2024. április 14., vasárnap

ILY4ever fashion pack review - first Belle fashion pack

"Unlimited, my future is unlimited" 

from The musical Wicked - music and lyrics by Stephen Schwartz and book by Winnie Holzman

 

 Thr next in the series is the first Belle fashion pack - since I got the first one a year ago, the made another one, I'll review that one as well sometiime in the future.

Belle is associated with golden color and roses so that appears for sure in the fashion and accessory packs inspired by her. A pair of jeans is always easy to combine with other pieces and  the basket seemed not only adorable but also very useful.

Belle is one of the few inspirations  for lack of a better word that has a different picture of her on the front and the side.

The other side and the back share the same photo of a doll modelling the set.

 A quick look at the setwithout the plastic cover:

The top has an off-shoulder cut and is decoratd with rufflesat the top at the bottom and at the sleeves. For once, they picked white roses as a pattern instead ofred ones for the top.

The pattern goes all around and it closes with velcro at the back.

The jeans haz actual tiny belt loops and a button for decration - the later one doesn't work

The red roses are a must for Belle and cover the front side of the jeans. There is a little decorative rollup stitched at the and of the leg part.

The backside has no pattern and this piece clises with velcro, just like the top. A piece with many uses, I think, jeans can be combined with so many other things.
 
 
The footwear chosen for this set is a pair of blue boots with flowers as decoration.

 Red roses and white... daisies? I'm no botanist  so I'll stick to flower.
 
In my opiniont it works well with the jeans but is a bit 'heavy' to go with a dreass or a skirt.

The set also comes with jewelry -  a golden necklace and two rose hairpins.
 
Many ets come with either golden or silver jevelry so they can all be mixed well, too. On the other hand, there isn't too much variety, just a bunch of golden necklaces with something different hanging from each one.

This set comes with some food items wich is rare - drinks come occasionally with the packs but I haven't seen any other packs with food. It connects to the first song of beauty and the Beast, "Belle" along with the basket it belongs into. While during the song  Belle wears her blue towndress and white blouse, the rest of the set is more inspired by her iconic look - the g9lden dress and the castle. it's no a criticosm  just an observation - I'd love to see more Belle sets that rely on her other outfts - her pink winter dress or her green library dress.

Back to the furits and the baguettes - thy fit nicely into the basket

The basket can be closed just fine with the food inside
The basket opening up like that  is a great idea in my opinion.

The initial idea was to put it in like that so it sticks out a bit. I actually use the backet to store small pieces of the sets in it that are not used at the moment - earrings, watches, hairpins and the like.

 

Original Jasmine fan Midoi tried on the top and the jeans.The golden top and the golden hair is not the best match but it looks still nice.

Favourite piece from the set: the basket, because it's so useful as storage

Who looks best in this set? The original Tiana fan, Yukiko



2024. március 17., vasárnap

ILY4ever fashion pack review - Cinderella

 "Love me, that's all I ask of you"

From A.L. Webber's The Phantom of the Opera

Today, I'll look at a fashion pack from the ILY4ever line. I picked the Cinderella, Belle and Rapunzel packs to be reviewed first since I bought them first and they are quite different - one is casual, the other is a bit more for special occasions and the thitrd is in between in my opinion. Cinderella goes first because her movie is the oldest - I like going by movie age order if it's the Disney Princesses and Frozen. All of this is just my opinion and views on these dolls and fashion packs.

This was the fashion pack I knew I had to have the moment I saw it. It's perfect for mix and match.

 It comes with a white, long sleewed top, a blue knee length skirt, a pair of silver shoes, a blue hairband, a silver wirstwarch, a pair of silver earrings and a mouse handbag. Everything is  visible through the clear plastic fromt. 

The box, like the ones with the dolls, has a picture of the relevant princess at the front and on one side...

 ...and a photo of a doll wearing the set on the other side and the back.

 The fashion pack boxes are a bit smaller than the boxes with a doll but have the same shape and open the same. The handle on the box is still very useful for opening. Let's take a closer looks at what's inside the Cinderella box.

Here is everything unboxed. It had a zillion unnecessary little plastic tags. The most I had was in the Merida fashion pack that had two at every spot where thesse tags were used with the Anna pack being a close second. Far too many and they leave ugly holes in the clothes and they are a nightmare to get out.

The top is fairly thick so the holes go fairly unnoricable. The material is kind of "hairy" like what is uesd to make plushies. It makes the impression of a nice warm top. The Cindy-touch is the tiny silver pumpkin carridge decoration on the front.

It closes with velcro at the back.

The skirt is nice and wide and reaches almost the knee of the dolls.

It has two layers and the waistband has a big blue bow.

It can also stand upside down an look a bit like a big blue flower.

The shoes are silver colored and have bands to set them apart from the silver ballerinas the Cinderella inspired doll wears. 

 I think that makes putting them on the doll harder but the dolls get the authentic Cinderella experience - trying on her shoes is no joke and is for those with small feet. It may be harder for the dolls that were made by a different company, Jakks Pacific (Bambi fan, Stitch fan, Ursula fan, Mickey fan, Mickey and Minnie fan retro doll and the Cruella fan that turned out to b a leak from their second wave that has a Minnie fan and a Rapunzel fan to go with the Cruella fan).

 The earrings have the form of a small bow.They can be easily worn with pretty much any outfit as they are quite generic. Some people may be bothered by this but I like pices that can be reused and mixed with many outfits.

The wirstwatch is a matching silver color and it can also be work with many outfits. Since it's Cinderella themed, it obviously shows midnight. These small pieces can easily get lost, so I store them in the basket that comes with the first Belle Fashion pack.

It would be nice if the bags and purses that come with the sets could serve this purpose but so far, only the basket is big enough to store these items. 


The mouse bag coming with this set could maybe hold a pamphlet or something thin like that.

The blue velvet ribbon used for the bag makes it look more realistic when a doll carries it.

Last but not least, there is a blue plastic hairband.

It has a clearly identifiable backside and frontside.
I can see it being used for a town dress Belle inspired look.
Here is the Jakk's Pacific Stitch fan doll aka Magdalena wearing the core parts of the set. Her ears are not pierced and I didn't bother to add the accessoires, either. Still it looks god on her. it also matches the skirt from the Bambi fan doll that is made of a similar, velvety material.

As a closing picture, here is a little sneak peek at the next review, the first Belle set. Jasmin fan aka Midori rocks it, doesn't she?

I thought I'd add two questions to each fashion pack review I'll answer - you can answer them in the comments!

The questions will be always the same, which one is in your opinion the best piece from the set (and why?) and which doll looks best in the outfit. My answers for this qustion will always be a doll that I own, chosen from these: the six original girls, the Aladdin fan and the Jakks Pacific Stitch doll.

Favourite piece from the set: the skirt, it's rare to have such a niche wide A-line skirt for dolls - most are tube skirts that I don't really like.

Who looks best in this set? it's a tie between Cinderella fan Dahlia and Ariel fan Kaori! this set is great pretty much all of them rock it!

 

2023. június 30., péntek

ILY4ever doll review - Tiana fan doll

„Most indul a játék”

from The Count of Monte Cristo (originally Hungarian, meaning: The game starts now)

 The new I love you forever doll line (ily4ever for short)is not that new anymore and there are many-many posts about the girls out there, but I’ll still do my review and share thoughts. It’s more like a personal opinion and my story with them.

If you’d like to see an informative review on what clothes fit them and joints and articulation, this is a great post: https://www.toyboxphilosopher.com/2023/01/ily-4ever-fashion-dolls-by-disney.html

I won't go into details, just mention stuff here and there, for details, please visit the blogpost on the link above - it's about the same doll.

When I first saw them, they didn’t struck me as must-have dolls, although I still tried to pick a favourite. In the end, I settled on the girl who is a fan of Tiana, with the Jasmine fan becoming a close second, occasionally surpassing the Tiana fan. When I got the opportunity to buy one doll, I picked the Tiana fan because she kind of “gave me her backstory”. Did it happen to you when thoughts just came so naturally to you in connection with a doll and her story and nature as if the doll told you? Same thing happened with a few names but more about that later.

Everybody knows the stereotypical Japanese person, hard-working overachiever, just like Tiana. And that is just the reason this girl is a fan of Tiana because she can relate to her journey and a big problem that exists not just in her life but on a bigger scale as well. That is why I decided to give her a Japanese name. I tried Violet first but she kind of “rejected” it. It wasn’t easy but I named all six.

So here are the names I gave them (since they do not come with their own names and are usually referred to by the name of the princess they like)

Fan of Snow White: she literally screamed at me that her name is Charlotte. Normally I avoid giving them names that are already used in a Disney movie (like Jane or Anna) but these are not princess dolls so I decided it should be fine. My dolls, my rules :)

Fan of Cinderella: she was the hardest to name and the last one to receive one, she settled for Dahlia. She is the only doll I may consider renaming.

Fan of Ariel: Kaori – she got a Japanese name because her parents are close friends with Tiana fan’s parents and they picked out the name. They are to blame not me. :)

Fan of Belle: Ilka – after a very good friend of mine who looks a lot like this doll and agreed to lend the doll her name. A perfect choice, I think.

Fan of Jasmine: Midori – he parents are researchers of Japanese culture and history, thus the name. It means green and green and teal are her favourite colours.

Fan of Tiana: last but not least, the object of this review. She accepted the name Yukiko

First I didn’t particularly like any, now I love all of them. A story adds so much to them in my eyes.


The boxes in this line are simple yet pretty. 


Art of the princess in the front and one of the sides...
 

...doll photos on the other side and the back. A group of Disney fans taking a picture at Disneyland.


The artwork of the princess is usually the same at the front and on the side but a different cutout. It also looks like the lineart and the colouring does not match, the lineart seems to have a lighter “shadow” lineart and the colouring matches that. It is surely intentional but to me, it looks odd. Still cute art of the princesses.

The box has one rounded edge and a handle at the top that makes opening it from the bottom the easiest option. The first thing I'm greeted with is a tie that holds her right foot. By the way, those ties are great when you have a nicely rolled up cable and don't want to get it tangled. I usually give those to my dad and he makes good use of them.


I used the handle to help me hold the box while pulling out the inner part with the doll out.


The backside is ugly - everything a dollcollector hates when unboxing dolls - plastic T-ties, tape and more. T-ties in the head is what I hate the most when unboxing dolls.


Now let’s start with Yukiko herself. 


She has long black hair styled in two ponytails, it is quite soft and long. She is the only one in the gang with fully straight hair and so with fairly little hairstyling product in her hair. The little short sections at the front are an exception, they are stiff and hard due to the amount used there.

She has black eyebrows with detailing, a slight blush on her cheeks and natural coloured lips with a closed mouth smile. She has brown inset eyes, pretty and shiny, also the eyelashes are painted to be more realistic and not as cartoonlike as the Disney princesses.

She came with green Tiana Mickey ears, a purple top with New Orleans on it, a skirt with straps with flower pattern and light purple sneakers. No idea why the purple, Tiana never wore purple. 


She also brings a fluffy jacket, a beige backpack and a purple water bottle. The green buttons on the jacket are nice and I liked the explanation by a fan that this jacket refers to the white outfit Tiana wears during her Almost there fantasy and towards the end when she is briefly turned human again.


She also has the balloon with the surprise.

Mine had the pretzel in it. Yummy. I decided this will be her favourite treat ans this rule will apply tomall girls.


A closeup of the purple bottle. I saw in other people's reviews that the handle often comes crooked and the elastic tie distorted the bottle and the handle a bit, this one's quite decent.

Almost forgot, she also comes with a purple and green bead bracelet. 

Mine’s a bit crooked.


But these new hands have a nice shape, with not all fingers glued together. More chances for threads to be caught in them when dressing the dolls. But a pair of mittens solves the problem, at least for me.

Still wondering about the purple/violet color usage (one of the reasons I considered naming her Violet) and why so much of it. If not for the Mickey ears, I’d have had a hard time guessing whose fan she is, simply based on her colours. But I must admit, I like it on her so I don’t mind.

The dolls in this doll line in general look more like teenage girls than the Disney princess dolls, although many Disney princesses are said to be teens, too. The Disney princess dolls look more like adults than these dolls. Looking at these Disney fan dolls I’d guess them to be around 16-17 years old.

Their body is a new construction and I love the double knee joints, now I only wish for double elbow joints. Careful, the legs easily pop off. But they can be just as easily put back but I wouldn't do that too often.

A very pretty line, with these dolls, anybody can create their own modern day princess. My guess something like that was the idea of leaving the girls without names of their own, encouraging the owners to name them themselves.

I have two more dolls and three fashion packs to review – maybe I’ll even do them. I plan to get the remaining three dolls and more fashion packs for Christmas. Until the next review, here is a little teaser:


If you're in Europe and wish to buy them, you can do so here: https://www.shopdisney.eu/disney-ily-4ever