It has now been almost three years since Mattel took over the Disney Princess doll line from Hasbro. And so far they have done… not much. The Princess dolls are a strong and dependable seller year in and year out – and Mattel was eager to get the license back in 2021. The reunion sent Mattel’s shares surging 11% upon announcement. The investment and agreement was part of Mattel’s plan (at the time) to turn the company around by getting more entrenched in big entertainment properties. The 2021 deal came seven years after it lost the rights to Hasbro back in 2014. And it also included the rights to make dolls based on the “Frozen” movie franchise (more on that in a minute).
While Mattel did churn out slight but positive redesigns in their first run at the line in 2022 and repackaged them in 2023 with special backings for the Disney 100, not much else has been done. In fact, I think the BARBIE movie’s success meant that most of Mattel’s creative effort has been focused on THAT line as their own in-house line became an arguably bigger and hotter property – at least in the moment. And hey, I like Barbie as much as every other collector but the Princesses deserve some respect and attention too.
Luckily, this month, the line saw its first major change since the takeover with new backings and a new logo font (though it was seemingly generated early this year from Disney). The doll designs looks extremely similar – if not exactly the same – at least in this current drop. But I do like the new backing which highlights iconic elements from each of the Princess’ stories. Take a look at my personal favorite princess: SNOW WHITE:
The new version features a blue backing with story elements incorporated including prominent depictions of the Seven Dwarfs’ cottage and forest animals. The new version also includes the new font. The version on the right is the older version. While there are some outlines of vague story elements, they are less prominent and mixed in with generic Princess print and design. I really like the new version! Here are some close up pics of the artwork:
The dolls are identical. But it is interesting to see some slight tweaking of Snow’s hairstyle – though that might be the doll and not the intent of the designers per se.
Here is Rapunzel and her new packaging opposite her older packaging.
Notice the new font as well. While the color stays green, the shading is different. The backing on the new version features a nice clear version of the tower, trees – and even Pascal! The older version has the sun insignia stenciled into the more generic princess pattern – but that’s about it. Again, the doll’s design is unchanged.
Also take a look at Briar Rose aka Aurora aka Sleeping Beauty and Moana and their new packages:
I love the thorn work behind Briar’s head as well as her eponymous castle (I see you Disneyland!). And I love the trees and Moana’s ship featured prominently.
I know it’s just new packaging but I love it and really wanted to write about it and spotlight it. At the beginning of this year, I wrote about how all Disney 100 branded-dolls were pulled and replaced with their more generic version (CLICK HERE). Now we know why – Mattel was in the process of rolling out this wonderful new packaging.
I really hope this signals that a doll redesign might be in the works for sometime in 2024 with this reworked packaging. At Target yesterday, I did notice a new Elsa from FROZEN doll was available for the first time in a while. After looking into it, it looks like it was officially released on the Mattel website last month in July 2024 – around the same time that the new Princess packaging arrived. It came with moldable snow and Olaf. See picture below:
This is an extremely positive sign. But what about the Princesses? With a new Moana movie coming in November – change has to be coming – at least for Moana, right? We shall see.
No Scoops Club 