Wednesday, December 7, 2011

Disney Store Belle Doll Face Mold Comparisons

After doing my last post about the newest Disney Princess dolls from the Disney Store, I thought it would be fun to do a post comparing how Belle's face has changed over the years at the Disney Store.  So far, I only have photos of Belle dolls from the last 3 years.  I'll try to dig up some other pics to add later. :)

2009:

This Belle doll came with the Deluxe Belle Doll and Wardrobe Playset from 2009.  In this picture, she is actually wearing the dress that came with my 2010 Belle doll.  I did not care for this Belle face mold as much.  She had harsher features and bad hair.  The worst thing about this particular doll is that she looked like she'd been eating a pail of glitter (and also had a thick glitter stick applied to her eyelids).  Apparently, she was supposed to be extra sparkly since she came in a special set, but someone really overdid it on the glitter! :}


2010:

I'm pretty sure this version was released in 2010, but I may be wrong.  That's when I purchased her, though.
This doll has my favorite mold from the Disney Store so far.  I remember being so excited when I first saw this doll on Disneystore.com.  I also remember how eagerly I waited for her to arrive in the mail.  I was so worried that she wouldn't be as pretty as she looked in her pictures!  Thankfully, she did not disappoint! :)  I love her soft, gentle features and sweet, innocent smile. 

 One of the other exciting thing about the release of this series of princess dolls was that they had more poseability.  Before, they'd been like regular Barbie dolls with hard plastic arms.  Now, the princess dolls could bend at the elbow and the wrist! :D  It made sense for Disney to make this decision, as their prince dolls (which I believe were first released in either 2008 or 2009) had amazing poseability.  (They had jointed elbows, wrists, knees, and ankles, plus swivel waists and moveable heads.)  Interestingly enough, at the same time the princess dolls became more poseable, the prince dolls lost some of their poseability.  They still got to keep their jointed elbows, but no longer had wrist, ankle, or knee joints.  [For comparison pictures of the prince dolls, you can view my post about it HERE.]


2011:

While the 2010 Belle doll is my favorite, I do like this one too.  In some ways, she probably looks a little bit closer to the movie Belle.  She has bigger eyes and fuller cheeks like the animated character.  I can understand why they gave her straight hair (especially since her box says ages 3 and up!), but I think that 2010 Belle's slightly wavy hair is closer to the movie Belle's hair.  2011 Belle has some great options for expression and poseability, though.  She also has a gentle, sweet face.  Her coloring is nice and rosy, too.  Like 2010 Belle, this doll also has poseable elbows and wrists. 

I'm interested to see how the Princess face molds will develop and change in the coming years.  There have been at least 3 other face molds used for Belle at the Disney Store that I'm aware of.  I wonder how many more they will come up with in the future? 

What about you?  Which Belle doll is your favorite? :)  What would you change about the Disney Store Belle dolls if you were in charge of making the molds? 

7 comments:

anya said...

Ohmaigoodness, I want a 2010 Belle doll! XD

Hannah Prewett (beastsbelle) said...

She's my very favorite, too! I don't blame you! :)

Mickey's Girl said...

My favorite one is also 2010. I still don't understand why they made her hair so long! It was only a little under shoulder length in the movie. :}

Mickey's Girl

Hannah Prewett (beastsbelle) said...

Probably to give little girls more hair to play with and style. :) That innaccuracy used to bother me, too, but I think I've adjusted in my old age. ;)

Elliebob said...

I have the 2010 doll too. I love her a lot! I also like the 2011 doll too. Somehow 2011 looks more like a cartoon. 2010 looks calm and peaceful. I love them all!! :)
Elliebob

Jessie said...

I love all of them! the 2010 version is definitely my favorite. I like the 2011 version too. I agree with you that the 2009 version has waaaay too much glitter!

Hannah Prewett (beastsbelle) said...

I agree, Elliebob! :)

I'm with you, Jessie! I think Belle went a little bit overboard on her sparkly lip gloss that day! ;)