Only one stand, one set of clothes and one wig = boo! =(
Background: I was staying in Sarawak, East Malaysia, in a city called Miri, to be exact. There is one ToyRus, and the slection is dismal: they seem to get -random- dolls; almost as if the stock was leftovers from other stores or something. What they -did- still have (which was an awesome find!) was the Vampire+Gargoyle Create-A-Monster set. I bought it in March 2013 when everyone was trying not to pay scalper prices for them, -if- they could find them. I didn’t even realise that some of these big CAM packs didn’t come with two torsos until much later. But thanks goodness the one I got made me two complete boys–no, men. >=D
Bald until we find the right wigs. =D
They weren’t the boys I’d planned to get, but once I opened the packaging, I totally fell in love with the gargoyle’s large yellow-green eyes and how pathetic they made him look. I had initially been sure I’d want to change how he looked; the eyebrows, especially, but then I realised that his current expression (the pure patheticness of it!) was too adorable to change. *laughs* I love how he has protruding brows on his head sculpt and his ears are pure cuteness.
His side profile is so cute.
Next, the vampire. Oh my. He was a nice surprise. I thought the pink skin would turn me off, but once I saw his eyes, I fell for him. *laughs* I would prefer him chalk white, but I can live with the pink. We will somehow live with the pink! >=D I definitely want his eyebrows and his lip colour changed and maybe the fangs relocated, but his face sculpt is sooo lovely. I love the furrow between his eyebrows, the smirk he has, and his hook nose.
He’s just awesome!
Their hands are so beautifully sculpted (I have a weakness for pretty hands). I love the long nails on the gargoyles!
Pretty.
The body:
A bit too slim with long limbs; chest is thick though.
And because I’m easily amused:
Moulded undies! >=D
The not-so-awesome: The hard part of their heads with the hole in it is annoying. It means you can’t reroot unless you remove and replace that bit. It also forces you to wig or go bald. The wig positioning can seem weird but you’re stuck with it due to the peg in the wigcap.
Insert tab A into slot B.
I thought the wig that came with the set was really lousy: the haircut was funny, and the wig cap too thick. [In the Puma add-on pack, the wig included had a parting in front, and the clear plastic shows.]
To end: On my first impression, the bodies seemed a bit too light, and coupled with the long limbs, a bit fragile. I was expecting Barbie or Bratz weights, I guess. I wish the set included two pairs of shoes and two outfits. But overall, I was pretty blown away with the whole set. I was just so impressed with the faces and how beautiful they were that anything else seemed nitpicky. =D
Mattel needs to release this set again. Because everyone needs to get a hold of them at reasonable prices and bring more male goodness in the MH community. >=D I know for certain that my MH obession would not have gone the way it had if I hadn’t got this set. =)
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The origins of BloodBags: As I stared at the gargoyle, his story pretty much came to me. And since he was paired so conveniently with another doll, the fleshing out of his character and story pretty much pulled in the other. Thus, Sasha, the gargoyle and his vampire master Nikolai was born.
And then, maybe a few days later, when I was browsing MH pictures, I was inspired by Rochelle and another character was formed. And the more dolls I got, the bigger the BloodBags world grew. *laughs*
I don’t play with these dolls per se. Usually, the way it works with my inspiration, I take pictures of them, and stories happen during the photoshoots. But with Nikolai, Sasha and the whole BloodBags gang, I find the dolls themselves inspire, photoshoot or not, and their stories demand to be written. =D