G3 Draculaura and a Mini History--a Guest Review! (2024)

Sadly, I don't have a classic Draculaura...well, at least not in 1:6 scale. I've included a stock photo from her first release for reference:

Here's a screenshot from the first commercial, too:

Her lips are much darker here.

It's incredibly interesting going back and looking at the original dolls and seeing how much Mattel thought about the characters. Drac, in particular, seemed to have her style nailed down from the start, with motifs that would persist for the rest of G1.

The earliest Draculaura doll I have is the Picture Day release from 2012. This was my very first Draculaura. She's been my loyal companion for many, many years at this point, so she isn't in the best of shape!

Picture Day Draculaura, 2012.

Here's a stock photo so you can see what she looked like new:

She's a pretty classic Drac, with many staple features that we'll see recurring throughout all of the OG dolls I own and many other releases.

Her faceup is similar to ones released before, with pink eye shadow and her signature heart beauty mark, but she also has grey shadow around her whole eye:

She has pink and white drop-down earrings with a Skulette and crossbones design. She originally came with a pink bow headband:

For the OG Dracs, I'm not going to take their hair down as they're all suffering from gluehead syndrome and I'd rather keep the hair up as-is.

Along with the face being pretty standard for Dracualura, the hair is, too. It's her signature pink and black blend with bangs. Nothing too noteworthy:

Because of the gluehead syndrome, though, the hair is sticky-feeling now.

Draculaura's outfit consists of two pieces: a tank top and a skirt. The tank has all three of her main colours represented: black, white, and pink. It has a black collar with lace detailing (another signature element of her wardrobe), with the main body of the garment made of a soft jersey material with a black and white snake-esque print. It's topped off with a pink ribbon bow that's attached in the side seams and does not go all of the way around:

Her skirt has a thick black elastic waistband that's deteriorating a bit. The main base of the skirt is pink and has a slight tiering effect. Around the bottom of the skirt are black fleur-de-lis patterns that go all of the way around. It's finished with black tulle:

Her shoes are pretty basic in terms of Monster High shoes. They're black platform wedges with straps up to the knee. They have small white Skullette accents as the buckles. There's a bow on the back that doesn't look right due to the large slit:

I'll take the time now to quickly run through the articulation, which was standard throughout the line in 2012.

Her head can tip from side to side on a ball joint and rotate all around:

Her shoulders are able to move 360 degrees and hinge outwards:

Her elbows can bend and rotate, although they have become loose over the years. Her wrists are on a bending and rotating peg:

When the Monster High line first started, all of the dolls had elastic hip joints. While these are great for articulation, the elastic definitely hasn't stood the test of time, with legs becoming floppy and unstable due to the elastic wearing out.

Thankfully, this Drac has plastic hip joints:

The hips don't allow her to do full side-to-side splits:

But she can do front-to-back splits:

Draculaura can bend and rotate her knee joints, which, like her elbows, have become weak and floppy over the years. Though they do still allow her to sit cross-legged:

Her accessories are a typical fashion doll affair, mostly with the titular Monster High hairbrush, stand, and diary, along with a small black and pink heart purse and a pink folder:

She also came with a sticker sheet with school photos of the other characters in the line. I ended up using them to make mini pictures. The folders were standard in the Picture Day collection.

Both the purse and the folder can open, but the purse is too small to really hold anything, and the folder's sides are open which means that anything you put inside is likely to fall out:

The detail on both the purse and the folder is great, with the purse having pink drips with bats and a moulded fabric texture:

And the neat thing with the folders is that even though they were standard with this collection (and others afterwards), they each had unique molds for the ghouls. Drac's has the same fleur-de-lis pattern as her skirt:

The next Drac I have is from the Powder Room playset, also from 2012. While the doll is pretty basic, she does mark a shift in how Mattel did this character's face moving forward.

Powder Room Draculaura, 2012.

Her faceup has pretty, soft makeup with her signature heart, but noticeably smaller eyes than the earlier dolls:

Here are Picture Day Drac (left) and Powder Room Drac (right)...although unfortunately they won't appear side-by-side in mobile view:

I'm not sure why Mattel changed the face, but it remained like this for the rest of G1 pretty much.

Powder Room Draculaura's hair was supposed to have soft curls and be in a large poof on her head, like this:

But even when I got her it was messy with the bangs sticking up every which way.

Her outfit, if you could call it that, is just a basic black robe with hot pink and light pink bat print, and a pink ribbon around the waist:

It does have a small velcro closure at the front, so even if the ribbon becomes untied, she won't be flashing anyone:

Her shoes are basic slippers that were introduced with the Dead Tired line. But these are even more basic, lacking the painted details that were present in both the promo pictures and other slippers with this mold:

Draculaura's only accessory outside of the toiletries in the Powder Room set (which I'm not going to talk about) is Count Fabulous. He has ditched his normal outfit for a little pink bathrobe, but is otherwise exactly the same as other releases:

Fun fact: along with being Drac's BFF, Count Fabulous is actually a vampire stuck in bat form. Maybe that's why he's so grumpy all of the time!

The next Drac is from the 2013 Art Class line:

Art Class Draculaura, 2013.

This girl has a noticeable shake-up in the main colour palette, replacing white with yellow.

Her faceup has the same small eyes that were introduced the previous year, with yellow eyeshadow and a yellow outline to the heart:

Her hair now has the addition of yellow streaks as well. And she has a yellow headband with two bows:

I'll say it now: I'm really not fond of this faceup or colour palette. I'm all for experimenting with her colour scheme, especially since black and pink can be pretty versatile. But the yellow really doesn't work for me.

Her outfit consists of a dress and an apron. The top of the dress is striped in yellow and pink, with the stripes being drippy. There's also a pink ribbon bow in the front centre. The sleeves are three-quarter length with tulle accents on the cuffs. The apron is pink with black striping on it, and ties with a black ribbon. It is removable:

The skirt is black with pink and yellow paint splatters, with yellow tulle at the bottom:

Her shoes are the absolute best that we've seen so far. They're mainly white, with paint brushes crossed at the top and a little Skullette. They're textured with a fishnet pattern. But the heels, oh my god the heels! They're pink paint tubes with the swirls of the paint itself making up the sole of the shoe:

Now this is what I'm talking about!

The amount of detail is incredible, with little spider webs even present on the tube of paint itself:

I kinda brain farted at this point and forgot to take pictures of Draculaura's accessories before I tucked them back away, so I'll quickly use a zoomed-in picture from before:

She comes with a little paint palette that she can sort-of hold, and also a little framed picture that she painted.

The painting was actually in one of the webisodes,along with the outfit. Here are two screen shots from that webisode, Eye of the Boo-holder:

Draculaura is supposed to be painting Heath, but instead she paints a big self portrait...with a little picture of Heath in the corner:

I wish the accessory included the little Heath in the corner (that's the funny part!).

Now, remember when I said that I don't own a signature Drac in 1:6 scale?

Frightfully Tall Ghouls Draculaura (left) and Art Class Draculaura (right).

Meet Frightfully Tall Ghouls Draculaura! She's 17 inches tall. She was released in 2015 alongside some other tall ghouls. She's not only an interesting Monster High release, but a notable Mattel release in general.

Her faceup is a pretty faithful replica of the first wave Drac, with the big eyes:

Her outfit, as expected, is also a pretty exact replica of the original outfit. It has two pieces: a top and a skirt. The top is pink and corset-like, with black mesh sleeves and a white high collar with tulle.

She also has a white mini skirt with pink stitching, and black fishnet stockings:

Her boots are the same as the OG, as well being pink knee high platform heels with black detailing:

She's a pretty faithful recreation of the OG doll, aside from being 17 inches tall.

Although this doll has a very interesting body:

Notice anything?

Here, I'll help you out:

That's right! The Made to Move bodies actually started out as Monster High bodies. The very first doll that Mattel ever released with Made to Move articulation was none other than Golliope Jellington in 2015.

The bodies have nearly the exact same articulation (minus the ankle joints).

Their upper limbs handle and move similarly, with Drac's joints being a little looser. But the legs on these two couldn't handle more differently. Drac's knees are so loose and floppy that they can't even hold a pose, while Barbie's knees are so stiff I fear I'm going to break her!

I feel like this is a testament to how massive Monster High was in its prime. That Mattel was willing to try out a new revolutionary body on this brand--before even Barbie got it.

At this point in 2015 was the start of the downward turn of the Monster High brand. This was when G2 started to make its appearance on the shelves, and as a result, Monster High fell off. I do not own any G2 dolls, but I do have one doll from this time period:

Collector's Edition Draculaura, 2015.

This is the Collector's Edition Draculaura. And she is one of, if not my most favourite doll of all time. Mattel absolutely nailed every single aspect of her. She's a beautiful culmination of all the design elements that we've seen over the years, present in one gorgeous package.

She's got the pink, black, and white colour scheme, the lace, the tulle, the intricate designs; everything about her is perfect.

What's interesting about her face is that she seems like a midpoint between G1 and G2, with me being able to see aspects of both present:

She's taller than most Monster High dolls, and has a chest joint!

Her head isn't full of glue so her hair is really soft--like cotton candy.

And look at all of the detail in her outfit:

My only two complaints are that she has a hard time holding the umbrella because of her loose joints, and her shoes have some paint rubbing. Otherwise, I think she's the best special edition Monster High doll that Mattel ever made:

And that was G1. I fell off the brand after the Collector's Edition Drac. Monster High did always stay in my peripherals, but the dolls just became so bland. Mattel stripped them of what made them special, and they became generic.

Here are two stock photos of G2 Draculaura dolls, for reference:

I had fully thought that the line was dead by the time 2020 rolled around. I'd heard rumblings of something coming, but never got my hopes up. Until the Skullector releases started to appear.

When we got the official announcement of a new generation, I was cautiously optimistic. I knew that as much as I wanted the new generation to be like the OG, it just wouldn't be. Then the leaks started happening and I noped right out. The original art for the dolls was bad and the changes were drastic.

As time went on, though, they changed things slightly and the dolls started looking a little better. It was still a lot to swallow for me, but it wasn't as horrible as I had worried it would be.

I remember first seeing G3 Draculaura and being shocked that she still looked like herself. With how drastic some of the character changes were (looking at you, Lagoons), she still seemed to retain a bit of her essence. Personality-wise, she was pretty similar as well, less boy crazy, though. She is still a vegetarian, and rather than sucking blood for energy, she gains energy from success and feeling good about herself. The most interesting change to her character for me is the fact that she practices witchcraft. And witchcraft is now illegal in the Monster High universe. I guess we're not getting a Casta Fierce this generation....

I had said that I wasn't going to get any G3 dolls.

But come on. I'm a sucker for this little one:

Her new design, while different, doesn't feel as much like a total overhaul as some of the others. I think it's because of how popular she is, and how even in the beginning it felt like Mattel had a solid idea for what they wished to do with her.

While going from G1 to G3 is a jump, seeing the transition from G1 to G2 and then to G3 feels like more of a natural progression.

Her faceup has some of the old hallmarks, like her teeth and the heart on her cheek, but with less intense makeup in general. She looks younger, like the rest of the new ghouls

Her eyebrows are thicker this time around, and actually black (as opposed to G1's brown).

Here's a comparison of all the faces of the standard dolls we've looked at:

Picture Day, Powder Room, Art Class, and G3 wave one.

G3 Drac is the closest to the big-eyed design of G1, but with more pronounced pink eyes and a wonky side glance.

G3 Draculaura's hair sticks to the traditional pink and black, but for this release they made it the ever-popular split dye with triangle bangs. She also has a pink headband with a heart with bat wings. Thankfully, Mattel has done away with the head glue and used a really nice hair fiber for her. Her hair is silky soft, with only the bangs having gel (which I washed out). I can easily run a brush through the hair. One small thing is that the split colour is hard to keep neat:

Drac's fashion sticks to the traditional colour palette and a similar aesthetic, but doesn't delve into alternative fashion as much as the OG ghouls did.

Her outfit has three pieces. The first is a see-through mesh long-sleeved top with loads of ruffles and things:

She layers a pink bustier on top of the shirt that has white stitching, a bat print, and pink ribbon straps:

The ruffles on the shoulders do make it a pain to get the ribbons over her shoulders and situated properly:

So far this generation seems to do away with skirts and stick to shorts. Draculaura's shorts are black and high-waisted, with white vampire hearts on them. They are cuffed at the bottom:

She has black mesh knee-high socks and pretty basic pink heels with light pink hearts with bat wings:

G3 Drac moves mostly the same as the OG dolls, though her limbs are not as loose, and in general all of her joints move a little smoother. She also has a torso joint that can move front, back, and side to side:

For a comprehensive G3 articulation reference, please seethis review.

With G3, almost all of the dolls have different body types and heights, which has been one of the best parts of the line so far in my opinion. It's great to finally have screen-accurate heights and sizes for the characters. While Drac has always been the smallest of the ghoul squad, it's never been represented in the doll line before now. Along with a shorter stature, she has a thicker body type. Her hips and thighs are significantly bigger than the OG bodies and other dolls in G3 like Clawdeen or Frankie.

Here's G3 Drac next to an OG version:

G3 Drac is about a half an inch shorter, I'd say. Her torso is shorter than the OG body, but the legs are about the same length. She still has the signature swayback, but it's less pronounced. In a way, the OG Drac looks almost like a mannequin or a super-tall skinny supermodel while the G3 Drac looks like a more average person:

Here's G3 Draculaura in a lineup with other doll offerings:

From left: standard Barbie, Curvy Barbie, G3 Draculaura, Rainbow High, Petite Barbie.

Draculaura is a lot bigger in the hips and thighs than both the standard and Petite Barbie.

She has a similar shape to both the curvy Barbie and Rainbow High, being a little more petite all around, though.

But given how close she is in size to Rainbow High, she can share some clothing and shoes:

G3 Draculaura in Shanelle Onyx's dress and shoes.

I think this is a great thing. With as much variation as there is within the new Monster High generation, clothes sharing isn't going to be reliable. So knowing that Drac and other similarly-proportioned dolls can fit into Rainbow High clothes is amazing.

With the new signature doll releases, Monster High has a bit of a template for what they include as accessories: their pet, a phone, a backpack/purse, an extra clothing item, and food or another character accessory.

Drac is no different:

Count Fabulous has kept his name, but that's about it. He's way more chibi than his old self, and like Clawdeen's pet, he looks more like another animal than what he's supposed to be. In this case, he looks more like a cat. There might be a reason for that as he is officially listed as a cat/bat hybrid. He has no articulation:

And no mention of him turning back into a human...yet.

Draculaura's phone is personalized to her with a custom case and some custom apps:

Almost all of the accessories have a little thumb loop so that the dolls can hold them:

All of the dolls in this generation are apparently left-handed.

Draculaura also comes with some jewelry. There's a pearly white necklace with a little cameo jewel that is kind of hard for her to wear with the big bow on her shirt. And there's a little pink diamond ring that doesn't stay on her finger very well:

She has a little bottle of sunscreen which has the finger loop so that she can hold it:

And she has two snacks: a bat pretzel with a removable sleeve, and a giant mega gulp cup of cherry juice:

That's 100% from 7-Eleven.

She has a pink quilted heart backpack with bat wings:

This has an opening, but it's super hard to open, so I wouldn't recommend putting anything inside:

The backpack looks cute, but due to its inflexibility it's hard to actually get on and off. And Draculaura's hair hides it while it's on her back:

She has a pair of grey sunglasses that continue the same heart and bat wing motif we've been seeing:

And the glasses are actually translucent enough that you can see Drac's eyes through them:

The last item is the bonus clothing piece, which is a little cape:

It's made out of a semi-transparent fabric and has little pink decals of, you guessed it, hearts and bat wings!

This doll actually surprised me. When I got her for Christmas, I absolutely fell in love with her. I keep her on my desk and she has reignited the love that I had for Monster High. She's got some problems (those eyes!) and she's not 100% the same ghoul I originally fell in love with, but she has so much charm on her own.

I ended up making some crafts for her, including a coffin:

And a new dress:

She's a really special little thing...and a problem for my wallet. As with G1, Mattel has put a lot of effort into pumping out different versions of Draculaura, and they're all really good so far.

Meet Skulltimate Secrets Drac:

The premise of the Skulltimate Secrets collection is that each of the main characters comes in a plastic locker with a surprise element (that isn't really a surprise).

Each coffin-shaped locker is customized with the character's colour palette and with a different interior. The base lockers are solid and great display pieces. You can even hang them on the wall. There's already a second wave with more pastel and iridescent clothing.

I added some silver decorations, but the marker ran out on the front.

The interiors are incredible, with many decorations, easter eggs, and facts related to each monster in the line:

The doors on the side are locked. When you unbox the main compartment where the doll is held, there are keys with a colour reveal element (they're painted black at first, but when dipped in water the colour is revealed).

The key colour corresponds to a door which has one or more accessories inside. All of the accessories are packaged in paper!

It's a really cute concept and I'm sorry I don't have photos of me unboxing; that was before I had the idea to make this post.

The base doll is a standard Draculaura with the same articulation as the rest of the dolls in this line:

Drac's faceup is similar to the introduction Drac, with the same wonky eyes, but with purple eyeshadow instead of pink:

Her hair is closer to the OG Drac with it not being split-dyed but rather pink with a black under layer:

Each doll in the first wave of Skulltimate Secrets came with a hat. Drac's hat is a pink plastic beret with a heart with bat wings on the front and molded spider webbing:

Her shorts are made of a similar shiny material to the torso part of the jacket. They're pink with abstract designs. The bottom has a white ruffle made with the same shiny material:

Her shoes are far better and more interesting than the first wave doll. They're mainly pink, with black platform heels with molded bow and bat designs. On the heel itself it has a heart cutout type thing that actually goes through the heel:

The second outfit is made of soft jersey-like material and is more casual. It's a black two piece set with a heart pattern and ribbons on the front of both the crop and skirt:

I wish they had put only one bow on top.

She also comes with a pair of white heart and bat wing earrings:

Here she is in her second ensemble:

She also came with a second pair of shoes. These ones are a little more elaborate than the first, with criss-cross sections that go up to her knee:

The shoes are black with purple platform wedges with molded bats. On the outside of the shoes there are wings. These shoes are a little more tricky to put on as her feet can easily get stuck in all of the holes:

Lastly she comes with some more food items. There's a cup of boba tea (?) that is far more reasonably sized than her cherry juice:

There's also a bag of sweetheart lollipops and a box of frosted animal cracker type snacks. Both the bag and the box are made out of hard plastic:

The box actually has molded detail at the top so that it looks like a flap:

And that's all of the Dracs I have. Whew.

I'll finish this post with portraits of each doll and then my final thoughts.

Here's G1 Picture Day:

Powder Room:

And Art Class from 2013:

And the 17-inch Frightfully Tall Ghouls Draculaura:

This is the gorgeous 2015 Collector's Edition Drac:

And then we skip to G3 with the first wave doll:

And Skulltimate Secrets:

The Monster High line has been through a lot of ups and downs over the past decade. From its incredible start back in 2010, to its diminishing quality in the middle of the decade, and then to its unexpected revival in 2022. While my love for the line has also ebbed and flowed, Draculaura has maintained a special place in my heart. Her personality and style always made her intriguing to me, and made me want her as my best ghoulfriend.

I remember seeing pictures of G2 and feeling my heart sink as it felt Mattel got rid of what made Draculaura special. She's supposed to be cute but edgy, with her simple pink makeup and lipstick complimented by her fangs and cheek heart. And her clothes should be a mix of cutesy and girly things with some darker elements thrown in. She was what I wished to be, and G2 watered her down.

G3 Drac has unexpectedly taken my heart. While different from the ghoul I originally fell in love with, she still has a lot of charm and personality, and is super fun to pose and photograph. While my older dolls live happily in retirement on my shelves, I'm happy to have a new Draculaura doll that I can play with. I don't fully follow her new interpretation (my new Drac still has her accent and isn't a witch), but I still enjoy seeing new ways Mattel can come up with for making the ghouls fresh. Overall, I'm excited to see what the future brings for Drac and what new adventures she'll take. Welcome back, girl, I really did miss you.