G1 Nostalgia?

[Electrified]

To those of us who experience nostalgia regarding G1, what did G1 have that made you become a collector, fan or just invested in MH? Do the Skullectors and new G1 releases like the Wednesday dolls soothe some of the nostalgia or is it different? 

To answer my own question, when MH came out I was in my very early twenties and going through the associated life changes as well as some negative happenings in my life. Having my own income and wanting to treat myself I was browsing the stores for some gifts to myself as well as one of my friends and I came across C.A. Cupid and was mesmerized. I was never a big doll person, I had Barbie in my childhood but she was not very poseable and kind of a blank slate character. So seeing an out-of-this-world design like Cupid stuck with me and she came home with me. She opened the rabbit hole that was MH and later on she guided me to EAH and I started getting into dolls as a hobby and collected all sorts.

It was especially important to me to share my hobby with my female friends and later on I also participated in photo challenges and social media. I enjoyed taking photos of my dolls, customizing them (slightly, I am not talented in this lol) and talking about the movies and diaries with my besties. We always treated it like some big secret because collecting dolls was and still is seen as very eccentric and something for older ladies (I also shared MH with my granny).

As much as I love the G1 dolls being back, Skullectors can't replicate this warm feeling I get when I think of the doll hobby in the 2010s. Nowadays I am largely out of the hobby, I am mostly sharing my collection with myself and my friends think of me as a lovable weirdo and no longer share my interest. It is simply a different time and not even the amazing reproductions of the G1 girls can ever bring back that feeling of hunting for them in stores with my buddies.

Anyone relate?

Edited October 17 by Electrified

[Gozer]

 I was working at Toys R Us as a second job, and I remember the first time I opened the box to display the original Monster High dolls. I have always been a fan of Frankenstein, and that first Frankie never even hit the shelf. She was going home with me. I also was not into dolls. I actually preferred shelving and working on the Boys side. The store was separated into Girls on one side and Boys on the other, with Imaginarium items in the middle. I bought her that night, and Frankie looked great on my wall.

 I have also always loved cryptozoology and Yeti (have a cat with that name). When Abbey came out, I gave in and just bought all of them. I remember stalking the internet to try to figure out the next release. I got so good that TRU would call my office at my first job with customer MH questions. Working at TRU meant I never had to hunt for them. Everyone knew the boxes were held for me, and I would pick my doll (to avoid the dreaded wonky eye) and put the rest on the shelf myself. Sometimes, I would run over during my lunch break from the first job to do this. 

 I still enjoy collecting but never had a group I collected with. It was always weird to my friends. That is one of the reasons I enjoy this forum so much. I also love the idea of customizing, but I am not that good at it. I still get really excited to see new characters and dolls, just like I did then. 

[Electrified]

3 hours ago, Gozer said:

I have always been a fan of Frankenstein, and that first Frankie never even hit the shelf. She was going home with me

Love it, you adopted her 😄 Sig Frankie was one I never saw on shelves and always wanted but at that time the dolls were selling for a lot on the secondhand market. I hope I can snag a Creeproduction but I admit, I would love to have a doll with elastic hips in my collection just for old times sake. I wouldn't even mind the glue head, a complete original Sig Frankie would be a dream!

Edited October 17 by Electrified

[ShanaRose]

I don't have G1 nostalgia since I only started collecting MH a couple of years ago, but I love the fantasy/horror themes. The skullectors especially are nostalgic without needing G1 nostalgia, if that makes sense, because they often draw on older movies etc. They are just such an enormous fun.

I only started collecting a few years ago because 1- I couldn't afford collecting dolls until then (I had four Madame Alexander dolls and that was pretty much it), and 2- I wasn't aware that barbie had collectible dolls, and knew next to nothing about Monster High. I'm glad I discovered both.

[CarmCat]

I was in my early teens when Monster High first came out and I've been collecting them ever since then. I've always been outspoken and beat to the march of my own drum. I was more of a tomboy growing up, Barbie dolls were too girlie for me. I remember seeing these dolls in store and thinking they were so cool. They were so unique and different from any of the other doll lines. They were freaky, and fabulous! And the tag line of be yourself, be unique, be a monster just kinda fit with me. I loved how colourful and edgy they looked. They were toy dolls but I felt the G1s were geared more towards teens rather than children which fell inline with my age group. Since I was in my teens I didn't really "play" with them. I would remove them from the boxes, fix their hair, change any clothes or accessories I didn't like and then put them on my bookcase to display, where I could admire them. I've always had an interest in fantasy and mythology. The inspiration of these dolls being the children of well known monsters or creatures really appealed to me. Plus I enjoyed the clever play on names and how creative the designers were with their representation of these monsters. I also enjoyed the movies and webisodes. I would get so excited when a new movie with new characters came out because I knew new dolls to go with the movies would be on their way. I think the creation of new characters to add to my collection were/is my favourite part of collecting them.

Most of my collection comes from my parents. They would buy me Monster High dolls for my birthday and for Christmas. I always knew I was getting a MH doll or two😉 because of the shape of the box. Even the wrapping paper couldn't hide them from me!  I was only allowed to collect one version of each character. The only time I was allowed to duplicate characters was if they came in a 2 pack with a character I needed. For ex. Rochelle and Garrott, Ghoulia and Slo Mo. Now that I have my own money, the duplicate rule has gone out the window.

My friends never shared my interest in them. I didn't really share my obsession with anyone else besides my family. My dolls were and still are just for me, with the exception of the forum now. I'm glad I found it. It's nice to talk to people that share and appreciate the obsession. 

The creeproduction line brings back the nostalgia. I've managed to get my hands on most of the ghouls signature looks from the first 2 waves. Having them look almost like the originals including the packaging really brings back the memories of when I started collecting. I was disappointed when Mattel discontinued the line back in 2018 and it wasn't until 2023 that I found the Skullector line. I didn't realize Mattel had started making these dolls, so I unfortunately missed out on some really cool ones. While I love the Skullectors, I do miss being able to go out hunting in Toys R Us or Walmart for them. Every time my parents would take me shopping I would make a beeline for the toy section so I could look at the Monster High dolls. I'm not a G3 collector so it's not the same, but I have enjoyed the hunt for the creepros. Having to go store to store searching for them brings back that warm nostalgic feeling.

[Electrified]

9 hours ago, CarmCat said:

I was disappointed when Mattel discontinued the line back in 2018 and it wasn't until 2023 that I found the Skullector line. I didn't realize Mattel had started making these dolls, so I unfortunately missed out on some really cool ones. 

This is me, too. Only discovered Skullectors in 2023. I think it was because I wasn't following any doll or toylines anymore and had switched over to selling off and sorting out the things I already had. I was into getting the dolls I had missed out on and via researching their value I stumbled over Mattel Creations and the fact they started shipping internationally.

[Gozer]

I was missing Monster High so I was looking up customs and decided I would just have to make my own when I saw Pennywise. I kept thinking it looked too good to be a custom and discovered MC. I was able to get Pennywise on Amazon, thankfully, because that is a mortgage payment now! 

Edited October 18 by Gozer

[CarmCat]

13 hours ago, Electrified said:

This is me, too. Only discovered Skullectors in 2023. I think it was because I wasn't following any doll or toylines anymore and had switched over to selling off and sorting out the things I already had. I was into getting the dolls I had missed out on and via researching their value I stumbled over Mattel Creations and the fact they started shipping internationally.

Yeah, after Monster High was discontinued I stopped following the toy lines too. I looked on eBay for some of the dolls I was missing and managed to buy them for a pretty decent price to add to my collection, but then that was it.  Who knew they would make a comeback and prices would go up astronomically?

9 hours ago, Gozer said:

I was missing Monster High so I was looking up customs and decided I would just have to make my own when I saw Pennywise. I kept thinking it looked too good to be a custom and discovered MC. I was able to get Pennywise on Amazon, thankfully, because that is a mortgage payment now! 

I had heard about and saw photos of the Pennywise doll floating around online but I never took it for a legit doll either. I thought they were just customs too. I should have taken it more seriously. Maybe I could have bought her before the prices got so high but oh well, hindsight is 20/20. I'm happy with the custom version I made.

[Booper]

I was a preteen when Monster High came out. As a kid Clawdeen was my favorite out of the first ones to come out, but it wasn't until Cathrine De Mew and Twyla came out that I truly became a fan. I remember owning the 13 wishes movie and just constantly replaying it. My parents threw away the dolls whenever we moved, which is why I'm glad Mattel is bring the creeproductions and other generation 1 monster high dolls back. I finally make enough to be able to buy my own dolls.

I didn't start recollecting Monster High dolls until the Wednesday dolls came out and the second wave of creeproductions came. I wanted to get back into collecting sooner, but I got really discouraged looking at prices online from resellers. Though I will say I'm not a huge fan of how many Wednesdays came out, I own the Enid doll, but I wish rather than different Wednesdays we would've gotten a non-Skullector Morticia. As far as skullectors go, for the most part yes, though I will say some of the most recent Skullectors aren't as good of a quality of what I would want. I wish I would've been collecting whenever Greta and Annabelle came out.

[Sofa-Cushion]

Monster High came out in 2010, but I don't think I was aware of it until maybe 2011 or 2012?  Rochelle Goyle's debut doll was the first doll I bought for myself and everything went downhill from there lmao 😂  I remember constantly checking the local Walmart to see if Catrine DeMew's Scaris debut doll had been stocked yet (she was a Walmart exclusive y'see) and when I finally found her, y'all best believe I bought her!  I had unboxed her to have on display with Rochelle and Jinafire and a few others and even went so far as to buy another one for my niece (who was also collecting at the time), but it turns out she already got her so I have a loose Catrine and one in box lol

I deeply regret not getting some dolls when they were out, but I'm glad I got the ones I did!  I used to work in a thrift store (omg never again) and at the time a lot of MH dolls would come through our doors, so of course I bought an embarrassing amount of them!  Employee discount, bay-beeee~  Most of them were in dire need of some love, and quite a few were missing a lot of their stuff, but there was the odd gem that was in good shape and had most if not all of their stuff!  Some were even still in box!!  Honestly, it was the luck of the draw.  Now-a-days it's much harder to find MH dolls thrift (and don't even get me started on EAH, oof...)

In terms of G1 nostalgia?  Well, like I said, I deeply regret not getting some when they first came out (aaaugh my kingdom for a Batsy Claro 😩), although I will admit that the proportions of the G1 dolls are... weird.  The giant head being so disproportionate to the body, with the shoujo-length legs for days, and the crazy bowed back were certainly A Choice(tm) but it at least made it so that any doll can wear any character's clothes with ease.

I will say that the fact that G3 gave us a bunch of different body types is a breath of fresh air, but it does make the interchangeble-ness of the clothes a little more difficult.  Granted, I haven't really done much of that as I tend to match the character with their proper stuff lol

Oh and the G2 dolls were... um... well, they tried to accommodate parents with small children, let's put it that way.  Can't say I appreciated the effort given how they nerfed the articulation and then some, but that's just me 😅