from instagram, the last two of those “not omg honest” dolls from Mattel.
I think these two are at least a little more cohesive than the first three and I like the rainbow braids, those are cute, but I still think the outfits look like something cobbled together from someone’s “clothing box” rather than being designed to go together.
and wtf is that dog thing?
or the crowned cat things on the other side of blue hair skateboard doll
either they’re literally adding “extra” things like that (because it wouldn’t be Mattel without a pun) or possibly they’re just decorations for the photos, because why two identical crowned cats
It is funny they showed off the other three first because these actually look interesting (to me) and don’t immediately scream rip-off (again, they don’t scream that to me).
I actually like both of these (the girl on the right moraoe than the one on the left - I want the doll on the right and just the head of the doll on the left), but I agree about the unnecessary stuff.
I couldn’t care less for the pets or whatever these random creatures are supposed to be, but I’ll be picking up a few of these dolls. I like the look of these two and the ‘it’s almost a rainbow’ coat from the first batch.
The pet creatures feel a bit like, “People complained when Monster High didn’t have pets anymore, maybe we need to add more pets, yeah, and we’ll make look like what the kids want - vague unicorn horns on things occasionally and LOL Pets. No pets is definitely our problem.” Like there isn’t a dog in every single set that isn’t a Fashionista.I don’t really get why the way the pets look is all over the place? Some look more cartoony than others… Barbie “looks” more realistic than other doll lines, so the pets so have a similar look (like I get larger eyes, simpler fur textures), but a lot of these look like a stuffed animal when compared to the dolls themselves.
And until Barbie creates actual characters with personalities (or another doll line that has them), I think Mattel will continue to flounder around in the market.
I really wish they would do like others are saying and reduce the number of lines.
Like have a $5 budget line, maybe make 12 Fashionistas absolute maximum, have a $15-$20 MTM/Articulated playscale line (this would be the perfect line to create actual characters for), have two or three “collector” lines with good quality outfits maximum per year (like Extra, BMR, etc), maybe introduce a proper fantasy line - these could have actual characters as well, and then release accessories and clothing to their heart’s content (but make them complete fashion packs with better quality clothing).
And, as I have said time and time again before, they should also introduce an adult consumer facing web portal for purchasing MTM bodies, blank heads, etc in a wider variety of skintones with no frills packaging. Think of the return on investment for them if we could purchase our random heads and bodies directly from them instead of resorting to factory seconds. Like all some people want is a blank head, no paint, no hair, very low qc. It would be a gold mine for them.
And while I’m sure that portal would go against brand standards because Mattel can’t sell a Barbie doll without a face of some other bs, them selling a Barbie branded doll with a crooked face, that not rooted nylon hair, and “dress” that has no form or hem made from “fabric” that may disintegrate if you get it wet for $8 ought to go against any standards they should actually have ffs
Oh man, I have been screaming that they should just be selling parts of every color online in bags, particularly MTM bodies, to my friends for ages now. I would buy so many more bodies from them that way than my current unfortunate situation of having to buy whatever miscellaneous sports themed doll has the body I need and only being able to get a limited number. And it would be so nice not to have to have a pile of clothes and heads and other parts that I won’t use because I hate sports dolls haha
it feels so weird that the habits of The Collector Market are so emphatically ignored by this point, particularly the market who enjoys customization. I feel like there has to be a reason but with the information that I have I feel like people willing to give them money for a doll they don’t need to package or make box art for… It Seems like an online part shop would be So Good.
And YES about the pet creatures. They are also stylistically different that I’m not sure if I’m looking at actual pets or stuffed animals or what. Am I supposed to believe that the spherical unicorn thing is in the same realm as the fairly normal looking cat with a crown or the also fairly normal-looking Boss Dog?
Maybe these are all just sculpts of random animals from Barbie movies that didn’t get made and they were like here let’s throw these in too. It’s sacrifices cohesion but they only seem to be concerned with cohesion in places where you don’t want it.
I keep thinking about the colors and how aside from dreamtopia which has its own hellscape of color happening, all the Barbie stuff exists in the same Realm, as though Mattel has like a 75 color box from Crayola and it can only use those colors. Those colors are designed largely to be within the same scope of brightness tone saturation, etc, so even though they have all these colors after a while everything just takes on this Aura of sameness because it’s the same fucking colors at the same brightness and the same saturation over and over and over
I know Mattel has decided to aim for a younger Market for Barbie than they were aiming for when I was a kid, or, seemingly when anyone else was a kid given her history, but I feel like I would look at the doll aisle now and find it crushingly boring.
I appreciate that it’s been a couple decades actually since I was in the alleged target market for a Barbie doll, but fuck me these things are DULL. I get that they are caving to pressure somewhat to encourage girls in particular that they can be anything they want to be and so now the focus is real actual jobs, but a whole line based on farm work and a grocery counter and a spa and coffee…
Barbie just looks like she’s doing chores in an ice cream printed potato sack with ‘live laugh love’ printed on it, and everything is the worst version of whatever color it should be
(via cosmomoore)
