Heyylloo Blogger World! Welcome back to a new post. Today I wanted to talk about a hot topic that had the doll community quaking in their boots. For real. Disney Princess Dolls, you know what even the whole franchise itself, has changed forever. The Disney Trademark has bee stripped from the monopoly of dolls themselves, Mattel, and given to Hasbro. Mattel has always been the the biggest name in dolls, with brands like Barbie, Ever After High, and Monster High under their belt. Hasbro has always dominated the boys' toy shelves, with Hot Wheels, Transformers, and Nerf. After a strenuous court case, Disney has given their rights to Hasbro. This means the dolls are now redesigned. New bodies, New faces, New everything. And, yes I own a few Hasbro Disney Dolls, so lets dive in to review this issue. Have Disney dolls improved or gotten worse?
These are just some examples, on the left we have Mattel Disney Princesses and on the right are Barbie Princesses. Mattel had been creating Disney dolls for so long that naturally consumers have a bias towards them, since they are familiar. And often times as consumer we fail to notice how close many Barbie's and Disney dolls were under Mattel, yet millions of little girls bought each kind, when they were virtually replaceable of each other. So while I do love the Mattel Disney Dolls, I feel as if though it is out of brand loyalty familiarity rather than their actual Disney production.
Hasbro on the other hand redesigned the Disney dolls and gave them character! Each doll has a different face mold, body mold, and hair texture. Hasbro brought the animation to life! Lets take a look! We will review each doll in depth as well.
Just from the image above you can see that they are of different heights, face molds, hair types, and body shapes. Rapunzel and Snow White are the shortest of the bunch, while Elsa and Merida are the tallest. Merida has the wildest curls and Pocahontas has the sleekest, straight hair. This is the first wave, the "Shimmer Princess" collection.
1) Merida:
Merida is tall, very pale, and has a large, round face. Her face is significantly larger than the rest of the dolls to match her animated version. She has freckles and huge blue eyes. Her hair is a red mess of curls, that really can't be brushed with or played with if you want to make the hairstyle last. Her dress is the basic dress like the rest of the girls, but with nice mesh sleeves and a removable belt. This doll is very true to her fairytale self, with the only drawback being is the curls. But, curly hair is an issue with any curl styled doll.
2) Snow White:
Snow White is short and sports an adorable sideways glance, she has a removable ribbon and cute smile. The doll is slightly more childlike and has a short bobbed hair. She is alot like Rapunzel in body type and the top of her dress is higher quality than the lower half. The only drawback would be that her bobbed hair is too short to style, but that is a given with her character.
3) Cinderella:
Cinderella has a much more mature look and is also a tall doll. She looks just like her animated counterpart and her face has a classic grace to it. Her dress has the basic format as all the others with the nice top and cheaper feeling skirt part. But, she does get two cute mesh overlays in the front. The drawbacks are that her hair is coiled into a tight bun and would hard to play with if taken out of the bun, since it would hold that shape and dents in it. Her gloves are also painted which is awkward if she were to be redressed during play.
4) Mulan:
Mulan is surely one of my faves! She has little to no drawbacks. Her face is an oblong shape, with a wider forehead and even her eyes are made accurately with slanted, straight eyebrows as well. It is a beautiful depiction of her character. Can we just recognize the fact that Hasbro even put Mulan out on shelves??? Mattel rarely put the more ethnic princesses out onto the shelves, like Mulan, Jasmine, or Pocahontas. The more ethnic princesses usually came in huge Disney Doll Sets, rather than more often as solo dolls. Mulan is sporting her ethnic dress with cherry blossom patterns on it. Her hair is amazing! Soft, sleek, and playable. The only drawback is that her sleeves and dress length are a bit long and they get in the way during play. But again it is part of her character.
5) Rapunzel:
She is short and her hair is down to her feet. She has wide eyes and freckles that embody her character perfectly. Her dress has drawn on details but is nice and soft, her shoes are slip on purple shoes. Her head is slightly large fer her body and that detail really touches back on her animated self. She is one of the short dolls and sports an innocent smile. The only drawback is that while her hair is soft, sleek, and long, the ends of the hair get rough fast. I have Rapunzel and I rarely style her hair, but her ends turned rough over time. All her hair is smooth until the tips. But, some conditioner or fabric softener can fix that. For a child though this hair may be troublesome and may frizz and roughen up fast.
6) Sleeping Beauty:
She has a really charming face and enchanting purple eyes. She embodies a sort of Barbie in a younger form type look. She adorns all the pink and even her bangs are on point. She is one of the prettier ones out of the crew as she embodies all the princess stereotypes young girls dream of. But, she has curls, which are bound to be ruined in play. She has a slight sideways glance to add expression which really brings her to life. All in all, she is a safe doll minus the wreck those curls will become. But at least that curl wreckage is still better than Merida's.
7) Jasmine:
I have alot to say about her. I was so excited for this one and I was sort of let down. Her face is perfect with the sloping nose and large almond eyes, they even handled her dress well and made it kid friendly. They put extra detailing into it with a mesh overlay and shimmery designs. Even her shoes have the turned up points in the front to add Middle Eastern flair. Everything is flawless except for her hair. Her hair doesn't friz, roughen, or tangle. It is greasy, very greasy. I even washed it and there was still grease. It sits flat near the head and flairs at the bottom which is no cute. I'd recommend not opening up the initial hairstyle it comes in, it is way better that way. I wanted to make a cuter braid and spice it up, so I opened it up and regretted it. Her hair was also asymmetrical, which was annoying. I tried evening it out with scissors, but that meant a loss of beautiful length. Long story short, her hair is now in a bun and it is staying that way. Just keep the original hairstyle.
8) Tiana:
Tiana is a well made doll as well, her dress, her expression, her face, its all on point. The hair will be struggle if you open the bun, since it will hold the shape of that tight coil. I love her smile alot, it is very lively. The only issue is the painted on gloves once more. The shimmery light green gloves will look out of place in other outfits. You probably get the pattern now, the hair and painted on gloves are the more usual downs.
9) Belle:
Belle has a gorgeous dress and beautiful face. Out of the princesses she had the nicest dress, in my opinion. But her hair. Oh my. It was in the half up and half down style, but once you open it, it is also super greasy and hard to style. It is wavy and keeps the shape of any style you create, which is a pain. And her gloves are painted on which is also sad. But she has a really pretty face on the plus side.
10) Ariel:
Her doll reflects her boisterous personality. She has really big eyes and nice hair. Since her hair isn't curly or styled, it holds up very well. Her dress is also really nice and unique. She has no painted on gloves which is a plus. She is one of the safer ones to get out of the line, since she has no cons. Even her front bang doesn't cause stress as it easily swoops backward and brushing her hair won't ruin the style.
11) Pocahontas:
She is stunning! They got her features on point, with the plump lips and almond eyes. She looks like a model almost. Her hair is so long and so soft. It is textured and not silky like Rapunzel, but it is really nice. She is also a tall doll and I have no cons for her. The hair so far had no rough times, she has no painted on gloves, and she comes with cool knee high boots. The boots are so well made you can swap them with other dolls that are not even Disney Princesses. Pocahontas is a flawless one, so you don't have to worry about her.
Wrapping up this lengthy post, I believe Hasbro definitely deserves this chance. They have in overall done a great job with the dolls, there are just small kinks here and there that can be fixed. But they have gotten better overtime, they recently announced the release of the second wave and am I envious. They are a ton better than the first wave. Hasbro is really progressing and pleasing fans and parents at once. Hasbro dolls have this charm of igniting the little girl in one self, since they really bring the characters to life with the careful details. And I for one, really appreciate that.
-ISBAH xoxo, Thanks For Reading!
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