„Most indul a játék”
from The Count of Monte Cristo (originally Hungarian,
meaning: The game starts now)
The new I love you forever doll line (ily4ever
for short)is not that new anymore and there are many-many posts about the girls
out there, but I’ll still do my review and share thoughts. It’s more like a
personal opinion and my story with them.
If you’d like to see an informative review on
what clothes fit them and joints and articulation, this is a great post: https://www.toyboxphilosopher.com/2023/01/ily-4ever-fashion-dolls-by-disney.html
I won't go into details, just mention stuff here and there, for details, please visit the blogpost on the link above - it's about the same doll.
When I first saw them, they didn’t struck me as
must-have dolls, although I still tried to pick a favourite. In the end, I
settled on the girl who is a fan of Tiana, with the Jasmine fan becoming a
close second, occasionally surpassing the Tiana fan. When I got the opportunity
to buy one doll, I picked the Tiana fan because she kind of “gave me her
backstory”. Did it happen to you when thoughts just came so naturally to you in
connection with a doll and her story and nature as if the doll told you? Same
thing happened with a few names but more about that later.
Everybody knows the stereotypical Japanese
person, hard-working overachiever, just like Tiana. And that is just the reason
this girl is a fan of Tiana because she can relate to her journey and a big
problem that exists not just in her life but on a bigger scale as well. That is
why I decided to give her a Japanese name. I tried Violet first but she kind of
“rejected” it. It wasn’t easy but I named all six.
So here are the names I gave them (since they
do not come with their own names and are usually referred to by the name of the
princess they like)
Fan of Snow White: she literally screamed at me
that her name is Charlotte. Normally I avoid giving them names that are already
used in a Disney movie (like Jane or Anna) but these are not princess dolls so
I decided it should be fine. My dolls, my rules :)
Fan of Cinderella: she was the hardest to name
and the last one to receive one, she settled for Dahlia. She is the only doll I
may consider renaming.
Fan of Ariel: Kaori – she got a Japanese name
because her parents are close friends with Tiana fan’s parents and they picked
out the name. They are to blame not me. :)
Fan of Belle: Ilka – after a very good friend
of mine who looks a lot like this doll and agreed to lend the doll her name. A
perfect choice, I think.
Fan of Jasmine: Midori – he parents are
researchers of Japanese culture and history, thus the name. It means green and
green and teal are her favourite colours.
Fan of Tiana: last but not least, the object of
this review. She accepted the name Yukiko
First I didn’t particularly like any, now I
love all of them. A story adds so much to them in my eyes.
The boxes in this line are simple yet pretty.
Art of the princess in the front and one of the sides... ...doll photos on the other
side and the back. A group of Disney fans taking a picture at Disneyland.
The artwork of the princess is usually the same at the front
and on the side but a different cutout. It also looks like the lineart and the
colouring does not match, the lineart seems to have a lighter “shadow” lineart
and the colouring matches that. It is surely intentional but to me, it looks
odd. Still cute art of the princesses.
The box has one rounded edge and a handle at
the top that makes opening it from the bottom the easiest option. The first thing I'm greeted with is a tie that holds her right foot. By the way, those ties are great when you have a nicely rolled up cable and don't want to get it tangled. I usually give those to my dad and he makes good use of them.
I used the
handle to help me hold the box while pulling out the inner part with the doll
out.
The backside is ugly - everything a dollcollector hates when unboxing dolls - plastic T-ties, tape and more. T-ties in the head is what I hate the most when unboxing dolls.
Now let’s start with Yukiko herself.
She has
long black hair styled in two ponytails, it is quite soft and long. She is the
only one in the gang with fully straight hair and so with fairly little
hairstyling product in her hair. The little short sections at the front are an
exception, they are stiff and hard due to the amount used there.
She has black eyebrows with detailing, a slight
blush on her cheeks and natural coloured lips with a closed mouth smile. She has brown
inset eyes, pretty and shiny, also the eyelashes are painted to be more
realistic and not as cartoonlike as the Disney princesses.
She came with green Tiana Mickey ears, a purple
top with New Orleans on it, a skirt with straps with flower pattern and light
purple sneakers. No idea why the purple, Tiana never wore purple.
She also
brings a fluffy jacket, a beige backpack and a purple water bottle. The green buttons on the jacket are nice and I liked the explanation by a fan that this jacket refers to the white outfit Tiana wears during her Almost there fantasy and towards the end when she is briefly turned human again.
She also has the balloon
with the surprise.
Mine had the pretzel in it. Yummy. I decided this will be her favourite treat ans this rule will apply tomall girls.
A closeup of the purple bottle. I saw in other people's reviews that the handle often comes crooked and the elastic tie distorted the bottle and the handle a bit, this one's quite decent.
Almost forgot, she also comes
with a purple and green bead bracelet.
Mine’s a bit crooked.
But these new hands have a nice shape, with not all fingers glued together. More chances for threads to be caught in them when dressing the dolls. But a pair of mittens solves the problem, at least for me.
Still wondering about the purple/violet color usage (one of the
reasons I considered naming her Violet) and why so much of it. If not for the
Mickey ears, I’d have had a hard time guessing whose fan she is, simply based
on her colours. But I must admit, I like it on her so I don’t mind.
The dolls in this doll line in general look more like
teenage girls than the Disney princess dolls, although many Disney princesses
are said to be teens, too. The Disney princess dolls look more like adults than
these dolls. Looking at these Disney fan dolls I’d guess them to be around
16-17 years old.
Their body is a new construction and I love the
double knee joints, now I only wish for double elbow joints. Careful, the legs easily pop off. But they can be just as easily put back but I wouldn't do that too often.
A very pretty line, with these dolls, anybody
can create their own modern day princess. My guess something like that was the
idea of leaving the girls without names of their own, encouraging the owners to
name them themselves.
I have two more dolls and three fashion packs to
review – maybe I’ll even do them. I plan to get the remaining three dolls and
more fashion packs for Christmas. Until the next review, here is a little teaser:
If you're in Europe and wish to buy them, you can do so here: https://www.shopdisney.eu/disney-ily-4ever
