a pearl necklace with a seahorse in the middle.

Lagoona’s shoes are sorta my favorite out of the bunch. This is a funky pair of sneakers with awesome details...I just wish Mattel had painted those details.

Overall, I think this Lagoona is in between good and bad. I love her poker face, but the color scheme of her makeup makes her look sick. Her outfit and shoes are cute, but it could’ve been better. It’s a hit and miss situation. *heavy sigh*

The last ghoul to be reviewed is Gilda Goldstag, daughter of the Ceryneian Hind:

Gilda’s skin is gold in color and she has brown horns emerging from her forehead. She doesn’t have any eyebrows but she does have four pink dots coming down on each side of her forehead. Her light brown eye shadow is almost unnoticeable because it's painted so thinly. Her irises are light blue in color with a very light blue glare. Again, I'm not a big fan of the lips. Gilda is wearing a light pink lipstick that contrasts her golden color.

I’m not sure if you’ve noticed it on the previous photo, but Gilda has some gooey-looking glue oozing out of her horns.

Gilda has a very short, spiked-up pink hair. Her hair is heavily gelled so it stays in place. Here’s how it looks in the front:

Here’s how it looks like on the sides:

And here’s how it looks from the back.

Uh-oh! Bald spot!

Now, let’s check out her accessories. Gilda is wearing a pair of yellow hoop earrings. And yes, she’s the only one who has piercings in this set. Gilda also has one of the unique Monster High face molds. Not only does she have horns, but her ears are also sculpted to look like deer ears. Pretty cool.

Gilda is also wearing an orange belt with a yellow buckle. This is what I was talking about with Scarah’s belt! I wish Mattel had added some other color rather than just plain white.

The belt snaps off:

For her shoes, Gilda is wearing a pair of plain mud-brown boots. I love the wrinkled shape of these boots at her ankles:

Now onto Gilda’s outfit!

Gilda is wearing a light mud-brown long-sleeved vinyl jacket that is permanently open in front.

The right side of her sleeve has a yellow bull's eye mark. It sorta reminds me of the Tide logo.

The left side is just plain brown.

And here’s the back side.

Gilda is wearing a plain light green tank top under her jacket.

Gilda’s pants are just plain brown.  They are secured in the back by a small bit of Velcro.

The thing I noticed about Gilda’s pants is that they're black in the webisodes but brown on the doll. I prefer the black pants because they balance this character's color scheme better.

Out of all the dolls in this set, Gilda has the most accessories and the most detail. I think (perhaps because she's new?) the company paid more attention to her over the other ghouls. However, I’m not a big fan of the pink hair and the pink lips and the color choices for her outfit. I think it clashes with her golden skin tone. I mean, she’s already too bright for goodness sake! In my opinion, I think it would be much better if they added some dark colors on her color scheme; like maybe have the jacket or the pants be black instead of brown? I used to be very excited about her but now it’s just—meh. I’m not saying that she’s a terrible doll; I think, yet again, that there’s just some hit and miss here.

And finally, last in line for review, is the doll that made me purchase this set, President Sloman “Slo Mo” Mortavich!

Slo Mo has pale blue skin. His eyebrows are a teal-ish color. I’m not sure if that’s eyeshadow he's wearing, but Slo Mo has gray-greenish paint around his eyes; probably to make his eyes look more sunken. Slo Mo also has very light blue lips.

Slo Mo has blue hair with gray flocked sides. This hair is not as heavily gelled as Gilda’s hair. I also like this hair better than the “Ghoul Spirit" Slo Mo's hair.

Here’s how his hair looks on the sides.

And from the back:

Now, let’s look at Slo Mo’s outfit:

Slo Mo is wearing a purple shirt with a bunch of “Dead Fast” prints.

Photographing Slo Mo’s pants was kinda weird. The pants are actually purplish in real life, but they appear to be blue in the pictures.  The pants are made out of a stretch fabric that is secured by Velcro at the back:

Side Note: Slo Mo can stand on his own if properly positioned.

Slo Mo is wearing a pair of black shoes with sculpted studs on the sides:

The soles of the shoes have waffle-like detailing:

Remember what I mentioned earlier about Slo Mo’s loose arm and how I hoped it wouldn't be an issue? Well, it’s an issue.

We Are Monster High ("W.A.M.H.") Slo Mo and Ghoul Spirit Slo Mo are very similar, except for the hair and outfit.  However, I like W.A.M.H. Slo Mo better for several reasons.  First, Ghoul Spirit Slo Mo is very hard to find. Second, I prefer W.A.M.H. Slo Mo's hair because it has more style. And third, W.A.M.H. Slo Mo looks more accurate to the webisodes. The only thing that upsets me is the loose arm. I might’ve given this Slo Mo a 5/5 if that arm problem didn’t exist.

Articulation:

All of these dolls have the same points of articulation as any standard Monster High doll. They have articulation in the head:

Flexible shoulders, arms, and wrists:

And for the ghouls, they have articulation in their hips and knees. However, Slo Mo, like any Monster High boy doll, has articulation in the hips, knees, and ankles.

They can all do some little splits:

Final thoughts:

Pros: I love the fact that Mattel produced another Slo Mo doll.  I also like that they introduced a brand-new background character (Gilda) and turned her into a doll without making her an SDCC exclusive.

Cons: I don’t like the fact that Mattel put these awesome characters in a five pack. The set itself is very pricey, but each doll is basic--with only a few plain accessories.  They could’ve added some doll stands, but no! It’s very frustrating and disappointing because I feel like I paid more and received less. I think this set would be more justifiable if the price range was $35-45. Also, the lack of detailing on the dolls’ accessories upsets me even more. I feel like they only focused on giving more details to Gilda’s accessories and just didn’t care much about the other ghouls.

In conclusion, I will give this pack 3 out of 5 stars. It’s a nice set, the dolls are pretty cool, especially Slo Mo, Gilda, and Scarah, but I wouldn’t recommend it that much because there’s a lot of hit and miss. If you really want this set, I suggest you wait for it to be on sale because to me, $60 feels like too much.  Remember: You’ll get less of what you paid for.