Ever After High's Ginger Breadhouse (and some general Ever After High thoughts!)

I've been having a lot of mixed feelings regarding Ever After High lately. Actually, not even really lately! I've never been as in love with the line as I am with Monster High, but that feeling is only growing lately. I've been somewhere between unmoved and disappointed with a lot of Ever After High's new and upcoming releases, between the uninspired character choices, and the stripped down details of characters I had been looking forward to. Add to that the fact that is has been very difficult (to impossible in some cases) to find the new characters in Canada when they are released...and I'm beginning to think that my interest in this franchise has waned enough that I might be done.

That said, there was one doll that when she was revealed, I knew I was going to have to have her, and I knew I didn't want to wait! As soon as Ginger Breadhouse here was available on Amazon and able to be shipped to Canada, I pounced and grabbed one, since who knows when she'll be found on shelves up here. She arrived quickly, and and I couldn't wait to get her out of the box to see if she was as adorable as I'd hoped!

So let's get to it, shall we?

Ginger is the first doll that I've bought that comes in the new box design. I actually like it, because it's a bit smaller, and I'm all for packaging using less plastic. All the accessories fit into this box just fine, and nothing really looks cramped, so I'm on board. If I was an in-box collector, I may feel differently though! Check out the sidebar for my unboxing video of Ginger to see just how easily these new boxes come apart!

And here she is out of the box and with her glasses on. I absolutely love dolls with glasses, but I also love when they come with the glasses packaged separately. It makes it so much easier to check for good eyes, and it prevents dolls getting dents in their faces from their glasses! As a Ghoulia collector over on the Monster High side of things, I have purchases a LOT of Ghoulia's who came home with dented faces, so I like this new trend of packaging them alongside the doll. Ginger does also come with a stand tucked into the side of the box!

Remember what I said about missing details? On the right there is the original stock photo of Ginger, so you can see what's missing. Her necklace has been changed from pink to blue, and she's now missing a bracelet and a ring. This is frustrating, because for one thing, I really love the EAH rings, and for another, the prices haven't gone down to reflect this change, and Ever After High was already pretty "deluxe" in price, compared to Monster High, which I think is a fair comparison. I do love Ginger just as she is, I do definitely miss those pieces, and she looks rather bare compared to the other signature dolls.

Anyways! That feels like a lot of complaining, so let's get on with it!

I took her glasses back off so we could get a clear look at her face, so I snapped a quick picture of the glasses on their own. They're quite large, with big round lenses, so the glasses do take up quite a lot of her face. On the side, they have candies, and there are swirls printed down the arms. I may paint some of the details on these glasses, since in the cartoon, the candies are yellow and I think it would make them stand out more. We'll see though!

And here's her face without her glasses! Firstly, I just want to talk about her headband. She's wearing a black headband with a pink and gold cupcake perched on the top, and it is very cute. I appreciate that the gold is a really SHINY gold, because sometimes doll accessories can be kind of a dull gold I don't like as much. 

Moving on to her hair, it's bright pink, just a bit brighter than Cupid's. It's pulled into low pigtails, and is kind of vaguely wavy. Brushing it makes it a bit less wavy and a bit fluffier, but there's nothing really great or awful about this hair. It's just fine. She also has bangs, which are pretty rough. They're thinly rooted, and kind of weirdly arranged on her forehead. I got them wet and kind of spread them out and they're better, but still not great. There just needed to be more hair here! Again, they're fine.

BUT! Let's move onto her face, because it's definitely more than fine! When her pictures were first released, there was some talk that maybe she shared a face mold with Cerise, which excited me. Cerise is my favourite Ever After High doll, and I LOVE her face mold. Turns out, they don't actually share a mold, and once I had them side by side, they really look nothing alike, but that's okay, because Ginger's face mold is unique and gorgeous all on her own. This is the first of the "newer" EAH dolls that I've owned, and she's a lot different from the earlier ones. She has cheekbones, and defined eye sockets, and a lot more shape to her face than the earlier dolls, and that is a very good thing! The earliest dolls were so moonfaced, and while I've come to love my dolls, it was a hurdle in the beginning, so I'm glad that they're adding a bit more shape, while still keeping the overall "look" of the line.

Ginger is beautiful big, brown eyes, with soft pink and brown eye shadow. There are a few brown dots underneath the outside of each eye, and while I'm not really sure what the purpose of these is, they give Ginger a really interesting look, and I like it. Her lips are painted in two shades of pink, with a lighter pink in the centre of the lower lip, which makes her lips look very full. I also want to mention her skin tone, which is a really gorgeous shade of brown. Stay tuned a bit later in the review for a guest star who dropped by for a bit of a comparison!

Whew, I sue had a lot of thoughts about her face, didn't I? Well, I have less thoughts about her outfit, but that's not a bad thing. Overall, I just this it's super adorable! She's wearing a strapless dress under a cropped jacket, with a large necklace and gingerbread tights.

The necklace is a bright, light blue, and made up of little beads and candies. It's kind of somewhere between a necklace and a collar, and has epaulet-esque detailing on the shoulders. Actually, combining this piece with the jacket she's wearing gives a bit of a military vibe, and I'm wondering if that was on purpose...and if it was, where did it come from?

I love these tights! They're the reddish-brown colour of gingerbread, with icing swirls all over them. These really sell the outfit for me, I think, and I would sorely miss them if they were gone.

Her shoes are amazing! They're all made of candy and baked goods and dripping frosting, and I love them. The soles are shiny gold, and the straps around her ankles are hot pink.

And a look at the dress without the jacket. It's a really simple shape, just a strapless dress with a scalloped hem, but the fabric is what sells it. It's kind of a stiff, shiny fabric made up of pink and gold stripes and covered in sprinkles. It looks like donuts or sugar cookies!

The jacket is pretty simple, just black with gold stitching (in the cartoon, the jacket has blue buttons which I may try to add...), and this weird gold tulle...cape-y thing attached to the back. It's kind of like tails, only...not. I admit I don't understand the purpose of this thing, and it looks really weird when the jacket is on it's own like this, but on the doll, it doesn't seem nearly so out of place.

I love her purse too! It's pretty big, and it does open. It's a black cauldron with a spoon for a handle, and it's golden contents are bubbling out over the sides. Definitely a perfect purse for Ginger, who loves to bake!

And Cedar stopped by for a brief comparison of skin tones. Cedar and Ginger are definitely the same colour (or very, very close to it) except for the obvious difference in texture. If you loved Cedar's skin tone for a custom, but didn't want the woodgrain, Ginger is your gal!

And that's Ginger! In general, I really love her, and I'm glad to add her to my collection. I definitely think she looks a bit bare compared to my other dolls, and I miss the accessories that were removed from her, but if I'd never seen those original photos...I think I'd be perfectly happy with this version of Ginger!

And remember, Ginger is a rebel, so she probably isn't going to try to poison you with her baked goods!

Can I borrow a cup of sugar?

So, what do you think of Ginger Breadhouse? And what do you think of Ever After High stripping down their dolls a bit? Just yesterday I was in my local Wal-Mart, and they're doing the spring reset in the toy department. They had Lizzie Hearts, Duchess Swan and Cedar Wood in the new smaller boxes, and I have to say...I wasn't impressed. I've been wanting Lizzie since she was released, but this is the first time we're getting her in Canada, and she's missing her ring, her accessories aren't painted...and the same with Cedar. Luckily, I got Cedar from the States ages ago, but her new version is missing one of my favourite accessories, her bracelet with the donkeys on it! I know that Mattel is struggling a bit, financially, and Ever After High clearly isn't performing as they'd hoped, but I can't help but feel that there has to be a better way to save money than to strip dolls down, stop painting accessories, and still charge the same amount of money. Especially with the original signatures like Raven, Apple, Briar and Maddie. We really didn't need more of them on the shelves, so why make new version when you could have funneled that money into the new signatures that people are really wanting?

I admit I don't know anything about marketing, but it just seems odd to me to flood the shelves with more of the same, and not the new stuff! Regardless, as much as I love Ginger here, and as much as I do want to add Lizzie to my collection, those dolls up there cost $28.97. One shelf over are the Monster High Haunted dolls, which cost $29.97, and I feel like for my $30, I'm getting way more with River Styxx or Kiyomi Haunterly. I know it's a matter of opinion, and that's just mine, but I'd love to know where you stand! Let me know down below!