Forget Disney princesses. This fall the Disney Store is highlighting some of its biggest villains.
Disney is releasing six new limited-edition dolls as part of its ongoing Midnight Masquerade series. A part of the Disney Designer Collection, the series includes Maleficent ("Sleeping Beauty"), Lady Tremaine ("Cinderella"), Ursula ("The Little Mermaid"), Yzma ("The Emperor's New Groove"), the Evil Queen ("Snow White"), and Hades ("Hercules").
Disney Store designers Jess Fuchs and Steven Thompson, who have previously worked on other character designs for the Midnight Masquerade series, have been working on this new collection for over a year.
"The characters are so exciting to work on because they are over the top to begin with," Thompson, the principal designer on the collection, told Insider over email. "They have a dark side to them, but also a sense of fun."
"We worked with the concept that this time out the villains are 'crashing the ball.' The artwork is a bit moodier and vibrant. A little edgier," Thompson continued. "I imagined it was like we were catching them at the moment of arrival, just before they enter to the surprise of everyone there. As I was working on each new piece, I would try to imagine what kind of mischief each character was going to get into in order to come up with the different poses and expressions."
Starting October 6, a new doll will be released each Tuesday at 10 a.m. ET through November 10 online. For a chance to buy one, you'll need to access shopDisney's MerchPass here to be placed into an online lottery. If selected, you'll have a specific window of time to purchase the doll. Disney launched the Merchpass system a few months back to help keep its site running smoothly when highly-anticipated items launch.
Keep reading to learn more about each doll from the Disney Store artists who designed them.