Yes, I picked up another Rainbow High doll. Well, technically this doll is part of the Shadow High line. Shadow High is Rainbow High's rival school, and the first dolls in this series varied in skin tones and clothing from mostly all white to mostly all black, with shades of gray in between. Shanelle Onyx is the doll who is mostly all black, except for a white streak in her hair, and she's the doll we're looking at today.
This is the way she came, fresh out of the box. I like her outfit for the most part. Her lace socks and strappy heels with black fur looked cool in the YouTube show, but they look a little odd in real life.
Fortunately, she comes with a change of clothes and shoes. I like her second outfit too. There is no slit or clasp on either of her pairs of shoes, so they have to be worked on and off. I don't like that her clothes mostly fit *very* tightly, meaning you have to really pull the sides together so the Velcro can meet. With the black belt that comes with Shanelle's dress, I feel like I'm not getting it closed all the way; I can't get all the Velcro covered by the other end of the belt. At least her hands can come off, similar to the way Monster High/Ever After High dolls' hands could. It makes it a lot easier to put on things like the jacket with ruffled sleeves in the second picture below.
I like her makeup. Her hair is silky soft, with only a little crunch on the end of some of her hair at the bottom of her ponytail.
Her body has some marks and scratches, but those don't bother me for some reason. Also, these dolls have an "unrealistic" knee hinge, which again, doesn't bother me, but I thought I'd show those of you who don't have one of these dolls.
These dolls have their own names, with personalities and story lines you get to see in the show on YouTube, but the dolls seem mainly designed to display the clothes. As with Mila's dress, for example, Shanelle can't sit down in the black and silver houndstooth skirt. Of course, lots of kids just hold their dolls in the air and make them "talk." This also reminds me that the dolls do come with color-coordinated stands, and a comb. I talked with Dana about whether these clothes would fit curvy Barbies, and the answer is: no. I have a picture of a curvy Barbie/Shadow High doll under the fold.
I hope you can see Shanelle's figure adequately. She definitely has a curvy figure, but she is still smaller proportionally than Barbie, except of course for her head. It didn't even occur to me until now to see if the basic Made to Move doll could wear any of these clothes. Oops! If they can, I will let you know.
I'm glad that February is almost over. It used to be one of the worst months in the year for me, but long years of medication have leveled me out quite a bit. I have a couple of holidays next month that I am looking forward too, though. I will be sharing them with you!
Oh, and I'm upping my collection tally again.
Total dolls: 84
I daresay that I like Shadow High better than Rainbow High...and that's saying a lot because I love Rainbow High.
ReplyDeleteI like Series 1 of Shadow High. Then they had the Neon Shadow dolls, and now the Series 2 is all kinds of different colors, though still kinda monochrome. I feel it's lost its magic, but that's just as well, as I don't really want a big collection of these dolls.
DeleteThank you! Her knees look nicer than the curvy Barbie's do, when they are standing up, but I do think the RH/SH dolls knees look odd when they are bent. I'm surprised about the Paola Reina dolls too; they seem to be for even slightly younger children than the Rainbow High ones. I wasn't sure I was going to get the Rainbow High dolls for myself either, but I'm getting bored with Barbie, and BJD dolls just aren't my thing.
ReplyDeleteShe's a very interesting doll Barb. I love the close up of her face with that little white curl on her forehead. You're catching up with me on the doll tally. :)
ReplyDeleteBig hugs,
X
These dolls are definitely unique and cute, even if not groundbreaking. Her hair is really well done. My goodness, Xanadu, I still have all of my Ever After High dolls and all of my Barbie dolls to share, plus a few other kinds. Some of my Barbies are going to be leaving here, but I still have a *lot.* I'm starting to look forward to getting my final tally.
DeleteHi Barb! This doll is one of my favorites from Shadow High. Her black skin makes her so interesting and unique. I do agree that Rainbow/Shadow High seems to be very focused on the fashion aspects, and lots of the outfits look very heavily inspired by already existing brands and designs (the "Sparkle" logo in some t-shirts looks exactly like Supreme's logo). Even if some of the fashions don't fit Barbie, I think they could still be great inspiration to make a Barbie-size version.
ReplyDeleteOne thing that I really like about Rainbow High are the playsets, as they seem to work fine with other dolls. If I ever find the pool playset on sale, I would get it in a heartbeat. I've seen people use it with their Integrity Toys dolls and it looks fairly realistic for something that is playline.
Wish you a lovely weekend ahead.
Shanelle does really have her own look, and I like it. The clothes that the character Bella Parker wears are very Chanel-suit inspired, and one of the dolls wears a yellow plaid jacket and skirt just like a character in Clueless. Ironically, the actress from that show is back in a completely unrelated commercial right now, wearing the same jacket and skirt again.
DeleteI love playsets too. It would be nice if Rainbow High came out with some new stuff for Christmas. What do you think of the new Monster High playsets?
Hope you have a great weekend too.
I love her! Mine lives on top of my computer tower because I like her so much.
ReplyDeleteShe is so nice to display; she has a lot of presence.
DeleteI remember when I saw this doll for the first time, I thought she was stunning. And seeing these photos, she still is stunning and a doll I would love to have in my collection. I think that these dolls are great when it comes to their joints. Pose well. I know that their clothes do fit the smaller Barbies, I tried some on my Barbie Extra and it worked nicely. :)
ReplyDeleteShe is stunning, and a very popular doll. They do pose well, as long as their clothes aren't so tight that they can't move. :) I should have remembered that their clothes work with Barbie, as I've seen them wearing Barbie clothes.
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