Anniversary Reunion, Part 2: Rocking the Dead Carpet with Operetta

 Time for my second doll in the trio that started it all!

Go here to read the first post in this series, providing context into my original three dolls.

The first day I went shopping for Monster High dolls, I went to Toys "R" Us first and was blown away by Amanita Nightshade, and grabbed her on the spot. I don't perfectly remember who else I saw on the shelves at the time (likely Freak du Chic and maybe a couple other Gloom and Bloom dolls, as well as the Love's Not Dead two-pack), but none of those were grabbing me. I would have not found any Boo York, Boo York dolls at TRU, because if I had, I probably would have grabbed an Elle. So I ventured forth into the neighboring Walmart to see what they had. I know they had Boo York, but the prices just weren't low enough at the moment, or I got sidetracked. I remember being surprised to find this Operetta still on the shelves, coming from the Frights, Camera, Action! doll line. 

The latest drop of FCA Monster High dolls was in 2014, and it was April 2016 when I found Operetta. (I think there were multiple copies, and no other characters from the line.) I think I was aware I shouldn't be seeing this doll on the shelves anymore, and from this, I quickly learned that Walmart was the place to look for any toys that had been retired and sold out in every other retailer, second to Walgreens, which had several old slim-box dolls at the time. This knowledge was useful to me for several other acquisitions, and, as evidenced by seeing an O.M.G. Fierce doll on the shelves in December 2023 when the Fierce dolls were July 2022 releases, still holds true. It may be bad corporate policy or optics to leave products idle on the shelf for so long, but I think it creates a fun treasure hunt. 

Anyway, I felt like Operetta being there was a good opportunity, and I already fiercely adored the character so I took the chance. I've said it before, but my collecting habits back then were more often driven by experiencing a doll of a character I liked, moreso than experiencing a doll design I loved. This let me see cool body details and have a personality I enjoyed represented on my shelf, but often led to me getting dolls that were objectively janky or not visually appealing. Today, I collect for a toy I think will be good in all departments, while seeking characters that attract me. I would not at all choose, say, Dead Tired as my resident Cleo this time around, nor Freak Du Chic as my resident Honey. Back then, though, I just wanted the characters how I could get them. 

That's not to say I disliked Operetta, though. I was quite disappointed by her hair, but I still thought she was pretty and loved her classic-Hollywood fashion styling. Eventually, she got a bit wrecked hair-wise and hindsight hasn't made me as frustrated by my decision to let her go. However, working with Operetta again in what was probably my most successful RESTYLE ICONS project to date reignited curiosity in this doll. I was no longer a novice kid who'd never handled a fashion doll, and I wondered if I could make her look better than factory state this time around. And since I wanted Amanita and Kala back, I figured it was right to bring back Operetta and do a full reunion with the ghouls who started it all.

I felt no compulsion to get Operetta new in box, and my standards for completeness with this doll were low enough that I got a copy without her stand or photo camera accessory. I have a comparable camera, using the same sculpts, from making Marcia. 

Frights, Camera, Action was divided into sub-collections, and Operetta was the only previously-established character to make it into the full-price Hauntlywood line, which also included the debuting characters Viperine Gorgon, Honey Swamp, Elissabat, and Clawdia Wolf. The other familiar characters in the line were slim-box Black Carpet dolls. Despite Operetta being in the fancier half of the doll line, she was exclusive to Walmart and obviously didn't sell well there. She was the only FCA toy I ever saw on shelves!

Here she is out of the bag she came in. I knew the hair was a challenge awaiting me, but in some way, it would have been in new state, too.

The first piece of Operetta, though, is probably her best--a fascinator with a veil attached. The hat itself is shaped like a dripping white heart and has five dice pips painted on it, and it's attached to a black elastic band. On the back, there are some curls of black tulle, and a black mesh shape with polka-dots hangs underneath. This serves as the Phantom of the Opera mask accessory for this doll, with the mesh veil able to be positioned over the scarred left side of her face and her eye.

Of all the takes on giving Operetta a Phantom mask, I think I always found this one the most inventive, and the most effective. Unlike most of her masks, which covered the front of her face more than her scar, this piece is capable of doing both. 

One of the biggest mistakes I made with the original Operetta copy was not unboxing her carefully enough, so when I went to snip the elastic plastic band holding this piece on in-box, I cut the elastic the piece was supposed to have as well. I remember I just resorted to having the piece sit underneath a plastic elastic to hold it on. This time, there were still packaging things holding it on, but I was very careful to make sure the band she needed was attached. 

Operetta's hairstyle is unusual. She has rounded black bangs in front, and the hair just behind it is all black and tied up in a top side ponytail that's meant to cascade onto the red loose hair behind her. In structure, this isn't too different from my Killer Style Operetta's hair restyle, but this Operetta's ponytail is much wavier and intentionally pulled to the side. On the new doll, the bangs and top ponytail are very disorderly, leaving the shape hard to see, and the red hair is thin and gluey. This is worse than the old Operetta, but the original wasn't much better. Her red portion always felt flat and shapeless to me, and I wish it had been curled at the factory to a comparable level as the black portion.

Something happened with my first copy (either damage forced my hand or I had an extremely uninformed bad idea) and I had cut off her bangs, whereupon I was forced to play with her ponytail so I could pull her hair over her forehead and cover the unsightly image. I don't have any photos of that. She's spared that indignity.

Operetta's face is a fairly typical faceup for the character, with taupe eyeshadow and retro red lips. She had some marks by her right eye that scraped off easily.

Like my other Operetta, this doll has yellowed some. It's to be expected for her, and I've found very limited success reversing this with peroxide soaks in the sunlight, so I don't really want to waste time on that with her.

When new, this doll would have had a VIP guest-pass lanyard necklace, reused from the Music Festival line. It adds so little to the doll, and the tourist theme detracts from the red-carpet style of the rest, so I'm not sad to be lacking it this time. This Operetta still had the packaging elastic band that would have held the necklace on. 

Operetta's costume as a whole uses a pretty triangular, abstract art-deco take on her typical piano-key motif, and the first example is in her earrings, which also use Operetta's common spiderweb imagery.

Operetta's dress is one piece. It ties around the neck with black strings, and the bodice is metallic red with a ruffled sweetheart neckline. The waist is pretty high, with a wide belt section with piano motifs, and the skirt is wide with two layers--a satiny layer with more abstract piano-key/dice imagery, and a sheer red layer underneath with musical sheet-notation print.

I was frustrated by how short the skirt was on my older doll, feeling like a more authentic longer length would have improved the doll, and I remember the older copy's dress hanging really badly so it looked like her stomach was slumped forward all the time. This copy doesn't have that issue, and I think I was putting the blame for my frustrations on the dress when I probably should have been upset with the hair. The prototype in the stock photo was longer, though, thanks to the more generous red under-layer there. On the produced doll, that layer is very short and I like the prototype better.

The string ties on the neck were something I gave up on with the last copy, and I cut them off, but on this doll, the loop was tied tight in its position. I felt like I could work with that and keep the neck strap on this time if I just popped off Operetta's head and cut her neck peg to make her head easily removable. That way, I could pop off her head, and then undo the dress, slide it up to get the neck strap off, and then slide it back down and off her body. Reverse the steps for redressing. This was implemented when I took her hair down for a goo treatment.

Operetta's arms are given unique sculpts on this release to reflect matching but opposite-colored elbow gloves. The right arm and hand have a white glove, and the left arm has a black glove, plus a removable bracelet with a piano-key design.

Operetta's arm tattoo is already designed in two segments across her two arm pieces so the arm rotation doesn't affect the pattern, but because so little of Operetta's lower left arm is uncovered, there's no paint for her tattoo on the lower arm here. 

Operetta's shoes are high-heeled sandals with stacked dice for heels and a spiderweb design. I previously also owned this sculpt in red and white colors from one of her fashion packs.

Operetta's purse is shaped kind of like a downturned fan of piano keys, and has a black beaded wrist strap. The piece is not designed to open, but it looks very pretty.

This edition of Operetta has zero purple in her styling, which is a distinction not even her signature doll can claim. I think it works out really well here, and even when it's dark, I can agree purple is the least in Operetta's palette. 

Then I took her down for work. I attacked the red part of her hair with Goo Gone, and retied her top ponytail because the old elastic had disintegrated. I also popped her head off and modified her neck peg so her dress could stay tied. After that, I boiled her bangs into place and curled her red hair so it would have more shape and volume. Here's what I think she's supposed to look like.

The hair isn't totally convincing, in that you can still tell it's a bit thin, but it looks really good.

There is a slight bald spot in the seam between the two colors, but it's negligible.

And here's the fascinator and veil demonstrated properly. I love the way this looks for her Phantom theme. You do have to tuck it under her bangs a little for her eye to be covered.

And she was ready for photos! Here's a publicity headshot.

And she had to walk the red carpet.

She worked well with LDD Lottie's umbrella, because who doesn't at this rate? That doll was a worthy investment!

And I set her up with some O.M.G. popcorn and the glasses I gave to Jackson for a 3D movie viewing.

"We come to this place for magic..."

Here's Operetta in more of a celebrity-outing guise you'd see around in the fifties. She's wearing a Spectra fashion-pack shawl from an idea that didn't work out, and the eternally useful Scarah glasses.

These glasses and the Lottie umbrella might be my two most applicable doll props!

And lastly, with the repainted camera similar to the one she would have had originally.

I found a surrealist collage-esque look to the way the camera replaced her eye in the composition, so I ran with it.

Well, I'm very glad to have had the oppor(etta)tunity to do this doll justice after not knowing how to work with her before and damaging her in two ways. She can look much much better in the hands of someone who's been collecting and working with dolls for longer. I don't think it's necessarily unfair to her that she performed so poorly on shelves, but if you know what you're doing, she's well worth it.

Here are my two Operettas now.

I've seen the new Fang Club "Outta Fright" Operetta, and I just have to say I wish Mattel would design a Fang Club doll that really rocked my socks, because my membership has paid off squat. I haven't really wanted either of the exclusive dolls so far. Outta Fright could have been a winner if only she didn't do the worst thing for Operetta dolls and use lots of pale lavender. The ghoul is fifties, but she needs some punch in her design and the only acceptable purple for her costuming should be dark. I might be open to a Creeproduction Operetta if that gets made, but again, that gel hairstyle intimidates me. 

For now, I'm perfectly happy with the Hauntlywood diva.