Review: Disney Fairies Periwinkle and Rosetta Part 1

Toys R Us had a 30% off Disney sale, so I picked up Pirate Fairy Periwinkle and Celebrate Pixie Party Rosetta. I love the faces and smiles of these girls, so when I saw that there are jointed versions, I bit the bullet and bought my first fashion dolls. What better opportunity could there be to write my first review?

"Hi there!"

Jakks Pacific makes both articulated and non-articulated dolls for a variety of franchises. The two dolls I'm reviewing today are their articulated Disney Fairies dolls. The Disney fairies consist of Tinkerbell and her friends Periwinkle, Rosetta, Fawn, Silvermist, Iridessa and Vidia. On April 1st, the movie The Pirate Fairy was released and introduced a new character called Zarina. To see more about the fairies, and clips from the movies, see the official homepage.

The boxes are very similar. Both have clear fronts that fully display the dolls. In the corner, there are two photos of the line's Tinkerbell that advertises the fact that the dolls are articulated. There is a CG illustration of Tink on the side. The packaging is eye-catching. The only thing is that there is a huge contrast between the pictures of the doll versions of Tinkerbell and the CG picture. These dolls are adorable and sweet in their own right, but they aren't faithful translations of the characters from the movies.

Pirate Fairy Periwinkle (left) and Celebrate Pixie Party Rosetta

The back is full of information on the specific line and has photos of the other dolls. The Pirate Fairy Periwinkle is from the direct-to-video movie I mentioned above, so there's a brief synopsis of the story. Rosetta is from Celebrate Pixie Party, a fairly standard concept for a fashion doll release. Tink and her friends are going to a party, it's as simple as that.

4 dolls in each line, with Tinkerbell, Periwinkle and Rosetta as recurring characters

The front and back of the box are one continuous piece. The itself is attached to the cardboard insert.

I'm keeping that insert for photoshoots. It's pretty and suits the party theme well

There wasn't much tape to remove.. There were four plastic tabs that were taped down. One is holding her left arm in place, one is attached to the little pictures of Tinkerbell that advertise the articulation, and the last two, the largest, hold the plastic backing that the doll sits in.

Back of the cardboard insert

The next two pictures are of Periwinkle, since I forgot to take pictures of Rosetta while she was still attached to the plastic container. The doll is tied into the plastic conatiner by a variety of means. The heavy twine is wrapped around the middle of the torso underneath the clothing. The blue thread you see is to keep the belt from rising up. One hand is free while the other is attached to the backing by an elastic band. Her feet are held down by ties and the tips of her wings slid into the slots of the plastic holder. The only thing that was difficult to remove from both dolls was the plastic ties that were punched into their heads. I was able to pull most of it out of Rosetta but I had to resign myself to the fact that I couldn't do the same with Periwinkle.

The back of the plastic insert

Now enough about the packaging, on to the clothing! From this point forward, we will focus on Rosetta. Periwinkle will get her time in the spotlight in the next review.

Rosetta's outfit consists of a red dress with white polkadot and a pink over-skirt, a pair of sheer coral tights with gold sparkly dots, wedge shoes, a white jacket with pink stripes and her wings. I mistakenly put Periwinkle's wings with Rosetta's outfit, since the only different is the pattern. Whoopsie!

The full outfit, with Periwinkles' wings by accident

I have to say, I'm really impressed with the quality of all the pieces. Almost all the edges and seams are finished, while the edges that aren't are made of material that doesn't fray. Plus, the dress has clear straps to keep the dress firmly on while not being overly visible during play or in photos.

Both her shoes and belt of made of a slightly soft plastic. This makes them very easy to put on. Her wedge shoes are a coral pink that are supposed to look like wood. Her belt is designed to look like many strands of plants have been woven together.

The plastic accessories

Of course, no Disney fairy would be complete without a pair of wings and Jakks Pacific has come up with an interesting way to attach them. Instead of have the wings attach directly to the doll, as they did with Winx, they attach to the jacket of the doll with a square of velcro. The hook side is on the wings, which are one piece of sparkly plastic, while the soft side is on the jacket. This means that the doll's hair doesn't get caught on the back of the jacket, which is always a plus.

Periwinkles' wings and Rosetta's jacket

I did run into a problem with the wings, as nicely designed as I find them. The problem is that Rosetta has long hair, so either you have to place it behind the opening of the wings, or around the velcro, which is very messy. Neither way looks very nice or stands up to much playing. I didn't plan to use the wings often but it seems odd that such an important part of the Disney character can't really be used easily.

Rosetta in full outfit, with her hair put in front of  her wings

Now for the real reason I caved and got these two: articulated bodies!

The Deluxe Fashion dolls, as they are called on the Jakks Pacific website, have 11 points of articulation: head, shoulders, elbows, wrists, legs and the knees. They have large heads and small hands and feet. The head is soft, the body is hard and the hands are much harder than the head but have more give then the feet. Rosetta has molded panties, with a leaf print and painted pink. There is a paint defect, in that two dots of pink paint are on one of her breasts.

 

Back, with mold seams and copyright markings

The back has four lines of copyright information. In white, are some numbers. Just above the underwear it says: ©Disney ©2013 Jakks MADE IN CHINA. There are two lines from being removed from the mold but I'm used to seams on my BJDs which are far more prominent.

Range of motion testing time! Rosetta has one lower leg that is a bit looser than the other but otherwise, the joints are tight. I was afraid to move them too much though, since they are basically hinge joints. I'm much more comfortable with ball-joints strung with elastic then pegs and hinges.

Looking all the way down

Looking all the way up

Impressive outwards range! All the joints can rotate somewhat and bend.

Showing off the range in her arms and wrists

Can't touch her face though. Oh hey, look, there's the paint defect again!

She can however touch her hair and turn her lower legs to the side while sitting

Overall, Rosetta has a decent range of motion. I know that I would've flipped for a doll this poseable when I was younger. Something of note is the shape of the feet.

These feet cause problems

As you can see in the photos, the feet are made to wear heels and heels only. While this is a common design choice for fashion dolls, it does make Rosetta hard to stand. Unlike Monster High and Ever After High, Disney Fairies don't come with stands, so Rosetta has to be propped up to prevent herself from toppling over. I mentioned before that this particular girl has one looser knee, which makes standing even more of an issue.

So if standing isn't the best idea, what about sitting?

Sitting in the chair from the Barbie Life in the Dreamhouse vanity playset

That is the most upright that she can sit. Her legs can't bend at 90° angle, her back is curved and it just doesn't look very proper.

Smile for the camera!

I love Rosetta's friendly face. She has a toothy smile, magenta lipstick, silver eyeshadow with a line of pink above the lid, green eyes and straight eyebrows. Unfortunately, the camera I'm having to use for the moment doesn't let me do closeups but the screening is flawless. There is a tiny speck of gloss between her hairline and her eyebrow, but it is extremely hard to miss.

Rosetta's profile

Rosetta has pointed ears and a button nose. Her hair is soft, though not as silky as my Obistu. The hair is a mix of burgundy and a slightly brighter red, which gives a certain amount of depth.

Rosetta's hair is long, with a wave curls under at the end. She has two braids that tie at the back of her head.

Back of head

 The rooting is thick around the face, at the base of the head and the crown. Once you move the braids away from the rest of the head, you can see how the rooting pattern changes.

Huh

The rest of the head is much more sparsely rooted and the scalp is painted red so that it's less noticeable. 

And with that, we end the review! Phew, that took a long time. All in all, I'm pleased with my impulse buy and am already making silly stories up to amuse myself.