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Never say never… That’s the second Frankie Stein I’ve bought in a fortnight, and what’s more it’s the dreaded new face-up, which I was boycotting. But she was discounted, so how could I not? I have mixed feelings about her. She is kind of sweet, and a beautifully made doll, but there are clear attempts to tone down her monstrousness. Her skin is a lighter shade of green, she has fewer scars (five compared to Wave 1′s eight) and they are muted. Her collar nearly hides her neck bolt, & one of those discreet scars is nearly hidden by the ankle strap on her shoe. This girl is never going to have original Frankie’s problem of limbs falling off while swimming; those stitches are nearly healed. Other peeves: those ugly eyebrows, a general air of gormlessness and garishness, the fact that the lightning bolt on her left eye is so subdued, and the rouge.Oh, that rouge! Has any woman since the fifties ever just plonked some Bonjour Paris right in the centre of the cheek, like - well, a doll? A doll or a poor corpse that has been inexpertly gussied up by the undertaker’s apprentice… No matter how hard Mattel tries to Barbie-fy its Monster High line, that inner monster is still going to peek through.