Mattel Cave Club Tella doll Review

In all honesty, I wasn't sure if I was going to collect any of Mattel's new doll line, Cave Club. However, the more pics of the dolls I saw, the more I became interested. Sometimes, it happens that way. Actually, a lot of times, haha.

My first choice was Emberly, but Walmart did not have next day shipping available for her at the time I placed my order. (She now has that option again and is on her way to me.) I also really liked Tella with her moon and stars theme and she had next day, so I went with her. Here she is in box. I like the simplicity of the box design and it was very easy to release her from the packaging. The only thing I'd like is that if the back had a little personality blurb about her. Instead, there is just a general one about the line itself. Included with Tella is her pet wolf, Hunch, a telescope (of course!) and a hair pick. I only removed her and her pet for the time being.

Here she is out of the box.

Everybody walk the dinosaur. Ahem. She is totally cute and has great poseability, reminiscent of Monster High. Her joints feel quite sturdy, especially the legs. So, she should be able to withstand a lot of playtime from a child.

Her outfit is very basic, just tricot, tulle and fur, but it looks just fine. The only thing I don't like is that the jagged un-hemmed edged of the skirt tends to stick up. Belt and legwarmers are cute and the legwarmers have splits in the back for easy removal. I also found myself wondering if Mattel would do fashion packs for these dolls. They'd be easy due to the simple construction of the fabrics. It would be nice if they eventually made some.

Here's Hunch. He's cute as a button and his head moves. He also reminds me of the Monster High pets. The only thing that would make him better in my opinion is if he had real hair on his head instead of plastic.

Tella's hair is vibrant colors and a neat style. Unfortunately, it's nylon. What you see here is the result of a trip to the salon. Out of the box, it had dents from the packaging ties and a few sections of frizzies. I just cannot see this hair holding up under a lot of playtime from a child. It will mostly end up a fuzzy mess.

Here is what I think is the main draw of these dolls- their faces! Extremely expressive with lots of vibrant colors. I really appreciate the colors used as well as the facial markings.

Overall, I really like Tella and am eagerly awaiting Emberly's arrival. The 80's toy enthusiast in me feels like these dolls could have easily been made in 1988 (probably with less articulation back then). So they would be right at home in a retro toy collection. I'm hoping they do well for Mattel, as I'd love to see more fun characters and concepts.