Monster High: Old vs New!
So this is something I’ve been wanting to do for a while now! I know as of right now, we haven’t uploaded photos of our collection but I have mentioned I am a doll fan. I’ve got plenty of Monster High and Barbies behind me as I’m at my desk right now. I honestly haven’t counted them so I’m not gunna even try throwing down a number. It’s not A LOT but it’s not a small amount. I’ve seen worse.
Back on point– earlier this year, Mattel rebooted Monster High! It kinda created a divide between the fanbase but I understand why they did what they did. These are toys for children, not the adult fans and they needed to make them more appealing to kids cause sales were down. They made them a bit ‘sweeter’ looking, bigger eyes with softer details and so forth. I still love the old designs but I also love these new ones! I’d been holding off on getting any of the new dolls but I’ve definitely chased down David in stores with two dolls in hand to talk at him about the differences.
So now I’m going to do that to you guys instead! This is also partly Toy Therapy cause this Cleo was part of a large shopping to cheer ourselves up after a capital w week.
First things first!
Let’s just look at my new gal cause she is a new addition to my collection and she is pretty stinkin’ cute!
I got myself Cleo De Nile from the ‘Welcome to Monster High’ line. This is the line that goes along with the new ‘Welcome to Monster High’ movie.
She was one of the budget dolls which means she does not come with a stand or a brush. I love budget dolls cause their MSRP is $14.99 so they’re a nice cheaper buy instead of the base dolls. The downside is the no stand part! Monster High dolls are very hard to make stand on their own and Cleo’s shoes here are very unforgiving. It was hard to get her to stand while leaning up against something.
One of my favorite things about Monster High is their attention to detail and design! And even their budget dolls have so much charm and creativity to them. While she’s not my favorite ghoul (Venus McFlytrap gets that honor) I adore Cleo and her dolls always look great. She is the Daughter of the Mummy so obviously she gets an Egyptian and a mummy motif to her outfits. She’s got this red dress with a bandage motif with a translucent sash that according to Mattel’s description is decorated with phoenixes. I love her little scarab belt and while her necklace is cool, it doesn’t like staying still. It drove me a little crazy while I was posing her but it’s still very cute. Speaking of things that drove me crazy, her shoes are very unforgiving but they’re covered in red snakes so of course I adore them. They were doing with the idea of masks in a photo booth I believe so of course Cleo’s got a hieroglyph eye for a mask! It clips much easier into place on her hand than I imagined and it’s a cute little prop. I love when dolls come with props, I’m a big nerd for posing them on my shelves~
Shoe Detail
Shoe Detail
Belt and necklace detail
Back of hair
But now for the part I’m actually really excited about! How does this new Cleo compare to the Cleo of old? Did they improve on what was already a solid model? Did they take a big step back? Also sorry in advance for the naked dolls in the gallery! I know they’re dolls so it’s shouldn’t be weird but hey, sometimes it’s weird. I get it. Not everyone has a weird wife that shakes naked dolls in their face to talk about how excited they are that there’s a torso joint.
Start at the top! Face: This is the hardest part for me. I love love love original Cleo–which this is Cleo De Nile from the Frights! Camera! Action! Line of budget dolls. Cleo was my original favorite when I started collecting. She has such a great look. She looks so mean which is kinda what I love the most. There’s just so much personality there even if it’s a bit of a snarky one. I love her eyebrows and her dark make-up, she just looks so sharp. But she also looks VERY mature for a ‘teenager’ doll. As much as I love the original Cleo face, I also really love the reboot look! I miss that she doesn’t look as snarky and mean but I love that she doesn’t look like someone’s Aunt this time. She looks younger, she’s brighter and friendlier. These are dolls that we want to look appealing to young kids after all. The face shapes are basically the same with a heavy jaw and high cheekbones so that’s awesome. They didn’t soften her up TOO much. She’s still very much Cleo, she’s just a more saturated and wide eyed Cleo. Also the eye shape and design are still shades of each other so I’m glad they didn’t loose too much if that Darko Dordevic edge.
As for the rest, I honestly didn’t think there was gunna be a new body mold but I was pleasantly surprised to see that there was! I knew they were adding the bandage wrap detail but I didn’t know they were gunna edit posture and proportions. I’ve seen complaints about the bandage details, folks saying it looks like damaged skin but I personally love it. It always bothered me that Cleo never really looked like a monster. She was just kind of a cute white girl so now she had a bit more of a personality to her body mold! It’s not a lot but I really dig it. She won’t be my go-to mod base anymore because of this but you know, I’d rather her be a unique Cleo than a blank base I can turn into other characters.
There’s also some changes to their posture which oh boy, am I glad they did this! I’ve got terrible posture and looking at these old Monster High bodies made even my back hurt. They straightened them up a bit and also thickened up their waist. They thickened up everything actually! Gave them a bit more to their silhouette, thickened up their arms and their legs. I know the old dolls are based on fashion drawings so they’re very tall and thin. I get why they did it but man, they’re just SO thin. Seeing them be a touch bit thicker is really nice and the new dolls don’t feel as fragile which is also great. Pulling off old Cleo’s forearms is very oh man I’m gunna break her! Now with the new bodies there’s a bit less of a fear when I pop pieces off. Again, one of the complaints of these dolls isn’t they were very delicate for something that should be handed to a kid so glad to see they made it a bit tougher to survive play. Over all, I really love the changes they made to the new body molds! I’m very excited to buy some more and see if these changes are across the board.
Side By Side: Clothed
Side By Side: Nude
Waist Comparison
Leg Comparison
Arm Comparison
(I’d also love to see if Monster High pulls a Barbie Fashionista and gives us some different body thicknesses or flat feet? They’ve given us a variety of heights, I hope we can see some more variety in different ways~)