Monster High's G3 Abbey Bominable--A Guest Review!

In an attempt to balance out the novella-like Enchantimals post from last week, this week I'm going to feature two short and sweet posts, one of which is a guest review!  I've been getting a lot of guest review requests recently, and I love guest reviews!  I feel like it's refreshing to have new voices and opinions here on the blog.  But for my own time management reasons, I have to limit the number of guest authors.  So at least for now, I'm only accepting guest reviews from my Patrons, with the exception of anyone who has already contacted me (you know who you are).  My wonderful Patrons don't get enough thanks for their support, so this is another small thing I can do.

Today's author, Morgan, is a long-time TBP reader and Monster High enthusiast.  Morgan offered to do a quick review of G3 Abbey Bominable, which was music to my ears!  Abbey has been super-popular and very hard to find at retail price, and so she feels like a doll that I should feature.  But I have so many other dolls that I want to talk about, I don't have much time for another G3 Monster High character.  I will say, for anyone who's interested in purchasing Abbey, that she can be pre-ordered at Entertainment Earth for $24.99, so don't get sucked into the sky-high prices on eBay and Amazon.

Morgan needed some de-boxing photos for this review, so I took my own Abbey out of her box, which was really fun.  I'll chime in at the end with a few quick thoughts and pictures, but for the most part this review is all in Morgan's hands.  Take it away, Morgan!

Monster High G3 Abbey Bominable, $24.99.

Thanks, Emily!  This is Morgan.  When I'm not poking around with technology for a living, I'm poking around in the doll community across various platforms, or playing Animal Crossing.

The first G3 doll I got was Draculaura —a character I was neutral on in G1, but somehow, she really charms me in this generation. I also got Cleo, who is still my favorite G1 ghoul, and I like her character song “Royally Rule This World."

I got Abbey on Amazon (admittedly, from a reseller near Mattel HQ) in early June of 2023. Checking now, she actually now costs more than the original inflated price! I'm curious why she seemingly cannot make it to wider audiences.

Emily has very kindly provided me with photos of the packaging to use, as I threw mine out.  I remember the box was not a larger size to accommodate Abbey’s increased height, and she was squished in the box, looking...pretty uncomfortable:

The packaging is standard for the new signature dolls.  There's a soft and shiny character portrait in the lower left, and a full body shot on the back, with bio information beneath.

Here's the back:

And the bio information:

It's easier to see Abbey in her box without the glare of the plastic cover:

She sure looks cramped in there, like she's trying to claw her way out:

Let me out!

Here are her smaller accessories:

And her monster pet, Tundra:

Here's everything that was in the box:

That's the last of Emily's box pictures.

Here's my Abbey:

Disclaimer: Abbey is on a G1 Monster High stand, but one for the 17” very articulated dolls. It’s a cool effect, if you still have one of those stands. But she's free now! And looks remarkably like her G3 cartoon counterpart:

Left: G1 webisode version. Right: G3 Monster High TV show version.

It’s a stark difference.

Abbey is from Mount NeverWinter Neverest, in - presumably - The Himalayas, and is voiced by Aishwarya Pillai in the show, so she is no longer the Hollywood stereotype of a Russian person.

The whole outfit is very snowboard-y from the early 2000s, sans the shoes, but we'll get there.

Abbey's hair is long and multicolored, in shades of cool blue with two shades of purple and a few strands of tinsel.

Two sections are quartered off near her forehead in front of her tiny horns!

I love the fact that she has horns, and I wish they weren’t surrounded by so much hair. They’re much bigger than I expected after I parted the hair from around them. I’m pleasantly surprised at the rooting here. It would be easy to have a large patch of scalp surrounding the horns.

Being able to see more of her horns would make her even more distinct without being distracting. I’m not sure as to the material of the hair. It’s not as coarse as Draculaura’s and Cleo’s, and is quite prone to flyaways.

The faceup is my favorite thing about her, though I wouldn't say it's accurate to the open and curious look in the cartoon.

Besides the aforementioned hair sections, secured by purple rubber bands, I love the snow bite (pun not intended) red nose, how the eyebrows seem very similar, if not identical in color, to her original signature doll in G1. Her mouth is much slimmer than G1, with a deep purple lipstick over the pink - but the tusks are still there.

I remember I Heart Fashion Abbey having blue lipstick — The darker colors on her always look wonderful, and I’m glad it’s here.

She, like Draculaura, and unlike Cleo, looks to the side.

The eyes have star shine in the black pupil, which is surrounded by a purple iris with a white strip. Her eyeshadow has a slight gradient behind the lashes, going from light blue, to a darker purple, and then a pink that is only reflected — slightly — in the snowflake on her shirt.

The white freckles on her face are scattered unevenly across the bridge of her nose, ending in a snowflake under her right eye. Is it a birthmark? A tattoo? Either way, it’s cute!

Abbey’s earrings are really cool.

They're translucent purple, in the shape of single pink icicles that are rather sharp. There's a chain attached to two points in her left ear.

And the ears have texture! Fur probably, but they remind me of Venus’ ears.

I think the designer of the doll said it was an homage to her Gen 1 doll. I no longer have my G1 Abbey, but I sort of remember it!

This doesn’t help us a lot.

A lot of G3 dolls trade details in the clothing for more streamlined outfits, and Abbey is probably the most egregious of the bunch.

The ringer shirt is white with a shimmery snowflake that leads to purple, mesh sleeves, ending in fuzzy wrist cuffs that are the same color. The stitching on the outside is in the same purple; I do remember that being popular among shirts in the early 2000s - but not with visible stitching.

I have a shirt in this style.

The stitching is a little distracting here; on a more traditional ringer shirt like this, it's just a solid stripe of color on the sleeves, waist, and neckline. Also, the neckline has already loosened, making it look even sloppier. It could possibly unravel, but because it’s attached to these purple sleeves, perhaps it was the only option.

Abbey’s pants sit below the waist and flare out at the bottoms, with a slit that goes up to about the knee. Someone cut up some bellbottoms in this case!

She also has furry ankles. I believe G2 — first mention of G2 so far! — also had them, as well as furry wrists, which are repeated here!

There are iridescent snowflakes on the pants that remind me of stylized 4-point stars that were rampant in 60s marketing and iconography. These have five points, however, with the points fraying out to feathery marks. They shimmer with a rainbow effect.

I have redressed Abbey in Rainbow High outfits before — they’re the only ones that fit, barely. I hope we get some fashion packs, but with the collections like Skulltimate Secrets, Fearidecent, and Neon Frights, we can get a doll and dozens of combinations for $30, only $5 more than a single signature doll, so I can see why that’s where Mattel is heading.

The waist pack is translucent and quite neat — a collection of icicles! I initially believed it didn’t open, but upon closer inspection and the strength of 10 people, I do see there is a slot held together by a peg and hole that one could put her phone into.

The purple chain charm has a snowflake with a spiderweb in darker purple at the end. I would have given it the illusion of motion like her purple earring, but I do like the snow-web — the points also end in tiny hearts! There’s so much detail packed into this one little aspect.

You may wonder why Abbey is wearing sandals with a long-sleeved shirt and pants, especially after living in a snowy environment, but as someone who wears sandals when it's 40 degrees outside, I respect it.

The shoes are large and chunky, with a dark purple color on the top that gives the illusion of fur. There are three snowflakes on each one and a backstrap across the ankle. The purple color continues to dripping icicles that lead to transparent dark blue plastic, which is chipped and chunked like a glacier with sparkles.

There are also treads on the bottom. These shoes are quite hard to remove.

Abbey's cloth accessory is this fuzzy purple boa, which reminds me of the one that comes with Haunt Couture Clawdeen, without being a fuzzy jacket, as well as the patterned and fuzzy strip that comes with the Skulltimate Secrets ghouls. 

It's lighter than the rest of the purple on Abbey:

The boa is big and fun, much like Abbey herself, and I don't have to worry about accidentally breaking a limb on her when I maneuver it around, unlike other accessories her fellow students came with like cough Cleo's Jacket. It's probably my favorite part of the outfit.

She also has some glasses — not an attempt at stylized goggles, to prevent snow-blindness, but actual glasses — that give the illusion of dripping icicles in blue.

They help make her look not so plain, although I keep forgetting to put them on her.

Overall, I think the outfit is fine, but as a signature I do miss the details and extra touches of G1 signature outfits. There are touches, like Abbey’s cuffs, and Draculaura’s frilled mesh top, but don’t expect the giant fur leg warmers of G1 Abbey, or those stretchy strings she had on her dress.

The element of wanting to push the envelope of a play line doll, to me, is over for Monster High, because other brands, like Rainbow High, do it better, and Monster High wants to be approachable to adults with purchasing power for children.

Rainbow High gets fewer plastic accessories but more interesting outfits and quality pieces. I have Zooey Electra’s jacket I bought off eBay, because I thought it would fit on Abbey. She can’t wear both the jacket and her shirt at the same time, and fair enough, these are different brands, but it looks alright.

I should be grateful they didn't give her an oversized sweat-suit in white and call it a day, as that is also on trend. I love the variations of purple in her outfit, particularly because her G1 dolls tended to focus on blues and pinks.

Luckily, the container sets and non-signature lines seem to be providing the variety I remember. You know, I may have convinced myself to buy Skulltimate Secrets Lagoona.

The accessories are similar to those of other ghouls, with a loop for holding them in place around a finger. There are a few food items and a small cup, but with some cosmetic changes.

A chocolate ice pop, bearing the words “RIP: Death By Chocolate”

A ‘Snow Corpse’ box. That’s funnier than it has any right to be.

Her ice scream cone phone case has a loop to hold. The sticker has a different color scheme, but the general idea of the apps is the same as the others.

There are little horns coming out of the ice scream:

I find all the phones delightful, with Cleo’s being my favorite. It should be possible to 3D print one for a phone in real life.

There's a cute sipper cup with horns, dripping icicles, and eyeballs:

It does open!

Tundra is less fuzzy (and less exasperated looking) than his G1 counterpart. Although I’ve made him look a touch serious.

Abbey's backpack is pink and translucent, shaped like a large snowflake - and it does indeed open, and can store at least the Snow Corpse box.

Abbey has the same articulation as the other G3 dolls only taller. Rotation in wrists, elbows, shoulders, underbust, hip joints, knees, and neck.

Here is a height comparison with Draculaura and Cleo. 

I initially thought Cleo had the curvy body, but now I’m not so sure, compared with the other girls, who are confirmed to have it.

Maybe it was just her dress. You can see it a bit in the severity of the waist going in, what do you think?

I took a few more pictures, including some of the G1 Monster High furniture I have, taking care to make sure the monster-y parts of her head mold — the horns, the spiky ears — were visible. It makes me enjoy her a lot more;

Here are some photos with a multi-colored light I have. She almost glows under blue or purple light:

She’s still tall in the chair, but she can lounge in it like this.

You’ll notice that it’s very easy for her hair to swallow her horns and ears. Then Abbey ends up looking less like a yeti and more like an ordinary human girl, albeit a blue one with fangs.

I think there’s things to like about Abbey:

Her size feels sturdy - taller G1 ghouls always felt a touch fragile. How many Neferas had broken legs below the knee?

Her face is pretty and keeps a lot of the charm that G1 had.

Her shirt is 2000s, her pants are 60s, and her shoes are 2020s. It’s not my personal style. I do think modernizing Abbey’s motifs with the current styles was a challenge, compared to say, Draculaura.

If they had given her underground raver pants or snowboard pants with a snowboard jacket Ala Zoe’s, I would probably be more on (snow) board, but she grew on me the more I played with her and actually reminded myself to use the accessories and expose her monster attributes.

With more appearances in more lines, I can easily imagine seeing an Abbey with an outfit I'll really like.

Thank you, Morgan!  Your fun review is what tempted me to get my Abbey out of her box, and I'm so glad that I did!  She'd been sitting around here for far too long, not earning her keep. 

I took a few of my own references pictures to have on hand, like this lineup of the different Monster High body types:

G3 dolls From left: Abbey Bominable, Draculaura, and Clawdeen Wolf.

And a comparison with Lena, of course:

G3 Abbey Bominable (left) and Signature Looks Barbie (right).

I assumed that Abbey would be taller than Lena, but they're almost exactly the same height.

Last, here's a comparison between Abbey and my G1 Clawdeen Wolf:

G3 Abbey Bominable (left) and G1 Clawdeen Wolf (right).

The contrast between these last two dolls is really striking.  The original Monster High dolls were so skinny and awesomely bizarre.  The new bodies are still exaggerated, but in a more real and relatable way.

I really like Abbey's flexible hands, with their claw-like nails and fuzzy wrists:

And Morgan showed you the furry ankles already, but here are the feet without shoes:

Those are all of the reference photos I took.  

Thanks to Morgan, I got to spend the rest of my time with Abbey just playing around and having fun!

She has such an adorable face!  I love her freckles and little purple nose:

Her hair looks cool, but the texture is bad.  The combination of low-quality fiber (polypropylene) and tinsel is not appealing to me.  And the fibers won't lay smoothly for more than about thirty seconds after I brush them.

We're up to three reasons for me to learn how to re-root doll hair.

Abbey has great accessories, though, like her dripping glasses and her purple stole:

The stole is bulky and a little shapeless, but it adds some welcome drama:

Abbey's ear shape and earrings were a nice surprise, too.  Like Morgan said, I wish they weren't always hidden behind her hair:

Tying Abbey's hair back into a single ponytail helps accentuate the ears and earrings:

But now her ears will get cold!

The details of Abbey's phone are great, but she has a difficult time holding it:

I had to work hard to jam her large thumb into the tiny hole.  Clawdeen and my other Monster High dolls can use the phone just fine; it's like nobody bothered to change the default phone template to accommodate Abbey's larger size.

At least she can hold the phone--as precarious as it feels.  And, as Morgan figured out, she can always use one of her smaller fingers.

The grip problem is even worse with the death by chocolate pop:

I can only get Abbey's fingernail into the hole:

And there's a similar situation with the Sno Corpse pack:

I'll confess that I didn't understand the Sno Corpse reference right away, so I had to look it up: it's a takeoff on Sno Caps or nonpareil candies:

Yum.

Anyway, at least Abbey can hold her purple eyeball drink securely:

Ahh. Refreshing.

And the backpack--as stiff as it is--fits, too:

I like Shiver a lot--although apparently he's been re-named Tundra.

He doesn't have any points of articulation, and his seam lines are visible from some angles, but he's cute.

Here's Abbey with Tundra:

Most descriptions say Tundra is a wooly mammoth, but I don't think that fully captures it.

An exotic teacup bat-eared mammoth?

A woolly purple poodle-bataphant?

Abbey is fun to pose.  I especially like her torso joint.  She has good balance overall, but needs a bit of help for action shots:

I'm going to mimic Morgan by saying that my favorite thing about Abbey is her face.  She's painted really well and I love her side-glancing eyes and little tusks!  And she looks even more dramatic with the rubber bands removed from her hair:

Abbey has wonderful personality, and her new body mold is great.  If she had sleek, silky hair and accessories that fit her hand better, she'd be very nearly perfect.  I also agree with Morgan that it'd be nice if her horns and ears were more visible amidst all of that hair.  I suspect that if she had a thinner hair fiber (like saran) it would fix the hair quality problem and lessen the horn visibility problem.

I was eager to add Abbey to my collection--mostly because of her new body.  And, once I got her out of the box, I ended up liking her even more than I anticipated.  I hope that there are more versions of this character in the works.  I'm grateful to Morgan for giving me a good excuse to get Abbey out of the box, because the way things go around here, dolls can languish in their packaging for years.  All told, Abbey might be my favorite G3 doll so far...although it's hard to love a doll more than Clawdeen.  Let's just call it a tie.