So, I’ve kind of had an eye on the Monster High Create-A-Monster Design Lab for a while now, for reasons that are obvious if you’ve ever looked around here. But I can’t even cut straight — no, not even with a carefully placed ruler — so I was skeptical of my abilities to align the “tattoos” properly, and the fact that all the Design Lab packs have incredibly featureless heads that I hesitate to even call a sculpt were slightly creepy to me. The real death knell was the original $40 price tag, though. That relegated it to the Land of NO.

But I couldn’t quite dismiss it, either. I like some of the faces and body tattoo choices, and I like the doll that comes with the lab, even if she was creepily smooth. So it stayed on my Amazon list in hopes of an eventual price that I could stomach. And it eventually sank under $30, but my Amazon list is so full of things I really want, that it just sat there.

And then My Coke Rewards got a refill on their B&N gift codes, and I snagged one, figuring I’d use it for a couple books, or maybe a season of Warehouse 13. I’m not even sure what made me search for MH there, because their toy section tends towards the educational and the stuffed, and the MH items tend to be thin on the ground. But I did, and they had the Design Lab! For $23! And then, being me, I was still chicken, and decided I needed to find a review. Not Amazon, I will take Amazon reviews for some things, but not MH. I gave up after seeing a half dozen people giving negative reviews because an arm pulled off, despite that sheet of paper included with every doll showing how THEY ARE MEANT TO.

Luckily, The Toy Box Philosopher had the kind of review that I wish I could write — fun, informative, in-depth, helpful pictures. Long story slightly less long: I bought it.

Probably I will be complete crap at the damn thing, but whatever, I basically got it for being a soda-drinker, and the price of shipping. Totally worth it.