Ever After High is a fashion doll line by Mattel, the sister franchise to Monster High. I've written this long page for anyone interested in the dolls, or for people who want to know more about them. If you're wondering where I got all this information, most of it is from my own memory.
First of all, what is the main premise of Ever After High?
In Monster High, all of the characters are the children of famous monsters. It's the same with EAH, except they're the kids of fairy tale characters. When each child grows up, they have to live the story of their parents. For example, Snow White's kid has to relive the tale of Snow White, then their kid has to do the same, and it just repeats throughout the generations. If they don't do this, they apparently disappear. Each child attends the same boarding school, Ever After High. The classes there all teach them fairy tale related skills that'll be useful for their future. So basically, nobody can do what they want in life, each generation has to follow the same path that their ancestors did.
At Ever After High, there's a day where each student has to sign a book and pledge that they'll follow their parent's story. This day is called Legacy Day. But one day, Raven Queen (the daughter of the Evil Queen from Snow White's story) decides she doesn't want to live her life as a villain, and refuses to sign. This angers the authorities, and also creates a divide between the students. They split into two groups. The Royals, led by Apple White (Snow White's daughter), are mostly the kids of characters who usually get a happy ending. They want to follow their stories, and are annoyed at Raven Queen for refusing to do so. The Rebels, led by Raven, are usually the kids of villains and such, who don't want to live a life of misery. The plot originally focused on the struggle between the two factions, but since branched into other story arcs that each advertised a different doll line. I'm not going to go much into the story here. If you want to know more, watch the webisodes or read the books. The story and world building is actually decent for something that's supposed to sell toys.
EAH launched in the summer of 2013. At that time, I just so happened to be visiting the US, and I saw the dolls before they made it to Europe. They were at first exclusives to Justice (which is where I first found them). There they had the dolls as well as some EAH themed clothing. I wasn't really sure what EAH was, I actually thought it was trying to copy Monster High. But I still bought one of the t-shirts.
The initial dolls were the four main characters in their standard outfits (shown above). I believe the Legacy Day dolls of Raven and Apple were also out, they were more expensive. Each doll came with a hairbrush, stand, and bookmark shaped diary. (The diaries are similar to the Monster High ones, they contain a short story and a bit of development for the characters.) The boxes were shaped like books, and when arranged together looked like books on a shelf. On the back of the boxes were basic facts about the character. The dolls were incredibly well made, with detailed outfits and accessories. They each had tiny rings, earrings and hair pieces. The trouble is that these objects could get lost easily. Two playsets were released, themed around Apple and Raven's bedrooms. I never saw these anywhere in the UK.
These are two of my dolls. They have been in storage for a while so their hair isn't perfect. On the left is Cerise Hood, right is Getting Fairest Apple White. I do not know why the picture is facing the wrong way.
The webisodes also debuted with the dolls. They were usually around two minutes long, but some lasted for ten minutes. Originally they were just on YouTube, but they also aired on Nickelodeon. Eventually, the series moved to Netflix, with full length episodes. I personally have only watched the original webisodes, I couldn't get into the ones on Netflix. Unlike Monster High, there were no direct to DVD movies released. The animation was 2D and probably made with Flash. I'm glad they never ventured into 3D. There are also the books. They tell the same story, but in more depth. Later on, they also released books focusing on individual characters, and even an MH EAH crossover story!
"Are you a Royal or a Rebel?" was the catchphrase commonly used in marketing the dolls. I think there was a test on the official website you could take where you could see what faction you belonged in. In the UK I used to see EAH advertised a lot on channels such as Cartoon Network and Disney XD. The adverts were usually brief, and featured a short clip from the webisodes. They never mentioned the dolls at all. The dolls weren't as common as Monster High in stores. My local Toys R Us didn't even have any sometimes. In Smyths they had a massive range, but they usually didn't have many characters apart from the main four. If I wanted to get dolls like Cerise, Blondie and Lizzie, I'd have to go to Argos instead. When I went to the US, they had them everywhere, and such a big range. I'm sure most of them never even made it to my area.
I only knew a few people who knew of EAH. Most people knew Monster High, but EAH just wasn't as popular. Online, the fandom seemed quite big. There were lots of role players and different OCs floating around. The EAH fandom was biggest on Instagram and Tumblr. Most of the fans also liked Monster High. A lot of us wanted a crossover between the two, but by the time it finally arrived, both franchises were already dying.
In EAH there were a few references to their monster counterparts here and there. One of the characters was actually a transfer student from MH. The two doll lines could share clothes and shoes, although the EAH dolls had slightly wider waists.
Apple White wearing Clawdeen Wolf's Scaris outfit. The bag belongs to a Day 2 Nite Barbie.
The series kept going, releasing beautiful new dolls that were popular with collectors. We got our first male doll, Rebel Hunter Huntsman, who came in a two pack with his Royal girlfriend Ashlynn Ella. I think the male dolls used the same bodies as the MH boys, but I don't know for sure. I'm pretty sure Mattel later reused their bodies for the 2020 BTS dolls, meaning that BTS can probably wear Ever After High outfits... Unfortunately EAH did not get many male dolls.
Hunter next to a Ken doll. Barbie and Ken's clothes are much too big for EAH dolls.
EAH did not have as many different face moulds as MH. Some of the dolls did have different heights, such as Maddie Hatter being shorter and Cerise Hood being taller. MH dolls had removable arms and hands, whereas EAH dolls only had removable hands. Their hands also had two fingers together, this was for wearing rings or holding accessories. No fashion packs were ever released, which was a shame.
Only two collector's dolls were released, they were exclusives at Comic Con in 2014 and 15. They're extremely rare today. Upcoming releases were often showcased at Comic Con.
A comparison of doll bodies. From left to right: Monster High, Ever After High, Bratz, 2000s Barbie, Twist and Turn Barbie.
Apple White modelling Bratz clothes. They fit, but the trousers are a bit tight and the jacket is too short.
2015 was the year that Ever After High, and also Monster High, experienced a change for the worse. This what was would eventually lead to their downfall. Ever After High experienced a sort of reboot. Unlike MH, the canon stayed the same, but the marketing and the dolls changed. The logo was edited, and the branding changed to a more softer look. Now, the slogan was "Where Princesses are Powerful!", the Royal VS. Rebel stuff was less prominent. "Power Princesses Shining Bright" was the name of the new theme song, which I personally do not like. I don't know why they used the word "Princess" so much, a lot of the characters weren't even royalty! Perhaps Mattel were trying to capture the Disney Princess crowd.
The art style was changed, and the dolls' faces were changed to be more smiley. Now the dolls were starting to become more cheaply made. The boxes no longer resembled books, and now the dolls were missing things like stands. Some of the releases were more gimmicky, like a Holly O'Hair doll that allowed you to crimp and style her hair, and various types of playsets. Until then, all EAH dolls were fully articulated. But now budget dolls arrived with cheap outfits and limited articulation. The line was starting to resemble Barbie. Not all of the releases then were bad. 2015 was the release of one of my favourite dolls, Mira Shards. She's Raven's mum, who turned back into a teenager for some reason. The Dragon Games line was mostly decent. But the new characters mostly got dolls that I felt were lacking. I'm pretty sure some of them didn't even come with diaries.
At this time, EAH faced a new rival - Disney Descendants. When I first saw Descendants, I thought it was a rip off of EAH. The plots of the two aren't entirely the same, but it is pretty obvious where Disney got their ideas from. The Descendants dolls aren't as nice looking in my opinion. Unfortunately, Disney's franchise became much more popular than EAH, and it's even still going today. It's understandable why it's so much more popular, it has the Mouse behind it. While EAH is based on the same fairy tales, most people nowadays associate Disney with those stories. They'd much prefer something featuring the Disney versions of these characters. (I personally don't like Descendants much, I can't even watch the films all the way through. But I don't like Disney Channel stuff anyways, cause I never grew up with it.)
Disney's Mal and Mattel's Raven Queen look like they could be sisters.
Mattel also released the DC Super Hero Girls dolls, who are built similar to MH and EAH dolls. Around this time, I noticed that Mattel's dolls started to drop in quality. Even Barbie started to go very cheap. Perhaps they were losing money at this point? I know that toy sales started to decline, as more kids became satisfied with playing with an iPad over toys.
Ever After High releases began to slow down. Around 2018, Mattel silently discontinued the series, along with Monster High. MH came back in 2022 for the collectors, but I doubt that EAH will ever return. The series just wasn't as popular. I don't want it to come back. If EAH ever returned, it would either be an overpriced collector's line, or a cheaply made playline. Both of those don't interest me at all. The series gained fans with its decent story and well made dolls. Now Mattel don't have anything like it on the market, and MGA seem to be taking over.
A lot of the characters never got a doll. We never got Ramona Badwolf, nor a Daring Charming that wasn't cheaply made. There was so much more they could've done with the series, but I guess it just didn't sell enough after the reboot.
I actually loved EAH more than MH. Fairy tales appeal to me a lot more than horror. I wish I had bought more of the dolls while they were still available. My favourite characters at the start were Cerise and Cupid, but then I began to like Darling Charming and Melody Piper near the end. At first I liked the Rebels more, but now I prefer the Royals. I have a lot of memories of playing with the dolls, discussing them with my friends, and watching the series grow.
Ever After High in (insert year here)
The EAH website no longer exists, but their YouTube channel is still there. Mattel constantly reupload the episodes in compilations, hoping to still make some revenue from their dead franchise. You can still watch the series on Netflix.
Obviously, the dolls have long been off the shelves, but they are plentiful on eBay. Just don't expect to find a boxed one for a good price. You can even look in flea markets and second hand shops for them. Usually I see a lot of Monster High dolls in flea markets, but I'm sure one of them somewhere has EAH dolls around. The fandom is still alive. Many people still collect and customise the dolls. Starting an EAH collection today is much harder than collecting other doll lines, but if you decide to do it, good luck!
Useful Sites
The EAH Wiki (You can read the diaries that came with the dolls here, as well as find lots of info on the series.)
The EAH Official YouTube Channel
An interesting and detailed video on the rivalry between EAH and Disney's Descendants.