I don't like the looks of this

I've not talked...well, not too often about Rainbow High and Shadow High, but one could definitely call me a fan.  I've got eight of the dolls.  Ruby Anderson, Sunny Madison, Skyler Bradshaw, and Violet Willow go to Rainbow High...

...while Monique Verbena, Natasha Zima, Zooey Electric, and Shanelle Onyx attend Shadow High.  I plan on adding Oliver Ocean before fall is over.

Dang, Monique Verbena stands out from both groups.  She's unnaturally colored all over like her Shadow High classmates, but she's brightly colored like the kids at Rainbow High.  Very unusual, the Shadow High lot.  Anyway, I'm incredibly pleased with my bunch.  They're not without their flaws; their clothes can be tight and their joints can be stiff, and Skyler Bradshaw has some chips in her eyes.  But they're a fun lot.  They helped me learn that nylon hair can be fun.

Okay, okay, the Paola Reina bunch helped me learn to love nylon, but my point stands:  Rainbow High and Shadow High have what Bratzillaz could've had.

Then there's the joints.  These brightly colored kids aren't as limber as my G1 Monster High dolls, but they pose pretty well.  Monique has a little bit of a weak spot, as her heavy braids pull her head back.  She's kinda a dreamer.

Miss Emily also had trouble with a couple'a her dolls bending at the knees...I think it was Meena Fleur who was extremely stiff, and that may be because she had two sets of legs (one flat-footed and one high-heeled).  My girls don't have a lot of trouble with their leg joints.

Now.  <dramatic pause>  Here's where the lighting dims and the music darkens.  Recently...I'm not sure when exactly, but recently the Rainbow High bunch delved into the slime fad.  Now I positively hate slime-themed toys, because slime is very messy and it dries up after awhile.  But anyway, the Rainbow High girls had this gimmick anyway.  That in and of itself is not a big deal since some kids like slime, but look closely at Violet Willow here.  And I mean CLOSE, particularly at her wrists and hands.

She's got the same inset eyes and the same pretty little face, but she's missing her wrist joints.  All my other girls have those (dig Natasha's nails, by the way!).

Then there's a basic bunch.  A swim line, consisting of Ruby, Sunny, Skyler, and Violet.  Miss Emily reviewed these.  They have NO JOINTS AT ALL except for shoulders and hips, and Emily reports that her Ruby and Violet both have bad hair.  Yeah...Violet's hair is straight, but apparently it doesn't handle well at all.

They're meant to be played with in water, which I guess was MGA's excuse for leaving out joints.  Now...is not having joints a bad thing?  Of course not.  My Bratz dolls have the same joints that an average Barbie doll does, and they can still strut their stuff.  So too can the Swim and Style dolls.  But when a doll line takes a jointed doll and makes it not-so-jointed...that doesn't bode well for the line overall.  Further, Bailey Maria noted in the comments for Emily's post that joints don't always interfere with water play. The changes to these dolls concern me because they're similar to the changes Spin Masters made to the LIV dolls before LIV got the axe.  As far as I know the Brites and the LIV For Color lines had the same hair as past LIV dolls, but the articulation that made LIV such a great line was gone.  The clothes had gotten a lot simpler too.  I fear that this may be the same direction that the Rainbow High and Shadow High dolls are headed.  Jeez, I hope not!  The rerelease of Monster High has made the doll isle a little more fun to walk down, but for me seeing the new Rainbow High releases has been most fun.  I keep hoping to see a bright green one.

On the other hand I've heard through the grapevine that new little outfits are being released for these dolls, and that pleases me.  Miss Emily didn't seem too impressed by the way her little outfit looked in the package (it admittedly does look cheap), but I'm glad there are some options that don't involve paying shipping and handling to Etsy.  That said...big sigh.  I don't like the direction that this line is going in, and I don't think I'm the only one.  Doll Nerd noted that her Berrie Skies doll had lots of little details that none of the budget dolls have...but NONE of her accessories fit in her hands.  Monique Verbena has the same problem, and that's a tremendous shame because her accessories are makeup brushes.

It would've been great if she could've held those to do her friends' makeup.  Or better yet, leave off the extraneous plastic crap and start putting the extra outfits in again.  All four of my Rainbow High girls, as well as Natasha Zima and Shanelle Onyx, came with two outfits.  Zooey Electric and Monique Verbena did not.  Zooey makes up for it a little bit by having multiple pieces to her outfit.  Taking that jacket of hers off can sort of make two different looks, but I wish she had a second outfit to call her own.  I wish Monique did too; her purple dress is pretty, but she'd have looked nice in something form-fitting too.  Good thing Etsy's got stuff.

Okay, I've made my point and I'm rambling.  Probably if I did this with my dolls more often I wouldn't be constantly buying more of them.  I gotta ask y'all, though:  are you more of a rainbow, or are you more of a shadow type?  Discuss.

Cheers,
RagingMoon1987