My Haul – A Disney Car Boot Sale

This morning I went to a local car boot sale and I find some interesting things there. All of the things I found today are Disney related items and I thought they were interesting enough to share in another haul post.

One stall had these Funko Disney Princess Mystery Minis. They had already been opened so I was able to choose I bought which is good because I usually avoid buying blind boxes like these for fear of ending up with a character who I don’t want. Usually these retail for around £6 - £8 each, I paid just £3 for the three of them! I am thrilled that I managed to get Tiana because – as you probably already know – she is my absolute favouriteDisney Princess.

On another stall I was able to get two Pixar plushies for £4! I had a very similar Woody to this one when I was younger so I had to get him. I love Toy Story but I don’t currently have a Woody in my collection so I decided to buy him. The Flik was hidden at the bottom of a box, as you also probably know I love A Bugs Life it was one of my favourites when I was younger. I might have bought a Flik a few weeks back but this one is different as he’s a bit smaller and has poseable antennae.

Finally I added another doll to my collection. I found this Belle for 50p on the same stall that I bought the Funko Disney Princess Mystery Minis from. I’ve only recently been on the lookout for a Belle doll and I didn’t think I was going to find her so quickly! She’s one of the swim dolls hence the unusual outfit, I actually already have Tiana in this collection of Mattel dolls (she was the one who started my doll collection). They’re definitely fairly basic ‘economy dolls’ but these ones are great to make outfits for, as can be seen with Tiana in the picture above.

So that’s my Disney car boot haul, I’m really pleased with these finds. I’ve added some interesting items to my collection and all of them for a very reasonable price.

My Haul – My Recent Disney Finds

This Haul Post is a little different from my usual ones. As you probably know I love Disney and I love collecting. Recently I have added several interesting Disney items to my collection. None of these items were found in a big haul however I still wanted to share them which is why they are being grouped together in this post.

First up, Merida’s Itty Bitty. I love collecting Itty Bitty’s however the Disney ones still have not been released in the UK. A few weeks back I was browsing stuff on eBay and I just came across a Merida Itty Bitty listed for only £3.99 with free postage! Merida is one of my absolute favourite Disney Princesses and so at that price I just had to add her to my collection.

At an Antiques and Collectors fair this weekend I found two Pocahontas dolls that I bought for just £10! I have done some investigating to figure out where and when they are from.

As far as I can tell from my Googling the mini doll is from a Disney Princess mini doll set that was released exclusively in the Disney Parks a few years back. She’s pictured there with a DC Superhero Girls Batgirl and a Disney Infinity Mulan to give a sense of her size, which is roughly 5” tall.

The other Pocahontas doll is from Mattel and released in 1995. I already have the 2016 Hasbro Pocahontas (pictured with her) but I like this version too. There’s differences – such as the tattoo on her arm – between the two of them. The Mattel Pocahontas is one of the original dolls who was released to coincide with the film. I am fairly sure that the outfit she is wearing is not an original one as I have yet to find any evidence of a Pocahontas doll in that dress.

Finally, I’ve bought plushies of Flik and Dot from A Bugs Life. I have always liked A Bugs Life and when I was younger I had two soft toys of Dot. At some point I think I got rid of her but recently I wondered if I could find another Dot on eBay. I managed to and bought her at a very reasonable price with a Flik.

Dot and Atta are not Disney Princesses?

A Bugs Life is the Disney Movie of the Month, I’m following up that initial post by considering why are Dot and Atta not Disney Princesses.

To be clear by Disney Princesses I mean characters in the marketing Disney Princess franchise (there’s currently 11 official Disney Princesses) and not just characters who happen to be princesses in movies released by Disney. Dot and Atta are essential to the plot of A Bugs Life and both of them are princesses of the ant colony, with Atta becoming a queen at the end of the movie. Like most of the other Disney Princesses they both have to overcome obstacles - both internal and external - in order to save their realm.

Perhaps the first reason that they’re Disney Princesses is that A Bugs Life is a Pixar movie. Except Merida from Pixar’s Brave is one of the 11 Princesses. Another reason could be that A Bugs Life is more about Flik than Dot and Atta. But Aladdin is obviously mainly about Aladdin and yet Jasmine is in the Disney Princess franchise. An obvious reason would be that they’re ants not humans. This one is harder to argue against, but Ariel from The Little Mermaid isn’t a human, she’s a mermaid and is often depicted as being a mermaid in products. (And funnily enough Jodi Benson – the voice of Ariel – also voiced Atta for a video game)

As far as I’ve been able to tell in the early days of the franchise there wasn’t even an official set line-up of characters. Depending on the product line was Disney would add or take away characters somewhat randomly. It was only with the release of Enchanted that it seems like an official line-up was settled on. As far as I’ve been able to find out Giselle from Enchanted was intended to be marketed as a Disney Princess but (probably due to the royalties involved in using Amy Adams’ likeness) Disney decided against long term marketing and merchandising for Enchanted. In response to this Disney seemed to have decided on a fixed line-up for the Disney Princess franchise.

I personally would like to see other characters like Dot and Atta added to the line-up. It’s about time that characters like Snow White and Cinderella started to take a back seat and characters like Dot and Atta could be good candidates to take over their spaces. If Disney did have more variety in the Princess franchise it could make merchandise collections more interesting. For example they could use Mulan and Merida for an action adventure themed collection but then maybe have Dot and Atta joining someone like Rapunzel in a garden themed collection.

Sure Dot and Atta are perhaps not the most obvious characters to add to the Disney Princess franchise but it would be good to see more of a variety in the franchise and I’d just to see A Bugs Life getting more representation from Disney.

A Bug’s Life – Disney Movie of the Month

A childhood favourite of mine, but does it still stand up?

It’s February! And a new month means that it’s time for a new Disney Movie of the Month. This time I’ve chosen to look at A Bug’s Life. Probably not one of the most obvious movies to choose for this monthly series but it’s one of my favourites from when I was growing up.  It was a couple of years since I last watched A Bug’s Life and recently I’ve felt like it’s probably time for me to revisit it.

In many ways A Bug’s Life is quite a typical Disney movie. There’s the quirky outsider who people underestimated - Flik. There’s a princess who needs to learn something - Atta. There’s an arch villain for the audience to root against - Hooper. And there’s a cast of colourful side characters - like Heimlich, Slim and Francis. If you’re not the type of person who enjoys movies with any of those elements then A Bug’s Life is an earth-shatteringly different movie. However it has the charm and humour that we have come to expect from Pixar movies. A Bug’s Life is a thoroughly entertaining adventure with lots of very enjoyable moments.

A Bug’s Life was Pixar’s second ever feature length animation and one of the first few fully computer animated movies, considering that it’s 18 years old the animation still looks good. I suspect that the more stylised instead of realistic character designs were intentionally done so that the computers of the time could render them successfully. There’s a few wide shots that look primitive by today’s standards but they don’t detract from the overall look of the film. It really has aged well in that regard.

As with all of Pixar’s releases this is a movie that presents a rich and varied world on screen. Pixar really did a great job in showing on screen what the world looks like from an ant’s perspective and creating a whole insect culture. For example, the scene’s in the bug city all work to indicate that the movie exists in a larger world of bugs which expands beyond the main narrative. As a creative writer this is something that I always like when movies can allude to.

Overall A Bugs Life still stands up as a very enjoyable film, not just something I liked when I was younger. If it’s been a while since you lasted watched it I would say it’s worth watching again. If you’ve never seen it then it’s one I would recommend.