Disney Dolls Appreciation Discussion

[Shivatopia]

If anyone is interested in designer dolls i have villains and princesses for sale!!!

Hi emmajanefearnley. Please keep posts on this thread related to discussions about the dolls only. There are other areas of the website that are much better suited for sales. 🙂

 

[alex555]

My next offering:
Aurora/Sleeping Beauty 40th Anniversary Signature Collection

Beautiful Aurora is my third favorite Disney Princess (after Snow White and Rapunzel). Similar to my feelings about the Signature Collection Snow White, I think Disney scored big with this Aurora doll. Her gown is a gorgeous translation of the royal dress Flora made with her magic in the movie. The detailing of the upper part of the dress is elegance incarnate, from the fancy bodice, to the collar, to the sleeves matching the fabric of the geometric top part of her skirt. Her tiara and necklace are made of gold colored plastic, but so detailed and delicately made, that you would think that they are really made of metal. Her hair style is Aurora's signature hairstyle, perfectly reproduced, including the stylized curls of her bangs and her flowing softly curled locks. Her face is rather unique, as I don't think I've seen any other dolls with the same sculpt. The one issue I have (and it's a minor one at that) is that her skirt flares out a lot wider than it "should." Aurora's dress in the movie was definitely medieval, where the fabric should follow the curve of her hips and then fall straight down to the floor in straight lines -- no flare unless she twirls around. The skirt on the doll is very poofy, similar to Glinda from the Wizard of Oz. I am very proud to own this doll!

I can't believe I missed this doll, or didn't know about its existence til last week. I found out about her while browsing Disney dolls in Flickr, and she's a jewel! And I dare to say, the best Aurora doll ever created! The gown and her hair are perfect, but what made a perfect win for me was its face, so adorable and so Aurora! I just bought her at Ebay today 😀 !!!

Also another old school doll that surprised me, was this Disney Store Family Tree Alice! She's perfect! And also scored her today at Ebay hahaha.

I usually don't like older dolls because they lack of detail compared to dolls we have nowdays. But these 2 are the exception, so I had to get them ASAP ! Now I really can't wait for them to arrive so I can show you some pictures guys 😀 !

 

[LordTremaine]

The 3 princess dolls from the Signature collection are beautiful. Especially Snow White and Aurora. I also love that Disney Store Family Tree Alice doll, she is adorable. I am going to have to be on the look out for them. Right now my top 3 holy grail dolls are the Designer Maleficent doll(I need her to complete my villain designer collection!) and the LE 17 inch Alice and Snow White dolls.

 

[DRJ1828]

I can't believe I missed this doll, or didn't know about its existence til last week. I found out about her while browsing Disney dolls in Flickr, and she's a jewel! And I dare to say, the best Aurora doll ever created! The gown and her hair are perfect, but what made a perfect win for me was its face, so adorable and so Aurora! I just bought her at Ebay today 😀 !!!

Also another old school doll that surprised me, was this Disney Store Family Tree Alice! She's perfect! And also scored her today at Ebay hahaha.

I usually don't like older dolls because they lack of detail compared to dolls we have nowdays. But these 2 are the exception, so I had to get them ASAP ! Now I really can't wait for them to arrive so I can show you some pictures guys 😀 !

Congratulations on getting both dolls in the same day! I have that Alice doll, too, and I love her. I think she's perfect too. A bonus with her is that she can free stand, as she has rather large feet, and flat heeled shoes. I'm happy just having her, and don't have any hankering for the LE 17'' Alice doll. Here's a photo of my Alice:


Alice in Wonderland Doll - Our Family Tree - First Look - Deboxed - Free Standing - Full Front View #2 by drj1828, on Flickr

 

[Shivatopia]

I can't believe I missed this doll, or didn't know about its existence til last week. I found out about her while browsing Disney dolls in Flickr, and she's a jewel! And I dare to say, the best Aurora doll ever created! The gown and her hair are perfect, but what made a perfect win for me was its face, so adorable and so Aurora! I just bought her at Ebay today 😀 !!!

Also another old school doll that surprised me, was this Disney Store Family Tree Alice! She's perfect! And also scored her today at Ebay hahaha.

I usually don't like older dolls because they lack of detail compared to dolls we have nowdays. But these 2 are the exception, so I had to get them ASAP ! Now I really can't wait for them to arrive so I can show you some pictures guys 😀 !

Congratulations on your acquisitions! 🙂 Yes, the Classic Princesses (Snow White, Cinderella, and Aurora) from the Mattel Signature Series are very well made, especially for older dolls (unfortunately Belle, who was the first doll in the series is a lot more "Barbie" looking). Mattel did very well with their Disney collector dolls in the late 1990s between the Signature Series and the Great Villains Series. As for Mattel's play dolls, especially recently... not so much. 😛

This Alice doll is amazing! I may have to hunt for her, too, for my collection.

 

[jrsinger78]

Congratulations on your acquisitions! 🙂 Yes, the Classic Princesses (Snow White, Cinderella, and Aurora) from the Mattel Signature Series are very well made, especially for older dolls (unfortunately Belle, who was the first doll in the series is a lot more "Barbie" looking). Mattel did very well with their Disney collector dolls in the late 1990s between the Signature Series and the Great Villains Series. As for Mattel's play dolls, especially recently... not so much. 😛

This Alice doll is amazing! I may have to hunt for her, too, for my collection.

precisely!!! Mattel dolls in the 90's WERE superb; I have them all...but nowadays? What a sham! LOL

 

[Merriennes]

I'm not to keen on the modern Mattel Disney dolls either, its such a shame as Mattel can make some lovely Barbies so why they put no effort into the Disney dolls is a mystery ? The one good thing about the newer Mattel Disney dolls though is their bodies are the same size as the Disney Store dolls, so the dresses fit them, as opposed to the older Mattel dolls who were more shapely around the bust area, and so their clothes dont fit Disney Store dolls in the slightest. Such a shame that, as the outfits were better quality back then too ;o)

 

[TinkerTigg]

Gah! I'm so weak. I spent all this time saying to myself "No. You don't need them. No. You don't want them. No. For many other random reasons." And...what did I end up doing last night? I bought the Cruella and Queen of Hearts designer dolls. Kinda hate myself...but I've seen their product images basically every day and have toyed with buying them so many times. Plus, I know I'll get them in person and be happy to have acquired them. Now...I just hope that the Wicked Queen pops back up online randomly again for the hundredth time. Why? Because she's my favorite Disney Villain. If not...then I can live without her cause there's no way I'd even consider ebay's prices.

 

[Shivatopia]

Gah! I'm so weak. I spent all this time saying to myself "No. You don't need them. No. You don't want them. No. For many other random reasons." And...what did I end up doing last night? I bought the Cruella and Queen of Hearts designer dolls. Kinda hate myself...but I've seen their product images basically every day and have toyed with buying them so many times. Plus, I know I'll get them in person and be happy to have acquired them. Now...I just hope that the Wicked Queen pops back up online randomly again for the hundredth time. Why? Because she's my favorite Disney Villain. If not...then I can live without her cause there's no way I'd even consider ebay's prices.

It's true that the Designer Queen Grimhilde (Evil Queen) on eBay is definitely selling at higher than retail cost, but luckily, her prices are still hovering around the $100 area, which is not too bad. I recently decided to get a deboxer Designer Queen Grimhilde, since I already got duplicates of the other five for deboxing, and was able to get a mint-in-box Designer Queen Grimhilde with a very low edition number for about $100 shipped on eBay, so there are opportunities. By the way, I did not debox that particular doll--I had another in my collection that was more appropriate for that. But you never know, as we just saw with LE Merida and the numerous reappearances of Designer Queen Grimhilde, she may yet appear again.

One thing that is curious is that Designer Maleficent never reappeared online, and so if the pre-order sets that were not sold were ever split up, I wonder what happened to those dolls?

You will love having the Designer Cruella and Designer Queen of Hearts dolls. Designer Cruella is my favorite of the collection, and I certainly appreciate all of the Designer Villains a lot more after I deboxed them. I think I may do a follow-up post review for the Designer Princesses and Designer Villains dolls with updated pictures at some point.

 

[TinkerTigg]

But you never know, as we just saw with LE Merida and the numerous reappearances of Designer Queen Grimhilde, she may yet appear again.

One thing that is curious is that Designer Maleficent never reappeared online, and so if the pre-order sets that were not sold were ever split up, I wonder what happened to those dolls?

You will love having the Designer Cruella and Designer Queen of Hearts dolls. Designer Cruella is my favorite of the collection, and I certainly appreciate all of the Designer Villains a lot more after I deboxed them. I think I may do a follow-up post review for the Designer Princesses and Designer Villains dolls with updated pictures at some point.

1: That's what I am hoping will happen. I mean, all of these reappearances have me hopeful that I'll get her at the 49.50$ price tag...or maybe (with my luck) they'll reduce them even more and put her back online. ;D

2: That's what I was pondering a little while ago. I doubt they'd need them anymore as "just in case someone got a damaged shipment" backups. I wonder...maybe that's how I'll get my Queen when they decide to break up the sets. ;D

3: Ok, I have a HUGE request. When you do debox your dolls and post pictures, do you think you'd be willing to swap their gowns? I did a mini art project where I turned Cinderella, Aurora, Ariel, and Snow White in to their villainesses. Their catch phrases were:
Cindy: "She was the only mother I ever knew"
Aurora: "Who ever said I wanted to wake up?"
Ariel: "Dare to deny me my wish again"
Snow White: "I will always be the fairest of them all"
I'm tempted to continue the series whenever I find the time to dedicate to it.

I'd love to see them in swapped gowns in doll form! You'd be my instant favorite if you did that here. ;D

 

[LordTremaine]

One thing that is curious is that Designer Maleficent never reappeared online, and so if the pre-order sets that were not sold were ever split up, I wonder what happened to those dolls?

I really hope she appears on the site again she is the only one I need. I do think it's weird though that the Evil Queen has popped back up a lot online and Maleficent never did. Did she really sell out completely?!?

 

[tht303]

I think Maleficent is super popular and sold out before it even became the sale price. Though even when evil queen pops up when you go to buy it they send you a message a day later telling you that she's out of stock... So even though she appears on the site it doesn't mean that they actually have her in stock which is ridiculous to show her on the site over and over again like a tease.

 

[Shivatopia]

I think Maleficent is super popular and sold out before it even became the sale price. Though even when evil queen pops up when you go to buy it they send you a message a day later telling you that she's out of stock... So even though she appears on the site it doesn't mean that they actually have her in stock which is ridiculous to show her on the site over and over again like a tease.

Ah! That is good to know! I guess it's just workings of the Evil Queen trying to stay in the spotilight! 😛 But seriously, it's just another example of how wacky things are backstage over there. They have thousands (or millions) of products, so system glitches do happen... (but that frequently?!?).

 

[TinkerTigg]

Is it weird that I'm not just checking in for new/random releases, but also for real rereleases? I'm not going to hold my breath, but I'll hold on to a little hope that the Queen gets the Calhoun, Merida, and China Girl treatment one last time. 😉

 

[Shivatopia]

3: Ok, I have a HUGE request. When you do debox your dolls and post pictures, do you think you'd be willing to swap their gowns? I did a mini art project where I turned Cinderella, Aurora, Ariel, and Snow White in to their villainesses. Their catch phrases were:
Cindy: "She was the only mother I ever knew"
Aurora: "Who ever said I wanted to wake up?"
Ariel: "Dare to deny me my wish again"
Snow White: "I will always be the fairest of them all"
I'm tempted to continue the series whenever I find the time to dedicate to it.

I'd love to see them in swapped gowns in doll form! You'd be my instant favorite if you did that here. ;D

You may have seen my "Dark Rapunzel" redress project on this thread earlier. 🙂 I have no plans to debox my Designer Princess dolls, but I do have some play dolls that I can swap outfits with the Designer Villains for some new projects. A friend of mine did do a play doll Aurora in Designer Maleficent's outfit and she looked great. Very chic! I still need to finally debox my extra Designer Ursula, so this may be a good motivation to finally do so. The Designer Villains probably won't look that great in the regular princess outfits, but if they do, I'll photograph that too.

Is it weird that I'm not just checking in for new/random releases, but also for real rereleases? I'm not going to hold my breath, but I'll hold on to a little hope that the Queen gets the Calhoun, Merida, and China Girl treatment one last time. 😉

No, I don't think that is weird at all, but as tht303 mentioned, it looks as if even if you order Designer Queen Grimhilde during those odd reappearances, DS.com seems to cancel the order saying that she is not really available. However, believing in hopes and dreams is what a lot of these princess stories are about, right?

 

[TinkerTigg]

"dark rapunzel"

a link to it i must have! Please! :d

 

[disneykid85]

Hi,
Kinda late in the game but just wanted to say that I love the Disney Villian Designer collection and think I may become an addict!! Just got my first doll Cruella and will be getting Ursula and maybe the Queen of Hearts soon! Whoever came up with this concept, I salute them!

Also wanted to know how do you you remove the plastic case cover? Want to fix up her hair a bit. Thx in advance!

 

[Shivatopia]

a link to it i must have! Please! :d

No problem! "Dark Rapunzel" is on page 19 of this thread (http://disneypinforum.com/showthread.php?8244-Disney-Dolls-Appreciation-Discussion/page19). I also have more pics on flickr. The link is also with the pics on page 19. I have not (and probably will not ever) debox my Designer Princess dolls, so I dressed the 2011 Sparkle Rapunzel play doll in Designer Mother Gothel's gown. I really like the 2011 Sparkle Rapunzel doll, because she still has the spirit of Rapunzel in her expression, but she has painted eyelashes, which the original 2010 Rapunzel play doll lacks. The "new look" Rapunzel play doll from 2012 to the present has a sweet expression, but she seems too placid for the bubbly Rapunzel. "Dark Rapunzel" still looks sweet and not evil or devious at all, but she looks really good in burgundy and gold!

Hi,
Kinda late in the game but just wanted to say that I love the Disney Villian Designer collection and think I may become an addict!! Just got my first doll Cruella and will be getting Ursula and maybe the Queen of Hearts soon! Whoever came up with this concept, I salute them!

Also wanted to know how do you you remove the plastic case cover? Want to fix up her hair a bit. Thx in advance!

The cases for the Designer Villain dolls are sometimes a bit tough to open, mostly because some factory glue seems to have settled at the bottom edges that are concealed by the bases with the name placards with a lot of these dolls. I found the most success with my cases by turning the case upside down and working on the two front corners to loosen them. Once those loosen up to the point when they can pull off, I position the case down flat on its back side, with the cardboard backing side down and the doll facing up. Pop the base off carefully. The cardboard that sticks to the base may separate a bit, and I recommend pressing it back down onto the base, because the next part is sliding the cardboard backing down through the plastic tabs on the sides of the back wall of the plastic case. With one hand firmly holding the cardboard backing and the CoA in place and your other hand holding down the plastic cover, pull the base, doll, and cardboard backing down through the plastic tabs.

Replacing the plastic cover is a bit the same, but in reverse. With the plastic case laid down flat with the plastic tabs on the bottom, position the cardboard backing flat down and align the side edges with the tabs. Do firmly hold the backing and the CoA with one hand and push the backing up through the tabs slowly while holding the plastic cover down. When you get to the point where you have to let go of the cardboard backing because there is no more space for your hand, the cardboard backing should be in the top tabs. Now you can place the whole case upright and puch the case down into place, closing it and sliding the cardboard backing into the top tabs.

When taking the plastic cover off and putting it back on, I cannot stress enough how you need to protect the CoA as much as possible by holding it flat against the cardboard backing. The Designer Princess CoAs are a lot more flimsy than the Designer Villain CoAs, so they are more prone to getting caught and ripping, but why take chances? Better safe than sorry!

 

[disneykid85]

Thx Shivatopia!

 

[TinkerTigg]

Ok...now I really hate myself a little bit. I've been having a really bad week and then an even worse day...so I decided on a little retail therapy. I just bought an Evil Queen from Amazon. (Found one for considerably cheaper than ebay prices. Still expensive by my book...but still cheaper.) But, oh well. She's my favorite villainess now and, if she's really as beautiful as everyone says she is, I could place her as my favorite doll too. 😉 So, on Monday I should be receiving my DeVil and my Card, and then my Queen a little while after that. 😀
*And, as I typed this, getting the Evil Queen at this price and the other two at their discounted pricing and the slight discount I received when I bought them...I'm pretty much paying what they would have all three been when they first came out. GAH!*
...I hate myself. 😉

But, as a side note. OH MY GOD! Rapunzel actually does look really good in Mother Gothel's dress. After seeing your Dark Rapunzel, I kind of really want them to make a new princess that is blonde and in a burgundy dress. Doubt they would because it's not a "bright" color, but it really did look good. *coughcough*you should do that with your other dolls too*coughcough* 😉

 

[TinkerTigg]

I just did the math, still managed to save about 50$ off retail, so not a total flop. 😉

 

[Shivatopia]

But, as a side note. OH MY GOD! Rapunzel actually does look really good in Mother Gothel's dress. After seeing your Dark Rapunzel, I kind of really want them to make a new princess that is blonde and in a burgundy dress. Doubt they would because it's not a "bright" color, but it really did look good. *coughcough*you should do that with your other dolls too*coughcough* 😉

I'm glad that you like Dark Rapunzel! 🙂 She may reappear again in the near future with some new friends! 😀 I really agree that blonde hair with burgundy and gold really looks good. I get a Lucrezia Borgia vibe from Jean Plaidy's historical fiction novel Madonna of the Seven Hills. The golden flower embroidery also works so well for Rapunzel!

I just did the math, still managed to save about 50$ off retail, so not a total flop. 😉

That is excellent! It's always good to be thrify, especially with such nice items. In total between my collection of dolls to keep in the box, dolls to debox, and gifts, I bought 15 Designer Villain dolls, and 11 of them were at retail cost (though I think for two of those, I did have DS.com customer-service discounts for my messed up LE Cinderella and then some other problem with DS.com, which effectively made those two dolls much cheaper than retail cost), one was at a bit higher from eBay, and three were bought through DS.com discounts or promotional sales.

 

[alex555]

I just did the math, still managed to save about 50$ off retail, so not a total flop. 😉

Great news, and what a deal! I was really considering on getting her, but I just have no more space for another Designer doll, with their big bases they sure take a lot of space. Share some pictures of her as soon as you receive her. 🙂

 

[Shivatopia]

...So on request, here is a continuation of the "Dark Princess" Series, starting with Dark Snow White. I took my Snow White doll from the 2011 Classic Disney Princess 10-Pack and dressed her in Designer Queen Grimhilde's outfit. I think that she looks fantastic! Similar to Blanche de Vil, she lends a very sweet aura to this otherwise very dark costume.


Dark Snow White - 01 by Rathful.de.Vil, on Flickr


Dark Snow White - 04 by Rathful.de.Vil, on Flickr


Dark Snow White - 03 by Rathful.de.Vil, on Flickr


Dark Snow White - 06 by Rathful.de.Vil, on Flickr

 

[Shivatopia]

Second, we have Dark Aurora! Again, this Aurora is from the 2011 Classic Disney Princess 10-Pack, and she is wearing Designer Maleficent's outfit. I think she really takes this outfit and makes it her own. Like all of the princesses in this project, Aurora's true and sweet nature shines through the dark spirit of the gown. She really takes the outfit and makes it her own!


Dark Aurora - 01 by Rathful.de.Vil, on Flickr


Dark Aurora - 03 by Rathful.de.Vil, on Flickr


Dark Aurora - 06 by Rathful.de.Vil, on Flickr


Dark Aurora - 05 by Rathful.de.Vil, on Flickr