Still Museum
Blurred Lines: Talking BarbieStyle, Playline & Collector
After 4 years, Mattel is introducing a Look line with articulated dolls, it includes a doll that resembles the new Playline Barbie head.
This presents an... interesting quandary.
From my vantage point, the upcoming Look dolls are reflective of the @BarbieStyle Intagram account.
It is the place where Playline Barbies meet Collector quality clothes and accessories. It makes sense in this special world because Playline is the public face of Barbie, not Collector. Most of the Barbie's sold will be Playline. The tongue-in-cheek 'real life' approach to the Instagram account and the public stage it presents requires they rely on the quality clothes items in their archives: their Barbie Collector archives.
Right away, the most impressive things to me about this account was the beautiful modern fashions. It is the kind of clothes I wished Mattel would sell their dolls in. Fine, so not Playline. What about Barbie Collector? Clearly they are capable of it!
Enter these new Look dolls.
Giving us those @BarbieStyle level quality clothes on Barbie Collector articulated bodies. With an exclusively Barbie Collector sculpt!
So the blonde uses what looks like a shrunken Playline Barbie head.... I'm not particularly happy about it.
There are non-playline, smiling sculpts they could use. This may well be the Generation Girl Barbie sculpt. I'm hoping it is. If it is, then what a great substitute for the Playline sculpt! Giving us that @BarbieStyle feeling without actually being the same sculpt.
It is clear, to me at least, that with this collection, they want to tell collectors that they are listening and are capable of responding to what we are asking for. Something many of us have questioned in the past.
If it is the Playline sculpt... that upsets me. I am one of those people who think there should be a line between Playline and Collector.
However... @BarbieStyle blurs those lines in a way that is fresh and exciting. If we are going to get more dolls that reflect the quality of clothes construction presented on @BarbieStlyle, I'm not going to let a smiley Barbie head spoil my joy & excitement for such a thing.
Blurred Lines: Talking BarbieStyle, Playline & Collector
After 4 years, Mattel is introducing a Look line with articulated dolls, it includes a doll that resembles the new Playline Barbie head.
This presents an... interesting quandary.
From my vantage point, the upcoming Look dolls are reflective of the @BarbieStyle Intagram account.
It is the place where Playline Barbies meet Collector quality clothes and accessories. It makes sense in this special world because Playline is the public face of Barbie, not Collector. Most of the Barbie's sold will be Playline. The tongue-in-cheek 'real life' approach to the Instagram account and the public stage it presents requires they rely on the quality clothes items in their archives: their Barbie Collector archives.
Right away, the most impressive things to me about this account was the beautiful modern fashions. It is the kind of clothes I wished Mattel would sell their dolls in. Fine, so not Playline. What about Barbie Collector? Clearly they are capable of it!
Enter these new Look dolls.
Giving us those @BarbieStyle level quality clothes on Barbie Collector articulated bodies. With an exclusively Barbie Collector sculpt!
So the blonde uses what looks like a shrunken Playline Barbie head.... I'm not particularly happy about it.
There are non-playline, smiling sculpts they could use. This may well be the Generation Girl Barbie sculpt. I'm hoping it is. If it is, then what a great substitute for the Playline sculpt! Giving us that @BarbieStyle feeling without actually being the same sculpt.
It is clear, to me at least, that with this collection, they want to tell collectors that they are listening and are capable of responding to what we are asking for. Something many of us have questioned in the past.
If it is the Playline sculpt... that upsets me. I am one of those people who think there should be a line between Playline and Collector.
However... @BarbieStyle blurs those lines in a way that is fresh and exciting. If we are going to get more dolls that reflect the quality of clothes construction presented on @BarbieStlyle, I'm not going to let a smiley Barbie head spoil my joy & excitement for such a thing.