May is Disney Month--Barbie Dolls VS Disney Princess!

 Hey Gang!

When Mattel first started making Disney Princess(and Prince) the dolls shared the Mattel Barbie(Ken) body with a date on the back but used a head made for Disney that said Disney at the the back of the neck. Those of us that are used to Barbie dolls noted that the head never had the year like Barbie to identify the different head sculpts.  

At first, the biggest different from the Disney Princess and Barbie was was the eyes.  Since the Disney characters were based on an animated movie, the eyes reflect the larger more animation type style of eyes ie, they looked more cartoonish than barbie because of this. In some dolls, this wasn't as pronounced as in others. The size of the eyes of Snow White-round with the star twinkle painted in them are more cartoonish than the eyes of Pocahontas.

Snow White

Pocahontas

As time went on, there seemed to be more of an effort to distinguish the Barbie from the princess.

I am not sure if this was Disney's idea or Mattel's.  The size of the head of the Disney dolls (which always seemed a bit larger) became larger. Blowing up like a balloon! This was also about the time 

that the Disney stores started carrying their own line of Disney Princess with larger heads and larger eyes than the ones done by Mattel.

Bratz dolls, which had becoming wildly popular at the time. For a while Bratz dolls had nudged 

Barbie out as the top selling doll slot. They had a large head with large eyes and a small body. The 

popularity of this doll seemed to catch the doll market off guard. 

Mattel and Disney seem to react to the increase in sales of the Bratz doll. The heads on both doll lines became even larger.  While the princess keep their gowns, Disney seemed to think that adding even more glitter would make the gown some how better! Tons of glitter was annoyingly add to Disney gowns.

I really wanted this doll and it took many washings to remove most of the glitter off the dress!

Mattel drastically changed (a bad move) to compete the size of doll heads, faces and the style of clothes to look more Bratz doll's crop tops, short skirts and dresses. Fashion Avenue, which is till very popular, was replace with  Fashion Fever (more of a hit or miss) which had few Ken outfits (Ken being phased out for Blaine). 

Mattel even add a new line, My Scene to compete with Brats!

My Scene Photo courtesy of Mattel

As with many of these types of line of dolls that Mattel with put out.  That didn't last for long and Mattel finally sued MGA Entertainment over the Bratz doll and won so the Bratz doll was discontinued. 

With Barbie and My Scene along with Bratz dolls have more provocative fashions, many mothers weren't happy to have their child playing with and maybe requesting these types of fashions.  I think it was just those types of fashions that got more mothers and other people sewing for dolls to have the kind of clothes they wanted to see.

Fashions I purchase from eBay because they were a more conservative length!

When Disney move the prince line to Hasbro, Hasbro seem to make the heads even larger and the body smaller.

Photos courtesy Bloomsburg.com

Hasbro Princess vs Mattel Princess

Mulan

Jasmine

Set of the princess!

As Disney seems to add more dolls to their line, Hasbro has said that it wants to highlight the 

Princess like Mattel didn't! So let's see where they go with them!

OK, Thanks For Looking!

What makes a family?

Hey Gang!

I as way of sharing more of my doll and maybe doing more dioramas, I will be
focusing on families.  We all know that there are different kinds of families
and different people who make up families.  All families have their issues.

Let's meet Ceira! She moved to Johnston because she got a great job with tuition
reimbursement that allowed her to go back to school!   The schools and daycare
in the area are stellar.  Having family close by doesn't hurt.

She is mom

A college student !

That us the look of a student who wants an "A"!

A big sister,  here is her little sister Syreeta.

A cousin-Nina

A cousin- her cousin Cherry 

and second cousin and Cherry son Avery.

 a niece! Her aunt Lena

She started out on a SIS Kara body

She moved to a ZigZag Curvy body 

and is now on  a Wild Heart body

Syreeta started out on a SIS Kara body

Syreeta is on a Fashion Fever short body

If you want to see my different headsclupts for Kara, see my post
https://i-luv-dolls.blogspot.com/2012/04/sis-cara.html

Ceira and her daughter Noel and sister Syretta!

OK, Thanks For Looking!

Girl Fashionista Girls

Hey Gang!

I purchased these two a while back but haven't shown them on my blog.  So here
we go!  I know many others have posted her so bear with me and my reviews.

First up is Cheerful Check.  

Picture from Mattel 

When I first saw her, I loved her hair and the fact that she at least had straight arms.  

I knew I wanted to add her to my collection. 

I thought the shirt dress was darling and it was something that I would wear if it came 

in my size.  She is a petite doll with high heel feet. She wears red shoes. 

I thought she would make a nice teen.  Her make-up is kinda of natural and she 

would easily fit as a teen.  

Most of my Fashionista doll I have rebodied. The fact 

that Fashionista dolls don't come with at least click knees is surprising... but oh well!

 I have thought about putting her on a Fashion Fever troll body which is about the

same size. 

Warning Nude Doll Ahead!

She would still be able to wear her dress but the knee on this body bend. It would allow her to sit at the school desk. What do you think?

 The bodies nude for a comparison.  The body on rthe right has bend/click knees.

 Both have high heel feet

 WOW, I'm still short but can bend my knees.  I am not quite poseable yet but soon!

OK, I'm heading out! See you later!

Next up is Tebby Bear Flair.

I have heard some question as to whether she is Asia or not.  Have you heard that

too? Do you think she is?

She does have a pale skin tone,  brown eyes and black hair like of many of the Lea dolls.

Here teddy bear top is super cute!

Her gold skirt is made better than a lot of metallic/leather-look clothing. I am still
afraid it will start to peel after a few years like many other clothing like this.

She also comes with high-heel boots

I have place on on a purple top made to move body.

 In a pose!

So how come Mattel has only done one made to move doll with the pale skin tone?
The purple to is selling for crazy prices if you are looking to purchase on.

OK, Thanks For Looking! 

What Is Your Favorite Non-Articulated Body? Up-Date

Updated Post!

Hey Gang!
I'm still figuring out the new blogger setup so give a girl some time.

I was going through my box of doll bodies and note all different types
of Barbie bodies and note what clothing works good on which body.
As I seen to move my collection more toward articulated bodies,
there were other body types that were my favorite.

Here is a Silkstone body.

Renee has her head now. I never like this body! Too heavy!
I was glad to know that I could put the head on another body.

These are the 1991, Belly button and the 1966 bodies.

The 1966 has the biggest chest (ribcage).

I'm torn between the 1991 body with the narrow hips and smaller

hips and the belly button body.  More clothing fits the 1991 but

the belly button seems sexier!  That sexy quality is why I like the

Fashionista.

Here are four types of what I think of as 

exaggerated  bodies.

From left to right.

Model Muse, second wave Fashion Fever, Star and Flava bodies.

I also found this site compaing bodies if you would like to
take a look.

Here are two repo bodies.
The one on the right is the 1966 repo body.
The one on the left is the 1993 repo body.

Here is the Jazzie and Fashionista body comparison from a previous post!



These are repo Francie body.


Do you have a favorite body that is not Fashionista or Pivotal or articulated body?

Please take my pole.
P.S. I'm posting with the new blogger layout.  It feels slow and
I can't find the spell check! Help!