Why Do Mansters Fall in Love?: The Monster High Spelldon Cauldronello/Kieran Valentine Couple Pack by Mattel

On the one hand, this doll release seemed inevitable. On the other, it seemed absolutely impossible. 

Happy Pride! Do these dolls celebrate it well?

The characters at hand here are Kieran Valentine, often known by his surname, and Spelldon Cauldronello. Valentine was the antagonist of G1's early Why do Ghouls Fall in Love? special, being an "emotional vampire" (or "emo vampire"; oh 2010s) who used love magic and a fake Southern accent to charm the ghouls around him and steal their emotional energy to harm them. What was interesting about Valentine was the behind-the-scenes intent to have made him a closeted insecure gay character taking his romantic alienation out on girls he could never love, something G1 was never allowed to make full text. Why do Ghouls Fall in Love? didn't have a doll line under the same title, but the Sweet 1600 line was tied into the special. Of the special's debut characters, only C.A. Cupid, also love-themed, featured in the doll line. That was her first and only G1 edition before shipping off to the land of Ever After (though her Sw1600 doll also released in a nearly identical edition with different branding). Valentine got a much more limited release in a 2015 SDCC two-pack rounding up two movie villains who were never released--Kieran, and Whisp, Gigi Grant's twin shadow sister from 13 Wishes. Whisp got a mainline mass-market doll through a G1 "I ♡ Fashion" release delayed into the G2 era, per the formula at the time. Girl characters who debuted as SDCC dolls entered the mass playline through I♡F. SDCC boys were SOL. The 2015 doll pack is where Spelldon Cauldronello, briefly, comes in.

Spelldon is a witch boy/warlock who is the son of mythological sorceress Circe, and thus he is also established G1 character Casta Fierce's brother, sharing her classically Halloweeny color palette and her fashion sense. (I knew I should have gotten back Casta last year; darn it! She'll be on the list of 2026 reviews, after her brother.) 

Ancient photo of my bygone copy of Casta.

Spelldon "debuted" in the pages of Valentine's SDCC diary, being mentioned as a side character and not getting to be much more than a name. In the diary, Kieran briefly meets Spelldon and gets so distracted he forgets what he was doing, meaning the relationship between these boys was bubbling from the moment Cauldronello showed up in the canon. 

Valentine's reform involves service at a pet shelter, being enlisted by a mysterious Mrs. Goblin who opens his perspective, and he's also helped by a friendship with Whisp, though he's not really depicted doing the work addressing the misogynist bent of his misdeeds. 

Hopefully he figured himself out! 

Post-hiatus and post-G1, Monster High dropped a Pride comic, aimed at the older fans of the franchise and with the effect of addressing the lack of canon/textual queer content in the original run of G1. One of those major threads is pairing up Clawdeen Wolf with Toralei Stripe. Clawdeen had consciously never been written with an interest in boys, so it became a popular headcanon to interpret her as a lesbian. Now, she is! It's up to you if that was the best way to interpret her lack of romance in the original run, because I could also see people wanting her canonized as aromantic or asexual for the same reasons. On the flipside, the Pride comics finally canonized Valentine as gay and bloomed the seeds of his relationship with Spelldon. The comics finally gave Spelldon a character design and set his familial ties to Casta, and the comics have provided Mattel some Pride merchandise through images of Kieran and Spelldon as boyfriends for a couple of years...and that merch has felt like a tease for doll fans.

Because the SDCC set was so hard to get, people have wanted another shot at getting Valentine for a while. Meanwhile, Spelldon's character design existed conspicuously doll-less for a while. I've wanted them to have a two-pack to rectify this, even as a Pride-themed release...never did I actually think I'd actually see it. Look at this Tumblr post I made in Pride Month 2025:

Look, you can't blame me for getting this one wrong. What faith was I ever supposed to have that Mattel would release a gay boy-doll two-pack in the year of twenty twenty-six? Current Mattel avoids boy dolls like the plague, and selling not one but two, in a queer romance no less, seemed like the executives' number-one phobia. Welcome Committee Frankie was delayed by a whole year and they had to really skirt around the queer iconography in their design! It felt like a triumph to get just this much Pride theming in a Monster High doll, and clearly there had to be some behind-the-scenes struggle to get this to market.

And when rumors of a Pride 2026 couple pack were floating last summer, of course people believed it was just as likely to be a Toralei/Clawdeen duo, because that would make more sense for Mattel. They're more willing to sell girls. But I always hoped it would be the boys this time, and I'm so glad it was. 

I'm not going to say these dolls didn't have to fight, though, and their status as a couple and a Pride set is still presented in subdued fashion like Frankie last year. The dolls are packaged holding hands and feature a heart potion and rose as accessories and a text bubble about "chemistry", yeah. Also, if you know these characters, especially Spelldon (who only became fully defined post-G1 as a boyfriend for Valentine), it's hard not to know they're romantic, and the release timing is also purposeful. To an extent, seeing these dolls as non-romantic friends would be a you problem, like seeing Welcome Committee Frankie as not queer would be. And I'm positive it was a tooth-and-nail battle to achieve every one of these notes of romantic coding in the presentation, let alone making this couple pack happen at all. I'm proud of those responsible for getting these detailss into the product so people could see these dolls are romantic. I see the team doing what they can; you can't tell me the drop of certifiably genderqueer Skullector Gozer this month isn't another effort to celebrate (I'm excited). But these aren't visually themed as Pride dolls nor are they described as such. Spelldon and Valentine aren't called a couple or boyfriends, or even crushes, in their official product description. These are not just "classmates", Mattel. Get real. Would you make an "Inspiring Women" Barbie doll depicting Sappho of Lesbos and talk about her "sisterhood" too? Would you make a John Waters collector Ken doll describing him solely as the director of Hairspray? 

Mattel has also recently made a design of G3 Frankie and Cleo as "best friends" when they're a queer romantic couple, so...I guess, question asked, question answered.

I was a little gentler last year with Welcome Committee Frankie's temerity last year since it seemed like such an achievement for their doll to release at all, and the governing culture had shifted so much, but I'm not inclined to be as lenient anymore because we're another year in hell now and I'm tired. I'm disappointed in profit insecurity and the culture of the ruler governing all policy and marketing. It's self-censoring behavior and that can't be respected. Mattel is releasing some dolls who are queer. Say it. These are supposed to be Pride dolls, and Mattel's oversight displays shame. What message are we meant to receive when, the moment these dolls should be released as open and proud as can be, they're hush-hush instead and only barely managed to achieve their release and commemoration to start with? Someone got them to the party so they could mark the celebration, and it is demonstrably a case of subversion and rebellion if Mattel put restraints on after the designs were finished, but it feels like a voice has been muted exactly when it should be loud and powerful. I'm not entirely sure the dolls won here.

Launch day was a weird one for me. I had to be up before 7 anyway, but woke up before 6 when I didn't want to. Launch was the only thing pressing on me that day, so I stayed up to get that secured and then went back to sleep!

Here they are. 

They arrived the same day as Skullector Shorty, only I don't think I'm supposed to tell you that last part, because her shipping box had a big...embargo warning? There was a notice on her box to not open or put on a shelf until July 3rd, and...well...why did I get her on June 4th, then? Mattel? What's up with that?

To be sure, there are benefits to the neutral presentation of the Spellentine release. I like that these dolls have everyday/year-round costuming rather than Pride event clothes which could be context-limiting. I also like how the package has been given pseudo-Creeproduction styling, designed to look ripped from the early classic G1 toyline. It's almost like the dolls are saying "this relationship (if you know it's a relationship) is G1 canon now and it's absolutely normal". While theming the package as a Pride release would be nice to see and would prove an even bigger triumph over corporate, this box design is a wonderful step into the everyday of G1's prime. Maybe this is compromise and a way the designers were able to subvert--Mattel wouldn't allow Pride branding, so the designers instead stuck the dolls into classic G1 aesthetics to make a point of putting queerness into the OG brand identity that once lacked it so badly. It's essentially taken right from the G1 "Classroom" two-pack style (Cleo/Ghoula Mad Science, Abbey/Heath Home Ick), class accessories and all. Best of all, both dolls have the first new G1 diaries in ages--Spelldon's first one and Kieran's second. I really hoped they'd be more honest about the romance than the outward promotion and packaging. 

The box mixes red stripes from Valentine and purple stripes from Spelldon in its design, and features both characters' Skullettes and symbols for each-- a coffin for Valentine and the potion for Spelldon. Oddly, only Spelldon actually features any coffin iconography in his doll, so it's a bit confusing. Why not make Valentine's cutout symbol the rose?

I'll never get over "emo vampires". I'm sorry, you'll have to be more specific-

The dolls, as mentioned are posed holding hands, and one bubble puns on their chemistry.

The box does have one very strong touch that makes it even harder to ignore that these dolls are romantic--the top of the box gives this pack the subtitle "Mad Science For Each Other". That's indisputable. Thank you!

The back of the box has character artwork, with the characters behind their corresponding dolls. Since this flips their left-to-right positioning, this means the drawn characters are looking the opposite directions of the dolls. Multilingual profile snippets are included, and Valentine's coffin symbol can be seen here filled-in. The non-silhouette rendering is more specific to him, but it still doesn't match the dolls in the way the potion does.

The box surprised me by opening with a side flap rather than a top flap. Everything is mounted on the front side of the insert, with the two diaries stacked in one slot.

Spelldon's diary was first in the stack, so I cracked it open. I was glad to see a full character profile inside.

The diaries brought me much relief and joy, because they are not dancing around the romance of this pack in the way the promotion was. The story, which both diaries tell from alternate perspectives, takes place after the Pride comic. Spelldon and Valentine are crushing on each other, and have become lab partners. Spelldon mentions he likes that Valentine bonded with him without even knowing about his famous sister, and Spelldon is looking for ways to mix Greek pharmakeia (natural earth magic practiced by his mother) with modern science and chemistry, and contrives to create a potion that grants good dreams after Valentine complains about nightmares. Casta is...at MH for some reason (she's a college-aged woman with a music career; why is she fanging out with Operetta in school hours?) and indicates she's well aware her brother is crushing, and Venus even notes that he looks at Valentine in a way he's never regarded her. While the story never uses LGBTQIA+ labels, and it's not clear whether Spelldon is gay or likes other genders too, Venus's remark could be taken as confirmation that he's not into ghouls. When the boys try Spelldon's dream potion, both diaries reveal their good dreams were of each other. Spelldon wants to ask Valentine to prom once he's certain he's got it bad, but hesitates when he sees Valentine acting his old way again. When he tries again, he finds Valentine was ready to ask him in turn, and they're set to go to prom, and officially canonized as a couple. 

On Valentine's side, he's crushing even harder and more overtly (going to his diary and seeing it was even gayer was a bit of a surprise!). He seems more aware of the nature of his feelings than Spelldon does, or generally less awkward until he briefly freezes and assumes his old persona. It's also made quite clear he's gay in Spelldon's diary when Val remarks he's no longer in the business of charming ghouls and then looks at Spelldon and blushes at the implication. He explains he dislikes the name Kieran because he doesn't like the "little dark one" meaning and wants to move past darkness. He also remarks that (in this universe) Valentine's Day is named for him after one particularly infamous dating/heartbreaking spree centuries before, and the holiday being named for him now embarrasses him. This adds some layers to Why do Ghouls Fall in Love?, as it's set around Draculaura's Sweet 1600 birthday, which is also Valentine's Day! Valentine realizes he's been calling Spelldon "Spell" as a pet name (while Spelldon has been calling him "Val") and struggles to approach Spelldon without a bombastic gesture, but Draculaura encourages him to be direct, while Whisp is delighted for him when he talks to her about his crush on Spelldon through the "djinnternet". Valentine mentions he's going to enlist Whisp so he can send Mrs. Goblin a proper thank-you and express the personal growth she helped him with, and Val's first diary entry after being asked out by Spelldon is completely floored and overjoyed. 

It's very much a simple "oh, these idiots" romance, but it's so important to see with these two characters. Thank you to the diary writers for truly pulling no punches here and giving us the culmination of these characters' love story.

I did realize the diaries don't depict the two as being particularly close to the other mansters at school, though Val does mention perhaps enlisting Heath for a pyrotechnic gesture to confess to Spelldon, and his first diary indicated some level of friendship with Clawd. Queer boys IRL may find themselves nonconforming in a way where they befriend more girls than boys, and perhaps I wouldn't expect Valentine to have much to talk about with the jocks, but it could be a little disheartening that none of the straight boys are mentioned here as very good friends or positive figures to either character. Good on Venus, Casta, Draculaura, and Whisp for being there, though. Perhaps Valentine is subtly more compatible as friends with the other boys than Spelldon, though it's also sweet that the only boys these two are really thinking about in the 2026 diaries are each other.

The dolls' stands have special colors, also harkening back to some old G1 releases, including the first waves of signature dolls. Like the signature stands, the colors are matched to the character rather than being matched with each other for a theme. (That is to say, sig Frankie's stand is silver and Clawdeen's is salmon, but then the Roller Maze line had green stands for everyone, and Freaky Fusion had yellow for each doll--different uses of coloring!) Spelldon's stand is violet, and Valentine's is red. 

Boy stands (or at least, the clip parts) were less common in novelty colors, so this is fun to see.

Here they are unboxed. 

Mattel put plastic tags in Valentine's head as expected, but were kind enough not to mar Spelldon's flocked scalp with any. It's likely neither doll needed them, but alas. The boys' wrists are elastic-banded together, so it's actually impossible not to notice they're holding hands if you unbox. I'm honestly not even sure their hand pose needed the elastic, so maybe this was another way to make their romance unignorable? Props to the team if it was.

Uh...boys? Attention? You're here for a review...

"You're no fun."
"Seriously."

I get it; I'm sorry. You can get back to staring into each other's eyes after the review.

Okay. Let's look at Spelldon first, because he's the debut and the doll on the left!

Spelldon might be the biggest "graduation" of character status in the brand. Nobody before has gone from a bit part in a diary to a full-fledged doll. It's debatable, though, if "backgrounder" characters from the animation who became dolls represent bigger ascensions or not. Spelldon debuted with a narrative role, however tiny, then got a character design and a stronger narrative, then became a collector drop, while dolls like Scarah or Iris debuted as character designs with no narrative role, then became collector drops, then entered the playline mass market, however briefly. I think Scarah, with her rise to become a staple character, is the most competitive with Spelldon, and might claim the bigger victory.

Spelldon's design is closely based on the original artwork, and also much informed by the preceding design of his sister. There's a family look to be sure, fashion included. (If Casta uses a stage name, at least the "Fierce" part, is "Cauldronello" the Circe family surname? Not clear. Seems pseudo-Italian. As is common for MH, one parent is fully unaddressed.) Damn my planning. I could have had Casta in here earlier! The family reunion will take place.

Mattel seems purposely avoidant of Halloween associations for the Monster High brand, with the spooky iconography obviously abounding but almost never being specifically evocative of Halloween iconography. I can appreciate this approach to not reduce the brand to a seasonal novelty, but the utter absence of jack-o'-lanterns, either as monster characters or accessories or clothing motifs, is pretty criminal. Fortunately, now with Spelldon, there are two characters who actively court Halloween aesthetics, and I couldn't be happier it was the witch siblings who got that honor out of any of the monster types. Witches are the Halloween supreme in my own little world, so I'm glad MH agrees! Casta was the first, of course, and Spelldon follows her lead, with the two mixing the four classic Halloween colors (orange, black, green, and purple) to great effect. 

Spelldon's hair is a curly texture with a bit of a broccoli cut, as the sides and back are "shaved" with flocking. I wonder if, were he an original G1 character, he'd have had the mohawk style most of the boys ended up with, maybe the style Clawd often had in his dolls...though Slo Mo always had the straight-hair equivalent of this cut, so I can't say Spelldon's look is definitively 2020s or unable to read as old-G1. The curls mix black and Elissabat-purple together, while one streak is magenta and a lighter shade of purple. 

There's some gel shaping the colorful streak and some of the other curls and it might need a bit of teasing, shaping, and fussing.

I got a genuine surprise which actually dropped my jaw for a moment when I turned Spelldon around and saw a special design in his head shave!

Printed flocked shaves have been done on several G1 Venus dolls before (no wonder she's his beastie!), but this is black flocking, so I think there's two separate applications of flocked powder here, with the pattern laid out in glue for the green and the rest being mapped for the black. Maybe I'm wrong and the green is done some other way? It's a great effect nonetheless and an awesome detail. Why on Earth was this hidden in the promotion?

The green hair pattern does not glow in the dark or under blacklight.

One concern with the Spelldon doll in the leadup to seeing the final product was that of whitewashing. Both Spelldon and Casta are meant to be Black characters, owing to Casta being transparently based on Beyoncé. Spelldon's Blackness has been portrayed fairly clearly, until people started noticing that Spelldon's features were being rendered more "White" in a recent artist's comic work. 

Compiled images shared by life-in-the-monster-haus on Tumblr.

Straighter hair, rounder face, smaller nose, all making more of a K-pop idol look that erased Spelldon's features. Clawd Wolf was also done wrong this way by the same artist. I can't say that the more recent artist is unaware of Spelldon or Clawd being Black, but they're certainly being editorialized, however intentionally, in a negative manner. So I think that created uncertainty about the doll, and some worry about whether Spelldon's identity was being erased or retconned. Fortunately, it's not. His doll features are sculpted in accordance with his intended background. 

I've heard disappointment and suspicion with the doll compared to his debut artwork in the comics, but I think it's pretty close and consciously designed for a Black character, and seems based on the first art of Spelldon more than later issues' takes. If this is not hitting the mark, it's also not ignorant of the character's background and intended coding.

Spelldon's face has some characterful asymmetry with his mouth slightly upturned on his left and his nose following that shape. If I really wanted to stretch, I could maybe connect this to the famous "nose wiggle" facial gesture done by Samantha Stephens when casting spells in the sitcom Bewitched, but I'm sure this is just supposed to be an animated facial expression. Good. I don't like how stoic a lot of G1 faces can be. Spelldon's lips are full and his nose is fairly broad, while his eyes are narrow. His right eyebrow has a notch in it.

He's also wearing makeup, which looks great. I love the simple lime and purple eyeshadow and winged eyelid, and the grey shading behind is also good. I appreciate this couple for not following the stereotypical gay-couple contrast dynamic of the masc bro and the total twink. Both dolls are visibly queer but each has his own vibe, and Spelldon makes his makeup feel fairly alt and cool-dude while also wearing it in a queer manner. Spelldon's lips are painted in a nude color which looks just right for his skintone. I believe his color is the same as Casta's, and like Casta, he has a beauty mark as a glam translation of a witch's wart. Spelldon's eyes are simpler than Casta's, just having purple irises. Casta's eyes are purple and orange with a bit of a magic pattern effect in them.

My old copy models from an ancient photo.

Spelldon's head sculpt is new and features large pointed ears which are similar to his sister's. His nose might also have a super-subtle bump in the bridge, a detail I noticed with the Create-a-Monster Witch who Casta seemed to draw much from, if not outright sharing a sculpt.

Spelldon's piercings appear to have swapped sides from his comic debut art, though later comics have had this placement, as seen above. In the doll's left ear, he has two black rings along the edge and a silver stud in the lobe, and a dangling silver chain on his right.

Spelldon's necklace is a leather collar style sculpted with three dangling cords, each featuring an "S" dog tag, with the largest and most detailed on the lowest cord.

I was very very surprised to see this necklace has a closure rather than being a clip-on! It works just like most MH belts!

Very cool. Like with Casta, the leather straps and buckles are a fun alt-glam interpretation of the buckles amd bands typically seen on Halloween witch hats and boots.

Spelldon's first clothing piece is a purple windbreaker made of the appropriate material. There's not that much design to it. It has a fake zipper strip on one side and gathered elastic cuffs. It doesn't close, and the only other exciting detail is some fake reflector strips on the shoulders. They don't work as real reflectors.

This piece being simple doesn't mean it's bad. It feels grounded in the right way and adds a cohesive layer to the costume. Spelldon's outfit overall is a good showing for MH boy clothing design. It's not tacky or loud in an inept pursuit of flavor, while not being as boring as some of MH boys' other pieces.

On the chest of the windbreaker, there's a plastic pin sewn on. It's UV-printed and shaped like a coffin, while depicting Spelldon's personal Skullette on it.

I don't appreciate that the lower corners of the jacket were plastic-tagged to the front of the shirt.

Under the jacket, Spelldon wears a loose-fitting tank top which clearly calls back to Casta's dress...and does the idea way better. Casta's dress transitioned from soft orange fabric to rock-solid encrusted stiff purple glitter, while Spelldon's tank does things far more pleasantly with a printed orange/purple gradient and silver foil sparkles over it.

I'm gonna have words with Casta's dress when I get it again, and I will try to reduce the glitter crust because that piece was an atrocity. Spelldon got it right. When I say the tank is loose-fitting, I mean it doesn't hug his chest much. The armholes are fitted, but the piece is a bit baggy.

Over his trousers, Spelldon has a belt with some hanging chain accents. The belt is very flexible vinyl and the strap is embossed with plants and critters a witch might interact with.

Spelldon is illustrated putting his right hand through the chain loops and into his pocket, but the pants have no pockets to speak of. They do have purple illustrative patterning with some punky symbols, including the same punk Skullette Venus uses (again, they're natural friends--so glad I just recently got a G1 edition Spelldon can fang out with)!

Spelldon's boots are tall purple pieces with orange painted laces and steel toes, and the platforms are high and have the effect of making him taller than Spelldon. The dolls have the same body, but I assume their footwear deliberately makes the characters different heights. 

The platforms are shaped like rows of tombstones, and the boots have symmetrical pharmakeia pouches of plants. I assume these are meant to be real plants strapped to his shoes, but I wish they were asymmetrical, or that only one boot had this detail, if that's the case.

The soles have spiderwebs and dangling spiders on them.

Contrary to his profile, Spelldon's fingernails are painted purple, not black. After the Witch Weaver, he's the second masc-sculpted MH doll with tattoos or cosmetics on his fingers.

I think Spelldon is a really successful character design. He's believable as a G1 native, but also might be that little bit better than a typical G1 boy design for feeling more tasteful and cohesive where many G1 boys felt loud and messy. Spelldon's colors are perhaps a lot, but they're Halloween and it's an established appealing aesthetic. Clawd's teal, say, has a harder time selling itself.

As far as Spelldon vs. Casta, with my 2016 opinions as reference...Spelldon clicks with me more. I think Casta's music-star theme and Beyoncé tribute was removed from what I wanted the brand's premiere Halloween witch to be, and her horrible glitter dress won her no points. I'm gonna give her another shot, try restyling her bouffant better and see if her dress can be less nasty, but her little brother basically needs nothing to shine.

Now his new boofriend!

Overdressing in case any day turns into an event and hating gym for being crass and ruining his clothes...even the profile makes it clear!

Valentine is the first male character to escape the debuted-at-SDCC curse and get a second doll release (eleven years later!). I can only hope more will follow, though a legacy collector-doll drop, while more accessible, is not equivalent to being inducted to an active playline like the SDCC ghouls were. Scarah was the only SDCC character to have more than one playline edition and become a cast staple, though. Wydowna and Iris and Whisp only had their I♡F dolls after SDCC, and I can't imagine Valentine ever getting a third doll. I'd love Skullector editions of Wydowna and Iris, though, maybe even as successors to Skullector Scarah. 

Valentine was one of two male vampires in the G1 toyline, with the other being the underbaked Create-a-Monster character who seemed to be a basic sports kid. G2 Count Dracula joined the MH vampire mansters as a cheap "Monster Family" doll with reduced articulation. Valentine is much in the Gothic vampire tradition, and is the red to Draculaura's pink and Elissabat's purple. The CAM boy also used red, but was a far simpler doll. (Draculaura and Elissabat have also used red as a tertiary color, but it's Valentine's main. Valentine debuted to the canon between Draculaura and Elissabat.) 

I think Valentine's SDCC/Why Do Ghouls...? doll aged him a bit. The new doll looks younger, but still teenaged. (The 2024 Pride comic art made him look too young in my opinion.)

Valentine has kind of a unique story as a doll character, since he went from closeted (both as an intended story choice and by company mandate) to being out...and you can definitely tell by the dolls that a change has taken place. The original Valentine actually feels closeted compared to the 2026 doll. 2026 Valentine is designed like something has emerged within him. It's fascinating.

Valentine's hair is the same red and black as he had before, and here, it's an odd style, meant to be swooped out on either side into tapering waves that meet at the back of his head. The factory did not achieve that, exactly. It's over-gelled and not well-sculpted by the gel.

Rinsing it out a bit revealed unruly saran fiber ends. Is it the way they're cutting the hair in the factory that's damaging the fiber? This is a short hairstyle and the ends are still a mess! What is going on?

Valentine's 2026 face is so much more charming than the 2015 face. Val has rejected masculine standards here, now having thin eyebrows and eye makeup, and he looks all the better for it.

2015/Why do Ghouls... Val (photo from Monkfish's review).

Seeing the two together, it really makes the 2015 faceup look unfinished in comparison. The eyes look naked compared to the 2026 doll's. I think the personality of 2026 Val is fantastic, and I very much "love that for him" in terms of his aesthetic changes. This facial glow-up makes me think maybe there is a better way Invisi Billy's face sculpt could be painted, and that maybe a legacy edition of him could really nail it.

Valentine's fangs could be placed better to be closer to the lip gap. His skintone is the same pale pink as before.

Valentine's 2026 head has a current stamp, meaning it's a remold, but the sculpt is the same. He's got the same smirk (opposite to Spelldon's!). Their gazes are also mirrored. Spelldon looks to his left and if Val's to his left,  Valentine looks toward Spelldon!

Val's got big pointy ears and symmetrical red earrings which...well, they're not simple studs. They're kind of...nipple-shaped?

...okay, sweetie. You do you. 

Valentine's costuming is making no more pretenses at traditional, even Victorian-standard, masculinity, and if you look at this Val and think he's anything but gay, your radar needs a tune-up. 

I don't want to pigeonhole men into one role or another, but Valentine is making himself visible here and there's a clear difference between Monster High designing straight boys versus this Valentine, a doll of their first gay character post-coming out. And you know what? Valentine happens to really put "fashion" into the term "fashion doll". Do boy dolls bore and disappoint because they're straight or beholden to masculine expectations?

Yes!

Obviously. 

(Men's fashion is terribly restrictive.)

I love dolls like Valentine or Jack Skellington who aren't held to any standards of dullness, or forced into sloppy or tasteless fashion. I also like the more glamorous unearthly facial style of Gil's dolls, and Invisi Billy seemed like he could have been more fashion-conscious than his peers, but Valentine here is doing "fashion" the most compared to Jack or Billy, and has actual makeup as opposed to Gil. It seems like him being gay might be his license to go further in that style. The best way to get more interesting boy dolls would be the minor, simplistic task of totally overhauling cultural freedoms for gender expression and male fashion. Doll companies do have the power to dress their boys in less conforming ways, though. MGA has tried before. But maybe, for the time being, getting more queer guys in doll brands' casts as a way to open the door a bit more and ease audiences into a breakdown of male fashion standards could be useful if that's what it takes for some different styles to be accepted on male figures. I realize that probably wouldn't solve the feminine stigma of dolls for boys and men, though, and that's a whole other issue to tackle.

Around his neck, Valentine has a white lacy ascot, and for some infuriating reason, it's a separate piece tied on with a tiny bow.

This is too difficult to put back on, and I'd be fine with this tacked onto the shirt, even with the gold ribbon tacked on to keep that detail as a collar. I don't like this piece's attachment. Or else maybe I get it tied or glued in a loop and trim Val's head joint so it can pop off as a way to remove or replace the closed loop? Hm.

The waistcoat is a separate layer, with red and gold net laid over maroon satin (only on the front, the back is the bare satin. The waistcoat has no lapels, but it does have a black strip with simulated buttons. It opens in the back with velcro, which is a hazard when it might snag on his sheer sleeves.

Without the waistcoat, the outfit would incinerate a devout conservative grandma. The sheer cropped baggy top with foil rose print is absolutely killing, and is completely antithetical to, say, Deuce Gorgon. This manster says he'll never dress sloppy, and I completely believe it.

I'm not sure if Val is fully conveying that he's done ruining people's love lives, though. In this no-vest look, with that face, I might just assume he's switched focus to devastating other boys!

Val's trousers have simulated pocket lines with stitching, but no real pockets. They're black and grey with a damask pattern that might be chosen for a loose pareidolic resemblance to vampire/bat heads?

Valentine has no socks, and I think a white pair might do him wonders and tie his spiffy look together. His shoes are nicely done, with printed rose panels on the outer edges and more damask pattern on the heels.

The soles have rose patterning.

Valentine does not wear nail polish.

Both dolls have the standard no-frills G1 boy body. They have softer vinyl hands than older MH boys do, and their wrist joints are not very strong. (And there goes their chance for a GLAAD award!) Their shoulders are very tight but do fold down to the sides completely--it's just a firm push to move them. Neither doll's neck joint lets them look down much, but the heads tilt back and to the sides just fine. The ankles are okay but could be a bit sturdier.

The accessories in this pack are the potion set and a rose.

The potion set is a chemistry stand and a bottle, with the stand and test tubes being all one piece. The tubes are not open on top and cannot have liquid or thin objects put into them.

The bottle is overtly love-themed, and isn't the sweet-dreams potion from the diaries. It's based on the Pride comic art. 

The smoke is soft flexible plastic, while the bottle is a clear casing with a printed element inside. The dangling tag is part of the print, but also has exterior contour aligned with the design. The bottle has no handles for the dolls and isn't suited to be held by them--at least, not one-handed. 

It pops into the chemistry stand as seen above.

The boys also come with a potions textbook to match the bottle. This is the opening book mold seen in some G3 dolls before, but there are no contents to be found here.

Valentine's rose appears to be the same mold debuted for Howliday Love Deuce and Cleo. The rose has lips in the middle, and four fangs. This looks like an error, but this is how the Cleuce rose was painted, too.

The rose has an easy finger loop for a boy doll to hold it with-far better than the absolutely frustrating Love Draculaura/Clawd bouquet that came after this mold! 

Last is the lab goggles. They're a basic mold with only the color accent changed between the two.

Neither doll is securely fitted in the goggles, though Val is right that Spelldon makes them kind of work. I still have no need for them.

I think Valentine's hair was fairly easy to shape. There were some erratic and choppy hairs at his hairline that I had to pluck and trim, and his fiber, again, is not pristine, but the silhouette is good even when washed and dried. It looks better and more accurate ungelled!

Spelldon got a bit of trimming, but I didn't try to wash his hair of gel.

There's really no favorite here. Both of these dolls came out so nicely...turned out so nicely? I mean, both are true! They're well-executed. The faces and costumes look great, even though the hair needed a bit of fussing and Valentine's ascot is on notice. These are some of MH's best boy doll designs. Spelldon looks fantastic, and Valentine is outright better than his previous doll, which now represents a low point he's grown beyond. 2026 Valentine is more flattered by his styling, and represents a more actualized, fulfilled person. It's Valentine being himself, being unique, being a monster in the way his original design/doll wasn't! I can't really imagine still wanting the SDCC doll now that the Mad Science For Each Other doll exists.

As I did for the Pride Frankie last year (the Witch Weaver also celebrated after), I hand-painted a canvas pride flag for the dolls to display with, making the classic rainbow. Spellentine's cover photo needed to be as gay as the marketing for the dolls wasn't, because these dolls being Monster High's first gay couple, canonized now in the toyline, is a huge part of their significance and Mattel refused to promote that.

Here are some pictures I tried out with the flag.

I realized that these two dolls embody separate festive holidays, and I needed to find a way to mix Spelldon's Halloween with Valentine's what's that holiday called again? I realized a Halloween painting by my mom which I use for decoration each year was the perfect backdrop, and tacked some paper hearts on.

For the final edit, I used the same style of Pride-flag frame I did for Welcome Committee Frankie's cover photo, and drew two male Skullettes onto the flag--a touch I didn't want to do for real, since the flag would be more versatile in standard form.

Here's a couple of pictures of Spelldon against the painting.

Referencing the Diary of a Wimpy Kid scene made me want to restage it with Val and Draculaura as the woman pushing Val to confront the issue. 

Val and Drac are primed to share some accessories, as both are heart-themed vampires and now Drac sometimes goes red and Val has embraced the less masculine. Love Drac's parasol handle is too short for Val, though, even when using the parasol clip that goes on a doll stand--Val would need a taller stand pole than he has for the parasol to rise high enough. He does enjoy G3 Drac's garden tea, though.

Spelldon favors a cauldron mug.

Valentine also had to reunite with Cupid, and I think both apologized to each other--him, for his misdeeds, and her, for not getting his love troubles sorted out sooner.

She's definitely ready to keep him and Spell together, though!

Spelldon had to fang out with Venus to gather ingredients for pharmakeia--they could talk to each other about plants and trade intel for hours.

Venus is good at directing Spelldon to some of the trickier plants.

That's the LDD Oz Wizard pouch which can be paired with the Cowardly Lion.

Venus has one condition, though: if she's going to help Spelldon take plants, he has to help her make some.

Here they are soaking in the sun. I love their friendship.

Then I staged some collage-style portraits of the boys to showcase their disparate holiday alignments. These boys had me digging through two seasons' decoration bins--both out of season!

I then wondered if maybe Val could have had some collaboration with the Witch Weaver to get his new threads, since his sheer top, patterning, and waistcoat all seem pretty much up their alley. I staged him as if he's in their workshop, with the Weaver conjuring his look with their sugar bowl cauldron. I brought out some of the props and patterns from their 2025 shoot to maintain continuity!

The Witch Weaver is described as using magic to help monsters find themselves, but I figured their title might as well be more literal and refer to them creating clothes to bring out struggling monsters' identities as well. That's kind of the mission of Harris Reed, the designer the Witch Weaver is based on, anyhow. Maybe that was part of the intent of the doll character all along.

I did cut the stupid comb out of the Weaver's hat since it impeded function more than it added. Their hat is still held on with a pin through the back and their scalp, but the fit is a bit better than it was with the comb element. I put them in a black O.M.G. Fierce stand since I donated their standard G1 stand to a boy doll who needed it more, and the Fierce stand works perfectly for the Weaver.

Then I set Spelldon up with my big cauldron prop for some glamor shots. His smirk really adds to it!

Here are some equivalent shots with Val.

And some more simple portraits with Spell and Val.

The long and short of it is that these dolls are deeply appreciated and they're a highlight of this year. They're meaningful representation, and when you dig through the corporate reluctance to be proud of them, you'll see the real care to deliver the romance story the dolls deserve. The designers knocked it out of the park with the visuals and narrative of this doll set. They did a lot that means a lot here, and finding more effort and clear communication once I got the dolls has made me feel more like the dolls really did win over corporate this time. I hate that that's a question, but the team behind this set achieved their objective. They made the dolls queer, romantic, and visible even when someone at Mattel didn't seem to want them to be, or to advertise that they are. The team also made two of my favorite boy doll designs from the brand to date! I'm not sure Spelldon or Valentine will ever get more dolls in the future, but they really made this release count if that's it for their toyline gig. Spelldon is an awesome witch boy and Valentine is the vampire elevated and delightfully free, while, for once, it feels like some MH boys truly embrace and understand fashion! These dolls have some typical factory flaws and nitpicks, but they simply mean too much, and serve too much, for me to be that hard on them. You get good character designs. You get a good Halloween witch and a good Gothic vampire also fit for Valentine's Day--festive! You also get a heartening statement of inclusive intent from the designers who continue to try their best to represent in a turbulent PR hellscape. 

This doll-collecting Pride, I'm proud of everyone who got Spellentine out there as well as they did. This release makes me very happy.