Monster High - SDCC Kieran Valentine Review

Today's review is on Monster High's Kieran Valentine!
I've been so excited for him to be released in doll form! He was the villain in the movie Why do Ghouls Fall in Love. In the movie, he breaks girls hearts to attain more power because he's an "emotional vampire". He nearly stole Draculaura's heart, but of course he failed.

Valentine's doll was the SDCC exclusive this year along with Djinni "Whisp" Grant. I've heard it referred to as the "Villains 2pk". I was so upset when I heard the news from Monster High's Instagram! I thought I'd never get a hold of Valentine's doll for a decent price! The only eBay listings I could find were around $85 for the set NIB (new in box). Luckily I found a seller, comic-mom, who sold him separately for around $50 with free shipping. I thought this was an alright deal since I'd save the extra $35 to buy another doll I wanted since I didn't want Whisp all that much anyway.

Unluckily for me, the day after I bought Valentine I see a topic in the MonsterHighDolls forum saying MattyCollector was selling the Villains 2pk NIB for retail price! $40! (Well... plus about $13 shipping.) Of course I had to buy the set! How could I refuse?! It was a SDCC exclusive for retail! But of course that means my whole "saving" idea was stupid. I didn't save anything. I actually ended up spending more, lol.

On the bright side, at least I'll get to keep this set NIB since I already have Valentine loose. Monster High's Webarella, an older SDCC exclusive, is the only other doll that I've kept boxed up.

I've taken pictures of the Villains 2pk box which I'll show first before Valentine.

This is the front of the box that has the box inside of it. 

Monster High logo peeking through.

Not for kids. d:

I really do hope they give both Valentine and Whisp an I Heart Fashion release next, like the some of the other SDCC releases.

Side of box.

The sides of the box have these neat cut out smokey design. You could see Valentine's face through one of the holes but it was hard to get a picture of it.

Back of the box.

This box seems to be all about Whisp except for a couple bats here and there.

Other side of the box.

Whee~ opening the box!

Both Valentine's and Whisp's diaries are taped to the top. I'm not going to remove these. I have an extra diary from Valentine anyway and I could just read Whisp's diary online.

Sorry about the annoying checkered reflection! I usually do these reviews with whatever background I'm using for my stop-motion videos at the moment.

Whoa! Look at that face! Handsome! (:

Kieran Valentine in box.

His eyes are a little out of place.

I wonder why they decided to give him fuzzy looking eyebrows. I don't remember him having those in the movie... then again it's been quite a while since I've seen that movie. He might have had fuzzy eyebrows.

No wait--- just checked. He didn't. LOL.

That's cool though. I'm already used to them. I even like the attitude his eyebrows are giving; I didn't before.

Whisp's lamp.

I did not get the lamp with my separate Valentine purchase. I'm assuming that will probably go to whoever buys Whisp separate. My younger sister owns Gigi's basic doll (which is her favourite doll by the way) and she has a lamp like this one so it's fine!

Whisp in box.

I actually really like her now. I didn't care for her at all when I saw her being announced as this year's SDCC exclusive but she's grown on me. My initial feelings were probably the result of me not watching the 13 Wishes movie yet. I almost feel like watching it now. Not that I don't think I'd like it. I liked every Monster High movie I've seen so far.

Whisp's tail.

Hidden legs!

Whisp's djinni tail and can switched into legs. It's a very cool feature and the tail reminds me of a couple of the dolls in the new mermaid line that was announced, like Frankie's eel tail. It would be neat if the mermaids could change their fins into legs, but I guess that wouldn't make Whisp special anymore.

Whisp's hand tattoo.

Arm tattoos.

These tattoos are not present on Gigi Grant.

Also, both Valentine and Whisp do come with stands of their own hidden in the box.

Whisp's box art.

This is the art of Whisp on the box that the dolls are in.

The wings on some of the bats are cut out so they look like they pop out.

Valentine's box art.

"What have I done?" D:

More bats!

Back of the box.

Poor Valentine gets no love. The art is very beautiful but it's all Whisp.

Size comparison.

It's hard to tell just how much bigger this new box is but it's very large compared to my older Monster High SDCC box.

Now I'm going to move on to my Valentine doll that is not boxed.

He did come with a stand but I'm going to use my own because these waist clamps ruin the dolls' clothes.

Eye placement looks like a problem with Valentine's dolls. His right eye looks a little smaller and is out of place.

I also wish that his fangs showed up better. Since his lips are so pale, it's hard to see his white fangs.

His hair is rock hard and needs to be rinsed.

His profile.

Both ears are pierced with a gold stud in each. I'm not sure if these can be changed. I tried pulling both out but they seem to be stuck.

Valentine's glasses!

His outfit.

Valentine wins best dressed for male monster. His clothes are the nicest I've seen on a Monster High boy. He's SDCC exclusive so this isn't surprising. (:

From behind.

Embroidered rose. 

Close-up of pants.

This material isn't stiff like I thought it would be.

The embroidery on the sleeves and pockets are different on both sides!

This chain is not metal!

I was so surprised when I felt his gold chain! I was expecting metal. It looks like metal. It's not hard though, it's soft.

His boots.

These are great boots. My favourite boy monster shoes so far. My second favourite would be Clawd Wolf's Forbitten Love gold boots.

Aw cute! Hearts!

I took off Valentine's jacket.

Ruffle sleeves.

Without jacket from behind.

Gotta snip that stray thread later.

Valentine loves his ruffles!

His shirt is tucked in.

I didn't want to take a photo of it in action because it looked too strange, but this elastic band keeps his shirt from rising up and helps it stay tucked into his pants.

I undressed him completely and it was a real challenge! His pants had the hardest time going over his feet. Once they were off, I saw that his legs weren't sanded properly. There's a lot of extra plastic at the seams.

Valentine and Vlad.

I decided to compare Valentine to my CAM (create-a-monster) vampire boy who I named "Vlad". When the CAM vampire boy and gargoyle boy came out, there were those who assumed they were the closest we'd ever get to having Valentine and Garrott (Rochelle Goyle's boyfriend in Scaris: City of Frights) as dolls. Thankfully we now have official dolls for both!

I did a review for Garrott here.

The wig I have on my CAM covers too much of his face to make a good comparison so I'll have to take it off.

They're obviously way different! I prefer Valentine's face, but my older sister likes Vlad's. In fact, she thinks Valentine is ugly. D: She kept going on like "UGH, no no no Kiki, please use Vlad for your videos not Valentine". LOL

Pfffttt, I'm totally going to use Valentine. d:

Valentine and InvisiBilly.

I also wanted to compare these two because some people still think Valentine is just a recoloured version of InvisiBilly.

They definitely do not share the same mold and this profile comparison makes it clear just how different they really are.

Valentine's glasses.

There's little silver hearts on both sides of his glasses.

After rinsing his hair.

I tried putting his glasses on while his hair was still stiff but it wasn't working out so I ended up rinsing his hair sooner than I thought. He looks way better this way.

Without all that gel, I could finally lift his hair up to see his pointy vampire ears.

WOW! <3

He looks so hot with glasses! I wasn't expecting to like it as much as I do! I think I'll leave them on from now on!

His diary is very sweet. He talks about his regret for the things he's done, an old goblin woman that teaches him how to love, and his new friendship with Whisp. I think it's funny how he wants to be a vet when he grows up considering he's supposed to be 1602 years old, lol.

Kieran Valentine, 10/10!
He was worth the wait! I'm so glad I have a set that I can keep NIB and a separate Valentine that I can use for stop-motion and photos.
I somewhat wish he wasn't SDCC so more people could enjoy him. I hope he'll have more affordable dolls in the future, because I know if I was a kid it would break my heart if I couldn't have my favourite character. I love the boy Monster High dolls and Valentine is my favourite boy character. My mom would have never bought Valentine for me when I was younger. I feel bad for the kids who want the new characters being released as SDCC exclusives.

Why not follow Ever After High and make super detailed versions of already existing characters? That new collector Draculaura looked like she could have been comic con exclusive.

However, I also know that Valentine would have been made cheaper and wouldn't have all the detail that he does if he wasn't SDCC exclusive.