Monster High Gen 3 vs Gen 1 Dolls: An In-depth Comparison for Customizers! 

i like how you've recently really embraced the "sounds like a serial killer out of context" vibe lmao. talking about broken necks so casually. 😂

New Lagoona’s base could be really good for an axolotl doll! Her pink coloring combined with the way her ears are really does give an axolotl vibe when as just a base. Perhaps make an axolotl themed doll using her? That’d be so cute!

Honestly i really love the g3 dolls sculpts/bodies. I’m a g1 die hard for life, but the variety in height Ect is just chefs kiss. Plus chest articulation!!

as someone who played a lot with monster high as a kid, the "edgier" expressions is what made them stand out to me. i'm really sad about the cuter take on the faces gen 3 has, but i'm glad the body types are unique (even though my younger self would be sad that they can't share all clothes)

The only thing I miss from the gen 1 dolls was the face shape looking sharp as all hell, giving them all a more mature vibe which worked really really well for custom dolls

Did you notice the ears on the gen 3 dolls? I kinda love that they are bigger and protrude a little more, away from the face. And the more pronounced differences in their ear designs.

I think we’ve all gotten so used to barbie/monster high type dolls becoming less and less articulated over the years. I was hand over mouth shocked with not only the same amount of joints, but a new one!

I’m honestly just glad to see that the dolls are articulated again, I remember the fiasco when they removed the joints of the arms a few years ago

on removing g3's hair: mattel has recently transitioned from using glue to burning the hair into their scalp, so that's probably why the hair is so much harder to remove now! it's a pretty good change in my opinion, it keeps the dolls from getting sticky gross gluey hair and yellowing :D

I feel like they really took into account the feedback from Gen 2, how we didn't like how generic and not poseable they were. They turned around and made these ones super diverse and stylized, just in a fresh way, and they made them even more poseable! Might be the motivation I needed to get back into the hobby 😊

I was always creeped out by the swayback of the Monster High dolls. Seeing the posture corrected mostly, especially on a mermaid like Lagoona, and seeing strong legs and artificial limbs makes me really happy as a disabled athlete. I know customizers aren't always thrilled by these things, but this is the kind of inclusivity I look for when looking for things for my niece or myself. Different heights, different sizes, disabilities, Monster High has really made a line to celebrate everyone it looks like.

G3 hair isn't glued, each plug is individually heat sealed, so you can't really scrape them out in big chunks. The good news is that glue seepage is a thing of the past.

I like that Cleo’s body is shaped to go along with her lore. In the new show/movie she has all her organs removed, so her doll has an extra snatched waist! So cool!

I also REALLY like that YOU CAN SEE THE EARS. For vampires and fish folk I LOVE that you can actually see their ears now and it’s not just PRESSED to the side of the face.

I love dracularas new design, it looks like her and her body shape is adorable. I’m so glad there’s new variety in bodies, even if it makes making clothes harder.

I thought that it was so cool that the new Gen 3 Lagoona's legs seem to have a subtle gradient not only in color but also in material! I love that the bottom half of her legs are almost translucent, it really gives her the feeling like she is one with the water! I am so excited to see what you end up doing with her!

One thing I love about g3 Twyla is that if you look very closely at her ear, she has a teeny tiny spiderweb sculpted on it! It’s super hard to catch if you don’t know what you’re looking for. I also like that they actually made her look like a kid. The original Twyla used to freak me out a little because she was supposed to be 14(?) but looked older than the rest of them 😅

I do love how Frankie is in Gen 3, especially seeing how different they are from Gen 1 Frankie, from their prosthetic leg, to their towering height.

As a plus sized person, it brings me so much joy seeing the different body shapes that monster high has shown. It really drives the “all bodies look good” ideal that I would’ve loved to have had when I was younger! I can’t wait to see what you come up with w/ the new generation!!

The one thing that really struck me about the new doll heads that I didn't hear you mention is how much bigger their ears are! They seem more detailed and more separate from the head. I wonder what kind of customization potential that offers? Can't wait to see you remake one of these!

Personally i like the bodies of the new gen better, but i prefer the head sculpts of the old gen. They were so much more dynamic than the newer gen (plus I'm personally having mixed feelings about the new clawdeen and cleo especially, idk their new versions feel like they lost the edgyness and sass they had for me and it shows in their new sculpts). There's things i like about the new gen faces like the prints, but im just mourning the loss of very detailed sculpts Edit: so someone in the replies got insulted that i said clawdia instead of clawdeen and thought that was grounds enough to accuse me of not knowing the characters well enough to "judge" them, so i changed the name. For all the clawdeen knights out there, i apologize, i mixed up the names it's been a hot minute ok, getting stuff mixed up doesn't mean I don't know or don't care about the characters 🤦‍♀️

Can I say that your baby giggling at you when you are kicking your leg back is the CUTEST! I’m super excited about the new monster high line, it will be so much fun to get to customize them and mix and match the old and new stuff!!

This really drew my attention to all the ways they avoided cutting corners with the new designs. It's clear that a lot of thought went into them and I think I've decided that I like where we're going. still going to miss the old edge and og Lagoona tho!

I love how they made Frankie nonbinary in g3! It honestly makes a lot of sense to me, they’re made of multiple people after all pluss it fits the character pretty well in my opinion.

Even as a non-customizer, it was cool to see the differences, especially between the facial sculpts. Overall, I think I like the skintones and eye sizes of the original dolls, but the bodies are definitely an improvement. I love Draculara's new thicker, shorter body! Body diversity is always nice to have. I look forward to seeing what designs customizers come up with for these new dolls!

I think the reason its harder to get the hair out of the head is bc they dont use glue anymore. The hair is burned into the head now. It also means no more yellow staining on lighter color doll heads now

I like that they're not so stick thin anymore and that Cleo and Draculaura have (albeit slightly) larger body types. I also like that Draculaura's doll is shorter than the others now like her on screen presence. There are some things that I don't particularly enjoy, like Frankie being blue (but I understand it was for copyright reasons), and I feel like the sculpt of each characters face isn't as unique anymore. They're still different, but at a glance they look very similar. Not quite twins, but still sisters.

Wait I didn’t realize they changed the body types! I remember always being super self conscious of myself seeing the hyper super skinny dolls, this legit makes me happy!

The gen 3 lips no longer have that annoying gap between them where factory paint sometimes gets stuck, which always bothered me for no reason 😂

I really love these new dolls! I noticed that the Lagoona doll has defined muscles and longer legs. This really helps show that she’s a swimmer and the amount of thought they put into these designs.

I just love the community in this channel. I heard the baby’s laugh and was just so happy for you and proud. I’m like gosh I can’t believe your baby can already laugh. I’m just so happy for you ❤

Based on this video and the gen 3 dolls that I own I've realized that all the dolls (apart from Cleo and Draculaura) has the same bodytype/shape. The main differences are the length of the legs and the sculpted details. So you don't have to make TOO many new clothes for each dolls at least =)

It’s so refreshing to see someone react at the G3 MH dolls with such an excitement! All of the doll bloggers I follow were unenthusiastic about the chaotic color schemes of new dolls, bigger eyes & smiling faces. But these features match dollightful’s aesthetic so well!!)) It’s really nice to see someone enjoying the work of new MH designers))

When I was younger, the reason why I got Monster High instead of Barbie was because of their neutral expressions. I found Barbie's permanent smile so limiting in when I played with her and the MH dolls allowed for more of a blank canvas for my imagination. I can't say much though because there's so way I'm getting one of these dolls, Mattel loves excluding everyone but North America.

I cannot wait for the gen 3 dolls to be in circulation enough that they start appearing on the secondhand market. Im so excited to custom a Draculaura but cant afford to spend all that money on both my collection dolls AND custom dolls. Makes me really appreciate it even more that you did go out of your way to show them all off so nice and clear!

I would love to see a very “dollightful” interpretation of the main ghouls with like body mods and stuff, but capturing some of the features of the characters we know already. Like I know you’ve done a werewolf already, so maybe not clawdeen, but pastel Lolita vampire Draculaura sounds right up you alley lol. Or a Halloween special ghoulia interpretation? Idk, I enjoy everything I see from Dollightful

I love how the dolls in Gen 3 have differed hairlines I can see that being both useful and an issue for customs, on one hand it makes gives dolls different hairstyles a lot easier, on the other if you want you use a Draculaura doll for a character that doesn’t have a widow’s peak, you’d have to swap heads

Honestly, I love that Gen 3's ears are more pronounced and not as up against the face. It gives them a cute, innocent child-like look~❤

I really love that they leaned into the wolf theme with Clawdeen!!! the little fur tufts and the puppy nose are so adorable, she's always been by far my favourite character

This is really informative! If you ever make part 2, it'd be interesting to know how well changing skin tone with pastels or paint works with the new articulation, as well if Deuce Gorgon's "hair" is harder to remove than before!

Wow I never realized how skinny the gen 1 dolls were! Thanks for this comparison, it's super interesting. (Also AWWWW the baby laugh was so cute!!)

Look, it doesn't matter if I'm into something or not. If I see an expert discussing it passionately, I wanna watch.

I’m hoping they also eventually bring ever after high dolls back as well, I really adored those dolls because I’ve always enjoyed fairytales and they were always so pretty.

Frankies facemold looks, obviously in adaptation to their new character, so much more androgynous too!!

Gotta say I like the varied body shapes and heights the most. As a short girl myself, I love seeing a short and wider set Draculaura. So great for short adorable characters. I also love the face molds, the smiling lips give the faces a brighter feel, then again, I like the whole large eyed smiley look as it gives a cuter softer feel to them all. The burning of the hair rather than gluing it is also something I like as well, the sticky discolored greasy mess old glue makes on dolls is always so annoying. I think out of everything this new gen has to offer, I'm more worried about the neck pegs being easier to break. As someone who'd like to get into doll customizing, I'd hate to break one and waste money because I have no idea how to fix it.

I absolutely adore that Draculara has a chubbier sculpt, it's so dang cute

OHH opgghg oh goodness,, the little baby giggles when you were doing the kick-back-leg is just SO sweet !!!!!!

you know what I just noticed and absolutely love? New cleo has a side part in her hair! It's pretty easy to see with the hair on, but the part is the part in doll heads that usually has bigger gaps and seeing it on one side rather than the middle on her is... certainly interesting. I don't think I've ever seen someone customize a doll with a side part before, I wonder if that changes how the hair sits or if there's some way to artificially change that, like how if on older dolls you wanted a side part you'd just plug more where the new part was and noone noticed...

Something I've noticed about Gen 3 is that not all of the dolls have that chest joint but still have the other joints, so watch out for that if you want a chest jointed doll.

I'm not a doll customizer but I'm excited to see what the doll community - and especially you Dollightful - will do with the new dolls!

Im so excited to see you work on these new bases, they're all so cute!! a super small detail, but I love the new ear shapes!! Frankie and Cleo have such nicely shaped ears, I love how they stick out!

This is so helpful and interesting! I really like your personal take on the old, the new and the changes. I'm in a couple MH groups online and folks were initially pretty critical of the new dolls. I couldnt believe when I got my hands on them that they now have CHEST articulation!! Im so grateful for that change, articulation is everything to me :D

Gen 3 bodies are gorgeous and open up a lot of possibilities for customs without so much leg chopping LOL. It's a pity the dolls are still so expensive (and I feel like there aren't going to be as many used ones in circulation because of their quality and, well... I feel like less kids play with dolls now), I can't wait to see customizers work with them, same with Rainbow High dolls.

The hairlines are so different too! You can completely change a character's vibe with changing out a widows peak for a round hairline and vice-versa. I mean, it goes without saying again, the individuality of all these dolls is amazing. I hope they release some of their other characters as well like Abbey, Operetta, Elissabat, and Batsy!

Omg you did not have to do this but I’m so very grateful to you for taking the time to give us this detailed review! This was my first exposure to your channel and I’m completing sold on you. **aggressively smashes the sub button ***.

This was good knowledge on the head removal, I was also told to check you out because you had a guide on how to go about removing the upper torso for customs

im not even a customizer, but every new dollighful video is a must watch

I like the variety of the new bodies but one thing that seems the same with each is their bust size. Lots of "pear" shapes but not any "top heavy" ones. Be nice to have some busty-femme representation. Over all though these are really nice! It's like they knew how much people love the unique face sculpts and decided to incorporate it in the body types as well! Fangtastic!

THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR POSTING THIS VID I REALLY WANTED TO SEE THE COMPARISON!!!! ❤❤❤❤❤

Great doll review 👌 always amazing to hear you dollightful

The new bodies are SO pretty, I really love how they're all built!! And I really like the new torso proportions! Looking forward to when you get to customize a G3!

I didn't realize how cute and 3D the ears were on the new line!! It's so, so cute! Thank you for sharing!

i love ur positive energy!! also cute cat at the end

Thank you for this video, this is super helpful! I really enjoy the variety in these new designs. I kind of wish the expressions were more neutral and some of the head sculpts kept the sharper features, but as a whole they look great!

I absolutely love the new hands. The larger hands feel so much more stylized, which clawdeen and toralei have smaller and sharper hands that resemble their g1 counterparts

I like the new dolls because they kept everyone unique from each other, which for me was the appeal of monster high in the first place, like frankie now uses they/them pronouns and has a prosthetic leg which are things that they added to the character instead of removing everything that made them unique which was what I was concerned about .

side note; your child laughing in the background was adorable :)

My birthday just passed and a couple friends had bought me some of the new g3 dolls, and i ended up getting a double up of cleo, so im going to customise her! This video was very helpful with the prepping of the new g3 dolls, especially the neck pegs!

Dracula's strong pear shape is going to make me SCREAM. I hope you customize her soon, I'm so excited about what that could look like 😭

as someone who grew up using monster high dolls at gen1 i love these new designs so much !! they r all so unique and beautiful the sculpting the design even frankies new leg is so amazing and cute !! i love the range with having larger sizes as each body is so unique and it will be exciting seeing all the new customs !! im glad they dont have as much as a swayed back and they all look so cute !! i love them all so much ALSO THE EARS ARE SO CUTE AND THEIR LITTLE NOSES !! i have nothing but positive feedback for these guys

Oh wow the body sculpting is beautiful. I miss the more realistic facial proportions of the old heads, but I can't deny the new ones are stunning also!

Thanks for the tip about the head removal! I found that jamming something in there to ease the vinyl over the edges of the neck peg helped, but it was scary cause it was so difficult! Haha

I really appreciate your positive/realistic analysis of the new dolls. Personally I was finding it pretty hard to get over my nostalgia for gen 1 but this helped me to better embrace the changes😊

Something I really liked about frankie is they have a more andro face mould to match the fact that in the new show they are shown to be NB as an NB myself its just something that caught my eye, and makes me super happy to see being represented :3

ooooh that's so cool! i can't wait to see what you do with these dolls!

this was really helpful to watch! I'm about to customize one of my G3 dolls and knowing how to take the head off is going to make that part much easier ♥also I loved seeing the kitty at the end lol

Their sculpts look SO GOOD, I'm so impressed with how far they've come when they were already so revolutionary for their time when they first released! I also really appreciate how they toned down the sway back, that was by far my least favorite thing about Gen 1 dolls. I love the variety in body types too, it's really cool, just disappointed that they can't share clothes as easily anymore and separate patterns need to be made for each doll. As cool as the new body types and representation is, that's a big turn of for customizing specifically. But ONLY in regards to customizing, I love looking at them as is ;)

It fun to hear you appreciate Lagoona change of skin color. So many people around me are just saying how discontent they are about it. Also the baby laughing in the background so cute. I can't wait to see you new projet. Thank you.

Thank you for this video! It's so nice to have a resource with all these dolls lined up together! One thing to note about Lagoona and Frankie: both of them have varying degrees of issues with their legs. Frankie's leg paint varies between being very strongly attached and flaking off super easily, and Lagoona's leg paint around the knees and the translucent part is prone to chipping and scratching. Some people have gotten around it by utilizing MSC or another varnish to seal it in a little more, but I haven't tried this for myself to know how well it works. Also important to note that there is a budget version of these dolls (only Frankie, Clawdeen, and Draculaura for now), and the budget version keeps all the articulation except for the torso joint. Also, a useful tip: most Rainbow High shoes fit G3 MH feet! They're relatively similar in size, and before RH stopped coming with two outfits, this meant great things for extra shoes for my customs. Highly recommend heading over to MyFroggyStuff's channel and watching her "Does the Fit fit?" videos, they're great for knowing the clothing compatibility. I bring this up because a lot of the RH dolls have clothes that are compatible with MH, or at the very least, with Draculaura (though some shirts are a little big on all the dolls I've found), and as such, if you know an artist who's made RH doll clothing patterns, there's a chance of tweaking it more easily for G3 dolls. I know Requiem Arts has a few on her Etsy and personal storefront that are specifically tweaked for G3 Draculaura, and at some point I'd like to test out Cosmomoore's patterns from ko-fi. They have a variety of free and paid for patterns for RH, but they also have some specifically made for G3 MH under the label of "Creepy Class". Hope this helps out fellow customizers! I will say that I'm in the process of customizing a G3 Draculaura at the moment for my mini-me, and she has been so much fun to work on. The new molds are a treat and play so nicely with my style, and the new ears are SUPER CUTE! I really need to style her hair better so they're visible. I did notice that the hair was harder to get out, but I don't think it's a glue thing. When prepping Drac, I noticed her chunks felt similar to other brands I've customized like Descendants and the older DC Superhero Girls, which all had a plug method that melted the ends of the fibers or knotted them to keep them in the head. I get the sense this is what MH is doing now, which is probably better in the long run but annoying with how hard it is to get all the pieces out. Hope you have fun working with these fab-boo-lous ghouls Katherine! Best of luck getting the neck pegs back together.

Really loved this! Especially as it helped to see the differences per character. That made a huge difference for me. Love my Cleo. 💜💜💜

i love content like this! thank you for making this video, i really trust your opinions on joints and the like when you’ve made so many yourself 😂

one thing im sad about (and from what ive heard) is with ghoulia. one thing about her character was that she communicated in zombie and a lot of autistic people (specifically those of us who are nonverbal or go nonverbal occasionally) found her to be great representation. (edit: ive looked around a bit and saw a lot of people say its just a language barrier, however i do still agree that it could be a nonverbal way of communicating. nevertheless i did also enjoy that no one ever treated her any differently for this) i do enjoy the new generation but im just disappointed in a lot of the changes. hope to see some of the new dolls in customization in the future!!

i am so excited to see what you can make with these! LOVE the more diverse shapes, Monster High always had great face diversity but now its the whole doll. THRILLING!! hope you and the family are well, i have been too busy to catch new videos since ur hiatus ended.

Yay I’m so glad you did this because I commented for you to customize a G3 doll

I really love how positive you are about gen 3! I see sooo many people doing nothing but complain about the changes mares, and it’s honestly annoying. I too really like all of gen 3, and I’m glad you have the same enthusiasm!

I really love how they exaggerated their ears more in gen 3. I feel like that gives the dolls such a fun vibe! Im in love with the new body shapes and colors! I feel like there are so many fun ways to play around with them now!

i really appreciate your positivity with the new dolls! ive pretty much only seen complaints about the new designs, and as much as i love the old ones, i think the new ones are super cute! im super excited to see what you make with them!

I’m gonna be working with a G3 Draculaura as my first doll custom for a class project since it’s all I could get my hands on in a reasonable amount of time and I am very glad I checked this video before diving head first into taking the head off 😅 I know I’ll be rewatching all your videos for tips and tricks during the whole process and I’m very excited for it!

I don’t customize dolls, but I do draw and design characters, most of which have body types that trend towards the *thicc*, and I’m so happy these dolls are getting some body type variety. Imo the og monster high bodies always looked kinda creepy with how skinny and sway-backed they were, these are a total improvement.

Yea I was looking at the 3rd gen dolls a while back and they look absolutely amazing, but I'm kinda sad that Ever After High didn't get this kind of attention I am absolutely devastated that they ended the doll line AND the story line I was obsessed with, so now I live on fanfiction and I think of writing my own, especially since the characters were so one dimensional

Ahhhh so excited to see you customize one of these!

I cant wait to see you make some of these over!!! So exciting

I was surprised you didn’t mention the change in the ear sculpt! For characters like Clawdeen and Torelai is almost the exact same but the characters with ears attached to the sides of their head (like everyone else in g3 so far), their ears stick out a little a lot like human, elf, and fins! It looks so good and makes them more realistic (minus the big anime eyes lol)

On the topic of molded details, Twyla has lil spider webs in her ears!- Its very suttle, but its a fun detail!! Her spider web motive is so cute!!

I can't wait to see you customize the new dolls! I know they'll look so so gorgeous with your touch! ^^

im so in love with frankie's new square jaw sculpt, its such a great detail in a world of round faced dolls

I really love how much more pronounced the ears are on the new head moulds; especially Draculaura- so cute! I can definitely see her pointy ears coming in useful for elf or goblin characters I know usually customisers add a bit of clay to make the ears look bigger if that’s what they’re after, but I’m not sure the new ones will necessarily need it

I do really like how they made the bodies somewhat more realistic with thicker proportions as the gen 1 dolls looked like those models on magazines that are badly photoshopped. The only downside is that I would imagine the gen 3 dolls are going to be more expensive and would make doll customizing harder as the gen 3 dolls take over. But this is just my opinion haha.

Oh my God I NEED themmm!!! Those sculpts are so freaking pretty I’m obsessed!!!

I'm so so so SO exited to see what you do with these!!!