Monday, November 4, 2013

Large Mermalade Zelf Review (Plus Extra Pics of Our Zelf Collection) :)

Hey everyone!  Hope you're having a good week so far.  I don't know about you guys, but I'm having a hard time adjusting to the time change.  It feels so late right now and it's only 8:30 (or at least it was when I started writing)! :}

So this is a post I've had in the works for a while.  Some of you may remember that when I went to my church's Ladies Retreat at the end of September, I came home with a large Mermalade Zelf.  I was planning on doing my review sometime during Lala-Pony-Palooza Month, but it just never worked out. ;) 

So without further ado, here's a look at "Super" Mermalade.

Here is Mermalade in her box.

A closer look at some of the box details:

One side of the box.

The back of the box.

Details from the back:

The other side...

...the top...

...and the bottom of the box.

The inside of the box slips out easily.

Mermalade and her accessories are held in place by tape and plastic. 

She comes with a "leaflet" and three rubber hair bands.

A closer look at her leaflet:

I thought the plastic that fit over her hair was interesting. :}

Here is Mermalade, completely deboxed with all of her accessories.  She comes with her collector's leaflet, three hair bands, two hair clips, and a brush.

The hair clips are plastic with faux hair attached.

They clip easily into her hair.

Mermalade from the back.

Identifying marks:

I really love her glittery body.  I have to say, I'm quite impressed with the way the glitter stays in place.  Even though her body is coated, the glitter is attached very securely on her plastic, so she doesn't leave a sparkly trail like other similar toys on the market.  Bravo, Moose Toys! ;)

Her body has artwork depicting ocean waves and a sea shell.

On her backside are more ocean waves with bubbles and a little "Z" for Zelf. :)

Mermalade stands at right around four inches tall from head to toe.  She is closer to eight inches if you count her hair. :)

She can sit nicely.

Her head moves from side to side:

Her arms can move forward...

...and backwards.

And just like her smaller counterparts, she loves to have fun. ;)  The soft cone inside her hair is even taller than Buttershy's was.  This was as far down as her hair would go.

As you already know from previous posts, while I was on my trip, I also picked up a medium Mermalade.  My mom ended up with a pearl-finish Mermalade in her surprise Lil' Zelf container.  Since we had all three, I thought it would be fun to compare them side by side. :)

I have to take a moment to say here that I LOVE the fun details on Mermalade's mold, especially her dragon-like ears and the fins on her arms. :)

Lil' Mermalade has a really pretty finish.  Like the other Lil' Zelfs, she does not have any extra details on her body (aside from the pearl effect).  I was a little bummed that she didn't come with two-toned hair like her bigger versions.

Here is Medium Mermalade.  I have to say, I have completely fallen in love with this little Zelfie!  She is just so adorable!  She ended up with a few smudges on my trip, but I still love her. :)

And here is my big, or "Super Zelf" Mermalade.  As you can see, her facial features are a little more rounded than Medium Mermalade's.

All three from the back.  As you can probably tell from the picture, Super Mermalade seems to have slightly coarser hair than the other two.

Super Mermalade

Medium Mermalade has an identical paint job (minus the glitter).  I did have to chuckle when I first opened her.  Her bubbles are rather, um, unfortunately placed.  She kind of looks like she's passing gas underwater. :}

After reviewing all three sizes, I have to say that the Medium Zelfs are my favorites.  The Super Zelfs are fun and sparkly and look cute on a shelf.  The Lil' Zelfs make perfect doll-sized Zelfs for the 18 inch dolls.  They're inexpensive and fun because of their "mystery" element (you don't know which one you have until you open it).  However, the Medium Zelfs are the perfect size for travel or play, they have more detail than the Lil' Zelfs, and they have sweeter, finer features than the Super Zelfs (in my own humble opinion). ;)  I don't regret getting Super Mermalade, though.  She's still super cute, and it was fun to be able to compare all three sizes together.

If you are interested in your own Super Zelf, you can get them at Toys R Us, Amazon.com, or (eventually) in Walmart.  They are around $12.99.

To see my earlier Zelf reviews, click HERE (for Medium Buttershy's review) and HERE (for a Lil' Zelf review). :) 

Mom, Mimi and I went a little Zelf crazy on our trip, as you can probably tell from the picture above. ;)  In our defense, the Medium Zelfs were on sale, and the Lil' Zelfs were only $2.99 each.  Plus, we all have a weakness for the whole "blind bag"/"grab bag" thing. ;)  Also, I always try to bring something small back for my girls whenever I go somewhere without them.  Because they'd enjoyed Buttershy so much, and since I knew there was a Toys R Us near where we were going, I had already decided to bring Zelfs home to them.  I even figured out which ones were their favorites before my trip.

Anyway, I thought it would be fun to share our collection so far with all of you. :)

Here are Angelala and Flamy in glitter finish...

...Howlette and Buttershy in matte finish...

...and Pega Sue and Lil' D in pearl finish.

Oldest Gal got Lunanne.  I love the white tips on her ears and toes and the little white star on her cheeks. :) 

Lunanne has the same face mold (and wing mold) as Buttershy, as you can see here.  And yes, poor Buttershy also got some nasty smudges on her face on my trip. :(

Little Gal got Pega Sue.  She has really enjoyed playing with her hair.  I have a feeling Pega Sue may be bald by the end of the year. ;)

Middle Gal got Elfa.  I think this has to be one of my favorite Zelfs aside from Mermalade and Miss Clover. :)  She has such a cute little impish look to her.  I love her freckles, too.  After some research, I realized that Elfa shares a face mold with Miss Clover (she's just missing the wings).  No wonder I like her so much!  Maybe I should just settle for an Elfa and forget finding the impossible Miss Clover. ;)

We ended up with four Lil' Zelfs that matched our Medium Zelfs, so I thought it would be fun to compare them:

Lil' and Medium Elfa.  Both of these belong to Middle Gal.  She's thrilled to have a matching set. ;)

Mimi was the one who ended up with Lil' Pega Sue.  I love the fact that Lil' Pega Sue has her rainbow hair, even though she's the mini version.

I was happy to get a Lil' Buttershy to go with my Medium Buttershy. :)

And I know we already saw Medium and Lil' Mermalade, but I thought I should include a picture of them here anyway. :)

I also thought it would be nice to see the four different face molds next to each other.  As far as I know, the only mold we are missing is the Howlette/Lil' D mold, which we probably won't add to our collection as we don't care for the whole werewolf/devil theme. :}

Here's a closer look at the four molds we have:

I looked up all of the molds so I could identify which Zelfs share molds.  To the best of my knowledge, the Zelfs who share a face mold are...

1. Elfa, Vampula, Spellinda, Garny, Tressa, and Miss Clover

2. Mermalade and Flamy 

3. Pega Sue and Angelala 

4. Lunanne and Buttershy 

5. Howlette and Lil' D

I thought it was interesting how frequently they used Elfa's mold compared to the others.  I have to say, it is one of the molds that appeals the most to me.  I really like Mermalade's mold, too, though.  Buttershy/Lunanne's mold is really cute...oh, I give up!  They're all adorable! ;)  Which one is your favorite?

The more I see of the Zelfs, the more I love them.  I'm looking forward to seeing more releases from this line. :)

Will any of you be adding some of these cuties to your collection, or perhaps tucking them into someone's stocking for Christmas?

17 comments:

Nina said...

I love the Zelfs! I haven't gotten one yet, but I'm still hoping to find that glitter one! I want either Mermalade or Elfa, but they're all so adorable!

Anonymous said...

Much like Mermalade Monster High Abbey has skin much like that. I know you're not a fan I just thought that it was cool that they both have that feature in common.

Juliet XD said...

The Zelfs are so cute! I might pick up a blind bag one, because I love the surprise too. By the way, there are codes up now for all the blind bags for MLP, I think it was strawberry reef that had them.
Juliet

Barb the Evil Genius said...

They are cute, but if my teens get anything, it will probably be MLP. And my youngest is getting a Barbie Fairytopia mini set that she didn't already have. Shhhh!

What I find interesting is how much the moose mascot on the box resembles Bullwinkle the Moose from Rocky and Bullwinkle. It almost looks the designer just lifted a picture of Bullwinkle from somewhere. "Hey, Rocky! Watch me pull a Zelf out of my hat!"

Ruby Danderfluff said...

Their little welly eyes are killing me!! So precious. xD

My sister and I have been watching these guys for a little while now, just waiting it out to see if we'll finally take the plunge with them. So far the craziest doll we've gotten is little Pinkie Cooper, so these are definitely a different breed from what we're used to. =)

Really can't say how much I appreciate your head-mold comparison! Been wondering about that for some time now. Maybe this will help us finally make more solid decisions about which one(s) to purchase. They're all just too cute!

Adorable collections and photos, Beastsbelle! Fun post. =D

Hannah Prewett (beastsbelle) said...

Lol, Nina, we have the same favorites! ;) Thanks for stopping by.

Hi Anonymous! I may not be a Monster High fan, but that was still a fun fact to discover...thanks! I had forgotten that Abbey was sparkly, too. :)

Hi Juliet! I'm always tempted by blind bags. :} Thanks for the info on the MLP blind bags. I knew there were codes for the first set of blind bags...I didn't realize there were still codes for the newer ones. Good to know! :)

Barb, your secret is safe with me. ;) Sounds like your girls will have a fun Christmas. :)

Huh, I hadn't even noticed how much the Moose Toys moose looks like Bullwinkle! :}

I agree, Ruby...I think they have adorable eyes! :)

Lol...I'm still not sold on the Pinkie Cooper line! ;) I can understand hesitating on going for a completely different type of line, though. :)

I'm so glad you found the head mold comparison helpful! I found it very interesting myself, so I figured maybe someone else would too. Glad I was right! ;)

Have a great week!

Unknown said...

Ahh Zelfs are soo cute! But I'd hate to start collecting them, Because then I think I'd never be able to stop! I love the large ones (Love that they don't shed glitter!) and medium ones, especially for the detail. The tiny ones are cute but to me they lack the detail of the other two sizes. Though the glitter finished ones are kinda cool!

Hannah Prewett (beastsbelle) said...

Lol...I completely understand, Amber. They are rather addictive. ;)

I agree that the Lil' Zelfs don't have nearly as much detail, which is why I prefer the other sizes. The glittery ones are my favorites, too, though. ;)

KrissyLou said...

I've been keeping my eyes open for these since I read your reviews on them... I finally discovered that Woolworths (Aussie supermarket chain) was one of the Aussie stockists! So I've been lurking about there today, peering over the gigantic Christmas toy display, moving boxes around so I could see into all the Zelf boxes, seeing all the cute little faces you've been talking about! :) I am seriously tempted by Elfa, too... and Buttershy, and Flamy, and Mermalade... :p But I don't like the bigger ones, at the moment. Not sure why? Maybe the littler ones just seem to have higher detail/decoration to skin area ratio. I have to say though, if I ever see any on special (or if I have left over Christmas money), off to the Zelf store I go!! :)

Freja said...

My favorite is Elfa but I allso like flamy :) I like Lil' D warm colors colors but besides that i dont like him. Im not getting any of them because they arent sold in Denmark (so typical) and I dont fell like trying to get them online. But I think they are VERRY cute and if they ever do show up in my toys r us I will certainly pick up a medium Elfa.

Hannah Prewett (beastsbelle) said...

Hi KrissyLou! I'm glad you found the Zelfs over there. :) It's really fun being able to see them in person. I prefer the Medium Zelfs myself. I do think they have better detail. I hope you're able to add some Zelfs to your collection soon! :)

Hi Freja. I hope the Zelfs make it to Denmark. Elfa and Flamy are both adorable. ;)

RagingMoon1987 said...

I hadn't planned on getting any of these until I saw Middle Gal's Elfa (she's got the same colors as my old high school's sports teams). She came home with me today and I absolutely LOVE HER!!! She may not be the last one I bring home!

Hannah Prewett (beastsbelle) said...

Lol...and so it begins, RagingMoon1987. ;) They have a way of jumping into your shopping cart when you're not looking. ;)

Elfa is a real cutie. I'm tempted to add one to my own collection even though Middle Gal already has one. ;)

Gemma said...

Gah this makes me want more Zelf's now! Mermalade is my favourite Zelf, I love the blue colour of her and the fins on her head.

The medium size Zelf's all seem to be selling out quick for Christmas. They are my favourite size.

Hannah Prewett (beastsbelle) said...

Lol...sorry, Gemma. ;)

The medium Zelfs are my favorite size, too. I can understand why they're selling out...they would make great Christmas gifts! :)

DancingHappySeal03 said...

D: I WANNA ZELFY xD I love Elfa and Lunanne and Pega Sue and Buttershy and Mermalade and GAHHHH!!!!! TOO MUCH ZELFY X.X lol

Hannah Prewett (beastsbelle) said...

I love the Zelfs, too (obviously). ;) I hope you're able to get a few of your own, Rainbow! :)