Disney Dolls Appreciation Discussion

[swim2sea]

Can you repost your photo of the Cinderella doll? I have the signature Cinderella and Snow White doll and wondered if you were talking about that one. I don't have a Sleeping Beauty doll yet but I'm working on it.

 

[Shivatopia]

Can you repost your photo of the Cinderella doll? I have the signature Cinderella and Snow White doll and wondered if you were talking about that one. I don't have a Sleeping Beauty doll yet but I'm working on it.

The Signature dolls come in very nice display boxes, where the front panel opens up like the cover of a book to reveal a nicely decorated interior with a center pop-up feature. The doll is behind clear plastic. The front panel also has a "window", where you can see the doll within, but otherwise is nicely decorated. Signature Cinderella's box has a blue exterior with a picture of the glass slipper on the Grand Duke's purple cushion and Cinderella's mice and bird friends. The "window" is framed by a pink ribbon design. Signature Snow White is in a red box and Signature Aurora is in a gold box.

 

[stybbafirefoot]

The Aurora and Cinderella look beautiful but I'm not convinced by Belle. Are there pictures of the Beast loose? I can only find him on ebay in his box, interested to see how they approached him.

The jeans and vest sort of suit Flynn I think! Can't wait to see fantasy Flynn!

 

[Shivatopia]

The Aurora and Cinderella look beautiful but I'm not convinced by Belle. Are there pictures of the Beast loose? I can only find him on ebay in his box, interested to see how they approached him.

The jeans and vest sort of suit Flynn I think! Can't wait to see fantasy Flynn!

Yay! I got my Disney Store version of the Tangled Celebration giftset today! =) I like Flynn's outfit a lot more than the regular Disney Store Flynn doll. The doublet looks way better, because it is made out of a nicer-looking fabric. As for fantasy Flynn, I'll have to wait on that. My friend who does doll repaints does it for a living, so I still have to pay to have the work done (but it is soooooo worth it!). With the current Disney Princess Designer Collection and my WDW vacation coming up, finances are a bit tight for a while (but also soooooo worth it!).

 

[Shivatopia]

Alas, as the fifth Monday of the Disney Princess Designer Collection approaches, and Snow White's imminent release that morning is hovering in the back of our minds, I figured that I would try to distract myself with my review of the first three dolls of the series. I am lucky enough to have obtained all of the dolls thus far released (Mulan is currently in transit via UPS), and it is my hope that I will obtain the entire set. The task seems more Herculean as each week progresses, but I'm trying to keep a positive outlook on the whole affair. I guess you could say that I'm channeling my inner Snow White! That said, let's visit our LE 8000 beauties:

Disney Princess Designer Cinderella:

Ok, I'll be honest that when I first saw the design images and the pins that were derived from the sketches, my first thought about Designer Cinderella was literally: "Oh my goodness! They turned her into 1950s Barbie!" Then people leaked out with unofficial photos of the actual dolls online, and when I saw Cinderella, my mom mentioned that the doll's face at least looked like Cinderella (Cinderella has always been my mom's favorite princess). Bear in mind that those photos were generally not great, having been taken with a phone's camera in poor lighting, so at the time I told myself: "Ok, I'll only have to get Snow White, Rapunzel, Cinderella, and maybe Aurora." Well, since then, that changed completely, as the dolls really look great! So, going back to Cinderella, her dress is very much 1950's inspired, bearing a very strong resemblance to Marilyn Monroe's "Diamonds Are A Girl's Best Friend" gown (but longer and in blue). The dress is very lovely, but almost has no resemblance to Cinderella's traditional ballgown, whatsoever. Re-imagined? Definitely. Her pumpkin coach purse is one of the real highlights, as it is crafted beautifully. She is reported to have shoes that look like glass slippers. Her necklace is kind of odd, since the base is a black bejeweled ribbon (which by itself would have been fine), with two rows of black beads hanging from it (that could have been edited out). Her blue headband walks a very fine line between hit or miss, but I think it works with the overall look. It's not at all Cinderella's signature headdress, but it does conjure the right Cinderella-esque imagery. I am glad they did not give her the super long eyelashes that 7 of the 10 dolls received. Those eyelashes appear to be love it or hate it with most people, but they would not work very well with the 3 Classic Princesses (Snow White, Cinderella, & Aurora). Thankfully, Disney seems to think so, too. The only thing I would have done different is the color of her hair. Cinderella's hair in the movie is a dark blonde (almost a strawberry blonde color), but here, she has very light, almost-platinum blonde hair. Even the sketch gives her a more vibrant yellow hair color (see the sketches of the 10 princesses above). Oh well! What's done is done. I like Cinderella, nevertheless.

Disney Princess Designer Ariel

So far, Ariel has become the most coveted of the Designer Dolls so far released. Without a doubt, Ariel is one of the most popular Disney Princesses, but I often wonder how much of that has to do with the fact that she is a redhead. When I first saw the sketch and pin of Designer Ariel, I was completely underwhelmed. I liked the way her hair cascaded down in front of her shoulder, but her dress looked flat and boring (it kind of reminded me of clumps of seaweed). I was not planning on buying her at first. Then the early phone photo was released, and I saw that the doll looked better than the sketch. Ok, so she ended up on the maybe list. Then I got to see the sample doll at the store, and my opinion did a 180-degree turn. Her dress as a real creation in the pleated fabrics looks amazing! I also like that they chose beautiful shades of aqua blue for the different tiers of the gown. Her hair is a very deep red and very long. I am kind of disappointed that they did not style her hair in front of her shoulder like in the design sketch, but oh well! The contrast of colors is very striking and dramatic! She does have the long antenna-like eyelashes, but somehow, it actually looks ok on her. It is quite easy to see why this doll has caused quite a stir because she is very beautiful, never mind that it is Ariel we are talking about!

Disney Princess Designer Belle

Belle is my least favorite of the Disney Princesses (I loved the movie back in the early 1990s, but I just like all of the other princesses more), so for me, she was the lowest priority doll to get. My first impression of her designer gown was: "It's not really too different from her normal dress! They turned the skirt into a ruffled chaos and cut off the shoulder sashes." Designer Belle just did not look very special to me. Then the phone photo was posted, revealing that her elegant updo was transformed into a beehive! What were they thinking?!?! They turned her from a beautiful young woman into a school marm! Then they turned the soft ruffles of the design sketch into a tight mess of fabric rosettes. Things were not looking so good for Belle. Needless to say, I was disappointed that she was chosen to be the third doll released. However, by the time of her release, I decided to buy her for two reasons. The first reason is that I seemed to already be heading down the path to collecting the whole set. Second, my friend's favorite princess is Belle, and in talking about the dolls, I somehow managed to convince her to want one (and she is not a collector at all normally). So Belle got added to the collection. I must say that her face is very pretty, and if I ever take her out of the box, I'm going to restyle her hair. Each time I look at her, I like Designer Belle just a bit more.


What are your personal thoughts about the Disney Princess Designer Dolls? Which are your favorites from the ones that have been already released?

 

[Shivatopia]

The Aurora and Cinderella look beautiful but I'm not convinced by Belle. Are there pictures of the Beast loose? I can only find him on ebay in his box, interested to see how they approached him.

Ok, so these are some of the only decent pictures I found of Signature Belle and Signature Beast doing a really quick google search. Beast actually does not look too bad, and they did a fantastic job on his clothes. Unfortunately, he also has a rather goofy facial expression that would give me nightmares if I had him sitting in my room. Obviously, this is not one of those dolls that you can change from Beast to Prince "Adam" (his unofficial name). And Signature Belle... well, they used a really generic brunette Barbie, complete with the bent arms and 1980s Barbie facial sculpt. As you can see, her hair is way too long, and not styled like the ballroom scene in the movie. The dress looks overworked, and I really don't like the fact that the shoulder straps look like a shawl. Also, why does the dress have sleeves? She's supposed to wear elegant opera gloves. Belle's ballgown in the movie was a total "Wow" moment, and this doll just does not live up to that. To be fair, she was the first of the Signature dolls to be made, but when you compare her to the second doll of the series, Signature Snow White, there is no comparison. Signature Snow White was made with a lot more attention to character detail and is a much more successful doll, in my opinion.

 

[stybbafirefoot]

Yes, she looks rather like a cheap one I got at DLRP a couple of years ago and not high end. Quite glad, otherwise I would have been searching.

LOVE Beast, he looks incredible although I do agree about the facial expression!

 

[swim2sea]

OK so what is wrong with Signature Collection Aurora doll? I noticed you preferred the 40th Anniversary doll. What does the Signature Doll look like?

 

[aandersonis]

well Shiva, I have to say Belle is one of my favorite Disney princesses, but you hit it right on the money with the doll comments. I actually really liked the sketch, but they changed her sooooo much from design to doll. I liked the hairstyle 100x better on paper then the doll and the dress is simply lacking. I have to say I'm not impressed.
Ariel is my absolutely favorite princess, love the colors, little surprised at how long her hair but nevertheless I like it.
I have had the pleasure of receiving my Mulan doll on Friday. While she is gorgeous, I really liked the back of her dress...its smashed in her box
and I really don't like the superlong eyelash idea, on some of the dolls it looks okay, but I like Cindy's eyelashes best!
but overall, I pretty much like the sketches better then the dolls, BUT I still think they're gorgeous.

 

[Shivatopia]

OK so what is wrong with Signature Collection Aurora doll? I noticed you preferred the 40th Anniversary doll. What does the Signature Doll look like?

Hi Swim2sea! I just did an online search, and it looks like a few different 40th Anniversary Aurora dolls were made. The Sleeping Beauty 40th Anniversary Aurora doll above that I was talking about is the same as the Signature Aurora doll (they put 40th Anniversary on the front of the box). She's the one in the gold box, where the front panel of the box opens up with the pop-up feature in the center showing Prince Philip and Aurora dancing. The one I like (and own) is the one that looks like this in the box:

Sorry about any confusion about this doll. To clarify, she is the fifth and final doll from the Disney Signature Collection.

 

[Shivatopia]

While waiting for the eagerly anticipated arrival of Designer Snow White to appear online, I figured I would post another of my favorite Disney dolls from my collection that features my #1 childhood favorite Disney Character: Alice. Since then, Snow White, Flynn Rider, and Megara have taken precedence (bear in mind that back when I was a kid, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs was not yet available on VHS, and of course Hercules and Tangled were not even in any substantial level of pre-production... and yes, I know that totally dates me!). I remember that the first VHS tape my mom bought for me was Alice in Wonderland, because I always wanted to rent it from the video store. Can you believe that the VHS tape cost her $60 back then in the early-1980s? Times have changed!

So tonight I present you with the Disney Collector Alice in Wonderland and the Cheshire Cat doll:

I remember seeing this doll at the Disney Store in the late 1990s, and my first impression was that this was the best doll that was made in Alice's likeness. I did not buy her at the time, because I did not really collect dolls then (that hobby would start a few years later), though I was tempted. I totally forgot about her until about a year ago, where thankfully I found her on eBay for a really good price (I just did an eBay search and it shows a current range of a minimum auction price of $70 and maximum of $150 for BIN). If I am not mistaken, she originally retailed for about $20. So what makes this doll so special to me? Well, her dress and her styling are amazingly well done, and when you look at her, you cannot help but think of Disney's Alice. Her golden hair is parted in the middle just right, and they included her black hair ribbon. Her dress is cut in the right length and style with a lacy petticoat, and they did include her apron. White stockings and her black Mary Jane-style shoes complete her outfit. There are two elements that are not "movie perfect." The first is that they gave her apron a lacy trim, which is fine by me. The second detail is that the fabric of her skirt does not match the top part of her dress. The skirt is made of a sheer blue fabric that allows you to see the details of the lace petticoat through it. My only complaint about that is that the fabric of her dress should have been uniform from the collar to the hem of the skirt. She does not have an original face sculpt, because I know that they used the same one for the Jane dolls from Tarzan. I guess this is their doll face for British girls? They included a tiny PVC figure of the Cheshire Cat, which is a really nice bonus to an already fabulous doll. The packaging is very fanciful and detailed. This doll is always going to be among my top favorite dolls.

 

[disneycrazee]

^^^ Oooh, I've never seen that Alice. She's adorable!

And this may seem kind of random, but with all the talk of OOAK and the Designer Collection, I have an incredibly strong desire to try to create my own princess designer dolls - ones that would *hopefully* be closer to the original artwork...

 

[Shivatopia]

^^^ Oooh, I've never seen that Alice. She's adorable!

And this may seem kind of random, but with all the talk of OOAK and the Designer Collection, I have an incredibly strong desire to try to create my own princess designer dolls - ones that would *hopefully* be closer to the original artwork...

I strongly encourage that, because you can take any doll (and there are some really good Disney play dolls in terms of likenesses to the Disney characters) and make an OOAK doll. You can then embellish the doll with the fabrics of your choice and make accessories that you like a lot better than the items that the factory dolls have. Plus, you can tweak the design to your tastes. Can you imagine an Ariel doll with a real seashell hair ornament? I guarantee that you will love that doll a lot more than the factory-made dolls, because you put your heart into it. Almost all of the dolls I actually have on display at my house are dolls that I have designed and I have commissioned into real life through the talents of my artist friend. My OOAK dolls are literally priceless to me.

 

[disneycrazee]

I strongly encourage that, because you can take any doll (and there are some really good Disney play dolls in terms of likenesses to the Disney characters) and make an OOAK doll. You can then embellish the doll with the fabrics of your choice and make accessories that you like a lot better than the items that the factory dolls have. Plus, you can tweak the design to your tastes. Can you imagine an Ariel doll with a real seashell hair ornament? I guarantee that you will love that doll a lot more than the factory-made dolls, because you put your heart into it. Almost all of the dolls I actually have on display at my house are dolls that I have designed and I have commissioned into real life through the talents of my artist friend. My OOAK dolls are literally priceless to me.

Thank you for the lovely words of encouragement. I actually was thinking of starting with a Disney play doll (mainly because they're more affordable! lol). I absolutely LOVE the idea of a real seashell for Ariel. Now I want to pursue this more than ever! I want to start with Rapunzel because I already have her visualized in my mind.

Do you happen to have any pictures available of your OOAK dolls that you've commissioned your friend to do?

 

[Shivatopia]

Thank you for the lovely words of encouragement. I actually was thinking of starting with a Disney play doll (mainly because they're more affordable! lol). I absolutely LOVE the idea of a real seashell for Ariel. Now I want to pursue this more than ever! I want to start with Rapunzel because I already have her visualized in my mind.

Do you happen to have any pictures available of your OOAK dolls that you've commissioned your friend to do?

I'm glad that you are interested in creating your own dolls! I have not created any Disney OOAK dolls, yet. All of my OOAK dolls were created using Mattel's Barbie & Ken dolls to satisfy my love of Greek Mythology and Renaissance Europe, because Mattel failed to continue a series that they started that I really liked (the 2000-2001 Classical Goddess Collection), and that just springboarded into my other creations. I do have plans to take some of the nicer Collector Ken dolls to recreate the Disney Princes, but that is a project currently on the back burner...

I will say that to start, make a bunch of sketches of things that you would like your doll to have. Some ideas don't work so well in real life because they just don't translate well from sketch to fabric (take the new Disney Designer Collection Dolls - some really look better in sketch form than final doll product). With OOAK dolls, the sky is the limit!

 

[MegglesM]

I have the Belle on Broadway limited edition 1998 doll. I think she's much prettier than the signature collection one! She's the only barbie doll that survived my childhood mostly intact. Mine is missing her shawl, stand, box, and one rosette but I still think she's beautiful!

 

[Shivatopia]

I have the Belle on Broadway limited edition 1998 doll. I think she's much prettier than the signature collection one! She's the only barbie doll that survived my childhood mostly intact. Mine is missing her shawl, stand, box, and one rosette but I still think she's beautiful!

She is a very pretty doll. I like her dreamy eyes. She is definitely better than Signature Belle to me, too. Her hair is still not like Belle's pretty hair in the movie, but this is based on the Broadway musical, and I assume the costume & styling from the stage production? Thanks for sharing!

 

[jlynn6]

Shivatopia I love your Alice doll! This is a fun thread, so again thank you for starting it. I'm not really a doll collector but we have a lot of barbies that we played with when my sister and I were younger. My sisters big expensive collection that my mom started for her was Madame Alexanders, mostly the fairytale characters, she has over 25 of them. My big collection was breyer horses and I have something like over 50 of them, which are all on display in this large cabinet I have in my room. I really do like dolls and am happy that the designer collection is something that I'm interested in collecting and I'll keep them forever (my belle designer was the most expensive thing I have ever bought, being 17 and very cheap lol so I will treasure her forever!)

 

[jlynn6]

Oh shivatopia I was also wondering how many dolls you have both of Disney and others? Also how do you display all of them lol?

 

[Shivatopia]

Oh shivatopia I was also wondering how many dolls you have both of Disney and others? Also how do you display all of them lol?

Hi jlynn! Thank you for the kind words and for dropping in! Yes, I wanted to start a positive thread that just talked about the dolls (any Disney dolls), for as you may have seen, the other main thread that discusses the Disney Designer Dolls can get pretty heavy, especially with the current issues of distribution. Congratulations for "splurging" on Designer Belle! A friend of mine, who is also not a doll collector also decided to get a Designer Belle doll after she had to hear me talk so much about this new collection. Belle is her favorite Disney Princess, so luckily, she is not subject to the rest of the madness surrounding the Designer Dolls. I'm not so lucky, as I do want to get one of each princess...

Wow, in total, I'm not sure how many dolls I have (both Disney and other). Hundreds, I suppose. Most of my dolls are not displayed, and many are in storage boxes. I rarely take my dolls out of the original boxes, because usually the packaging enhances the overall look of the doll and make great displays as they are. I own 2 glass doll cases that have 4 shelves each, and they are probably 80% comprised of my OOAK doll creations. At some point soon, I may start going through my doll collection and start prioritizing which ones I want to keep and what I can sell.

 

[disneycrazee]

Most of my dolls are not displayed, and many are in storage boxes.

This is the problem I have with collecting dolls. It's sad to never see some because they're stored away. (Although, you would think this would prevent me from adding to my collection...but what's the fun in that, right? )

 

[Shivatopia]

This is the problem I have with collecting dolls. It's sad to never see some because they're stored away. (Although, you would think this would prevent me from adding to my collection...but what's the fun in that, right? )

Yes, it's just terrible! Especially whenever I do go into storage and go through some of the things I have, the worst is when I pull something up and say: "Oh, I didn't remember I had that!" That's technically the wake-up call to catalogue and reduce what you've got (I'm terrible at doing both). I think I will start selling some of my stuff soon. After all, the holidays are coming up and a good number of these dolls are really nice. When it comes down to it, I just don't really need all of them.

 

[BethDarleen]

I own 2 glass doll cases that have 4 shelves each, and they are probably 80% comprised of my OOAK doll creations. At some point soon, I may start going through my doll collection and start prioritizing which ones I want to keep and what I can sell.

Hi! - I'm a newbie here - I've collected Disney dolls for about 20 years now (mostly Mattel). I am at that point where I many have to slim down my collection. I pretty much have them all from 1991 (I am making a book) but I am running out of room fast....The OOAK dolls are so much fun and you are fortunate to have so many. I have created a few OOAK dolls, my favorite is my Pocahontas 2 doll or My stepmother Lady Tremaine doll.
My favorite that Mattel created is the 10th Anniversary Belle

 

[Shivatopia]

Hi! - I'm a newbie here - I've collected Disney dolls for about 20 years now (mostly Mattel). I am at that point where I many have to slim down my collection. I pretty much have them all from 1991 (I am making a book) but I am running out of room fast....The OOAK dolls are so much fun and you are fortunate to have so many. I have created a few OOAK dolls, my favorite is my Pocahontas 2 doll or My stepmother Lady Tremaine doll.
My favorite that Mattel created is the 10th Anniversary Belle

Wow, Wow, Wow! I love the two dolls you shared! They are amazing! What doll did you use for the base for Lady Tremaine? Did you use a Queen Grimhilde (Evil Queen from Snow White) doll? I also love the packaging you created! As I mentioned, my OOAK dolls are not Disney or Disney-inspired, though I do have plans for some at some point in the distant future. I created mine from Greek Mythology and Spanish Renaissance, so they are not appropriate for this site. Thanks for sharing!

 

[Alexa]

I'm not a doll collector but I LOVE the Alice one that was posted.