Hunger Game Katniss Barbie, And A Mini Rant

So while I was offline my  mom sent me a message. She asked later on after she sent it if I’d gotten it.  I said not yet.  She told me there was a beautiful doll I had to see and I believe she mentioned that I would just have to have her.  I thought “Ok, I’m always up for looking at a new doll I simply must have,” so I went to look at the message.

When I checked the message it said I needed to go to Barbie Collector at look at the Katniss doll.  Uh-oh.  Do not get me wrong, I am interested in reading The Hunger Games and even watching the movie, but I am just not into the dolls as likenesses any more. They seldom get it right or its just missing to much detail for me to be satisfied.  But still I gave it chance and looked at Katniss, and yep, I didn’t fall in love.

My mom wants her because she just sees her as a pretty doll and has no idea what series she is from. I am “just not that into her”. Yes she’s pretty and she has the character feel, but there is just something about her face that screams Barbie instead of Katniss.  I know, she IS a Barbie, but I just feel when you make a likeness of someone it should resemble them more and Barbie less.  And we know Mattel has it in them to create good likenesses of people or at least get pretty damn close.  Nope, this just seems like someone taking a doll and dressing her up like Katniss for Halloween or a photostory or diorama. In other words, if you have the skill and/or money, its easy to replicate, so it doesn’t interest me.

So what gives? Why the sudden dislike of old Babs? I used to LOVE Barbie as a child, and when I got back into the hobby Barbie was all I had. But now she really only interests me for clothing and it has got to be spectacular for me to even give it a second glance. And I won’t say its Mattel because their Monster High line is awesome, I’m just not really into it because it’s a serious collecting hobby with trying to get all the new characters and either rebuy old ones for clothing and hands or try to get them secondhand at often inflated prices.

And speaking of inflation, the scalpers, ugh, don’t get me started on how they just put a dark cloud over the whole hobby. Make a few bucks, sure, but to double the price of the item is just wrong and harsh. I don’t care if a scalper is having a hard time, there are others out there having hard times too that saved up their money to buy themselves or their kids the dolls only to find shelves cleaned of them by scalpers and forced to look to scalpers to get the doll. This is where Mattel burns me, they make certain dolls so hard to get knowing that their customers get burned by scalpers. Hey dummies, that’s money that could be going into your pocket if you just make the characters more available. If they aren’t rare then scalpers will lose money more than make money off of them so people will buy from the store. I know, the stores buy from Mattel so Mattel has their money, but if the store isn’t doing good in sales because people stop shopping there due to no dolls being on the shelves well then they should just free that space up for another company.  In the end, not so good for Mattel.  This is just my wild thinking, mind you, and I know there’s a wee bit more to it all, but you get what I mean. But with anything you will have scalpers, and they will be there as long as we have people in the community willing to buy at their prices. Stop buying at their prices people!  Then they won’t have a good leg to stand on and you will have a better chance of buying the doll at retail price.  But that’s just my two copper cents, do with them what you will.

But back to my dislike of Barbie, its been coming for a while now. I don’t know, there is just nothing there to impress me any more. The clothing is meh for me, the characters are usually recycled every few years (i.e. teacher, vet, doctor, babysitter, etc.), and there is just nothing special about Barbie any more. Even her houses, furniture, and cars are boring because they all tend to be Barbie Pink. We get it Babs, you like pink.  Can Mattel really want to stereotype her as the cute bubbly blonde who likes pink, hanging out with her friends and her boyfriend Ken, loves riding her horse her dad no doubt bought her, can’t go a day without shopping, and wants world peace?  Its like Mattel will take two steps forward with Barbie one year then for the next decade take her back to the dark ages. Women are empowered now and little girls want to play characters that make them think of their moms. Its just slightly hard to do that in a bright pink bubble skirt and heels.  No, I am not running a “Down With Barbie” campaign, and yes if I have kids one day and they want a Barbie I will get them one, I just wish there was more to her and I wish her quality was picked up so that she would shine again.  I also wish that when Mattel has a good thing they wouldn’t let a few people who don’t even buy their doll scare them into pulling it from the shelves and stores.  But hey, maybe Mattel is working on something new to surprise us all. I’d honestly love to see something great from them. I know I have some ideas I’d love to see, but I’ll keep them to myself…that’s when companies tend to come out with things I have wanted hehehe.    And now that I’ve talked your ear off let me get off my soapbox. 

And on that note I am off. I had another bad stomach day and I just want to curl into a ball, tell myself to breathe, and just wait it out. This is why I’m not more productive. Its hard to do much of anything when your core is tight and makes breathing a workout. Must get back on my diet change tomorrow no ands, ifs, or buts.  Ok, talk to you guys later. Be good until then. Bye for now.

Cannot understand nor accept or respect the concept that grapes made her sick,
Michelle