Taking Stock

Longtime blogger Matthew Rettenmund once observed that blogging requires a lot of work and offers few rewards. (I'm paraphrasing.) I would agree with that, with the caveat that those rewards may be few but they're also large. In any case, Voicething turns one year old in a little over a month and that's probably why Matthew's observation is bouncing around in my head.

My very first post on Voicething was a statement of intent. Looking back my goals were lofty, but even then I wasn't sure exactly where the blog would go. I do enough reading to know most blogs don't turn out like what their creators had originally intended. Voicething is no different. It's natural that as you continue blogging you find your niche. As I'm sure you've noticed, for Voicething that is reviews. There's really one big reason for this: that's what I most enjoy doing. Writing reviews fills many slots, so to speak. It's what readers most like about the blog. It requires I photograph the dolls, one of my favorite things about collecting. I get to scan and discuss paper ephemera and box art which I also love. It gives me a chance to "bond" with the dolls and, in essence, play with them. And I get to flex my analytical muscles, something that's part of my personality and comes naturally. It's a win-win and it won't be changing.

When I first started, I was posting reviews roughly every other day. Occasionally I'd post two in one day. Over time the reviews have gotten longer and, in my opinion, better. Generally the reviews now have two to three times as many pictures as the old reviews. The writing has gotten more incisive and covers more aspects of the dolls. The reviews take a lot longer to write, photograph, and piece together now than they used to. The one for Raven took up the better part of two days. The first day was spent taking and editing photos, scanning and editing box art, and doing some writing. The second day was spent writing and editing, then putting it all together. Back in the beginning I would bang one out in a few hours. Not so nowadays.

That's basically all a preamble to one very important statement: reviews will now be posted once every week or two at most. Unfortunately, yes, this means a lot of dolls will fall by the wayside. One approach I've been considering, to compensate for the smaller amount of reviews, is to cover all the dolls in one line in one review. This would only be occasionally and only for smaller lines like GNO or Swim 2013 wave 1. Since three dolls would be covered at one time I wouldn't go as in-depth as I do in the solo reviews and instead touch somewhat briefly on each doll and discuss the line as a whole. The thing is, I'm having trouble figuring out how exactly it would work. So it may not happen... but you never know.

One thing that has officially gone the way of the dodo is character spotlights. Character information is already widely available online and what I was writing didn't add much to the conversation. Anyway, I feel I've gotten better at incorporating my opinions and analysis on characters into the doll reviews. On the flipside, I really enjoy doing Deja View and the blog has gone far too long without a new one. To be honest, Deja View entries basically work the same as a review, just of an older doll instead of a new one, so it's not like they're outside of my comfort zone. I'm not making any promises but ideally those will be showing back up. As for the rest of it (Deconstructing mostly comes to mind), my opinions on MH as a whole come through in the reviews and smaller non-review posts, so yeah, Deconstructing entries ain't coming back. I think most people already realized this, I just wanted to make it official.

In the meantime I've had a few doll-related thoughts floating 'round my head the last few days. I still see people occasionally express concern that EAH will be the downfall of MH. If you ask me, Mattel's dwindling (plummeting one could even say), QC standards in regards to Monster High pose a far bigger threat to the line's longevity than Ever After High ever could. Music Festival and especially Ghouls Night Out have been (mostly) up to the usual standards; everything else has been iffy at best. I consider myself pretty lenient when it comes to Mattel's QC. Some have been bitching about Mattel's QC for well over a year now but I feel it's just recently gotten out of control. If standards stay where they are currently I can see myself stepping away from MH and just enjoying the great dolls I already have. Hell hath no fury like a Cleo fanboy spurned and all that.

Perfect Apple helps ease the pain though.

Hey, did I just mention Ever After High up there? Are those pics of Apple you just saw? Surprise --  at the moment nothing doll-related makes me happier than EAH! Just look at these ladies...

They make a great group!

I gently washed Maddie's hair a few days ago. It's still frizzy but not nearly as much.

And for the most part her beautiful, long tendrils went back into their shape after the hair dried!

Isn't she magnificent? She's such a stunner I'm actually able to overlook all the pink.

She's such a stunner I don't even mind that one of her eyes is gargantuan compared to the other.

(Honestly though, the size difference is so large I'm thinking about calling Mattel for a replacement.)

Reader Elly helpfully pointed out a few days ago that Maddie is sold out at Justice's online store. I know that must be frustrating for collectors who haven't been able to get their hands on Maddie yet but I'm kind of glad to hear this. Why? Well, when I went to pick up Apple and Briar at my local store over the weekend I did a count of the dolls they had on the shelves and they still had all of their Raven and Maddie stock (aside from the dolls I bought). They got those two characters' dolls a week ago. I also took a count of Apple and Briar, who had arrived earlier the day I bought them, and I was the first to purchase either of them. And my Justice is a store that I have confirmed has scalper activity. Bottom line: the dolls are keeping my store's shelves warm! It's entirely possible these sluggish (well, nonexistent) sales are an isolated event. Still, it does have me wondering.

Why people not buying you, EAH? In Missouri, anyway.

My favorites of the core dolls.

Briar and Maddie ain't too far behind them though.

Check out that pinky-tan complexion. 

In happier news, the official Ever After High site has been expanded. You can now play games, download the theme song, read previews for two of the YA novels, and more. It's all pretty kid focused but I have to admit I'm looking forward to the novels. With the expanded website also comes a new webisode, which you can see here. Another webisode was briefly premiered then pulled. You can instead catch it here. The pulled webisode introduces the reinvented C.A. Cupid to the EAH world! (Immediate reaction: I far prefer her new dress to the old one!) And last but not least, a low quality pic of the Ashlynn Ella and Hunter dolls has surfaced! Check the new dolls out here.

Now that the core dolls have hit shelves new stuff is coming at us fast and furious! And I'm loving it! EAH is totally pushing the right buttons for me. I like the show, the characters are interesting, the dolls are great, and more than anything I simply think it's a cool little world Mattel has created with EAH. I really hope the line succeeds because I'd love to see what Mattel has in store with EAH, especially in regards to new character dolls. The characters we've seen on the webisodes but haven't gotten dolls for yet look so promising; in many cases they look even better than the core characters. Yeah, really hoping those shelf warmer dolls at my local store are an isolated incident...

These shoes were made for walkin', and that's just what they'll do, one of these days these shoes are gonna walk all over you... and out the store door for good if people don't get busy picking these wonderful dolls up!

Update: The official full quality promotional shot of Ashlynn and Hunter has surfaced. Check them out...