And finally, on this day before Christmas(or in the early hours of Christmas, given how late I post these...), we have our final gift from the tortured souls that wail and gnash their teeth as they ponder through eternity how they should have better treated their fellow man: A Christmas Tree. ...And, I'm sorry, but I again have to take umbrage with the final door.
I mean, the tree's not a bad design. Far from it. I'd even call it possibly the most creative and elaborate model in the entire calendar! It certainly has a lot more pieces than the other models, and the way they designed a tree by stacking layers of sloped green bricks looks really good, further impressing me that they didn't just go for a generic small tree mold for it.
As with the Ski Rack, this tree is clearly planted outside, the base of its trunk frozen over in a huge slab of ice. ...So, it should be dead, then? It doesn't appear to be a conifer, so it should at least have brown leaves if winter has set in to the point the ice is that thick.
Speaking of which, extra creativity points to this ice sheet, even if they didn't intend this. I was absolutely convinced there were mold defects that resulted in holes in the plate, but no. It's so thin and transparent in these parts, it just LOOKS like they packaged a broken plate in with the model. ...That's a little clever, and absolutely got MY attention!
But let's face it. You haven't read any of that because you were waiting for me to get to the fact it's decorated with WHOLE BABY SKULLS! ...Seriously, what else could they be?! They're small, they're skull shaped, and they're quite chubby. Someone in their universe raided a children's graveyard, painted the skulls gold and purple, and hung them from a tree! ...And that's the BEST case scenario! ...I'm convinced. We need to burn this lair of sick, twisted fiends before they strike again! I mean, if they've decorated their tree with NEWBORN SKULLS, I think they've proven they have no restraint in whatever sick, twisted plan they may come up with next!
...Alright, I'm done overreacting like a yuppie.
And at the top of the tree, they tied a bow around it. ...Because a star symbolized too much hope for humanity, I guess. ...Either that, or the tree itself is a living being. ...THE KRINGUS AWAKES!
So, despite my nitpicking, the tree's just fine. What's my problem with it? ...The timing. This is the LAST item in the calendar. They've given us the tree LAST, yet all the presents came before there was something to put them under! So on the last day before we're sick of Christmas, they've given us one of the main symbols of Christmas and something the entire set is based around! ...Shouldn't this have been one of the FIRST items we got? Something to set up and decorate and put presents under as we opened each door? ...I'm sorry, but their reasoning for giving this to us as the final item in the calendar is just... Just...
There! Got to break that one out again!
And that's the entire calendar for this year, folks! This time, I think it went out with a bang! ...A small bang, and one more of anger than cheer, but a bigger finale nonetheless. Emphasized by just how creepy and messed up things got as we looked through each window...
So, once again, let's try to recreate the scene on the box and see everything how it was meant to be seen!
...Well, I ran out of space, and some things were impossible to recreate due to their cementings in the background, but I think I captured the spirit of this calendar pretty well. ...Namely that it looks cute and tranquil from a distance, but, as you study it further, it turns into your greatest nightmare...
MERRY CHRISTMAS!
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Quality: Again, standard Mega Bloks quality. Everything's a little more rubbery than regular Lego bricks, but it has its own style to it and everything fits together just fine. The only major quality defect I could find was with Draculaura's arm refusing to stay in its socket, but if you're just keeping it together as a scene, you probably wouldn't notice. The paint job was wonderful here, much better than last year's slop job, and everything was vibrant and colorful, sort of contrasting against the darker atmosphere we associate with horror icons. Overall, we get more of that mainstream attention to detail, and, considering the junk I usually have to look at, it's wonderful to see some professionalism once in a while.
Design: Instead of the builds made with smaller pieces from last year, most of the models in this calendar were made with custom pieces, and were a lot bigger and more solid as a result. Everything looks really good, very accurate to its source material and capturing the Monster High spirit with its creepier festive designs. Unlike last year, where some things were so vague, I had no idea what they were going for, everything here was quite clear and well detailed. ...Even if I didn't quite know what its function was, like with the Fire Table. Also unlike last year, I couldn't find any designs I straight-up hated, as all the designs were high quality and painted and molded well, and even the bad stuff gave me enough material to make fun of it. Even the figures are ten times better than the Minions, each one being recognizable despite the exact same body and face mold used for each, just colored differently. They threw in enough detail and gave each enough accessories(especially with the hair), that I could tell Draculaura from Clawdeen from Frankie Stein, despite not being familiar with the series. And, since they're built in that fashion doll way, there's a lot of customization and accessories that can be given to each figure, allowing them to fit into pretty much any situation. Again, unlike the Minions, which were TOO specifically designed. Overall, a HUGE improvement over last year, with models and figures I wouldn't mind adding to my own collection and using in videos when they're needed. ...As long as I can keep Draculaura's arm on...
Creativity: Meshing the horror and holiday elements isn't easy, so what they managed to pull off, I'm impressed with. Everything's meant for Christmas, but with an overly morbid tinge to it, similar to The Nightmare Before Christmas's atmosphere(and darker in some areas.) You have cakes with spiders on them, skis and presents with skulls, recliners with web backs, ski racks made out of bones, an undead Gingerbread Man and a voodoo doll Nutcracker, and, most messed up of all, children skulls being used to decorate a tree! These are just such not kid-friendly things to put together, I'm surprised at what they managed to get away with in the name of putting a cute spin on the classic monsters! And, like I pointed out in the last category, there's a WIDE variety of custom bricks, including cups, candles, spiders, skis, Santa hats, flames, skulls, etc., and it's great to see the imagination they put into making each element fit both holidays simultaneously! ...I guess what brings this category down a bit is all the repetition. There were three pairs of skis, three recliners, two sets of glasses, two Santa hats, six presents, three earmuffs, and a bunch of other stuff that just made the calendar repetitive and predictable after a while. At least the Minions calendar gave you something different each day. Here, apparently there's no better way to set your style than copying everyone else... Still, overall, I like the variety of different pieces and how it's Christmassy, but morbidly so. Oh, and bonus points for the Monster High logo buttons!
Readability: Again, no full manual for this brick calendar, all directions being contained on the inside of each flap. Since the pieces were a lot bigger and more distinctive for each model, I didn't have as much trouble putting them together or getting confused what went where like I did last year. Plus, the inside of each door showed the completed model, so you had additional help knowing what the finished product looked like. Again, I would have liked a color booklet to keep track of all the models and how they're built, but with what they gave me, I had little to no trouble putting everything together.
Packaging: Unlike last year's calendar, where the doors tore if you so much as breathed on them, these doors took a bit of effort to get into! I had to force my finger into the slot and sort of gently pull until the door started to give way, to keep from either ripping the door off or ripping the entire front of the box off! Still, I'll take "harder to get into" over "the whole calendar will tear in half." Again, the design on the front is spoilerific, with the back going so far as to list every part included in the calendar, but you still have the surprise of which door contains what, so I guess it's not as spoiler heavy as it could have been. I genuinely like the front of this box better than last year's, as they use real pieces posed in such a way to really give the front a bit of style and atmosphere, again combining the horror and holiday elements together convincingly. ...If I had to complain, the ordering for this calendar was boring, and you could tell what you were going to get after a while. Figure, accessories, skis, recliner, presents, repeat in a similar order. And since the things were designed so similarly, I ran out of stuff to talk about for most of them... Plus the weird packaging and combinations towards the end, where it seemed like they were running out of space to put stuff, so they just crammed like-with-like and gave 2-3 surprises behind each door afterwards! Plus they decided to include the tree LAST, instead of before you got the presents! This was a very ordered, yet very strange way to pack an advent calendar. If it was me, I would have put the tree FIRST, and had the Santa hats last. Still, everything fit, you did get items you needed before you got the extras, and it had a cute picture to entice you into buying this. I personally like how they packed the Minions box better, and that they gave that one more artwork, but I think they captured the Monster High spirit well here and gave even me, someone who doesn't care about the franchise, a bit of joy.
Compatibility: The pieces are much more Lego-ish than last years, meaning a lot less incompatibility with other building brick sets. Even the figures have much more movement and it's easier to get them to hold accessories than it was the Minions. Still, there are a few pipe pieces, they can't wear other headwear, and some of the pieces are too "custom" to fit well with standard pieces. But if you ever want to combine Mega Bloks and Lego, this has a good amount of compatibility
Overall:
A much more fun calendar than last year's, with some very well designed figures and models. As I kept pointing out, I don't care for this series, so I can't give it higher praise, but I will give it that, with its bizarre designs and attention to detail, it almost convinces me to give the franchise a chance! Besides the slip up with Draculaura's arm and the strange way they decided to pack everything, I can't find anything to truly hate with this calendar. So whether you're into this franchise or not, as long as you're fine with getting more Barbie-like figures, I'd recommend trying this on for size for a holiday season. If not for the cheer, then for the horror.
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