Woe is She: Monster High x "Wednesday" Wednesday Addams Doll and Paint it Black Fashion Pack by Mattel Creations

It hasn't passed my attention that Netflix's Wednesday has abruptly (and relatively belatedly) gotten a huge marketing and merchandising push, possibly because they realized the show's popularity was juxtaposed against a relatively untapped market, and also they have a second season to hype up. The first season is even on physical media now, which Netflix almost never allows for their originals. Toys and clothing and other branded products are popping up everywhere, and now we have proper Wednesday fashion dolls in lieu of the cheap Chinese no-brand dolls that have been floating around online. And who else would be giving us these dolls than Monster High? It's an ideal match. Both are about spooky schools! 

I had to go for the star character herself, and sure, the fashion pack too. 

For more context on The Addams Family history, my thoughts on the franchise and Wednesday in particular, and a review on MH's first Addams adaptations very recently, read this post first.

But to recap, Wednesday is the latest major entry into the pop-culture Addams Family pantheon--and I say "major" because it's clearly become an icon of its own right. It's a Netflix original series headed by Tim Burton (who miraculously never managed to get behind the Addams wheel earlier). It's also, despite its teen demographic aim, the most adult take on The Addams Family, allowing more grim storytelling, elements of gore, and some profanity, by people and disembodied hands alike. The series focuses on Wednesday Addams, the older (in this story, teenaged) child of the Addams family, whose personality is informed by the 1990s film duology--she's dour, grim, antisocial, intelligent, and thinks very highly of herself, in this version being a cello player and an amateur investigator writing a detective novel. After getting herself expelled from school for a very gruesome revenge on her brother Puglsey's behalf, she gets enrolled in her parent's old boarding school, Nevermore Academy, which is full of supernatural students and teachers referred to as "outcasts". The plot from this point juggles themes of bigotry using supernatural metaphors (which...like, can't we just be straightforward and depict the real demographic dynamics?), historical bigotry with evil Pilgrims, aping Addams Family Values' deconstruction of the American myth (though less intelligently), the developing relationship (I didn't feel like it had enough screentime and authentic growth to hit right) between Wednesday and her relentlessly bubbly, cutesy werewolf roommate Enid Sinclair (herself subject to difficulty because she cannot "wolf out" and transform), and a murder mystery investigation as Wednesday discovers clairvoyant powers and plays amateur detective to find out the secrets of a deadly monster on the loose. 

As mentioned before in my last Addams doll review, I don't think the Wednesday show is that great, but the lead performance is stellar. Jenna Ortega held the reins firm on the way she played Wednesday Addams and how she navigated the scripts she was handed, and honestly, thank goodness for that, because in my eyes, she understood the source material better than almost anybody on the team. It's just her and Morticia and Fester that really felt proper. Ortega wears the Wednesday role perfectly after it seemed like Christina Ricci would forever own it, and she plays well into the show's examination of how destructive Wednesday would be when the people around her aren't unsympathetic. Shockingly for a Tim Burton story, the outcast loner isn't the most sympathetic, because Wednesday is depicted as emotionally callous and selfish and toxic. The big thing, though, is that the rest of the show can feel very cliché TV-YA. The dialogue is a little clunky and cringeworthy and inauthentic on the young characters, the murder-mystery plot and school of recognizable monster outcasts feel like manufactured teenager appeal rather than authentic narratives for the Addams universe, which doesn't use explicit monster types and contrasts weird with "normal" in satirical fashion. Wednesday and Ortega and the side roles of the classic Addams family members are fantastic in the show. All the rest is mediocre to baffling. With Ortega getting more creative input in Season 2, I hope things will feel more true to the spirit of older Addams tales and less generic and inauthentic.

So of any of the three Monster High dolls from the show, I had only interest in basic Wednesday. I could compare to the generic Wednesday released before. Enid is well-done but I'm just not attached to her character as it stands from the released show, and Rave'n Wednesday references a famous moment from the show that doesn't do tons for me. I bought Wednesday during Fang Club early access and bought the fashion pack alongside her to get the $5 deal off of it. The prices are still a bit ludicrous, but I honestly wouldn't have put the dolls being $60 each past Mattel. Fortunately, they were not. I also appreciate that these dolls are set to be brick-and-mortar retail releases as well, without a limited-release collector setup. 

The Monster High Wednesday dropped on a Wednesday, same as the show, which released on a Wednesday. And would you believe it, but Wednesday arrived on the Wednesday after I ordered her? 

This is the first time Monster High has adapted two distinct licensed portrayals of the same character, as a generic Wednesday was included in a broader Addams pack with Morticia just recently. The only other way I could see something like this happening in the future is if there's a Skullector doll based on Tim Curry's Pennywise from the 1990 IT miniseries, which would follow the Skullector doll based on Bill Skarsgård's Pennywise from the 2017-19 IT film duology.

With the Wednesday dolls, the total of MH collector dolls based on works credited to Tim Burton has risen. Now we have Lydia and Betelgeuse, Jack and Sally, Wednesday, Rave'n Wednesday, and Enid. I'm fully expecting, based on nothing, that a Victor and Emily Corpse Bride set would be in next year's pipeline, which would add to the total even more.

I had sworn I had taken a photo of Wednesday's box alone, but it didn't register! Oops. But the box design for the Wednesday dolls is unique. Rather than paneled doors or sleeves over a window, these dolls have clear plastic windows in the front and top faces of the box, with the Monster High x Wednesday logos and the names of the dolls. For basic Wednesday and Enid Sinclair, the boxes both use an image of their shared dorm room. Enid, despite being a werewolf, is cutesy, colorful, bubbly, and very femme, so she had taken the liberty of decorating the spiderweb-shaped circular window with colored paper for more of a stained-glass effect. Wednesday, upon moving in, quickly removes the paper cover on her half of the window, establishing a split aesthetic for their living space. As such, Wednesday's box centers her half and Enid's centers her own so the two boxes complete the image when they are placed side-to-side with Enid on the left.

The image does wrap around to the internal walls of the box, showing the continuation of the scenery, so the effect works best directly head-on.

The background features a Skullette-woven cobweb on Wednesday's side, as well as her desk and typewriter and cello. Wednesday is a present-day setting, but Wednesday Addams is behind on tech for the aesthetic. 

Also on the shelf is...Isi Dawndancer's G1 doll diary? Uh. What?

I don't know what this detail is doing here. A doll diary is a cute Monster High touch, but why Isi? Mattel reps had to apologize for her design after Native American voices criticized her optics! She's the last doll I'd expect Mattel to want to reference in the current day, especially after Twyla Boogeyman ditched dreamcatcher imagery for the likely reason of greater sensitivity. Is this some kind of stretch toward the whole "Wednesday says Native rights" element of the character in Addams Family Values and the show? Because I don't know. If Wednesday (a wealthy Latina American in this show) is even qualified to speak on Isi's behalf, I don't know if she'd be qualified to defend her. (I'm certainly not.) 

I'm almost certainly overthinking and knee-jerking just because I know that Monster High character has had a rough time, but really, no previous doll's diary would make sense on Wednesday's shelf. Why couldn't the graphic designers have replaced the signature with an illegible scrawl or something?

The box design is clearly aiming for classy and minimalist, but it strikes me as a bit spare. I don't love the fully clear window in the front and wish there were more graphics or a cardboard border around the edge to feel more classic Monster High. 

The sides of the box have a photo portrait of Wednesday and the logo. The photo is on the side to the doll's left.

The back has a vertical stripe pattern in aged brownish grey, reflecting Wednesday's academy uniform, and features a typewritten journal entry from Wednesday. Despite the soft content and Monster High slang, I'm glad it doesn't feel that out-of-character. The description mentions Wednesday and Enid bonding over manicures with Thing, which is pretty true to the show. Thing is often a middleman or proxy for Wednesday and Enid's emotional interactions, as he's friendly to both and they both care about him. There are some fun gags with Thing on the show, but sadly, a couple are just present in dialogue rather than being shown onscreen. 

The doll's licensing is credited to MGM, who owns the Addams property, as well as the Tee and Charles Addams Foundation, who must be some extension of Chas Addams's estate.

Like most collector dolls in the brand, the backdrop slides out for unboxing. The Wednesday dolls do not have certificates of authenticity, however, though the stand poles and clips are in the usual place on the back.

The stand base is a new design, being circular and black with texture of Wednesday and Enid's dorm window with a Skullette in the middle. To reflect the roommate-divided design of the window without the benefit of color, Enid's half of the design here has more textured lines between the "threads" of the web.

The stand pole and clip are typical. 

Unboxing the doll was a little annoying because Wednesday's coat front was tagged to her skirt, leaving holes in the jacket and creating a snag in the skirt when I tried to pull out the end of the tag I'd cut from inside--i.e., exactly when it should have been smoothest. I see no reason her jacket needed tacking down

Here's the doll unboxed.

Like any incarnation of Wednesday Addams, this portrayal wears her hair in twin low braids, and her hair is black as most depictions usually are. Netflix Wednesday is set apart by wearing curved-out bangs and side locks in the front, though due to the massive popularity of the series, I won't be surprised to see future incarnations of Wednesday with these traits going forward. The bangs and side locks are gelled, with the bangs being split in the middle. The right side lock was unsettled and bent outward.

The braids are similar to the previous MH Wednesday's, and are similarly entirely disproportionate, being too large and thick as a consequence of rooting a head fully at such a small scale. 

Each braid is the proportion of a large full-head braid on a human. I know Mattel never does this, but Living Dead Dolls thins its rooting when it wants to do tied styles that will be proportionate to the doll, including rooting just around the perimeter of the head or half the head so the tied section is small. 

The loose ends of the braids are gelled into pointed curls, though this is only to tidy them. The braids are tied off with black elastics to keep them together.

I'm a little disappointed with how messy the braids look here. There were fewer untidy hairs I noticed on the previous Wednesday doll.

Wednesday's skintone is a pale flesh color, befitting the look of the TV character. Jenna Ortega doesn't wear any obvious "eerie" makeup to make her look spooky or strange in the role, though the doll does have a similar greyish "never seen sun" cast that Return of the Living Dead Dolls Sadie did. Her face sculpt is a successful portrait of Ortega in character through the Monster High style, and is clearly sculpted to likeness going on the 2024 stamp and the distinguishing feature of the chin cleft shared by the actor. That was also how I could be sure the Bride of Frankenstein was based on the portrayer--she had Elsa Lanchester's chin cleft! Not all Skullector dolls have unique sculpts, but they tend to be cases where the character in question is not a live-action actor in a role, or cases where Mattel has a close enough existing sculpt or the license isn't exactly new and likely to demand stringent accuracy.

Wednesday's eyebrows are a little lighter than her hair, and her eyes are brown with a web in one side of each iris. She has freckles and dark lips, and some minty eyeshadow.

While I think the face looks good, the energy might not be exactly what I want. I tend to think of this Wednesday with a cooler expression, more focused or ominous without much emotion. Wednesday spends most of her time in analysis mode or in intimidation mode, either of which have her more like she's looking through you than at you, and that's not present here. The doll looks relatively warm and friendly. 

Wednesday has relatively large human-shaped ears, and molded piercing marks which are not punched out here. This doll has no earrings, but her Rave'n edition does.

The school Wednesday goes to, Nevermore Academy, has a blue-and-black striped jacket as part of the uniform. Wednesday, citing an allergy to color, becomes the sole exception by being granted a greyscale rendition. 

I like to take Wednesday's color allergy as hyperbole rather than a literal problem she has, though I don't know if the writers meant it literally.

The doll is not wearing a one-to-one translation of the TV costume, but that fits with previous licensed dolls in Monster High. The show features a skirt that matches the jacket and has a narrower silhouette, a grey vest layer, and a Nevermore crest on the left breast of the jacket which the doll jacket lacks. 

The jacket piece is printed with a gradient-esque stripe pattern that evokes the unusual look of the TV jacket, though it does feel overall lighter-toned.

Around her waist, Wednesday has a Nevermore-crest belt cinching her jacket. She had no such piece in the show.

I had been confused why Wednesday's left arm wasn't lowering properly. When I took Wednesday's jacket off, I could see her whole sleeveless shirt/skirt combo...and also that her arm is severely warped from mismolding.

This is as far down to her side that the arm would go.

The upper arm piece is curved outward to the side, and the lower arm is also wonky while the fit around the hinge is loose due to the part that grips around the hinge being splayed out. 

This makes Wednesday unable to lower her left arm properly to her side and makes dressing and undressing her harder than it should be. I also notice her elbow hinge is prone to bending both ways and I repeatedly bent it the wrong direction. What a mess. And of course her elbow pegs don't rotate evenly, but what should I expect from the company that has a reputation for excellent doll bodies? The bad elbows aren't a new problem.

I was finally impassioned enough to leave a customer service complaint to Mattel, wherein I said Wednesday was screwed up but turned it into a plea to look at the bigger issue of the G1 collector doll bodies very consistently having faulty elbows. The content of my message was as follows:

My Wednesday doll arrived with molding errors in the left arm which left the arm molded in a bent-outward shape and made the elbow hinge loose. This is a disappointing accident, but I am really leaving this message to emphasize a much bigger and extremely consistent design issue I've encountered with almost every recent Monster High collector doll released on the G1 body style.

Whatever has changed regarding the manufacturing of the pins used in the dolls' elbow hinge/rotation pin pieces has had a very detrimental effect where the pins do not rotate smoothly within the elbow socket of the upper arm. I try to turn the forearm on any of these newer G1 bodies, and the pin itself begins to flex and twist back on its own until I turn harder, the pin hits a bump, and turns past the point it stuck on. You cannot turn the forearms properly in a full smooth circle, which makes posing difficult, and older dolls with the same body style, which were sold for much cheaper, easily outperform. I also noticed the elbow pins do not pop out of the socket as removable parts on these newer G1-style dolls, and either this is a design change that must be communicated to avoid damage (collectors might be expecting the forearms to pop out based on older dolls allowing this--if the new ones do not, this should be clear)...or the elbow pins *are* meant to pop out like the hands do and the same manufacturing change that makes the rotation sticky has also prevented the forearms from popping out.

This issue is something I have come to expect every time I buy a new Monster High release in the G1 style, and I'm tired of fooling myself. The Skullector Bride of Frankenstein had the sticky elbows. So did Sally, Howliday Love Draculaura, Creeproduction Ghoulia and Abbey, the Wednesday and Morticia set, and now this Wednesday. I am not asking for a new Wednesday doll, or for anything. I don't need a replacement copy. My doll's arm molding is a quality slip and bad luck. I can deal with that. Her elbow rotation is not a slip or bad luck, though, and I can't accept that. Mattel makes the best articulated doll bodies in the industry. I don't want to feel like they suddenly do not.

This is simply my frustrated plea for somebody somewhere in design or manufacturing to take notice of and address a persistent flaw clearly resulting from a manufacturing change that has had consistently negative effects on the products. We should not be expected to pay any longer for dolls that are inherently flawed and more likely than not to perform poorly.

Real attention to this design/manufacturing concern would be far more valuable to me than anything else. That's all I ask.

I held off on posting this review, giving it until the next Wednesday after to hear a response. 

I'll give it this: somebody at Mattel was listening and did the right thing, because this is the doll that does what I wanted and gives an Addams a snapping-fingers hand sculpt! 

I had wanted such a thing even before Mattel was announced to be making any Addams dolls--when I saw the snapping fingers on the Witch Create-a-Monster, I wanted to see that hand on an Addams, and I was disappointed the Morticia and Wednesday set didn't have such a sculpt. But I was delighted to see Netflix Wednesday with it!

The Witch CAM hand.

The snapping fingers originate from the iconic 1960s TV show theme song, where the Addamses snap twice at the end of each bar of the song. With the song being so unbelievably catchy, the Addams snap also became iconic. In Wednesday, it's actually incorporated into the plot as a fun gag where the double-snap is the "passcode" for a secret society. I don't know if it's so iconic to Wednesday that this is the doll who should have the snapping hand, but I won't complain because there is at least an Addams doll who did it! Because the old hand is certainly a discontinued mold and Wednesday needed a left-hand snap while the Witch was a right-snapper, Wesnesday's is an entirely new sculpt.

Wednesday's shirt/skirt piece isn't too fancy. The attached necktie is a thin plastic fabric and hangs short.

Wednesday's socks are sheer knee-high pieces with a spiderweb and Skullette print, and her shoes are stompy boots with high platforms and her cello and her deceased former pet scorpion Nero as heels.

Wednesday naturally comes paired with Thing, the disembodied hand who has been a staple of the Addams family in this form since the 1990s Barry Sonnenfeld films. They changed Thing from a hand/arm that emerged from containers to a severed hand that could roam freely and crawl on his fingers. 

There's no explanation for how Thing can think or have a personality or senses or really a gender beyond the fact that he's a man's hand. He's just who he is. In Wednesday, Thing is the second-most prominent member of the classic Addams family by virtue of stowing away at Nevermore Academy to look after Wednesday. From there, he serves as a mix of her partner and crime and her conscience, where he brings out Wednesday's most empathetic side and serves as the bridge between her and Enid.

In Wednesday, Thing is a right hand, and has a unique look by virtue of the gruesome stitching across his...body? Hand? Across his him. Other Things are unblemished. This toy rendition is one piece of plastic molded in a crawling pose, and has scars on back and palm, though only the back scars are painted. The plastic color is a dead formaldehyded tan shade. 

Thing's sculpt isn't ideal for him to stand, since his center of gravity wants to tip him sideways and you have to be careful when placing him so he stands upright on his five digits. I'm baffled that they didn't get that display right and weight the sculpt better. He also cannot stand upright on his stump, fingers-up, which I think should have been possible given that the character does it all the time. The toy wrist stump isn't flat enough and is too convex.

Thing is well-suited to grip around one of Wednesday's arms when she has it raised. He can also sit on her shoulder, but not due to his grip helping. It's just possible to arrange it very delicately.

Wednesday's last piece is her backpack, which has two shoulder straps but a rectangular satchel design. It's a good MH-ified interpretation of the bag in the show.

The bottom ends of the straps are on pin holes that plug into the sides. The piece pulls up her arms just fine without disconnecting the straps, though.

The flap opens with a pinhole. Thing hides and rides in this bag often, and he can fit, but his sculpt ends up distorting the bag and pushing it outward. I'd have liked it a smidge wider so he could pop in smoothly.

So that's the base doll. 

I'm a little stunned with the manufacturing on this doll--negatively so. She continues the trend of the new affixed elbow pegs not rotating smoothly, but her molding is also flawed in multiple parts, with her left arm sticking out, her left elbow being loose around the hinge point, and some seams being messy. I'm also not delighted with the tidiness level of her hair. This might be the sloppiest I've seen a Mattel doll come out. 

Now the fashion pack. This comes in a small cardboard box with a photo on the front and the same stripe backdrop as the back of the first box. Wednesday is depicted playing her cello while wearing the clothes inside.

I honestly prefer the design style of this box to the doll's.

The front also lists the contents on the bottom. The sides have a photo portrait and logo like the doll box, and here Wednesday's classic dress is shown off sans coat.

The back has a separate journal entry explaining her fashion aesthetic. 

The top has a graphic explaining the cello's very simple and intuitive assembly. I can only perhaps see this being useful in the case that you lose the spike without even knowing it was there and needed to be alerted to its existence.

Inside the box, there's nothing but printed paper packets like a Skulltimate Secrets G3 doll! That's both fun and a more conscious packaging choice! I appreciate the lack of plastic.

The packets are grey with Nevermore Academy designs. 

Here's what was in each.

Such a cool assortment with the total greyscale!

The Paint It Black fashion pack is more substantial than I first guessed it would be, and kind of more essential as well. This pack consists of the Wednesday rendition of the classic black Wednesday Addams dress with the pointed collar, ideal for a more traditional Addams look, as well as a coat she wears in the show and her cello and bow which form a major facet of her Wednesday vibe. The whole pack is actually kind of named after the cello--in one memorable atmospheric scene, Wednesday plays cello on the balcony in a cover of the Rolling Stones' song "Paint it Black".

Here's the doll redressed without the coat. 

The big draw of this clothing assortment is the inclusion of the Wednesday take on the ever-iconic "Wednesday Addams" dress, an outfit that might be as famous and consistent as that of Lewis Carroll's Alice! The Wednesday dress is a 1960s-ish or older style with a pointed white collar and cuffs, buttons, and a thin profile in a dark color (almost always black). In the 1990s films, Wednesday went for some patterning over this cut with a lower contrast, while Netflix Wednesday's version uses patterning but brings back the starker black/white contrast with a pattern of skulls and crossbones. Wednesday doesn't end up wearing this outfit for long due to the boarding school plot and largely more modern tone to her fashion, but I appreciate being able to dress the doll more traditionally because I like Wednesday the most when it actually feels like The Addams Family--instead of generic YA supernatural mystery drama.

The Monster High dress is a really faithful translation. There are no button details and the Skullette appears within the pattern. The middle front has its own tailored panel.

The directions of the pattern don't follow any logic and I don't think that was considered in assembly of these pieces, but it looks fine. I don't like that this material is so snaggy on velcro, however, because that's what the dress uses and it got the right arm pretty badly when trying to open it and put it on her.

The socks and shoes don't feel matched to this dress and have a much sportier tone. They don't really suit any of the Wednesday dolls' clothing.

I like that the sneakers are designed with a splat motif like she's been stomping on something nasty!

No fun imagery on the soles, just grip tread.

The shoes feel like they weren't designed to be worn over these socks because they're really unduly tight pulling them on.

Wednesday also has her flytrap-printed baggy jacket from the show:

The doll's coat has a fake zipper and Skullettes in the pattern, and is not lined with white inside. The hood can go up and is fully enclosed, but her braids disagree with the idea. 

I do like that the more modern side of Wednesday is depicted through the socks, shoes, and coat, but she really needed another outfit base they worked with, because the traditional Addams dress is not the match. I'm not saying replace it. I'm saying make the pack larger and include more clothing.

Last is the cello.

I was a cello kid in my school years and I wasn't cut out for it, but it still has some element of nostalgia. I can never explain why, but Wednesday Addams playing cello just feels so unbelievably correct to me, and whoever decided she played an instrument and that was it is a genius.

The cello is all black plastic and comes in two parts--the body and the spike players use as a stand to brace it against the ground. On a real cello, this is a piece that can retract into the body, while on this toy, it plugs into the bottom with a T-shaped connection. 

I do not think it is intended to come apart again once assembled, as I was unsuccessful when pulling on it. The spike is slightly flexible and I didn't want to end up damaging it with stress marks if I tried harder than I did. If it's truly the case that the spike is not meant to be removable once assembled, then this means the contents of the fashion pack cannot be packed back into the box tidily. The cello is too tall when assembled.

The front of the cello has a spiderweb texture and a spider accent on the bottom, and holes which are not quite "f"-shaped, lacking the flares on the side. The tuning pegs are shaped like Skullettes!

The bow has no unrealistic flair. It's a plastic piece that has the proper realistic shape.

Wednesday's cello is fiddly, and difficult to use on any smooth surface. The spike stand doesn't have any friction on anything due to it being hard plastic, so the best hope of holding her cello up is wedging it between her thighs like a real cellist, but this easily slips and falls while adjusting her arms (which, due to the elbow pegs and molding problems, was not easy. 

You also have to find her a seat yourself.

The loop on her bow is also too wide, meaning it doesn't stay firmly on a finger. At one point, I resorted to shoving two fingers in simultaneously, but it was all very fiddly and frustrating.

I eventually found much better success when I moved Wednesday down to my bedroom rug, whereupon the cello spike could easily lodge into the pile and the cello was no longer able to skid forward out of her lap. 

The system is still difficult to display and it's imperfect, but that's my tip--put Wednesday on a surface with friction or texture if you want her cello to stay on a point.

Mattel landed upon a stroke of brilliance with Wednesday's left hand sculpt, because it's a snapping hand, but the pose also works beautifully from a front view to show her pressing the strings of her cello! That might be one of the cleverest design choices I've ever seen from the brand.

Getting her arm there, however, is another story.

I kept on the cello thing for my first portraits, and even let Thing take a spin.

Bow held on by putty here! The finger loop actually fits Thing better than Wednesday.

And then I thought about this illustration, which was possibly the first promotional image released for the show to announce it was coming.

Well, thanks to Sadie, I have a knife.

These two takes are the "full live-action" version of the poster, using real lighting.

And an edited take with the colors boosted and the starker shadow drawn over.

Here's an imitation of the main poster art for the series.

Wednesday got some time with Thing.

"Thing, you are an excellent manicurist. Have you been practicing?"

"I really have a paper to write tonight, so I can't reciprocate, but I promise, soon. Shake on it."

Here's the two Monster High Wednesdays together. 

The Netflix doll is on the standard mid-height teen body, which I had expected. The generic Wednesday has longer braids with no gel.

Thing appeared sculpted on the heel of one of generic Wednesday's shoes, so here's the two compared. Netflix Thing is larger, deader-colored, and has more detail with his scarring. The Thing on the shoe is a left hand, while the newer Thing is a right hand.

And the three Addams dolls together.

When Wednesday is out, the Paint it Black box can fit into the doll box, and the cello fits loose alongside it. 

I was eventually compelled to see about making her braids more proportionate. The doll was enough of a mess that I was fine taking the risk. I first tried trimming out hair in the middle of the half of her head so the perimeter rooting remained and the braid would be smaller, but this was so fiddly to work with and the difference was not impressive enough, so I pivoted to cutting off her hair altogether and replacing it with brushed-out macrame cord I could hopefully glue onto her head for a more permanent and tidy style with a new braid style that worked better with the size of her head. I glued the braids on the back, and then glued more strands to cover her head and blend in.

I was worried it looked terrible until I glued more onto the sides of her head leading into the braids, which widened the silhouette of the hair on the sides to the right degree. I think this allows the replacement to look really good.

The result is a little mixed, though. The cord obviously doesn't look as much like real hair, and my arrangement is a little messy. My first feedback on this, upon posting an Instagram story picture, was someone saying "her hair was good" paired with a weeping emoji--i.e., I had ruined her and fixed what wasn't broken. (I counter: they weren't aware how broken the doll already was!)

To be sure, there is a character design logic to the oversized braids balancing the oversized doll head, though I'd argue that harmony was less intentional and more a result of what Mattel gave themselves to work with by rooting the head fully. I think it is a little harder to vibe with the hair replacement than it was the original hair because it can still feel off from time to time, and I do find myself regretting the change when I look at pictures of the older hair, caricatured though it was. On the plus side, I do like the new braids being more easy to move and work with. Wednesday wears her coat's hood very easily now, and it gives me a whole new love for the piece.

Makes me want to get cozy!

And I got some photos with her post-alteration.

"You want me to play Catty Noir, Thing?"
...
"Enid turned you onto this, didn't she."

And here's Wednesday next to Return Sadie. Sadie is darker and pinker by a bit, but they both have a similar grey-cast deadly pallor to their skintones.

While I was very self-effacing in my customer complaint and was content to let the message just be a soapbox on the elbow-peg design flaw and not to ask for another doll...now I might actually want another copy of the doll to get one with a better body and her original hair. It was a fun experiment, but I don't know how altogether successful my alternative was.

Mattel got back to me, asking to see photos of my Wednesday arm problem and not saying a single word about the elbow pins. The statement reiterated my concerns in such a rote manner that the response was probably AI, which disappointed but did not surprise me. I obliged to send pictures of my Wednesday but doubled down to reiterate that she has a bigger-picture flaw that plagues femme G1 doll bodies made today and that this is something worth addressing and that I am losing interest on its account:

The first image shows Wednesday without the jacket. Both shoulder hinges are lowered to her side as low as they will go, and the left arm can be seen badly bent outward by the molding flaw, not approaching the pose of the right arm which works correctly. The second photo shows the gappy elbow hinge.


Please also take note of my earlier concern about the persistent design flaws in the elbow pins on the G1-style doll bodies made today, as well. This was a flaw this Wednesday doll exhibited, but she is far from the first release to have it and the issue's presence was not remotely surprising. For the modern G1 bodies' elbows to consistently struggle to rotate smoothly or not be removable (if they are intended to be) is unacceptable and this flaw should not be something buyers expect to encounter. I do expect to encounter it because this is so consistent, and it must be an inherent flaw in manufacturing the elbow pins. I have gotten weary of meeting this problem again and again and am losing interest in any future collector releases with the G1 body style if this issue is to continue unaddressed. This elbow pin flaw is a bigger issue that should be corrected because the G1 female doll bodies being produced today are consistently subpar.


Thank you.

I was feeling pessimistic and ready to post this review with a downbeat "well, guess we'll see if anything happens" tone, but very quickly after my second response, I actually got what felt like a much more human reply that properly acknowledged my concern with sympathy and a promise to take it to the teams where it mattered! I don't know who Lawrence S. is or if this was truly human-written, but the tone and attention was correct and immensely gratifying. I felt listened to:

Thank you for providing us with the photos and sharing your detailed feedback regarding your recent Wednesday doll purchase and the concerns you’ve encountered with the G1-style Monster High collector dolls. I am truly sorry to hear about the specific molding error with your doll’s left arm and the persistent issues you’ve experienced with the elbow hinges. Your dedication to collecting and your passion for the quality of these dolls is clear, and I understand how disappointing it must be to repeatedly face these challenges.

Your message highlights not just an isolated incident, but an ongoing pattern with the elbow hinge design and manufacturing that has affected multiple dolls in your collection. We take your feedback very seriously, and I want to assure you that it will be shared directly with our design and manufacturing teams for review. Our goal is always to deliver the highest quality products, and it’s clear from your experience that we have fallen short of that standard.

I appreciate your patience and your willingness to provide such specific insights into the performance of the newer G1 bodies compared to earlier releases. Your observations about the sticky rotation and non-removable elbow pins are invaluable, and we will make sure this feedback is communicated to those who can address these concerns. We understand the importance of articulation and smooth posture, and we are committed to investigating this further.

While I know this does not immediately resolve the issues you’ve encountered, please know that your voice is heard, and your feedback is essential in helping us improve. We value your support of Monster High, and we are grateful for collectors like you who hold us accountable to the standards we strive to meet.

Thank you again for bringing this to our attention. If you have any further details or feedback you’d like to share, please don’t hesitate to reach out.

Best Wishes,
Lawrence S.

This is an essentially perfect first step, in my book. I'm not giving Mattel any laurels until there's evidence something has actually been done and the flaw has been tackled, but this is what I wanted to hear, and it did improve my mood significantly. I'm still a cynic about anything corporate, but this response gave me a little more hope.

I was not offered another Wednesday (probably my fault; Mattel was likely all too glad to honor my statement of "I am not asking for another!") but I stand by not truly needing another. At this point, my awkward doll could very well be a symbol of change, a martyr, and that gives her a twisted kind of value.

What a mixed bag. I think this Wednesday is a good doll adaptation of a modern Addams icon, and she looks great on display. Her fashion pack adds some meaningful extras that aid her potential. But her manufacturing was just so disappointing. Molding errors, hair flaws, velcro paired with highly snaggable fabric, the bow and cello being difficult to work with... At least, I'm glad this finally motivated me to push my complaint somewhere Mattel would see it, and I got a very encouraging response that finally honored my long-standing grievance with the new collector dolls and might perhaps even possibly spark an improvement and remove the issue altogether (fingers super duper crossed on that). Wednesday was about to be my breaking point where I could follow Monster High collector dolls no further...but who knows--she might actually be the sea-change that makes the experience better in the future. I'm holding you to it, Lawrence S.!

Then there's my hair experiment with Wednesday, where I truly can't say I improved her. She was the right doll to risk it on because she was already so flawed, but I don't know. 

Wednesday's child was not full of whoa. It's a shame, and if Mattel belatedly offers another copy or the  strikes me to risk buying her again, I might. I think there's a very nice doll here if she's produced correctly. I just want that to be more of a guarantee, and, catalyst for change or not (we'll see), the doll ultimately turned into a poster child for all of my frustrations with Mattel's quality control and concerning standards. It's not her fault, but it's enough to make you

snap.

Dun dun dun dun!