Banking on Snow: Monster High G3 Abbey Bominable by Mattel

 It's been a very cold day, and I just finished a review of G3's warmest character. I thought it was about time to come back to its coldest today. 

[That cover photo was not taken during the initial review period, but I'm retroactively putting it in because it's much better.]

This actually isn't my first time purchasing G3 Abbey, but the first doll fell victim to an incompetent rehairing effort and so I'll be using that very interesting doll base for another project, which might get briefly spotlighted here. I don't think it's going to be in-style with Monster High. But anyway, I wanted to try working with Abbey again and the mood was all correct, so I went out and got her. When I bought the first Abbey, it was online and secondhand since she wasn't widely in stores yet, but now, she's easily found on the shelf. There's a clout associated with owning a doll and being able to report on it early, but let's face it, nobody's going to see my blog fast enough to get hot news, anyway!

Abbey Bominable has been in the toyline of all three generations of Monster High. She's the daughter of a yeti and thus associated with furry clothing and cold temperatures, as well as having glittery snow crystal effect on her skin and hair colored like aurora borealis. In the first generation, the Himalayan Abbey was portrayed lovably but quite inaccurately as vaguely Russian with broken English and a stoic, strong personality. She was very endearing and sympathetic due to her Yetish cultural differences causing her to struggle socially to connect with people, and she had a blunt, funny way of expressing herself and was a lovable tough girl. 

Mattel stock photo of G1 signature Abbey.

Abbey had no role in G2 fiction despite being in the toys, so jury's out on her portrayal there, though she continues her G1 visual traits and likely would have been portrayed the same given how akwkwardly similar G2 was to G1, including having the same voice actors and basic personalities for the characters. G3 Abbey finally gets the character's cultural background right by portraying Abbey as South Asian (Nepali, specifically) in accordance with basic geography, since the Himalayan region the yeti and Abbey have always come from includes no Slavic countries. While I'm very fond of Russian-coded Abbey as a Russian adoptee myself, I completely respect and appreciate her portrayal being more true to her folklore's background in G3.

I was never very enthusiastic about Abbey's dolls in G1. For one, I found them all to feel very samey to me. Her hair colors and makeup never seemed to shift all that much, and her outfits all fell within a general color palette with very little feeling bold or distinct to me when I looked at her. I just never clicked that much with Abbey's general aesthetic, and the consistency of it left me with nothing to latch onto. I did end up with one G1 Abbey, her Music Festival doll, since it was available and I collected with the aim of getting any rep of any character back then. I wasn't delighted, since her skin glitter back then was achieved with glitter shaken onto glue on the outside of her body, making her pieces coarse and nasty to the touch, as well as really difficult to slide clothing over. The glue could also yellow with time. Ugh. I also had a gripe with the fact that Abbey in G1 and G2 was the same height as the standard other ghouls despite being established as extra tall in the fiction from day one. At least G2 Abbey added sculpted fur texture to her wrists and ankles?

G3 Abbey immediately interested me because her doll was as tall as it always should have been, and she also boasted what looked like the curviest body in the doll line so far. Turns out, that's soon to be upstaged by G3 Catty Noir, who will feature the most plus-size body I think Mattel has ever sculpted for a fashion doll, and which I'm sure will be shared later by an Iris Clops doll, guessing from animated G3 Iris's body type. I'm quite intrigued to see how that bigger body shape turns out even though I've never cared much for Catty and don't adore her sig G3 design, and I hope G3 Iris arrives sooner than later because she could be a super fun doll...but Abbey's body is still interesting. I also liked Abbey's face and new monster details. 

Here's Abbey's box. 

She comes right to the top edge!

And here she is deboxed with everything. 

The elephant in the room...isn't actually her pet Tundra! It's her hair. For multiple reasons. G3 Abbey has polypropylene hair, and if that wasn't bad enough, it's styled really poorly. 

While the box shows her hair parted in front behind her ears, the box has tiny ties separating locks of hair that aren't doing anything, in front of more center-parted hair, with all of it falling forward over her ears.

Drawn hair...

Manufactured hair.

I actually really like the hair they illustrated, so I wanted to see if I could make this work. Because the hair is polypropylene, it didn't behave quite as fluidly as I wanted, and of course, there are reasons to fear its decay in the future. But I proved myself not skilled enough to replace the hair, so we work with it. What I did (as elegantly as possible for me and the hair material) was undo the hair ties and take the whole center part sections and pull them behind her ears before fastening both tails with a single elastic behind her head. It's not even, and at this scale, the hair is naturally pulled tighter so it doesn't create the same curtain look as the artwork...but this is a lot closer.

The tied center-part sections behind her head.

This style makes me like her way more. Her wonderful furry pointy yeti ears are now visible, her earrings have no risk of tangling in hair anymore, and it even helps her horns (a great G3 addition) stick out a little better with everything tidied away!

I feel like this would have been easy to do in manufacturing, but they just...didn't. Making this change improves Abbey's appeal significantly. 

While the hair is unfortunately cheap poly, the colors are pretty. It's a very subtle blend of pale blue and lavender and paler tones with a little bit of iridescent tinsel in it. Part of me wishes there was a stronger base color of white like G1/G2 Abbey, because that brought in the classic white yeti fur look, but this still looks nice. Hair fiber aside. Mattel, come on.

Abbey's face isn't a lot like G1/G2's, but it is very appealing. She still has her upward-pointing tusk teeth, but she now has snow-sparkle freckles, purple cold-weather shading on her nose, and twinkle reflections in her eyes. Her eyes are side-glancing to her right, and her expression feels sweet, confident, and friendly. Abbey's skin also has a slight shimmer effect embedded in the plastic, which several G1 characters had and which Mattel then realized was a way better idea for Abbey than nasty yellowing glue and coarse glitter flecks, starting with her G2 dolls. 

Abbey has nicely-sculpted yeti ears (another G3 monster upgrade) and her earrings are similar but different. Both depict icicle-like crystals in pink, but the left earring also has a chain with a snowflake charm that goes into a second piercing.

I like seeing more atypical piercings in G3. Reminds me of some G1 pieces. 

G3 Abbey's fashion sense seems a little vague. I've heard it described as snowboardery, but it also seems like it's going for a bit of an ironic warm-weather vibe with its cuts, indicating that Abbey is more comfortable in the cold and can wear warmer-weather clothing in colder temperatures. Whatever the vibe is, it's welcomely culture-neutral. We'll get to the discussion with my next big project, but G1 Monster High more often than not moved to to tie its foreign characters very prominently with traditional iconography of their culture in a way that makes me uncomfortable from time to time. G3 Abbey is more appropriately and respectfully Himalayan in her portrayal, but she doesn't extend into a portrayal that feels exoticized or visually pigeonholed by her background.

Abbey's top is cropped with a white base and a holographic snowflake design, and has purple mesh sleeves with purple fur cuffs.

It's a fun piece, but something about it feels more like sleepwear than anything. It's got pajama vibes. 

Abbey has a blue icy fanny pack around her waist. It doesn't have any openings, but the purple chain piece with the charm can rotate pendulum-style because it connects with a pin at the end. The pack has a typical belt pinhole closure at the back.

[EDIT: Commenter M down below informed me that the pack actually does have an opening at the top, and yes, that's right! It's a very small slit, wider at the ends, but it's essentially useless because the space is tiny and I could not get the rigid plastic to flex at all. I've shoved her hand peg in one of the gaps just to prove it's there, but only thin card or paper could really be inserted.

Finding out about this has not really improved my opinion of the fanny pack, because this is hardly increasing its value.]

We know fanny packs aren't fashionable, but I don't even find them cute in a dorky way. I'm not going to use this piece on Abbey.

Abbey's pants are lavender bell-bottoms with leg slits, and are covered in holographic snowflake branches. The pants are super smooth and flexible. 

They could probably also work as sleepwear, but they're cute. 

Abbey's shoes are very clunky large sandals with icy platforms. 

The shoes are rigid plastic, not soft vinyl, so they're a little tricky to pop on, and they rattle on her feet when you do so. I think she could have had more attractive shoes, but I gather she's overall going for more of a casual and less glamor-oriented look.

The shoes being hard plastic gives them no traction against hard surfaces, and their shape isn't very conducive to balance. These shoes aren't great for standing her up, and she doesn't have other footwear options with only one doll right now.

Abbey also has a purple fur stole with tinsel highlights. 

The first Abbey copy's stole ended up modified as the defining accessory of Boa of the Left Out Dolls. 

Here's the newer Abbey with her own untouched stole draped on. I do like the drama it adds and the way it affects her color palette.

Abbey's last costume piece is her thin icy shades. 

They add a bit of fashion-model poise to a full look. 

Now, her extras. 

One of Abbey's accessories is a yeti frozen drink. The cap is a soft plastic that comes off and slots around the cup handle. 

Eyeball flavor?

The handle isn't enclosed, so it can slide easily over the top of Abbey's fingers without her huge hands preventing her from using it.

Next, she has a movie-candy box of "Sno Corpse" sweets, obviously referencing Sno-Caps.

I'm a little surprised to see Mattel directly parodying a brand like this--that's typically MGA's game. 

Her last food item is a frozen chocolate pop shaped like a tombstone and aptly labeled "Death by Chocolate".

With the fur stole and the ice pop, Abbey almost feels like an honorary Fearidescent Skulltimate Secrets doll! (She could have actually been in the series if Mattel had wanted--she does fit in the locker!)

Abbey's last handheld accessory is her phone, which is shaped like a yeti ice cream. The thumb loop is designed for the phone to go into the right hand while facing Abbey, while every other G3 phone so far has been made to fit in the doll's left hand when facing them.

That is, of course, when we're playing a game of happy fantasies and telling ourselves the phones fit on their thumbs and look remotely natural in their hands. 

Then, Abbey has her backpack. It's a translucent pink snowflake shape that's only capable of containing her Sno Corpse candy box (or, I guess, her detached earrings).

I didn't try to put the backpack on her because it's tiny and rigid and a lot to wrangle for something I don't plan to use. 

Abbey's pet mammoth has been renamed from Shiver to Tundra and now has bat-wing ears. I still find the G3 pets too cutesy, but this is okay.

It seems like the pet's name was changed because Mattel lost a trademark-- the upcoming Creeproduction Abbey's box conspicuously does not include a name and trademark next to her pet in her box's design, while the other new Creepro dolls like Spectra and Ghoulia still have their pets' original names written and trademarked on the boxes. However, Frankie Stein's pet's name was changed to Watzie in G3, but her Creepro's box still includes her G1 pet's name Watzit with a trademark symbol. Maybe that proves the name change for Frankie's dog was all done by choice, but Abbey's mammoth had to be renamed by necessity?

The nail-in-the-coffin proof, though, would be whether or not the Creepro Abbey diary uses the name Shiver or can't include a trademark next to it if it does.

Now, let's look at her body. 

Abbey has the tallest G3 body sculpt so far, beating out Frankie, and her shape is fairly curvy. Her breasts are large and her hips and thighs are wide, suiting a heftier monster like a yeti. Her wrists and knees retain the G2 fur detail, and her hands remain very big and clawed. They could be the G1 sculpts repurposed for the new joint pegs, or just something new that's very similar.

Abbey's body colors are not totally consistent, with some pieces looking greener.

Here's a height lineup I took at the start of this process. Jack Skellington is of course still the tallest MH doll I have in the 11-inch scale. Fudging from shoe heights is included.

Left to right--G1 MH height (standard height for all gens), G2 MH boy (only slightly taller than a G1 boy in height), G3 Abbey, G3 boy, G3 Draculaura, G3 Frankie, and Skullector Jack Skellington.

I had the Skullector Frankenstein Monster packed away, but on later quick examination, he's slightly taller than Abbey. I don't expect any G3 femme body sculpts to be taller than Abbey's, though. She might represent the max of the height scale, and body sculpts any taller than her would be ineligible for release in the Skulltimate Secrets line since they wouldn't fit in the doll compartment of the cases! [UPDATE: Apparently, she is in the fourth rumored series, but those cases will apparently be a new shape, rendering the concern of her fitting in the original locker moot. She does fit in it, though!]

Abbey is too tall for a standard MH waist-grip stand pole (or the unbranded stands sold on Amazon!), and her waist would need a wider clip. She'd probably need Jack Skellington's taller pole and a wide clip to put together a doll stand for her. MH saddle stands are out of the question because her legs' length puts the hips too high to rest in the cradle, and the cradle itself is designed for a skinnier lower body. The lack of stand options is mildly frustrating given how poorly her shoes serve standing.

[EDIT: M also mentioned that a Frightfully Tall doll clip would fit Abbey's waist, with the tradeoff of it not being able to lower down the stand enough for her feet to touch the base. I grabbed my Gooliope's stand to check, and this is correct.

Abbey, lowered down the Frightfully Tall stand as far as the clip will go.

The Frightfully Tall pole has a different structure from the standard size, so the clip cannot be transferred onto a smaller stand. I like the fact that this works, but I feel like it's more of a solution to put Abbey up and out of the way while working on something just so you know she's not falling over. It doesn't suit me personally as a display option, and the rarity of this stand size, only releasing on seven dolls who really need it, makes it feel a little wrong to give it to a doll it's awkward on. I can see a fun novelty in elevating a doll with this stand, though. You could make her a centerpiece of a display with "floor-height" dolls standing around her!

But while I was at it, since I wanted to confirm Abbey's height next to the Skullector Monster and I speculated about Jack's stand already, I tried out a hybrid design while the Bride of Frankenstein box was out, combining the taller stand pole from Jack Skellington and the man-sized waist clip from the Monster. This stand design works perfectly for Abbey.

An illustration of why Jack's pole is required for her! The pole is taller than she needs, 
but the standard pole is definitely too short.

The Monster's stand clip is the exact same as any G1 boy doll's, so that piece has more accessible sources than the one I picked for these photos. Jack's stand, however, is much harder to come by. By any means, getting together a stand for Abbey is an inconvenience and I don't think it's worth the money or allocation given the exclusivity of the pieces that work for her.

-----------------HALT! Foolishness alert!!! Disregard prior conclusion!!!----------------------

...and then I realized when looking at the photos I just took that, wait, Abbey can clearly use the standard stand because, at that height, the clip will fit within the height of the standard pole! Turns out, the unbranded stand I'd attempted to use on Abbey is actually shorter than a standard MH one! All Abbey needs is a boy's waist clip! 

I repeat: 

all Abbey needs is a boy's waist clip!

Abbey comfortably using a stand originally from G1 signature Holt Hyde
(it came with a Gil I ordered).

M, thank you so much for this little journey. I learned a lot!]

Abbey and Heath have always been teased for a relationship due to their hot/cold contrast, which is true for their G3 versions too. Heath even motivated me to bring Abbey back to the table, so of course I got some photos of them together.

This was my absolute favorite photo, though--I wanted to see if I could demonstrate Abbey's Yetish strength by having her carry her man...and with a little willing participation from Heath, she actually can!

"Yo, check out my awesome ghoulfriend."

Their faces are both perfect for the photo. They're both confident and proud of this situation and absolutely should be. The magic is in Heath's elbow behind Abbey's neck, since her arms aren't able to hold him by themselves. The effect works great, though, and I love the dynamic of a guy who loves his big strong lady!

The last thing I wanted to try was giving Abbey a coat. I looked through the Christmas ornaments at the Target I found her in, since that's usually a good place to find miniature coats and sweaters, and I found this piece that looked promising.

I just pulled the skis off and pulled the flap of the coat apart to open it up and turn it into doll clothes. The hood doesn't work on Abbey as a hood, but the fit isn't awful!

I then put her clothes back on, swapping out her new top for the top from the first copy, whose sleeves I had already cut off in the endeavor to pair her with a coat earlier. This is when I went very white-light fashion-shoot. It fit the vibe. The coat hood can look nice and dramatic turned up asymmetrically...

And this pose from behind is very sassy!

This couple photo with this lighting setup looks like some kind of pretentious print ad to me!

[UPDATE: I waited until actual snow arrived in January to take more pictures of Abbey in the right setting, including the above new cover photo. She's joined by Fearidescent Draculaura, another wintry doll featured in a later post here.

These are the photos I wanted from her!]

I had fun with G3 Abbey in the end. While her fashion sense still doesn't totally enthrall me and her hair shouldn't have been made that fiber, her look is appealing, her body sculpt and new details are excellent, and with a little hair work, she is much improved. I'm glad to have her dazzling the shelf like a snowfall. I can't wait to see what's next for her.