Elena photoshoot

"Und der Wind singt lalala"

from an opening song of Detective Conan aka Case Closed, because this is my mini Elena dolls favouirte song and it's cheerful

Another quick post, I found an old Barbie outfit from my childhood and immediately thought that this dress is made for Elena, I mean my Elena doll, Valancy. Here are some photos for you to enjoy with Elena wearing that colorful dress. I dont have the shoues that went with these originally (they were spimple purple high heels) but Elenas shoes are perfect, I think.

It actually looks a tiny bit a dress she wears in the show. Or maybe it's just me thinking that colorful dresses suit her. Not everybody can pull that off. :)

Full body.

With belt.

With the top part.

Top part tied.

Top part tucked in.

Valancy Elena.

Bonus picture with her in that famous blue dress. :)

Elena of Avalor mini doll set review

"A whole new world
A dazzling place I never knew "

from Disneys Aladdin: A whole new world

Yes, they'll get to know a whole new world now that they get out of the box. Moving on to the mini treasures from my sisters treasurebox, they are the one before the last item from that box. All the other minis gathered to welcome the new members.

This set has four characters, as many as the mini doll sets usually have. (Older parks princess sets had five, and now the Tangled mini doll set going with the series has only three dolls)

Just like the box of the Elena classic doll, this box has an unique shape and similar, 'avalorish' patterns. The top of the box has some simple but pretty flower design, different shades of blue, yellow and red were used.

The front side of the box has similar decorations and some more complex flowers as well.

On the left, there is a Disney Store Sign, a picture of Elena swinging on a rope and with her hair down and the usual warning. In the middle there is a sign with the information that this is a Mini Doll Set, both in English and in French.

I'm not sure the sets from the USA have this as well, I got my set online from the UK store. On the right, there is the the Disneys Elena of Avalor sign.

The sides of the box show flower patterns as well, only one of them has part of Elenas hair, her skirt and her foot on it.

It belongs to the picture on the front. Here is another picture, so you can see it as a whole.

Just around the riverbend, ehm corner

It shows Elena in her everyday dress, while the artwork on the back of the box shows her in her formal attire. It is the same picture of Elena they used for the classic dolls box.

There is the Elena of Avalor sign in the middle once more, a Ready to rule sign, again, both english and french. I didn't mention the two languages in the classic doll review but it is the exact same sign maybe the size is a little different. Elenas home is not forgotten, either, it is an other element that already made an appearance on the classic dolls box.

Other than those decorations, there are some more texts I don't understand and the names of the characters who sit in the box as dolls, once more in two languages.

The bottom of the box is not decorated, it is the same color that is halfway between green and blue that is used a lot on other parts of the box. Now, let's move on to the inhabitants of the box. Naomi looks really unconfortable. Besides, she is the only one with an extra tie so let's free her first.

She has short blond hair which is hard and kind of like a helmet because of the amount of hairproduct they used to style it. Her eyes are the same blueish green teal color as her skirt, She has some freckles, a pointy little nose and a smile. She doesn't show any teeth.

She wears a small version of her everyday dress from the series, a white blouse with a darkblue west, a red belt, the already mentioned teal skirt with a darkblue decorative stripe and black boots. There are some unfinished edges so be careful while playing.

Little Naomi even has that little ornament imitated with a piece of ribbon around her neck but she does not have a bracelet. I could not make her stand on her own. She is very cute and quite movie accurate in my opinion.
Next is Elena, she is a small version of the classic doll, wearing her red dress, a white underskirt that is part of her dress and brown flats. She has a belt that is sewn to her dress and she wears her hair in a ponytail which is very stiff just like the classic dolls hair.

She is missing some little details the classic doll has, like the flower ornament in her hair, her earrings and her bracelet. She is still a very good version of Elena and I think she is the most movie accurate of the bunch. Her hair is just a touch lighter then the classic dolls hair but that may be just me. Both Elenas have the same smile with a slightly open mouth.

I think she is the first doll who actually has red lips, the others all have lighter or darker pink shades as their lipcolor. It goes well with her red dress.
Gabe is wearing a nice and detailed version of his uniform which uses a lighter and a darker shade of blue and red. He wears black boots that look similar to the ones Hans wears. I have to check it when I get the mini one out of the box.

His hair is a grayish brown, I'm not really fond of that color but I let it pass. He looks a bit odd in the pictures but he is actually quite nice.

When I saw him for the first time, he reminded mi a bit of Naveen from The Princess and the frog. It's odd, I only had this feeling with the doll, in the cartoon he never looks even a tiny bit like Naveen.
Mateo is the last of the four.

He  has darkbrown hair and eyes and he wears his casual outfit. The color of his outfit changes.

The doll versions and the promo pictures show him with a teal  west and darkblue belt compined with  greyish brown trousers while in the series he is seen with a green west, red belt end greenushblueish trousers. Maybe there are two different outfits. The white shirt and the red tie are always the same. The little outfit the doll wears is all one piece I think they caught his face pretty good, maybe he looks a bit older then he is in the series.He reminded me a bit of Aladdin. :)
Here are a few screenshots to compare, they are from Diseny Elena of avalor Wiki:

All four dolls have basic articulation: neck(Naomis is a bit loose) shoulders, hips and those klick knees I prefer not to use, especially on such small dolls. I almost forgot the background of the dolls, usually it can be used as a room or something for the dolls, like the ballroom for the Beauty and the Beast mini doll set or the room background for the wardrobe sets.

This set has Avalor in a teal version as a background with Elenas castle and the houses and the moutains and all. I'm sure it can be used while playing. :)
Those four little ones are really cute and  great additions to my mini doll collection, I'm really happy that I was able to get them. Besides, two more boys, maybe there will be some interesting events to be reported. No romances so far :}
But in my opinion they are more suitable for collectors than young children.

Dolly: Meritres matchmaking ambitions are impossible to cure. Those little ones have my sympathy.

Looks like they feel a bit uneasy but they'll get used to everything soon. And Elena can play Esmeralda in Pocket Princesses 138

Uhm... hi!

Thhis is a bit awkward...

Well, if you read the first part of their story, you know that it is not just a bit awkward, they have quite a bit of trouble getting to know the others and fit in. Especially the girls.

Disney Store Classic Elena of Avalor doll review

"Jetzt wissen wir, wenn wir uns wehren, sind wir stark"

 Literally: now we know, if we defend ourselves, we are strong

From the musical Marie Antoinette by Lévay & Kunze - Frauen von Paris (Women of Paris)

Wanted to post some Mini Princess Adventures but didn't have the time to finish those posts so enjoy an Elena of Avalor review.

The second treasure from the giftbox is an Elena classic doll. I originally wanted the Wardrobe Set with Elena but it was already sold out. The Elena from that set has hinge knees and ankle joints while the classic doll has click knees. I like the first one a little better so I was a little disappointed but now at least I have a better version of her signature dress. And her face is just as pretty.

She has the most beautiful box, decorated to match her red signature color and her palace and her homeland, Avalor. The shape of her box is unique as well.

It can be seen best  from the top, the backside  is not flat, like it is with the usual boxes. Also some nice floral decoration can be seen, red and blue and two shades of yellow and I think a light teal shade were used. It might be the same kind of flower Elena wears in her hair. The pattern continues on both sides of the box.

 On the right side, there is a Disney sign as well

The left side has this flowerpattern only.

The two floverpatterns "meet" at the front, just below the Elena of Avalor sign. There is also Elenas name once more and a warning.

The backside is just as carefully decorated as the other sides of the box. It has a slight bend in the middle, to make the unique form of the box. On the top ther is once more an Elena of Avalor sign and the castle.

Elena of Avalor! And a bit of tissue paper, from Hans' box

 Right under her home, there is Elena artwork as well, showing her in her formal attire. This is a bit strange since the doll in the box wears the regular red dress.

Ther is also a sign with the text 'Ready to rule' which is also the title of the first episode of the series featuring Elena. This young crownprincess has a really carefully designed box with not only children but collectors in mind who would like to leave the doll in the box. I'm not one of those good collectors, I couldn't resist (didn't even try) and took her out, but I tried not to harm the box.

Hi! I'm Dolly, let me help get out of there!

Let's get to work and debox her.

It's not that easy. Unlike Mulan, she didn't have a paper petticoat but a lump of tissue paper to keep the form of the dress. She didn't have those annoying plastic tags in her head. But she had half a dozen smaller ones in her dress. Just to make deboxing fun.

Now, here she is, in all her red glory. The red part of the dress is cowered in glitter but it doesn't shed very much. Her rubbery legs love it, though.

The skirt has two layers, a white satin (I think) underskirt and the skirt part of the red dress. The gown is all one piece and closes at the back with velcro but the belt is removable and is secured at the back.

I must say, I really like this gown, it is pretty and elegant and has a princessy touch but it is not too fancy for daily tasks.
This young ladys hair is not black as I thought when I first saw the stock photos of her different dolls, but a very dark brown. It's a bit darker then her haircolor in the series.

It has the most styling product in it I ever saw in a dolls hair. Her ponytail is actually a stiff lump. But the haitstyle is extremely accurate to her on-screen self, not even the shorter section of her ponytail was forgotten.

The flowers she wears, an Apricot Mallow, which grows in Sonora and Baja California in Northwest Mexico were made into haircomb and are sewn to her hair. (Information about the flower comes form DisneyWiki)

She has her earrings as well, they resemble the ones redesigned Jasmine has. Well, Elena herself resembles Jasmine a bit in my opinion. She wears a bracelet as well, which is secured to her arm with elastics. I left it on so the bracelet won't get lost.

She has beautiful shoes that match her jewellry but they look big compared to Mulans shoes. They have moulded and painted details, just like the bracelet.

She has a kind and pretty face and I think it is quite accurate. She doesn't look angry like the newer Disney store Jasmine dolls. I think Jasmine is beautyful but her dolls doesn't really catch it in my opinion, mostly because of those eyebrows they give her. She would look so much friendlier with Elenas eyebrows.
I thought these two princesses resemble each other so let's compare their dollforms a bit.

(I'm sorry, but it is unclear what will happen to this Jasmine doll, so she has to stay in her box. :( )  Their faces are quite different but the eyes look very similar and I don't think Jasmine has such thick lips, her smile in the movie looks like the Elena dolls smile. Here is a picture of Jasmine to compare, pulled from https://animationscreencaps.com/

She looks a lot like Elena, only her eyebrows are thicker

Both dolls have the usual articulation of a classic princess doll with klick knees: head, shoulders, elbows, wrists and hips plus those klick knees I don't use at all.
Now, how does she compare to her mini self?

The faces are the same, but there are some minor differences due to the size difference.
The rope she came with is a lot like the shoelaces from my fathers shoes only it's shorter and the ends aren't finished. It was given to the Minis, so they can climb around in the bedroom a bit more easily. This particular Elena doll is very generous. She is called Valancy, after the main character of the book The Blue Castle by Lucy Maud Montgomery.
She is a beautiful, accurate and quite well-made doll, I would recommend her to older children and collectors. She costs a bit more than the regular classic princesses but in return she has a bit more details than the others. I'm not sure about that rope, it is too short for the classic doll to play with it. But she does swing on a rope during the intro song of the series. I would have preferred her sceper or her crown. But it is just perfect for the mini dolls, perfect size and very useful.

Bye!