The Evolution of the Princess and the Frog Tiana doll!

[00:00:00] Speaker 1: Hello, doll fans, and welcome back to Beauty Inside a Box. Today, I am continuing my Disney Princess doll evolution series. Today, we are talking about Tiana. Tiana, the princess and the frog. I love Tiana. What a great addition to the Disney Princess line back in 2009. She's absolutely stunning. And even though she hasn't been around as long as some of the other Disney Princesses, like Snow White or Cinderella, she has had a lot of dolls. So there's a lot for us to talk about. This has become a bit of a series on my channel where I take a specific Disney Princess and I talk about their history and how they have been represented through dolls. We've done Cinderella, we've done Snow White, we've done Ariel, we've done Rapunzel, and I can't wait to talk about Tiana. But first, if you love dolls as much as I do, please don't forget to subscribe to my channel if you're new here. Check me out on Instagram and TikTok. And also consider supporting me on Patreon. I have loads of exclusive videos on my Patreon. I have a video all about the evolution of Barbie's face mold. I have a video where I explore the Barbie experience in Amsterdam. I have a video showing off my entire vintage Disney doll collection. Supporting me starts from just $3 on Patreon and I would really, really appreciate the financial support. Anyway, let's talk about Tiana. So Princess and the Frog was meant to be Disney's glorious return to hand-drawn animation. But sadly, it didn't really end up like that. The film is still beloved by Disney fans. Tiana is many people's favorite Disney princess. And of course, she holds the title of being the first black Disney princess. In early development for Princess and the Frog, Tiana was originally going to be called Maddie. And she was going to work as a chambermaid for a wealthy southern debutante. Thank goodness Disney changed it. They faced a lot of criticism for making the first black Disney princess a stereotypically subservient maid character. Tiana is a great character to make dolls out of. First of all, she is absolutely beautiful. She also is often wearing that incredible green dress. She's the only Disney princess to wear green. I mean, Belle wears that one green dress, but that doesn't count. I guess Ariel has a green tail, but you know what I mean. Another great thing about Tiana is the green dress isn't her only dress in the film. Tiana actually wears about eight distinct outfits in the film, which actually is more than any other Disney princess, which is kind of crazy because she spends half the film as a frog. The Princess and the Frog is also set in the 1920s, which is a really fun time for fashion. I love to see dolls that focus on this time period and also the New Orleans setting of the film. That said, they should definitely make some more like Mardi Gras themed dolls. That would be really fun. Yeah. Anyway. Her green swamp dress is probably the outfit she is marketed in the most, which is weird because she wears that dress for about one minute in the film. A close second is her blue dress, which she wore at Charlotte's costume party at the beginning of the film. There is often discourse in the Disney princess fandom about which dress should be considered Tiana's main dress. I honestly really like both dresses. I think the blue dress is more elegant and the green dress is more fantastical and like fantasy, if you know what I mean. I always get frustrated when dolls of Tiana don't include her gloves. Doll companies love to do this. Like Belle, Cinderella, and Tiana all need their gloves. It really completes the look. Without their gloves, it just looks wrong. Tiana was the first Disney princess to be created after the Disney princess brand had been established. So she was the first created with the intention of adding her into the brand. This is one of the reasons why the film's name was changed from the frog prince to the princess and the frog, because they wanted to include the word princess in the title. It was also why the branding and merchandise for the film was very, very pink and feminine. I love the way they've used the like gilded fence design. Again, it looks very similar to the architecture in New Orleans. But you would have thought that maybe the marketing and the doll boxes should have been green, you know, to be in keeping with the whole frog theme. The focus on pink and the Disney princess aesthetic is considered to be the reason why the film actually underperformed the box office. It made $271 million at the box office against a $105 million budget. So, I mean, that's pretty successful. I think by Disney standards, it's not successful. Unfortunately, it's considered that the feminine aesthetic of the film's marketing alienated the boy audience. Boys should just learn to get over it. Just because it's pink doesn't mean it's bad. But this is why for the next Disney princess film, Disney decided to market it a lot more towards boys. They changed the name of the film from Rapunzel to Tangled. And all the trailers focused on Flynn Rider a lot more than Rapunzel. So, sadly, Princess and the Frog was a little bit of a failed experiment. But I think the legacy it's had and the legacy that Tiana's had has been really impactful to the Disney company and especially to the Disney princess brand. The film has had a long lasting legacy. Princess and the Frog Dolls in 2009. Princess and the Frog was released on December 11th, 2009. But as usual, Disney released merchandise and dolls a couple months before the film was released to kind of build momentum and hype for the movie. I found this CNN article that said they released over a thousand Princess and the Frog products before the film was released in an attempt to saturate the market for the holiday season. In October 2009, Disney Living released a video unveiling the new Princess and the Frog Dolls and showing them to Anika Noni Rose, who voiced Tiana. I'm pretty sure they filmed this at Toy Fair. You can see some of the Tiana dolls that would be released in stores in the background. But for some reason, the main doll, which Anika Noni Rose is looking at, is a one of a kind doll. It's kind of weird that they didn't just show her the dolls that are actually going to go on sale. I think this might be because Mattel was entering into their flop era in 2009. And maybe they knew that the dolls on store shelves didn't really have the wow factor they needed for this unveiling video. [00:07:22] Speaker 2: They created a one of a kind Princess Tiana doll for you. And here she is. So she's wearing her iconic dress from the bayou. And she's got seven layers of fabric covered in rhinestones, pearls, and crystals. [00:07:36] Speaker 3: This is so silly. I've seen dolls. I wasn't even a doll kid, but this is mine. So thank you so much. [00:07:44] Speaker 4: It's a really wonderful thing for all children. And for them to be able to look at this princess and say, Oh yeah, that looks just like my friend so-and-so. She's a princess too. It's a long time coming, but I'm glad it's here. And I'm glad that it was Disney because I don't think that, I don't think anybody else does it quite the way they do it. [00:08:03] Speaker 1: That said, I do still think the first Princess and the Frog dolls by Mattel were actually really quite nice. They definitely hold a special place in my heart. The first Mattel Tiana face mold is beautiful. I really like it. I think it's maybe one of my favorite face molds for Tiana. They've definitely made her look a lot more like a kind of Barbie doll. She's kind of got the Barbie treatment. And she definitely doesn't look entirely movie accurate, but I think she looks absolutely stunning. And it is still definitely recognizable as Tiana. And here she is. Ah, absolutely beautiful. I bought this doll before the film came out. I've had it, I've had it for a very long time. I really like, I really like it. I mean, the dress is obviously a lot more kind of simple and basic than how it appears in the movie, but I still think it looks really elegant and really nice. Mattel was still giving dolls rubbery bendable legs at the time, which I just love. I just think she's absolutely stunning. They also released a Charlotte doll. She also kind of got the Barbie treatment. She, you know, looks a lot more kind of like a Barbie doll, especially in this dress. I love this dress. She's beautiful. Like I've just shown you, the main release for the Mattel line was this basic Tiana doll. And there were definitely good aspects and bad aspects for the doll. As I mentioned, Mattel was entering their flop era in 2009. So some cost cutting measures were clearly taken. For example, she sadly doesn't have her gloves. Ah, I hate it when they do that. And lots of details on her dress are missing. For example, she doesn't have that vine hanging down. There aren't very many layers to the dress. It looks a lot less kind of voluminous than it does in the film. But I have to say the doll itself is really, really nice. And you know what? I like the design of her dress, even though it is very much a simplified version of how the dress appears in the movie. I found this image of what I think might be a prototype of the first Tiana doll. Some of the key differences are the shape of her crown. It's slightly smaller. Her necklace is a slightly different shape. And they've used different material for the leaves on her dress. I think the material in the prototype actually looks slightly nicer. It's slightly less stiff than what they actually ended up using. But like I said, I don't actually know for certain if this is a prototype. I just thought it looked kind of different to what we ended up getting. They also released a version of this doll in her blue dress. Once again, sadly, her gloves are missing. But I think overall, this doll is really nice. Mattel released several different Princess and the Frog dolls when the film was first released. And some of them have very strange gimmicks. The first releases for the Princess and the Frog film included just one kiss Tiana. The interesting gimmick with this one was that when you held Naveen to her lips, she would either turn her head away or lean in to kiss him. And when she did, her dress would light up. Very strange. But anyway, there was also Princess to Frog Tiana. This doll also had an interesting gimmick, which was that when you turned her dress inside out, she became a plush frog. I find this like weirdly grotesque, but anyway. And then there were other dolls that didn't have weird gimmicks, like the wedding gift set, which came with Tiana and Naveen. And of course, the Charlotte LaBeouf doll. Princess and the Frog Mattel dolls, 2010 to 2016. As I mentioned before, Tiana was the first Disney heroine created with the specific intent to make her a Disney princess. She had her official coronation and induction to the Disney princess line with a special ceremony at Disney World. It was held on October, 2009, before the film was even released, which is kind of unusual. Disney will normally wait to see if the film is a success before they add a character into the Disney princess line. [00:12:29] Speaker 5: Hear ye, hear ye, hear ye. Let all in the land rejoice. Today, we of this magic kingdom do hereby officially celebrate and welcome the arrival of Princess Tiana. [00:12:55] Speaker 1: I think Disney were keen to add Tiana since they hadn't had a new Disney princess since the line began in the year 2000. And also, and probably more importantly, the line was desperate for a bit of diversity. This also meant that very quickly after the film was released, we started seeing Tiana dolls with the Disney princess branding. Interestingly, in 2010, a lot of the first Princess and the Frog dolls were just repackaged with the Disney princess branding on the box, like this basic Tiana doll and this Tiana and Prince Naveen set. Mattel also released this special princess collection doll gift set, which introduced Tiana to the Disney princess line. She has like a special kind of arch around her. After that, we started to see new basic Tiana dolls. Between 2010 and 2016, Mattel released five basic Tiana dolls. As you can see, sadly, the quality starts to deplete. I have one of them here. And you know what? She's very cute. She's actually quite similar to the first Princess Tiana doll. The only big difference is she has the cheap hard plastic legs, which is such a shame. But you know what? Her dress is quite nice. It's a shame the glitter doesn't go into the back. I still love this face mold and I like this crown. In 2012, the basic Tiana dolls started to have plastic painted on dresses, which was a real shame. I really hate when they do this. I mean, Mattel still does this today, unfortunately. From 2010 to 2016, Mattel released quite a lot of Tiana dolls with fun play gimmicks like two-in-one ball gown surprise Tiana, which had a reversible dress. Birthday wishes Tiana, which could sing happy birthday. I wonder if they got a Nika Noni Rose to record for this doll. I doubt it. Tiana's doggy friend, which came with a storybook. Mattel even released a 1920s car for Tiana, which I just love. So camp. I love that she's just driving around in her ball gown. Mattel also released some really low-quality budget dolls around this time, like the Bath Time dolls and the Ballerina dolls. Princess and the Frog, other dolls. Normally at this point in the video, I would talk about Disney princess dolls made by Simba Toys. But sadly, Simba didn't actually make any Tiana dolls, even though her film came out when Simba Toys still had the licensing agreement with Disney. Simba has always had a little bit of an issue with creating diverse dolls. Only last year did Steffi Love get some diverse friends. I don't know if this, you know, problem they have with creating diverse dolls is the reason why Simba didn't make any Tiana dolls. I think they were kind of starting to lose the license around this time anyway. Maybe that has something to do with it. But I just thought I'd mention that. In 2010, Ashton Drake created two collectible vinyl Princess Tiana dolls, one in her blue dress and one in her green dress. Both cost about $150. So expensive. But they are absolutely beautiful and I love the articulation. Also in 2010, Tana released a Tiana doll as part of their Disney Showcase collection. She was 15 inches tall and cost around $200. Even more expensive. And there was only 1,000 made. Also in 2010, Jax Pacific created a line of dolls called Disney Princess and Me. I'm pretty sure this was meant to be like Disney's version of the American Girl line of dolls. They were about 18 inches, which is the same height as an American Girl doll. They also came with storybooks and you could also buy additional outfits and furniture for them, which is also, again, very similar to American Girl. Interestingly enough, very recently, American Girl has actually made a Tiana doll. In the Disney Princess and Me line, Tiana had two dolls released. There was the first edition doll and the Shimmer edition doll. The Shimmer edition doll had her hair down, whereas the first doll had her hair up. The Disney Parks also had three exclusive Tiana dolls. Oh, I really miss when the Disney Parks used to have exclusive dolls. Now they just sell the same dolls that, you know, you can buy in the Disney store. This beautiful Tiana doll is actually a Parks exclusive doll. Oh, don't you just love her? She's so nice. They've made her dress like very, very, very pale green, but they've kept her gloves, which I love. And her face and her hair styling is great. She's got these little kind of things sticking up, which most dolls don't do. Tiana also had one Disney on Ice doll. Now, the Disney on Ice dolls are kind of infamous for being incredibly, incredibly ugly. Luckily, this Tiana doll for Disney on Ice just looks like the same one they were selling at the Disney store at the time. Tiana was very lucky. she got off lightly. Normally, these dolls are so hideous. Princess and the Frog Disney store dolls. The Disney store released their first Tiana doll before the film was released in 2009. I honestly think she might be one of the best Tiana dolls ever made. She has a really nice face mold. Her tiara is one of the most movie-accurate tiaras I've ever seen. And the material on her dress is really soft and floaty The bottom of the dress also has loads and loads of layers. Again, which is very similar to how it appears in the film. I actually have the first Tiana doll from the Disney store. I actually bought mine at Disneyland Paris, but it's the exact same one that they sold in the Disney store at the time. And this is the best Tiana doll. I really think this is the best Tiana doll that's ever been made. I love these soft floaty leaves. They've got plastic gems stuck to them to kind of represent dew. There's loads of like extra leaves underneath. The dress has like great volume. She's got her gloves and the tiara similar to that Parks doll. The tiara is really movie accurate with these little like sticky uppy things. I don't even know what you call them. This face mold is pretty good. Later on, the Disney parks and Disney stores would give Tiana a new face with a closed mouth smile. I do think this one's probably a little bit better, but you know, the smiling one is still very cute. Since 2009, the Disney store has released new Tiana dolls pretty much every year. They've slowed down a little bit recently. Interestingly, Tiana is one of the only Disney princesses who is sometimes represented in her green dress, sometimes in her blue dress. Most of the Disney princess dolls just wear the same dress the whole time. She gets a bit of a variety. Sadly though, as you can see, she rarely gets her gloves, which is very frustrating. As I mentioned before, they seem to have only changed her face mold once, which is kind of unusual. Normally, they change the princesses face molds a couple more times than that. The Disney store has also released a couple dolls of Tiana in her wedding dress. They released one in 2010, right around the same time the film was coming out. And this is maybe the most film accurate version of this wedding dress. I love the details on the gloves. I really want to get this doll set one day. They also released one in 2017. I have this one and I love it. The materials they've used are really nice, but it frustrates me that she's in flat shoes. No. They also released a wedding set in 2019. And this set was very similar to the one from 2017, except Tiana was in high heels. A very important improvement, in my opinion. I'm really annoyed I have the other one and not this one, but anyway. The Disney store also released a couple winter themed Tiana dolls. I really want both of them, to be honest. There was another wardrobe Tiana set which was released in 2009, right around when the film was coming out. And I actually have this set and I have the doll here. She obviously came with loads of different outfits, but I've kept her in her blue outfit. I really, really, really like this doll. The main reason why I like it is because it has a bit of a train, the dress. In the film, the dress has a train, like it follows out behind her. And this is one of the only Tiana dolls in her blue dress which I've ever found which has the train. Let me know if there's any other Tiana dolls in her blue dress which have the train because I really, really, really want to find one. But she's stunning. For a while, the Disney store also made 16-inch singing Tiana dolls. I think the one from 2011 is the most interesting because for some reason they've given Tiana like long Rapunzel hair for a singing doll. It's just very random but... The Disney store also made some fun dolls of Tiana like this singing doll in a very rare outfit for Tiana. She wears this outfit in the Almost There scene. They also made this kitchen set and Tiana again is wearing a very rare outfit which appears right at the end of the movie. They also made a ballerina doll and a lighting up doll. I actually have the lighting up doll. For some reason it doesn't play a song from the actual film. And in 2024 Tiana was the holiday princess for that year and I absolutely love this wintry outfit for her. It's so beautiful. In October 2011 the Disney store launched the Disney animator collection. They collaborated with legendary veteran Disney animators like Glen Keane and Mark Hen asking them to reimagine their classic princesses as 16-inch toddler dolls. Tiana was included in this line and her first edition doll has a really cute 1920s inspired dress. I think unfortunately as this line went on and there were new versions of this doll they kind of lost the 1920s inspiration of this dress. Luckily Tiana appears as a toddler in her film so they didn't have to use their imagination too much to decide what she would look like as a toddler. In 2024 the Disney store launched another new line of toddler Disney princess dolls called the Disney Once Upon a Story collection. The line seems to have replaced the popular Disney animator line. Again I think this line is meant to replicate the success of the American Girl doll line since the dolls are the same height at around 17 inches and they also have a kind of childlike look to them. They also made mini dolls which came with little play sets. Princess and the Frog Hasbro dolls. In 2014 it was announced that Mattel would lose the license to make Disney dolls to their rival Hasbro. The change took effect in January 2016 when Hasbro released their first line of basic Disney princess dolls and of course Tiana was included in this line. These dolls were very polarizing. A lot of Disney fans did not like their cartoony stylized proportions and design. I think the cartoony proportions look especially bad on Tiana. She really doesn't suit this sort of aesthetic. Her head looks way too big. It just looks wrong. While Hasbro had the license, they made four different basic Tiana dolls. Sadly, most of them don't have her gloves which is always very disappointing to me. Don't want to talk about it. The second wave of Hasbro Disney princess dolls released in 2018 is definitely my favorite. They have these beautiful like watercolor designed dresses and slightly more realistic proportions. Although Tiana's face mold is still definitely one of the worst ones. Like she looks like an alien. I have the Hasbro 2018 Disney Tiana doll. She's not bad. Like it's not the worst doll. I like the kind of watercolor design on her dress. The face mold just looks bad. Why does she look like an alien? At least she has a removable dress. I will say that. I feel like they've definitely lightened her skin a little bit though, which is a shame. In 2019 Hasbro started giving the basic Disney dolls painted on fashion, which I thought I hate painted on clothes on dolls. It's just the worst. Especially the Disney princesses. Tiana was one of the only Disney princesses to have an alternative basic doll in the Hasbro line. There was a Walmart exclusive version in her blue dress. They can never decide whether they want her main dress to be the green dress or the blue dress. Hasbro also made some other Tiana dolls like Princess Life Tiana and Fashion Party Tiana which had a transforming dress. There was also Jazz Night Style Tiana which I just love. In 2018 Wreck-It Ralph 2 Ralph Breaks the Internet was released. Ugh. I absolutely hate this film. I think it's so pandering and awful. It included a scene with all the Disney princesses wearing new comfy modern outfits. So of course Hasbro released a line of comfy squad Disney princess dolls and Tiana was included. [00:28:30] Speaker ?: I [00:28:31] Speaker 1: hate. The only good thing about the Wreck-It Ralph film was that it was quite nice to see Tiana with her hair down for the first time. Anyway, in 2023 Hasbro lost the Disney princess license and it went back to Mattel. Princess and the Frog Mattel dolls 2023 to today. In 2023 Mattel regained the rights to create Disney princess dolls. So far they have released two basic Tiana dolls. I think the second one is a little bit better than the first. What do you guys think? I think the materials look better and I like the colors a little bit more. She looks a little bit more elegant. They've done a pretty good job with her face mold. To celebrate Disney's 100th anniversary, Mattel released a special Tiana doll. I actually have this doll. I really like her. I just really like this dress. They've decided to make her dress like a little bit shorter this time, which in 2025 they also released a Once Upon a Whimsy Tiana doll, which was a bit kind of crazy. She was probably my least favorite in this line, but it's still interesting to see Mattel take a bit of creative license. Princess and the Frog limited edition dolls. In March 2010 the Disney store released the first 18 inch limited edition Tiana doll. She is absolutely beautiful and I love the fact that she even has her veil, a detail which pretty much every Tiana doll has left out. Yes, in that part in the film Tiana has a veil. They never ever ever include it. In 2019 another 18 inch limited edition Tiana doll was released to celebrate the film's 10th anniversary and this time she's in her blue dress. I really like this doll. I would love to own her. I don't normally like the 18 inch dolls though. They're too bulky for me. In 2024 to celebrate the opening of the new Tiana's Bayou Adventure attraction in Walt Disney World and Disneyland California a special Tiana Bayou Adventure limited edition doll was released wearing a brand new outfit I love the Disney designer line started. The first Tiana doll in the line is so beautiful. I really like the very first Disney designer dolls because they're quite elegant and refined. They're not too much you know and I think Tiana is definitely part of that. Her doll is like really beautiful. In 2014 Tiana and Prince Naveen were included in the Disney designer fairy tale collection. In 2018 Tiana was part of the Disney designer premiere collection. She wears this late 2000s inspired outfit which kind of reminds me of something Carrie Bradshaw might wear in the Sex in the City movie. In 2019 Tiana and Naveen were part of the Midnight Masquerade line. The Masquerade theme works really well with the whole New Orleans setting. I wish they'd do more dolls like this. In 2022 Tiana had two dolls released in the Ultimate Princess collection which was unfortunately a bit of a disappointment this line but one of Tiana's dolls really stood out because of its 1920s inspiration. This is definitely the best doll in the whole line. Beautiful. So there we have it doll fans. I spoke about pretty much every single Tiana doll ever released. She's had such an incredible history as a Disney princess and there have been so many incredible Tiana dolls. I can't wait to see what Tiana dolls we get in the future. I hope Tiana gets to be part of the new Mattel Sparkling Princess line. That would be great. Anyway, let me know which Tiana doll is your favourite. Let me know what you think of Princess Tiana and let me know which princess you'd like me to speak about next in this series. Also don't forget to like this video if you enjoyed it. Subscribe to my channel if you're new here. Check me out on Instagram and TikTok and also support me on Patreon for only $3. I'd really really appreciate it and I'll see you real soon doll fans. Bye! 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