More Designer Couples dolls and pins to come

[coraline]

I've been thinking these past few days about what Polaris said and I have to say I'm not sure how much further they can go with this designer series line of dolls. While we doll collectors would love new lines of more minor characters, they have already gone through designer princesses and villains which are proven lines for disney, and I'm not sure they could move 6000 Wendy dolls for example. The fairytale series with the couples isn't something easily replicated with the villains.

Given the success of the original designer princesses and with the fairytale collection, I'm sure disney would love another concept for a third princesses line. The question is what? Princess brides don't fit for every character and it's probably not a line I'd be interested in personally. Holiday dolls seem a little too Barbie. Steampunk princesses?

I'm sure they have better ideas than I do though!

 

[HugsxNxKisses(X0X0)]

I think Hero/Heroine couple sets would be nice. Hercules and Megara, Esmeralda and Phoebus, Jane and Tarzan, Kida and Milo, Wendy and Peter, Alice and the Mad Hatter (based on 2010), Nakoma and Kokum(?), Eilonwy and Taran, Anita and Roger, etc. There are more but I adore the idea of Heroes/Heroines. They can drag this couples idea on for a while TBH LOL. Even Villain Couples. I think Maleficent and Frollo, Evil Queen and Jafar, Cruella/Gaston/Facilier/Ursula, Hades/Yzma/Kronk, Kronk/Gaston(Just for kicks and giggles) and Drizella/Gaston(more K&G LOL.) I REALLY want Shan Yu, Ratcliffe, Sykes and Tremaine in this somehow. The possibilities are endless.

 

[Polaris]

I've been thinking these past few days about what Polaris said and I have to say I'm not sure how much further they can go with this designer series line of dolls. While we doll collectors would love new lines of more minor characters, they have already gone through designer princesses and villains which are proven lines for disney, and I'm not sure they could move 6000 Wendy dolls for example. The fairytale series with the couples isn't something easily replicated with the villains.

Given the success of the original designer princesses and with the fairytale collection, I'm sure disney would love another concept for a third princesses line. The question is what? Princess brides don't fit for every character and it's probably not a line I'd be interested in personally. Holiday dolls seem a little too Barbie. Steampunk princesses?

I'm sure they have better ideas than I do though!

I know exactly what you mean about Disney trying to move 6000 units of lesser known characters. Thing is whilst the characters are not popular amongst little girls I am pretty sure there are a lot of adults that love characters like Jane, Esmerelda, Megera, Alice and Jessica Rabbit. I know that from this forum Jessica is very popular among adults. So I definitely could see a Disney Heroines line working granted I dont think a large edition size will work but if they were to release say 6 characters with an edition size of around 4000-5000 I could see that working, yes they wouldnt sell out as fast as the princesses did but they will still sell. This is why I believe that it would be best to do non-Princesses releases during non expo years just because there will not be as much hype around them and to be honest could just be a bit more of a filler year, this will not only satisfy the Disney doll collectors but it will also give Disney an extra year to spend more time on the princess dolls to make sure the doll release will be perfect (i.e they can start on it this year in line with say a heroines line which will be released next year and perfect it over two years to and release it in 2015 during the expo while they do the heroines release in 2014). The thing is the original line had 10 dolls this year they only had 5 and last 6 if it took them a year to do the original 10 then by all accounts you would think it would take half a year to do half the number of dolls, granted this year technically each set had two dolls but still it shows that Disney can still dish out at least 10 doll designs a year. So if they were to do 6 heroines in 2014 and then 5 princesses in 2015 I could def see that working. Also because this will be the first time they do heroines it would throw us off our guard and our expectations would not be as high as we don't have "another set" to compare them against so working on two doll lines at the same time shouldn't be as bad as it sounds and is def something I could see Disney doing.

Honestly I just think that Disney needs to learn from the villains line and realize that whilst the villains didn't sell as quickly they did still sell, the main issue was due to the high edition size. Therefore with a heroines line all Disney needs to do is just reduce the edition size to limit them more and they will still sell but not as quickly as the princesses. This would help keep the designer line alive at least for another year because it will be something new and different but still within the "designer" name.

I think if Disney really wants to continue the line they should listen to us, the consumers. What they should do next year is a people's choice line so send out an open invite or a voting system (if Disney decides to limit it to certain characters only) asking people which characters they would love to be released as designer dolls (excluding those that already have one). I am pretty confident you will find the ones I mentioned above in that list of characters requested. Also I wouldnt be surprised if people requested newer characters such as Merida, Anna and Elsa being included. Rapunzel is the latest Disney character in the line and she was released back in 2009 which means that Disney is due to release more new characters in the Designer line and I think Anna and Elsa will be very popular characters (moreso than Merida) and will have a similar effect that Rapunzel had so I wouldnt be surprised if we saw them included in the Designer line over the next year or two.

Sorry bout the long post guys but pretty much just typed out my whole thought process on the line haha.

 

[NightmareMermaid]

I just want to see LE dolls of Kida and Vanessa. It doesn't really matter to me whether they're 17" or Designer. We just need one high quality version of both of them. They would be absolutely stunning.

 

[Doll_Enchanted]

Doll_Enchanted: If Pocahontas looked like that I would buy her in a heartbeat. That would be gorgeous. But instead of embroidery, they should use beads!!!!!! That would keep it more traditional to the Native American aspect. I love beaded jewelry I actually make some myself and it would be soooo beautiful!

Yeah good eye deer! I like it! Wander if their going to continue the same look the couples had this year or change it up, uhm.... they prob should otherwise wouldn't be mush of a continuation hehe.... we should start a count down 8 months to go :lol: close to that

 

[Tinkerboy]

I like this idea a lot, but only if they all kind of had some aesthetic that was pleasing and matched. For me, the appeal of a designer line and the 17" line is the matching casing. I love love love the way all of the dolls look all together in a row! I think we may see a Designer Heroines line in the future (next D23). That way they could make Merida, Anna, and Elsa, and then maybe some other favorites like Esmeralda, Megara, Kida, Jane, etc. I can really feel this one happening. And I would pre-order the whole set in this case. I like the option of pre-ordering sets too, in theory, although it appears to be more stressful!

Yes, I would love a Kida Designer or LE doll. I bet she would be so cool and beautiful as a doll

To me, the heroines are the Disney females who don't fall into the Princess category (officially, anwyay). So the gals like Jane, Wendy, Meg, Esmeralda, Kida - I know there are others I'm forgetting. Mulan and Pocahontas are technically not princesses either, but they're in the official line-up.

Thats how I see it too. I think the Heroines obviously had more action, or did more in their movies. The princesses for the most part didnt really do any kind of fighting or anything but were more "rescued" by their princes.

 

[Shivatopia]

Perhaps I don't quite understand the thought processes of corporate marketing, but wouldn't it be better to launch something like a "Disney Heroines" Designer collection on an Expo year in order to drum up more interest in them, as opposed to letting them work on their own to sell? The biggest error that the Disney Store seems to be consistently making is that they underestimate the natural selling power of the Disney Princesses. The princesses always sell their merchandise extremely well even without the help of exposure through a D23 Expo. I think that the Designer Villains would have been better served had they been released on an Expo year, even with their increased edition sizes for the dolls.

That said, I would be incredibly surprised if we do see a non-princess female lead character Designer collection, but who knows? The Disney Store may be saving them for a final punch. Think about it: when the 2011 Designer Princesses were released, people immediately wanted Designer Villains and Designer Princes. Well, we got the villains in 2012 and the princes showed up in the DFDC this year in 2013 with perhaps a continuation next year. It was already predicted here on DPF in 2011 that the princes probably would not stand stand alone very well without their princesses, so naturally the Disney Store made prince & princess couples.

The only other existing grouped character franchise is the Disney Fairies, but apparently sales for their direct-to-home films seems to be declining to the point that a couple of future planned films were shelved. That does not make me hopeful for a Designer collection for them. In any case, I would personally only probably buy a couple of them anyway.

As for the Disney Princesses, there are three new ladies (Merida, Anna, and Elsa), who have potential to kick-start more Designer lines, but I am sure it would probably be at the expense of other princesses (re: Pocahontas and Mulan at least), which would be sad to see. Thirteen is not a lucky number for princesses. Certainly, a bridal theme could be explored, or a Victorian Tea Party, or really anything! Frankly, I am hoping that if next year rounds out the DFDC (especially if Aurora and Philip are among them), that it would be the end of these annual Designer dolls, or at least I hope that they will be of themes that do not compel me to buy them.

 

[Tinkerboy]

Perhaps I don't quite understand the thought processes of corporate marketing, but wouldn't it be better to launch something like a "Disney Heroines" Designer collection on an Expo year in order to drum up more interest in them, as opposed to letting them work on their own to sell? The biggest error that the Disney Store seems to be consistently making is that they underestimate the natural selling power of the Disney Princesses. The princesses always sell their merchandise extremely well even without the help of exposure through a D23 Expo. I think that the Designer Villains would have been better served had they been released on an Expo year, even with their increased edition sizes for the dolls.

That said, I would be incredibly surprised if we do see a non-princess female lead character Designer collection, but who knows? The Disney Store may be saving them for a final punch. Think about it: when the 2011 Designer Princesses were released, people immediately wanted Designer Villains and Designer Princes. Well, we got the villains in 2012 and the princes showed up in the DFDC this year in 2013 with perhaps a continuation next year. It was already predicted here on DPF in 2011 that the princes probably would not stand stand alone very well without their princesses, so naturally the Disney Store made prince & princess couples.

The only other existing grouped character franchise is the Disney Fairies, but apparently sales for their direct-to-home films seems to be declining to the point that a couple of future planned films were shelved. That does not make me hopeful for a Designer collection for them. In any case, I would personally only probably buy a couple of them anyway.

As for the Disney Princesses, there are three new ladies (Merida, Anna, and Elsa), who have potential to kick-start more Designer lines, but I am sure it would probably be at the expense of other princesses (re: Pocahontas and Mulan at least), which would be sad to see. Thirteen is not a lucky number for princesses. Certainly, a bridal theme could be explored, or a Victorian Tea Party, or really anything! Frankly, I am hoping that if next year rounds out the DFDC (especially if Aurora and Philip are among them), that it would be the end of these annual Designer dolls, or at least I hope that they will be of themes that do not compel me to buy them.

Good point, they wont be able to keep it up much longer with the same characters, unless they change it up somewhat but then that can get old fast. But the sales of pretty much all of the dolls has been great overall so maybe they will do it for another year?

 

[coraline]

If I ran things, I would save the Princesses for non-D23 years too. They don't need the push at all. I would actually be very interested in dolls of other characters, which may benefit from the hype of D23. Alice, I could see as selling very well, particularly because the low edition size of her LE doll caused high prices on the secondary market. But as a heroines set, I'm not sure there's enough popularity of the less-marketed characters to have the cross-over appeal of both causal and hard core collectors.

So while I'm not sure what new theme Disney will bring forth, I suspect that they will be doing future Princess collections. The only challenge if what theme would still sell at this point...

It's for this reason that I'm almost positive that we'll get new versions of the LE 17" Princesses at some point. Once they run through them once, they will eventually have to go through them again.

 

[Quasimodo]

Is D23 really that much of a marketing platform? Maybe it's because I live north of the border, but most Disney fans I talk to (at the store during LE releases and such) have no idea what D23 is. I didn't even know what it was until a few years ago. In fact, I thought it got its name because it was the 23rd Disney Expo or something, and that the next one would be called D24.

I think the villains were promoted very well online and in store. And I think they did pretty well. There were just SO MANY made. And they cost a little more.

It seems like Disney just likes to run with their princesses, as if villains and "heroines" aren't really the core of their brand. I think thye have a certain game in mind when they make the princesses extra limited. They want more hype around them.

 

[Polaris]

Perhaps I don't quite understand the thought processes of corporate marketing, but wouldn't it be better to launch something like a "Disney Heroines" Designer collection on an Expo year in order to drum up more interest in them, as opposed to letting them work on their own to sell? The biggest error that the Disney Store seems to be consistently making is that they underestimate the natural selling power of the Disney Princesses. The princesses always sell their merchandise extremely well even without the help of exposure through a D23 Expo. I think that the Designer Villains would have been better served had they been released on an Expo year, even with their increased edition sizes for the dolls.

That said, I would be incredibly surprised if we do see a non-princess female lead character Designer collection, but who knows? The Disney Store may be saving them for a final punch. Think about it: when the 2011 Designer Princesses were released, people immediately wanted Designer Villains and Designer Princes. Well, we got the villains in 2012 and the princes showed up in the DFDC this year in 2013 with perhaps a continuation next year. It was already predicted here on DPF in 2011 that the princes probably would not stand stand alone very well without their princesses, so naturally the Disney Store made prince & princess couples.

The only other existing grouped character franchise is the Disney Fairies, but apparently sales for their direct-to-home films seems to be declining to the point that a couple of future planned films were shelved. That does not make me hopeful for a Designer collection for them. In any case, I would personally only probably buy a couple of them anyway.

As for the Disney Princesses, there are three new ladies (Merida, Anna, and Elsa), who have potential to kick-start more Designer lines, but I am sure it would probably be at the expense of other princesses (re: Pocahontas and Mulan at least), which would be sad to see. Thirteen is not a lucky number for princesses. Certainly, a bridal theme could be explored, or a Victorian Tea Party, or really anything! Frankly, I am hoping that if next year rounds out the DFDC (especially if Aurora and Philip are among them), that it would be the end of these annual Designer dolls, or at least I hope that they will be of themes that do not compel me to buy them.

You are definitely right about the D23 expo being the year that they should promote the more non-popular characters instead of the princesses who will sell at the drop of a pin. But the way I see it is that based on Disney being a money making machine if they wanted to make money both from the dolls and the Expo to make people line up more at the expo and spend more on tickets etc they would want to make a designer line/exclusive of a princess rather than of a heroine or villain. Because of the fact that they fear that it may not sell and put bums on seats if that makes sense.

So in a way Disney uses the dolls to promote and enhance the expo and uses the expo to promote and add hype to the dolls as well. So it is sort of a win win situation with them.

That being said you do raise a good point, due to how slow the sales were for the villains I do not see Disney releasing a designer heroines line anytime soon. Mainly because they fear it may not sell and would not want to spend all this money in producing a doll set that they may have to end up selling at cost just to deplete the stock.

But the way I see it is that either Disney should start moving the releases every other year in order to spend more time on the dolls and it will build up hype more and reduce the number of dolls released therefore giving us a little more space at home. Even though this is the less popular option it does make sense. Or they should release the princesses every other year and have something different in the gap years. Doing so will still keep interest in the dolls and will still show that Disney is willing to change things up and take that risk. That way both parties will be happy with Disney still making sales and people getting dolls that they like, also it allows people to choose if they want to pass on a non princess set etc.

But yeah that is just my opinion and take based on what I have read here on the forum and just generally following the "Disney" pattern.

 

[AA1990]

Yes, I would love a Kida Designer or LE doll. I bet she would be so cool and beautiful as a doll

Thats how I see it too. I think the Heroines obviously had more action, or did more in their movies. The princesses for the most part didnt really do any kind of fighting or anything but were more "rescued" by their princes.

Im sorry, but this is not how I see it at all! Classic princesses were there to be saved in movies made... before 1989 Id guess, but lately there has been a HUGE female empowerment trend in disney movies. Mulan saves shang and all of china, ariel braves a shipwreck to save eric and attacks ursula to save him again, merida faces mordu AND gets between her father and a bear, Tiana has a faceoff with her villan... Honestly I think these characters are all more heroic than characters like Jane or Megara who really didnt do anything in fight scenes. I know Im just getting caught up in terminology but I think its a little insulting to say that Jane is a hero but mulan isnt.
Now dont get me wrong, I really have a soft spot for some of the side characters and would love to see them as a doll, but I dont agree that you have to be EITHER a princess or a heroine, but not both?

 

[Polaris]

Im sorry, but this is not how I see it at all! Classic princesses were there to be saved in movies made... before 1989 Id guess, but lately there has been a HUGE female empowerment trend in disney movies. Mulan saves shang and all of china, ariel braves a shipwreck to save eric and attacks ursula to save him again, merida faces mordu AND gets between her father and a bear, Tiana has a faceoff with her villan... Honestly I think these characters are all more heroic than characters like Jane or Megara who really didnt do anything in fight scenes. I know Im just getting caught up in terminology but I think its a little insulting to say that Jane is a hero but mulan isnt.
Now dont get me wrong, I really have a soft spot for some of the side characters and would love to see them as a doll, but I dont agree that you have to be EITHER a princess or a heroine, but not both?

I think the term heronie was just coined to better capture the other female leads that were not princesses. So yes Jane was a bit more damsel in distress rather than a heroine but for the most part of it the other characters that people were suggesting in the line were heroines in their own right such as Meg and Esmerelda.

I guess it is also supposed to suggest strong and empowered women which all the characters suggested definitely are. But yeah I wouldnt want any of the characters already in the princess line to be included in a "heronine" line because they have already had their chance. Not saying that I dont like Mulan and Pocahontas, I would just hate it if they released another designer Mulan and Pocahontas and as a result knocked out spaces for other potential characters. Especially since the two characters already have designers already.

 

[Tinkerboy]

Im sorry, but this is not how I see it at all! Classic princesses were there to be saved in movies made... before 1989 Id guess, but lately there has been a HUGE female empowerment trend in disney movies. Mulan saves shang and all of china, ariel braves a shipwreck to save eric and attacks ursula to save him again, merida faces mordu AND gets between her father and a bear, Tiana has a faceoff with her villan... Honestly I think these characters are all more heroic than characters like Jane or Megara who really didnt do anything in fight scenes. I know Im just getting caught up in terminology but I think its a little insulting to say that Jane is a hero but mulan isnt.
Now dont get me wrong, I really have a soft spot for some of the side characters and would love to see them as a doll, but I dont agree that you have to be EITHER a princess or a heroine, but not both?

Yes, I was speaking more of the classic princesses like Cinderella, Aurora etc. Obviously Merida and some of the others did fight for themselves and others in their movies. I was just making a general statement.

Belle and Ariel are my two favorite princesses/characters but I dont see them as Heroines.

 

[ahn_dray_uh]

Is D23 really that much of a marketing platform? Maybe it's because I live north of the border, but most Disney fans I talk to (at the store during LE releases and such) have no idea what D23 is. I didn't even know what it was until a few years ago. In fact, I thought it got its name because it was the 23rd Disney Expo or something, and that the next one would be called D24.

I think the villains were promoted very well online and in store. And I think they did pretty well. There were just SO MANY made. And they cost a little more.

It seems like Disney just likes to run with their princesses, as if villains and "heroines" aren't really the core of their brand. I think thye have a certain game in mind when they make the princesses extra limited. They want more hype around them.

I don't think many people know what it is still, only because it's only been around for 3 years.. It happens every other year..the 23 is '1923' when Walt came to the anaheim area and pretty much created disneyland haha..

 

[RapunzelSalat]

I also think we need one high quality Vanessa doll. I thought maybe we would get her this year, but I guess not.