Monster High from The Dollie Dungeon

[davidd]

What seems like almost a lifetime ago... back in 2012... when Monster High was new and fresh and exciting, I came upon the idea of turning my MH ghouls in to "fortune tellers" or "genies" or... yes, the term has since fallen out of favor: gypsies. I had learned about a discontinued Bratz line called "Genie Magic," and I set about collecting "Genie Magic" sets to repurpose in to Monster High costumes.

In retrospect, from a financial standpoint I would have been better off collecting and saving the mint-in-box "Genie Magic" sets, as they have since become somewhat ex-pensive on the secondary market. At the time, however, most "Genie Magic" sets were reasonably priced, and I had quite a lot of fun tracking down the versions and creating costumes for Monster High figures and characters.

Skull Shores Frankie Stein

Monster High Cleo in Bratz Genie Magic Cloe outfit

(See how that works?  )

Draculaura wears the relatively hard to find Sasha outfit

Spectra adapted particularly well to the mystic fortune teller fashions

My personal favorite: Lagoona Blue! 

Later, Mattel introduced the 13 Wishes line of fortune teller / genie inspired Monster High figures. At the time, Mattel and MGA were blatantly copying one another (MGA introduced Bratzillaz in response to the popularity of Monster High), so I suspect 13 Wishes was a response to Genie Magic. While the 13 Wishes line was fun, I have always preferred my MH-Bratz mash-ups.

[Aichan]

Ahh were some of these taken in Hawaii? Pretty shots.

I liked the MA dolls but never enough to collect them.

Its the same way for me when I buy something I like to enjoy and only one of, the resale value goes thru the roof. But if I buy something extra to resale it falls flat!

Good thing I dont play the stock market.

Yeah Gypsies like to be referred to as Roma now. Its sometimes hard to remember because I grew up with my parents warning me about Gypsies but they were always so vague as to what they looked like. So to me they kind of became these mythical, mysterious traveling people that told fortunes like in Curse of the werewolf.
Shrug. I stilldo not know who they are, what they look like etc. i saw that show on tv about them but those people i have been told are not real Roma. Go figure, reality TV.

[davidd]

Ahh were some of these taken in Hawaii?

Its the same way for me when I buy something I like to enjoy and only one of, the resale value goes thru the roof. But if I buy something extra to resale it falls flat!

Yeah Gypsies like to be referred to as Roma now. ... So to me they kind of became these mythical,  mysterious  traveling people that told fortunes like in Curse of the werewolf.

Good eye. Yes, Hawaii. I lived there until four years ago.

Yeah, I went through a phase where I bought two of everything I really liked, one to open and one to keep mint-in-box. Of course those items never increased in value, or even held their value. So yay, I ended up with duplicates of figures I liked. I guess that was okay.

Roma, Romany... whatever. I've even read that those terms are sometimes considered offensive. When I say "gypsies" I mean nothing derogatory or offensive; rather, I am referring to the "movie style" gypsies; like you say, they are mysterious people who travel in wagons, put on shows and tell fortunes, and act all spooky in old vampire and werewolf movies. My Monster High fortune tellers are based on "movie gypsies," not on an authentic culture.

[Alliecat]

I was like, "whoa, wait, he's got all these flowers blooming already? I thought they weren't that far ahead of us", then "did he start the bougainvillea & hibiscus indoors...?" and then the hau flowers finally clued me in! (hey, I'm tired)
Anyway, a fun set of photos -- they look great in those outfits.

[neon_jellyfish]

Absolutely charming redresses! I agree, Bratz Genie Magic outfits are cooler than MH 13 Wishes ones, and sort of more accurate, in that movie-like sense. If you look at 13W outfits closely, they're not 'oriental' at all, they just have a lot of gold going on. Gigi's signature outfit displays clear signs of inspiration in cultures of Middle East, but the Haunt the Casbah costumes don't. A lot of people just accepted them as oriental because that's how they were sold. They're beautiful, and I got them for my ghouls because I love them, they're just not something out of Arabian Nights.

[Aichan]

Ahh were some of these taken in Hawaii?

Its the same way for me when I buy something I like to enjoy and only one of, the resale value goes thru the roof. But if I buy something extra to resale it falls flat!

Yeah Gypsies like to be referred to as Roma now. ... So to me they kind of became these mythical,  mysterious  traveling people that told fortunes like in Curse of the werewolf.

Good eye. Yes, Hawaii. I lived there until four years ago.

Yeah, I went through a phase where I bought two of everything I really liked, one to open and one to keep mint-in-box. Of course those items never increased in value, or even held their value. So yay, I ended up with duplicates of figures I liked. I guess that was okay.

Roma, Romany... whatever. I've even read that those terms are sometimes considered offensive. When I say "gypsies" I mean nothing derogatory or offensive; rather, I am referring to the "movie style" gypsies; like you say, they are mysterious people who travel in wagons, put on shows and tell fortunes, and act all spooky in old vampire and werewolf movies. My Monster High fortune tellers are based on "movie gypsies," not on an authentic culture.

I can relate. My husband used to collect Nightmare before xmas stuff back when the movie came out and bought 2 of everything. Then the market was flooded from china.
He was bummed.
I made him a 7 foot Jack Skellington  so he could have something that no one had , at least at the time. Then he was happy.

People get offended waaay to easily now a days. You even mention a race  and people.
 bristle.

[*NatTheCat*]

This is such a neat idea! :3 I really like your mashups - and the photos are gorgeous. Spectra steals the show for me, but really they all look great in their Genie Magic looks. :3

[davidd]

Monster High Frankie Stein - First Wave Original

[Elfy]

These look so e-xotic.

[neon_jellyfish]

Oooh, I can't decide which one I like better - this one, or the one in your ADAD thread...

[werepuppy]

Ooh, there is such a good use of colour here. It looks brilliant.

[davidd]

Oooh, I can't decide which one I like better - this one, or the one in your ADAD thread...

I couldn't decide, either, so I posted both! 

[Alliecat]

Amazing lighting and colour! I like this one better -- a little more light and a little more colour.

[dunneh]

That was really informative and the pics are great! I love the genie outfits with the MH girls, they suit them incredibly well, but they're just pretty pieces in general, especially the skirts. I've always been drawn to monster high dolls, love the colors and aesthetic, but they are a bit too waif like for me. Also, a big part of collecting for me are the clothes and I have too many 1/6th clothes to want to change doll size now, haha. But they look really cool, I enjoyed these a lot!

[davidd]

Moody monsters in monochrome, inspired by motion pictures:

Rochelle Goyle, Daughter of a Gargoyle
(The Hunchback of Notre Dame, 1939 version)

Scarah Screams, Daughter of the Banshee

(Lost Weekend, 1945)

Draculaura, Daughter of Dracula

(Phantom of the Opera, 1925) 

Cleo de Nile, Daughter of the Mummy

(Frankenstein, 1910 Edison Studios version)