Monday, June 3, 2013

Disney classic 12" Merida review

Hi everyone!
Today I finally got around to doing a review.  It's of my Disney store classic 12" Merida.
Also, first off I apologize - the pics aren't the greatest because I was using my phone to take pictures.  (And my phone isn't a smartphone, let alone smart :P)
Anyway, here's our lovely redheaded subject:
Merida comes with her green dress, accented with gold; a black cape, a quiver, a pretty engraved bow, an arrow, and a shooting sleeve thingy.  

This picture's pretty dark, but it shows a kind of close up of her face.  She has curly red hair - she doesn't have too awful much of goopy hair, which I would expect.  Her hair is actually kind of soft!  She has GORGEOUS two-tone blue eyes with a bit of yellowish-beige.  She has thick red eyebrows and a cute little smirk, and those awesome freckles.  Her paint job is very well done on her face. 

Her bow and not-so-straight arrow.  It came from the DS bent this badly and I have yet to straighten it up.  Anyway, the bow has a handle so Merida can hold it easily.  
Now, in order for Merida to hold the bow and arrow in a shooting position, I take a clear rubber band, knot it around the thread of the bow, then I stick the arrow through the remaining loop, and THEN I take the arrow, stick the 'business' end of the arrow and thread it through the ribbon of her archer sleeve thing.  Then I use the rest of the rubber band, wrap it around Merida's hand, and pull her arm back until I have  her positioned to please myself.  Whew, hope that made sense because quite honestly, it's hard to figure it out.  xD
Her quiver.  Whatever you do, DO NOT take the rubber band that comes with it, off of it!  That's how it will stay on.  Trust me.  It's impossible to keep it attached otherwise!!
Her cape.  It has a hood but it's hard to stuff all that hair into it!  
Now, I have heard that some people have had their Meridas' capes rub black junk onto the plastic, which will not come off.  My Merida did come with a black mark under her chin; I could not get a good picture of it.  I know that if I wanted to, I probably could've returned her for another one but I'm okay with it - you can hardly notice it.  (:

The brooch type thingy that covers the Velcro that attaches the cape.  

She has the newer articulation.

Oh, and here's her archery sleeve thingy.  It just slips over her arm and the ribbon thingy at the end goes between her fingers.  

Also, the one dress sleeve, that the sleeve goes over, is shorter and does not have the gold ruffle.  Kind of disappointing that it is like this when you don't have her sleeve on, but I can understand why they had to make it like that!


This shows all of her articulation, etc.  

Her shoes are just simple little brown plastic boots that have slits in the back for easy removal.  

And, unfortunately, her articulation is weird or something.  Don't know if that's how ALL the newer articulated dolls are, but if they are, it's a real shame!  
As you can tell from this pic, she is quite bowlegged.  (Maybe from riding Angus too much?).  Also, one hip is VERY loose, and another is so tight it clicks when I move it.  She has to constantly be in a doll stand, because to stand properly, her loose leg has to be dangling awkwardly.

Her knees bend, but she can't sit very ladlylike.  I'll have to do a review between her and my Wedding Rapunzel who has the older articulation, to show the differences.  

Shows how she can bend. 

She has ADORABLE huge ears!!  They really add to her character and are just adorable.  I just love them :P

Profile view...you can really see that her face mold is very accurate to the movie. 
Also, her hair was a tad bit straight in the back from the packaging.  I just gave her hair a good shake and then tossed some of her other curls over the area and you can hardly tell now, and she looks more like Merida then :D
And now for a quick photoshoot, cause she's just so fun to take pics of (except you have to hold her upright because of her weird legs.)



Showing her spunk, with her hands on her hips and her head cocked.


"Now where did that bow go?"  

Anyway hope you enjoyed the review!  Oh and one last side note:  Her dress is a bit more green than  in the pictures.

Overall:  She's a really pretty doll.  However, the weird leg articulation may prove to be an issue to small children, who may get frustrated upon trying to pose her. (I'M not a small child, but I still get frustrated trying to pose her! xD)  I would recommend her to a careful young child, or a child at least 6 yrs or older.  


No comments:

Post a Comment