Sanrio Grande

It's the 50th anniversary of Hello Kitty's company Sanrio, so last month, we visited Sanrio's Small Gift expo, which featured carnival games, a gift shop, mini golf, food trucks, an arcade, an art show and more cuteness than you could shake a stick that has googly eyes and rosy cheeks at (see, everything in the Sanrio world has a face). Anyway, this post is a month overdue, but it took us that long to recover from our cute overload. Seriously, stop staring at me, hamburger!

Check out our picture blowout after the jump.

My Boos

Y'all, I done lost my damn mind over these Monster High dolls.

Clawdeen Wolf, Draculaura, Frankie Stein, Deuce Gorgon, Cleo de Nile and Lagoona Blue

I've been obsessed with them since I first saw them online. Then the very next time I went to the toy store (full disclosure: we go to the toy store almost every week) Jason saw four of them and I bought them. On our next visit to the toy store I was able to get all the phase 1 dolls.

They're the cutest. Harajuku/gothic lolita fashions on some, Bratz-style silliness on others, and they're all adorable freakin' teenage monsters! It's like they made these dolls just for me.

So anyway, I took a few pictures. They're really fun to pose and stuff. I hope they come out with more fashions and accessories. I don't usually like to play dress-up with my dolls or whatevs but I dunno, I kind of want to with these. They should be able to have a lot of fun with the monsters in high school theme. Also, I hope they make a doll of the zombie character, Ghoulia. She's the smartest monster in school, after all. But I guess 'cause she's not the kid of a famous, name-brand monster, she didn't get a doll.

On the grown-up bizniz tip, this is Mattel's first original IP since Hot Wheels, and they're going all-in. They hired the Smallville guys to write a movie script, and are going after the Hairspray guys to write music for it (think about that, a high school monster musical--loves it), they are doing an animated thing for TV or DVD that appears to be different from the animation on their website and are also having a YA book series written, which itself seems to differ from the main Monster High doll/animated shorts storyline/universe they've already established.

I hope it does well because I really like it. Mattel has put a lot of thought and effort into the line. Each character has a personality and a backstory (Frankie Stein, my fave, is only 15 days old! Draculaura is a vegetarian for reals, not like them Twilight vamps! Lagoona Blue is a total zen-ass hippie!) and their outfits/accessories are super detailed, plus it looks like they each have a different head sculpt to match their specific type of monstrosity.

I'm so far out of their desired demo it's crazy, sort of like the Twilight Moms except I don't wanna bone any of the dolls. I'm guessing doll collectors will like these as much as I do. Hopefully kids will like them, too, so Mattel will expand the line. C'mon kids, help me out!

There are stuffed versions of Clawdeen Wolf, Frankie Stein and Draculaura, plus their pets. The Monster High kids all have pets, actually. I like the cobra, Hissette, the best. Tho the bat, Count Fabulous, has a cute name.

 

This is a terrible picture but laziness won out.