Review: 43262 Maleficent's and Cruella De Vil's Dresses
Posted by SetToBuild,
After Cinderella’s dress debut in 43266, two more additions have been made to this new ‘dress display’ set range. They’re certainly dramatic, but are they going to prove fashionable among LEGO fans? The appeal of the dresses may be limited, but excellent minidolls and some interesting parts and colours might redeem this unusual set.
Summary
43262 Maleficent's and Cruella De Vil's Dresses, 524 pieces.
£59.99 / $69.99 / €69.99 | 11.4p/13.4c/13.4c per piece.
Buy at LEGO.com »
Another take in this new set concept comes in two evil flavours.
- Premium minidolls
- Dramatic shaping
- Pricey, even though the two models share the same base
The set was provided for review by LEGO. All opinions expressed are those of the author.
Box
The box art references the cartoon forms of both Maleficent and Cruella, so fans might expect the models to reflect their earlier appearances, but there are definitely modern influences here too.
Minifigures
Maleficent is a truly premium minidoll, with a distinctive moulded ‘hat’ piece, a double-sided cutout cape and detailed printing. I love this cape piece, which, despite not being the first example of the two-tone colouring, is a unique shape and colour. The horns are the same piece as was used in the Villain Icons set.
Her accessory is a staff adorned with a gem that subtly matches the green embellishments on the brick-built dress.
Maleficent has a pet raven named Diablo (or Diaval in the live-action remake movies) who serves as her loyal companion and confidant. This recolour of the classic Friends sparrow/parrot piece isn’t the first dark, spooky version: the earlier LEGO Elves Shadow Creature matches Noctura’s wicked witch aesthetic. Diablo’s bright yellow accents and purple printing are an adorable way to Friends-ify this iconic accomplice.
Cruella is another phenomenal minidoll. The style matches the original animation well, and another unique fabric piece forms her wonderfully fluffy fur coat. Custom figure builders will definitely enjoy this element.
The dalmatian is a recolour of the now fairly common puppy mould. I’m slightly baffled as to why this can’t just be a repeat of one of the first uses of this mould. The new print is slightly cuter with a small smiley mouth, but both versions lack any printing beyond the front side of the mould.
Completed Model
Maleficent’s dress is wonderfully elaborate and so visually striking. The iridescent bright green quarter-round tiles provide a strong contrasting decorative element, and the slivers of magenta peeking through give the illusion of a coloured underskirt. A whopping 56 of these tiles are included!
I liked how the horns are represented in this form, the mannequin or dressmaker’s dummy by definition doesn’t have a head for them to grow from, but it does complete the look effectively. This is the first time we’ve seen this useful element in black to date, having had a couple of recolours in the past, but by far most commonly found in brown.
The tapered mermaid style shaping of the dress (named for its fishtail-looking outline) cinches in at the knees and waist, accentuating the hips and flaring out dramatically at the base. This is quite a feat to achieve in LEGO.
Cruella’s Dress is much shorter, which like Cinderella’s, looks a little odd as the subject material is not known for being this length. It was surprising not to see any yellow here to reference her iconic fur coat. The base here, the only one in this set, has a plaque with her portrait. (Maleficent’s portrait on the other side can be seen in the main image for this article.)
The dress isn’t a specific model from any movie or show that I could easily find, but it appears to be an amalgamation of various ideas using Cruella’s iconic split black and white motif. Rather than reusing any of the prints from 40479 Dalmatians, a new 2x4 dalmatian fur print is repeated around the skirt to offer the cursed dalmatian fur look.
To the rear, wedge plates shape a tapering waistline and slimming slopes finish off the top of the skirt. Great use of the hangover tooth and cut curved bow elements creates a folded shape between each pleat. The bodice is otherwise plain and looks a little unfinished with the flat tan and gold elements at the top.
Rock elements on the shoulders simulate textured puffy fabric, perhaps gathered layers of tulle. The neckline uses 1x2 cut curved slope elements to create a bow. Very subtle glimpses of red peek through below, perhaps to reference Cruella’s red accessories.
The base contains hinged compartments to hold each minidoll, each featuring an excellently detailed printed portrait of its occupant. Perhaps it’s fitting for the evil nature of these two characters, but they rather felt like coffins!
Like 43266 Cinderella's Dress, the base’s top surface provides a blank canvas for your own DOTS-style decorations. Here are some of the designs that the instruction booklet suggests.
Under the base, a handful of different techniques create the various supports. Unfortunately, the 2x2 bowl pieces come off very easily.
There isn’t much to show for the extra parts, but there are a few sparkly gems in the mix!
Conclusion
Considering that these two dresses share a base, the price is pretty high. The premium minidolls might have contributed to this, but it’s more likely that the more elaborate Maleficent dress, beautifully printed portraits, and the added Disney tax all had something to do with the hike as well. All in all, the £60 price tag is very hard to justify.
These new ‘dress sculpture’ models follow other display-style sets in recent themes like Fortnite or Wicked. However, unlike its counterpart 43266 Cinderella's Dress, this model lacks even basic play features and it’s likely that many fans will keep comparing these sets to the buildable figures—wishing for bodies to inhabit the clothes!
It’s not clear who the target audience is for these sets. My speculation is LEGO is going for people in the crafting or cosplay markets. For the latter, it would be interesting to see more costumes or armour sets built in this manner.
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33 comments on this article
Like most things these days, just a tad bit too expensive to consider. Drop it by £10 and it becomes a bit more enticing.
Lego: "We must pass on the high, high, very high, insanely-high price of synthetic cloth with teeny tiny, little holes, plus big orange baby tax!"
And, still, no kamas for boy toys.
As a huge fan of Disney, I would have loved this collection to display. Unfortunately, I just don’t think they’re worth it. I am getting the sets for the figures, animals and printed pieces nonetheless, but they are definitely more inspired by the original outfits than replicating them. It’s a wasted opportunity, I think.
There was a time not long ago when that Technic bush in black was so rare, they sold for several dollars each. Now it's common enough you can get it on BrickLink for pennies.
These sets just don't work, I think the scale is too small and the recreation of fabric from blocky elements is extremely hard.
They're never going to ret-con Cruella. It's still ok to despise women who wear fur.
On the other hand, women who curse babies are just like you and me... albeit, with horns... and wings... and dark magic.
The split black-and-white the opposite way around to her hair somewhat evokes Cruella's dress from the late-90s 101 Dalmatians: the Series, where a similarly-patterned - but differently styled - dress was her default outfit. (image for reference: https://m.media-amazon.com/images/S/pv-target-images/01d8482484b3caf0bfd4f811ac9737652a004760e306f5af75e439011d06ebac.jpg)
That said, since it often feels like barely anyone knows of that series that would be a pretty deep cut to reference, so I'd assume that what similarities exist are probably coincidence; especially since this one doesn't have the red waistband, or have the black and white swap sides again on the skirt. (And her attempt at wearing puppies is mentioned all of twice in the entire 65-episode run and never in a plot-relevant way, so she doesn't have any spots like this in her wardrobe in the series.)
Cruella is definitely one of those characters who I feel looks much better as a mini-doll than she did in 71038-13; in the face especially, I feel it really captures the feeling of the character more effectively than the minifigure did. That said, I still find it puzzling why they wouldn't have made the included puppy into one of the canon Dalmatians characters (perhaps Rolly, since the Friends puppy mould looks more round than the mould used for Patch in the CMF, which suits his design); especially given the attention to detail on printing Diablo, it seems weird that they wouldn't go to the same lengths to make this one an actual character too.
Don't have much to say on the set itself; even as a Disney fan, models of empty clothes aren't particularly exciting to me. Still, for what they are, Maleficent's in particular seems well done ^^
I guess Cruella did get to make herself that Dalmatian-skin clothing item after all.
Yes, this comment is really dark, but I can't be the only one thinking this... right?
Does LEGO endorse skinning dogs and turning them into mini-dresses? Sure seems like it. And they call themselves a FAMILY company? Sick...
@Murdoch17 said:
"I guess Cruella did get to make herself that Dalmatian-skin clothing item after all.
Yes, this comment is really dark, but I can't be the only one thinking this... right?"
The set includes extra plates and tiles to allow users to apply spray paint graffiti to the back of the dress.
Too soon?
j/k :o)
@yellowcastle said:
" @Murdoch17 said:
"I guess Cruella did get to make herself that Dalmatian-skin clothing item after all.
Yes, this comment is really dark, but I can't be the only one thinking this... right?"
The set includes extra plates and tiles to allow users to apply spray paint graffiti to the back of the dress.
Too soon?
j/k :o)"
@ToysFromTheAttic
Won't somebody please think of the children?!?
It's ok, as long as it's street art, and not that awful tagging. (looking at you, Bart!!)
@StyleCounselor said:
" @yellowcastle said:
" @Murdoch17 said:
"I guess Cruella did get to make herself that Dalmatian-skin clothing item after all.
Yes, this comment is really dark, but I can't be the only one thinking this... right?"
The set includes extra plates and tiles to allow users to apply spray paint graffiti to the back of the dress.
Too soon?
j/k :o)"
@ToysFromTheAttic
Won't somebody please think of the children?!?
It's ok, as long as it's street art, and not that awful tagging. (looking at you, Bart!!)
"
No dalmatians were hurt during the production of this LEGO set.
If this just had Maleficent (a villain whose style I've always admired) at about half the price, I'd buy it like a shot. However, my image of Cruella De Vil comes from the original book illustrations, which were wholly unlike the animation, and this dress suggests a punk teenager to me, not a sophisticated (if evil) adult. Besides, the point of the exercise was always a fur *coat*--why would fur (not suede or leather) be made into a summery skirt? It would take a lot of modification to satisfy me--far more than the subject merits IMO.
Downloading instructions and a lot of PaB/Bricklink buying, I guess. A pity, because the Maleficent bits are sheer genius, and I'd really like that minidoll. Sigh.
>Make Dresses
>Dont make Dolls so they can wear them
GENIUSES
A very cool set but spendy for what you get IMHO. Having said that I will look for it on sale or, at the least, buy the minidolls.
Weird sets, even as Display sets, when there's no "big figure" to complete it honestly.
76311 Miles Morales vs. the Spot makes a better Dalmatian set /s , even tho that's quite pricey for what it is as well.
43271 Lucky & Penny 101 Dalmatians Puppies , on the other hand, looks quite good, recognizable and ok value.
That Maleficent dress has stud nipples?!?! I’m not trying to say that’s good or bad, but like, am I the only one seeing that?
@Smricha2 said:
"That Maleficent dress has stud nipples?!?! I’m not trying to say that’s good or bad, but like, am I the only one seeing that?"
Sometimes a stud is only a stud. Otherwise, I count 12.
Don't let the brighter color fool you. That dalmation dress is incredibly dark.
Almost feels like Lego is testing the waters for a Disney Princess/Villainess theme in the style of DC Super Hero Girls or Monster/Ever After High.
@SearchlightRG said:
"Almost feels like Lego is testing the waters for a Disney Princess/Villainess theme in the style of DC Super Hero Girls or Monster/Ever After High."
To this day I still can’t believe they didn’t jump on those Disney Descendants movies. Nothing has ever screamed “MAKE US INTO MINIDOLLS” harder than those character designs.
@Studnotontop said:
" @SearchlightRG said:
"Almost feels like Lego is testing the waters for a Disney Princess/Villainess theme in the style of DC Super Hero Girls or Monster/Ever After High."
To this day I still can’t believe they didn’t jump on those Disney Descendants movies. Nothing has ever screamed “MAKE US INTO MINIDOLLS” harder than those character designs."
From the looks of things, the actual Descendants toys were made by Mattel. Maybe there was some contract thing or other that prevented Lego from getting in on the action.
Looks great, but feels like something's missing. Especially for this price...
@yellowcastle said:
" @Smricha2 said:
"That Maleficent dress has stud nipples?!?! I’m not trying to say that’s good or bad, but like, am I the only one seeing that?"
Sometimes a stud is only a stud. Otherwise, I count 12."
Aren't you a little low... for a nipple?
So less “Maleficent and Cruella’s dresses” and more “dresses inspired by Maleficent and Cruella”
About review:
1. Author didn't mention if there are stickers, we have to guess if there are or not.
2. There are two interesting 4x4 prints and there are no good photos of them? Some ppl come here to see those details, which can't be seen on video reviews
About set:
This will belong to "quick 30% off"© theme on LEGOshop
@StyleCounselor said: "They're never going to ret-con Cruella."
But they are going to give her a kitschy mini-skirt to wear, apparently.
@ThatBionicleGuy said:
"The split black-and-white the opposite way around to her hair somewhat evokes Cruella's dress from the late-90s 101 Dalmatians: the Series, where a similarly-patterned - but differently styled - dress was her default outfit."
Well spotted! A bit of a stretch, but yeah, they might have looked upon source material like that. I had completely forgotten about that series.
@Briczk said:
"About review:"
Oooh a reviewer review! :o
1. While I didn't speak of the existence of stickers specifically, it was noted several times that decorated elements were printed. So no, no stickers in the set.
2. I figured the photos of the portraits on the bases were sufficient. Same for 43266. I'll snap some better pics next time. :)
Thanks for the feedback.
@Zordboy said:
" @StyleCounselor said: "They're never going to ret-con Cruella."
But they are going to give her a kitschy mini-skirt to wear, apparently. "
Well, maybe they ret-conned those varicose veins? It's a popular surgery.
@SetToBuild said:
" @Briczk said:
"About review:"
Oooh a reviewer review! :o
1. While I didn't speak of the existence of stickers specifically, it was noted several times that decorated elements were printed. So no, no stickers in the set.
2. I figured the photos of the portraits on the bases were sufficient. Same for 43266. I'll snap some better pics next time. :)
Thanks for the feedback."
Thanks for understanding that it was feedback, not complaining :)
Well maybe Huw spoiled us, by taking close photos of prints and pointing at the beginning about stickers :D
@Briczk said:
"Thanks for understanding that it was feedback, not complaining :)"
You're good :) I'll find ways to be clearer next time
This is $90 over here and all the sets currently available at Lego.com at that price point, are highly overpriced, this is no exception.