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4.5
Ghouls Rule is probably my favorite Monster High series. It is the only series from which I bought all the dolls. And the reason is that I love how detailed they are, and I love the subtle and less subtle nods to the lore and heritage of the monsters. Draculaura is not my favorite doll of this series, but she is a neat doll. Draculaura's color scheme is entirely pink and black. The doll itself is pink toned. She has pink lipstick. She has her pink heart on the doll's left cheek. Her eyes the really the only interesting part of her makeup, but they are a big enough detail that anything else going on would be too much. Her eyeshadow is pink, and over the eyeshadow are spiderwebs. One set of spiderwebs is within the eyelashes and another, thicker one covers below her eyes from a little swirl at her nose to the far side of her cheekbone. It's very busy, but it's a neat detail that has grown on me. I perhaps should state here that the big motif in her outfit is spiderwebs. She is wearing earrings that are solid pink, big hearts with two blood drops dripping from them. This is a cute nod to her vampiric nature. Although the execution is a little clunky in my opinion, I can appreciate the reference to the mythology. Her hair is black with a shot of pink. the pink is the front part of her hair and is then tied to the side. It's executed oddly, in my opinion. She has bangs that are are a mix of black and pink. Then, there is a layer of just pink, which is then tied to the side to pop out on the side like a rats nest, and the rest is black. I cannot get that wad of pink to lay with the rest of the hair or be brushed in a way that looks decent. I think perhaps it is supposed to be messy, but it just seems out of place to me.Her outfit includes a dress with a white, ruffled blouse/top that is actually fairly cute. Her skirt is three layers, all cut up and down like scissor spikes, but cute. Each layer is cut the same way, but shorter than the one before, so each is seen. The first layer is a shiny, pink material. Next is a pink, sparkly material. Finally, is a clear black material with velvet hearts with bat wings in the design. Actually very cute, and, again, a cutesy nod to her being a vampire. On her chest is a plastic piece that has black lacing and then a wide, pink collar that looks like a close up of a spider web. It's a cute and necessary accent to the white top, but to me it never seems to lay right. She has sleeves made of the clear, black tulle without the hearts. The sleeves go to the middle of her upper arm, then bell out; the front of the sleeve ends after about an inch, but the bottom falls low, like the old Hollywood vampire robe sleeve. I really like this reference to the Hollywood costumes, but it is an easy detail to miss in all that is going on with the outfit. Behind her (three) skirt(s) is a mullet skirt. It only attaches to the back half of the outfit and goes down to her ankles. It is also cut in the zigzag, Halloween pattern. It is clear, black tulle with shiny, black print over it in the shape of winding vines with spiderwebs connecting where they meet. There are shapes in the winding pattern, such as bats or hearts, if you look for them. Very detailed. She has a pink plastic bow above it on her back. The shiny pink design looks grey from the back, but you can still see all the detail work. Of course, the most obvious part of her outfit is her big, plastic bat wings. The wings are cut like bat wings, but the plastic has holes throughout it in the pattern of spiderweb. The inside curve and spikes of the batwing are groovy and jagged, like it was cut from stone or something. I'm not entirely sure what imagery its trying to invoke, but it looks cool. The wings have an ombre coloring from black on top to pink on bottom. Her shoes are clear grey. They have a pink heart at the top on the outside with a pink strip going down to it. The black lines look like lace of the pink strip (matching her top), but then are spiderwebby over the grey. Her heel is curved, invoking imagery of a fang. She is wearing tights that are also ombre with pink at the top and black at the bottom. I really like her tights, but it is noteworthy that she is very difficult to pose. Her joints don't want to bend, and my tights have taken a little damage because of that.Draculaura comes with a mask, a skeleton decoration, and the obligatory trick or treat pail of the series. On her pail is her personal skullette. Her mask is pink. Her masked is shaped with the zigzag pattern of her skirt. (I know there's a name of the pattern, and it's very common for Halloween. I just can't think of it. But credit for carrying on the Halloween reference.) The plastic is molded with swirls throughout the front of the mask. The stick of the mask is three wispy swirls. Over the top of the mask is a black accent in the shape of bat wings. She comes with a cute little skeleton. I'm confused if it's a decoration or something else, given that these are monsters. The skeleton comes with two bows to make it look like the Monster High skullette. It only has one hole in it's head for the bow, so I don't know why it came with two. It's a neat little decoration/pet/person. I don't know. But it is probably my favorite accessory of the series.Overall, This is a really detailed, interesting doll. I really appreciate all of the vampire references in her costume and design. I think that a lot of her outfit is very simple because there are a couple intricate, detail pieces. Overall, I don't know why I don't like this doll more. There are just part of her that don't come together for me. But still a great doll, and one that I recommend adding to your collection.
