Shivatopia
The Disney Princess LE Dolls - core group as of 10/01/2013 - 02
It is the 2013 doll season at the Disney Store, and the 17" LE Ariel has joined the group of 17" LE Disney Princess Doll Collection, bring up the total to six from the original ten Disney Princesses. I did not include LE Merida in this group, because she is being stored at a different location and I also still have not mentally changed gears to not think of her as a Pixar character (albeit the first Pixar princess lead character) as opposed to a Disney/Pixar character. Based on the remaining Diamond Edition films yet to be released, of the first ten Disney Princesses, it is anticipated that there will be a LE Aurora doll and a LE Jasmine doll to add to this group eventually, but the chances of a LE Pocahontas or LE Mulan doll seem very slim.
I have done everything possible to keep up with the 17" LE doll collections based on the Disney Princesses and Wonderland since I started collecting them in early 2012, so of course this is just a fraction of my actual 17" LE Disney doll collection. However, these shining beauties really do stand out, some more than others for me.
My favorite will always be the 17' LE Snow White doll. Snow White is my favorite princess and of all of the 17" LE dolls, she received the most in terms of an actual transformation of her iconic outfit while still retaining the spirit of the character and even the spirit of the era that her film was made. To me, her classic beauty is comparable to the glamour of 1930s Hollywood. Her more fitted empire-waist gown is also more chic and sophisticated than Snow White's regular iconic gown from the film, though the colors, collar, sleeves, and cloak make her identity absolutely unquestionable. I still believe that the most attention was provided to LE Snow White over all of the LE dolls since, in that she has more well-crafted accessories, more hand-sewn details (with no glue-on gems), and more of an original design (while still keeping close to the spirit of the character) than any of the dolls released since. Truly, she is still the reigning queen of the 17" LE Disney dolls.
To my great surprise, LE Ariel has taken the second spot in my ranking of the six LE Disney Princess dolls so far. The stock photos showing her over-designed seashell bra, yellowish eye shadow, and the petal scales of her fish tail made me very nervous about everyone's favorite redhead mermaid. However, when I finally received my doll, I was very impressed by her beauty and the fact that she blends in so well with the LE Princess doll collection even though she is not wearing a gown. I did have to give my doll a hand-held prop: a dinglehopper, which only made her more complete. For me, one of the most endearing qualities of LE Ariel is that she exudes a modern style and flair in the same way that LE Snow White shines brightly with her classic old Hollywood beauty, so that the dolls of these two princesses truly reflect the epochs of their important films which both saved the Disney Animation Studios.
My third favorite LE Princess doll is LE Tiana, because as the second LE doll ever made, a lot of fine details were devoted to her too. True, the glue-on gems first started to be used with her, but they really do enhance her gown very well. Her gown is an excellent rendering of her bayou wedding gown, complete with many layers of fabric, which all have different textures and even color gradations. The white lily petals of her skirts are fantastic, and even better they are all separate petals as opposed to a single piece of fabric with several pointy ends. Of the six LE Princess dolls so far, I think that LE Tiana certainly is the most movie-accurate. Her shoes are also very specially designed and the frog Naveen is just adorable.
Ranking fourth is the blonde LE Rapunzel doll, who would have ranked higher if her face were a bit more accurate and if they had not given her those voluminous bell sleeves. I suppose that those sleeves were provided to give her more of a Renaissance feel, but they make her look bulky. Rapunzel's character design is actually rather slim and streamlined, which really brings out the sheer volume of her glorious magical hair. The LE Rapunzel doll's gown actually hides her hair. Still, her gown is otherwise very beautiful, from the puffed sleeves with actual piping details, to her fancy bodice and layered skirts. The fabric of her bodice and inner skirt were made just for her, which is always a nice detail to see. She is a beautiful doll and one of my all-time favorites, but LE Ariel and LE Tiana edged her out by being just a little more fantastic.
Fifth for me is LE Cinderella, who has only two things that I consider less than perfect: her hairstyle and her makeup. Her gown is gorgeous, even without her signature poofy shoulder sleeves. Her hairstyle is as far from classic Cinderella as they could have gone. The double-layered mass of pin curls around the central bun looks more "prom" than royal ball. They also gave her that random side curl on the side of her face, which I have tucked away back through her headband. For me, it was a huge improvement for this doll. Her makeup is very subdued and flat. For a blonde doll with a somewhat tanned complexion, the worst lipstick color is a pale pink. So what did they give LE Cinderella? Pale pink! For fans of the film, the fact that all of the Cinderella dolls that are made are always a pale blonde, as opposed to the sandy-blonde/strawberry blonde that Cinderella is in her own film, is already a sore point, but did they have to really make LE Cinderella look like Malibu Barbie dressed as Cinderella going to the prom? A darker lipstick color (like the coral color she has in the film) would have made LE Cinderella look more glamorous. Another problem with this doll for many people is that the material used to make her glass slippers seems to have a chemical reaction to the metal pole of her doll stand, which damaged the shoes by marring them with blood-red stains. The Disney Store in the USA was unwilling to replace them, so many of these dolls (my doll included) have this unseen flaw. Luckily, her dress is long enough to cover this up.
Finally, to round out the first six of the original ten Disney Princess LE dolls, is LE Belle. There is certainly nothing intrinsically wrong with this doll, but like LE Cinderella, there are a bunch of things that I would have done differently for her. First, her facial expression is that unusually worried look that a lot of DS Belle dolls received in the late 2010-2011 time frame. Part of it is the shape of her eyebrows and the other part is her side-glancing eyes. I think that if she were facing forward, that expression would have been avoided. Second, the silk rosettes on her bodice are fine from a distance or from certain angles, but upon close inspection, they look like a row of flashlights sticking out of her bosom. If they really wanted to go with the rosettes, they should have shaped flatter ones to avoid that. The same type of rosettes are used on her skirt with the organza draping, and there, they look fine. Several of the LE dolls have uncharacteristically long hair, and LE Belle is one of them. The Disney Store has never made a Belle doll with the proper hair length, and LE Belle is no exception. It does not look bad, but it also takes away from the elegant, sophisticated hairdo she had in the film. Last, I would have made her skirt more, well, bell-shaped. LE Belle's skirt looks like a cone instead of the full 17th century skirts that this gown was inspired from. I still like LE Belle a lot, but these details prevent me from loving her.
The Disney Princess LE Dolls - core group as of 10/01/2013 - 02
It is the 2013 doll season at the Disney Store, and the 17" LE Ariel has joined the group of 17" LE Disney Princess Doll Collection, bring up the total to six from the original ten Disney Princesses. I did not include LE Merida in this group, because she is being stored at a different location and I also still have not mentally changed gears to not think of her as a Pixar character (albeit the first Pixar princess lead character) as opposed to a Disney/Pixar character. Based on the remaining Diamond Edition films yet to be released, of the first ten Disney Princesses, it is anticipated that there will be a LE Aurora doll and a LE Jasmine doll to add to this group eventually, but the chances of a LE Pocahontas or LE Mulan doll seem very slim.
I have done everything possible to keep up with the 17" LE doll collections based on the Disney Princesses and Wonderland since I started collecting them in early 2012, so of course this is just a fraction of my actual 17" LE Disney doll collection. However, these shining beauties really do stand out, some more than others for me.
My favorite will always be the 17' LE Snow White doll. Snow White is my favorite princess and of all of the 17" LE dolls, she received the most in terms of an actual transformation of her iconic outfit while still retaining the spirit of the character and even the spirit of the era that her film was made. To me, her classic beauty is comparable to the glamour of 1930s Hollywood. Her more fitted empire-waist gown is also more chic and sophisticated than Snow White's regular iconic gown from the film, though the colors, collar, sleeves, and cloak make her identity absolutely unquestionable. I still believe that the most attention was provided to LE Snow White over all of the LE dolls since, in that she has more well-crafted accessories, more hand-sewn details (with no glue-on gems), and more of an original design (while still keeping close to the spirit of the character) than any of the dolls released since. Truly, she is still the reigning queen of the 17" LE Disney dolls.
To my great surprise, LE Ariel has taken the second spot in my ranking of the six LE Disney Princess dolls so far. The stock photos showing her over-designed seashell bra, yellowish eye shadow, and the petal scales of her fish tail made me very nervous about everyone's favorite redhead mermaid. However, when I finally received my doll, I was very impressed by her beauty and the fact that she blends in so well with the LE Princess doll collection even though she is not wearing a gown. I did have to give my doll a hand-held prop: a dinglehopper, which only made her more complete. For me, one of the most endearing qualities of LE Ariel is that she exudes a modern style and flair in the same way that LE Snow White shines brightly with her classic old Hollywood beauty, so that the dolls of these two princesses truly reflect the epochs of their important films which both saved the Disney Animation Studios.
My third favorite LE Princess doll is LE Tiana, because as the second LE doll ever made, a lot of fine details were devoted to her too. True, the glue-on gems first started to be used with her, but they really do enhance her gown very well. Her gown is an excellent rendering of her bayou wedding gown, complete with many layers of fabric, which all have different textures and even color gradations. The white lily petals of her skirts are fantastic, and even better they are all separate petals as opposed to a single piece of fabric with several pointy ends. Of the six LE Princess dolls so far, I think that LE Tiana certainly is the most movie-accurate. Her shoes are also very specially designed and the frog Naveen is just adorable.
Ranking fourth is the blonde LE Rapunzel doll, who would have ranked higher if her face were a bit more accurate and if they had not given her those voluminous bell sleeves. I suppose that those sleeves were provided to give her more of a Renaissance feel, but they make her look bulky. Rapunzel's character design is actually rather slim and streamlined, which really brings out the sheer volume of her glorious magical hair. The LE Rapunzel doll's gown actually hides her hair. Still, her gown is otherwise very beautiful, from the puffed sleeves with actual piping details, to her fancy bodice and layered skirts. The fabric of her bodice and inner skirt were made just for her, which is always a nice detail to see. She is a beautiful doll and one of my all-time favorites, but LE Ariel and LE Tiana edged her out by being just a little more fantastic.
Fifth for me is LE Cinderella, who has only two things that I consider less than perfect: her hairstyle and her makeup. Her gown is gorgeous, even without her signature poofy shoulder sleeves. Her hairstyle is as far from classic Cinderella as they could have gone. The double-layered mass of pin curls around the central bun looks more "prom" than royal ball. They also gave her that random side curl on the side of her face, which I have tucked away back through her headband. For me, it was a huge improvement for this doll. Her makeup is very subdued and flat. For a blonde doll with a somewhat tanned complexion, the worst lipstick color is a pale pink. So what did they give LE Cinderella? Pale pink! For fans of the film, the fact that all of the Cinderella dolls that are made are always a pale blonde, as opposed to the sandy-blonde/strawberry blonde that Cinderella is in her own film, is already a sore point, but did they have to really make LE Cinderella look like Malibu Barbie dressed as Cinderella going to the prom? A darker lipstick color (like the coral color she has in the film) would have made LE Cinderella look more glamorous. Another problem with this doll for many people is that the material used to make her glass slippers seems to have a chemical reaction to the metal pole of her doll stand, which damaged the shoes by marring them with blood-red stains. The Disney Store in the USA was unwilling to replace them, so many of these dolls (my doll included) have this unseen flaw. Luckily, her dress is long enough to cover this up.
Finally, to round out the first six of the original ten Disney Princess LE dolls, is LE Belle. There is certainly nothing intrinsically wrong with this doll, but like LE Cinderella, there are a bunch of things that I would have done differently for her. First, her facial expression is that unusually worried look that a lot of DS Belle dolls received in the late 2010-2011 time frame. Part of it is the shape of her eyebrows and the other part is her side-glancing eyes. I think that if she were facing forward, that expression would have been avoided. Second, the silk rosettes on her bodice are fine from a distance or from certain angles, but upon close inspection, they look like a row of flashlights sticking out of her bosom. If they really wanted to go with the rosettes, they should have shaped flatter ones to avoid that. The same type of rosettes are used on her skirt with the organza draping, and there, they look fine. Several of the LE dolls have uncharacteristically long hair, and LE Belle is one of them. The Disney Store has never made a Belle doll with the proper hair length, and LE Belle is no exception. It does not look bad, but it also takes away from the elegant, sophisticated hairdo she had in the film. Last, I would have made her skirt more, well, bell-shaped. LE Belle's skirt looks like a cone instead of the full 17th century skirts that this gown was inspired from. I still like LE Belle a lot, but these details prevent me from loving her.