That doll was Sweet Screams Frankie Stein. Little Miss Scarlett was me. Welcome to the Hobby Haven.
(This was also a victim of the Great Memory Card Loss of 2014. Sorry to get this up so late!)
Ever since I watched Chad Alan's review of her, I had to have the Frankie Stein Sweet Screams doll. I picked Picture Day Frankie as my first Monster High doll, because of her basic versatility, but I like "fancy" dolls too, and that's where Miss Frankie comes in. The Sweet Screams line is a Target-exclusive, and it took me forever to get her because I would either never find her when I went specifically to find her, or I'd spy one on the shelves when the budget was tight. But I got a Target gift card right when she went on sale for $19 (normally retails for $20, so whatever), so I traipsed on down and snatched one up. Let's take a look at her.
To begin with, the Sweet Screams line is not themed from one of the websiodes or movies, but has an original plot. The Ghoulfriends are having a sleepover at Frankie's place, and later that evening, Draculaura wakes up and goes searching for a snack. She finds some candy in Frankie's parents' laboratory, and decides to eat it because reasons. She goes back to sleep, and once all the girls are asleep, they find themselves in a candy-themed nightmare of sorts. Because reasons. Just don't think to hard about it, it'll be fine.
Before I forget, I should mention that the box and booklet art for Sweet Screams was done by rotodisk, an extremely talented artist who does a lot of fan art of Monster High and Ever After High. You can take a look at her work on her tumblr page, she's quite good. It's amazing that Mattel reached out to a fan artist like that, and it's great to see talent get rewarded. :)
At first glance, the box looks crazy. The border around the window is a twisty tentacle-like design colored in bright, garish neon pink and blue, striped like a peppermint. The box insert depicts a nightmarish version of the Monster High hallways, with skewed perspectives and melting edges. It reminds me of the Beetlejuice cartoon. Frankie is in the middle, surrounded by evil-looking flying candy monsters. The rest of the box is basic black, with some textured spiderweb designs that shine in the light when you flex the box.
The back of the box features an adorable picture of Frankie and her pet creation, Whatzit, next to a huge black-and-blue swirl design. There's some story text inside the lines, but you have to keep turning the box around and around to read the whole thing. It made me dizzy after a while. That's probably the intent--to convey the idea of a confusing nightmare.
Taking Frankie out was kind of a pain, especially because her skirt was tied into the cardboard. Really, Mattel? It's made from that super stiff fabric that leaves really noticeable holes if you puncture it. Ugh.
Frankie, though, is nothing short of amazing. One of the reasons I like her doll (and the reason that I only like her Sweet Screams doll instead of the other Sweet Screams dolls) is that her outfit is well coordinated, flows, and is not overly complicated. The monochromatic color scheme on her outfit works well. Compare this to the others, which are too visually complicated. They look like Mattel just kept adding on thing after thing to the design and didn't know where to stop. They are just not visually appealing, sad to say. But back to Frankie.
Miss Stein's "candy couture" is peppermint-themed, and works the visual theme of stripes through a minimal color palette of red, black, and white. It is simple but works beautifully. Starting from the top and working down, Frankie's signature salt-and-pepper mane is almost entirely platinum here. I noticed that Frankie's hair is so pale that it has a blue tinge when you hold it up to natural light. Her stiff bangs have thick black stripes, and there are a few thin streaks of black and bright red in the back. Her hair is swept up into a Snooki-like pompadour/"bump" that I refused to take out, because I know I'll never get it back up again. It's secured with a hair decoration adorned with striped candies. Her soft hair is much longer than normal, down to her knees almost. The shedding wasn't too bad, but I had to trim her hair because the edges were very uneven.
The makeup is genius. First of all, her pupils are hexagonal; they look like screw nuts. (Okay, so that's not makeup, but work with me here.) Her eyebrows and facial scar are colored bright blue, and she has red and blue eyeshadow painted in swirls. Her mascara is thick, and dotted at the ends of her lashes for a very doll-like look. (How very meta.) Best of all, her lipstick is red and blue peppermint striped. This theme carries down the rest of her body, with her scars done in the same blue, and her stitches and staples in alternating blue and silver.
Comparing this Frankie to my Picture Day Frankie, I noticed a few interesting differences. SS Frankie's neck bolts are plain gray, while PD Frankie's are metallic. SSF's face is also a lot more anime-looking, with very large and round eyes and very curved eyebrows.
Frankie's dress is simple and cute. She's wearing a strappy white sundress with black stripes that look like they're melting. The fabric is very stiff, glossy, and shiny. The dress has a black mesh-like underskirt trimmed in some type of funky black fuzzy stuff that has silver highlights. It looks like it would be soft, but is pretty stiff. Over the dress, Frankie wears a red jacket with a sharp, flared collar and edges that again, look like they're melting. The jacket is kind of hard to get on and off.
The accessories continue the melting peppermint theme. She has earrings and a belt made of black melting peppermints, a red-and-black striped tie with a peppermint fastener, red bangle bracelets, and a translucent red purse that looks like a melting wrapped candy. It also, disturbingly enough, has a face, with mismatched candy eyes that are reminiscent of Frankie's. The belt and necklace come off quite easily, although it takes a little bit of practice to snap the belt back on. Frankie's hands are decorated to look like she's wearing fingerless gloves; a red one and a black one. Is anyone else getting a Michael Jackson vibe from this style?
Oh, her shoes! Frankie wears heeled wedge sandals with high, melting red straps and soft, gooey black heels. Topping it all off is her little pet...thing...Whatzit. He's made out of spare body parts, just like Frankie, and his nightmare counterpart is composed of different candy pieces! He's got a wrapped candy for a head, jelly bean body, and candy cane legs.
As usual, Frankie comes with a brush and a stand, although instead of a diary, she comes with a mini story book attempting to explain part of the Sweet Screams story. Frankie and Draculaura (to give you an idea of how tired I am right now, I just typed that as "Crackulaura," I need help) were the first released, back in December of 2013. The booklets sold with them hinted at future doll releases, and true enough, Ghoulia and Abbey were released back in summer. I haven't been able to look at scans of the booklets that came with Ghoulia or Abbey, so I can't tell you how the story ends or why any of it happens. Sorry. We'll just have to live with it, I suppose.
While I don't care for the other Sweet Screams dolls, I really like that Mattel is trying to create new and interesting doll designs. I've got to give them kudos for that. These certainly stand out, I'd say. I won't be picking up the others, but will proudly display my fancy new Frankie. (I've actually decided to mostly collect Frankie, because she's my favorite out of all of the ghouls.)
Miss Scarlett suggests: If you want a Monster High doll that stands out among the rest, look at the Sweet Screams line!
And now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to chow down on some Sour Patch Kids. Because reasons. Miss Scarlett, signing off.
