Were my predictions about Mattel right?

Back in August 2018 I wrote a post titled 8 things I'd love to see from Mattel in 2019. In said post, I made some sort of wishlist of things that myself and other Barbie collectors would love to see of the line. Now we're on April 2021, so I think it's fair to take a look back and see if Mattel has accomplished anything from the list. 

I just want to point out that I started writing this post before the Monster High reboot was announced, so I left it on draft and started working on said post. Then I forgot about it for a few weeks and, since I didn't have anything else planned for the blog, I thought it would be a great moment to finish it. 

The text fromt the original post is shown using an italic font. I have omitted a few parts that weren't very relevant, but you can always go back to the original post and read the entire text. But let's stop rambling and start with the post. 

Made to Move Ken with rooted hair and at least 4 different skin tones. (...) Of course, I would also love to see the broad and slim Ken bodies in MTM version, but we’ll leave that for 2020.

Well, we did get Made To Move Ken dolls, but in 2020. Unfortunately, they were part of the collector line (BMR 1959) and not playline, which means they were more expensive. They do have rooted hair, at least 2 of them while the other one has flocked hair. We don't have a broad or slim Made To Move Ken yet and, to be fair, I don't think that will ever happen. And if it happens, chances are he will be collector and super expensive. 

Petite and Tall Made to Move bodies. It’s damn about time Mattel! Yes, I’m aware that, from the new bodies, curvy seems to be the most popular, but our petite and tall dolls need elbows that work. But please, don’t make them hard to find or store exclusive.

Well, this did happen. Unfortunately, Mattel made some questionable choices here. They came up with a tall made to move doll (basketball player) that had a not very common skin tone. Then, the playline Made To Move dolls seemed to vanish for a couple of years, only to come back as collector (the BMR1959 dolls). They made one tall doll (long hair with a pink rain coat) and one petite doll (orange outfit with a hounds tooth jacket). A new line of playline MTM dolls has been announced, but there seem to be no tall or petite dolls. 

Here's my issue with this: creating a new body type requires some investment, because you have to develop the 3D models and make a new cast, so you can produce them. Doing all that work to just produce one doll with that body type doesn't sound very smart. Maybe I'm crazy, but if they sold more dolls with that body type they would get their investment back quicker. It's something that people are willing to buy, does Mattel not want to....make money?

An all curvy Made to move line featuring 3 or 4 different skin tones.Being the most popular of the new bodies, I’m pretty sure that this would be a success. 

This didn't happen. I believe there are 4 curvy MTM bodies out there: the dancer, floral yoga pants, BMR1959 and one in the new playline wave. And while this is not a bad thing, I think they could do more. I bet that, if they had released more curvy MTM dolls, they would have sold out. 

Deluxe Fashionistas line with articulated bodies and decent quality fashionable clothes. They could even make themed waves such as “Spring Time”, “Back to school”, “Night out”... (...)

Well, this kind of happened, but not the way I expected or predicted. I guess the new Barbie Xtra dolls could be considered some sort of "Deluxe Fashionista". They have fun and colorful clothes, but I can't speak on the quality since I don't own one. They're not exactly my style or close to what I was thinking, but they're for sure a step in the right direction. Hopefully, Mattel will keep expanding this line and adding similar ones, instead of making one or two successful launches and then cancelling them. 

Bring the fashion back! Remember the Fashion Avenue era? It was great! The quality was great and sometimes they had a theme to it. It even had clothes for Chelsea (Kelly back then). They could even make them match the current theme of the Fashionistas line I mentioned above. 

Oh, dear! If anything the fashion has gone worse! Most of the fashions I see are shapeless and baggy, with no print on the back. They've made a few cute fashion packs, like the Puma ones or now a collection with Billabong, but those are the exception and still not as good quality as they used to be. Furthermore, for what I've seen, most of them don't include shoes anymore, which makes the pack less valuable in my opinion. 

Stop the “One size fits all”! because actually, it’s more like “one size fits none”. I’d really love to see unique designs for each body type. They could always come up with a small line to test the waters, and if it’s successful, make it bigger.

It's been a hot minute since I've bought a Barbie Fashion Pack, but I feel that they still make ill-fitting clothes. I haven't seen fashion packs targeted to a specific body type in years, and I don't think Mattel will ever make those. The only hope that I have for that is if they made a line with distinct characters featuring different body types and made fashion packs for those characters (like they did with Generation Girls). 

More challenging designs in general. I’m sure that Mattel has the potential to wow us, but they sometimes play a little too safe. Back in the 90s, the playsets were amazing and nothing seemed too crazy to do. There even was a post office playset! 

Mattel has done a few great things these past years that could be considered "challenging" or, at least, interesting. Well, I guess the BMR 1959 line was challenging in a way, but it's not exactly what I envisioned. The variety in the fashionistas line is fantastic, with dolls with vitiligo, prosthetic legs, etc. which can be considered interesting. However, besides those standout dolls, most dolls on that line seem like "filler dolls". I also haven't seen a playset recently that has wowed me.I would say that this has been accomplished, but only halfway.  They've done some good things, but there's still room for improvement. 

Start listening to their fans. There are plenty of bloggers and collectors out there that would be really happy to give them their honest opinion and make suggestions. And to be honest, what most collectors are asking for are quite simple things such as decent quality in their products and more articulated dolls.

The thing with Mattel is that they seem to listen for a minute and give the consumers what they want, but then they take two steps backwards, leaving consumers confused. Since the vitiligo fashionista was so praised, they decided to launch a second one, which could mean they were listening. On the other hand, customers asked for more Made to Move dolls, and they decided they won't be releasing any for over a year. When they finally came back, they were collector. Maybe I'm wrong, but I think it could be a smart business move to give your customers what they actually want. Am I crazy? 

Well, it turns out only half of my wishes/predictions came true, and most of them didn't happen until 2020. Honestly, I don't think that my original list was asking for anything crazy or impossible to accomplish for a multi-million dollar company like Mattel, yet it feels like it's so hard for them. 

I hope you guys enjoyed this post. It's a bit different from my usual posts, but it was fun to revisit what I was hoping to see from Mattel back in 2018. My next post won't be up until early May, and it's going to be a photo compilation. Lately I've been quite busy with two blogs, trying to take photos for Instagram, plus real life stuff such as job searching and taking courses until I find a job. I want to post on this blog on a consistent basis, but I also don't want to pressure myself to post so often that I end up burned out. But you can expect at least one post per month until I find a job or life gets in the way. 

Also, I need to warn everyone who is subscribed to this blog by e-mail, that you will stop receiving those e-mails in July 2021. It's not up to me, but Feedburner decided to stop providing this service. I'm trying to figure out how to export all the contacts that are subscribed by e-mail, with no success. I don't think I have many e-mail subscribers, maybe 1 or 2 (if any), but I think I should inform you. In the meantime, if you are interested in keeping up with this blog, you can start using some sort of blog reader or RSS Feed. 

So, what do you guys think about my predictions? What would you like to see from Mattel?

See you soon

Monster Crafts. 

PS: I've started using a larger font on my posts, so let me know if you can read them better or if you prefered the smaller font.