Show and Tell: Disney's Beauty and the Beast figure set

9:00 PM on 05.28.2010   |   Rio McCarthy

It's Show and Tell time once again, and I'm excited to share with you a family favorite. Growing up, Beauty and the Beast was always my mom's favorite Disney movie, since Belle was her favorite Disney princess, and as I've gotten older, it's grown on me as well. I remember having a Beauty and the Beast birthday cake one year, and playing with my Beast plush constantly as a little girl.

This is one of the toy sets we share, celebrating our love for the movie. Although it might be a rather cartoony-looking kids toy set, it has some special meaning to us. It's always a delight to look up on top of the TV cabinet and see some of our favorite characters smiling down on us.

Hit the jump to find out what makes this set so special!

The set came out a couple years ago, and for the longest time, it sat just like this in its plastic case on top of our TV cabinet. I'm really not sure why we originally found it in the kids' toys section, because I damn near killed myself trying to get it open to take the figures out. Whether it was a kids toy or not, I pretty much talked my mom into buying it for herself, since it's been her favorite Disney movie for as long as I could remember.

Neither her or I like Gaston, and obviously neither did Belle because her books were always far more entertaining than he was. As you can tell, the paint jobs are a little bit wonky, especially in the eyes, but it does make for funny expressions. It's just a matter of getting what you pay for, which in this case was less than $10.

I always thought Beast's mirror was cool in the movie, along with the rose in the glass case. It made me happy that at least the mirror was included, since I didn't get a toy rose as well, but it's all good.

Lumiere and Cogsworth were my two favorite characters in the movie, and here they stand in the foreground, cheering on Belle and Beast as Belle sports her fantastic yellow dress. For both myself and Mom, our favorite part of the movie is when Belle comes down the stairs wearing her puffy yellow dress and they dance in the ballroom.

This figure had us both confused for a while until I finally realized it's Belle in her winter outfit without the cape on. I thought for the longest time that it was Belle in her pajamas and I couldn't figure out why that would be included in a set. The winter outfit makes much more sense, but it looks much cooler in the movie with the cover over it.

Lumiere and Cogsworth put such a smile on my face, and I hope that one day I can get bigger and more detailed figures of the two. The expressions are so lively and fun in these two figures, and they're definitely my favorite in the set. If they were bigger, I'd let them run my kitchen and help get the gang together to make me dinner.

Mrs. Potts is one of Mom's favorite characters, so this would be her favorite piece in the set. It's adorable how Chip just sticks by his momma and has the biggest smile on his face. I'm surprised my mom hasn't stolen this one from the set and taken it to work to keep on her desk with her, to be honest.

Seeing these two together is a happy sight in its own right, especially with my favorite yellow dress. They decided to recreate their ballroom dance outdoors since it was such a nice day. They're pretty small figures and range from a little over 4 inches tall down to just an inch and a half, but they make us so happy sitting on top of the TV cabinet.

As you can see, Beauty and the Beast has been near and dear to my family for years now, and this figure set has been a fixture of our upstairs for a couple years now. If someone in your family adores the movie just as much as we do, you can probably still find a set at your local Target. Now all I've got to do is wait for the movie to be re-released on Blu-Ray this year and I'll be one heck of a happy camper who's ready for a marathon of watching it over and over.