Frozen Elsa With Blue Hair Hunter Hutsman Ever After High No Shirt on Animated

I reviewed Ever After High's Apple White doll back in July, and while I wanted to be super-enthusiastic about her, she left me feeling underwhelmed.  Her round head and plain features were not as pretty as I had hoped, and her outfit was nowhere near as creative as it could have been.  On top of that, many of you reported that there are widespread problems with the facial screening on these dolls, leaving some of them unacceptably wonky-eyed.

Despite these issues, Apple has enough good qualities that I was cautiously optimistic about the arrival of my favorite Ever After High character--Cinderella's daughter, Ashlynn Ella.  When the first pictures of Ashlynn were released, I was disappointed to see that she comes in another short generic princess dress.  I was hoping for something more original.  On the other hand, I was thrilled to see that Ashlynn comes with the first male doll in the Ever After High lineup, Hunter Huntsman, who is the son of...you guessed it, the Huntsman:

I love the name Ashlynn Ella.  To me it is the perfect mix of traditional Cinderella and modern teenager.  It doesn't seem like the same level of thought went into poor Hunter's name, though.  Hunter is a nice modern name, but Hunter Huntsman is too obvious and repetitive.  Why not Hunter Blade, Hunter Woods or Manny Hunt?  In Mattel's defense, though, there's not a lot of background material to accompany the Snow White huntsman character, unless you want to reference newer versions of the fairy tale.  Disney called the huntsman Humbert, and in the most recent movie rendition, Snow White and the Huntsman, the huntsman is named Eric.  Hunter Ericson, maybe?

Anyway, many of the details and features of the Ever After High dolls can be found in the Apple White review and in AJ's guest review of Madeline Hatter.  In this review, I will try to focus on things about this set that are new and different.  For starters, the set costs $34.99 at most stores (Amazon, Walmart, Toys R Us, Target) but is listed for $60 at Justice--on sale for $36.  What is up with Justice?  Is their stuff always on a 40% sale?  Why not just mark things with the real prices?  In any case, $35 seems like a fair price given that Apple, Maddie, Briar and Raven cost about $22 and the Legacy Day single dolls cost over $25.

The packaging is very similar to the first dolls' packaging, the only difference being that this box has two dolls in it instead of only one:

The back of the box is packed with text, fitting in quite a bit of information about both characters:

Hunter is a kind-hearted guy who would rather heal animals than hunt them.  He's classified as a Rebel, presumably because he isn't royal, and also maybe because he's balking at his obligation to be a huntsman?  Except he is a huntsman, despite his distaste for hurting animals, which doesn't seem very rebellious.  It seems pretty obedient.  I probably need to watch the show.  Anyway, here's Hunter's description and interview so that you can read them:

He sounds a bit like he's reading the Pledge of Allegiance at the beginning of his interview, but he manages to work in a "boo-ya" (which I think should be "booyah"):

Here's a question: is "fairy tale" one word or two?  I have always assumed it was two words, but with all of the fairy tale dolls I have been reviewing recently, I have seen it written both ways.  For example, in the interview, above, Hunter says that he wants to make his and Ashlynn's "fairytale a reality."  I think both versions are correct, but I still can't decide which one to use.

I think it's cute that she's obsessed with shoes--it seems less cliche for the daughter of Cinderella to have this trait.  She claims that she can talk to plants, though, which I guess is fine, but if the plants start talking back...then I'm a little worried about her.

There are a ton of magic references and puns in these descriptions and in the background stories of the two dolls (the environmental magic class, "hexquisitely," "hexpect," etc.).  It's all very reminiscent of Hogwarts.  Again, I have not watched the TV show, but I don't think of fairy tale princesses as being magic--only the actual fairies.

Here are the dolls removed from the outer plastic window box.  They each come with their own bookmark-shaped background story and seem to have a lot of accessories:

I have to say, I liked Ashlynn the first time I laid eyes on her.  She is different from Apple in all of the right ways.  Her head doesn't appear as round as Apple's, her skin isn't pale white, and she has reasonably straight eyes:

I liked Hunter fairly well right off the bat, too.  He's almost like a combination between a Monster High boy and Jake from the Liv line:

As with the other Ever After High dolls, these two have plastic stands tucked into the spine of the book-shaped box.  Ashlynn's stand is gold, Hunter's is silver.  There is also a small gold plastic brush and the two bookmark stories.  The best part about Ashlynn's story, by the way, is her reference to the fact that several girls have a Prince Charming in their destiny.  To accommodate these happy endings, there are several brothers who are the sons of Prince Charming (Daring Charming, Dexter Charming and...?  There should be three because Snow White, Cinderella and Sleeping Beauty all have a Prince Charming in their stories).

The stands are identical except for the color and the fact that Hunter's waist grip is wider:

The back of the box has the same sentence fragments and jumbled languages that I was trying to translate on Apple's box:

I always end up trying to figure out a few sentences because it drives me nuts that I don't know what this box says.  It's unrewarding, though.  For example, I find a section like this that looks like it has a complete sentence in a single language:

And then I type "Comme si elle etait vraiment ca peu..." into Google Translate, and its best guess is that it's French for: "As if she really was his little..." but I can't read what comes next!  She's his little what?  I want to know!

Enough of that.  Here are the dolls--they come with their hands tied together:

She's his little...captured convict??

Let's look at Ashlynn:

What caught my eye first is her little ring.  It's tiny, but it's clearly recognizable as a bird!

I love this ring.

Ashlynn is also holding a fancy clock-shaped purse:

The purse has a lot of detail.  All four sides have clock faces on them, three of the clocks are molded into the gold plastic, one is a black and white sticker:

It's just before midnight...

The purse has a plastic strap and a round handle on top that looks like a latch of some sort.  This round piece spins, but the top of the purse does not come off.  Or at least I haven't figured out how to get it off.  I have managed to pull the purse strap off and make the whole thing creak like it was about to break, but I cannot get the darn thing to open.  This is too bad since I enjoy keeping Apple's small accessories in her cute apple purse.

Access denied.

Looking at Ashlynn for the first time gave me the same excited feeling that I get with some Monster High dolls--the ones that are just packed with clever little details and accessories.

For example, I had dismissed Ashlynn's earrings at first glance because I thought they were simple dangling rods.  They're not.

From the front, it's hard to tell what they are...

..but from the side it's easy.  They're miniature shoes!

They're spectacularly cute and even have bows on the toes:

After seeing these, I got pretty excited about Ashlynn's necklace.  What could it be?

The necklace is not as impressive as the ring, but it's still cute.  I think it's a pair of birds and maybe a cage in the background?  It's hard to see:

Ashlynn's last piece of gold jewelry is a bangle bracelet:

It has an assortment of little shoes hanging from it--some of them more recognizable as shoes than others.  Here you can see a pump in front and a laced boot off to the left!

After exploring all of the jewelry, I finally started to take a closer look at Ashlynn's face.  I don't consider Apple White a conventionally pretty doll, but Ashlynn is different.  Her head seems smaller, but I think it's just that part of her forehead is covered with hair...and her face isn't ghostly white.   Ashlynn has full lips and a nice skin tone, which give her a more elegant, normal-looking appearance:

Here's a side-by-side comparison--I think those lips make Ashlynn look a bit like a Monster High doll:

Ashlynn has emerald green eyes and tastefully-applied eye makeup.  Her eyebrows are thick, but they're not drawn with solid lines.  Instead, they have a cross-hatch texture in them, which I think looks nice from a distance:

Ashlynn has a different mouth shape than Apple.  Her lips are larger and stick out a bit more in profile.

Here's another side-by-side comparison.  Apple's mouth looks pinched (and a little pouty) in comparison.

The lips have a very nice shape, and are accented with the three reflective dots that all of the Ever After High girls seem to have:

Ashlynn's hair is a beautiful highlighted natural blonde color and is styled with a bouffant ponytail in back, and a braided strand circling the top of her head.  She wears a pink headband in her hair that is held down with several clear rubber bands:

The execution of the hairstyle around her headband could be a lot better.  It's very sloppy on the left side, revealing way too much scalp:

The headband is fine, but I'm not sure it's necessary.  The braided strand across the top of Ashlynn's head almost acts like a headband, and the headband itself messes up her hair.  Also, it's hard to see what the design of the headband is supposed to be:

Actually, I think my doll's headband was on backwards.  This is the way it was positioned on her head:

Feathery devil horns with sea anemones on either side?

And this is the other side:

Leaves and birds!

I think the bird and leaf pattern is much clearer on the side that was facing towards the back of her head.  That's easy to fix, though:

One frustrating element of the hair, which you can see in the picture above, is that the braid that runs across the top of Ashlynn's head is tied behind her right ear with a small clear rubber band.  This leaves the short, frizzy ends of the braid sticking out near her face and adding to the messy look of her hairstyle.

I brushed Ashlynn's hair with my wire brush, hoping that it would be smooth and shiny.  It's actually not very different from Apple's hair.  The fiber is soft, but tends to look frizzy and a little messy.  It gets worse towards the bottom of the hair--as if she needs her split ends trimmed.

Ashlynn is wearing a multicolored dress with a short flower print pencil skirt and tulle peplums that have a metallic gold vine design.

The skirt on this dress is very tight, and it limits Ashlynn's mobility.

I don't care for the red flower print on the underskirt.  It's partly the color combination that bothers me, and partly that the circular arrangement of the the flowers is in a scale that's too large to match the skirt.  It looks like there are big, unintentional gaps in the pattern:

There's a lot going on with this dress.  It has a glittery sea foam bodice with a deep v-neck that is filled in with a floral print insert that matches the skirt.  The neckline is decorated with gold sparkly trim.

The dress has little pink cap sleeves and longer sheer blue tulle sleeves:

Ashlynn has semi-transparent blue vinyl shoes with flexible vines twining up her legs:

The shoes are heavily decorated with molded scrolling vines, leaves and flowers:

The shoes are fun, and seem to be a modern, plant-inspired interpretation of Cinderella's glass slippers.   They're a bit overdone, and might have more charm with a less-cluttered design, but they're more interesting than Apple White's shoes.  The vine feature is my favorite part, although if these are meant to be glass slippers, the idea of glass vines twined around someone's legs gives me the shivers.  It looks like the curls will make it difficult to put the shoes on, but they actually wrap easily and naturally around Ashlynn's legs.

There's a consistent plant theme to Ashlynn's outfit, but many of the components are too ordinary for the theme to make a big impression.

Ashlynn's body shape and articulation are the same as Apple's.  There's a striking difference in the two vinyl colors, though:

Here are the two dolls in their clothes with their accessories (Apple isn't wearing her black tights in this picture, though):

The dolls have very similar outfits and accessories.  I think Ashlynn's jewelry is more detailed and special, and her shoes are more creative.  I prefer Apple's purse (it actually opens) and I like that her dress doesn't limit her flexibility.  I don't feel that either doll needs a headband, but Ashlynn's headband is more unique and versatile, and it matches nicely with her pink sleeves.  If Ashlynn had a better skirt on her dress (maybe a layered mix of tulle colors that resembled an upside-down peony?) and her clock purse actually opened, I would find her to be an improvement over Apple in every way.

I tried to tame Ashlynn's frizzy hair by putting some braids on either side of her face.  This helped a little bit:

Before I show you Hunter, I have to admit that I wanted this set for Ashlynn Ella alone.  I am a huge fan of Cinderella, and would have bought her no matter what else came in the box--clowns, scorpions, smelly socks....anything.  Given that mentality, it was easy to like Hunter.

The first thing I noticed about this young huntsman is that his neck joint is loose.   He has a bad case of floppy-head:

It is possible for him to hold his head up straight, which is a relief:

Hunter's stand works nicely for him, but he doesn't need it.  He stands well on his own, especially when he's wearing his heavy boots.

Hunter's face grabbed my attention before anything else.  He has a friendly, handsome face and a mix of flocked and rooted hair arranged like a thick, combed-over mohawk.

What distracted me from his features was the fact that his face was filthy and his hair was caked in white styling gunge:

He had glue residue and little bits of hair all over his face.  One cheek had big dark smudges, too:

The hair is a mess, despite copious amounts of styling product:

Here's his hair up close:

Gross.

I found this mess off-putting, but I also assumed that I would be able to wash his face and hair and get most areas tidied up (which I could).  I didn't wash Hunter until I was almost done with the review, though (just in case his flocked hair fell off or something like that).  So, try to look past the dirty face in these next few pictures so you can enjoy his nice brown eyes and detailed eyebrows:

His lips have a nice natural pinkish color, and if you look closely, you can see that the paint almost looks like it's been sponged on. The texture is not solid as it is on Ashlynn's lips.

Hunter comes with a hard plastic courier bag slung over one shoulder:

The bag is brown with mottled black areas and molded stitches, making it look like it is pieced together from bits of leather.

It has a stiff plastic strap that rotates up and down:

The strap has a zipper pattern and a decorative, non-working clasp:

The front of the bag has a silver symbol on it, and a hard plastic flap that can open and close:

Hunter has a layered outfit that features natural brown and green colors.  He is wearing a hoodie sweatshirt over a v-neck, and a pair of khaki skinny jeans:

He has a plastic band on one wrist that matches the leathery look of his bag:

The sweatshirt is made out of three different thin fabrics.  The sleeves and hem are forest green and the hood and sides are a dark brown material with a snakeskin print:

On the back of the shirt, there's a panel of light reddish-brown paisley:

The jersey knit v-neck undershirt is sleeveless and has an interesting print on it:

This is my favorite piece of clothing in the set.  I wish it had sleeves, but I understand that this might have been too bulky.  The shirt's print looks like traditional camouflage from a distance, but it's actually a very realistic and detailed picture of a tranquil forest scene.

Hunter has a silver plastic charm on one of his belt loops:

The charm has three things hanging from it, but I can't really tell what they are.  Hunter's bookmark story has a picture of a similar charm, which has an Ever After High key and an axe, but these items look different.

Hunter's pants are pretty simple.  The fly and pockets are decorative and don't open.

My husband thinks he's a tool...I wonder why?

Hunter is wearing heavy work boots made out of stiff vinyl.

The have a slit up the back and are fairly easy to get on and off.

As with the girls, Hunter's hands can be removed for easier dressing and undressing.  They are nice hands, too.  Each one has a different shape and they are masculine and expressive:

Hunter's body has 13 points of articulation and a very muscular build.  It's hard to see in this picture, but he does have molded briefs:

His body has some similarities with both the Monster High boy body and the Liv Jake body.  Jake and Hunter are similarly muscled in the chest, and they have virtually the same skin tone.  Monster High Deuce is much skinnier than Hunter, but he has the same type of articulation.

Hunter's muscles make him thicker in all areas than Deuce.  Jake and Hunter are more similar in size, but Hunter's arm and thigh muscles are larger, as is the depth of his torso:

Deuce can wear Hunter's shirt:

But the pants are very large in the waist:

Hunter cannot fit into Deuce's clothes:

Jake can wear Hunter's entire outfit, although the fit of the tee shirt is tight in the chest and neck:

The pants fit well:

Hunter looks great in Jake's shorts and shirt:

This doll is incredibly fun to pose.  There's very little he can't do--the only limitations that stood out to me are that he can't do side-to-side splits past this point:

And his front-to-back splits don't quite reach the point where his legs are flat on the floor:

Before I posed Hunter with Ashlynn, I washed his face and rinsed out his hair.  He needed to clean up his act before he could officially meet the daughter of Cinderella!

I didn't boil his hair because I was concerned about how the flocked areas would respond, I just ran the rooted hair under warm tap water.  I used plain water and a Q-tip to scrub his face.  All of the smudges and debris came off.  His hair looks better, too, but I think he needs a little trim to even up the ends in some areas.

Here are some glimpses at the secret romance between this Royal and her kind-hearted Rebel:

Ashlynn's head looks very large and round in comparison to Hunter's head:

Ashlynn's dress was limiting her range of poses, and her frizzy hair was bugging me, so I changed her into Apple's dress and pinned her hair up:

Now, she can really go crazy!

Bottom line?  This pair makes me more excited about Ever After High than I was this summer.  Ashlynn's pretty face is worthy of depicting Cinderella's daughter, and the introduction of a highly-articulated male character so early in this line's history is promising.

Ashlynn's hair is a beautiful color, but the texture is frizzy at the ends and often looks unkempt.  I prefer her hair braided into a fancy up-do.  Her outfit is also a bit disappointing.  It has a theme, and I like certain things about it (like the sleeves and the shoes) but the red and blue flower-printed pencil skirt is both unremarkable and restrictive.  I'll reiterate what I said in Apple White's review; there's so much opportunity for creative design with these outfits, it's hard not to wish for more.  One cohesive theme between all of the Ever After High dresses is that they incorporate traditional princess features into a modern cut, and are made from eclectic groups of prints and fabrics.  This is an interesting approach, but it can too easily look generic and cluttered.  Ashlynn's jewelry makes up for the shortcomings in her clothes.  All of the pieces are good, but I like her bird ring and her shoe earrings the best.  I like the design of her purse, too, but I wish it opened so that I could use it to store her jewelry.  I felt like I was on a treasure hunt as I inspected each of the carefully detailed accessories.  Ashlynn's facial screening is symmetric and her mouth and eyes look calm and pretty.  I like how different she seems from previous releases, even if there are only a few minor changes in the shape of her facial features.  She offers a nice contrast to Apple White's pale round face and thin, sardonic smile.

Hunter is a great surprise.  I don't care much for his hairstyle, but I think with a little trimming it could be improved.  Authentic-looking boy doll hair is very hard to do, and I can't say that I have any male dolls with perfect hair.  The biggest problem with the hair is that it came with such an off-putting amount of white styling goop in it.  The styling gel and bits of hair that were smeared all over Hunter's face came off easily with plain water, but that's still a gross and careless way to present a doll.  Everything else about Hunter is great.  His three-piece outfit is detailed and attractive, and the forest-print v-neck shirt is both creative and perfect for his character.  Hunter's courier bag opens and closes, and he has some nice little details like the charms on his belt loop and the wrist band on one arm.  His rugged boots are especially eye-catching, with painted and molded features that make them look quite realistic.  Hunter's articulation is very much like Ashlynn's.  He has lots of joints and they all perform well.  Hunter's face strikes a nice balance between handsome and friendly.  His thick brows and confident smile give him more personality than Ashlynn herself.  Despite the fact that Hunter's head is quite a bit smaller than Ashlynn's, the two faces compliment each other and are clearly from the same line.

It's strange how this pair of dolls is changing my impression of the whole brand.  Somehow, Ashlynn and Hunter bring out a depth to this line that inspires me to look at the other Ever After High dolls with new eyes.  Ashlynn isn't just Apple in another dress.  While she might not have the same level of personality in her face as a Monster High doll, she manages to have her own presence, clearly distinct from Apple and Madeline.  Ashlynn's relationship to Hunter, and the way the two dolls can interact so well, adds yet another dimension to their appeal.  I can see kids having a blast playing out all kinds of high school dramas with the Ever After High girls and their charming princes.  Maybe the best thing about these dolls is that the attention to detail in the accessories is near perfect.  Each doll has a functional stand, a cute story, a full outfit, and two or more clever additional items...all for under $40.  At times, examining this set took me back to the early days of Monster High, when I felt like I was getting a whole lot of creative surprises for my money.

Neither of these two dolls is without flaw, but I think they are worth their $35 price tag and, even better, they make me optimistic about what is coming next at Ever After High.

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Source: https://www.toyboxphilosopher.com/2013/10/ever-after-high-ashlynn-ella-and-hunter.html

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