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.

The Pascal Purse!

I have been getting sick for the last week. Working at where I do with a high turnover rate of residents who stay in our short-term facility mean that I, and the other staff, get exposed to diseases constantly and have to work hard to keep our immune systems up. Drink lots of water, ladies and gents.

So, one day before work I was browsing the Disney Store site and I saw a little Pascal purse.  At first I thought they had just released another Pascal stuffed animal and I was excited to go and get him and place him with my others. He had the charm of the TEA Pascal plush, but with the shimmering fabric and faux-scales of the Pascal with the open mouth that the Disney Store had released before hand.

I was so sick though. Did I want to get up and go see this purse and get it for my collection, or did I want to rest in bed like I should be before work. It was an easy choice for me to make. I had already worked nine out of the last ten days and I needed to do something for me. Getting out of the house, peeking in on the people at the mall (which can be quite entertaining), and getting my purse were all things I just had to do.

So, I had some tea, bundled up, and headed to my local Disney Store. There I found little Pascal hanging and waiting for me. While I was there, the manager (the one who knows me as "Rapunzel" when I shop there) wanted to make sure I saw that they had Rapunzel shirts that were now made for adults. I already had one; two actually, since I knew I would wear one out.

With my Pascal purse in hand, I went home. I set him on my shelf and then had to get ready to go to work that evening. The following day, I actually had to call in sick from work. I was unable to stop from coughing and I was running a fever. Was it because I had pushed myself the day before? Not likely. What is was is that the virus was running it's course and having worked over 56 hours one week, then nearly another 36 atop that the following week took a toll on me.

It gave me time to sit and look at the new member of my collection. He was very well made and the chain was surprisingly metal and not some fabric cord. The only complaint was that he has such little space inside. I understand that they had children in mind when they designed the purse and that they figured children would not keep a lot of things inside of it: maybe some coins and candy, but still, Pascal probably only has enough room in there for a spool of thread.

That aside, I am still happy I have him for my collection. His face is simply adorable! Further, I do find it a little funny that I has thought the Rapunzel Designer Doll should have come with a Pascal-shaped purse, and here the Disney Store has gone and released one.

The Boondocks of the Doll Shop World

I had Tonner's Tangled in my grasp and I could not have been more delighted to have her. Despite the things I did not like about her, I was still far more thankful that she was mine. However, I felt a little bit of sadness. I could not help but think that I would never find Tonner's Rapunzel for my collection.

Rapunzel was released in 2011 (I believe, though she was advertised the year before) to go along with the movie that had been released in late 2010. At the time, I did know know of Tonner's dolls, nor had I developed my love of Tangled yet. (Complicated story for another post.)

She was released as she would be later in the Tangled edition: limited to 1,000 dolls in a three-piece dress that matched the one found in the film with a lovely detailed face, a clear doll stand, and a set of satin ballerina satin shoes to wear. The major difference between Rapunzel and Tangled was the hair. Rapunzel's locks were flowing free.

This doll was something I coveted. I loved her hair and I had to have her. There were many times I regretted not having purchased her when she had first come out, but at that time I was not as large a Tangled fan as I am now (a story saved for another posting.)

I constantly agitated myself as I would look through image collections on flicker or with Google images and I saw what people were doing to the doll. Some people repainted her face, some people were dressing her up in modern and taking her out into the world as their blog mascot which resulted in a matting of hair (even when braided!), and some people had cut out her eyes and had them replaced with glass ones. So, that last one looked all right, but I was still upset that someone could do that to a limited edition doll when I did not have one yet! Greedy? Selfish? Yes, but at least I am honest about it.

I searched eBay constantly, looking for Rapunzel. All I could find were the Tangled versions of the doll and not the original release. Each day I grew a little more sad, and tried to cheer myself up by listing what I had in my collection and speaking to myself about how grateful I was to have such a collection. Just because I want to expand it, does not mean I do not appreciate what I already have.

One night, during a search, I found her. She was less than her original listing price, but still pretty close. I whimpered and whined and had to leave my computer multiple times. Why didn't I purchase her right away? She was for sale on a website I had never ever heard of before: The Classic Doll. I was a little wary. It looked like a legitimate site, but making a site look real is not a hard thing to do.

I lurked on the site for a while. Eyeing the doll and began to wonder if she was even really there. I did not want what had happened with the Tangled doll to happen with Rapunzel. I sent an email to the site manager and asked if the doll (using the serial number so I knew it was the correct one) was truly in stock. I got an email back within the hour stating that she did indeed have the doll.

With that, I took the chance and purchased her. I felt nervous  I was so afraid that this site would not be real, that the doll would never come, and I would have to figure out how to get my money back. I spoke with my fiancee over the matter, since he had deal with issues like that in the past, and he assured me he knew what to do and how to handle it just in case. I nodded, then waited.

I checked the website constantly. I looked for updated and I would look for the image of the doll. One day, it said my order had been shipped and the image of the doll in their inventory was gone. At that moment, I felt some relief. Not only was the doll on her way, but this site actually would take down a doll when they no longer had it.

About a week later, Rapunzel showed up at my home. I opened the box and looked down into the painted green eyes of the doll. I immediately looked to her hair to make sure it was her... and it was. Some how the matching serial number on both boxes she was in did not convince me. I had to see the hair!

As with the first Tonner doll I got, I carefully deboxed her to see all of her details, namely the hair. Right away, I knew I liked her a little more than the Tangled doll. There were only two things that I did not like about the doll, and both could easily be fixed with a little styling. First, her outfit was a little off. The bodice was not tied well and thus it was pulled in odd ways. This was fixed easily with a nicer bow at the top of her bodice and some adjustments of the lacing. The second thing that I did not like, which actually was the biggest part, was that a portion of her wig on the left-side of her face had a lot of short hairs that would poof out (known as fly-aways when talking about hair.) If you gently combed the wig, these fly-aways were tamed, but just that they were there bothered me. When I looked at other dolls in this edition online, I saw they some of them had them as well, so I knew I wasn't alone in that slight wig imperfection.

Other than that, I was so happy to have her. I placed her back into her box after a few photos and put her away. I wanted to have Rapunzel and Tangled  out for display, but I wanted to have them either in a protected case or in a cabinet of some kind. Until I have those, and the perfect location, they are safely kept in their boxes.

I feel so fortunate that I have both of the Tonner dolls.That took a large portion of my doll wish list away. And though I may not ever complete the rest of that list, I am happy.

Hyperbole and Rapunzel

Hyperbole and a Half is a great blog and a fun read. She covers real adult issues, such as depression and moving two crazy dogs across multiple states, and has a whimsical way of illustrating her posts. One of her blog entries, "This is Why I Will Never Be an Adult," has become a meme sensation with the panel in which she is exclaiming "Clean ALL the things!"

Well, here is one that I did out of fun and I figured this blog is where it belonged.

Disney Store Boutique Set

Given that Tanged is a fairly new Disney film, I did not expect to find much at the antique show I went to. It was not just an antique show, though, there were collectibles there as well. I remember seeing a Princess Designer Doll of Cinderella there soon after those dolls had been released, so there was some hope I might find something I did not have yet for my collection. I wandered the place trying to see if they did not have anything that related to the film, namely I kept my eyes open for the Tonner doll Rapunzel.

I didn't see what I was looking for. I did see a Rapunzel doll from the Disney Store (in her sparkly dress) as well as a pin from Disneyland (which I already had,) and a toddler doll. Sadly, it was not the first edition toddler doll from the Disney Store. It was some other doll made by another company and sold at retail places like Target.

As I was sitting and waiting for the rest of my family to finish up their shopping, I checked on an auction I had been watching on eBay. When I checked on it, the auction had ended and someone had used the buy-out feature. I had planned to do that myself, once I had known I was not going to spend the money at the antique show.

I was a little disappointed. I searched around eBay for a little while, casually browsing what else was present and, admittingly, checking more than once for a Tonner Rapunzel. I did not find it, but I did find someone selling something else I was after: the boutique set.

The Rapunzel boutique set was sold by the Disney Store and has a bit of interest to me in terms of what just it was they were selling. There are several Disney sources that suggest that in Tangled that Rapunzel was supposed to be seen in a dress shop, trying on an assortment of dresses. Clearly, this was cut from the final film; I am not even sure the scene was animated beyond the storyboard drawings.

The two dresses chosen to put into the box were also somewhat of a mystery at first. Why those colors? Why those styles? I know that two colors for Rapunzel's original dress design were pink and aqua (not in the same dress, two separate designs), but they did not look like that. From what I can gather, the pink dress is supposed to be similar to the one she wore at the end of the film during the kingdom celebration, but the teal and green dress reminds me a lot of Drizella's dress from Cinderella. Again, that was one of the dress colors that Rapunzel was originally going to be put into.

The image on the front of the box, as you can see in the picture to the above left, has Rapunzel holding Flynn captive and tied to a chair with her hair. The dress she is wearing in this image is the older purple model that does not look like the dress she was in in the final film. The dress that the doll is in in the set is rather close to the previous style of dress. The bodice is still too light for that, but it is interesting. It was as though this dress was almost a hybrid of her final dress and the sparkle dress she would be sold in a year later.

Like other dolls of Rapunzel that the Disney Store put out at this time, she was a twelve inch doll with seventeen inches of hair. Her hair has tinsel in it as well to give it that shimmer effect that was made to mimic when Rapunzel sings in the film and her hair glows.

So, needless to say, I got a hold of the boutique set. My only complaint on this set was not with the doll at all, but that the person who sent it did not pack it very well or did not advertise the condition the box was in. The plastic on the front corners is all bent up and there are gaps where the flaps to keep the box closed are as a result. It was, however, never opened so that is still a bonus. Now, if I can find the Celebration Set without taking out a loan, I will be pleased.

Sometimes it Pays to Shop on eBay

In 2012, Disney released some holiday ornaments that were shaped like Mickey Mouse ear hats, but were customized for different characters. I thought it was a cute idea and I was rather impressed with some of the ones saw; Princess Aurora (Sleeping Beauty) had a particularly interesting one with pink in the front and blue in the back.

As I am sure anyone does, I was worried about what my favorite characters' hats would look like. I tend to be more harsh of a critic when dealing with something that I like, be it Disney characters or otherwise (I am a real stickler for orcas being correctly marked when represented in art or sculpture!)

I browsed the source I had for looking at the ornaments and when I saw Rapunzel's ear-hat, I was in love. The front of the ornament was amazing. I loved the hair and the tower being there, and the details in the floral design. When I saw the back of the hat, I was even more in love.

Unfortunately, I would not get my ornament that holiday season. They were not available in the Disney Store (online and parks only) and when I went to get myself one, they were sold out. Alas, no ear hat for me. I kept two pictures of it from the stock photos on my computer just so I could look at it from time to time, but I figured it was another Tangled item I would not be collecting. I was disappointed  but at the same time I was okay with it.

Fast forward a few months to March. I was browsing the Disney Store online site to see what new things were going to be coming out to the local Disney Store that I may need to start saving some money for. As I was looking over their Rapunzel section, I saw that they had re-released the ornament. I was so excited, but when I saw that the price was $21.95 and that did not include shipping, I was hesitant to get one.

I then wondered, could there be a cheaper one on eBay? While that is usually the land of ridiculous markups,  sometimes eBay can offer a good price on things; even at below cost from the original seller. I did a search for the ornaments and did find people who had priced them at over 100% markup. I did eventually find, however, someone who was selling them at below the price the Disney Store had them up for. So below that even after shipping, I was a few dollars less. I purchased myself one and was so very pleased.

 When the ornament arrives in the mail, I was surprised that the glitter on the raised portions of the floral design were not sloppily done and that there was complete coverage. I marveled at the detail and set it up on my collection shelf, wishing I had some kind of stand to hang it from. Eventually I would get one, I thought, because eventually I would have all my Tangled items in a section of my house with shelves and a curio or doll cabinet so I could admire all of it all the time.

 

Something interesting happened though. A few days later, I got another box. I was, indeed, waiting for a doll I had ordered, but this box was far too small. What on earth could it be? I looked over the return address and it was very familiar. When I opened it up, I was surprised to find a second ornament. I had gotten no notice that I would be getting a second one and I had not paid for two. I double checked my account to make sure I had not been charged again, and there was no money taken for this surprise. I laughed and set it next to the one on my collection shelf, turning it to face away from me so that I could view both sides of the ornament at once.