Monday, September 6, 2010

Jessica Rabbit Merchandise Review # 9 - Disneyland Paris Statue



Above photo courtesy of CharacterCentral.net


Between 1988 and 2003, there was a very scarce assortment of Jessica Rabbit merchandise available. Soon after Jessica's popularity was realized in pin form, we began to see more items become available. In 2007, Disneyland Paris offered a surprising amount of new Jessica merchandise such as a clock, shirt, chalkboard, apron, button pins and also a very accurate statue. Some things showed up on-line but they were all pretty rare, and a few items in particular are still very hard to find.



The above photo was the first ever shown of the statue. Someone was auctioning the buttons and I noticed that they seemed to be held up by a Jessica statue that I was certain I had not seen before. I emailed the seller and she informed me that Disney Paris had released various Jessica items, and she was kind enough to send me photos of what she had - although she was not selling them all.




It was true, Disneyland Paris had in fact released, for some unknown reason, a ton of Jessica Rabbit related merchandise. After doing some searching, a few photos turned up - but not many.




I bought the first statue that appeared on eBay for only $25 - the statue was originally 12 euros and seeing as mine was coming from Paris via Great Britain, I didn't mind paying a little more. The statue arrived in a small - FLATTENED - box! I was horrified. I just assumed that the statue would be in pieces. When I opened it - much to my surprise - it was fully intact, despite only being wrapped in a tiny, old, airless bubble sheet which didn't even cover the statue. I should have given the seller negative feedback, but I didn't.



Jessica's face is done really well. She's got a little pout - blowing a kiss. She has some shade on her cheeks and her eye is correct. The lips are more pink though than they should be. There is some paint slop and uneven lines around the hairline, but they did remember to giver her a gold earring. Still, this is definitely a fantastic statue. The quality is far better than expected. Especially since I DROPPED it on the floor! After that I was very careful with it. So of course it was a further shock to me when the statue wobbled and FELL OVER on my shelf! I was amazed - and thankful, that the statue did not break after the beating it was taking.


The bust is finally made right, for a change. It's full and ample, and covered by the dress just like it is in the movie. The gloves are flocked in purple. I'm not sure if I like the flocked look on a statue, and wonder how well it's going to look as the statue ages, but it is a nice extra touch for wanting to give the statue a little extra something to it. The gloves are a correct shade although I see some photos where the flocking looks lighter or darker than others.



However the connected base is not well suited for this statue. The statue is about eight inches tall and she tends to be a little top heavy, especially with the one arm out blowing the kiss. This is why it fell so often. It's VERY wobbly, and after I dropped it I displayed it sandwiched in between other things so it would not fall again. The base is shaped like lips and the inside is a mirrored sheet or fill - not an actual glass mirror. It's a great look, but sadly that base is way too small for it. Her walking forward pose is nice, and with Jessica's small feet it's always a challenge to get an accurate interpretation in three dimensions.



The glitter on her dress holds somewhat, but it does come off as you will see in the first photo. When you touch her dress, it will come off on your hands. There has yet to be a statue with a glitter look that actually has no danger of rubbing off over time. Although if you are rubbing the statue too much, that may be another problem in itself.




This is a great statue but it's a shame the base is not made better. Even with my luck of it not breaking, I'm going to presume there are going to be others who are not so lucky - which might make this a rare find as time goes on. Be careful with this statue if you have. If not, you can still find it on eBay from time to time, but it now easily sells for over $100. UPDATE - You can find this on eBay France, although I'm not sure if you can buy off there being in the US and the site is all in French.







The Disneyland Paris Jessica statue gets a 3½. It's really a great statue - perfect colors, pose and character likeness. However the small base makes it really dangerous to display.