Disney's Divinity wrote:SWillie! wrote:This isn't corporate bullshit, this is good business.
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Barbossa wrote:Why? Princess Leia should've been in there first!
This is how I feel as well. She is Disney now, there is
no difference between her and Snow White, Ariel, et al. They could even throw in Giselle so she doesn't feel excluded because she's live-action. And maybe once Disney buys Nintendo, they can throw Princess Peach in there. After all, there's no legitimate reason not to.

Can we please not simply pretend like I make no sense here, as if you can't even understand what I'm saying?
Pixar has been affiliated with Disney from the very beginning. People (meaning the general public, excluding the minute number of "hardcore fans" who make a fuss about this kind of stuff) view them as one and the same. You ask anyone to list some of their favorite recent Disney movies and you'll undoubtedly hear Finding Nemo, Toy Story, etc. The general public, and Disney's biggest consumer group, do not differentiate between the two to the extent that we do here on this forum. Yes, they know and trust the Pixar name, but they do not view the two as two separate entities.
And so, this is a natural decision. A good business decision. Whether us big fans like it or not (trust me, I'd be as happy to do away with the Princess line as most around here would), the Princess franchise is one of Disney's most lucrative. Since Brave didn't do as well critically and financially as was probably hoped for, its chances of turning into a franchise in and of itself (ala Toy Story or Cars) were shot down. So the choices left, then, are to either a) let the film's merchandise disappear after a certain amount of time, like most Pixar films have done, or b) add Merida to the guaranteed success of the Princess line.
While I'm sure Disney is quite aware of the comparatively small amount of people who will not like this decision, you can't possibly blame them for choosing to go with the guaranteed success here. There is no legitimate reason not to.
In response to the tongue in cheek argument about Leia and Peach - there is obviously a huge difference here. Like I said, Pixar has been associated with Disney since the very beginning, and most people do not differentiate between the two. Not so with other acquisitions. People still view Marvel, Star Wars, and (hypothetically) Nintendo, as separate entities from Disney, even though they are all under the same umbrella as Pixar. The general public doesn't look at them the same way, and so in those situations there IS a legitimate reason not to. It would not be good business, as there would undoubtedly be a much stronger backlash.