The news that Disney had redesigned ‘Brave’s’ Merida because she was to be place in the Disney Princess brand got me thinking. What other characters have been redesigned in recent years and received wide spread media attention? What designs worked out for the better? And which ones failed?

Dora the explorer

In 2008 Mattel and Nickelodeon announced a new design for Dora the Explorer- as a tween. Designed for a new Nickelodeon show called Dora’s Explorer Girls, the tween Dora was not created to replace the original but to extend the brand into an older age demographic. Mattel and Nickelodeon had a very strong brand with young Dora, but now they wanted that brand to stay in a child’s life longer- they essentially created the older Dora because they wanted a piece of the Bratz market. Goodbye to her bowl cut hairstyle and t-shirt and shorts, this new Dora had long hair, more jewelry and leggings.

Did the new design work?

The design does have strong similarities to the original design, but the context of why the character was redesigned shone over anything else. Upon release of the new design there was a lot of criticism at the redesigned Dora, due to the fact they she had been made more “girlie”. Parents were not happy. Mattel had taken the jungle-trekking girl and removed her from that setting. Instead, they put Dora in the city with girlfriends who all looked glamorously similar.

Ben 10

After the success of the original series Ben10, which spaned several years and seasons (and not to forget a massive merchandise franchise too), The Cartoon Network decided to also attempt to keep up with their aging fan base- and make the characters older.

Did the new designs work?

In the several television series that followed, Ben was now 15 years old. But where Mattel and Nickelodeon had failed with Dora, The Cartoon Network succeeded. In the redesign of Ben and Gwen, they kept the design and essence of their characters the same. Keeping the integrity of the characters, the new designs didn’t deviate too much from the designs of the characters that they knew already worked so well.

By aging the kids, TCN had a chance to take the storyline into exciting new places. The original series was for a younger audience, so the story was light hearted and funny. By aging the character however, The Cartoon Network created a show that was a lot more serious and more in the line of with a “super hero” show.

Disney Princesses

In my last post I talked about how Disney has redesigned Merida to be a part of the Disney Princess merchandise brand. Like Merida, redesigns of Mulan and other recent additions to the gang have been quite widely criticized. Here are some examples of the ‘new look’ princesses.

Did the new designs work?

As the Disney Princess brand is all about glitter and looking “pretty”, the new designs do relate to the style of the brand as a whole. Disney has had given many of the females nose jobs, changed their skin complexion, and enlarged their eyes and hair. The main problem with bringing many of the female protagonists together is that they have had to destroy the integrity of several key characters to do so. Characters such as Belle, Pocahontas, and Mulan all fought against this type of female stereotype within their films.

Mickey Mouse

While we are talking about Disney, Paul Rudish (of Powerpuff Girl’s fame) recently redesigned Mickey Mouse for a new animated short series.

Did the new design work?

Here is a redesign that works. This design harks back to the original look of character while characterizing him in a mash up retro/modern 1930’s style. First appearing in cartoon short ‘Croissant de Triomphe’ we see Mickey’s simplistic design used at it’s best.  He stretches, squashes, and moves with a lot of newfound freedom. This design will allow Mickey to be completely annihilated in his adventures, while still retaining the cartoon-world immortality. The new design reminds us of the Mickey we used to love, and will make you love him as soon as you seen him on the scooter. Beep! Beep!

By looking at these several big branded characters it seems that redesigning is quite tricky and can be fraught with backlash from the public. Designs seem to work best when there is a valid reason for doing so, such as within a film or story. Redesigning purely for merchandise reasons can work too, but if it doesn’t keep the essence of the original character intact it will be harder for the public to accept.

If you haven’t heard, Disney has recently announced that Merida will be joining the Disney Princess’ gang. She’ll be slapped onto the princess merchandise along with Snow White and Cinderella. This wouldn’t have been news really, as it has happened to many of the female characters over the years- but it has drawn a lot of criticism as Disney has redesigned Merida.  Take a look!

What you’ll notice is Merida has lost her quirkiness, and has conformed to the “ideal princess” that Disney just salivates over. Her hair is still wild, but is now sleek. Merida now has eyeliner, a tiny waist, and best of all- a lovely glittery dress. This dress is based on the dress in the film- a dress that Merida DESPISED.

In the film, the dress represented a lot. It represented the suffocation of her mother, and the enveloping role that Merida would play as wife. The dress represented an outdated value that constricted Merida from being a strong leader. She ultimately tears the dress to bits in the film as she breaks free from the role society wants her to play. And look! Now she wears the same dress once more! But now it is even better. The dress has GOLD and GLITTER too! Gosh Merida is lucky!

There has been quite a bit of outrage at the new design, as many do think of Merida as the first feminist princess in a Disney film. There is also a petition that is happening over on Change.org, to keep the original design of Merida. The petition states:

“The redesign of Merida in advance of her official induction to the Disney Princess collection does a tremendous disservice to the millions of children for whom Merida is an empowering role model who speaks to girls’ capacity to be change agents in the world rather than just trophies to be admired. Moreover, by making her skinnier, sexier and more mature in appearance, you are sending a message to girls that the original, realistic, teenage-appearing version of Merida is inferior; that for girls and women to have value — to be recognized as true princesses — they must conform to a narrow definition of beauty.”

I doubt Disney will now change her design for the Disney Princess series, but it is a worthwhile debate.

With the 2013 relaunch of our new site and rebrand, we aim to create new illustrations based on a single theme each week. Sometimes we will pick the theme ourselves, but most of the time we will use a theme suggested to us by our readers. If you’re an illustrator, you’re welcome to join the fun by sharing your work on Twitter with the hashtag, #bearandbuffalo! Be sure to follow Bear and Buffalo on Twitter as well!

To view everything I have done so far, please have a look here.

I can finally reveal one of the book projects I’ve recently worked on! Hooray!

In April, Scholastic is releasing a junior fiction book by Kate Darling called Larrikin Lane. Part of their ‘Mates: Great Australian Yarns’ series, Larrikin Lane tells the story of a suburban family who own some mischievous farm animals. It is a great story about neighborhood wars, and there are plenty of funny moments.

“The farm animals next door make Mr Meyer very cranky. But Arkie has a plan. With Lola the sheep and Delilah the goat to help, what can possibly go wrong”

While working on this project, it brought up a lot of my own childhood memories of neighborhood gangs and farmyard adventures, and I really enjoyed reminiscing about some of the antics we got up to. Please make sure you go grab a copy of this one, as it is a great read for older children. To see more illustrations from the book, go here.