Ever After High Lizzie Hearts (plus bonus Cedar Wood)

So Argos got their new stock in. That is always a good day, which is made even better when they bring out the new catalogue at the exact same time. Still no sign of Neightan Rot, the Argos books are either misprinted, or the boxes have been shipped out with the wrong number on them, so I'm still hunting him down. I'm also trying to find Dexter Charming, but I don't know if he's as high on my priority list. Anyway; new book, new items, that meant new Ever After High which meant I got Lizzie Hearts! I'm a huge Alice in Wonderland fan, and love having things related to it, so yes, I am determined to get the Wonderlandian residents of Ever After High.

Sorry for the flash. As we can see, Lizzie comes in the standard book like box, hers with a gold trim to it. I believe prototypes showed that it was meant to be red, but that colour had already been used for Apple White (whom I am, and yes, she's lovely, even if her hair is feeling a little greasy. Only one that is, actually). Lizzie's leg pose looks a little painful, I'm not going to lie, but I have seen dolls packaged in far more painful looking positions. Note to the people who package these things: think of how you'd feel being forced to pose like that.

The back of the box is, again, the standard bio, with the pictures showing the O'Hair twins (not quite sure if they're on my ant list; maybe if they go on sale but at their current price it's probably a no), dear Cedar, and Blondie. Lizzie's bio describes her as someone who is literally misunderstood - she speaks most in Wonderlandian, so when she comes to the 'normal' fairy tale world, she can come across as quite ... violent, I suppose would be the word. As such, she lists her best friends as Kitty Cheshire and Maddie Hatter. One thing I do like is that they have Lizzie question why everyone thinks her destiny is to be a Villain when really it's a to be a riddle. It's a nice nod to the original story by Lewis Carroll, which was a nonsense book of riddles and plays on the maths and poems of the day. Bonus points to you, Mattel. You'll also see the keyhole in the back of the box to show that yes, a stand is included.

With the plastic off, we get a better look at Lizzie, and really, this girl charmed me from my first glance at her. I like the rose bush in the backround, with roses in the middle of being painted red. And I'll say now, no I don't have any scans/photos of the story in the bookmark.  couldn't get the camera to focus on it properly, and then the Dad took everything away to be put in the recycle pile and... yeah. Personally, I'm not much fussed about the stories. I think they're nice little introductions to the characters, but actually? The webisodes for EAH are pretty good at showing the characters off as well. As are the books by Shannon Hale. Whereas continuity seems to be all over the place for Monster High, Ever After High does seem to have a set structure that can be seen across all the types of media for it. Which I like.

Ah, the deboxing process. First thing I did was bring out the stand. Lizzie has what seems to be the default Royal stand - a gold base with clear holder. Nothing really much to talk about with it; it does it's job very well, and doesn't - from my experience - seem as hard to get the dolls into as the Monster High stands sometimes do for the ghouls.

And here is Lizzie out of the box and on her stand and yup, she's lovely, and I'm completely charmed. At first glance, her outfit comes across as very Elizabethan to me, which is actually a pretty cool aesthetic to go for when considering it's the daughter of the Queen of Hearts. Mostly because the Queen of Hearts often gets mixed up with the Red Queen. And the Elizabethan connection comes in when you remember Henry VII ended the War of the Roses between the Yorks (white rose) and the Lancaster (red rose) and he happened to be Queen Elizabeth I's grandfather. (Also: fun fact? Game of Thrones Red Wedding? Based on the Black Dinner that happened before the War of the Roses in Scotland. Seriously, go Google it.)

Okay, this did not come out as well as I would have hoped, but we make do. I think the next few photos might be like this, so sorry! It was really just to show off her hands - which are black gloves - and her heart shaped purse - which doesn't open. We also see what I believe it meant to be tulle padding out the sides of the dress, adding more to the Elizabethan aesthetic - there was a thing about wide hips. Of course, you'd never have gotten away with a dress that short.

Another blugh picture, I do apologise again. This was just to show off Lizzie's lovely heart patterned black tights. They didn't actually go as overboard with the heart motif as they could have done, which is always a nice thing. I mean, it is very present, but looking at Lizzie, it's not as overwhelming as my inital thoughts had assumed it might be.

Yeah, this was just to show off the nice shoes. Simple, but lovely.

As we can see here, the heart motif is lightly continued in the main part of the dress, with the side additions having what appears to be a checkerboard theme - which is a nod to Alice Through the Looking Glass, I believe. Lizzie's ruff is made of plastic and isn't actually as big as a ruff should be, especially for a female. They were meant to cover the whole neck, and really not show any skin. Width could be any size, really, but Good Queen Bess made a fashion for increasingly larger ruffs. They got smaller under the reign of James I of England/James VI of Scotland. ... I ever mention I'm a bit of a History geek? The dress leaves her arms bear, which is good for posing them. It also isn't all that tight, so you can get good movement with the legs.

The large heart over the eye is really kind of awesome, in my humble opinion. Her face is quite round, and her lips are a bright red. I'm not quite sure what her earrings are meant to be, as I didn't really look close enough at them. Her crown is not as low set on the actual doll as it is on the box art, and her hair does not come as high above it. It's also held in place by some plastic ties that frankly, I am not going to attempt to remove. It'll keep the hair in place and I don't really have any desire to redress, so I'm happy.

Size wise, Lizzie is the same height as Maddie Hatter, so she's one of the few shorter dolls in the EAH range so far. The second one, I think. I wonder if it's a trend that will continue for all Wonderland related dolls? Lizzie looks quite dark in her colours of mostly red and gold beside the very bright Maddie, but she still stands out as one of the lovelier dolls of the line.

And now, have a bonus picture of Cedar Wood - who doesn't have any box pictures as I opened her last night when I was feeling really down, and ill, and really not in the mood for doing anything but looking at my new doll.

Cedar is the same height as Cerise, so she's at the taller end of the female dolls for EAH. She's also a very delicate looking thing, with her plastic being molded to look like wood grain. I adore her little dress; it reminds me of some older period fashions, and the little Peter Pan collar is just adorable. Cedar's purse actually opens, and she has little purple ribbons on her socks and... yeah, the word adorable just really seems to sum up this girl. She's definitely worth picking up if you can get hold of her.

So is Lizzie. Or off with your head :P