Time for A Recharge: Monster High G3 Core Refresh Frankie Stein by Mattel

My opinion on this doll has swerved. 

Back when the wave 2 core-refresh dolls were seen through prototype stock photos (which weren't meant to get out), I was really excited for Frankie and I thought they'd be way better than their signature design. They seemed to have an exclusively black, blue, white, and yellow color palette and their hairstyle and jacket and dark lip makeup looked great together. And then the final doll was revealed and they had a bunch of loud pink thrown in that was nowhere in the first draft, and suddenly I wasn't for it. I resented the apparent forcing of more classic feminine stereotype-pandering aesthetics in the doll line when I thought we were overcoming that forced girly appeal, and I didn't think the pink did anything good for Frankie's look. My opinion began to soften again when we first saw Welcome Committee Frankie and I wondered if the two dolls would swap outfits well--I saw Welcome Committee as a chance to recreate the prototype version of refresh without the loudness of the pink, and thought refresh could suit the Welcome Committee costume for a Y2K alt-punk aesthetic...and then I started to see refresh as interesting and viable on their own, still on the vein of having a nostalgic alternative vibe. I wasn't going to pay full price for them, and didn't want them without Welcome Committee being in hand already, but when the price dropped a little and I got the other Frankie, I went for it. 

Nothing much to say about the box. It's like previous signature/refresh boxes, and I've already reviewed Cleo from this doll wave last year.

It is odd that Draculaura's in the trio of monsters in the illustration on the front, though, because this refresh line consisted of the Frankie and Lagoona here and Cleo, while Drac and Clawdeen were the first wave. Why isn't Cleo on the box repping this second wave of refresh dolls? Were the refreshes originally intended to release simultaneously as a set of five? Clawdeen and Draculaura's refresh boxes didn't feature the wave 2 trio--or each other, for that matter. Draculaura was also in the trio on Cleo's box (instead of Lagoona in that instance), but I didn't notice back when reviewing Cleo.

While I vastly prefer the current G3 box illustrator's work to what the brand started with, I don't think they've ever quite gotten Frankie right. There's something I don't recognize in them as illustrated in the boxes and their dolls always feel different--and better.

Here's the back of their box.

The scrap of profile blurb describes them taking a juice box with them, but they've actually got a juice pouch as an accessory--a foil bag, not a carton.

Watzie is illustrated flying around Frankie, but I don't know how. He's part dragon, yes, but this depiction doesn't have the wings the original design of the G3 dog* included.

Here's the doll unboxed.

It's easy to see this as a bit of a backslide, as if G3 decided to double down on loud bright colors and pink right as it looked to be getting more teen-styled and sophisticated in its design. But maybe we can make this work. Maybe the colors aren't the holdup here.

Frankie's hair is long straight saran parted to their left, and features bright pink and black streaks in the part across the face and black and blue streaks on the opposite side of the parting line. These colors are all in line with their palette, and the saving grace is that I can easily see Frankie getting a scene/punk or otherwise bold alternative tone from the steep side part and bold color stripes.

Like their G3 signature doll (and Day Out budget counterpart), Frankie is wearing two hair clips, though these ones are translucent neon yellow and translucent blue and shaped like stitches. The original Frankie clips were opaque pink and blue and shaped light lightning bolts.

The hair clips worn by sig and Day Out, modeled by Day Out.

The factory placement of the clips is a bit awkward, putting them basically entirely in the middle of the area between the parting line and the left edge of their face. I later slid the clips more toward the left eye to make them look more natural, but they're secure and add some texture and pop next to their eye makeup, so I didn't discard them.

Their makeup is fairly similar to Welcome Committee's in that there's nothing too wild going on and it's just bold color blocking with less shape or design and not super heavy. Their lips are painted dark blue and their eyes have blue and yellow eyeshadow lining the lower edge, with grey on top. 

I think it does the job.

I feel like the neck articulation of recent G3 dolls has gotten worse, with the anchor pegs having less mobility inside the neck socket and restricting the up/down neck tilt. G3 started with really smooth versatile neck tilt, so I'm disappointed to see the familiar issue coming back.

Frankie's earrings are a symmetrical pair of translucent neon pink lightning bolts hanging from mechanical bolts.

Around their neck, they have a blue choker clipped on with two safety pins hanging from it. I used to find this "alternative safety pin accessory" costume design to be overdone and tacky, but now I find it endearingly dated and charming, and it helps define refresh Frankie's unique tone.

The doll's main piece which I was excited for most in the prototype stage is their jacket. It's a big denim piece with long sleeves, pink sewing thread, and neon yellow-green plastic on the lapels and over the shoulders, printed with stitching. The right sleeve also has a separate band of fabric patched on with a lightning print. I think this element might have worked better if the printed fabric was the entire sleeve on their left so it balanced out the striped leg of their shorts. 

The jacket has no special detail on the back.

The piece has an oversize boxy cut that recalls the attire of the famous Frankenstein monster, but isn't a very close fit on Frankie--something I could also say for their Welcome Committee jacket, but that piece had fitted sleeves and a cropped cut that felt more graceful. It looks like refresh Frankie is wearing a jacket sewn for a masculine body (which is absolutely fine, by the way)...and so I had to see how it fit on a guy. Turns out, it's a snug but comfortable fit on a G3 boy doll (hey, remember those?)

The colors are almost right for Deuce too, if not the patterns.

It feels a tad cropped on this body shape, but it doesn't not feel like a boy doll's piece. I like Frankie wearing something like this to play more with gender norms in fashion, but I just don't know if they're flattered by it.

I think the correct Frankie to wear this jacket is actually their (hair-restyled) signature release!

I couldn't work with the jacket signature Frankie actually came with. While refresh's jacket was too stiff on refresh, signature's jacket was too baggy and shapeless on signature with its stretch material, and did nothing for the issue of the monster's neck being swallowed by their costume. The refresh jacket on signature, however, is really flattering. The green on the jacket perfectly matches their earrings and the shape adds some welcome attitude and maturity to an early G3 doll which played things pretty soft and sweet. Granted, my haircut and scalp repaint to give Frankie their show-accurate side shave helps a lot, but I can see myself keeping an optional piece on sig Frankie now--it's just not the jacket they were given!

(I swapped them and Fearidescent Frankie back onto their original bodies. I was feeling like it was more useful to have sig with the original visual design for the prosthetic as a baseline.)

Refresh Frankie's costume doesn't feel harmed by the loss of the jacket.

They're wearing a cropped tank top in light pink with bold black lightning bolts and thin white realistic lightning as a print, and they have short shorts split vertically down the middle between solid azure and vertical black and white stripes-striped on their right. I always like Frankies going for a hodgepodge-fabric motif in their clothing, like G1 Threadarella or the less good Stitched in Style. It reminds me of Sally. The edges of the shorts legs are frayed below the sewn end, and this can lead to some loose fibers pulling out. Around their waist, there's a very simple thin Frankie belt with some chains hanging down off to their left. It's very much their style, but lower-profile than a usual belt for them.

On their right leg, they have a black mesh footless stocking which goes from hip to shin, and it's a separate piece, not sewn to the shorts. Like many G3 Frankie outfits, the stocking makes their right leg more covered so their prosthetic is turned into a show feature that they proudly own, though the effect of asymmetric leg coverage is subtler than on other Frankie outfits because the stocking isn't opaque.

The mesh also helps the doll's alt vibe. I would have taken a full-leg footie stocking, though. Not much is gained by the piece cutting off where it does. Unlike signature G3 Venus, the end of the stocking isn't disguised by boots that cover it up, so there's not even an illusion of it being a footie piece. I guess the intended effect is that it's supposed to be viewed as part of the shorts.

Frankie's prosthetic here is their typical pearly silver, but the doodles they drew on it have changed!

The typical Frankie leg doodles are demonstrated by Welcome Committee in the foreground, refresh's behind them.

Here, we see scientific symbols in an atom and a flask, a safety pin and stitched heart, and most wonderfully, a lioness in a hieroglyphic drawing style--a loving tribute to their ghoulfriend Cleo!

I'm gonna scream.

One has to wonder which of the two drew that one on--did Frankie doodle it while thinking of their boo, or did they pass the pen to Cleo herself while they spent some time together?

The doll is wearing typically stompy boots in black with big platforms and stitch and mechanical nut motifs. The boots have stitch-shaped laces in front painted in pink.

The soles feature Frankie's specific Skullette symbol.

I enjoy a good little heel shoe, but big shoes in G3 gave the designers a whole extra spot for designing stuff!

Frankie has yet another pair of colorful translucent G3 shades, but I like these more than most because the shape of the frames is just right for the alt hipster femme look the hair is also setting up. They also coordinate with the choker.

They'd better fit the chunky glasses of an alt monster if they had clear lenses (or none, to imply clear lenses), but it still works. The shades also invoke laboratory goggles in a fun way--suited for this doll's light science-class theming.  The arms of the shades are lightning bolts. 

My favorite accessory of Frankie's is their Erlenmeyer flask, which has sculpted graduated measuring lines on one side and bolts on the neck of the bottle, as well as lightning bursting from the top. 

The lack of paint detail and monochromatic casting is a little cheesy, but in the right way for me. The piece has a finger loop that works well for them to hold it. 

This could be a drink item, but I think it's probably just a science experiment and an individual accessory rather than a formulaic one--like refresh Clawdeen's hairbrush, refresh Draculaura's sunscreen, or refresh Cleo's canopic jar.

Frankie has a Mad Science textbook to go with the flask. This is the same mold as the textbook that came with Creepover Twyla and it's a solid piece with a molded clasp that does not open. 

I would have preferred the later opening book mold from Neon Frights Twyla and refresh Draculaura so we could have more detail.

Also likely part of their science work, Frankie has this lightning-bolt shaped...device in a green color not elsewhere in this doll release. It looks like some kind of handheld diagnostic meter monitoring some kind of activity or energy--probably electrical, in their case. I guess it could be an outdated cell phone, too, but the screen suggests it's technical equipment.

It does still give me some aughties nostalgia looking at all of those buttons. We need to bring physical buttons back into machinery.

The back of the device is hollowed out a little, but still textured inside so it doesn't feel so cheap.

Those rivets...Mattel, Robecca is overdue. G1 legacy or G3 reimagining; I don't care. Give her a new edition. And don't you dare monkey's-paw me on this! Give me a new Robecca I like!

I like that the refresh versions of the core cast partially push the characters into school subjects that characterize them. Draculaura has a witchcraft textbook, Cleo has geometry work on her parchment, and Frankie is all decked out for science. Clawdeen and Lagoona aren't framed under any specific subject, though. Clawdeen has a planner with a blank notebook sheet in it and Lagoona has a notebook based on the G1 diaries. Frankie is the most themed in their schoolwork, with three accessories applicable to science class, while Clawdeen, Drac, Cleo, and Lagoona have just one piece of study paraphernalia each (technically two for Cleo and Lagoona if you count their writing utensils as separate from their documents, but I don't). I think Frankie being all-in here suits suits them as an intelligent and enthusiastic learner. 

Frankie's juice pouch, not juice box, is cute, but the branding feels like it wasn't thought out. It's a little abstract and generic "Frankie imagery". 

Frankie has a packed lunch like the other refresh dolls. Draculaura had a cute tidy lunch box shaoed like a cute bat, Clawdeen had a sandwich in a plastic bag, and Cleo had a pizza slice in a single-serving box. Frankie here has what amount to monster Lunchables, though I expected the interior to be painted so the food looked defined. G3 has shown its capacity to do things like that.

I'm a little surprised to see a Mattel doll depicting a processed prepackaged snacky lunch set like this given the health concerns and association with poor quality that these kinds of products have. I want to tell Frankie to throw that out and go back to the pizza they seem to love so much (if previous dolls were anything to go by). Maybe refresh Cleo will let Frankie eat hers. I certainly can't see the princess approving of her boo's lunch choice.

Like the other refresh backpacks, Frankie's is in a normal backpack shape. Theirs is silver with a neon yellow chain accent plugged into the back, and the straps are spiked. The top of the bag is printed with their signature skirt's plaid pattern, their Skullette, their heart symbol, and a lightning bolt.

This piece squeezes open at the top, but it's not super easy. 

Refresh Watzie is pearl silver and wingless like the Welcome Committee edition, but this one has pink hair and is sculpted on his hind legs.

Welcome Committee Watzie, wearing his removable bandanna.

Refresh Watzie.

Here's refresh Watzie next to the original. The lowered paint detail and loss of wings make the refresh version look cheaper.

I took Frankie down to boil and comb their hair out.

I had the suspicion refresh Frankie would wear Welcome Committee's clothes well, and I was absolutely right. They look ready to rebel their way through a school (though perhaps it'd have to be in England).

I prefer Welcome Committee in the jacket rather than the arm sleeves, but the sleeve pieces were made for refresh. Their hair stripes perfectly match the sleeves, and their hair shape is ideal for the alt vibe of the pieces. The rest of the costume also suits the refresh doll perfectly, with the necktie and long pants and collared shirt all making them out as the perfect edgy student.

Refresh also looks good in the Welcome Committee jacket.

It's a shame Welcome Committee doesn't wear refresh's clothing as well and needs to take their own clothes back. The prominent pink doesn't flatter Welcome Committee and both dolls look best in the Welcome Committee stock. 

Fortunately, refresh doesn't need the whole Welcome Committee outfit to be vastly improved--just taking the sleeves Welcome Committee isn't using and leaving the refresh jacket to signature Frankie turns the refresh doll into a pretty perfect design. I think the sleeves and shades pull refresh together into a fully-realized alt kid, if losing the academy vibe, and this ensemble makes the pink really cohesive and defines them as a solid unique Frankie doll rather than them feeling messy. I also see this look as fully teen and there's an edge I didn't get from the default refresh setup. I wouldn't call this look kiddified by its colors in the slightest now. I fully understand refresh Frankie set up this way. I know the vibe; I grew up seeing it. And I love it and I love them now with this setup. I'm glad the gamble on refresh was a success!

Here's some portraits.

And I had to show the refresh Frankie and Cleo couple together--first, I have Cleo signing her boo's leg with that hieroglyph. This took forever to pose right.

And of course, Frankie has Cleo's heart.

This was a quick review for a quick curiosity, but it turned out well. I'm not sold on refresh Frankie's factory styling, but if you have the Welcome Committee doll and don't know what to do with the sleeves--give them to this one. It makes for a great design.

Now I just want to see a Frankie with neon yellow in their hair!