Mattel SDCC Exclusive Monster High and Street Sharks Toy Review

Mattel had a lot of great Comic-Con exclusives this year — dig that bizarre Jimmy Buffett action figure from Jurassic World! — and opted to send us two of them for review, namely the Street Sharks Ripster and Monster High Ghoulia Yelps. Monster High exclusive dolls tend to be a regular feature at the con, while Street Sharks just recently made a comeback, and appear to be doing better than anyone expected. Perhaps that’s due to their fun factor, as they retain the wacky action features of their ’90s counterparts.

This version of Ripster comes from the animated show’s episode “A Shark Among Us,” in which the shark-human hybrid hilariously goes “undercover” to bust a criminal who is essentially the PG-rated version of an illegal steroids dealer. Ripster’s clever disguise is sunglasses and a leather jacket.

The base figure itself is the same as the regular Ripster sculpt-wise, with the same action features of a spring-loaded waist and fin-activated biting. His hands are sculpted to hold a pool cue, and his color is a deeper, more vibrant ocean blue. The removable sunglasses hook into his gills, and the pleather jacket comes off if you pop his hands off first. The pool cue fits through his hands and has a detachable, translucent blast effect that’s quite hefty. So much so that if you don’t rest it on something, it’ll probably bend the cue.

Boxing Him in

Toy designers love to run wild with packaging for exclusives, so instead of the shark cage most figures in the regular line come with, this figure comes in a window box that has an outer sleeve. Slip off the sleeve to see a scene of Ripster playing pool in a dive bar (heh heh, “dive”). With the right amount of care and careful cutting, you can remove the ties and plastic blister padding to keep the bar interior as a mini-diorama for Ripster or other figures who like their drink and billiards.

Ripster is still available online and costs $40 , which is basically $15 for the jacket, shades, pool cue with effect, and cool package/diorama. Considering the standard convention upcharge, that’s not unreasonable, and for a casual fan just looking to buy one Street Shark, there’s something funnier about a shark guy trying to go in disguise like this. If you already have Ripster, as a normal-level fan, you don’t really need another one, but it fits the bill for both hardcore obsessives with favorite episodes, and casuals who just want the goofiest shark dude there is.

Ghoulia Yelps has been a Comic-Con exclusive before in a different incarnation; the character is clearly a fangirl since her exclusive versions always seem to come packed with in-scale action figure accessories. This doll features her in her superheroine alter-ego Deadfast, wearing a sexy monster version of a Flash costume. The included kid-sized mini-comic explains her actually getting powers, while a doll-sized minicomic, together with a doll-sized action figure, fit in her convention swag bag. A convention pass clips on and off her neck.

If the Shoe Fits

Also, her heels are made of action figures, which ought to break the second she tries running, but let’s assume the Speed Force protects them.

While Ripster isn’t too hard to liberate from his package/diorama, Ghoulia is a freakin’ nightmare and not the good kind that Monster High encourages. She actually has plastic shirt tags embedded in her head, the sort that requires really careful clipping so you don’t take off any of her hair with it. They’re also all over every strategic point of her body, which likely goes without saying. Doll collectors do tend to prefer keeping collector dolls in package, but if you’re tempted to take her out, understand that it means utterly obliterating the surrounding cardboard in order to do it.

Asking the Wife

Deferring to the doll expert in this house, who wagged a finger this direction when the doll was removed from its box, yielded the information that not including a comb or hairbrush is a faux pas. And lest Mattel claim that crimped hair negates the need for such a thing, apparently they should know better because of 1994’s Cool Crimp Skipper doll, with similar hair and the appropriate accessory.

Her legs, it seems, are pleasingly clickable joints like Barbie’s, while the arms feel less solid but sport much more articulation, including at the wrists. And individual doll stand features some nifty lightning shapes for a heroic Speed Force-esque look. The hair crimp is impressive, with some thin light streaks, and the glasses move up or down on her head. they may be removable altogether, but whatever unseen cords are attaching them honestly feel too tight to mess with.

Pretty eyes, anyway. And yes, those earrings are oversized zippers, which feels vaguely punk-rock.

Sell Fast

Ghoulia was $75 but is now sold out at Mattel Creations and goes for $131 on Amazon as of this writing. As collector doll prices go, that seems normal (he says, having once paid $300 to get a similarly rare Ariel doll on eBay for the afore-cited resident doll expert in the household). If we only ever take one Monster High doll out of the box, this one certainly has a lot of visual flair going for it.

And rest assured, there are plenty more pictures. Feast your eyes below: