This was a long time coming. And there's absolutely no excuse.
When the Scary Sweet Birthday line was revealed, my focus went right to its new-for-G3-unexpected-return-from-G1 character Cupid (rechristened Cupid Asteria). But I always loved Frankie's design for the line as well. Their hair looked awesome and their outfit looked very cohesive. Frankie's had several asymmetric party gowns and ballgowns over the character's different incarnations, but this one still stood out with strong colors. This was also a G3 Frankie who beat the odds and made a blue and pink combo shine without any neon yellow to break it up! I normally wish they'd just be blue, black, and white, and typically find pink to be the least of their colors and the first I'd remove from any given design but here, I think they use pink as an essential color! I always intended to get this doll at some point, and the point is finally here--with gift card money!
I've discussed the packaging with Cupid's review, so I'll only show a front view of Frankie's box.
Here's the doll removed. The cardboard coffin invitation piece is identical for all dolls in this line, but the rest is character-specific.
Frankie's hair was the first thing that won me over. It's their typical G3 base blend of black, white, and blue saran, with black in front. It's sewn into a side part to their right. The end of the front lock is pulled up into their top ponytail.
I'm pleased with the factory outcome of this styling. It looks neater than an elastic tie would be, and is perfectly fine, not looking disappointingly messy. This Frankie design is also one of any Frankie's most alternative ensembles, so it can stand to look a bit less than princess-polished.
The doll uses Frankie's side-shave head mold, with the buzzed sculpt being painted blue here. I think this looks awesome.
The use of the shave and the hair color blocking reminds me a lot of another incredible G3 Frankie--Neon Frights. In my book, similarity to Neon Frights Frankie is a very good thing!
Frankie appears to be set to receive an alternate alternate shave sculpt for their Self-Scare Secrets doll, which has a shaved undercut visible on their right side. I'm glad to see that more shave patterns are being considered in this era of molded hair shaves. I worried that would restrict the dolls to only ever having their hair shaved in one spot.
Over their tall ponytail tie, Frankie wears a silver ornament which is a very spiky ring with a plaid and lightning texture, while molded chains form two loops off the sides.
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| They better not hold their balloon too close to their head... |
This Frankie is very spiky, and is honestly the most punk I think any Frankie has ever looked. The spikes, the hair, the piercings, the sleeves, the net, the asymmetry...it's Frankenstein gone alternative in a way I don't feel as strongly from prior Frankie dolls, regardless of generation. I really love it. Frankie's typical plaid is still all over the design, but if there's a schoolkid motif, it feels more like they're the rebel schoolkid here, protesting the uniform with alternative touches, rather than the more basic "preppy+Frankenstein" mix Frankies are known for.
Frankie's face is elaborate, with detailed black and blue shaded eyebrows (painted silver piercing on the left), pale silver shading around the eyes, lightning in silver under the eyes, pink blushed cheeks, white eyelash highlights like Cupid's, and two-tone lips which are blue with black in the middle, perfectly matching their hair.
I'm not sure the lightning designs are successful because they're not metallic (I honestly mistook them for vinyl stains at first, somehow), but overall the face is strong and contributes to the cohesion of this design.
Frankie's earrings are mostly symmetrical, depicting dangling nuts on chains and "cuff" sections which look like staples on the lower edge of the ear. The earrings have just the one pin in the lobe. The chain is molded longer on the left-side earring.
Around their neck, Frankie wears a collar-shaped metallic blue necklace of chains with a lightning charm.
Frankie's dress is part of a tradition of asymmetrical Frankie formal gowns made to look like they're fashionably stitched together from multiple clothing pieces. We've seen it with G1 Sweet 1600 Frankie, the doll SSB Frankie most closely parallels in release concept:
The idea was used very well with an "unfinished" effect for Frankie's Scarily Ever After doll, playing "Threadarella".
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| I still love this design. |
I think it hit the point of fatigue with the more recent collector alumni "Stitched in Style" doll, which does absolutely nothing at all for me.
The unattractive bangs color blocking/rooting shape is bad, but the rest not being interesting enough sunk any remaining chance she had with me.
G2's gowned-up "Dance the Fright Away" Frankie lacked this cobbled-together-dress motif.
SSB's dress is up there with Threadarella's for me in terms of execution of this concept.
The core dress is sleeveless, with Frankie wearing two different detached sleeves on their arms, while the cage belt element the SSB dolls share is used here to dramatically stagger the silhouette of the costume, with only chains on their right hip while metalwork and big spikes swoop in a wedge to their left.
On Frankie's right arm, they have a full-length detached puffed sleeve. The material is sheer black with a blue plaid pattern, and the top of the sleeve is trimmed with pink lace.
On their left lower arm, they have a pink net sleeve, which has elastic in the top cuff to keep it from sliding up and down.
The cage belt has pink lightning bolts and white frosting designs for a birthday theme, with fancy metalwork on the actual cage half. I could do without the frosting, honestly. It's a little dumb.
G3 Robecca released too late for this line! The cages are right in her wheelhouse!
The core dress piece is mostly plain black with some ruffling in the skirt and a plaid-patterned panel only covering the right side. The dress has clear elastic straps, which I'm not delighted by.
Frankie's prosthetic on this doll is a unique color for them, being solid pink with no doodles.
This doll uses pink so well that I think this leg is perfect. Some prototype images suggested they'd have their usual silver leg color, and I think that actually would have disassembled the cohesion of the doll. I was very glad to see the pink of the stock photos was what we were actually getting.
Frankie has symmetrical strappy sandals which are metallic blue and metallic silver and absolutely covered in spikes. The platforms have more metalwork and frosting motifs, and the heels are drippy lightning bolts.
No detail or texture on the soles.
Frankie's balloon, like Cupid's, cannot be held properly due to its weight and the doll's poor joint strength. Their right hand does have a subtle pose to it seemingly to hold the balloon handle better, but it doesn't work. I was only able to photograph Frankie holding it by tucking the tail into their cage belt so it couldn't fall forward off of their hand.
Frankie has a small purse which matches their shoe heels. It has a slit on top, but isn't really useable.
Frankie also has a blue tube of lipstick with a Skullette on the cap. I couldn't take the cap off.
Here's the card Frankie prepared for Draculaura.
Frankie's gift for Draculaura comes in this blue bag. Both sides are sculpted the same and neither side has paint.
Inside the bag is Frankie's gift for Draculaura--a clip-on heart bracelet. The center says either "Boo" or "1600" or both? Maybe it's 1300 or 1500 instead and this is a watch in 24-hour mode?
The birthday ghoul has two wrist cuffs on for her frilly gloves, so she can't pop her present from Frankie on while wearing her birthday ensemble.
As with Fearidescent Frankie, this was a doll design I loved but struggled to capture and do justice to in photographs. Perhaps their facial expression is too gentle for the otherwise punk theme they're giving off, or I didn't know how best to work their tone in pictures, but I've grown more accepting of the fact that Monster High dolls tend to give me less photo fuel these days than Living Dead Dolls do. I'll just do what I can and what I'm comfortable with.
This is an abbreviated review, perhaps, but that fits for "make-up work" I'm catching up on. I think this doll is a hit! G3 Frankie's had some great dolls, and this is up there for me. The visual design is nearly perfect. This Frankie makes pink work for them to the degree that the design would be collapsed by removing it, and I adore their hairstyle, coloring, and shave element here. The very spiky punk theme is awesome, and I think the asymmetrical party dress has been done very well with its two different sleeves, detached, and the base dress and cage selling the cobbled-together look. I think the only design changes I'd make would be to make the lightning makeup look more visible or tidy, and to remove the white frosting motif from the belt and shoes, which looks goofy and unnecessary. Quality-wise, the doll is good. Their head moves on its joint, and the hair parting was pretty decently styled. Maybe the fiber didn't come out pristine, but it's alright. I don't love the shape of their lightning purse, but that's negligible. The balloon is asinine. It really feels like none of these G3 balloon props have been designed by play-testing them on factory dolls. They are simply too heavy for the dolls' joints, and the handle system is inadequate. Bad idea.
I'm not planning to belatedly seek out the other Scary Sweet Birthday dolls, even though Drac is nicely designed. I think Frankie has to be the best of the line, personally. Cupid is a bit cluttered and her hair was utterly failed by the factory or packaging. Cleo is one of her least appealing G3 designs, in my eyes. But Frankie brings the "scary" to "scary sweet" in a really nice way. I'd love to see them continue on this goth-punk angle in future dolls.
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