Review: Princess Tiana Fashion Doll
Posted by Lindsay
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You may recall that this doll was rescued from the Pink aisles during the harrowing account told here: Into the Pink 3 I actually was planning on picking her up soon in any case, but she was on sale that day. I enjoy the Disney Fashion Dolls. See Previous Review here. As previously stated, I like the stylized expressions which lend themselves to customization, and I like collecting interesting fashion dolls in general. I have no idea whether The Princess and The Frog is going to be any good, but I love this doll. She is completely adorable. She has many things in common with the current Disney Princess lines, and at Target I saw a multipack that had her and all the other princess dolls. Mostly, though, you'll see this doll in her own movie-specific line, along with frog plushies and a version that lights up. I'm not much for fancy features on my dolls, so I picked up the standard version. |
Appearance and Construction: 8/10
What can I say? I liked her from the first time I saw the doll. She's great. She makes the cutest of my other Disney dolls pale in comparison.
(Eesh, no pun intended there.)
The plastic she's cast in is consistent in color across body pieces and a lovely rich tone. I love her dimples, and the overall liveliness to her expression. Like the other Princesses, her hairdo is completely immobile, which is too bad. I wish they had gone with something a little closer to the box art, maybe with those little curls. As it is, though, it looks good.
Her "water lily" dress is sweet, if glittery. I like the off center flower at the waist. The glitter plastic used for the necklace and crown looks cheap though. Between the crown/necklace and the over-styled hair, that drops her to an eight.
(Eesh, no pun intended there.)
The plastic she's cast in is consistent in color across body pieces and a lovely rich tone. I love her dimples, and the overall liveliness to her expression. Like the other Princesses, her hairdo is completely immobile, which is too bad. I wish they had gone with something a little closer to the box art, maybe with those little curls. As it is, though, it looks good.
Her "water lily" dress is sweet, if glittery. I like the off center flower at the waist. The glitter plastic used for the necklace and crown looks cheap though. Between the crown/necklace and the over-styled hair, that drops her to an eight.
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Packaging and Extras: +1
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The package is pretty basic, plugs the other Princess and the Frog stuff, and I'm amused by the scroll work incorporating frogs.
I was pleased with how easily she came out of the box, only held down at necessary points.  |
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Her accessories are also pretty standard for a doll at her price point. She comes with shoes, necklace, dress and crown.
Her shoe is a different design from the Sparkling Princesses' shoes. See comparison on the left. So why a bonus point? Because of the ingenious construction on the dress. The back of the bodice, and the underlayer of the front, are light green spandex that matches the rest of the dress almost imperceptibly. This allows her to have a sleeveless dress that fits perfectly and doesn't slip or shift on the doll. That's rarer than you'd think, and further than I expect companies to go for a mass market 'princess' doll. |
Play and Display: --
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Barbie-style joints here as expected: Ball or partial ball joints on the neck, shoulders and hips, 3-click joints on the knees.
Her torso is a standard 1999 Barbie, like the other tall Princesses (Like Cinderella on the right, or Mulan below). Her face sculpt is unique to her, clear and friendly. Also like the other Princesses, she becomes a far more interesting doll once you get her out of the glittery crap, and into something more fun. But no bonus points for making a doll that looks better in clothing she didn't come with. More on that... |
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Special Section: Discussion of Custom Potential
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In case you missed my photo series of the previous Princesses in alternate outfits pulled from my bin of extras: Here's the link.
Tiana is, if anything, even more awesome:  |
 Shirt: Top Model doll (hey, I don't have a lot of 1/6 t-shirts)
Pants: Unknown, possibly GI Joe Sneakers: Flavas Barbie (I think) Jacket: LoTR Frodo |
I don't have a specific plan for her yet, but I think it's obvious that she has plenty of potential to be a great character doll, not necessarily tied to her movie. Her expression is great, I just need to get rid of that glittery eye shadow...
Price Tag and Final Analysis: 9/10
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Even though she's a super cute fashion doll, the costume doesn't hold up to the mid-range Barbie work, and she doesn't come with a stand, so I personally wouldn't pay more than 12 dollars. Luckily, Toys'R'Us seems to have her for just about that, and if you keep an eye out, you can probably pick her up for 10.
She's currently way overpriced on Amazon, and I expect the prices to fluctuate everywhere as we come up on both the holiday shopping season and the release of the Princess and the Frog. I also expect prices to fluctuate once we collectively find out whether the movie is any good. Oh, and Variety.com reports: ...merchandise for [Tiana] is outselling other Disney Princess-branded items by double digits. More than 45,000 of the character's dolls have sold in less than a month, with 17,000 sold last week alone. Sales of bedding for the pic are triple that of other Disney Princess sets at some retailers and at the Disney Store, Princess Tiana dresses are selling better than other characters Well, I think she's the most beautiful Disney Princess doll I've seen. The stylized look works really well here, and I know it's not clear in the pictures, but she makes some of the others look dead-eyed and bland in comparison. |
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Curious about what happens to dolls once they end up in my clutches? Check out The Blue Fairy's Workshop for doll/action figure customs.
