Ever After High Madeline Hatter Review

After Raven Queen, Madeline Hatter is my favorite character from Ever After High, so I was thrilled that she was one of the two dolls that made it to my local Justice. :)  I won't go into quite as much detail for this post since I just did a post on Raven, and there are a lot of similarities between the two.  (You can see my post on Raven HERE.)  Here are a few pictures of the quirky cutie:

Madeline still in her box.

Just like the other dolls, the right side of her box looks like the spine of a storybook.

The back of the box

Left side

A few box details:

Just like Raven, Maddie comes with a story bookmark.

An introduction to Maddie's character.

You'll want to click on this picture to see more detail.

Raven, Apple, and Briar artwork

Info about the Ever After High website

Maddie artwork

Here's Maddie without the clear plastic cover on her box.

I love her coloring, and even though I wish she had a brighter expression, I still thing she's cute.

Maddie's story bookmark.

Maddie's teapot purse.

Box artwork

Maddie's blingy ring.  A word of caution...this comes off REALLY easily.  I just went back to my room to see how it fits on the hand and discovered that my Maddie no longer has her ring. :(  Judging from the rest of the pictures, it looks like I lost it somewhere at my mom's, because all of the pictures after this one were taken at my house and she's not wearing it in any of those.  So be sure you keep an eye on this when you're playing with her.  

So here is Maddie, ringless :{ and free from her box.

Adorable Maddie

Here's a closer look at her outfit and accessories:

Her teacup hat

Cute spoon earrings :)

Her necklace

I LOVE her dress! ;)

Her hands are painted blue with white polka dots to look like gloves.  The white "lace" cuffs (made of plastic) are separate from her hands and are removable.

Another look at her teapot purse

Cute polka dot tights

And heels designed to look like dinnerware. ;)

Maddie looks a little perturbed in this one...maybe she's tired of all the pictures. ;)

My Maddie's headband ended up way back on her head, so I had to adjust it to keep it from falling off. :)

I also noticed that she had a pretty thin patch of hair in the back, but I think a lot of this was the fact that this part of her head was pressed against the box.  It looks much better now that I've rearranged her hair.

Her curls are nice.  I was pleasantly surprised to find that they weren't all crusty with gel like most curly-haired Barbie dolls.  I would not advise brushing her hair, because the curls will just get big and frizzy.  

I decided not to undress Maddie for this review, especially since taking her dress off meant removing her hands.  This was as far as I could get her legs to go in her clothing.

I linked to this review in my last post, but I thought it would be appropriate to do so again.  The Toy Box philosopher did an excellent, detailed review of Madeline HERE, so if you'd like more information and would like to see her compared to other dolls, including Monster High, be sure to check it out. :) 

So cute! ;)

Showing the flexibility of her knees. 

Maddie with Raven. :)

Overall, I love my new Maddie doll.  I love her fun, bright colors and her beautiful dress (although I wish it was just a smidge longer).  Her hair is perfect, but I would probably shy away from giving this doll to a younger fan since the hair would not last for long.  I've found that curly doll hair and kiddos do not make a good combination...at least in my house. ;)  Of course, the fact that she can't get undressed without removing her hands (because of the width of her white lace cuffs) is also something that would make me hesitant to give this doll to a little girl.  If I did, I'd probably remove her cuffs so that she could get her undressed without needing my assistance.

I love all of her fun tea-themed accessories, too, like her spoon earrings and teapot purse.  Really, the only complaint I have is her facial expression, and her face is still cute in spite of it.

In my last post, I talked a bit about the fact that I felt these dolls were a little mature for young girls, so I won't go into that again.  (If you're dying to know my thoughts, you can read them in Raven's post HERE.  Sorry to keep linking to the same post, but I figured that would be easier than having you search for the first link again.) ;)  I do feel that Maddie's attire is a little more appropriate for younger ones.  It has more of a fun, little girl feel to it than Raven's.

  I'd give Maddie a 5 out of 5 for collectors and a 4 out of 5 for kids (because of her hair and dressing difficulties).      

Shoes and purses

Since modesty is a huge issue in our house (especially with Hubby), I tried to think of other clothing alternatives for these dolls that might make them a little more "daughter-friendly". ;)  Barbie clothes are way too big for the dolls, and most of the other current dolls with similar body types are in styles that wouldn't be much different.  As I was brainstorming, I remembered an online discussion I'd heard about the Moxie Girlz reminding someone of the Lady Lovely Locks dolls, and then I thought about the color schemes of the Ever After High dolls...which led me to try this:

I realize that this color palate is not quite right for Raven, and that her heels look rather ridiculous with such a light, lacy frock. (I was not ABOUT to take those heels off again!)  Still, the Lady Lovely Locks gowns, I think, provide a nice alternative for those moms out there who love the dolls but aren't impressed with their outfits.

This particular dress was just a little loose in the bodice on Raven, but it still looked nice.

An even better option for Raven would be Duchess RavenWaves' dress.  You can see a picture of her HERE to get an idea of how the dress would look. ;)  

I also happened to have Maiden FairHair's dress here and thought that it would be perfect for Maddie.  What do you think?

Unfortunately, my Maiden FairHair dress was a lot wider and lower in the bodice than the Lady Lovely Locks dress was (I'm not sure if all of them are like this or if it was just my particular dress).   I was able to make it work by attaching a little claw to the back of the dress.

Of course, not everyone will go for this look, but I thought that if there were other moms out there who wanted to find more age-appropriate clothing for their daughters' dolls, this would give them a good starting point. ;)

I decided to go ahead and take pictures of Maddie's entire bookmark story.  I've also added Raven's story to the end of her post.  (Once again, doing multiple links for your convenience, not to annoy.) ;)

I mentioned this in the comments on my Raven post, but I thought I'd mention it here as well since the following story includes some elements I don't care for.  In trying to be clever, the EAH stories and marketing have used terms like "Hex, yeah!" for "Heck, yeah!" or "hexting" for texting.  Personally, I wish they would have found another word to use.

What bothers me more is the uses of "Oh my godmother" that have come up a couple of times (including in this story).  Because I'm a Christian, I do not appreciate it when God's name is used lightly, and this is obviously meant to be a play on the widely used term.  I totally get why they used it.  It's a very common expression.  I just wish they'd chosen another way to have the characters express themselves.

So, with that little side note in place, here is Maddie's story:

At this point, I prefer the webisodes to the bookmark stories (although I do think it would be fun to learn to speak in Riddlish). ;)  It will be interesting to see how well they fit together.  I have to admit, though, it's nice to get a clearer storyline in the bookmark stories.  So far in the webisodes, we've just gotten little snippets of story here and there.  

I hope you enjoyed getting a closer look at Maddie in this post. :)  To find out more about Ever After High, you can click on the following links:

Ever After High Website

Ever After High Facebook

Ever After High YouTube Channel