Deal or No Deal? Monster High G3 Scare-adise Island Heath Burns by Mattel

 What a weird time to release warm vacation dolls.

Scare-adise Island is Monster High G3's first slim-box doll line with a distinct theme, taking the crew to a tropical vacation. It thus serves as G3's first beach line as well. The dolls were revealed in summer when they'd be most appropriate...but then dropped in early autumn. I guess it doesn't make a difference since the seasons don't adhere to any form anymore (thanks, corporations), but I'd still think this would be better for an early summer release.

Regardless, the biggest point of intrigue for me was the debut of Heath Burns' G3 incarnation in the toyline. It's an odd way to bring his character in, but not an unwelcome one. A character debuting in a budget line is a totally valid and appealing option if they can be fully-executed under a lower price point. I think this is technically the first time a signature release from MH has been done as a solo budget doll. While characters like Jackson Jekyll and Slo Mo debuted in slim-box form in G1, those dolls weren't depicting a signature look as seen in the cartoon, and Gilda Goldstag, a simple signature character released alongside budget-tier dolls, and who thus would count as a budget doll herself, was in a five-pack, not solo. Meanwhile, the G2 main cast debuted in cheaper form than their G1 counterparts, but those dolls weren't in the budget tier of their generation because the standards were seriously lowered for the kiddies then and any character who debuted as a budget doll in G2 would have fewer joints--perish the thought!

Heath Burns wasn't exactly the most lovable character in G1. A fire elemental, Heath was characterized as an irritating self-destructive pest with an obnoxious flirtatious side that makes the character feel really intolerable, and probably moreso than he was intended to be. His character design was alright and his two dolls were fine, but he was never someone with huge draw. 

Mattel stock photo of Ghoul Fair Heath, the character's second and final G1 release.

Heath was also depicted as Holt Hyde's cousin, which was probably used to justify the weird decision to adapt the classic Hyde monster into a flame-headed character and explain why there were two flame-haired boys in school. I do enjoy what Holt has going on just as his own visual design, though, and maybe one day I'll get his two dolls.

In the right lights, the contrast of his reds and oranges against his blue skin is stunning.
(Stock photo from Mattel.)

I probably wouldn't say "never" to a Heath doll from G1, either, but he's no priority. 

In G3, Heath is still called a fire elemental, but with the added context of his dad now being Hades (probably standing in for the Devil), his portrayal is shifted to be a demon in everything but name, and I think that's rad. Mattel is still playing it safe here...but it is less safe than G1 Heath's concept which never seemed to hint at that, and a demon monster is automatically more appealing to me conceptually than just an elemental. 

G3 Heath's look was known before his doll was revealed, so we knew he had a blue hoodie and shorts to contrast against his orange flames. 

I was on board with the fun color contrast, though it is also admittedly another case of Mattel using a brighter, more kid-friendly palette on a character who previously looked edgy. The charcoal black outfit base color of classic Heath was a little typical, but it was effective. This...well, we'd have to see. 

Here's G3 Heath in-box. 

The back of the box features artwork and tiny multilingual text.

I really like this line's Frankie (they have a great track record with me so far!)

The G3 slim-boxes are blister packs, where the bubble just tears off the cardboard backing. Unboxing Heath was pretty simple, and there were no tags in his head--not that it'd have been easy to implement them on him!

Here's everything deboxed.

G3 Heath's hair is quite different in doll form than it is in the cartoon, but not in a way I have any issue with. The cartoon has yellow-orange flames in a vertical flare a la Syndrome from The Incredibles' weird tufted style, while the doll features a more red-orange flare that goes down his head in a flaming mohawk, with the "buzzed" sections of his head being sculpted and painted red.

I really like the sculpt here and the color blending of the plastic is very effective. It also looks great illuminated.

There is something amusing about the style, though. It feels very "classic Monster High" to me...on account of the fact that it felt like the mohawk was the go-to style for the mansters!

Deuce has always had one...

Gil had one...

...and even Clawd had one, rooted, a couple of times, including on his first doll!

Maybe it's a little uncreative for Heath to now join this group...but I honestly just think it's really funny.

G3 Heath's skin has changed from flame-yellow to a light orange tone that I think has been used for all incarnations of Toralei Stripe. It's got to be very similar if it's not exactly the same.

His eyes are wider and his irises are now orange with bands of yellow rather than being red, and his face feels less sharp. His brows are more neutral. However, despite Heath being the pest character in G1, it's the G3 doll that has a little bit more of a smirky, impish expression to me. I worried that Heath's head was too square and stout based on the stock photos, and that his lips were a little too plump to feel like the older Heath...

Heath's Mattel stock photo.

...but in person, his face does feel appropriately long and it's not hard to read him as a descendant of the original doll. Tilting his head down helps even more.

My Heath's eyes are not perfectly aligned, but it's not to any degree I find distracting or detrimental. 

Heath's costume is a blue jogging suit with a long-sleeved hoodie and shorts. Darker blue trims the costume and flame patterns in orange and red decorate it. This is mostly accurate to the cartoon, but the arms are decorated on that outfit.

The flames fortunately are printed all around the back of the hoodie. Cheap half-printed costumes with plain back sides were a common sight during G2.

One thing I really appreciate about G3's clothing design is that it's finally allowing the mansters with hoodies to put their hoods up! Previously, only Mattel's female dolls had hoods large enough to go up on their heads, while the boys (such as Scaris Deuce or Invisi Billy) wore purely aesthetic hoods in the down position on their backs because the hoods weren't large enough to fit. In G3, both manster hoodies so far (Coffin Bean Deuce's and Heath's) have hoods large enough to be worn up. I was excited to see what Heath would look like, since I hadn't seen photos of his hood up before.

It's a bit awkward, since not only does Heath's large MH head have to be accounted for, but so does his vertical hair! Maybe this wasn't quite the doll to be hooded. It doesn't mesh with the outfit as much since the clothes don't form a large or grandiose presence otherwise.

This looks okay, I guess.

Trying to pull it down does not help.

I wonder what kind of fireproof clothing Heath has to wear for this to be remotely feasible. 

For shoes, Heath has simple slides in dark blue with flame patterns. These aren't the shoes in the cartoon outfit, but they don't feel like an unforgivable departure and they suit the theme of the doll line better than sneakers would.

Heath's last outfit piece is his sunglasses. They're a more peachy neon orange with flame designs on the arms, and the lenses are pretty translucent.

And here's the hood and shades together.

Heath has two handheld accessories--a drink and a sunscreen bottle, both cast in translucent neon reddish orange, more vivid than his shades.

I love how the drink looks like a volcano, but it probably should have had painted detail. The sunscreen bottle is the same mold as G3 signature Draculaura's...which was in turn an exact reproduction of the piece included with G1 Gloom Beach Draculaura.

Heath's protection level is lower than Draculaura's, understandably. Combustion is his default state, not his greatest fear!

Heath's last piece is a vinyl swim bag sculpted to look like canvas. The design matches his clothing.

The bag is open at the top and can easily fit his sunscreen.

Here's all of his stuff together!

The last thing to address is the second outfit configuration. Heath's hoodie is made of natural fibers, but his shorts are a waterproof artificial fabric, since they're meant to double as swim trunks. This means he's designed to be displayed for the beach without the hoodie, too.

This is something of a tradition for Monster High beach dolls, who have spare clothing pieces that make them more elaborate, but are designed to be set aside to have them fully ready to swim in just their base bathing suits. 

I had wondered if things would change for Heath, but no, he still has the same body design as the other G3 boys. It's well past time for Mattel to consider designing variable male body shapes for their dolls, especially for a franchise with a relatively high proportion of dudes among girls' doll lines...though I have to admit, Heath's body works for his energy. I don't like how short all of the G3 boys feel, but Heath fits the frame well. 

I have to wonder if maybe G3 Heath is nailing Holt Hyde's coffin shut and resolving the redundancy of visuals by emerging as the sole flame boy that will be in the G3 cast. I can't see the orange/red and blue contrast being totally coincidental as the new look for Heath, even though it is a poppier, friendlier version of it...and G3 Heath has translucent flame hair like Holt did, whereas G1 Heath had opaque sculpted hair that looked less like actual fire. It feels like G3 Heath is taking parts of Holt's design and shutting the door on the possibility of Holt coexisting alongside him. The Jekyll/Hyde dynamic was also reused narratively for an antagonistic teacher character in the first G3 movie, so I really don't have much reason to think Jackson and Holt are going to come back. I can't mourn them too badly because Jackson felt like a stereotype and I never liked his look, Holt felt nothing like his literary inspiration, the characters formed a confusing love triangle conflict, and the characters were conspicuously voiced by a woman despite being of the age for a man to be more appropriate as their portrayer. Still, it's hard for me to not feel a little sorry for the characters being taken apart and diffused into other avenues. 

Now I wanted to try restyling Heath a little. I liked the idea of embracing his demonic side with a suave formal outfit, and of grounding his color palette in darker flame tones to see how that would work. I put together a Mego tuxedo jacket, the shirt from G1 sig Clawd with the sleeves off (from the project I attempted with Clawd that hasn't been resolved or posted), Mego pants, and spare ILF Scarah shades. I think this makes him look appropriately inhuman, tricky, and charming in an odd way.

This feels like the right kind of clashing casual and formal tones for a teen demon, and the glasses make him feel weird in the right way for an otherworldly trickster. They do have to be precisely positioned, though, since his brows are long enough to poke beyond the ovals of the lenses!

I also went downstairs to briefly paint his sclerae black and give him some demon edge that I thought pulled it all together well. Mattel may have to be coy with his monster type, but I don't!

The cover photo was my favorite picture of Heath: illuminated like flame from behind with the suit, like a true dealing devil in the moonlight (or maybe a casino or wealthy club!)

Heath looks good in the outfit without the shades.

Or without the jacket.

Then, for a more casual high-school look that reincorporated a blue contrast with a richer, darker tone, I decided to try out Rainbow High River Kendall's varsity jacket. I just cut out some orange and red fabric to make flame patches over the RH embroidery that the piece was manufactured with.

I then went to sand the lenses of the shades to make them less translucent, because a demon should have opaque lenses (or maybe I'm just trying to channel Anthony J. Crowley here) rather than shades that could be seen as eyeglasses.

The other shades don't click as well with this combo.

I really like this ensemble. It feels like a more proper signature look, and it feels like a stronger G3 update of the original Heath. The blue is in there, but the outfit feels less juvenile and might offer even stronger pop, and the colorful vibe suits the goals of G3 while keeping a toughness and teen coolness to the idea. 

And the colors just work so well for me!

I'll keep the original outfit in his stock, but I do prefer the tux look and the varsity look. They just feel more classic while being new in the right ways. 

G1 Heath was an okay design and at the least, a mildly horrible person. But I think, with a little work, G3 Heath has carried forward the best of the character in a way I really enjoy. The fire demon might have gotten a little chill after all.