Disney Princess and Me Doll Kankalon Hair

Over the last year, I have had several requests to review one of the Disney "Princess & Me" dolls.  I can understand why people are curious about these dolls.  First of all, at just under 20 inches tall, they make impressive gifts.  In addition, they portray the beloved Disney Princesses, and so collectors and enthusiasts of these characters will be tempted to own a large version of their favorite heroine.  Also, these dolls are comparably sized to many slim 18" play dolls like Carpatina, Kidz 'n' Cats and Magic Attic, which makes clothes-sharing an added temptation.

To be honest, I always walk a little faster past this section of the Disney doll aisle, purposefully avoiding eye contact with these huge princesses.  Their oversized faces and round, staring eyes freak me out a little.  Also, the price tag is a bit of a stunner.  All of the dolls cost $50 except for the Diamond Edition Cinderella, who (because of a bigger dress?) is $60.  That's really expensive for a Toys R Us play doll.  So, I have been reluctantly watching for a sale, but secretly hoping that I would never need to bring one of these large, glassy-eyed girls home with me.

As luck would have it, over April break, a really good sale started at Toys R Us.  All of the princesses (including Cinderella) were $39.99 (sale ends May 11th).  I headed over to my local Toys R Us and, with my teenaged son running in the opposite direction as fast as he could, I bit the bullet and settled in to inspect all of the dolls.  While Cinderella was the obvious choice for me, especially with the $20 off sale, I actually found Rapunzel to be the most appealing doll in the group:

I like Rapunzel's green eyes and freckles.  Her face doesn't have any features that identify her as Rapunzel, which I think is a good thing.  This doll could be used in games to portray a regular, modern freckle-faced girl.  Also, because Rapunzel dolls have so much hair, they are a sure-fire way to test the hair quality of a line.  Rapunzel doll hairhas to be good, otherwise the doll is a complete disaster. Cinderella is probably my second favorite doll in this series, but her platinum hair was a less natural and versatile color...and it looked pretty messy in the box.

The Princess & Me dolls come in impressively large, colorful cardboard window boxes:

The back of the box has this picture of a girl holding Rapunzel.  I don't like this picture:

Cheesy.

First of all, Rapunzel looks bad.  The angle and exposure somehow capture the doll at her worst.  That half-profile is not flattering and she looks crazy-pale.  Second, that's not even the doll that comes in the box--the dress is completely different.  Third, that's a beautiful young lady holding the doll, but she looks totally unnatural.  She's way too made-up to be in casual clothes playing outside, and she also looks too old to be the target audience for this doll (I should talk, right?).  I think she's probably younger than she looks, but she looks about 15 to me.

The small picture in the corner of the box is cuter.  Here, Rapunzel looks endearingly wide-eyed and sweet.  I don't care for her outfit, but I like how she looks with pigtails--it adds to my conviction that this doll is versatile enough to be played with as a princess or just as a regular girl.

That's some abrupt photo editing on her ponytail.

At the bottom of the box, there's a picture of all six dolls in this series.  I looked at these dolls very carefully in the store, and most of them are cuter than they looked from a distance.  Ariel (red hair!), Cinderella and Rapunzel are my favorites.  Belle is the only doll that still scares me.  I do not care for her face at all.  Aurora has strangely slanted eyes, but she's still reasonably pretty.

"Collect the Royal Family of Princess & Me??" How about: "Collect the Princess & Me royal family?"

So, can I go on a little tangent for a sec?  When I bought this doll, I was thinking about her price and wandering around Toys R Us looking for other expensive play dolls that I could use for comparison.  The Journey Girls were the most similar dolls in terms of size, and they are only $32.99.  I need to de-box one of those dolls to check out the quality.  Anyway--aside from a few collector Barbies and some mechanical babies, there aren't too many other dolls in this $50-$60 price range, at least not at my local store.

I did find these expensive items, though, and wanted to share them with you:

Stack O' Babies.

There, stacked up and tossed in between a Graco baby chair and Ballerina Belle are two $100 Lee Middleton baby dolls.  How sad is that?  Those are beautiful dolls.  I had a weird reaction to seeing them like this--almost like I found an abandoned puppy or something like that.  They looked fairly new on the day I was there, but after one weekend on that low shelf with lots of sticky grabby hands, they will be completely trashed.  I wish I could have rescued them.  Sigh.

Anyway--back to Rapunzel:

The box is a little tricky to navigate.  In order to remove the plastic window, you have to un-tape and unfold a thick cardboard backing:

Under this layer, there's a regular-looking cardboard back with tape and twine ties securing the doll.  I removed the tape all of the way around the edge of the box, and this released the plastic window, which was held in place with 8 tabs.  In theory, if you disassemble this box carefully, it could be rebuilt to store or sell the doll.

Here she is without the glare of the plastic:

She comes with a small envelope that says, "A Royal Gift For You."  It has a photo of that same girl holding Rapunzel.  Rapunzel still looks bad in this picture, but the girl looks sweet and happy.  I don't think it's a good idea to photograph these dolls right next to real human faces--it magnifies the exaggerated, cartoony features of the doll:

The "Royal Gift" is two identical certificates making me an honorary princess and a member of the "Disney Princess & Me Royal Family."  There's also a small booklet advertising the other dolls in the series.

I'm a princess!

The cover of the booklet shows three real kids holding Rapunzel, Belle and Ariel and the back has a big picture of the Diamond Edition Cinderella (making me wish I'd bought her):

Here are two of the inner pages.  The picture on the right is cute, but the whole catalog veers too close to pageant-fakey for my taste.

Rapunzel is held in place with three twine ties and some brown thread to anchor her hair:

Here she is:

One curl of hair is tied to her wrist with a clear rubber band:

Ahh!  Get it off!  Get it off!

The tiara is awkwardly perched on her head, so I removed it first.  The design looks pretty, but it is made out of hard plastic and is difficult to keep in place without the clear rubber bands to hold it down:

I was, of course, most curious about this doll's hair.  It looks lovely.  It is a beautiful, natural blonde color with some brown lowlights mixed in.  It is wavy, but not curly or frizzy.  It has a nice, heavy weight to it.

A little bald patch was peeking out at the back:

When I parted her hair to investigate, it revealed a pretty significant patch of scant rooting:

Total zombie hair.

Imagining what the back of the head looks like on the doll in this picture, I have a different opinion of those pigtails:

I won't be trying that hairstyle.

The hair gets most of its volume from the rooting around the face.  In this picture, the doll's face is to the right.  If I comb the hair around the face forward, you can easily see the scalp at the back of the head:

My inspection of the rooting pattern messed up the hair quite a bit.

That's a tangled mess.

There's some styling product throughout the hair, and while this helps keep the curls nicely in place, the moment I started manipulating Rapunzel and moving her hair, tangles cropped up everywhere:

Small animals could nest in there.

I got out one of my heavy-duty full-size human combs and went to work detangling Rapunzel's hair.  This was incredibly frustrating.  I would start at the bottom and battle the knots one by one, but then when I tried to comb from the top of the head down, it seemed like the tangles at the bottom had magically reappeared.  Here's before (left) and after (right):

Quite a bit of hair was pulled out during this process:

You could knit a little sweater with that.

Trying really hard not to exaggerate, I'll estimate that I put about 15 minutes into this brushing project before I gave up.  The thing is, the hair is very soft--it doesn't feel like hair that would be especially prone to tangles.  There's just a lot of hair.  In any case, it was clear that in order to examine this doll properly, I would have to get the hair out of the way, so I quickly styled it into a thick braid:

This hairstyle shows off the shape of the doll's face nicely.  Again, what I like about the face is that it is generic and versatile.  While she's clearly Rapunzel with that purple dress and long hair, she could also be re-dressed and used as a regular 18" play doll.

Her features do not have a lot of detail.  Her eyebrows are thick and blocky with a few darker lines to hint at texture.  She has painted upper eyelashes and no lower lashes.  Her eyeballs are large and round and have no molded eyelids or other details surrounding them.  She has an open-mouthed smile, but no indication of individual teeth.   All of these design choices would look fine on a smaller doll, but on a doll this big, the absence of detail gives simplicity to the expression and a cheapness to the overall appearance of the doll.

Here's a close-up of the mouth.  There's no detail in the shape of the lips or in the teeth:

In all fairness, though, the picture angle above makes the lips look more botoxified than they are in real life, and maybe teeth would have been a bad idea.  I did my own little experiment to see how teeth might have looked:

Grin.

Ok, never mind.

The eyes are a pretty color that is appropriate for Rapunzel, but the pupils are huge and don't leave room for a lot of green.  The green area is also a bit fuzzy--like it's just slightly out of focus.  The freckles are very nicely done.  You might notice a few shiny streaks in the picture below (near the eyebrow and at the edge of the face)--these are caused by leaking hair product.  I washed her face with water and a Q-tip and now those marks are gone.

Rapunzel has a cute profile, with an upturned nose and a nice chin.  There's something wrong about the profile near her eyes, though:

I think it's the absence of a sculpted brow and eyelids that give her face too much of an Other Mother button-eye look from this angle:

There are a lot of criticisms here, but I have to say that I like this doll's face much more than I thought I would.  I'm not sure if I have just gotten used to it or what, but I find it to be an engaging, friendly face.

Rapunzel's dress looks fine--especially from the front.  It's clearly Rapunzel's dress from the Tangled movie, although there are a lot of design differences and shortcuts.   Most notably, this dress is missing the cute striped cap sleeves, it has glitter all over the place, and the skirt has more of a classic princess cut, rather than the flowing skirt from the movie that has such wonderful drape and movement.

The corseted front is just an applied glittery design:

The deep purple overskirt has a pretty silver floral glitter pattern and opens in front to reveal a partial underskirt:

The underskirt has two layers--pink satin covered by glittery pink tulle:

There's a generous amount of fold in the pleat at the top of the skirt, making the dress very three-dimensional:

The front of the skirt is the best part of this dress by far.  I find the bodice a bit bland (and too glittery), and the whole back of the dress is completely unadorned.  The material is stiff and crinkly and it wrinkles easily.  Because there are no other decorations on the back of the dress, the wrinkles are especially noticeable:

Cop-out.

The dress closes with velcro, and the seam leaves a fairly large hole right below the doll's waist.  You can just see her painted white underpants:

Wardrobe malfunction

The stitching is fine, but the quality of the fabric in this dress is like what you would find in an inexpensive play doll like Barbie or Bratzillaz.  There's nothing wrong with that on its own, but for a $50 doll, it's a bit of a drag.

The purple slippers are flimsy and shapeless:

Cinderella gets glass slippers and Rapunzel gets hospital slippers?

This doll has a hollow, slightly flexible vinyl body with elastic-strung joints.  In general, I am not crazy about elastic joints because they don't always hold poses well and they tend to loosen over time.

She has six points of articulation (neck, shoulders, chest, hips). The torso joint is a nice addition (most 18" play dolls don't have it) but the joint doesn't actually offer a lot of extra movement.

She can bend more to her left with the torso joint (picture on the left, below) than she can to her right (picture on the right).  In fact, the torso is always torqued a little bit to the doll's left side.  This joint doesn't move front-to-back at all.

This doll has fairly good head movement--she can look up and down and all around, but her head holds certain poses better than others.  For example, she can't look down and to her right and stay in that position--the joint snaps back into a front-glancing pose.  She looks to the left beautifully.

Her arms lift up and down and move slightly out to the side, especially when they are held straight over her head like this:

Her arms and legs hold their positions well.

Her left foot has a pink logo mark on the bottom:

This doll's articulation isn't great, but she can strike simple walking and sitting poses, and I like that she has some decent head mobility.

This doll's large head and big eyes give her a the proportions of a child.  I don't think she's meant to be a toddler Rapunzel, like the Disney Animators' Collection dolls, but from some angles she looks incredibly young.  Not old enough to get married to Flynn Rider, that's for sure.

Rapunzel and Erin have similar elastic-strung joints.  Aside from the differences that are obvious in the picture, I should note that Erin's vinyl is much heavier, giving her a solid feel and the ability to stand on her own.  Rapunzel's body feels light in comparison, and she can not stand on her own.  Also, Erin's eyes open and close while Rapunzel's do not.  Erin's hair needs very little brushing maintenance.

Lorifina is quite different from Rapunzel.  She is taller and more slender, and she has a lot of extra joints.  Lorifina has simplified facial features just like Rapunzel, but her smaller head makes this less noticeable.  Lorifina's hair is silky and tangle-free.  This hair fiber would have been an excellent choice for a Rapunzel doll.

Rapunzel's dress is huge on Lorifina, and Lorifina's clothes do not fit Rapunzel (way too tight).  Erin looks like she can wear Rapunzel's dress...

...but it won't even come close to closing in back:

To bad, because the color looks great with her red hair:

Rapunzel can wear Erin's dress nicely.  The fit is a bit loose, but this dress style hides that very well.

Looking at these dolls side-by-side, I noticed that Erin doesn't have a lot of sculpted detail around her eyes, either.  There is something more realistic and appealing about Erin's face to me, though--perhaps it is the smaller scale of her head, or the detail in her painted features?  Rapunzel's chunky eyebrows, straight upper lip and wide-set eyes stand out to me in this comparison:

Here's a comparison to the Disney Store talking Merida doll--these two are significantly different in scale:

And here is Rapunzel next to my Karito Kid, Ling.  Interestingly, I also got Ling on sale for $39.99.  Ling is a much, much nicer doll.

These two can't share clothes, either:

Last, here's Rapunzel next to Magic Attic Heather, who is very similar in size, articulation and weight to Carpatina Erin:

The clothes-sharing situation is the same as it was with the Carpatina doll--Heather can wear Rapunzel's dress, but it won't close in back:

Rapunzel, however, looks great in Heather's outfit, although the skirt is a bit too short and the style of the outfit accentuates her toddler-like proportions:

Even the shoes fit!

I wish Rapunzel's dress was as high-quality as Heather's outfit.

Here's Rapunzel back in her own clothes:

At this point, for whatever reason, I decided to give Rapunzel's hair another try.  It is just too pretty and soft to dismiss.  So, I got out my trusty comb again and went to work.  After another twenty minutes, and a lot more hair loss...

Sweater #2.

I actually got Rapunzel's hair to a point where all of the styling product is brushed out and the hair is tangle-free.  When I took this picture, I could run my comb from the top of her head to the ends of her hair with no resistance.

Gorgeous.

The hair has a different texture at the ends than it does at the roots.  At the bottom, the fiber is still very soft, but the hair is not as smooth and shiny.  It's hard to photograph, and it's not like the frizzy ends I've seen in so many other doll's hair...it's just that the hair changes texture a bit from top to bottom.

I have to say, I never thought I would get this hair combed out, and I am so glad I took the time to do it right.  I think it really came down to brushing out every last clump of hair that was stuck together with styling product.  That stuff was causing a lot of trouble.  I really thought that the hair would tangle again almost instantly, but it stayed quite soft and manageable throughout the rest of my photo session.  I have found that it's enough to brush out the hair once or twice a day, although if I let it go for longer than that, things start to get knotted again.

It's very fun to play with this hair.

My Disney Store Rapunzel girls saw how much fun I was having with this new doll, and so they had to get in on the action:

They shared tips about braiding techniques and glitter control:

I was curious to compare this doll to Tonner's Rapunzel.  The Tonner doll has such a unique look to her, she makes the Princess & Me doll look very generic.  It's not really a fair comparison, though, given that the Tonner Rapunzel cost almost $200.

The Tonner doll's hair and outfit are wonderful--and I adore her attitude:

I spent a lot of time thinking about where this doll fits into the market.  I think it depends a little bit on what you're looking for--a Rapunzel doll or an affordable 18" play doll.

First of all, she's an unusual size for a Rapunzel doll, and so she fills a void for people shopping specifically for different versions of this Disney character.  Assuming I haven't left out any of the main competitors, she also fills a notable price void in the Rapunzel market:

$20-$40 Disney Store 16" singing Rapunzel, Disney Store Animator's Collection Rapunzel and Jakks toddler Rapunzels

$40-$60 Princess & Me dolls

$60-$80 ??

$80-$100 Disney Store Limited Edition and Designer Collection Rapunzel dolls

I  call her "Mini Me."

This doll's place in the general 18" play doll market is less clear to me.  Here's the list of the competitors that I've been mulling over:

$22 Springfield Collection

$23 Our Generation (Target)

$33 Journey Girls (Toys R Us)

$50-$60 Princess & Me

$60 Adora 18"

$70 Carpatina basic

$100 and up: American Girl, Carpatina dressed, My Twinn, Kidz 'n' Cats, Karito Kids, etc.

I have a lot of opinions about these various dolls and how they compare to Rapunzel, but the contrast that I find most helpful is with the Hearts 4 Hearts dolls.  Maybe Rapunzel should be slightly more expensive than the Hearts 4 Hearts crew because of her size and big hair, but there's no way she should be twice as expensive.  No way.

Here are a few of my favorite pictures of Rapunzel:

Bottom line?  I am glad that so many of you asked me to take a closer look at this doll.  I was accustomed to avoiding the Princess & Me section at the store--hurrying through the aisle and trying not to be freaked out by these dolls' wide-eyed stares.  They have always struck me as being overinflated--both in price and in size.  After doing this review, I'm definitely not smitten with this doll, but there has been a shift in how I look at her.  Most notably, now I think she's pretty cute.  Her fresh-faced smile and wide eyes seem to have won me over.  Her features are certainly cartoonish, but she strikes a nice balance between portraying the Disney character and being generic enough to pass for a regular girl.

Her articulation is adequate.  The elastic-strung joints are unpredictable.  With any given Princess & Me doll, there are bound to be idiosyncrasies in how the joints move.  Also, elastic joints don't tend to hold up very well over time.  Rapunzel's range of motion is similar to a Carpatina or a Magic Attic doll, but her body doesn't have the same satisfying weight as those higher quality brands.

The dress looks nice from a distance (and in photographs) and seems well constructed, but it feels stiff and cheap.  It's basically an enlarged version of one of the 12" Disney Rapunzel dresses--but with less detail.  The complete lack of decoration on the back of the dress is a glaring design shortcut that I wouldn't expect to see with a $50 doll.

Rapunzel's hair is the most unique and fun thing about her, but it can also be seriously frustrating.  All Rapunzel dolls have this problem to some degree, but this doll takes it to a new level.  It requires a significant initial investment of time to get the hair into a manageable state.  I spent a total of thirty minutes removing all of the tangles and styling product and getting the hair to a point where it could be combed through.  That's a long time.  Even after this effort, if the hair is left down, it will need to be brushed every time the doll is handled.  That is totally unrealistic for a children's toy.  If you just opened the box and handed this doll to a kid as is, I predict that the hair would be unsalvageable within a day or two.  I recommend thoroughly brushing and braiding the hair before giving this doll to a younger child.  The problem with that is there's not much point in having a doll with long hair that you can't play with.  Playing with the hair has some issues, too.  While older children might actually enjoy the constant hair upkeep that this doll requires, the styling options are limited by the thin rooting in the back of the head.  Trying to create a hairstyle with any kind of part will reveal a frightening amount of scalp.  The thing is, despite all of these criticisms, brushing this doll's hair is very rewarding.  If you keep it untangled, the hair is a soft, beautiful, shiny cascade--exactly like Rapunzel's hair is supposed to be.

The retail price of this doll suggests that she is something grander than what she actually is.  She's a cute, reasonably versatile, middle-quality 18" play doll, and as that, she should be more affordable.  After measuring this doll against the quality and cost of other companion dolls, I figure that her price should be $30-$35.  The fact that she is a Disney character complicates my price assessment a little.  This is the only 18" scale Rapunzel doll I am aware of, and so for Tangled fans, it might be worth spending some extra money to have this character in a unique size.  Whether you're seeking a large-scale Rapunzel, or just want an 18" play doll, I recommend waiting for a good sale on these princesses...and make sure that whoever is getting the doll really,really enjoys brushing hair!

Summary:

Age Level	6 and up, per the box.  Consider the hair complications for kids under ~10.
Value	Overpriced.  $30-35 would be more reasonable.
Quality	The quality is average.  The sculpted features and face paint are simple.  The articulation is slightly unpredictable because of the strung elastic.  The dress looks nice but is stiff and lacks detail in back.  The hair is soft and pretty but requires a lot of maintenance.
Packaging	The box is attractive and the doll is held securely in place without excessive attachments.
Collectable?	No.  This is a play doll.
Versatility	While this doll comes dressed as a specific Disney character, her face is generic and she could be used as a regular 18" play doll.  She is smaller in the torso than most slim 18" dolls but can wear some of their clothes nicely.  Her hair would be very difficult for a young child to manage and keep untangled.
Overall	This is a doll for people who enjoy brushing hair.  It is beautiful hair.  Younger children will need a lot of help with hair maintenance.  She is a cute companion doll and a uniquely-sized Rapunzel, but her regular price is simply too high.

Disney Princess and Me Doll Kankalon Hair

Source: http://www.toyboxphilosopher.com/2013/04/disney-princess-me-rapunzel-jewel.html

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