Monster HighTravel Scaris Skelita Calaveras Doll

UPDATE: All my concerns were invalid. I am still seeing reviews on how stiff she is, but once you move her legs and loosen them up they work perfectly. Since my review we have purchased two more as gifts and an additional one for my other daughter. Skelita is a favorite in this house and we have not had any issues with any of the dolls. Updated my 4 start review to 5 stars!Here is a moms veiw on the Monster High Skelita doll.I have to look at all the monster high dolls a little different as My almost 7 year old plays with them but her 5 year old sister joins her. Most of the dolls drive me crazy as the 5 year old likes to take off the arms and then loses them.Regardless with Skelita I bought her as I found her at a Local store and thought she was absolutely beautiful and she is by far one of the most stunning dolls I have ever seen in a box. Her makeup and painting are beyond beautiful and I feel like I could look at her for hours as the artistry is amazing. I did not realize she would be so hard to find but I do believe that once Christmas is over and the movie comes out you will find her everywhere. I was just lucky and she was at Toys r Us so I grabbed her before I even knew she existed.THE CONS:She is very very hard to bend. Trying to get her to sit and or bend her legs is almost impossible and it feels like you are going to break her. Because I was writing this review I pulled her out and decided to bend her legs slowly and now she feels like she is able to move without breaking. A mom may want to grab her and get her joints moving when she first comes out of the box as she is very very stiff.Her hands are very flimsy and seem to be made out of rubber instead of plastic (sort of feels like a thin barbies foot). At first I did not like this and and even now I am not sure if I like it but it is interesting as they are not like any of the other dolls.Pros: Absolutely BeautifulComes with a standSuitcase is funAll of her features are amazing as her bones and stomach are correctHer dress is interesting as it is long and then she has a skirt over the dress to give her more dimensions. Overall I like her a lot!Overall I think if I was a collector I would buy her in a second as she is so beautiful and all of the details are very noticeable from the top of her head to the tip toes of her feet. As for a toy for kids under 8 I am not sure I would spend the money as I see her possibly breaking as she is very stiff and seems breakable.My other daughter got a Venus flytrap doll who I thought was beautiful and once I opened her I decided I liked her 100X better then Skelita as she was more durable and had other neat features like a fuzzy head.We only opened her yesterday but if and when she breaks I will write about it if she does not I will also write about it! The girls had an Early Christmas due their dad having to leave prior.update Jan 2014,Skelita is still one of our top dolls. Her rubber hands have held up well and she still looks amazing. Her hair does get messed up every once in a while, but overall she looks almost as nice as the day she came out of the box. Skelita is my favorite of my daughters collection with Vamperine being a close 2nd!

this has to be one of the best Monster High dolls. I LOVE and collect Skulls (still Goth at heart!) and thought this would be a nice addition.The detail is amazing. the face is painted like some of the Dead of the Dead skulls you see and the whole body is a skeleton, not just the arms and legs and the detail in that is quite impressive and very appropriate. it really wouldn't do for her to have a body like the others since she is supposed to be a skeleton. the only draw back is it makes it a little difficult for the clothes to fit right but i think that is a minor set back especially if you are just going to display the doll instead of playing with it. in the box they put a plastic body shaped piece under the clothes so it looks nicer.The limbs are VERY stiff at first and you think you are going to break them before they move. the move you move them the easier it getfor the packaging be prepared for it to take a LONG time to remove from the box. they certainly did not want ANYONE to be able to steal the doll out of the box at the stores. one of the things they did with all the monster high packaging that i hate is that they have 2 plastic pieces that have tabs on the end that you cut off to release the doll going into the DOLL'S HEAD!! so after you removed it you have 2 sharp pieces of plastic sticking out of the back of the doll's head so you either have to try and cut them off close to the hair without cutting the hair or you have to try to pushed them into the head itself which doesn't really work either. that would be my only real complaint. otherwise I just can't say enough about how neat and unique this doll is, even compared to the other Monster high dolls. a lot of thought and detail went into this one and it shows, right down to her last name meaning Skull in Spanish :)

(As usual, this review is from a collector who does not remove dolls from boxes.)When I saw pictures of the new Scaris line a few months ago, I loved every single doll ... except Skelita. I understood the cultural references behind the design, but Day of the Dead stuff always creeped me out a bit. I'd decided she would be the one doll from the line - besides Deuce - I wouldn't purchase. Fast forward to a month ago. Once people began to post their own pictures of Skelita, I began to reevaluate my opinion of her. The creepiness gradually gave way to the beauty that is Skelita and what she represents. The more I looked at her, the more I was wrong to write her off as "ugly".Her painted face, with the pink lips, blue shadowed eyes, and the dab of black on her nose against her white "skin", soon became adorable to me instead of weird. The pure skeletal body is clever; her arms and legs are what I gaze at the most. The streaks of orange in her black hair evoke a Halloween-ish feeling. The vibrant colors on her little dress are amazing. Her shoes are cute. Though, the handle resembling a SPINE jutting from the top of her suitcase is a bit disconcerting. But, hey, it's Monster High - they gotta push the limits a little! The cheerful pink color of the case itself helps offset the semi-disturbing aspect.I rated her five stars in the educational area because Skelita spurred me to research Día de los Muertos in depth. I've discovered things about the holiday I didn't know before and that's when Monster High (or any toy) is at its best - when it creates an opportunity for a child (or an adult, in my case!) to learn something and appreciate the world around us.I love this doll so much now. Skelita Calaveras is a MUST for any Monster High collector.