List Price: $21.99
Sale Price: $18.55
Today's Bonus: 16% Off
Note: I do not have children. I am an adult collector, and thus my point of view will mostly be from this angle.
I bought this set tonight and one of the add-on packs. Honestly, I would not pay the prices resellers are charging while these packs are still new and harder to find. Wait for the price to drop to the more reasonable retail, which for me was the price of one of the regular Monster High dolls for the starter pack, and one of the swimsuit/PJ dolls for the add-on.
The packs are interesting, but there are definitely pros and cons to consider.
Pros:
The new monster types are a fun change of pace from the main line.
They are customizable to a point.
Cons:
Mattel has clearly not paid the same attention to detail and quality as they do with the regular MH dolls. The pieces in this pack are not nearly as sturdy (and to be honest, I could see a younger child easily breaking one of the pegs off). The plastic tends to be softer than with regular MH dolls, which means it's easier to accidentally push or pull too hard and damage the doll (this especially holds true for the hands). The outfits are comparatively boring and cheaply-made. They are nearly completely lacking in the character and style that make this line so great.
The hair fiber quality is nice, but the plastic wig caps sit awkwardly on the head. They sit entirely too high. This gives the dolls huge foreheads and visible ends on the plastic wig caps. I feel like I should get hats for them all now. Also disappointing: There is only one wig included in each pack, despite the fact that starter packs have two heads.
As others have said, the starter packs only come with one torso each. They do, however, come with two sets of thighs and upper arms. The add-on packs simply contain the head, lower arms/hands, and calves/feet. There are no thighs or upper arms in the add-on packs. This leads to you having a doll that is three or more colors.
None of the heads in either the starter or add-on packs has pierced ears, which I find odd. They cannot use any of the MH dolls' earrings.
Ways Mattel could improve this idea:
Offer a torso for each doll. Not everyone appreciates the look of a doll with a blue face, pink body, purple arms and legs, and white hands and feet. Not to mention it would allow everyone to use all the pieces and have complete dolls, without extraneous heads and limbs lying around, waiting to get lost.
Either root the hair to the head (though this would cut down on the customizable aspect) or use elastic wig caps rather than the plastic. To be honest, I think the best idea would be to root (considering these are not just for collectors), especially since there are very limited options in the wig department anyway. This would also solve the problem of too-many-heads-too-little-hair.
Up the overall quality to be consistent with the other MH dolls. Maybe the outfits don't have to be as detailed as the regular line dolls. They can be simpler, but they should at least be as nicely made. The same rule applies to the doll parts themselves. I understand the softer plastic to an extent to ease the changing of parts. But it becomes pointless when the pegs break off in the doll's limbs because the plastic bent when you were trying to put a shoe on.
Final verdict:
I feel like this is a good idea that got run over by bad decisions and cut corners. If Mattel fixed some of the glaring problems, they could be really amazing for both children and collectors. But as they are now? Definitely think long and hard about getting this for a child. They are considerably more fragile than regular MH dolls, and I feel children especially would be disappointed in the ability to only make one doll at a time. As for collectors like myself, well, I think the idea is interesting. If you don't mind the mismatched bodies and random doll parts lying about, you can get enjoyment from this set as I have. But as I said before, DO NOT pay over retail. They're not worth any more than that.
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Unfortunately, we were very disappointed with this product. You could only create one doll and Had to take it apart to create another. My daughter was very disappointed. It would be nice to create both dolls when you consider the price you are paying.Best Deals for Monster High Create-A-Monster Vampire and Sea Monster Starter Set
one torso for a boxed set that cost the price of 2 dolls or one of the better boxed sets?for shame Mattel.
I thought I was going to be the hero of the day (or at least hour) picking these htf's for X-mas, since nobody I knew found them or even knew these came out
but then I found the bad on these....
one main body for the entire set and the expansion kits.
One Torso Component with otherwise enough parts for who knows how many dolls.
At least you could of included additional torsos with the expansion kits for the price your charging on these.
For the price and difficulty procuring these you really dropped the ball (or got too greedy) on a real potential cash cow.
I hope in the future you guys just sell or repackage these to include additional torsos so girls can make their own custom dolls which seems to be such a interesting trend online.
Honest reviews on Monster High Create-A-Monster Vampire and Sea Monster Starter Set
My daughter got both starter sets and all 3 expansion packs. For the nearly $100 we spent on all, you would assume one could create more than 2 dolls! WRONG! Only 2 torsos total in ALL sets! WHAT A RIP OFF!Find helpful customer reviews and review ratings for Monster High Create-A-Monster Vampire and Sea Monster Starter Set
My daughter is probably one of the single biggest consumers of Monster High toys/books/accessories, but receiving this gift for her birthday made her cry.Why is that? Well this kit is called Create-A-Monster Vampire **AND** Sea Monster Starter Pack. There is a big label right on the box, Vampire **AND** Sea Monster. The packaging is nicely laid out to show you 2 sets of arms, hands, legs, heads, dresses. The illustration right on the front of the package shows two complete dolls, giving you every impression that you should be able to build two dolls from this set. Not to mention that at this price, I would certainly expect to be able to build at least two dolls.
Let's go build two monsters!
Wait...there are two dresses, but only one has a torso inside? Is it a mistake, did they leave out one torso? I can only build one toy?
No, it is not a mistake. Mattel only meant to include one torso, giving you **everything** you need to build two dolls except for that one piece. I'm not surprised that my daughter got upset.
Mattel is probably thinking that we will simply go out and buy another set. I'll tell you what we are going to do instead: We are going to return this set, start the process of weaning my daughter off the whole Monster High series, and look at Mattel toys with a lot more skepticism in the future.
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