So it’s been a minute since I talked about those highly articulated bodies and I speculated they might be for Mattel's new DC girls line. Well, that turned out to be incorrect. The dolls revealed were much more akin to Mattel's Monster High and Ever After High lines.

At first I was a little disappointed; and if I'm being honest, I still am. Not as disappointed, though, as I would have been had I not spent the last year admiring so many beautiful Monster High dolls on Flickr.

And definitely not as disappointed if the dolls weren't so cute!



The whole DC Superhero Girls line had its coming out at New York Comic Con.


It was all very exciting, and I love what they have to say but we barely get a glance at the dolls in that video!

Thankfully, there were people there to take photos of the dolls on display, so we have IRL images of the DC girls display. These are most likely prototypes of the doll line that will eventually be released to us next year.


 First up, Wonder Woman!


Overall, I'd say I'm a fan of this design. The pants remind me of her that terrible TV costume for that failed Wonder Woman pilot a few years ago...


What an ugly costume!

Lets check the cartoon design this is based on.




It works on the doll because of the teenage vibe. I'm not a fan on the red piping on the sleeves. I always think it looks cheap when they try to achieve that finished look with just thread. Other than that my only complaint is that she has a molded lasso. I would have preferred one that is bendy, that can hold different poses. Something with a wire inside. That way you could get some play ability with it. You could wrap it around a bad guy she's trying to take down. As is, it is only good for posing her with, which is fine for me, but not so much for the kids.

Next up, Supergirl.


Kara's been getting a lot of press lately because of her upcoming TV show. I'm really excited for it. This is the more traditionally blonde version of the character. They do similar thing with Kara's sleeves as they did with Wonder Woman, but it is not as bad here because it matches the blue.


Now, for the cartoon design.




The design has a schoolgirl element to it, with the collar and skirt. I wish the skirt on the doll were pleated. That would really give it more of a schoolgirl vibe. As is, it’s cute!

Next Poison Ivy!

 

One of two villains in the main line-up. I really like her face sculpt. It has a serene quality to it that I associate with Poison Ivy. I picture her with a quiet intensity. Her passions run deep, but she has a poker face. They captured that here.


I'm not totally happy they went the cheap route with her dress.  In the cartoon images, it’s clearly a pale green dress with moss green leggings. On the doll it’s a pale green body suit and a sheer 'dress' overlay. I imagine I'm going to pose her with out the sheer part.

Or make her a dress myself.


I think they were trying to recreate the look of her having plants form her clothes, like the comic...



...But the result is a cheap looking doll. At least it still gives us the sweetheart neckline underneath we usually get from Poison Ivy.

Next in the display was Batgirl.


I'm not crazy about her cartoon design.


They are pulling from a number of influences here and what comes together is pretty good. I wish her hoodie were black. I don't think the bat ears should be purple.

It becomes more of a problem on the doll because instead of it all being 2 colours on her top (purple 7 yellow), there’s like 3 including a pattern. I don't mind Mattel adding detail to the costume for the doll. I think that's a good idea. Why, though, do sleeves and hoodie have to be a different purple from the pattern? Why does the zig-zag stitch around the front the hoodie have to be yellow? It would look so much better if matched.

I notice that the long sleeved girls have shortened sleeves. I wonder how much money that saved them.

All in all, I love her face design. Love that her mask is removable and not painted on. Love her chosen hair colour. Her boots look cool. Above gripes aside, she's a good-looking doll.

Next, Bumblebee.


Despite being the character I am least familiar with in this line up, Bumble Bee has a great design and its is my favourite of the bunch. I honestly have no complaints with her outfit. 


It feels fresh, but appropriately detailed for a tech-girl. 

She's supposed to have long sleeves, but since they are clearly not doing that, I won't complain again.

I'm not that familiar with her comic book design. I'm mostly familiar with her Teen Titans design.

It is a little retro, which is cool, but I like the new design better. It has the bee colours, but with more a focus on structure and shapes, which reflects how a tech-hero might dress herself.

Lastly, there's Harley Quinn.


I'm a fan of this design. It gives me everything I want from Harley, while including elements from her more recent outfits. I have 2 minor gripes. I wish they did reverse red and black shoes and her mallet's arm was black.


Her design includes red and black tights. On the doll her legs are cast in red and black. I won't include this in my gripes, but this seriously cuts into her redressing possibilities. I really wish they hadn't done this, but... *sigh* It is what it is.

Overall, I'm really happy with this line! Its a great debut line. I'm really excited for the future. I hope it takes off. There needs to be more superhero merchandise for girls. I hope the success of this line breeds more superhero dolls and merchandise. 

I'm relatively new to the doll collector world. Technically, I've been collecting since 2008, but I wasn't really in it until, say, 2 years ago.

Aesthetically, Barbie is what I'm into. I admire other doll companies. I even have a couple Playline Janays and that first Darla Daley from Integrity. Most fashion dolls from other lines don't have personalities I respond to. Their mature stoicism is beautiful, but not totally my flavour. Every once and a while one is released that I absolutely love. As a student collector, however, I'm constrained budgetarily.

Which makes me very glad to be inclined to like Barbie. She's better on my wallet!

My exposure to those higher end fashion doll lines have changed my perception on adult collecting though. They changed my perception of what kind of dolls should be made for adults. Most of the time, Barbie meets my requirements where that is concerned.

I am not, however, a Barbie apologist. There are many things that I wish Mattel would do differently in their handling of the Barbie brand. Most of them are minor and have to do with protecting the quality of their dolls. I understand, of course, that my tastes as a collector only represent a tiny fraction of the consumer base they are trying to appeal to. I have young cousins and they have come over to my house to play with my dolls (the one's I allow them to). Dresses that I consider unappealing are cute to them. The lack of judgement they have of the items they play with lead me to believe that some of things I think Mattel should do differently, are actually being handled appropriately.

When it comes to Barbie Collector, I understand and agree with a lot of people's frustration. Mostly, my collection is display based. Articulation hasn't been a important thing for me. I've sold every single pivotal body I have ever owned - and I've owned a few!

As my collection grows, despite the fact that my collection is still display based, my desires regarding how I want to display my dolls displayed has changed. More and more, I want to position them according to their personality. I have a Pop Culture collection so, all my dolls are either characters or real people. When in groups, I want their poses to reflect their relationship with the other dolls.

As I plan my displays, I find myself looking at group magazine covers for inspiration. If I ever wanted to display my dolls like this:


I'd need articulated bodies.

Even before, when I didn't care to have articulated bodies, I heard the complaints of my fellow collectors and I felt for them. From my point of view, it was a problem with a very easy solution. The Barbie Basic line had a subset of articulated dolls. Why couldn't they do that with its replacement, The Look?



After 4 years, Mattel is introducing a Look line with articulated dolls.

Mbili is a Barbie Collector regular. Karl is special and welcome surprise. The Barbie here resembles the new Playline Barbie head.

This presents an... interesting quandry.

It seems an indicator of the lines being blurred between Playline and Collector.

I can't really say it isn't. There are other signs. Playline dolls being sold on TheBarbieCollection.com. The shortcuts taken with Collector doll constuction.

Then there was this:


Limited Edition Sophia Webster doll with a Playline head.

Surely this was a omen right?

Eh, I'm not so sure.

From my vantage point, the Sophia Webster and 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.

Not to mention the fact that this account is a direct response to the fantastic Barbie fan photographers, most of whom are strong Barbie Collector supporters.

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 The Look dolls.

Giving us those @BarbieStyle level quality clothes on Barbie Collector articulated bodies. With a Barbie Collector exclusive 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.

...You got yours and I got mine
Promise me that you won't promise me
Revelation sunshine because I'm

Out of my mind
Into yours
~Cree Summer in "Revalation Sunshine"

I had an encounter with my young cousin today. She came over and before she left I gave her a doll she said she wanted. She met me with no enthusiasum. Said to her friend it must be for her [little] sister.

It was one of the only times I felt rejected by her. It made me inexplicably sad. 

Later, we talked over the phone. I had to squeeze it out of her, but she told me she got rid of all her dolls and she wasn't really into them any more. She truly didn't want to tell me. I guess because she didn't want to hurt my feelings... 

My feelings got hurt anyway. Not because she wasn't interested in dolls anymore - that, I understood -  but it was that she was scared to tell me.

Guys, she got rid of her doll house. That's how serious she is. 


My heart breaks a little at that, but mostly, I understand. People move on. Grow up. Change focus.


Which brought me to my Revalation Sunshine... I cannot go on collecting as I have. I know I made commitments to cut back on what I wil spend next year. I plan to hold myself to that.

However... I have a lot of dolls right now and a lot of plans for them. Some of which I'm not even that excited about.

So, I'm cleaning house. 

Getting rid of every doll that I don't absolutely love. 
Scrapping every project that doesn't seriously excite me.

That may prove difficult because, of course, my interests come in waves, but I think I'm clear headed enough to make the decisions now. Some passions were never intense. Some things I've bought just to have a 'set' of something. 

I realise now that that's bullshit. I should have dolls I love. Why spend time, money and energy in things that kinda look like a thing I liked at one point.

Especially now that I'm commisioning a beautiful soul to repaint dolls for me. I've already changed my mind about a doll I've already sent her. 


I regret that. 

It's fall cleaning time everybody. There's gonna be a bunch of shit on ebay soon.


There's quite a bit of hoopla in the Barbie community about the possibility of Barbie getting a new Articulated body in the future.

18 points of Articulation!

However, it looks like to me that Barbie is getting a whole new body in 2016.

Perhaps it is time to say good-bye to the Belly Button body... And hello to this new teenage Barbie body. She has narrower shoulders, smaller bust size, narrower hips.

 
And then there's the articulated body, with its upper arm rotation, double hinge elbow & knee joints and upper thigh rotation. Plus we've got the chest & ankle rotation on one body.


Personally, I don't have a problem with visible joints.

But I'm also not a collector who demands articulation. My collection is display based so, I like to put my dolls it cool poses, but most of them don't need to be.

My big wish for this new development is that they are used for the DC Superhero Girls collection from Mattel.


It was announced this year that DC Comics was launching a superhero line of merchandise targeted at young girls.

The designs looks pretty good! I can do with a few details here and there, but I like the look of the girls so far.


 In a separate announcement, it was said that the girls will get ACTION FIGURES.


I got such a jolt of excitement when I first heard the announcement. I knew this meant Mattel was going to make toys aimed at girls, which obviously means dolls, right?! Right?!


Now, I immediately decided to hold out hope that they would be figures in the 12" scale. I play dolls with my young cousins and they will take any doll and include it in their stories.

They have even played with my Barbra Streisand doll!

I've been slowly getting them into comics and since DC is a big deal to me, it is where I started. They know who Supergirl & Batgirl & Bubble Bee are from Teen Titans comics. I would love to be able to introduce them to Wonder Woman, Harley Quinn, Poison Ivy & Katana through these dolls.

They would eat them up! They'd put them right in with Barbie & Elsa & Anna, etc.

Maaaaaaaaaaybe, these new ACTION FIGURE-like doll bodies are going to be used for DC girls ACTION FIGURES...?



After all, the Disney store just announced a new doll for Tomorrow land that they are labeling an 'ACTION FIGURE'.

I missed her on TheBarbieCollection.com because I didn't want to pay for shipping. Now I've paid more than that now. 


I'm so stupid.

It wouldn't be such a big deal if I didn't want multiples. I ordered 2 nude LA Girls on eBay. 


At least this way, I won't be obsessing about them like I have for the last couple days.

I've been acting a little crazy because there's not much year left and I don't want to be buying up dolls next year. 

I'm putting a number quota on the amount of dolls I can get next year. No more than 20 dolls. Maybe not even that much....

Whatever new Fashionistas come out next year, I've maxed my total amount at 5. 

I'm thinking of topping out at 15 dolls total. Leaving 5 slots for surprises. 

I may do 10 total, with 5 slots.

As for this year, I'm tryna get my essentials in line before the year's up. 

My Wish List encompasses pretty much everything I want to get for the rest of year. I updated it recently. 



We expect a couple Mockingjay dolls. I wrote on the image that I wanted ALL of them, but that's not really true. Mostly I want Gale -- if it's a likeness doll. I don't need another Peeta. I already have 2 Katniss(es). Its such a cool sculpt it wouldn't hurt to get more, but we'll see. 

If its a kick ass doll then that'll make my decision much easier.

Now, what I'm really hoping for is a surprise. A Hunger Games doll we weren't expecting. That's probably asking way too much though. The CATCHING FIRE dolls are still in the BC.com shop.

Here are all the Fashionistas I wanted this year laid out:



I ordered the top 2 rows already. 1 each.

Its the next couple rows that get complicated. I think I want duplicates of each...

I have 2 LA Girls - and I think I want another. The New Skipper sculpt is such a beautiful and versatile one and I've been wishing for one without a tan.

The modified Pazzette is such a cute and unique sculpt. There's a lot of potential in it. Ideally, I'd have 2.

I think the pale brunette sculpt is the New Tori. I want at least 1 of those (for a very special doll). I want the same for the brown skinned beauty on the bottom. I have ideas for more, if I ever get them.

In general, though, I'm going to try to practise restraint.  I can't imagine they won't use these cool sculpts again.

And, yeah, I also want the donut top. ;) It's cute.

I ordered some new shoes, as well as LA Girl's outfit, but that's it for new purchases.

On Sunday, I'm going to talk about my most recent reroot. She's gorgeous and very special. I'm really proud of her!


--

LA Girl Barcode Image from eBAy:

Over on my main blog, The Critical Artist, I'm going to be talking about Season 3 of Orphan Black. So, I thought this would be a great time to talk about my Orphan Black doll series.


I got her, folks.


The night is still young (How dare we sit quietly)
The night is still young (And watch the world pass us by)
The night is still young (How dare we sit quietly)
So are we

"The Night is Still Young" by Nicki Minaj


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I collect dolls. Mostly, Pop Culture dolls. Dolls based on films, shows, famous people, etc. This serves as a collecting blog companion to my main one, The Critical Artist. I post here - when I post at all - on Wednesdays & Sundays.

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