2013 Fairytale Designer Collection

[OnceUponADream]

OnceUponADream did you own the Tyco TLM dolls? I had them too and I loved them! They made the best and most accurate outfits, including the nightgown, and pink dress with Sebastian on lettuce on a plate LOL

Could you describe the mermaid doll? The pink dress soft body was made by Applause, the original release dolls were also made by Tyco. I still have mine, I was obsessed :lol:

ladyroselie I think they made cute outfits too

I had no idea who they were made by, honestly! Mermaid's_grotto, I did some searching and you were right, the dolls I have were all made by Applause. I should still have the rock that mermaid Ariel came with somewhere too.

I loved playing with them, but I always wanted them to look like the "real" Ariel. So my inner child would love to see a nice, film accurate version in a nice case.

The downside to that is, the other sets would not be of interest to me if they were just film accurate. Good for my wallet, bad for my collecting sensibilities. :facepalm:

I too am hoping this latest bit of scoop is just a rumor.

 

[Polaris]

I would have to disagree, whilst I would have loved to see Naveen and Tiana I would rather Disney tried their luck with other characters next year especially since it would be an off year for them. I would have thought that it would have been a great time for disney to try to include Elsa, Anna and Merida into the designer line as they would be the newest princesses.

But I do believe that it will also depend on the popularity of this year's line as well. If it is pretty popular then I don't see why Disney would not release a 2nd lot next year but if they were to do that I could just imagine that more people will be disappointed rather than happy. Mainly because if they do princesses again next year people will probably start to lose interest due to the unoriginality and you can expect that in 2015 during the next expo that it will be a princess line again. I think if they keep releasing designer princesses every year it will just saturate the market and make the dolls less appealing because everyone will start thinking that they can just buy one next year if they miss out this year and it will kill the exclusivity that the limited edition gave these dolls.

At the end of the day it really comes down to how much a person really wants the doll/item, to be honest if you missed out on the first line well that's just bad luck, life still goes on and you can either move on or be willing to pay a higher price for the doll. It's just natural economics i.e supply and demand. If disney keeps flooding the market with more designer princess dolls it will reduce the demand and eventually it will kill any hope of disney turning these dolls into classics and antiques as they would have just turned the whole thing into a hype/fad instead, that people will eventually get bored of.

So I think it would be wise of Disney to give this designer line all they've got this year to really make it stand out and apart from the first princess designer line and then next year give some of the other characters a chance at the designer line. Like as many have suggested a Heroine line with all the other popular non princess characters would be nice. Whilst I do love the princesses I just hope disney does not overdo it and ruin a good thing they have going on right now.

 

[LordTremaine]

^ I agree well said! I love the princesses but Disney has so many other characters they could work with that it does get redundant. I am very excited to see the fairy tale couples and I'll probably end up buying some of them who knows haha. But I agree if Disney does the whole designer princess thing every year it people will lose interest after while.

Since next year there is no D23 I think they should do a designer heroines line. That seems to be what a lot of people want. They could include Merida, Anna and Elsa if they wanted to along with Megara, Esmeralda, Alice ect. Then the following year for the next D23 maybe they could do the fairy tale couples part 2 with Cindy, Aurora, Tiana, Anna/Elsa, Mulan and/or Pocahontas. Then the following year with no D23 they should do a designer male villain line which again a lot of people have mentioned.

At least that's what I would do if this couples line is a hit. But what do I know haha.

 

[ElysionsPrincess]

I think that unfortunately next year would be the continuation of the set. Think about it, it would tie in with Aurora's Diamond edition, Frozen will have been out for a year, so it will have gained enough popularity to sell, and a second half of a set would sell better without the assistance of D23. Taking a year long break between the sets may be an ill decision for sales! I would prefer the Heroines for two years from now, at the next D23 expo. But that's just me~

 

[Duaxeallowed]

I thought they should have done a fairys set with all the disney fairys
OR which I would much prefer, as everyone would like afield sisters they should do a
designer daughters of triton
now people would really want the whole set of that one

 

[alex555]

I think that unfortunately next year would be the continuation of the set. Think about it, it would tie in with Aurora's Diamond edition, Frozen will have been out for a year, so it will have gained enough popularity to sell, and a second half of a set would sell better without the assistance of D23. Taking a year long break between the sets may be an ill decision for sales! I would prefer the Heroines for two years from now, at the next D23 expo. But that's just me~

I completely agree with you! It all points that there is going to be a Designer Couples part 2. And it makes sense that they want some time to pass for Frozen and Brave to build the hype and get more popular , then they cab explode the bomb with their respective Designer dolls + some Heroines. And well I would love this idea, as I can't imagine my life without Mulan & Shang and Aurora & Philip Designer Couple dolls lol .

 

[kupo1121]

I thought they should have done a fairys set with all the disney fairys
OR which I would much prefer, as everyone would like afield sisters they should do a
designer daughters of triton
now people would really want the whole set of that one

A fairies set was actually quite speculated a long time ago BUT the problem with the fairies set is that, besides Tinker Bell, none of the other fairies are really all that popular. I would be willing to bet that half the people on this thread cannot name all the fairies by heart without looking at an internet page, I sure can't so the market for fairies is really small and the merchandise wouldn't sell well since it ONLY target fairy fans.

The mermaid sisters suffer from the same exact problem. I doubt many people could list all the sister's name besides LM fans. There are definitely a lot of LM fans, including myself, but the problem is, what if you don't like LM? Then this whole year is a waste since between the LE Ariel and Ursula dolls coming out, everything is LM themed? That wouldn't sell well either given if you aren't an LM fan, you won't buy anything.

I do fear that the Designer line is already headed to a "tired and tried" place since while the Designer Villains and Princes are still original, the term "Designer Princess" is no longer special. I think that it would be odd if they DIDN'T do another set next year to complete the other princesses, but at that rate, 3 years of Designer Princesses (the original, this year, and next year) would really bury that title ("Designer Princess") along with countless other doll titles.

 

[LordTremaine]

I think that unfortunately next year would be the continuation of the set. Think about it, it would tie in with Aurora's Diamond edition, Frozen will have been out for a year, so it will have gained enough popularity to sell, and a second half of a set would sell better without the assistance of D23. Taking a year long break between the sets may be an ill decision for sales! I would prefer the Heroines for two years from now, at the next D23 expo. But that's just me~

That makes sense I forgot about SB's Diamond edition next year. I was just thinking that princesses 2 years in a row would be over kill and they could balance/break it up a bit.

2011-D23 Expo Designer Princesses
2012- No D23 Designer villains
2013- D23 Expo Designer Fairy tale couples part 1
2014- No Expo Designer Heroines
2015-D23 Expo Designer Fairy tale couples part 2
2016- No Expo Designer Male villains

Since the princesses are Disney big sellers I was thinking they would want to showcase them at the Expo. So the off years they release the "lesser" characters designer lines. I thought that making people wait for the second fairy tale couples line would make them want it even more xD especially if this line is a success. Also I read on another Disney website that Ann and Elsa aren't going to be officially inducted into the princess line until 2015 so I was thinking they could include them in the Designer Heroines line and then in the Fairy tale couples line the following year when they are officially princesses.

 

[Polaris]

Whilst I do agree that it is likely the 2014 set will be the second series of the fairy tale designer couples I just think it will be a bad idea for Disney if they were to go down that track and somehow I'd like to believe that Disney realizes that too. But that is just my opinion.

I personally think it is too early to be speculating about next years release and it really will depend on the popularity of this line. I am guessing it will be popular as it includes the disney princesses again but that will also depend on how they look and how well disney has incorporated the designer look to this fairy tale couple concept. Right now I just can't wait to see this new line and I think it will be amazing.

by the way I noticed that it was mentioned that they wanted to give Merida more time to become popular before releasing a designer type doll. But to be honest this really was her year to really be pushed for a designer doll seeing that it is an expo year and her year of coronation. Also as mentioned above Anna and Elsa are going to be included in 2015 which is the next expo year. So if they were to include Merida then she would be overshadowed by that event. Anyway Disney does this every time, they do this based on popularity and sales hence why there is never a real pattern in anything Disney does. Everything that has happened so far in relation to this years designer line contradicts any pattern or correlation between the first line and this years line. Which while keeps us on our toes makes you wonder what the thought process is of the Disney designer think tank mob.

 

[coraline]

Am I the only one not really surprised that they went back to the Princesses for this line? It's fun from a fan perspective to speculate on what other fantasy lines would be neat, but in the end, the Princesses sell extremely well for Disney (just look at how fast the Princesses sold compared to the villains). Disney doesn't really care about the secondary market. I think we'll continue to see variations of the Princess designer line going forward.

What I'd really like to see now are pictures of these couples!

 

[Brii59]

I wasn't surprised , after all their faces are plastered all over the disney store, they are the " main attraction" so to speak

 

[jennisney]

I hope they do continue the couples line next year as I'd love a Pocahontas and John smith! And If they are continuing it next year I'm also glad because that saves me money not having to buy BATB and Pocahontas at the same time haha! I really want to see if it will be beast and belle or "Adam" and belle! They could make the beast beautifully if they gave him all rooted hair and sculpted him beautifully.. But they won't do! And If they do "Adam" I hope they make a new face mould because the one they have now is so ugly :|

 

[sopranostar]

I think Disney should do a Designer Pixar line for next year and feature these characters:

Merida and Queen Elinor from Brave
Elastigirl and Violet from The Incredibles
Jessie from the Toy Story series
Colette from Ratatouille

What do you think? Just an idea.

 

[disneykid85]

You forgot Vanellope!

 

[Brii59]

When are these dolls supposed to come out? Anyone know yet?

 

[NightmareMermaid]

Wreck-It Ralph isn't a Disney-Pixar film. I don't think a Pixar line would sell very well. Plus I think doing both Merida and her mother would be a bad idea because of the recent LE set. Merida would be fine, but I don't think her mother is popular enough to justify making a Designer doll of her.

 

[Mermaid's_grotto]

I hope they do continue the couples line next year as I'd love a Pocahontas and John smith! And If they are continuing it next year I'm also glad because that saves me money not having to buy BATB and Pocahontas at the same time haha! I really want to see if it will be beast and belle or "Adam" and belle! They could make the beast beautifully if they gave him all rooted hair and sculpted him beautifully.. But they won't do! And If they do "Adam" I hope they make a new face mould because the one they have now is so ugly :|

I think it will be Beast.

Let's see LE Rapunzel, Merida, Designer Villains, LE Cinderella, Tremaine, Merida & Elinor. Yeh I can see why the set didn't sell out as quick. Elinor is very popular.

 

[Pongo]

I would love it if they would do a line that was out of the mainstream like we have all wished for. I don't think Disney thinks in terms of what we already have in our collections. I think they will keep doing the major princesses because there are always new buyers being born and the main princesses are their moneymakers. There are really not as many collectors even worldwide to satisfy their revenue objectives if they were to offer the forgotten characters. I think the initial designer princess offering was distorted due to opportunistic resellers that did not reflect the true demand.

I will continue to hope though, because there is always the random surprise like the Alice LE but they had so many opportunities with recent DVD releases to do something for Pocahontas, Mulan , Peter Pan, Jessica Rabbit...etc and nothing materialized. D23 seems like the perfect venue to go off the beaten path as we have speculated the couples could have been Herc & Meg, Peter & Wendy, but I think they will always go with the princesses now since the villains seem to have lingered too long.

 

[Polaris]

I think it will be Beast.


Let's see LE Rapunzel, Merida, Designer Villains, LE Cinderella, Tremaine, Merida & Elinor. Yeh I can see why the set didn't sell out as quick. Elinor is very popular.

You forgot Calhoun she was the last to come out last year during the Wreck It Ralph release in early November.

I believe the poor sales of the Merida And Elinor set was just a result of the high price and the fact that the dolls did look very ordinary in the pictures. So it was difficult to justify paying that much for it.

I really do hope we get to see some pictures soon as the expo is about a month away so a sneak peek or something would be good just so we know what Disney was aiming for. Wasn't it around this time in both 2011 and 2012 that Disney released info online about the series?

 

[Shivatopia]

You forgot Calhoun she was the last to come out last year during the Wreck It Ralph release in early November.

I believe the poor sales of the Merida And Elinor set was just a result of the high price and the fact that the dolls did look very ordinary in the pictures. So it was difficult to justify paying that much for it.

I really do hope we get to see some pictures soon as the expo is about a month away so a sneak peek or something would be good just so we know what Disney was aiming for. Wasn't it around this time in both 2011 and 2012 that Disney released info online about the series?

As I recall from 2011, the pin images were found sometime in July, but the leaked pictures of the dolls did not happen until August, when some CM took pictures of the dolls with a cell phone and leaked them out. The official doll stock photos did not come to light until the day Designer Cinderella was released with that video embedded in the DS.com website, though the "true" doll stock photos tended to be found about a week or less before that doll was set for release. I don't remember exactly when the Designer Princess pamphlets started to become available in the stores, but they first showed the actual design sketch art. I think those were distributed starting in early/mid-August to promote the Rapunzel coronation sweepstakes as well as the Designer Princess merchandise collection. These are all drawn from my memory, but this collection is what brought me here to DPF for the first time.

The Designer Villains Collection was officially announced by Disney on June 25, 2013.

 

[sopranostar]

I believe the poor sales of the Merida And Elinor set was just a result of the high price and the fact that the dolls did look very ordinary in the pictures. So it was difficult to justify paying that much for it.

I actually have that set and they look better in person. The pictures you see don't do them justice. I do agree that the price was too high and that it probably turned a lot of people off. I think about $135 would have been a more reasonable price. Still, I'm glad I bought it and have no regrets.

 

[TheOtherSteve]

DFDC = Disney Fairytale Designer Collection (not Couples)

 

[shooting4ownhand]

Wreck-It Ralph isn't a Disney-Pixar film. I don't think a Pixar line would sell very well. Plus I think doing both Merida and her mother would be a bad idea because of the recent LE set. Merida would be fine, but I don't think her mother is popular enough to justify making a Designer doll of her.

I disagree. Elinor is very popular. The $200 price tag on the Merida/Elinor doll is what made people not want to buy them. The dolls are beautiful but not for $200.

 

[kupo1121]

I completely forgot that they don't have D23 every year. If that's the case, then I don't think they'll continue this set until 2015 so that, while Merida will be overshadows, they can also include Anna or Elsa. Then again, if the theme is couples then Merida may never have been intended to be included in this set. She may have something next year (like if they do Heroines) and she could be the lead doll like Cinderella was for the Designer Princess line so that she can't be overshadows by other princesses (really big ones I mean)?

 

[auroradawn]

DFDC = Disney Fairytale Designer Collection (not Couples)

really really? so is it still couples or will there be no two doll sets? was the previously provided information on characters and price misguided/just a rumor? or will that stay the same?