Disney Princess 2014 Rumors & Discussion

[just2good]

What about Vanellope?

Nope, she's not considered a Disney Princess, at least not for the Disney Princesses franchise.

[katdarcy83]

I would LOVE a minifig version of Vanellope.

[just2good]

I would LOVE a minifig version of Vanellope.

Me too! Kind of makes me wish they did a LEGO Disney Minifigures series or two. I wonder if they'll ever do Disney Princess Animal Packs. I doubt they would as the characters are what will mainly sell these sets, but we'll see.

[CM4Sci]

There's a CUUSOO project about a Disney Minifigures series. There's Vanellope too!

-Sci

[Dorayaki]

What about Vanellope?

Nope, she's not considered a Disney Princess, at least not for the Disney Princesses franchise.

Are you trying to ask whether she's an official member (answer: no), or would she appear in future sets (maybe yes)?

As said, not only her identity is a spoiler, but her story is innovative and original, not a traditional fairy tale. So it's difficult to include such kind of character. Besides adding an underage princess is also a difficulty.

Merida and the princess revamp are very polarizing - I think it was good to reveal this set early to ensure conversation - I agree that her hair could have been more...Merida...but I also think that it is a "stronger" set - she has a bow and target. She isn't serving the cookies. They could have done a lot worse, and I think it's the medium (LEGO) that allows them to let the character be closer to the movie than to the "brand" of Disney Princess.

That's a very good thought, I agree. However, even though the Merida set looks okay, we still wonder if the sets would be restriceted by not only the "Disney Princess" stereotype but the use of physical minidolls, where we're not sure TLC is able to create big-bad villains in minidoll scales. Among the official Princess members, Mulan, Merida and Rapunzel had done the most fights which have big potential as regular sets ---- if they were minifigures.

Edited November 7, 2013 by Dorayaki

[katdarcy83]

There's a CUUSOO project about a Disney Minifigures series. There's Vanellope too!

-Sci

Nice!!

[Robianco]

I still think nobody outside of the official Disney Princess list will get a set. Characters relating to the princesses such as the triplets, Prince Eric etc will obviously appear in those sets but there's no reason to shoehorn Tink or Alice into sets as they don't have any reason to be there.

I still stand by the comment that other female 'leads' can appear WITH princesses but it would normally be a generic Disney line and not a specific Princess line. I've never seen a single DP release to feature non princesses. If anyone can lead me to a single DP specific product that featured another character outside the official list I'd stand corrected.

[Dorayaki]

I still think nobody outside of the official Disney Princess list will get a set. Characters relating to the princesses such as the triplets, Prince Eric etc will obviously appear in those sets but there's no reason to shoehorn Tink or Alice into sets as they don't have any reason to be there.

The conclusion is obvious, there have been many Disney characters not relating to any princess in Lego. Whatever, if TLC and DIsney are able and willing to do more, more is always better than less.

Edited November 7, 2013 by Dorayaki

[Robianco]

I agree... I think there's a possibility to opening this up to include all manner of Disney characters whether in the mini doll range like this or as minifigures.

I think Alice would be great as I've said earlier. The Disney Fairies line with Tink has huge scope for sets and they could look fantastic... There's already a group of Fairies with different skills in Tink's circle of friends that lend themselves to individual releases and making up the whole Fairy 'town' or 'meadow' or whatever it's called.

My point is that the line is called Disney Princesses. Not Disney friends. So no matter how much people think there should be characters in there OTHER than the princesses it goes against Disney's marketing strategy. If after 2 years and 4 waves of releases it's still just Cinderella, Snow White, Aurora, Rapunzel, Belle, Mulan, Tiani, Pocahontas, Jasmine, Ariel and Merida people shouldn't be surprised and say they've buggered this up. The clue is there in the name.

[strangely]

I still stand by the comment that other female 'leads' can appear WITH princesses but it would normally be a generic Disney line and not a specific Princess line. I've never seen a single DP release to feature non princesses. If anyone can lead me to a single DP specific product that featured another character outside the official list I'd stand corrected.

From this wiki http://disney.wikia....Disney_Princess

A list of Disney Princess merchandise that features other characters. Most of these appear to be books, videos or CD's.

• Princess Collection 2: Songs by Maid Marian, Nala and Megara are included.
  
• Disney Princess Sing Along Songs: Once Upon a Dream: Sing along segments by Princess Minnie Mouse,Megara, and Ting-Ting, Su and Mei are included.
  
• Disney Princess Sing Along Songs: Enchanted Tea Party: Sing along segments by Alice, Maid Marian andMelody are included.
  
• Disney Princess Sing Along Songs: Perfectly Princess: Sing along segments by Alice and Melody are included.
  
• Once Upon A Princess: Volume 1: A story book segment by Esmeralda is included.
  
• Disney Princess: "It's not Just Make Believe" Music Video: Alice and Melody are included.
  
• Disney Princess Dolls: Esmerelda, Tinker Bell and Megara are included.
  
• Disney Princess Magazines: Esmeralda, Alice and Jane Porter appeared in magazines, and in the case of Jane, she came to be presented as a new princess for the franchise in one of the magazines.
  
• My Princess Collection (books collection): Dot, Jessie, Alice and Kida are included.^[2]
  
• Disney Princess: Enchanting Playdates: Giselle, Megara, Esmeralda, Alice, Kida.
  

In addition a google search showed me the following.

An issue of the official Disney Princess magazine featuring Alice: http://images2.wikia...a4/IMG_0790.jpg

Also here's a toy line that featured the princesses and other characters.

http://www.amazon.co...ref=pd_sxp_f_pt

So yes, it's pretty rare that we see other characters put alongside the Disney Princesses, but it's happened in the past.

Edited November 7, 2013 by strangely

[Dorayaki]

My point is that the line is called Disney Princesses. Not Disney friends. So no matter how much people think there should be characters in there OTHER than the princesses it goes against Disney's marketing strategy. If after 2 years and 4 waves of releases it's still just Cinderella, Snow White, Aurora, Rapunzel, Belle, Mulan, Tiani, Pocahontas, Jasmine, Ariel and Merida people shouldn't be surprised and say they've buggered this up. The clue is there in the name.

Not to say the past, I don't think Lego will stop producing any new Disney set that is not based on a non-princess story in the future. If Disney and TLC have longterm cooperation plan, TLC have no reason to reject any license that doesn't have a princess there. So that's nothing to do with the so-called strategy unless Diseny stop to make any non-princess stories (an expensive arm, huh?).

Main article:

Making it more clear, it's that whether this minidoll series would extend its range of stories and characters or not (if TLC won't introduce Princess minifigures in a short time).

Edited November 7, 2013 by Dorayaki

[Robianco]

From this wiki http://disney.wikia....Disney_Princess

A list of Disney Princess merchandise that features other characters. Most of these appear to be books, videos or CD's.

• Princess Collection 2: Songs by Maid Marian, Nala and Megara are included.
  
• Disney Princess Sing Along Songs: Once Upon a Dream: Sing along segments by Princess Minnie Mouse,Megara, and Ting-Ting, Su and Mei are included.
  
• Disney Princess Sing Along Songs: Enchanted Tea Party: Sing along segments by Alice, Maid Marian andMelody are included.
  
• Disney Princess Sing Along Songs: Perfectly Princess: Sing along segments by Alice and Melody are included.
  
• Once Upon A Princess: Volume 1: A story book segment by Esmeralda is included.
  
• Disney Princess: "It's not Just Make Believe" Music Video: Alice and Melody are included.
  
• Disney Princess Dolls: Esmerelda, Tinker Bell and Megara are included.
  
• Disney Princess Magazines: Esmeralda, Alice and Jane Porter appeared in magazines, and in the case of Jane, she came to be presented as a new princess for the franchise in one of the magazines.
  
• My Princess Collection (books collection): Dot, Jessie, Alice and Kida are included.^[2]
  
• Disney Princess: Enchanting Playdates: Giselle, Megara, Esmeralda, Alice, Kida.
  

In addition a google search showed me the following.

An issue of the official Disney Princess magazine featuring Alice: http://images2.wikia...a4/IMG_0790.jpg

Also here's a toy line that featured the princesses and other characters.

http://www.amazon.co...ref=pd_sxp_f_pt

So yes, it's pretty rare that we see other characters put alongside the Disney Princesses, but it's happened in the past.

I totally take your post on board... The one thing I'd say with all of the things you've linked to that's different from the line that TLG is putting out is none of them are actually badged under the current Disney Princess line. Disney's Princesses has been used but it tends to use the Disney logo with an apostrophe and it opens up the theme to include other characters. This is branded under the DP logo and as such I don't see the other characters appearing. That goes for books, CDs, toy lines and other collections. That may seem like a very small difference but I'm sure it brings the range of characters down to the 11 currents Princesses. I think the one area that seems to be able to include other characters to any point is in animations or short films but not toys or physical merchandise... Even Minnie has appeared in an animation with them! The 11 Princesses appear in Sofia and even though Sofia is technically a princess she isn't a Disney Princess so I don't see her appearing in the TLG range.

I'm only saying this as I'll be buying some of the sets for my daughter... She's 4 and loves Disney Princesses (most Disney toys are actually appalling in terms of the build quality) so I'll be happy for her to have these and she loves Lego and Lego Friends. I actually don't care how the sets fit with Castle themes or whether Merida's hair is quite right... I think it'll hit the target market bang on. I really like the look of some of the sets but they'll completely be my daughter's and not mine. I also know that if they had Tinkerbell as a set she'd love those too (I actually think that the Disney Fairies would be a slightly better theme for Lego sets).

I was just voicing an air of caution over hoping that other non-princess characters appear... They very well may do. I probably hope they do for my daughter's sake as I love her playing with Lego and want her to build and enjoy for many years but the presence of the actual Disney Princess logo acts as a very restrictive and focused item on these and I don't see them straying from the current 11 characters at this time. That said 2 characters from Frozen are shortlisted to make the 12th official Disney Princess... I can only see one of them making it if at all.

This may all seem very pedantic on my part (and I don't mean it to be) but there are some very knowledgable people on here that can go into minute detail over any number of subjects and I just wanted to make the point that the Disney Princess logo is quite specific.

[Dorayaki]

From this wiki http://disney.wikia....Disney_Princess

A list of Disney Princess merchandise that features other characters. Most of these appear to be books, videos or CD's.

So yes, it's pretty rare that we see other characters put alongside the Disney Princesses, but it's happened in the past.

I think it's determined by which kind of toy company take the license, because each of their production line has different purposes and capabilities.

For some minor companies that make figures or castles, they wouldn't produce other non-princess toys because they have to purposely create new molds and focus on another market they're not familiar with, which is not a wise move for them. Another example from Mattel who produce Disney dolls, they ocasionally add some different characters like Ursula from Little Mermaid or Queen Elinor from Brave, not to count Enchanted and High School Musical. "Disney Princess" is simply a term for mainstream, but it doesn't restrict companies from more of the franchise.

Lego have more freedom than many other competitors, because the brick system covers a vast range of markets (from girls' interest to space and actions) which is already proved by previous Lego Disney licenses. So I don't see why they can't do more with it (they're able to, but unwilling to?) . I don't think a little girl cares about buying theses Lego sets just because Lightning McQueen is one of their predecessors.

Edited November 7, 2013 by Dorayaki

[strangely]

I was just voicing an air of caution over hoping that other non-princess characters appear... They very well may do.

You don't really need to caution us. I don't think there's anybody here that really expects these characters to appear any time soon. More or less we're just discussing what we would like to see in this theme and if it's possible, and it is possible we might see others, just not this year or next.

Realistically though we won't see any other characters featured until there's at least one set devoted to every princess in the line-up. After that I think the odds will become better for other non-princess characters. After all Disney likes to make money and if they intend to keep this theme going for multiple years they'll have to vary on what's featured or else it will get stale. In fact should this theme do well I would expect Disney to either expand the current theme or develop another theme to go along with it. I also think that there could be special scenarios where they could include characters like Alice. I know there's promotional art of the Disney princesses having tea with Alice, so I feel like Disney may do scenarios like that just so they can add in characters without taking their focus off the princesses. It's a way of sneaking in variety without shifting focus.

[Faefrost]

That's a very good thought, I agree. However, even though the Merida set looks okay, we still wonder if the sets would be restriceted by not only the "Disney Princess" stereotype but the use of physical minidolls, where we're not sure TLC is able to create big-bad villains in minidoll scales. Among the official Princess members, Mulan, Merida and Rapunzel had done the most fights which have big potential as regular sets ---- if they were minifigures.

I don't know about "big bad villains"? But I can see the possibility of an oversized exaggerated male torso for the friends line that could have a good range of use. In Disney alone a similarly proportioned torso could be used for Merida's father, the Hun leader from Mulan, Mr. Incredible, Gaston from Beauty and the Beast, Kronk from Emperors New Groove, Hercules, etc etc the list just goes on and on.

[Dorayaki]

I don't know about "big bad villains"? But I can see the possibility of an oversized exaggerated male torso for the friends line that could have a good range of use. In Disney alone a similarly proportioned torso could be used for Merida's father, the Hun leader from Mulan, Mr. Incredible, Gaston from Beauty and the Beast, Kronk from Emperors New Groove, Hercules, etc etc the list just goes on and on.

Back to the reason why TLC introduced minidolls: "to respond girls’ requests for a more realistic, relatable and stylized figure" (did we?). I thought it looks like a self-defeating for TLC, at least in licensed themes, which contains lots of characters in different kinds of shapes. Even though Olivia has a father who hasn't grown since teenages, that's still acceptable. But for those who are a bit more muscline and burly, they would look dumb in that figure, not even speaking of monster-like characters and children. We all know there is a prince with one of the most notable oversizes (though Mattel played it well).

There are two advantages in traditional licensed minifigures: one is that their standardization can simplify some minor differences (waistlines and weights, heights). Two, they provide many other different kinds of sizes (from child to normal, taller, newly molded large figures). So far we haven't seen TLC introduce more kinds of minidolls, but according to the definition of minidolls, minidolls should have more kinds than minifigures.

Or the only thing TLC can do is avoiding--- not to make any other character and ends up not fulfilling expectation from fans. Of course I hope they won't.

Edited November 8, 2013 by Dorayaki

[JeagerEX]

There's a CUUSOO project about a Disney Minifigures series. There's Vanellope too!

-Sci

But her face does not match in the movie along with Wreck-it Ralph and Felix.

Edited November 8, 2013 by JeagerEX

[katdarcy83]

But her face does not match in the movie along with Wreck-it Ralph and Felix.

They'd need to do a modified head, I think. I'd love a fig of her with her racecar.

[CptPJs]

Final images! http://brickfanatics.co.uk/all-lego-disney-princess-sets/

[CorneliusMurdock]

The first post of this thread has been updated with the pictures.

[RoxYourBlox]

It is heartwarming to see the non-sexed up version of Merida attached to her set.

[strangely]

Not bad. The new pieces are especially welcomed, the carriage wheels are particularly welcome (Maybe useful for Asgard mocs). Too bad the faces still don't really reflect the characters that well, but the theme is young, so I'm sure all of these characters will be remade countless times and eventually they'll look better.

I will say most of the sets look a bit boring too me. I mean I get the impression the Friends theme and the mini dolls are designed more for role-playing and such, and yet they didn't really provide a diverse enough cast of characters for each princess. No villains and few supporting characters seems boring to me. It's not like there are many play features in these sets to begin with. I feel like sooner or later they'll have to include more characters if they want continuing success. I guess the character selection is serviceable for now, but will definitely need to improve in later waves.

Edit:

I just noticed in the other pictures that there are two variations of Cinderella. How odd.

Edited November 12, 2013 by strangely

[Lordofdragonss]

Ahh, that heart ornament! I want it really bad! The cindrellas carriage have great whells too!

[Mr_Malfoy]

The sets do look much better now. However, I'll probably just BL the minidolls and the animal buddies. Speaking of which ... Really, LEGO? You took out Sebastian in "Ariel's Magical Kiss"? The entire scene relies on a song sung by him!

[CM4Sci]

Heh, I was right about Ariel getting a new hairpiece.

Love the wheels on Cinderella's Carriage!

I know someone who's daughter likes Disney Princesses and the Friends sets, so she'll be happy to see these in their final form!

-Sci