Charming indeed! Ever After High's Dexter Charming

Now that San Diego Comic Con is over (phew!), we're back to our regularly scheduled programming!

This past weekend, my husband and I went over to Buffalo for a trip to the Albright-Knox art gallery, and when we were done...well, maybe I made a request that we do a little doll hunting. My budget was pretty small, only enough for one doll unless I found something AMAZING (aka the We Are Monster High 5-pack) that I was willing to blow it for. Well, that didn't happen, and I was beginning to think I was going to come home empty handed!

We hit up Toys R Us first, where there was a single Clawvenus on the shelf, and absolutely nothing else that we don't have up here in Canada. I was hoping to get to see Cleolei or Freaky Fusion Ghoulia, and Holly and Poppy O'Hair from Ever After High, but it was not to be! Next we headed to Target, where I was looking for Sweet Screams Ghoulia or the 5-pack, and again, nothing. I have to admit, I was pretty disappointed at this point. Nothing quite like going to another country for a doll hunt and coming home empty handed!

Our last stop was Justice, and I was feeling pretty hopeless at this point. As we closed in on the doll shelves, I saw a lot of blue, and lo and behold, there were five Dexter Charmings! He was definitely on my list so I snapped one up, and did a quick circle around the shelf to see if anything else was hiding. No Invisibilly, though he was kind of a pipe dream anyways, but they did have another Clawvenus and a few Dracubeccas! I gotta admit, you guys, Clawvenus is totally a mess. I thought maybe she'd work better for me in person...but I was wrong. The colours are just a lot, and the colour of her skin is really distracting. Dracubecca is pretty cute though! I'd consider grabbing her at some point when she's on sale, I think, she seems well-designed.

But enough of that, let's talk about the doll I actually did get! I have to say, I was really looking forward to Dexter's doll. I think he's adorable in the webisodes, and I love how well Ever After High has been translating those characters into their dolls. 

Click through to find out if Dexter lives up to my expectations!

As per usual, we begin with a shot of Dexter in his box. And it's an American box, so there's more fun info on it! I'm deeply amused that his least favourite subject is Advanced Wooing, for some reason. Also, how cute is Dexter's art? SO CUTE!

And this time the sound on my camera worked! So, if you'd like, check out my video unxboxing and reviewing Dexter. I have fun making these, even though it's not a huge audience!

And here he is! He also comes with a stand with a gold base and a clear post. I liked how he was packaged with his glasses off so you can get a good look at his eyes and they don't dent his face, but I think he is much cuter with them on! You can also see his hair is going to need some work to better match his art, but we'll get to that!

A few snaps of his booklet. He's clearly carrying quite the torch for Raven! And we know from the webisodes that Cupid is crushing on Dexter...can you say drama?

You can see just from a quick glance that Dexter's outfit is really detailed. I love that about these Ever After High dolls, they really don't skip out on many details!

Starting at the top, Dexter has sandy brown hair that definitely has a red hue to it. It is completely, positively rock hard with gel. If you watched my video, you can hear the audible clunking sound it makes when I tap it with my nail. It definitely needs some work!

On top of that he's wearing a gold crown across his forehead, that has some simple gold scrolling details. It's attached to his head with plastic ties, but I removed them, and the crown stays on just fine!

His face is pretty simple, since the guys don't tend to be wearing a lot of makeup. His brows are nice and full and painted with a good amount of detail, and his eyes are a lovely bright blue. His lips are the perfect natural pink shade, so he doesn't look like he's wearing lipstick. His face is the same as Hunter's, but the different skin tone and different painting definitely make them look different! The glasses help too.

Moving down, he's wearing a gorgeous blue jacket that resembles a morning coat. It has a tone-on-tone plaid pattern and gold trim on the lapels. It's really well made, with thick cuffs and good stitching all over. It's a nice piece! Underneath that, he's wearing a shirt that we'll take a closer look at later, and a blue and white striped infinity scarf.

On his lower half he's wearing simple grey jeans and sneakers.

His sneakers are pretty straightforward hi-tops, in a nice navy blue colour. The main part of the shoe is textured like leather, and they're really pretty great looking! On the soles, they're embossed with the Ever After High logo.

As for accessories, he has this pin on his lapel. It just looks like a medal. There's a star on it, it has wings...that's the gist!

And on his pants, he has this hanging from what would be a belt loop. It's two looped chains with three charms; a clock, what I assume is the Charming family crest or something similar, and a third charm that I just can't make out. Ideas?

Once you get the jacket off, you can get a better look at Dexter's shirt. It's sleeveless, really to accommodate the slim fit of the sleeves on the jacket, and it has an abstract print on it. The majority of it is a black and grey pattern, but there are gold shapes printed over the top. I can't really tell what they're meant to be. Maybe laurel wreaths? Another crest? Not sure, but it looks good under the jacket, so I'm good!

The scarf is just a simple thin, polyester knit fabric, sewed into a loop. It comes attached to Dexter's shirt with a teeny plastic tie, and attached to itself with even more ties. Once you snip those, you can loop it around Dexter's head three times as opposed to the two he comes wearing, and it looks much more like his art that way.

 His backpack is pretty huge! It looks like it should have wheels, but it doesn't. It has patches all over it that remind me of Boy Scout patches, and a long strap on the back.

Lastly, his glasses! They're very simple, just plain black with no lenses, but I like them and they stay on well, which is really all you can ask for.

So that's Dexter as he came out of the box, but I knew as soon as I bought him that I was going to be doing a little something with his hair.

 Before...

And after! All I did was run his hair under some warm water and work my fingers through it to rinse out the majority of the gel and break up the hair. It could probably use a little trimming to look even more like his art, but I think this is pretty good, and a huge improvement!

It's really just so much better! You can even see the colour better with all that gunk washed out of it. Dexter is very nearly a ginger!

"Hey Raven, what do you think of my new hair?" "Hmm...I think it's fableous!"

I don't know if these two will live happily ever after or anything, but in the meantime, I do think they make a pretty cute couple!

Don't you agree? (Poor Raven's bald spot shows here :( I need to restyle her hair around it!)

 Cupid is torn though...of course she wants to see people find their true love, but she had her eyes on Dexter! Dun dun dun....

 

But first, let me take a selfie...on his MirrorPhone, of course!

Okay, enough of that silliness! Dexter here is really a great doll, and a great addition to the Ever After High line. He's looking pretty Royal here, don't you think?

 

Overall, I couldn't be more pleased! My only real complaint is his helmet head, and that took me about five minutes to fix. Even if this doll was bought for a child, it wouldn't take long for his hair to relax with regular play, so it's not a big deal at all. And really, Dexter just makes me more excited to see more male dolls coming out of Ever After High! I know a lot of people are looking forward to Daring, but I'm really wanting to see Hopper Croakington! I love the red jacket he's wearing, and I REALLY hope his doll comes with a little frog version of himself. I mean, it needs to!

What do you think of Dexter Charming? Is he hexcellent or a total fairy fail? Let me know in the comments!