I've really had a run of good luck when it's come to the newest EAH releases from Mattel, being that they've actually shown up pretty quickly in my distribution area for a change. Seriously, the only ones I'm dithering on are Poppy and Holly because I don't feel as great a need for them. Bring out Kitty Cheshire, Duchess Swan, and Sparrow Hood, Mattel, then we'll talk. One of the bigger surprises - for me- was that I was able to get the boy doll with ease. Seriously, this is a thing that does not happen. Went into Argos, typed in his code number, and there he was. So... I figured we might as well do a little mini review. Yeah? Yeah, why not.
Here he is inside his box, plastic covered and everything. I really do wish I had the space to keep some of these boxes, they're really nice and I always feel bad about throwing them away. Well, actually I recycle them, but you get the point I'm trying to make here. Dexter's is blue - obviously - and I wonder if they'll make Daring's blue as well. He's meant to be in the next wave of releases, but I guess we'll need to wait and see.
Back of the box, and Dexter has a crush on Raven, his best friends are his brother and his room-mate, and he doesn't want to just be assigned to be someone's prince. So... is Dexter a Royal with Rebel tendencies? As you'll see from the box art and the actual doll, my Dexter has very flat hair. I do plan to fix that at some point, I'm just very cautious about doing anything because there is a big chance that I will muck it up. I have that sort of luck, you see.
Plastic cover off and we see that Dexter has the Charming family shield on his box. Also, erm, fun thing. I actually read the diary for a change. Yeah... Daring is a bit up himself with the ego to match but King Charming? He's an ass. No, seriously, he shows blatant favouritism towards his eldest son, and spends most of his time berating Dexter for not being like Daring. Now, Daring's ego? Yeah, that isn't all that great a thing to have, but it's made clear that he cares for his little bro, and actually, he's not that bad a person. King Charming on the other hand... it'll be interesting to see if they ever try to 'redeem' him. Considering that Raven's Mum is meant to be the most 'evil' of the parents, it's interesting to see how someone who is meant to be Good can be so ... terrible at the whole being fair to your kids thing.
The stand. It's the typical gold for a Royal stand, with a wider grip to fit the wider body the male dolls have. Though, thinking on it, I think Dexter is drawn slightly skinnier than the other EAH guys, so ..... eh, it's doll thing. It's easier to give a standard body shape to allow for clothes sharing and so on. By the way, you aren't going to get any clothes sharing done between EAH males and MH males, the latter really are like sticks in comparison. In a nice way.
Dexter on his stand with his glasses on. I like his glasses. He's a very dapper looking fellow, which fits when you consider he's a Prince. Though, again, Daring has a 'jock' look about him. I expect this is meant to be a 'nerd' look, similar to what they gave Jackson Jekyll but, erm, no it's pretty darn cool. Dapper, like I said.
I'm guessing it's some sort of trend for guys at EAH to wear chains on their trousers - Dexter's are a nice light-wear pair that sit well on him. You'll need to forgive me, because my eyesight is not the best, but I believe Dexter's chain has the Charming Family Sign on it, a shield, and some sort of round thing that I think could be a compass. I'm probably wrong on all three counts.
He also has a pin on his jacket - which has gold trim, very royal indeed - that... Okay, I'm not gonna lie, at first glance? I thought the little symbol in the middle of the circle was from Star Trek. Shush, you know Dexter would so be a Trekkie. I can see him liking Original Series best. And why not? The lessons in that were clear and pretty much in your face because, let's face it, we're still arguing on some of these issues today. They were in your face because they had to be. Oh, also, Kirk is not a womaniser - he respects woman and treats them with the respect he would treat anyone with. He just happens to have a lot of relationships. Also, also Uhura rules the ship and you know that's true.
Dexter has a really big rucksack. That does not open. Yeah.... It's just one hunk of molded plastic. I can't help but wonder if it would have cause them too much trouble to maybe try to make it open at the top. Not fully, but just a little. It's all cast in black, which suggests to me that Dexter was just like "I need something that will last this whole year, I've got to go practice fighting dragons so durability is key." What? He seems like a sensible sort of guy. There's patches on it, but again, it's all in the same plastic molded plastic. Some paint detail would have been nice to make them stand out.
High-tops, the sneaker of choice for Princes everywhere! Nah, these are pretty cool shoes. I like that they do like like actual sneakers - though again, paint detail for the laces would have been nice but I can forgive here because that would have been really finky and likely the first thing to show up an error, There is some paint run on my Dexter's sneakers, but not enough to be noticeable unless you really look at them.
Okay, so there's a bit on the back of his box where Dexter is confused that so many people prefer him having his lasses off. I ... have to agree. I mean, scientifically speaking, people prefer symmetry and glasses actually provide that, making a face look more attractive to people than less. Less scientifically speaking? Dude, let the guy wear his glasses without feeling like he's 'covering up' his best feature. There is a big thing against glasses in the doll world, it seems (at least according to companies like Mattel), and naaaah, not here for that. Glasses are cool, deal with it. Like Lizzie's crown, Dexter's is kept close to his head with a couple of those annoying plastic t ties. I really hate those things. His does come across more as a crown though, Lizzie's sits higher up on her head and I believe that's more a sign of a tiara. Ugh, I'll need to do royalty head wear research again. Anyway, Dexter's is cool, simple enough to mark him as the second son, but ~fancy~ enough that people know he's still royalty.
Scarf! Actual, proper, fabric scarf! Sorry, I just have gotten used to scarves from non designer brand dolls (meaning the only ones that I can afford) being plastic. Or being made of that terrible fabric which is really just paper. This is a lovely pale blue and white striped and is looped around his neck once. It stands out against the relatively darker colours of the rest of his outfit, and I think it's just a nice little touch. This is something that you can tell Dexter chose for himself.
I ... have no idea what this print is, I'm sorry. At first glance, I thought it was lions, but on closer inspection I think it's meant to be the family shield again. Again, that's a think. I'm probably very, very wrong. It is nice, the darker grey with this almost muted gold pattern printed on it. It's sleeveless to accommodate the tight fight of the jacket's sleeves, which is a bit of a pity, but I can understand why they've done it.
And as we can see from this back shot, there is a slight checkered design to the jacket. Just slight, and just in shades of blue, but it is there. We can also see that while the gold trim continues round the collar, it does not continue at the bottom hem of the jacket. It isn't on the cuffs of his sleeves either, which is logically where it should be so I don't really know with this costuming choice.
Here he is inside his box, plastic covered and everything. I really do wish I had the space to keep some of these boxes, they're really nice and I always feel bad about throwing them away. Well, actually I recycle them, but you get the point I'm trying to make here. Dexter's is blue - obviously - and I wonder if they'll make Daring's blue as well. He's meant to be in the next wave of releases, but I guess we'll need to wait and see.
Back of the box, and Dexter has a crush on Raven, his best friends are his brother and his room-mate, and he doesn't want to just be assigned to be someone's prince. So... is Dexter a Royal with Rebel tendencies? As you'll see from the box art and the actual doll, my Dexter has very flat hair. I do plan to fix that at some point, I'm just very cautious about doing anything because there is a big chance that I will muck it up. I have that sort of luck, you see.
Plastic cover off and we see that Dexter has the Charming family shield on his box. Also, erm, fun thing. I actually read the diary for a change. Yeah... Daring is a bit up himself with the ego to match but King Charming? He's an ass. No, seriously, he shows blatant favouritism towards his eldest son, and spends most of his time berating Dexter for not being like Daring. Now, Daring's ego? Yeah, that isn't all that great a thing to have, but it's made clear that he cares for his little bro, and actually, he's not that bad a person. King Charming on the other hand... it'll be interesting to see if they ever try to 'redeem' him. Considering that Raven's Mum is meant to be the most 'evil' of the parents, it's interesting to see how someone who is meant to be Good can be so ... terrible at the whole being fair to your kids thing.
The stand. It's the typical gold for a Royal stand, with a wider grip to fit the wider body the male dolls have. Though, thinking on it, I think Dexter is drawn slightly skinnier than the other EAH guys, so ..... eh, it's doll thing. It's easier to give a standard body shape to allow for clothes sharing and so on. By the way, you aren't going to get any clothes sharing done between EAH males and MH males, the latter really are like sticks in comparison. In a nice way.
Dexter on his stand with his glasses on. I like his glasses. He's a very dapper looking fellow, which fits when you consider he's a Prince. Though, again, Daring has a 'jock' look about him. I expect this is meant to be a 'nerd' look, similar to what they gave Jackson Jekyll but, erm, no it's pretty darn cool. Dapper, like I said.
I'm guessing it's some sort of trend for guys at EAH to wear chains on their trousers - Dexter's are a nice light-wear pair that sit well on him. You'll need to forgive me, because my eyesight is not the best, but I believe Dexter's chain has the Charming Family Sign on it, a shield, and some sort of round thing that I think could be a compass. I'm probably wrong on all three counts.
He also has a pin on his jacket - which has gold trim, very royal indeed - that... Okay, I'm not gonna lie, at first glance? I thought the little symbol in the middle of the circle was from Star Trek. Shush, you know Dexter would so be a Trekkie. I can see him liking Original Series best. And why not? The lessons in that were clear and pretty much in your face because, let's face it, we're still arguing on some of these issues today. They were in your face because they had to be. Oh, also, Kirk is not a womaniser - he respects woman and treats them with the respect he would treat anyone with. He just happens to have a lot of relationships. Also, also Uhura rules the ship and you know that's true.
Dexter has a really big rucksack. That does not open. Yeah.... It's just one hunk of molded plastic. I can't help but wonder if it would have cause them too much trouble to maybe try to make it open at the top. Not fully, but just a little. It's all cast in black, which suggests to me that Dexter was just like "I need something that will last this whole year, I've got to go practice fighting dragons so durability is key." What? He seems like a sensible sort of guy. There's patches on it, but again, it's all in the same plastic molded plastic. Some paint detail would have been nice to make them stand out.
High-tops, the sneaker of choice for Princes everywhere! Nah, these are pretty cool shoes. I like that they do like like actual sneakers - though again, paint detail for the laces would have been nice but I can forgive here because that would have been really finky and likely the first thing to show up an error, There is some paint run on my Dexter's sneakers, but not enough to be noticeable unless you really look at them.
Okay, so there's a bit on the back of his box where Dexter is confused that so many people prefer him having his lasses off. I ... have to agree. I mean, scientifically speaking, people prefer symmetry and glasses actually provide that, making a face look more attractive to people than less. Less scientifically speaking? Dude, let the guy wear his glasses without feeling like he's 'covering up' his best feature. There is a big thing against glasses in the doll world, it seems (at least according to companies like Mattel), and naaaah, not here for that. Glasses are cool, deal with it. Like Lizzie's crown, Dexter's is kept close to his head with a couple of those annoying plastic t ties. I really hate those things. His does come across more as a crown though, Lizzie's sits higher up on her head and I believe that's more a sign of a tiara. Ugh, I'll need to do royalty head wear research again. Anyway, Dexter's is cool, simple enough to mark him as the second son, but ~fancy~ enough that people know he's still royalty.
Scarf! Actual, proper, fabric scarf! Sorry, I just have gotten used to scarves from non designer brand dolls (meaning the only ones that I can afford) being plastic. Or being made of that terrible fabric which is really just paper. This is a lovely pale blue and white striped and is looped around his neck once. It stands out against the relatively darker colours of the rest of his outfit, and I think it's just a nice little touch. This is something that you can tell Dexter chose for himself.
I ... have no idea what this print is, I'm sorry. At first glance, I thought it was lions, but on closer inspection I think it's meant to be the family shield again. Again, that's a think. I'm probably very, very wrong. It is nice, the darker grey with this almost muted gold pattern printed on it. It's sleeveless to accommodate the tight fight of the jacket's sleeves, which is a bit of a pity, but I can understand why they've done it.
And as we can see from this back shot, there is a slight checkered design to the jacket. Just slight, and just in shades of blue, but it is there. We can also see that while the gold trim continues round the collar, it does not continue at the bottom hem of the jacket. It isn't on the cuffs of his sleeves either, which is logically where it should be so I don't really know with this costuming choice.
So, the big question - will Dexter ever work up the nerve to ask out the ~dangerous~ Raven Queen on a date? In this household? Eh, probably not. At the end of his little diary story, Dexter realises that while he is crushing on Raven in a major way, what she really needs is friend, not any sort of romantic complications. And, in a move that I hope won't turn into Nice Guy Syndrome, Dexter admits to himself that that's enough. I like this, and I like that in general EAH is kind of not going heavily into the dating and romance side that usually comes when you have teens as your main characters. Sometimes being a good friend is a lot more important that being someone's partner, and it's good to see a character come to that conclusion.
Also, dolly-canon wise? I ... don't know if I ship it. I don't really have many 'ships' dolly canon wise. I mean, okay, I'll throw my hands up and admit to keeping the Disney ships intact but that's 'cause Disney but other than that... I think maybe one? Maybe. So, yeah, it's not a big thing for me. If my mood changes, then we'll see.
All in all, Dexter's a pretty cool doll. He's worth picking up, as you are getting value for your money. Just watch out for the hair, some are coming with the quiff up, and some are flat headed. It's an easy fix, but you might have your own preference. I like Dexter, I'm glad he's in my collection.
But seriously Kitty Cheshire, Duchess Swan, and Sparrow Hood, sooner rather than later please, Mattel!
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