"Open Edition" Cinderella Dolls: Disney vs Mattel?

Instead of weeding through post after post, I wanted to poll the doll "experts" out there for their opinions of the non-LE Cinderella live action dolls. Which do you prefer: Disney Store or Mattel? Let's find out!

Person I would ask that probably has them all is Robert Jung on Facebook. I don't know what his DPF user ID is.

I got them all. They all have their plus and minuses.

i just said disney store, but i kind of agree with the "disney wedding but mattel ballgown". i feel like the ballgown is very similar to the limited edition doll, in that it has more iridescent colors, like purples and blues. i like the incorporation of the butterflies throughout the bottom of the dress too.

that being said, disney wow'ed with the wedding gown as opposed to mattel.

someone said somewhere that mattel's portrayals of characters look like barbies. one could argue that they all do but it really depends on what you are going for. a movie accurate doll to play with? disney. a pretty doll to display? mattel. (which is what i heard in a review for the two doll comparison).

We have both the Mattel and DS ball gowns to compare. The Mattel packaging is quite nice with semi cutout butterflies on each sides of the box and the box is almost twice as wide as the DS box. But I am more interested in the doll itself, and outfit. I find even though the Mattel dress colouring is better with the more emphasized use of purple hues, I find it lacks the elegance of the DS version. The corset top on the Mattel is also very plain with a solid colour surface and no decoration. The sparkle glued butterflies that accent the dress shoulders and neckline are not as pretty as the semi-translucent butterflies used on the DS ball gown. I also like the details on the DS corset and buffet of sparkles throughout the DS dress. The DS dress material also looks and feel richer and supple. True the heads can go either way for Mattel (toward Barbie) or DS (the to-die-for perma-frown) so I'm split on the heads. The best combination I think is a Signature Classic Cinderella (from Mattel (?)) wearing a DS ball gown on a clear straddle muse stand Hopefully Elphaba can generously post a picture of this combination for us, I know she has it And of course, I feel the LE DS ball gown is better than both 12†dolls. Love it, love it, love it… :hsd:

I prefer disney's... My only complaint with mattel is the hair... It's not the best quality. Also the godmother is horrible.

To me, no one caught a true Lily James face. I was just looking at the Oz Great and Powerful dolls....and Glinda is SPOT ON. If I never saw the movie, I could guess the actress based on that doll. I would never guess Lily James and I am a die hard Downton fan. She has some very distinctive face features...and yet each doll only put different combinations together. When I look at my Mattel dolls (which I love), I see Claire Danes way before I can see Lily. I only have the Disney LE Cindy...but she looks like a Jessica Simpson auditioning for a Angelina Jolie documentary. (if that makes sense). I love them all....maybe I will feel different after I see the movie.

In my opinion, disney store ruined me for Mattel. Even though Mattel cinderella looks better, disney store cinderella is made with higher quality materials, and so I would buy the disney store version since I know they are higher quality even if they aren't the best looking.

This is my Blue Cinderella Easter setup

I got 2 of the DS version because I do love it so. Even though I like how the Mattel Lily's purple tones and box match my Easter eggs (lol), I think she's going be returned. I'm just not as impressed with her as the other dolls. I don't think it picks up that well in the photo, but the details of her dress look more cheaply made to me, things like the lack of 3-dimensionality of the upper bodice mesh detail, to the over-simplicity of her gown (looks like 2 flat layers, and purplish which I find off). I even notice little things like lack of "fingernails," and her hair looks rough even in the box. She was the only one of the Mattel live action dolls I gave a second look at and in the end I'm just not very attached to her. I am kind of a fan of classic Cindy in the DS gown though. Not exactly canon, but to me, it works

I agree. I so wanted to love Mattel ballgown Cindy and while I think the color is a little more like the film, the details let it down. And the face in person is not so great as I had thought from photos. Despite the large jaw on DS, I still prefer her face for some reason. She's cute, even if she looks alittle peeved, it's not as harsh in person.

DS wedding set hands down. I looked at the Mattel weddin doll (like 10 of them) and all of them had really tacky looking hair.

If anyone wants them though, I saw buy 1 get one 40% off in Toys R Us yesterday... not sure if online as well...

if anyone wants some in depth comparisons with photos, emily of toy box philosophers did a fantastic review.

i personally love the disney clothing but i prefer the mattel head to body proportion.

blairbearbear said:

if anyone wants some in depth comparisons with photos, emily of toy box philosophers did a fantastic review.

i personally love the disney clothing but i prefer the mattel head to body proportion.

Click to expand...

thank you for the link, i love her blog!

Ugh now I really want the DS wedding dolls! The Prince's outfit is gorgeous, shame about his slightly weird face

I prefer the Disney store versions especially the wedding ones. I have the LE ball gown Cindy and my mom owns the 12" Disney store one. I do have the matel ball gown Cindy as well she's in my curio case with the Disney store Tramanie, godmother, and wedding Cindy. My LE Cindy is sitting deboxed on top of the curio case. I must say the Matel godmother is especially awful IMO I think she looks like a reused and styled Effie trinket of the hunger games head sculpt on what I think is one of the cheapest and ugliest dresses ever but that's just my opinion

I prefer the Disney Store versions because of the articulation, the outfit quality is so much better (mattel wedding cinderella pales in comparison to the disney store version). But I do love mattel's Lady T however.

I loved the Disney wedding gown doll set, and, ordinarily, I'd usually say that any of the Disney Store dolls are typically better than the Mattel ones! However, in this one case, I have to say I like the Mattel ballgown Cinderella better! Her face is softer and less masculine than the Disney counterpart and even her dress just looks better in my opinion. I prefer the pose-ability and hair of the Disney store one, and honestly if I was talented enough my ideal doll would come from rerouting the DS Cindy's hair onto the head of the Mattel one, then placing said head onto the DS doll's body while clothing her in the Mattel dress with the DS shoes, but since I am not that talented, the Mattel one wins out for me, in this one case.