From Monster High to Ever After High: C.A. Cupid

Today I have kind of an interesting review. I've loved Monster High since 2010, and have recently come to love Ever After High as well, and the doll I'm going to be reviewing today is actually a bridge between those two worlds. C.A. Cupid began at Monster High, getting one doll release (that is now pretty highly sought after!) but never really becoming a huge part of the webisodes or films. Then, she took a walk through a magic mirror, and now she's at Ever After High, helping the students there to find their happily ever after, now that their futures aren't as certain as they once were.

This is a really neat opportunity for Mattel to reimagine the same character in two very different styles, and since I do have the original Monster High Cupid as well, we're going to do a little comparing! 

I must say, I'm glad I was able to finally get my hands on Cupid, since she took what felt like an incredibly long time to make it across the border into Canada. I had one in my hands months ago in the States but passed her over to pick up Jane Boolittle and Viperine Gorgon, thinking surely she'd be in Canada soon enough. Well, months later, and she finally turned up!

Was it worth the wait? Find out after the jump!

Cupid's box is the standard EAH box, nothing particular to note. I do hate photographing these, so If you see my reflection in the front of it, hi!

"Hmm...who's this?"

"Her name is the same as mine...and I guess maybe we look a bit alike?"

Don't worry, Cupid(s)! I'll get the new one out and we can take a closer look!

Cupid is not a doll that had to grow on me. Something about her just really appealed to me right from the beginning, and I'm happy that she's only better once she's out of the box and in my hands! She comes with the standard diary, stand and brush (black...should be pink!), but instead of a purse, she comes with a bow and a quiver of arrows. Much cooler!

I know in the past I've been critical of doll's having too much pink, but I am really on-board with everything about Cupid's overall look! I think it's the softer, more bubblegum pink, compared to the hot pink of Briar Beauty's outfit maybe?

Her face is really lovely as well. Her eyes are a beautiful shade of teal-green, and they're surrounded with light pink eyeshadow. Her lips are a soft, shimmery pink, with a deeper pink heart painted in the centre. She has a very soft, serene face to me, which fits well with what we've seen of her personality. She's not quiet, but she is friendly and is always trying to help out her new friends, and this face definitely says friendly to me.

 

I think that Cupid's outfit really makes it clear that she is the daughter of Eros, a Greek god. The soft draping of her bodice is very reminiscent of the outfits that gods and goddesses are often portrayed in, and I really like this detail! The base of the bodice is a medium pink, but it's overlaid with a shimmery tulle that lightens the colour just a bit. The tulle continues down over one side of the skirt, which is a simply shaped skirt with a really neat pattern. It looks like it was dyed with a batik technique, with white clouds on a pink background, and the pink dye pooling a bit around the edges of the clouds. Over top of that, shiny pink arrows are printed all over, and the whole skirt is trimmed in black lace. It's an incredibly pretty dress, in my opinion!

Her shoes are predictably great, embossed gold with wings on the heels. The heel is the fletching of an arrow, with a painted pink heart just under the arch. These are really cute, and look great if you pose her flying! More on the posing later though.

Cupid's is probably the first Ever After High ring that is kind of underwhelming. It's solid black plastic, and is shaped like a bent arrow. For one, I don't love the black touches they've added throughout her outfit, and secondly, I just think that maybe there could have been a more interesting choice. Though, if the arrow ring was in the same colour as her other accessory, I don't think I'd mind the simplicity of it. That other accessory is a gold bracelet, made of molded leaves, much like a laurel wreath. I like that it's a deeper more antiqued shade of gold as well, it really stands out well against the pink.

Her earrings are simple black hearts. Eh.

In her hair, she's wearing a gold embossed headband, topped with a pink heart, shot through with an arrow.

And of course, there are her wings! They're white, feathered wings that attached around her neck with a golden bent arrow. The underside of her wings that face her body are dry brushed in gold, and it really does a great job of making the details of the feathers stand out.

Finally, we have her belt. Cupid sure has a lot of accessories going on! The belt is made up of looped black rope, attached to a large bunch of golden leaves. I think this belt looks really great with the outfit, and it helps keep that really voluminous tulle in check!

Now, her hair...I didn't even take a picture of the way her hair looked right out of the box because it was so bad and no one deserves to be memorialized that way! It way really flat down the back, and divided into to chunks clumped together with styling product. This is what it looked like after a quick brush. It's very soft, fluffy hair, not really silky at all. The colour is totally gorgeous, and the hair style is not beyond saving. In a little bit, I'll show you what I did to it!

But first, we'll look at what I promise are Cupid's VERY LAST accessories! She wouldn't be Cupid without her bow and arrow, would she? Both are made of gold plastic, and the arrows and quiver are all one piece. I actually like this, because those arrows would be incredibly easy to lose otherwise.

It's worth noting that Cupid does have some issues with her stand and her accessories. Her wings make it tricky (almost impossible) for her to use her stand in the conventional way, but if you put her on sideways, it more or less works. She also can't wear her wings and her quiver at the same time, though she holds her bow really nicely! Overall, the accessories are awesome, and she can interact with them in a lot of great ways thanks to the excellent articulation EAH dolls, so I can't really have many complaints!

And there she is, as she came out of the box. I think she looks especially gorgeous here, actually even with her fluffy hair, but I wanted to see if I could get it a little closer to the hair she has in her artwork.

So after some pipe cleaners and a trip to the boiling water, I got this! I'm much happier with it, and it even gives the hair a bit more shine. You could separate the curls even more if you wanted, but I liked the look of having a few bigger curls, I think it matches her artwork better.

And then I just had a lot of fun playing around with posing her with her accessories. There are so many options!

Clearly I was having a lot of fun! But at this point, a little visitor wandered onto the set...

They're not really sure what to make of one another...It's really interesting to look at these two and know that they're meant to be the same character. I'm not going to go into a lot of detail on Monster High's Cupid, but you can't let this kind of opportunity for comparison pass you by!

MH Cupid definitely doesn't have the same sweet, friendly face that EH Cupid does. She actually shares a face mold with Ghoulia, and the narrow jaw combined with the pink painted lips give her a very pinched look.

Her eyes are basically the same colour as EAH Cupid though, and they each have heart-shaped reflection dots in their pupils. Also, instead of the headband EAH Cupid is wearing, MH Cupid has a section of hair twisted and shaped into a heart.

There's basically no similarity between their dresses, except for the basic colour scheme. I'll be honest and say that until I got EAH Cupid and started this review, my MH Cupid was up in my attic in storage. I've never connected with her as much as some of my other dolls and I'm not sure why, but part of it is probably that I don't LOVE this dress.

I DO love her creepy rib cage wings though! This is right up my alley, and I think they're awesome.

MH Cupid doesn't come with a quiver and a full-size bow, but she does have this cool ring, combined with the cuff on her wrist. This is a nice way to include the detail without a big accessory, and I think it's clever.

Her shoes are made up of interlocking hearts with bows for heels. EAH Cupid definitely wins the shoe competition! I do love the white to black ombre on her arms and legs, especially with the lacey pattern painted on top.

Obviously, they both have pink hair, but there is a slight difference in the colour. My camera didn't really pick it up here, but MH Cupid's hair is slightly darker.

Showing off their bows! Cupid herself says she's a pretty bad shot, so maybe we should duck...

I think that having EAH Cupid has made me love my MH Cupid more, actually. It's just so fun to have the same character imagined in such different ways! That's not something you get to see very often, and it's neat to see how well it worked. Monster High is so spooky and dark, and Ever After High is so very princess-y in comparison, I bet this was a really fun challenge for the designers!

Back on her own, Cupid is practicing her aim. She's not really getting any better, but don't tell her that!

What do you think about Cupid's move to Ever After High? Do you like her more now, or do you miss her over at Monster High?

Also, I wanted to run some things by my readers! I'm thinking of expanding the scope of this blog just a bit to talk about some of my other interests that kind of dovetail in with doll and toy collecting. I also do cosplay and go to conventions and things, and have been considering putting some posts up about those sorts of things when I have them. Would that be something people would be interested in? I might even talk about movies and books if I feel inspired to. Let me know what you think in the comments, and we'll see what happens!