Swimming motion is cool, kids love her!

This is a cute idea for a toy and whether they take it in the bath or not, kids who are into mermaids or the Disney princesses, will love it. Ariel is an early Disney character, but her appeal is timeless and even modern kids know who she is. I do have a few qualms about this toy, but overall it's good and I haven't had any issues with it despite my concerns.

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Features and Fun
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Other than being a standard straight-up doll, Ariel only really has one feature and that's swimming. I'll admit, I was surprised by how much she 'floats' and unless you actually push her under the water, she basically just bobs along on top. She can swim either on her back or front, though the toy recommends on her front. Both look good, but a little funny, due to the movement being only in the mid-section. If they had a less subtle movement in the tail it'd probably be even cooler. Kids don't care though, they're fascinated by it and have a blast with this toy. It's a bath-time toy, but because it's also a doll, this often makes an appearance at other times too.

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Design
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Overall she's a pretty good match for Ariel and the quality of the doll is pretty good (as usual with kids dolls, the hair is pretty meh). The tail is particularly impressive, despite the baffling choice to make the tail-fin purple. I imagine this was to match the seashell bra, but it's strange because purple isn't really that aquatic looking and Ariel's actual tail-fin is turquoise or green as far as I remember. Again, kids don't really care about this stuff, but a particularly precocious child might complain about it.

The hair is full and sits nicely, but my one complaint about the design would be that the hair never really seems to 'dry' the same way again after being wet. I don't expect it to dry in the same shape, but to me, it seems like after wetting the hair it always has a weird texture and sheen, almost like it seems semi-wet, even when completely dry.

Onto the more worrying problem. The battery compartment just doesn't seem waterproof. There's no silicone seal and a visible line that looks like a gap. This makes me worry that over time water will get in there, but despite this concern, I have to admit that after several uses I haven't seen any water in there. I just wish they'd make it more water-tight and put my mind at ease.

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Set-up
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This is another toy that you will lose the packaging on if you take the doll out before gifting it, so if you want to check it works before giving it as a gift, you'll have to be ok with that. I'd also set some time aside to get it out of the packaging for your child, because the box is nightmarish. There's not so many ties holding her on, but they are skin tight. It's almost impossible to cut them without damaging her with scissors (especially when it comes to the hair) and the back is covered in tape, making it difficult to cut there too. I ended up ripping apart the whole box, but it was stressful and frustrating. Setup time will take about 10-15 mins depending on how strong, determined or proficient with knives you are.

Once you have her out it's a simple matter of unscrewing the panel, popping in batteries and attaching the fin. If you can tug the fin gently and it comes off, it's not on correctly, push it in further. Once it's on properly, you can't pull it off again. If you're struggling, try flipping it around and seeing if it fits better the other way. It's a simple slide-on mechanism that once all the way in, will line up nicely.

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Summary
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- Ages 3+
- 2 AAA batteries (not included)
- Simple assembly, just slide on fin and put in batteries.
- Very difficult to extract from box.
- Great bath-time toy.
- Popular with mermaid and princess fans due to timeless appeal of Ariel.
- Battery compartment doesn't feel waterproof, but no issues arose.
- Swimming motion is more realistic than some toys, due to segmented tail