Let's Talk Barbie!

So it's been a week of 1st offs! 1st time I did an unboxing, exciting news about school and our 1 year anniversary fresh with my first giveaway (If you haven't entered yet you have till Tuesday February 9th)!! Today I thought we'd do some catching up and talk about the new Barbies. (image: Mattel/Barbie )

First off, how awesome do you think the new Barbies are! Like seriously!!! What else could you ask for? They have 4 body types, 7 skin tones, 22 eye colours and 24 hair colours. I'm sure you have all seen the video for them but if you haven't here's a pic of the line up so far (I tried to find the video I wanted and it seems to be MIA)!

Okay so I will be the first to admit that I have never really cared much about the Barbie VS Realism debate. Heck, I collect a whole bunch of types of dolls (and actually Barbie hasn't been on this list) and most (if not all) of them are anything but realistic. There are Monster High and Ever After High dolls that are insanely thin, there are Pullip and other Anime style dolls that have eye's as big as their heads. None of these dolls have even a semblance of realism and do I care? Nope... not at all... not one bit. I don't buy them for myself or my girls for realism. What I care about is if the doll looks cool, are they well made, do they have something that's "different" (usually that means do they seem on the Gothy/Punk/Alternative side).

Back to Barbie.... now I think it's insanely cool the way they are going. I do know that some parents care about the image and the fact that the doll can be used as a reference to personal goals and ideals. I think that's a little much to put on one doll. If you haven't taught your kids to love themselves because you don't love yourself, then how do you expect a doll to do that? This is a much bigger topic than one little doll can tackle and I have to admit... there are those that you can never make happy. Even with the changes there are people complaining. So I say screw them!

I love the new dolls. I love the hair colour options (I totally want my hair to be naturally BLUE) and I am in love with the short hair on the one doll... you see her don't you? Instead of size my issue is usually that me and my daughters all have short hair and so we tend to consider cutting dolls hair for diversity (I get tired of having to braid all the dolls hair... seriously are they conditioned to knot as soon as they are out of the box). I love that they went to such lengths to include variety in skin tone, shape, hair and ethnicity!

Do I have anything to complain about?

Nope, not really. My only issue ever with Barbie is that her style is usually too mainstream for my tastes. I have collected other types, even Bratz dolls, 'cause they seemed a little edgy... but Barbie always misses something on Edgy. I do like a few of the dolls, but will probably build my own clothing for them at some point. Seriously, Blue haired Barbie needs knee high boots or Doc Martin's, a pair of worn jeans and a band or geeky t-shirt. The outfit isn't horrible but why can't Barbie wear more pants... also I think we need an MMA Barbie... but I digress.

So kudos to Barbie/Mattel on a job well done. I may have to look for these in my local store so that I can add them to my collections. They look like they will be worth it!

What do you think? You like or dislike the new Barbie?

Until next time.
Keep on, Geekin' on
Angie