Finally that anniversary present! Ron Weasley

  I have been promising to show you my anniversary present for ages! It kept getting put off because I had leaves to rake. But I won the battle with the leaf sucker truck this year! I've had my leaves raked for ages! Of course, I threw my shoulder out and re-aggrevated my bad wrist in the process,but it's done. Ivy was home from college for a few days right before Halloween and again around Thanksgiving. In between we went to Indiana for her birthday. Emma and I went to see Fleetwood Mac, which I insisted on calling Fleetwood Neil,since Neil Finn joined. (I still find that bizarre.) Lori had her heart problems and then her father passed away. There has been a lot going on around here the past few months,much of it bad. That's why it has taken me ages to do this post.
  Finally I have my act together and here is my anniversary present:

Ron Weasley from Harry Potter. There are six dolls in the series, which just came out this year: Harry,Ron, Hermione, Ginny,Dumbledore, and McGonagall. While there are always tons of the kids on the shelves,the two adults are the short case pack items,and are often sold out.

Ron is my favourite character in the Harry Potter books. He has the best lines in the books,adds some nice comic relief,and is the underdog type I always root for.

Plus he has red hair. We've gotta stick together you know.

  Of the three main characters I always felt Rupert Grint was the best actor,who had the most chance of a long career. The other two did get better over time,but as kids I think he was the most talented.
  I was really glad to see that there was another Ron in the playline dolls. There hasn't been one since Mattel's original line of HP dolls, way back when the first movie was released in 2001. (Wow! Has it really been that long?!) That line included Harry, Ron, and Hermione. The lines that followed only included Harry and Hermione. (I'm not including the action figures or Legos.)The best likeness of the three was the Ron, who really did look like Rupert Grint. (I actually have all three of the original dolls,but I have misplaced them.) UPDATE: Found them! See below.The new line is the same: Ron is the best likeness to the actor who played the part. Maybe Rupert Grint just has an easy face to copy to a doll.

Original Mattel Ron on the left. New Mattel Ron on the right.

 

He comes with his wand, which seems to be the repaired version.

The original dolls were much smaller than the new ones. They were made with the bodies used for the Gymnast Stacie doll,and were about 8" tall.

Original Mattel Ron with new Mattel Ron.

The new Ron at least, is about 10" tall

His hair is actually a separate piece that's glued onto his head.

The kids all come in their school uniforms,which were a movie thing entirely. In the books the kids didn't wear school uniforms. I don't know why they decided to change that for the movies. Ken commented that their uniforms are very similar to the one he wore when he was in school.(Well Ken,aren't most British school uniforms pretty similar?) The original Mattel dolls also wore the school uniforms and robes,but they had a more realistic set of clothes. The tie was separate, the shirt and sweater vest were two pieces too. (Since Harry and friends are English, maybe I should say 'jumper' instead of sweater?) The new dolls have a one piece sweater/shirt/tie.
 

The tie is printed on,as are the stripes on his sweater...

...and the sweater and shirt are all one piece,except for the sewn on cotton shirt collar.  I was disappointed with it. This cheapens the look of the dolls,which are otherwise pretty impressive.
  The sweater and shirt themselves are made of a more stretchy fabric than the collar.The sweater/shirt closes in the back with Velcro.

The pants,(Or should I say 'trousers',as  'pants' are underwear in England.),also close in the back with Velcro. The Velcro is nice and flat,and doesn't make the bulge in back that you used to get with doll pants' Velcro.
   The pants also have some actual stitching detail in the fly area. 

Since it follows the real join in the fabric there is also an actual join where the fly would open. Nice touch. It's little details like that that make these a bit more upscale than a lot of play dolls.

Like the old Mattel dolls,the new dolls are articulated,only more than the old ones.

Ron is jointed at the neck,shoulders, elbows,wrists,hips,and knees.His legs can move to the sides too.

 So can his arms.

  He has great detail in his shoes too.

I'm impressed that they bothered to give them this much detail on the bottoms.

 

The shoes have a split in the back to make them easier to get on and off.
  His hands are quite realistic.

The right hand is made to be able to hold his wand.

And the left isn't.

He also came with his robe,which I almost forgot to photograph him in!

 The robe fabric is a bit heavy and stiff, It has a hood,which at least lays flat.

Looks like Ron is headed for the Room of Requirement.

  His robe has the Griffindor crest.

These versions of Ron and friends are a bit older than the original dolls. Those dolls were first year students. These are obviously not, since Ginny has now joined them at Hogwarts. These seem a bit younger than the first Tonner Potter dolls though. You may have seen my Tonner Ron HERE.

I think Harry and Ron are the same size. If it had been done authentically to the movie or the book, Ron would be taller.

The original Ron became pretty hard to find. Harry and Hermione were plentiful. Emma was a Potter nerd well before the movies came out, and she got all three dolls when they were released. It took me a while to find all three though,since I waited around and got mine second hand. Ron took me the longest.

Since I like boy dolls and I collect red haired dolls, collecting Rons was a given I guess.

No socks. Gross.

I missed out on the Star Ace Ron when he was affordable. Hopefully one of these days I'll find a deal.

His wand is rubber banded to his hand, and for now at least, I'm leaving it that way.  

Although they gave Ron his very orange hair, the Ginny doll's hair is practically brown.

  So there you have it. Finally! There will be a lot of posts coming at you one after the other after this. There will be a series on vintage dolls and toys,a review of the latest from Maru and Friends,and before you know it, the return of Doll-A-Day. Stay tuned.