Rapunzel ... Found?

The new style Classic Rapunzel and Classic Wedding Rapunzel.
[ DrJ1828's Flickr Image]

Today at the Disney Store, I was talking with one of the workers. She is one of the women that know me there as "Rapunzel" and we have a shared liking for Dr. Who as well. As I was purchasing a new Rapunzel hat, since it fit and I do need a hat, I asked her why the Rapunzel Dolls seemed to be missing the long blonde-haired ones (as I noted in my other post here: Where Has Rapunzel Gone?) and that they only had the brown-haired ones.

She stated that the reason was that they did not have enough of the blonde dolls in stock to list them for sale anymore. What this means is the Rapunzel doll with the long blonde hair was more popular than the doll with the short, gross hair cut and they had run out of blonde dolls. Thus, they had to take her down from the internet as well since they could not even send products to the stores. The European market, however, still had dolls, most with the old (and personally I think better) face design for sale on their websites since they got different shipments or were not selling them as fast / had more long-haired dolls sent there than they did in the United States.

Somehow I don't think that is the full story, but it's the only lead I have for now.

Where has Rapunzel Gone?

A couple of weeks ago when I was walking the mall, I noticed something at the Disney Store. They did not have any of the long-haired Rapunzel dolls on the shelves. They had the 17 inch singing version, but none of the 11 inch doll versions. All they had was the short-haired wedding variety.

I shrugged, thought it was perhaps just that they had ran out of stock and that she would be back on the shelves another time. As I returned to the mall on different occasions,  I saw new items come and go but never anymore long-haired Rapunzel dolls.

I even ventured to a Disney outlet store near my home and found that they had the same dolls: all short brown hair and no long hair.

I started to wonder if maybe they just didn't have them at the physical stores, but that you could still get them online. Sometimes that has been the case for some items; my local Disney Store will not carry an item but the online store usually does. When I went to look: Nothing. The only 11 inch doll that was there was the  wedding doll. All right, strange. When I looked at other Disney Stores (Europe), they had not only the wedding doll, but the long-haired blonde wedding doll, and several other long-haired Rapunzel dolls for sale.

I am starting to wonder if she is getting a new look. Maybe they are using the new look the dolls have currently with some of the sets that were released in Europe and are going to bring them over to this side of the pond. All I can so is wait and search the internet for clues.

Tangled Art: "At Last..."

"At Last..."
Melissa Thomas
2013
Digital Painting

This work has to be one of my favorite Tangled images I have done. The colors are so vibrant and warm. It lifts my spirits as Rapunzel lifts the lantern high into the air to signal the lost princess to come home.

What makes this piece I think more special to me is that it was made during a spell of depression. Even though I did not feel happy, and was even tearful at times during this process, I kept at it and would not give up until it was done. Truthfully, I was pulled away half way through and went to sleep, but after only five hours of sleep I was back up and working on it again.

I know it is not the best Tangled fan art that is out there, but I still am happy with it.

O Mother, Where Art Thou?

When Disney released the DVD for Tangled, a selected few Disney stores in the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom were selling a Limited Edition Mother Gothel Doll. Unlike the princesses that are made into the lovely collector's dolls, Mother Gothel did not have a large series (1,500 dolls versus Rapunzel's 5,000 and Wedding Rapunzel's 8,000.) Her release was kept quiet, or at least it was attempted. She was accidentally leaked to the public, but Disney tried ti pretend she did not exist so that they could keep their surprise release. Needless to say, she sold out almost instantly in both countries.

I had no idea that the doll was even around until I saw someone with her in their collection online. When I looked into it, I was so crushed. 

Mother Gothel is my favorite Disney villain. I think that is so because there is so much depth to her. She is a cruel person, let's not pretend she isn't. For her own selfish needs, she stole a baby and kept that child prisoner for years while feeding her lies about the outside world in order to scare the child into staying inside. There is a lot of verbal abuse that Mother Gothel dishes out to Rapunzel, who has no idea that mothers should not talk to their children in that manner. However, there is some  kind of love there for Rapunzel. I will agree that the main reason she keeps Rapunzel around is her hair, but I don't doubt that Mother Gothel did love the child she raised even a little. Sadly, her greed clouded that emotion and corrupted it into something terrible.

But there is more to Mother Gothel than that. Mother Gothel seems to represent, in part, what the modern Western culture is like for women. In the mainstream, women are set up to want to buy and use everything under the sun to keep themselves looking young and beautiful no matter how old they get. Their self-worth is tied to their appearances rather than their knowledge and wisdom. (Yes, the same can be said of men but the pressure on them is a drop in the bucket compared to women are raised into.) Some women will do anything to retain their youthful appearances:  surgery, injecting deadly bacteria and jellyfish toxins into their skin, taking harsh drugs, and using cosmetics that has a lot of harsh chemicals as well as odd ingredients; like bat guano. I do not doubt that there are some women who if they discovered that a child had magic hair that would heal them and keep them young forever that they would not also follow the same path as Mother Gothel did with Rapunzel. Thus, Mother Gothel is not just some cruel and sarcastic woman with good looks and an incredible singing voice, she is an artistic comment on older women in Western cultures.*

Since I learned about her existence, I have searched eBay and other sites for her. I literally watched for her for years, and hardly ever saw her price drop below $800. I had already decided I would never pay that much for her. Nope. I love her, I love the character, but that was far too much. That was money that could be health insurance, gas, a school payment, and other things that had to come first.

Tired of the lack of decent prices on eBay, I did a craigslist search and found someone that was selling the three Tangled dolls (Rapunzel, Wedding Rapunzel, and Mother Gothel) for a combination deal of $700. I did not want to pay that for a doll that I wanted, though the two other dolls did offer me the ability to do what I want to do with the wedding version of the doll. Anyways, I was just not comfortable spending that much for one doll. The person said he was able to split the dolls if needed, but since Mother Gothel was so much rarer, that he would be expecting a lot. Needless to say, my offer was not accepted.

As I was checking on some auction I had won on eBay, and seeing if it had been shipped when I noticed something in the lower part of the screen. There is a scroll bar there that shows what other items are for sale that are similar to the recent purchases and searches you have done. There, I saw a Mother Gothel doll. I looked at her price, and it was low. Really low for her. I clicked on the image to check it out. There were seven people already watching the auction and the price for her was a buy-out price. I felt butterflies spawn in my stomach. I wanted this doll so much, but would I actually buy her? I talked to my fiancee and he reminded me that I had gotten some money for my birthday from relatives and that he still owed me a gift. He offered to help me pay for her. When we came back from dinner, I got back on eBay and looked at her. She was still there. I was beside myself with that to do, but I had the finances to do it, and I knew I would never see her for a price this low again. I bought her.

Waiting for her to arrive was not as painful as I thought it would be. Before she got here, I cleaned off a space on my shelf next to my Rapunzel doll for her to be. Given also that I had to work, the time passed a bit more quickly. When she arrived, I was so excited. At last. Mother Gothel. She was here and she was mine. I opened her box carefully so that I could see which number in the series she was. Honestly, I was surprised I got a number lower that 1,000. My doll was registered as number 162. For some collectors, the lower the edition number the more valuable they see her as. For me? I was just happy that I had her at last. She could have been number 1,500 and I would have still be so happy to have her.

There are a few things about the doll that are different than the screen version of the character, but that is to be expected. Some of the major things is that her hair is a lot poofier and her eyes are green instead of the gray-blue that they were in the film. This kind of makes me a little amused since often times I can find Rapunzel depicted with blue eyes instead of green. There are some costume differences, but Rapunzel's gown was also changed a bit to make her more fancy as a doll. 

I stared at my collection of dolls, thus far, and smiled. Only one doll is missing now, the wedding doll, and I am going to un-shamefully fix her when I do get her. My only thoughts now are if I should give her the long blonde hair or long brown hair. Further, I need to find someone who will reroot her hair for me. I have never been too adept at doing that myself and usually use make permanent wigs. With a doll that nice, however, I want her rerooted so she is similar to what she was when she released by the Disney Store; just with that horrible mistake of a hair cut fixed. I am sure Mother Gothel would agree. 

*As with any discussion on large groups of people, there is a lot of variance! Some women who take pride in their appearance do not go to the lengths that others do, and other women accept that their aging bodies represent the time they have spent on this planet and the wisdom they have gathered throughout their life. There are even, of course, many multi-cultural meanings to aging and not every culture views it the same way. This comment is just a general over-statement and not mean to encompass woman as a whole unified group.

Vinlymation Rapunzel and Gothel

A while ago, I acquired a Disney Store 25th Anniversary Vinylmation doll of Rapunzel. I had attempted to get one from the blind boxes in the store, but after three unsuccessful attempts, I settled for waiting for one to show up on eBay. There were a lot of them there, so getting a hold of one was fairly simple for a low price.

I was taking her pictures and getting ready to write a small blurb about her, when I saw a Mother Gothel for sale online as well. Now, she did not have her accessory with her, which was a knife, but I was honestly okay with that. For one that had the accessory with her it would cost me $150. No thank you. I patiently waited until I saw one for less than $10 and I bought her.

She had quite the distance to travel, so I had to put off writing on this pair for a while, but she finally arrived so I can write about the two of them now.

Vinylmation is a brand of 1.5 inches, 3 inches, and 9 inches vinyl collectibles sold at Disney theme parks, select Disney Stores, and online Disney Store. The name Vinylmation is a combination of the word Animation and Vinyl. The figures are all shaped like Mickey Mouse but have different themed markings, colors and patterns. Vinylmation was first introduced in July 2008, and the first figures were introduced in November 2008.

The Rapunzel Vinylmation figure stands 3 inches tall. She is partially transparent because she was part of the release to celebrate the Disney Store turning 25 years old. These figures were meant to be placed on a base which would light up. The Mother Gothel figure was part of a Villains set. She was actually the chaser, meaning a figure that was not shown on the packaging and instead indicated only by a silhouette and question mark. Origionally, as mentioned before, Mother Gothel came with a knife, but the version of her I got did not include it since I bought it second-hand.

While I am so glad that I got them both, I am almost a little disappointed in Rapunzel after seeing Mother Gothel. All the 25th Anniversary characters had those button eyes and stylized faces, but when they are standing together Mother Gothel's details are just so much better. Her outfit, her face, even the fact they put her old self on the back is amazing! I wish they had put more details like that into Rapunzel.

Oh well, I am still glad to have them in my collection. I wonder if they will bring out any more characters eventually.

Tangled Toddler

Before there was the Disney Animator's doll collection (where each Disney princess was turned into a toddler), there had been a Rapunzel Toddler doll released. Honestly, I did not even see her at my local Disney Store when she came out. She was apparently so popular she was bought out at my location in no time.

Since then, I have searched doll sites and eBay looking to find her. It has been a rather odd search. Some people will have the price of the doll up over $150 for one still int eh box, while others tried to sell her for over $80 without it. Some of the unboxed dolls were naked, some covered in sharpie, some had matted hair, and some were put in dresses that she did not come in originally.

I didn't think I would ever pay such a high price for her in the box. Honestly, while she was adorable, she was not a doll I was too worried about keeping in the box. If I got her boxed, she'd stay in it but if I had gotten her out of the box, I was okay with that as well, so long as she was not marked up, not damaged  and she had her original dress.

So, imagine how excited I was to find the doll in her lavender night gown, unmarked and clean for under her original sell price. The only thing that was a negative was that her hair was slightly tangled. At least it was not matted. Her hair was nothing I knew I could not take care of with some conditioner, detangler, and gentle combing.

I purchased the doll and anxiously waited for her to arrive. I knew that she was the first edition toddler doll based not just on her dress, but on her her hair. Like the other dolls released close to the date of the film, the toddler doll had the tinsel to make her hair shimmer. When the doll arrived, I saw all that lovely tinsel and knew that I had a first edition toddler doll in my possession.

Cleaning her up did not take too long. She was clean and well cared for. Her hair took a bit of conditioner and some very gentle combing to make sure that none of it was pulled out. Did not want little Rapunzel to have any bald spots!

She came out wonderfully. I have braided her hair a few times to ensure that it stays neat and tangle free, but at the same time I love how it looks when it's down. She has that one little eye showing as if she is looking at you in boy a shy and curious way. It's adorable. I am thankful I found her!

A Lesson With Contentment

Looking over my blog, it has come to appear that I am spoiled. There is this sense about the way I post here that suggests I am always getting what I want and that I am never not getting something. I cannot deny how the blog looks, but I can deny that I am spoiled in that sense.

I am spoiled in other ways based on the opinions of others. I have always hated that term, though. Spoiled, to me, is something rotten and undesired. It is that which is thrown away and discarded. I understand the term as it applies to a person. I was called it may times by my mother growing up; though she meant it usually in jest. Still, it bothered me.

In terms of material objects and experiences, I have had a plentiful life thus far. My residence is full of books, hair accessories, dolls, and craft and art supplies. I have been giving help do to things I may never have had the chance to do otherwise, to have a higher education, to have a place to live during these hard times, and countless other things I could never express enough gratitude for no matter how I try.

I do my best to manage my spending when it comes to my hobbies and my collection. I ensure that other expenses are cared for first and only allot myself so much money to do with as I want. If I want something big, such as my Tonner dolls, I have to save up my money and/or have a larger than normal pay check coming to me and a valid reason to spend the money. (Happy birthday to me!)

There are many things I had to wait for in this world to get, and some things I am thinking I will never acquire for my collection. At this point, I am all right with that. Would I like to have them? Of course, but I know there are more important things that my money needs to be spent on. A glorious LE doll of Mother Gothel, while desired, is not worth two months of health insurance money. Still, I will search my sites and watch for the deals that are just too good to pass up. Until then, my little stockpile of personal money will remain growing slowly quarter by quarter between paychecks, falling into my Rapunzel piggy bank.

I am, however, content with what I have right now and am in no hurry to spent my money on anything new for the time being; except a project that has been planned for the last few months. A plan that is best saved for another post.