Mattel gives Ken a man bun - is that diverse enough?

Mattel just announced a slew of new Ken dolls for their play-line Barbie collection, Fashionistas. Ken now has two more body types, broad and slim, in addition to the original. There are 15 new Ken dolls, combining a variety of styles and skin tones, no Asian one though. That is one major fault there. And the broad physic is a muscular style, not a more common body type like the curvy Barbie. Lisa Mc Knight, Mattel's senior vice-president, said in a statement that the variety of Ken dolls would allow girls to “further personalize the role they want him to play in Barbie’s world”. If plastic molded hair means personalisation, that's news to me. 

Don't get me wrong, the dolls look nice - well most of them anyway. That man bun is atrocious. But the molded hair make them a no-no to me. Their immovable non-articulated bodies also. The slim ones look a bit weird, with the head looking too large for their body, making them seem like small children. And remember, promo photos of Mattel usually show the doll much better than what we get in real life. Sigh. I guess kids will get them, which is of course the point, it is a play-line collection after all.  Below is a nice video showing the new dolls.

The dolls are available for pre-order on Mattel's e-shop. They will be released July 8th. 

All photos and video courtesy of Mattel.

The Bratz comeback: will it work this time?

Bratz was a playline fashion doll that threatened Barbie sales - maybe even surpassed them - when they first came out in 2001. Designed by Carter Bryant, a former Mattel employee, with 10" bodies, huge heads, heavily made up and dressed in what looked like the then current street style, they were an instant hit with girls that were bored with more conservative Barbie dolls and wanted something more like them to play with. They were so successful that Mattel issued its own line, My Scene. The battle reached its apex in 2004, when Mattel sued MGA (the Bratz maker) for copying, alleging that their designer was still working for Mattel when he came up with the concept. After a lot of legal wrangling, MGA was ordered to pull Bratz from selves. Even though the decision was later reversed, the damage had been done. Bratz sales went into a slump.

The line did try to come back once again. back in 2010, changing the size of the bodies (12"), new logos and slogans, but it did not make any waves. There were even complaints about quality being inferior to previous product. After some time, the company pulled back all lines in 2014 to overhaul the dolls and re-launch this year. As the tastes of their target group have shifted drastically, with the success of lines such as Monster High and Ever After High, they have some serious competition to beat. Not to mention the avalanche that Frozen dolls have been since that franchise surfaced.

I was never a fan of doll lines like this, so I cannot say if the attempt to brink back this line will be successful or not. MGA is suing Mattel for industrial espionage now (they filed a lawsuit back in 2014) so there are still issues to be worked out on the business side of things. MGA is trying to open up the line to social media as well, like instagram and youtube. They revamped their website too (see photo above) but it's weirdly devoid of product photos so far. There's even an app for smartphones. After this first wave, MGA is releasing at least three more waves until Christmas.

Photos courtesy of MGA

DOFDAs 2015 - 4th Annual DollObservers.com Fashion Doll Awards announced!

Today was the day that the Fashion Doll Awards winners were announced by Doll Observers, after a public vote was held until a few days ago. This blog was nominated in the relative category but we did not win - proud to be included in with the rest of the amazing nominees! Congratulations to all winners and nominees as well. And of course a big tank you to Doll Observers and Simon Farnsworth who organized the whole thing. Let's see who the winners are:

Winner layouts courtesy of Doll Observers.