Jan 12, 2023

Mattel is making a Preschool Barbie

Trying to get them while they're young and all that. Normally this wouldn't be an issue for me, seeing I'm not Barbie's target audience. Whar bugs Me is that THEY'RE MAKING THESE DOLLS ON A DIFFERENT SCALE THAN NORMAL BARBIE DOLLS!! If the kids "outgrow" their My First Barbie dolls and move towards standard Barbie dolls, they can't share clothes... unlike duplo and LEGO which are compatible with each other. The Standard Barbies are 11.5" while the new My First Barbie is 13.5". That's like putting Figma Phoenix Wright next to NECA Biff Tannen. 

The other changes they made, I kinda like:
-Better arm and leg articulation. I always welcome articulation on toys.

-Softer bodies... No sir, I don't like it! I'm worried about the longevity of these dolls. While softer bodies decreases the harm potential when they get weaponized, it could also decrease the lifespan of the doll if the plastic rots too fast.

-changed hand sculpt to make it easier to change outfits. I absolutely love the idea, but I don't like the wording used by Mattel's representative, Lisa McKnight on the article:
McKnight said the doll’s hands feature a distinctive design change. “The hand is closed, so the thumb is not detached. We did this to make it easier for little hands to dress and undress the doll,” she said.

 Barbie already has a ton of issues with parents claiming she's a bad role model for girls. Now I can almost see how some groups will twist this into saying that Barbie promotes a libertine lifestyle to kids because Mattel made the dolls easier to undress or some bullshit like that. 

I see some mentions about using velcro instead of buttons, variations in skin tones, but I don't see anything about F-A-T Barbies. I wonder if they sold well... also there's no mention of Ken either.

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