Ever After High Explosion!

This post will mark a bittersweet crossroads for the blog.  On the bitter side, I'm no longer accepting new full-length guest reviews, and so today's guest review will be among the last of its kind (there are just a few more reviews waiting in my inbox).  The sweet part is that it will be the very first time I get to show off some wonderful Photo Mission pictures--a new way to share everyone's photographs and thoughts here on the blog.  And in the midst of all this, I've included my own mini review.  So...there's a lot going on here today!  I think it's fun to have so many voices and talents in one review, and I can't think of a better doll line to accommodate this than the creative and whimsical Ever After High.

My guest reviewer today is Cory, who--like so many of my guest reviewers--is one of the most patient and lovely people in the world.  She first emailed me about a possible guest review back in May, so you can see when she started this review and how long she's been waiting for me to get my act together to publish it.  Cory is a hard-working college student and a budding doll reviewer.  She collects Ever After High dolls and will show you two of those dolls today: Bunny Blanc and Sugar-Coated Madeline Hatter.

To accompany Cory's double review I have the pleasure of sharing five Photo Mission shots with you.  Big thanks to Amanda, Kirsty, Val, Jessica and MyLittleMegara for these wonderful contributions.  Mission accomplished!  I've photographed my own newest Ever After High girl, Way Too Wonderland's Kitty Cheshire, to add to the mix:

Ever After High's Way Too Wonderland Kitty Cheshire.

First, I would like to put the blog into Cory's capable hands.  All yours, Cory!

Thanks Emily! I am honored to be able to write on your blog, and to offer up not just one, but two dolls for review. I don’t want to waste any time, so let’s dive down the rabbit hole to our first doll and one of Ever After High’s newest students, Bunny Blanc!

Bunny is the daughter of the White Rabbit and another member of the ever-growing Wonderlandian population at Ever After High. She identifies as Royal and has the ability to turn into a rabbit at will, as shown in the Spring Unsprung Netflix special.

Isn't she the cutest?

Like most of the signature Ever After High dolls, the back of the box details Bunny’s personality and social life:

Here's a close-up of Bunny's box art:

As lovely as the official art is, the real attraction is, of course, the doll. So let’s take a closer look at Bunny, shall we?

She's a little camera shy...

Bunny has short white hair with bangs. On my doll, her haircut is fairly jagged, especially along the bangs (more on that later). She wears purple eyeshadow (with a shiny lavender layer) and pink lipstick which lacks the common three shine dots on most Ever After High dolls.

The most notable feature, however, are Bunny’s eyes. On all versions of this doll, her eyes are wonky and look off into separate directions. While many find this annoying, I think it’s rather clever. Real-life rabbit eyes are a bit off-center, so it would make sense for the daughter of the White Rabbit to be a bit crossed-eyed herself. Either way, her pupils are a lovely shade of aquamarine that my camera sadly can’t capture. It also falls to capture the subtle pink blush dusted on her cheeks. I love her face mold as well- angular but rounded, much like a real rabbit’s.

Bunny wears a single-piece dress with a white fur collar, gray vest, and patterned skirt:

The pattern (close-up below) features several clock faces and swirls against a mint-green background, with a pink, black and green stripe ruffled hem. Underneath the vest, the top is a plain black with a Velcro closure on back. The fur collar pops up constantly and it’s really hard to get it to stay flat.

Stay down, dang it!

Here's the pattern:

Instead of the usual necklace, Bunny wears a pink tie and collar made of plastic. It’s hard to see in the photo, but the edges of the collar are molded to give the impression of stitching. These are the little details that make me love Ever After High dolls so much.

Upon her head, Bunny wears her signature top hat, complete with pocket watch and rabbit ears. The hat itself is embossed with numbers, which I find to be incredibly cute and clever. (I apologize for having my hand in one picture, but I couldn’t get the hat to balance on its own.)

How useful is a watch on a hat, though?

Despite her rabbit ears up top, Bunny also has her own pair of human ears, complete with 24-karat gold earrings. Or should I say 24-carrot?

Puns!

These earrings are the only form of proper jewelry Bunny wears. Instead of bracelets, she wears a pair of white cuffs, one with a wristwatch. While I find this fitting into the theme, it’s not hard to imagine certain other bunnies (in)famous for wearing similar attire…

And now, onto what is quite possibly my favorite part about Bunny’s design- her absolutely spellbinding boots!

They are so cute!

Bunny wears these knee-high white boots with a black bottom. Along the outward-facing side, there is a line of black dots painted on, presumably as buttons. The shoe itself features more of the number pattern as seen on her top hat. The heel has a rather unique shape as well- it’s an hourglass!

Ugh, why can't these be in my size?

At the top of the heel, there is a tiny white puffball reminiscent of an actual bunny’s tail! Both shoes are identical, with only the side with the buttons switching.

A better look at the back.  Sorry for the poor quality,
it's hard to take pictures and hold shoes at the same time!

Finally, there is Bunny’s purse, which is a simple gold bag (that doesn’t open) with a clock face sticker on the front. The chain has a braid pattern, while the back of the bag features squiggly lines.

With the clothes out of the way, let’s look at Bunny’s body, starting from the top- her admittedly disappointing hair.

My Bunny’s hair was a rock hard gelled mess with horribly uneven bangs and cut fresh from the box. I gave her a quick rinse is some lukewarm water and massaged her hair, which did loosen it somewhat. I was rather impressed with the rooting pattern- very thick.

Here’s a better look at just how asymmetrical her hair was (before I gave her a more suitable bob, which I show at the end).

Like Kitty Cheshire before her, Bunny has a bit of an unnatural skin tone- a pale pink, once again an homage to her rabbit roots. She’s also rather flexible, or at least more than I am.

I've tried, but I can't do a split for the life of me.

This may be a defect on my doll in particular, but the upper and lower legs (as connected by the knee joint) are slightly different shades of pink:

At least there aren't 50...

It’s hard to see in the picture, but I assure you it’s there.

Bunny is also quite flexible with her arms and hands. Oh, I forgot to mention- Bunny’s hands are black, much like Lizzie Hearts’ or some of the dolls in the Hat-tastic Party line. This is because she is wearing gloves.

Lastly, I’d like to demonstrate how well Bunny can sit, both on the ground and in a chair (well, on a box).

That’s it for Bunny, but we are far from over! We have another Wonderland guest with us today- Madeline Hatter, daughter of the Mad Hatter, bringing us some Sugar-Coated treats!

In this line, Ever After High is throwing a bake sale, and Maddie (alongside Holly O’Hair, Cedar Wood, and Ginger Breadhouse) are all whipping up some goodies for the event. Why this involves new outfits is beyond me- a new apron, maybe, but not a full fancy dress and shoes. If I was going to end up covered in flour, I’d be in my sweats and sneakers. But hey, that’s not exactly marketable.

Anyway, I digress. The back of the box features the usual artwork, but also a recipe for a chocolate pudding. Sadly, this recipe seems to be following Wonderland rules.

I don't imagine mince would taste good in this...

Here's a close-up of the artwork:

Here’s a better look at the Sugar Coated logo, and the art of the other girls in the line:

I have to say, this Maddie’s faceup doesn’t appeal to me as much as the original Maddie’s (comparison later on). The heavy teal eyeshadow might have something to do with it. Her skin tone is also a lot more peach than her signature doll, almost to the point of being orange (although it is hard to see in the lighting I used for these photos). Her deep plum lipstick, however, is gorgeous.

Maddie is still rocking purple-and-teal hair, but with a somewhat different rooting pattern (again, comparison below). It’s rather thick and really, really soft. When I first unboxed her, I had so much fun playing with her hair. It feels amazingly smooth.

Most of the purple hair is pulled back into a braid which leaves a small bald spot on her scalp. This area is covered by her hat though, so it’s not a huge problem for me.

Wonderland-pattern baldness?

Here's the rooting pattern close-up:

Maddie wears a brown dress with polka dots on the top and pink-and-white striped edges. At the bottom of the dress, the brown drips onto the edge, almost like chocolate. Over this dress, she wears a white apron with purple fringe and a teacup-and-dessert pattern.

Around her waist, she has a purple belt with a bow. It is made from plastic and buckles from the back.

She has a teal collar/choker around her neck. I’m not sure what to call it, and it is also hard to keep down once you remove the rubber bands securing it to the doll, so be careful! I’m not sure if the edges are supposed to be uneven or if it was a mistake on my doll in particular.

Maddie also has a pair of tan earrings, designed to resemble cookies. They’re molded to look like icing is dripping down from the top, and are very cute!

I'm hungry now...

But what is my favorite accessory is her hat/headband. Similar to her Signature doll, the hat features a teacup, but this one is ivory and is filled with tea. There’s even a gingerbread man enjoying a soak!

Awfully happy for someone about to be eaten...

That bow tie is so cute!

Gotta love the details on these dolls!

While not wearing gloves or any sort of bracelet, Maddie does have a piping bag, which is used for decorating with icing. It has a hearts and swirls pattern, which is a bit ornate for a cooking utensil. Still, very good looking. The doll can hold it in her hand using the handle.

There are also shoes we have to consider! Maddie comes with brown high heels with a waffle cone-esque pattern, pink frosting roses and drips, and heels that resemble bon bons. They are attached to white plastic last socks.

Lastly, Maddie comes with her dessert- the same chocolate pudding discussed on the back of her box. It sits in a giant porcelain teacup with pink stripes, with a yellow teacup and teapot resting on top of that. All of it is placed precariously on a white, detailed serving tray.

As you can see, this accessory is really detailed! From the folds of the pudding to the texture of the platter to the full Ever After High logo on the teapot, it all looks incredible. The accessory has the same patterns on either side, and on the bottom there’s a small hole to be used to hook up with the other desserts in the line from Holly, Cedar, and Ginger.

I’d now like to take this time to not only show off Maddie’s flexibility, but also compare her to her original doll. As for sitting, Maddie has some creaky joints, but is still able to sit fairly well.

She can also do the splits, although not without being propped up from behind…

…and she can do some strange things with her hands.

Wonderland yoga?

Compared to Signature Maddie, the Sugar-Coated version features a different rooting pattern and more tanned skin. Sugar-Coated also has heavier makeup and smaller eyes.

Sugar-coated on the left, Signature on the right.

Here’s a slightly better looks at their skin tones. As you can also see, Signature Maddie’s arms is a bit thicker. Maybe she recently lifted some weights?

I also compared the hair. Sugar-Coated Maddie’s hair is basically straight out-of-the-box. Signature Maddie had a quick visit to the salon when I first got her in January, but I haven’t fixed her since. The lack of purple in Sugar-Coated’s hair is all the more obvious here.

Sugar-Coated (left) and Signature (right).

And now, to wrap everything up, have a few art shots of Lizzie Hearts, Maddie, and Bunny! These Wonderlandian friends were so happy to be reunited.

They couldn’t help but strike a pose!

In fact, Maddie was so hexcited to see her friend she had to run off and bake some treats for a welcoming tea party!

And that’s Bunny Blanc and Sugar-Coated Madeline Hatter! Thank you so much for having me Emily, and I hope to work with you again in the future!

Until next time!

Thank you so much, Cory!  It looks like you're having a blast with your Wonderlandian friends!  I particularly like the headbands on these two girls--especially Madeline's.  My heart goes out to that smiley, ill-fated little gingerbread man.

I have not purchased an Ever After High doll for quite a while, but was charmed by the Way Too Wonderland series, especially Lizzie Hearts:

She has a flamingo on her head!  So awesome.

I also like Apple White:

She has pretty rainbow hair.

But the one I couldn't resist is Kitty Cheshire:

The Way Too Wonderland boxes are saturated with bright colors and images--a bit like the Sweet Screams Monster High collection.

On the back of Kitty's box there's a brief description of the Way Too Wonderland concept:

There's also a very sly-looking (and slender-faced) rendition of Kitty Cheshire:

Kitty describes her perspective on time in Wonderland, which sounds like fairly good advice for life in the real world, too:

I like how Kitty is mounted to her cardboard backdrop.  It looks like she's tumbling into Wonderland:

All of the Way Too Wonderland boxes have the same backdrop, featuring a swirling checkered rabbit hole that appears to be atop a pile of saucers:

The backdrop holds a playing card-shaped pamphlet:

The playing card has three paper panels that fold out.  On one side, these panels make up a Wonderland High diploma for Kitty:

The other side of the paper is divided into two sections:

There's an invitation to the "un-birthday-ist birthday party" of the Queen of Hearts:

And under the invitation is Kitty's solution to a riddle from the vice principal:

It's fun to follow along with Kitty's reasoning, but I don't actually think this riddle could be solved by a real person.  Or let's just say that there's no way in the world I could ever have solved it.

The design of this pamphlet is clever, but the contents seem a little disjointed to me.  Perhaps they make more sense to those who have seen the Way Too Wonderland show?

Kitty comes with a stand, a brush and a pocket watch accessory:

It's great that Kitty comes with a stand--I can never have enough of these--but her most intriguing accessory is the little pocket watch:

From what I've seen, all of the Way Too Wonderland dolls have a pocket watch accessory, but the watches are different colors and have different patterns on them.

The intricately molded front of the watch folds down to reveal a very crazy-looking clock face sticker:

Now I see why it's hard to tell time in Wonderland!

Kitty's watch is decorated with swirls and a big smile:

The back of the watch is less ornate and has only a molded Ever After High logo.

Here's Kitty on her own--standing up like a pro:

One of the reasons that I really wanted to photograph Kitty is that she has a unique face mold with a toothy smile.  She's quite different from other Ever After High dolls:

This version of Kitty has such an extreme mix of bright colors and textures, it took a while to get used to her.  

She has long purple hair and a complex dress with two different bright prints, a neon yellow underskirt and a furry purple collar.

Even though Kitty has a purple cat tail attached to her body, her ears are not permanently attached--they're mounted on a headband:

The ears are thick and so the headband is pretty heavy.  It comes attached to Kitty's head with three plastic ties:

There are actually holes drilled into the sides and top of the headband to accommodate these plastic ties:

On the left side of Kitty's head, the headband (and its plastic tie) are hidden behind a section of short hair that's pulled back into a small ponytail:

Here's the headband on its own:

The ears have a lot of molded hair, but the pattern is not entirely realistic.  Typically, the inside of a cat's pinna will have significantly less hair than the outside.

Here's a real cat for comparison:

Kitty is not quite as dramatic without her ears, but it's easier to brush and inspect her hair with them out of the way.

Kitty's hair is soft and smooth, but it's a little puffy and ever-so-slightly coarse at the ends.  Happily, she does not seem to have a glue-filled head.  Her head is nice and squishy.

The hair has a neon chartreuse streak running down the back, but the streak gets diluted when the hair is brushed out:

There's another streak of chartreuse in the section of shorter hair near Kitty's face:

The chartreuse streaks in Kitty's hair almost match the neon yellow accents in her outfit and jewelry. The hair has a noticeably green tinge to it, though.  

Kitty is wearing bright yellow mushroom earrings:

The mushroom pattern is a little vague on the earrings, but it's pretty clear on the matching ring:

Well, except that's upside-down...

Fortunately, Kitty's hands come off and so I could easily photograph the ring right-side-up:

Kitty's hands are made out of black vinyl so that they look like gloves.  She's wearing pink cuffs with molded fur that help conceal the transition from black hands to purple arms.  The cuffs also make the glove resemblance more believable.

Kitty's dress is made out of five different fabrics:

The bodice is made out of a purple zig-zag knit and has a high fake fur collar that encircles all of Kitty's neck:

The skirt's upper layer is a bold print with zig-zags, butterflies, mushrooms, clubs, and a huge (disembodied) Cheshire grin:

They didn't want to leave anything out.

The asymmetrical underskirt has a dropped-waist tulle upper section attached to a shiny, stiff, neon yellow lower section.  The skirt's hem is cut with an irregular dripping pattern:

Honestly, this dress kind-of hurts my eyes.  Do you see how it's casting a neon yellow glow onto the  floor beneath it?  It's very bright.  I like it better than the costumes as they're depicted in the Netflix show, though.  Those outfits are very over-the-top:

Screenshot from the official trailer.

On the other hand, the show is called Way Too Wonderland...not Just Enough Wonderland.

Kitty's pink-toed purple shoes are decorated with large swirls:

Each shoe also has a delicate little flower at the back:

Kitty's body is lavender--save for her tail, which is a darker shade of purple:

With her distracting dress removed, it's easier to get a clear look at Kitty's face:

She has very strange eyes with cat-like pupils and bright white iris lines.  She also has lavender eyebrows.  The heavy yellow eyeshadow above and below her eyes makes her look a little spooky:

She has a beautiful shade of plum lipstick, though, and four metallic silver dots along her lower lip:

I think Kitty's smile is very well done.  I'll have to do a search to see what kind of repaints have been created with this face mold.  I like it a lot.

As with most Monster High tails, Kitty's purple tail spins around for some fun posing options:

The skinny tail has a molded pattern on it and reminds me of an opossum tail or a monkey tail--not a furry cat tail.

But it makes an excellent armrest nonetheless...

...or even a makeshift chair!

I have to say that without her ears and with that skinny, curly tail, Kitty isn't very cat-like...but she's certainly very cute:

As a bit of an aside, the pictures above and below demonstrate how (just like Cory noticed with her Bunny) Kitty has a slightly different shade of lavender in her vinyl parts than she does in her plastic parts.  Her head, lower legs and lower arms are purple while her plastic body has a more pink-ish tinge.

I fully intended to leave Kitty's hair pulled back into that little ponytail at the front (I did! Really!) but I noticed about half way into the photoshoot that the thread was coming loose.  All on it's own.

So, I took out the back ponytail:

Leaving a perma-kink at the top...

And let out the front ponytail, too:

It actually looks pretty neat like this.  Maybe the thread was supposed to come out?

The bottom half of Kitty's hair might look really fluffy, but the top looks sleek and chic:

Until (or if) I get the nerve to cut all of Kitty's hair into a short bob (I think that would look great!), I'll settle for another long ponytail in back to keep the hair's volume under control:

As I was putting Kitty back into her full outfit, I noticed that her hands are slightly less flexible with the glove cuffs in place.  It's not a big difference, but here's a pose with the cuffs on...

...and here's the same pose with the cuffs removed:

Okay, when I look at those pictures I have to say I'm not very impressed by the difference, but I definitely found it easier to pose Kitty without the cuffs.

Here are a few more pictures of her:

That tail can really come in handy!  Here it is holding Kitty's long, thick ponytail out of the way:

It makes me smile to look at this doll--her expression is contagions.

The black cat ears are very fun to play with, and add a lot to the whimsy of Kitty's appearance.  They also coordinate with the black gloves...but I don't really understand why they're black in the first place.  If Kitty had a purple and black spotted body, the black ears would make sense, but as it is, I feel like dark purple (to match the tail) or even chartreuse ears would have been a more natural choice.

The ears seem very costume-y, and yet the eyes and tail are permanently animal-like.

Overall, I really like Kitty Cheshire.  Her ears and tail make her very fun to play with and photograph, and her smile makes her more endearing than the average Ever After High character.  I would love to have a Kitty with slightly less extreme makeup and an outfit that doesn't hurt my eyes (Spring Unsprung, maybe?), but even with her chartreuse accents and neon dress, this is one of my all-time favorite Ever After High dolls--second only to the wonderful redheaded O'Hair sisters.

And now, it's time to look at the great pictures I received for the Ever After High Explosion Photo Mission!

First, Amanda (who you might remember from her lovely Disney Store Cinderella review...) wanted to share her Apple White:

Here's what Amanda says about Apple Josette: "Although I still only collect Disney dolls actively, a few of these ladies have found their way onto my shelf. All my Ever After High dolls have French names. Here is Josette, a silent film star, showing off how important body language was before the advent of "talkies." Want more fun with movies and plays? Connect with me on my blog, Puccini's Chronicles!"

And here's Kirsty's perfectly re-dressed Ginger Breadhouse:

Kirsty says: "Ginger is one of the less-appreciated dolls, I think :)  She never seems to get mentioned when people talk about the characters, anyway!  I originally was just going to get the core dolls to display, but I was poking around on Etsy (love looking at the clever things people do!), and I saw this dress which was just perfect for Ginger!  Much more to my taste than her usual outfit."

Jessica managed to purchase the beautiful Holly O'Hair repaint that was featured in Charlotte's guest review and gave her an amazing new look:

"Sister Suffragette."

Jessica explains her reasons for re-dressing Holly as a suffragette: "My daughter loves the Mary Poppins song and I love franchise history, so I wanted to create a suffragette doll for her for Christmas. I just needed the right candidate. When I saw this gorgeous Milklegs repaint - with the same hair colour as my daughter -  I knew she would be practically perfect in every way!  I've written a little more about her in this post on my blog, Babi a Fi."

Val sent me this creative outdoor photo of her sweet Cerise:

I love how Val talks about her collection: "As an adult doll collector, I appreciate the affordability, posability and creativity of the Monster High and Ever After High dolls.  I like to repaint their faces, cut their hair, and in all ways just get them out of the box where they (and I) can have fun. I really can't say I have a favorite Ever After High doll, but I'm contributing this photo of Cerise Hood with a Raven Dancing Toy friend.  Cerise expresses for me the freedom of childhood and the wonder of nature.  I repainted her face a bit."

To end this great series of pictures, and to close out a Wonderland-filled review, here's MyLittleMegara to introduce her fabulous foursome (please check out MyLittleMegara's beautiful blog, In a World of My Own, Adventures in Wonderland).

"I couldn't pick just one of the Wonderland Girls for this, they're all so much fun! I love the creativity and details that go into this wonderful doll line. From left to right: Bunny Blanc, Maddie Hatter, Way Too Wonderland Kitty Cheshire, and Lizzie Hearts."