Woo-hoo!
We are back and wishing everyone a happy New Year!
Now, let’s talk about dolls! While I have seen “Ever After High” dolls in stores and browsed through other collector’s online reviews, I have yet to own one myself…until now!
Yes! I received two of these awesome dolls for Christmas! Well, actually I received one and Sister got the other, but that’s beside the point. The point is that there are now two, new, gorgeous dolls to pose, photograph, sew cute clothes for, etc….
But what is “Ever After High”? Here’s a little background for those who would like to know:
Ever After High is a line of fashion dolls (started by Mattel in 2013) featuring the sons and daughters of various fairy tale characters. This next generation of princes and princesses attend the “Ever After High” school and are supposed to follow in their parent’s footsteps, regardless of whether their parents were good or evil. For some (like Apple White, daughter of Snow White) this is great because she lives “happily ever after”, but for others (like Raven Queen, daughter of the Evil Queen) it’s not so hot. Since Raven wants to live happily ever after as well, she refuses to sign the “Storybook of Legends”, and declines a life of villainy. This begins the division of “Royals” (those who sign to live out their parent’s legacy) versus “Rebels” (those who refuse to sign in order to change their destiny), and the drama of Ever After High.
Although I have not watched the episodes (and am in no way an expert on them), it looks like they have a decent storyline. The fact that Raven is against gifting poisoned apples to her friends is great, and (even though they’re called “Rebels”) it seems the only thing Raven and her friends are rebelling against is being evil.
So there’s a bit of Ever After High history, now let’s talk about the dolls! Today’s review will feature…
Cedar Wood!
Cedar Wood is the daughter of Pinocchio. She is also one of the Rebels who wants to change her “ever after”.
This Cedar Wood is a re-release from the “Hat-Tastic Party” collection. The re-released versions differ slightly from the originals. Below are pictures of the original doll versus my Cedar—mine is on the right:
The differences I found between the two so far:
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Different hairstyle
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The original doll has gold earrings (no earrings on mine)
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The original doll has stockings with gold and purple painted shoes (my doll does not have stockings and her shoes are only purple)
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The original doll comes with a purse (mine does not have a purse)
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The original doll has a gold headband with a hat (my doll’s headband is black—but let’s face it, that’s being REALLY nitpicky!)
So if you’re looking to get this doll, and her accessories mean a lot to you, you may want to get the original version and not the re-release.
Thankfully, I love making doll crafts, so I could care less about Cedar’s missing extras. What I care about is the doll herself…so let’s get her out of the box!
The plastic front came off easily. This was great because I intend to re-use her box for….something? I haven’t decided yet.
Here is Cedar completely out of her box. Her accessories include:
- A doll stand (located in the back of the box)
- A hairbrush
- A hat/headband (attached to her head)
- A teapot, two teacups, and two saucers
Before we show off her articulation let’s remove her hat:
Cedar comes wearing a pink, Pinocchio style hat, which is held in place with four of those horrible plastic tabs! Ugh!
Now that she is free of her hat (and tabs of doom), I’m going to place her on the stand for the next few photos.
Since she is Pinocchio’s daughter, Cedar’s skin is made to look like wood:
She has brown, wavy hair with purple highlights:
The Original Hat-Tastic doll has hair tied into a stylish ponytail, while the re-released version’s hair is mostly loose. Cedar also has long bangs which are secured in the back with a clear rubber band.
She can move her head from side to side:
Although she can tilt her head up, tilting it down is a bit more difficult. In the end, she ends up looking straight ahead.
Now comes the interesting part. I realized that to take off her white cuffs and dress, I would have to remove her hands. I’m not going to lie…I was nervous! I’ve never had a doll with removable hands. Should I really just ‘pop’ them off?
Well, here it goes….(yes, there are naked doll pics coming up)…
EEEEEEEK!!
No, actually I haven’t. I feel the sudden urge to find some glue! Okay, so once I removed Cedar’s hands (*shudder*), I was able to take off her cuffs and dress.
Cedar wears a Wonderland inspired tea dress. Her dress is mostly pink and black, with what seem to be little fairies and crickets printed on it. She has a black plastic collar around her neck. The collar has a split in the back so there isn’t any trouble taking it off. Her hands are also painted black and made to look like gloves, while her white cuffs are molded to resemble lace.
Since we’ve established the fact that her hands can be popped off, let’s make sure they can be re-attached…
Whew! Much better ?
I’m quite impressed with Cedar’s hand and arm articulation. She can hold a variety of poses.
Her legs are also very well articulated:
She can bend her leg at the knee and hold it in a raised position. She can also twist her leg around at the knee…
….waaay around.
As far as splits go, I’m not sure she’s ready for the cheerleading squad:
Okay, okay! Hold on one moment…
In case you’re wondering, I was able to re-dress Cedar without taking off her hands. As long as I didn’t use the white cuffs, there was no need to remove her hands.
Here is a peek at Cedar’s feet and shoes:
She is on her tip toes so without a doll stand (or shoes) she cannot balance alone. Like I mentioned above, her shoes are completely purple. However, they still have plenty of detail. The toes of the shoes have a wood-grain look, and there are tiny fairies painted on the sides of the shoes.
What I’m about to show you next is totally awesome…
As long as she is wearing her shoes, Cedar can stand without needing a doll stand! I’m totally loving this!
At this point, I was wondering how easy her hair is to style, so I attempted to braid it into a French braid.
I also added a bow!!
Here is how Cedar looks with her hair pulled back:
I kind of like her new style. You can see her pretty face! She has brown eyes, with light purple eyeshadow, and wears bright pink lipstick.
I’m curious to see if she can fit into Barbie doll clothes:
I would say Barbie clothes might work in a pinch, however, I still plan to make her some better fitting garments.
As far as shoes go…
Barbie shoes are definitely not gonna work. Her feet are simply too big. Looks like I’ll need to sew more doll UGGS as well! Yay!!
Besides the doll stand and brush, Cedar came with a cute tea set:
The tea set is painted and molded to look like wood grain. The teapot lid can be taken off, and there are little pink pegs on the saucers that help keep the teacups in place.
I wonder if she is able to hold her teapot and teacups?
She certainly can!
Well, I guess that sums up Cedar’s review and introduction…
WAIT!!
Tinkerbell? This is my post…what are you doing?
You forgot to introduce Cedar Wood to US!!
Oh right, ahem…
No worries. I’ll handle this.
Okay, well I guess that sums up Cedar’s introduction. I have to say, I really like Cedar Wood. She is so unique and I think she fits in perfectly with our dolly family.
I hope you enjoyed our review of Cedar Wood, and be sure to check back soon to see Ashlynn Ella make her debut!
