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2013 Fairytale Designer Collection

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2013 Fairytale Designer Collection
A lot of people were confused by the fact that Mulan and Pocahontas being taken up as princesses but there explanations online about why they have been taken up as princesses. You are right that Mulan was never a princess or close to being one but she was honored for her courage and what she did for China. Pocahontas, well she was the daughter of the chief which in a sense is similar to a princess. That and my guess is Disney wanted to bring a bit of ethnicity to the princess line as they wanted to capitalize on the merchandise.

Merida came out after the designer doll release and was only confirmed to be inaugurated around the end of last year. So if they really wanted to add her to a line then she could fit in the so called "heroines" line. Don't forget she is still technically part of the princess line up until the inauguration which I believe happens at the end of the year after the release of the next series of LE merchandise.

In my opinion I think disney will be moving away from the designer line, or even the dolls series (apart from the LE dolls). Either that or they will listen to what the die hard fans have been asking for and release designer dolls on the other female characters that are not part of the princess/villain line up.
 
Hmm, it's super unlogical, but my biggest wish for the next designer line would be Ariel and her sisters, all as mermaids, because of the release of The Little Mermaid. I know it wouldn't sell, but I would just be over the moon if it would happen, haha. I'm already saving up for all the Ariel merchandise! Can't wait haha.


PS. Even less realistic dream: Ariel, LE 3500. 6 sisters, LE 1500. Designer set of Melody and adult Ariel, LE 1000. Sigh, drool...
 
Tarnation said:
Something I do get confused about is who is supposed to be a princess and who isn't.
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Disney has defined that a "Disney Princess" isn't the same thing as the commonly defined concept of a princess. This is why Mulan and Pocahontas are allowed to be in the mix and why Esmerelda and Tinkerbell were at one time before being taken out.

The term "heronine" that we are throwing around isn't because of JUST Meg and honestly, I could see the set being without Jane honestly since when you think of Tarzan, Jane rarely even comes to mind. The biggest Disney Girls if you would rather call them that could be along the lines of Merida, Esmerelda, Tink, Wendy, Meg, Giselle, Alice, and maybe even Anna from Frozen. The more unlikely names that could also be used are Jane, Kida, Vanellope, and Lilo but they could all be used, though the more unlikely names I don't see selling TOO well (Vanellope just might since WiR seems to be gaining popularity very quickly).


haha don't worry, if we are talking about false hope, I would love a Designer set with the 10 Sugar Rush racers They are all extremely fashionable as it is. There was a article I read online that was from a magazine that was talking about winter and summer fashion that was inspired by the Sugar Rush racer's outfits ^_^
 
My only questions is why people still try to correlate the Designer Villains with any other possible Designer Branches(Like the Designer "Heroines")Those are two completely different sets of charecters,Villains are definately not as mainstream as popular as the princesses.How can you compare the popularity of the Designer Villains with anything else,The Designer Princesses were a massive hit,because everyone loves the good guys,you cant sit here and say there's an equal amount of that same love for the Villains(atleast among children anyway,because there are parents out there who purchased the designer princess sets for there children,and clearly judging by how long the the Villain sets have lasted they werent as popular,maybe because fanbase centered mainly around theadults who purchased them for themselves)It was a gamble Disney decided to take,And as far as I know NO ONE here has any official statistics released from Disney explaining expected sales and whether or not they met there goal.If they did Villains,why not try there luck and do something else? Everyone here is entitles to think any way they want,whether rationally or live by pipe dreams.Does anyone here actually work for the company?So who's to say anyone here is wrong?That would just be disrespect if your just going by your assumptions.
 

I have always referred to my favourite female Disney characters as heroines; Ariel and Belle included and that is what they will always be.
When people ask me who my favourite Princess is I get confused, it doesn't apply to me, I grew up with them before the DP brand was invented
 

Omg. Don't even say that. My wallet would cry waterfalls of tears and dollars.
 
MMiano said:
Question: What are the perks for being a D23 member at the conference? Are there only certain things a D23 member can go to???
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Hi Mmiano,

I've been told that if you are a D23 member you are allowed to go in earlier than the public and I believe there are some D23 stalls with merchandise that you can only buy if you have a membership card. I have never been before but this is what I gathered from asking other members on this forum and doing my own research online.
 
Ok, so I was writing a post in another thread just talking about how expensive the end of this year potentially could be with all the possible releases. Then, I started thinking about all the other possibilities that they could use if they did make another Designer Princess line using actual princesses and not repeating any from the first collection.

Elonwy
Kida
Merida
Vanelope (I think an "All Grown Up" version of her could be both fun and gorgeous...but potentially verge on looking like Katy Perry)
*and then possibly*
Sophia (obviously as an "All Grown Up" representation)
Anna

With these, you'd have an entire set if you went based on how many were in the Villains collection. And then...they could argue why these girls are part of the Designer line up.

Megara (Since she was the love of Hercules, the son of the *King* of the Gods)
Giselle (Simply because, even though she was never a princess, she was a mockery of the princesses)
Esmeralda and/or TinkerBell (Because they were once in the line up at one time or another)
Tiger Lily (Because she is an actual princess)

If you used all of the girls that I listed, then you would have a collection of 10 (11) girls which is the same size as the first collection. If they were at the original price tag and edition sizes as the original collection, then I think that it would be successful and they would sell out. Die hard and/or "I Must Have The Complete Sets" fans, I believe would buy them. Picky and selective fans would still want some of them. (Like me, I'd buy at least 3, possibly 4, if this were the line up.)

Yeah, this would be a major risk to make and sell, but so was the very first Designer line. I'm not saying that this is what they "will" or "should" do. I'm just saying that this is a risk that I think would pay off. Plus, it's a way to make a "Designer Princess" collection without using any repeat princesses.
 
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I wasn't around for first designer collection, so I don't really know how the whole process went, with the 11 dolls but I'm thinking Disney might take more of a 2012 approach with less dolls. I know that some of you are not fond of the idea of a new designer line with the princesses but it would be a great thing for someone like me e.g.
As I said, if it were up to me, I wouldn't go for the full line up but for the 'actual' princesses (Snowwhite, Aurora, Ariel, Yasmin and Rapunzel) which would leave space open for Merida to join in. Mind you with an LE edition of Ariel be rumoured, it would give another place to e.g. the snow queen from Frozen (although that might be a bit too early if the film's only due in November).
The other option would be a six piece collection of the good fairies including the fairy godmother of Cinderella, Pinocchio's good fairy, Peter Pan's tinkerbell and not sure how this would work, but Fauna, Flora and Merriweather from Sleeping beauty (it would be a nice lead up to the sleeping beauty-year in 2014, I hope I have this right).
Just my two cents
 
I think what went wrong with the Villains is the edition size. 13k was way too many, the highest princess edition was 8k....that's a huge difference. Who knows, the princesses might not have been as crazy with an edition size of 13k.
 
I honestly think it will be Megara, Jane, Merida, Kida, Esmeralda, and maybe Anna. Please keep in mind Giselle is impossible, for they would have to pay Amy Adams for her likeness. I think they will keep it to 6 dolls, and make the edition sizes around 6,000, for these girls aren't as popular as the princesses or villains. I think they will be using movies that everyone knows very well. I don't see how it is illogical to use Jane, because Tarzan is one of the most famous Disney movies of all time. Using Elonwy just seems silly to me, no one ever even remembers Black Cauldron exists, and if they do, they remember Henwig! Haha.

If it isn't a heroines collection, (or maybe they will call it "Leading Ladies"?), I agree with a bridal collection for the princesses. I definitely won't be buying them in that case, but I am sure they will be lovely. They will do both eventually though, I'm sure!
 
I def agree with you in the fact that the edition size for the villains was too high, I also think that the unjustified increase in price is also another reason for the decrease in sales.

It will be interesting what Disney releases at the end of the year and whether or not they will continue the designer line. The more and more I think about it, the less likely I think it will be. Mainly because with the release of the villains they were able to release some villains to match the princesses that were released the year before e.g Gothel and Rapunzel and Maleficent and Sleeping Beauty. But interestingly enough they did not include Tremaine, which makes me think that Disney really thinks about the characters making sure that they can personify the character well in a designer style as well as sell the doll, which is why they included the more popular villains, Queen of Hearts and Cruella.

(Now I know that they released a Tremaine LE to correlate with the Diamond Edition release however they made the doll look exactly like character so I think that justifies the theory that Disney picks the characters for the designer lines carefully)

But because of that link that the villains had to the princesses, if Disney were to do the ‘heroines’ line as suggested by many wouldn’t that open the line to a whole different side of collectors? I mean the collection will still sell to those that are die hard Disney fans or Disney collectors. But those that are not will probably pass on a lot of the characters especially since some may not remember them or better yet recognise them after being “Designerfied”. Most of the characters undergo quite significant changes for the designer line, so if they were to do that to some of the other characters, say Jane for example, I can see some people either not recognising who she is or maybe even believing that it was Belle.

Also a lot of the characters being mentioned so far are from movies that did not do as well in the box office. Remember a lot of us have biases towards Disney as we would watch the movies regardless. But I do recall with movies like Tarzan and Atlantis, they were movies that parents only went to see because their kids wanted to see it. Whereas with the bigger Disney movies people went to see the movie regardless of the age, classic examples are Lion King, Aladdin and the more recent Toy Story 3 and Brave. So if you are going to release a designer collection for collectors they probably would have a smaller market because no one would really know who the characters are i.e they were not memorable as Disney characters so why would people buy a collector item of them. This is also the same with the fairy line, as most of the fairies did look the same and to be honest with the reaction towards what they did to Ursula and making her skinny then can you imagine the reaction they would get towards the changes they would make to some of the other fairies. Also the similarities of the some of the fairies would once again make it difficult for people to recognise them, the only popular fairy really is TinkerBell and even with her it is moreso with children than adults and if the line is aimed at adults then this is another reason why they are less likely to do fairies too.

Don’t get me wrong I would love it for Disney to do a designer line of the other characters other than the princesses but from a marketing perspective it makes it hard to sell something if people cannot relate to it.

This is why it leads me to believe that Disney are more likely to do another Princess line but something completely different to a designer line?

Now I could be totally wrong and would be pleasantly surprised if I was and this is just my opinion, besides I like some of the ideas that people have come up with on the forum. Maybe Disney could potentially be looking at the forum too for ideas since there are so many fans on here and makes perfect market research. So yeah keep coming up with ideas as it can only help and hopefully they will release some information soon!

P.S sorry about the long post!
 
Honestly I can see a heroine line due to THE QUEEN OF HEART AND CRUELLA! They are heroine-oriented and Alice & Anita would be perfect companions as Alice would be getting a second chance at another LE doll (come on these are LE dolls deep down) and Anita is how you say? The type of Disney Girl who would be known as the simple style one. She would be a PERFECT contrast to Cruella. I hope there will a Designer Heroines due to this "clue," and for if they do Princes and Male Villains, have them released together LOL. But if they do have another villain line, Lady Tremaine, Yzma, Narissa, Helga, Madame Medusa and Madame Mim cuz she has an excuse to pull an Ursula since she had transformed Sexy and Tall in the movie during her musical number so yeah. For Heroines, Esmeralda, Megara, Alice, Anita, Jane, Kida, Eilonwy, Charlotte<3 and Wendy( they owe us x______x)
 

1) They do. I haven't the slightest idea where to find it, but there was someone interviewed that basically confirmed this theory. It was a designer for the villain collection and he said that, after the princess collection, they noticed that there was a huge number of fan based want and designs posted everywhere for a villain collection. So, it inspired them and gave them the green light. (I totally understood it as "Yep, they'll buy it. Lets make them.") So, who knows, maybe people like us are whispering in their ears?

2) Don't apologize. I LOVE it when people write long posts here, especially when there's a lot of thought put in to them. It gives so much more to read and enjoy.

3) And...I also do agree that there wouldn't be a designer Jane for the exact reason you stated. That's why I've never listed her in any of my theory rants. I have nothing against her, love her, enjoy her character, but a Designer version would risk looking like "Belle on safari".

4) I do think they missed some fantastic oportunities with the designer collection. I mean, Tremaine would have been fantastic. Maybe they were afraid that people would want one or the other, but not both dolls...but that's not a valid reason to me since there are Gothel and QoH 17" and Designer dolls now. And, hello, Yzma. Not much more needs to be said really. Just, Yzma.

Whatever they do decide...I want them to go all out and not hold back, no matter what the new theme is.
 
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ElysionsPrincess said:
Please keep in mind Giselle is impossible, for they would have to pay Amy Adams for her likeness.
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Why does that make it impossible? They are making the Enchanted BT next month for Pete's sake xP Keeping Giselle alive through maybe one product a year isn't bad, releasing a pin of her every week...now THAT's a problem


I think Tremaine might not have been chosen based on her popularity. I mean, let's be honest, out of all the memorable Female Disney Villains, Tremaine, while well-known, doesn't really hit a high note among every Disney fan. She is well-known purely because of Cinderella but there isn't anything really memorable about her in and of herself, character-wise or physically.


This is exactly why dolls for characters like Jane, Kida, and ESPECIALLY Eilonwy wouldn't do well. This is why I think Disney should rely on the countless other well-known heroines they have. Great examples are:

Alice
Merida
Tinker Bell
Esmerelda
Giselle
Vanellope (WiR came out last year and did very well at the box office, many people will recognize her if they do her this year and little girls seem to love her!)
Meg
Wendy

and then if they really want to push it and do some other risky ones like (but I doubt they'd do some of the following, these are just more ideas in case people need there to be 10 haha)

Jessica Rabbit (outside hardcore Disney fans, she isn't all too well-known)
Sofia
Jane
Maid Marian (I said pushing it, didn't I? lol)
 
The biggest challenge that Disney would have with making a Designer line for the "other" female characters from their animated films is that there is no current existing title or franchise for that group, yet. "Disney Princess" and "Disney Villains" have been marketing franchises for over a decade, albeit the "Disney Villains" usually have the male villains grouped in there as well but not always.

There seems to be a lot of un-love for Jane from Tarzan going on here, but if they were going to make a line of dolls for the "other" females, I do not see why she would not be included. She is not forgotten by Disney completely, as she has consistently shown up at WDW's Mickey's Not-So-Scary Halloween Parties as a meetable character for the past few years, but Megara is not ever meetable at either of the US Disney Parks (unless one is training at Epcot's International Gateway).Also, Tarzan was not a financial box office flop and it did get two direct-to-video sequel films, as well as a TV series.

I have no idea what Disney may have planned for this year, but if they did make a group of "other" female characters for a Designer line, I could see: Alice, Esmeralda, Wendy, Megara, Jane, and Merida, with heavy reservations for Gisele and Jessica Rabbit. Any characters from Frozen would be too early to release with this year's Designer line if they do the release it at the same time as the past two years (August to mid-October), because Frozen is scheduled for a very late November release, and I don't think we will see any Frozen merchandise until early November, a few weeks prior to the film's release. Tinker Bell would have been a shoe-in before the Disney Fairies franchise took off, but now she has her own special niche. Vanellope is kind of small, so that could be a challenge, as the Designer dolls so far are all the same height and body-type. This also may affect Alice and Wendy's chances, as they are young girls.

To be honest, I could totally see them making a Designer Princess Wedding Collection or some other themed Designer Collection for the Disney Princesses, perhaps with Merida included. Designer Fairies are another possibility, since they have made the 10" dolls for the main female fairy characters: Tinker Bell, Rosetta, Silvermist, Fawn, Iridessa, Vidia, and Periwinkle. However, the Disney Fairies franchise is aimed at the young girl/tween demographic, and the Designer Collections are supposed to be for adult collectors, so that might already negate any chances of a Designer Fairy Collection. Then, of course, there is the possibility of Designer Princes, but if they just dress them in suits/tuxedos, that would kill me. I would love to see Designer Princes in super-detailed deluxe versions of their regular clothes.

In any case, I hope that they make enough of whomever it is, so that everyone has a chance to get them. I know many people think that 13,000 of each Designer Villain was too much, but I'd rather have that than what happened with the Designer Princesses. I just want the dolls, and I don't care how many (or how few) other people in the world have them, too.
 
While Cruella devil is the memorable one in 101 Dalmatians, ANITA is the perfect heroine. She can be the simple girl of the heroine line. plus they wouldl go good together while contrasting at the same time. I mean aside from Cruella, and the puppies, anita made the movie lol along with roger and the hooligans jasper and Horace and nanny. Let's not forget perdita and pongo either lol. But Anita for sure since we're pushing it LOL.
 
I am literally against putting tinker bell in since she has her own franchise now and that seems to be as cherished as sliced bread lol. Wendy was stronger and a good example cuz she was ready to crack ariel's rough sketch cousins right on the head with a conkle shell. She wasn't having their crud, Alice (,3) either.
 
Princes could have a prop with them to keep from getting boring. Aubrey (my name for SW'S Prince) could have a dove or his hat. Daniel could have the glass slipper. Phillip could have the shield and sword. Eric could have his flute with him. Adam could have his rose in a jar or hands. Aladdin could have either the lamp or Abu with him. John Smith could have a compass with him and his helmet, Shang could have a sword. Naveen could have a froggy version of Tiana and Flynn could have a frying pan (Who knew right?)
 

i do apologise, Shivatopia, you are correct Tarzan did well and had a strong box office release and I probably should have reworded what I had said. I think the problem with Tarzan is that it was not very memorable because there are so many renditions of Tarzan that whilst it did well in the box office it really just did not become a classic due to the overuse of the Tarzan character/storyline.

Dont get me wrong I think Jane is great but I just don't think many people would remember her, that and she looks a lot like Belle so there may be a bit of confusion there. I think where she would be great is if they were to do like a 3d model of Disney movie moments, so in this case where Tarzan is swinging through the trees using the vines whilst holding Jane. Because that way people could put all the references together and recognize the scene rather than the characters.

That is also a great point about the non existent title. For me it is just another reason why I think Disney will deviate away from another Designer line.
 


I think that is where most people on these forums at least started to coin the "Disney Heroine" line because it doesn't sound back for starters and it is an easy way to define them all. Heck, if Disney wanted to, they could call it the "Disney Girls" line like they did with the R/C pin set, but that title "Disney Girls" never worked in my eyes.

Vanellope is kind of small, so that could be a challenge, as the Designer dolls so far are all the same height and body-type. This also may affect Alice and Wendy's chances, as they are young girls.
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They made Ursula skinny, they can easily make Alice, Wendy, and Vanellope taller. In fact, I'd love to see a tall version of all of them that still keeps their basic dresses and hairstyles to keep them easy defined. I'd most definitely like a Vanellope one most of all considering I think whatever designer would get her could really go crazy. Her outfit isn't designer at all and she essentially come from a background of all candy so they could go wild and have fun with their inspiration for her outfit ^_^ Or they could stick with his princess pink outfit, which I wouldn't mind either but I would definitely not like as much >_<

P.S. DESIGNER CALHOUN FTW!!!


The princes could have a prop with them to help make them more interesting but the problem in my eyes still remains because a majority of the pin will be the actual body and besides a few who get special outfits from their background, the ones that are stuck in tuxes will only be drastically different in their faces and in their prop, which isn't a whole lot to me
 
Snow White and Cinderella's princes are I guess pretty basic and plain thumbs down. Prince Phillip has two ways to go here; his red and blue outfit or his black outfit. I personally prefer his black outfit. Eric does too (two), his wedding outfit and his basic outfit. He could even be modified a bit since Ariel was with her fabulous prom dress hybrid I loved so much (Real Talk <3). Beast Adam has two forms but we know what route we are going here. He could be modified to coordinate with belle but I see some to none tweaking with his. Aladdin has his Ali Ababwa outfit going on so that's where we are headed. John Smith is basic and Shang could get something from the sequel but he will probably have his warrior thing going on. Naveen could have something frog oriented but his first outfit was simple and viable. Flynn and his final outfit is a good change of pace but we will probably see his basic one. But so many choices so little time. We will have to wait and see.
 
I'm just posting something I kind of realised here - it's possibly been realised and mentioned but anyway. I wonder if the reason the Princesses get the most attention because they are the lead of their own movies. Belle, Snow White, Ariel, Aurora, Cinderella, Tiana, Pocahontas, Mulan, Rapunzel, Merida - each girl is the lead, and each of them are part of the Princess line. One exception is Jasmine. Technically the "star" of that film is... well Aladdin - Jasmine is really only the leading lady, or the romanceable character. That should technically make her in the same line as Megara, Anita, Jane, Esmerelda and Wendy. Where then is Alice supposed to go? She's not a princess, yet she's the main character of her own film... maybe since there's no romance it's easier to place her with the heorines then with the princesses, though Mulan isn't technically princess yet also the lead of her own film,but she is considered a princess. I don't really know where I'm going with this, I'm more just thinking out loud. Please don't get me wrong, I'm not saying I don't like Jasmine and that she doesn't deserve to be a princess, I LOVE Jamise, I just find it interesting how she breaks the pattern.
Regarding the designer line. I really couldn't even begin to guess at what they'll do - I missed the deisgner princess line, so I would really love a whole new princess line, but not a 'desginer' line as such. I understand why people don't want another designer line because of it undervaluing their current dolls, but I'd love something new with the princesses.
 
The same could be said about Merida, she doesn't have a love interest and is the first and only Disney Pixar princess and is the only one without a "song".

Also Jasmine is a princess and in fact throughout the movie is referred to as Princess so she is more princess than Belle, Cinderella and Tiana as they "married" into the title.

Then you have Mulan and Pocahontas who are not even Princesses (yes Pocahontas as the chiefs daughter but arguably speaking that is different to a princess)

Finally a lot of the princesses were not necessarily the main focus of their movies but shared it with their partners. Tiana and Naveen as the movie was called Princess and the Frog, Rapunzel and Flynn/Eugene which was in fact raised by Disney as the reason why they changed the title of the movie from Rapunzel to Tangled as they wanted the story to be about both characters and not just Rapunzel. Then you have Belle which she shared with Prince Adam/the beast hence the title beauty and the beast.

so I guess from all of that what you can take out of it is that there is no pattern. There was a pattern a bit of a pattern up until Merida was added to the line I.e Princess by birth or title, disney animation studios movie, each character had a corresponding "prince" and sidekick and all had a song. But then Merida broke the mould and changed everything completely.

But even before then Disney excluded Kida from Atlantis and she is referred to as a princess in the movie and aside from her not having a song she pretty much ticked all the boxes. Then you also have the confusion with Pocahontas and Mulan as they never married or were born into royalty, Mulan moreso than Pocahontas especially if you interpret the daughter of the chief being a princess equivalent.

so my theory is that there is no pattern and that a princess is determined to be one by Disney if the character sells well and is favored by the public. This making her sellable and relatable, I.e its all a marketing ploy for disney to make money off the merchandise.
 
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