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I do not know how to quote two comments at the same time, otherwise I would have quoted you in my previous post. But my comments was response to yours that Disney made DFC Part II as "afterthought to dissipate fans" (I think those were your words). I agree with you wrote above. It just that from the aforethought comment you made it seem that you thought Disney was not originally going to make Part II. I think they were planning to do it all along but were not completely sure if the line was going to be a success.
I only started collecting these dolls after DFC Part I had already come out last year. Perhaps because of it I see the original designer line something that happened a time long ago. It would be strange if there was a Merida, Anna and Elsa designer dolls made in my opinion after so long the originals came out. If there was a plan all along to release designer versions of these characters they would have done it at the expo last year. Frozen had not come out then but the merchandise had. The only reason why i could see them making them for 2015 is because popularity of Elsa and need to made a designer version of her (since alpa could be added to DFC) but really she already had two limited edition dolls so it is not necessary. I seen them making something else with the princesses again more likely that making more designer dolls.
Also, when I sometimes speak of designer heroines I mean designer in the same sense the DFC and the fairies are designer, not couture. I think Disney is using the world designer in a sense that the line is is not strictly film accurate and has some different vision. If they were to do heroines I do not think they will do couture. The heroines are not recognizable the same way villains are and are not as popular as princesses. If the heroines were done in the same way barely anyone would know who the characters are and there is no novelty anymore.
Anyway this was just my own speculation, nothing serious.
There must have been a miscommunication but yeah with what you said above I don't know wht Disney would not do the other princesses. Don't forget before the designer fairytale dolls there were the villains and the princesses and they were true designer dolls. The fairytale dolls are far from being designer and are sort of just miniature versions of the LE dolls. With glammed up outfits.
By the way I never said dissipate fans I said appease so I was implying that Disney did the line to satisfy the fan base requesting it. That has a completely different meaning to what you were inferring. Might I suggest that you reread what I said as I believe that my stance on the matter was relatively clear.
With what you say as well the designer lines are very much all about popularity. So I honestly see next year's line featuring elsa who appears to be a money maker for Disney. Unless of course disney stops the designer line. But next year is also an expo year so it would be silly of Disney to not take up this opportunity.
But the great thing is if people believe what you say that means that there will be more dolls available to people who do want to collect them which is great news for everyone else.
I think what you point out is fair but why are you blaming Disney? What exactly are they doing wrong?
It may be easy to blame someone for this but shouldn't you be blaming the scalpers for being so greedy? If it is so easy to rectify the issue don't you think Disney would have done so already?
Comments like this always frustrate me because it is just people looking for an excuses and someone to blame. I don't mean to call you out on it but maybe you should ask yourself what would you do different if you were in Disney ' shoes making these decisions? Maybe if you provide suggests to a solution as opposed to just raising the problem that may possibly help them.
I know people suggested removing the edition size but then how many people would hate that due to the inconsistency? Also from Disney 's perspective these are products they want to sell to keep the demand up. No one was complaining back when the dolls were on the shelves for months and yet disney still stuck with it in the hopes that the line would become successful and now that is has they are doing everything wrong?
What frustrates me even more is that I live all the way in Australia. Do you know how expensive shipping is to get items to me? It costs me over a grand last year. But I just had to put up with it because I really want these dolls. Also as mentioned by others here, that is the nature of collecting. Unfortunately it is not a cheap hobby, if you struggle with it then maybe consider just getting the dolls you want as opposed to all of them.
Also I get that people freak themselves out before releases but if you think about it when has a doll ever sold out in less than 5 minutes? Don't forget you are looking at thousands here the designers are LE 6000 which is a lot and even Ariel from last year's line, the most popular of them all pasted at least 30 minutes before she sold out. Now I am sorry but if you knew about these dolls before hand and knew when they were going to be released then surely you would be able to get one.
Even with the LE dolls last year's Eric and Ursula took a while to sell out so again if you were just on there early enough you would be fine. The reason why scalpers make the money they do is because people are willing to pay the ridiculous asking prices. Last year people bought the designer dolls asking round the $400-500 mark but now they have dropped to around the $200 which is not that bad seeing that these dolls originally retailed at $130.
I think that before people freak out and worry about the upcoming release think about it first and it is pretty obvious that this upcoming release should not be that bad at all. even if you were to miss out on a doll I'm sure it wouldn't be hard to get on the secondary market you just have to wait and something good will eventually pass by. If not then oh well that's life, at the end of the day these are dolls and just a collectors item so don't let it stress you out or else you will end up not enjoying collecting them.
I'm not looking for an excuse there are many different solutions. They could increase the amount that they produce and sell. Look back to the Wedding Rapunzel, it took forever for that doll to sell, even after the price cut. But if you put that doll out now it would sell within a day. With how popular and in demand these dolls are they could sell easily! Also the cost of dolls is the least of my worry's. LIke you said, if you want the product you have to know what you're getting yourself into. And trust me I know about all these dolls and keep up with them until the release date. But the point I was trying to get across was that Frozen is now causing way more issues for collectors. Now we don't only have to worry about other collectors and scalpers, we have to worry about the insane parents who just want to get more Frozen product for there kids.
I'm not looking for an excuse there are many different solutions. They could increase the amount that they produce and sell. Look back to the Wedding Rapunzel, it took forever for that doll to sell, even after the price cut. But if you put that doll out now it would sell within a day. With how popular and in demand these dolls are they could sell easily! Also the cost of dolls is the least of my worry's. LIke you said, if you want the product you have to know what you're getting yourself into. And trust me I know about all these dolls and keep up with them until the release date. But the point I was trying to get across was that Frozen is now causing way more issues for collectors. Now we don't only have to worry about other collectors and scalpers, we have to worry about the insane parents who just want to get more Frozen product for there kids.
Those are very good points and have been raised before. But the issue here is that if Disney were to raise edition sizes for the upcoming dolls who are no where near as popular as frozen it would result in the dolls no longer being hot property. Don't forget for the most part of these dolls being released a majority of them took months to sell out. I don't think it will take months for these upcoming designers to sell out but like I said before this release is really going to depend on what the dolls look like. Last year a lot of people loved Snow's look based on the artwork but when the doll came out they were so disappointed that she became one of the least sought after dolls and lasted online for over a week.
This year we know that probably Pocahontas and Tiana may share that same fate due to Pocahontas' simplicity and Tiana's overused look. Then again that will all depend on the way the dolls look. Also you need not fear parents buying these dolls for their kids because it does state it is not suitable for children and hold a hefty price of $130 each.
Frozen really was an exception, we won't be expecting anymore frozen LE dolls but we may get some frozen designers next year. I believe for that release Disney may increase the edition size to maybe 8,000 as they aren't too worried to increase edition sizes. So this year since it is Sleeping Beauty 's year for LE dolls and there is only the designer fairytale dolls part 2. It would be silly of Disney to raise the edition size for any of them based on the demand from frozen. As that is like comparing apples against oranges.
The only exception to this would be Maleficent who will probably be the most popular of the dolls being released this year so they definitely should consider increasing her edition size, which I believe they did.
You have to understand that it really is difficult for Disney to find the right medium due to the unexpected nature of collecting. They want to keep the dolls I'm demand but if they over supply like they did with the designer villains they end up putting them up for sale and losing out on money. I think Disney learned their lesson with the designer villains who were up for so long that it really killed the buzz and demand for the dolls. Don't forget even with the Frozen dolls these took a while to sell out too as people were unsure if they wanted them. To be honest it would be good to see a scalper stupidly purchase these upcoming releases in the hope of reselling them for make a profit as I think they will struggle, similar to what happened to the designer fairytale dolls. Initially with all the hype they may sell them for a bit but once that hype dies they will barely even be able to sell it for $200. So far I think what they have done us right when it comes to their LE items and I appreciate that they release them online therefore making it possible for anyone anywhere to get them.
I don't know if you collect pins but they have pins released only in specific locations which makes it nearly impossible to collect many that you may want and they are much smaller in edition size too. Usually only ranging from the 300-400. So you can imagine how difficult it is to collect them.
I guess what I am trying to say is that whilst it may sound like an easy solution to increase the edition size there are so many other factors you need to take into consideration such as cost of production, return on investment, demand etc. And you can definitely see that disney does take into account the popularity of their characters hence why they adjust the edition sizes accordingly. So I would like to think that they have done their research and did what they did for a good reason.
this is true but frozen also attracted a lot of new collectors as well who will also try to get the dolls. the edition size for the villain designer dolls surely was way to big but i still do not really understand why the first elsa and anna dolls only got a size of 2500 each. there was not a single le doll before them that went this low in the edition size except for the villains and prince eric who had 1500 if i remember correctly.
i think that something in between 5000 and 8000 would be a very good thing and maybe even, if possible, have future frozen dolls have increased edition sizes on top of that (which i think unlikely; why give like 5000 to the others and like 10 000 to elsa, but i bet they would all sell ).
this is true but frozen also attracted a lot of new collectors as well who will also try to get the dolls. the edition size for the villain designer dolls surely was way to big but i still do not really understand why the first elsa and anna dolls only got a size of 2500 each. there was not a single le doll before them that went this low in the edition size except for the villains and prince eric who had 1500 if i remember correctly.
i think that something in between 5000 and 8000 would be a very good thing and maybe even, if possible, have future frozen dolls have increased edition sizes on top of that (which i think unlikely; why give like 5000 to the others and like 10 000 to elsa, but i bet they would all sell ).
The first set of Frozen dolls were set at an LE of 2500 because they came out before the movie was even in theaters. A few people said they wouldn't buy them because they weren't sure if they even liked the characters at that point and many others hadn't even really heard of the characters before. The edition number was set lower because they were probably testing out the market for the dolls. I think the 5000-6000 range is perfectly fine, any higher and they run the risk of people not buying them. Don't forget that they're collector's dolls, not really children's toys and I don't think too many parents would spend over $100 on a doll for a child to play with. I have no problems with kids owning them for collecting or displaying, but very few children want to display a doll instead of playing with them. So the majority of that 10, 000 would go to adult collectors and honestly, that sounds like way too much and a bad move on Disney's part.
While there are new collectors, I think at this point if they wanted to collect them all (the designer princesses and villains series, 17" LEs, and fairytale collection) they would be putting in a lot of money to do so. What's much more likely is that they're going to buy the ones they want for retail and then save their money for the ones they like the best from the previous collections to buy on the secondary market. I'll admit I was a bit nervous at first about all the new collectors, but Polaris is right- the most popular princesses were in last year's release and even they were online for about a half hour or so. If you're prepared, that's plenty of time to order.
this is true but frozen also attracted a lot of new collectors as well who will also try to get the dolls. the edition size for the villain designer dolls surely was way to big but i still do not really understand why the first elsa and anna dolls only got a size of 2500 each. there was not a single le doll before them that went this low in the edition size except for the villains and prince eric who had 1500 if i remember correctly.
i think that something in between 5000 and 8000 would be a very good thing and maybe even, if possible, have future frozen dolls have increased edition sizes on top of that (which i think unlikely; why give like 5000 to the others and like 10 000 to elsa, but i bet they would all sell ).
This is not true, you pointed out the villains and Eric but even lower was Alice and Queen of Hearts. they were at the 500 mark. Also last year during the WiR release they released 2,500 Sgt Calhoun dolls and they took so long to sell. As mentioned by Luna Ray the November dolls came out before the movie actually came out so it was already a risk for Disney to start with and you could tell because of the fact that they were not expecting the movie to do so well.
I get that all these collectors came in as a result of Frozen but the way I see it is that there are Frozen collectors and Disney Doll collectors. you will find that because this designer line has no frozen all the Frozen collectors will go elsewhere like pins and other merchandise to fill their needs.
then you will just be left with the doll collectors who I do not believe would have increased significantly compared to last year because of the fact that these characters are not favourites of most people. You will still get collectors buying the entire set or the casual collectors buying only the ones they want but I honestly believe that a majority of these will sell to scalpers. those that belive that this line will sell out like the Frozen dolls only to find out that they may have the same issue they had with the designer fairies.
I am telling all the scalpers out there now that the designer lines have never done well on the secondary market so buying these dolls en mass in the hope of on selling them for a profit is stupid. yes there have been ones that are popular like designer ariel and the D23 Cinderella but I don't believe that this line will have a doll that will reach those heights.
so to those of you that are worrying about this upcoming release, don't. just make sure you are ready to go for the release and if not it is not the end of the world as you should be able to get one for around $180-200. whatever you do do not pay more than that or else you will regret it as the market will flood with these putting the purchasing power to the buyer as opposed to the seller. If you look on ebay now you are able to get three of the 5 dolls from last year for under $200 with Belle and ariel between the 200-250.
New doll releases will always attract new doll collectors. It's always been this way, and it will always be this way. We were all new collectors at one time. It would be a marketing disaster for Disney if it did not bring in new fans. I've collected dolls for most of my adult life (not just Disney), and in my experience a good majority of these new collectors eventually move on to different things. I call it "Shiny Syndrome". Once a doll or figure or what-have-you no longer is the "hot" item the hype dies (the Shiny) and so do a lot of collectors. It no longer becomes the IT thing to do. I can say this because I was one of them at one time with Monster High dolls. Guess what I no longer collect?
So, while we will still have newer collectors who may go crazy for the new dolls we also will probably lose a lot of them too. After all, they are not "Frozen" dolls and IMO Frozen was a large hype creator.
And to back up the poster who said they have seen people posting on the Disney FB pages, I've also seen the comments where new collectors claim they are going to buy the new designer dolls or 17" dolls and trade them for frozen dolls. Know what I say to that? Don't waste your time or your money or other collectors dolls.
I'm asking myself why people think they can trade the Fairytale Designer Couples II or Sleeping Beauty 17" LE dolls for Frozen ones???
Who would do that? This sounds like people haven't understood what crazy "value" the Frozen dolls currently have.
I'm also one of those "new collectors" but mainly because I had never heard of these beautiful dolls before. I live where there is no Disneystore or even marketing for these dolls – I first got aware of them when I had a look at Frozen merchandise around the end of November. It was at that time I saw the Frozen LEs, but I thought they were too expensive on ebay for 200 Euros (oh my....). While initially yes, I became aware of ALL the dolls because I saw the Frozen ones I now have gotten sucked into the dolls and I already have a wishlist for many older ones and still, even I know it's impossible to trade newer dolls for Frozen dolls. I don't get it. I'm going to buy the Aurora dolls as I love the original movie :>
and to back up the poster who said they have seen people posting on the Disney FB pages, I've also seen the comments where new collectors claim they are going to buy the new designer dolls or 17" dolls and trade them for frozen dolls. Know what I say to that? Don't waste your time or your money or other collectors dolls.
I completely agree with you o this. I don't get why a person would want to trade an older one with a newre doll unless the person missed out on the doll as one would assume that if the person has the older doll then they would also have the new one or would know about the new one too. Therefore the chances of them wanting to do that trade is slim. Because if they wanted that doll they could always get it.
Also the newer dolls would be closer to retail whereas the older ones would be valued at market value with for the case of Elsa would mean a person having to trade the entire designer fairytale 2 set, all the sleeping beauty LE dolls and even that would still be slightly short.
I'm asking myself why people think they can trade the Fairytale Designer Couples II or Sleeping Beauty 17" LE dolls for Frozen ones???
Who would do that? This sounds like people haven't understood what crazy "value" the Frozen dolls currently have.
I'm also one of those "new collectors" but mainly because I had never heard of these beautiful dolls before. I live where there is no Disneystore or even marketing for these dolls – I first got aware of them when I had a look at Frozen merchandise around the end of November. It was at that time I saw the Frozen LEs, but I thought they were too expensive on ebay for 200 Euros (oh my....). While initially yes, I became aware of ALL the dolls because I saw the Frozen ones I now have gotten sucked into the dolls and I already have a wishlist for many older ones and still, even I know it's impossible to trade newer dolls for Frozen dolls. I don't get it. I'm going to buy the Aurora dolls as I love the original movie :>
I don't think people mean they will trade fairytale or sleeping beauty dolls for frozen dolls. I think they meant say snow queen Elsa is £800 and they can get say £300 for a Aurora or Maleficent when they only paid £60 then technically they are paying less for a Elsa as they got some money from the other doll if that makes sense lol. Either way it's abit silly and I think people should only buy them if they like them.
I'm glad they included Mulan and Pocahontas, since there was some uncertainty if they would. I think the Princes in this set seem like they are just kind of standing around. I think they did this so they work better in the doll cases. I also wish this would have been a new series called Fairytale Collection. It's not quite like the original Designer line. I do hope they continue with the original Designer concept in 2015 since there will be a D23 Convention. I'm Princessed out and want to see them do different characters - although it makes sense they did the Princesses again with it being a big year for Sleeping Beauty. I have a feeling Designer Wedding Princesses will happen some time in the future.
I never thought of them doing a wedding set, that sounds very plausible though as they've released the regular play dolls in wedding outfits. I wouldn't be interested much in that (I prefer twists on their normal outfits) but I can see those being semi-popular
I'll just be getting Mulan this year. I got last year's set because it had Belle and Rapunzel and, to a lesser extent Ariel. But as Mulan is my favorite in this next set, I'll just stick with her. I might go crazy with a journal and mug too, but am not sure. LOL.
I'm hoping that my chances of being able to snag Aurora & Phillip are good, as they're the only set that I am interested in this round. LE releases are not great for my high levels of anxiety. Especially those Frozen ones...yeesh! :anxious:
They do all just look like the same dolls over and over though. Even the new classic dolls from Disney Store due out soon look similar to their LE counterparts except size and clothing
But Aurora is dressed as briar rose that's a first and I don't think Cinderella with that hair looks like anything we have seen before. The new classic dolls do look good though, in some cases I prefer them to their LE counterparts.
I am so excited for the Cinderella doll. I cannot wait to get her. I am so disappointed in the Pocahontas doll. I hate the feathers with a passion. I really like Tiana and Mulan. Not sure how I feel about Shang or Naveen yet. I really like Aurora but I'm not sure how I feel about Phillip. I get Ariels dress was inspired by Aurora, Cinderella, and Snow White but I feel like Aurora and Ariel have nearly identical dresses in this collection but with different colors.
OMG! I CAN NOT EVENT!! They're gorgeous & man I was so right about how Tiana looks! Definitely getting her & cinderella's is beautiful! Thank goodness Prince "Henry" (inside joke for all you pin traders) isn't sprayed tan in doll form!
I love Mulan, Aurora and Cinderella the most. But I'm not sure if I really want them. If someone would show me Aurora without any indication of Disney I wouldn't really recognise her in it. And I don't have any connection with Cinderella at all. I do love Mulan so I might just get that one but I'm gonna wait for detailed photos because I don't think I like the pose of Shang.
I love the princesses but the princes all seem so stiff and lifeless.