Changes on the Doll Market

Mattel recently released a new addition to their Fashionistas line –tall, petite, and curvy dolls.

 The last few months have been very productive and profitable for the corporate giant, who is behind some of the most popular doll lines. Before this new wave of dolls, Mattel had released a new doll to the market, the Made to Move Barbie. This doll is described as being the ultimate posable doll and now has double joints (so she can now do things like finally being able to hold a cellphone to her ear!) This was not the first time Mattel has used double joints in their dolls. The first time was with their new character in another one of their lines, Monster High, by the name of Gooliope Jellington. This doll was very revolutionary in two respects: she is the first 17” Monster High doll to be released and she was the first doll of her kind, from Mattel at least, to have such a wide range of articulation. They simply sized down this design and made a few tweaks to give us the Made to Move dolls.

Having a doll with articulation is a huge must for the doll market in our current time. Are people still attracted to the Fashionistas or Hasbro’s new line of Disney Princesses even though they have stiff limbs? Yes. A doll is not categorized as being good or bad just by whether or not they have articulation, but having it is a huge selling point. Articulation is something the dolls with the new body types lack. I hope they release these new body types with the Made to Move bodies at some point. I think these are gorgeous dolls, but I have personally held off on picking any up for myself because of this lack of articulation.

This is a huge move on Mattel’s part. Not only have they created the different body types, but the Fashionistas will be released in a large array of skin tones, eye colors, and hair textures and colors. These changes have gained a lot of positive response, but have also generated some negative response. Some people feel that Barbie is doll that is known for having unrealistic body proportions and that girls should recognize that. My take on that is, what’s wrong with wanting a doll that looks like you?

Out of these new dolls, I really love the curvy dolls –especially the one with the blue and black hair. I’m quite pleased that Mattel decided to do this. A few years ago, a doll called Lammily was produced and she was supposed to be the “realistic” Barbie. She certainly is thicker and more sturdy, but I wouldn’t exactly call her realistic. I own this doll and I find her body to be awkward. She sits weird, her legs are bowed, and her articulation is not very good. When I compared Lammily to the new curvy dolls, I definitely like Mattel’s approach a lot more. They’ve been emulating women for such a long time now, so I think they have the upper hand when it comes to how to proportion and design these dolls.