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Monday, November 23, 2015

Mattel's big idea

I assume that all of our readers here are familiar with Monster High dolls.  If you are then you probably know that these dolls are small, more so than Barbie.
Spoiler alert:  you'll see both of these dolls again this week.

Up until recently the largest MH doll has been 17-inch Gooliope Jellington from the recent Freak du Chic line. My assumption is that Mattel released Gooliope to test consumer waters, because four more dolls were released in a similar size.  Clawdeen Wolf, Frankie Stein, and Draculaura are apparently all making a transformation into Frightfully Tall Ghouls, and it looks like Elissabat may be following suit.

Step aside, Gooliope.  Today I saw THIS!  She is a Gore-geous Ghoul, and she is 28 inches tall.
Look at the size of that doll!  To give you an idea of her size, I put a standard-size doll next to her.  She is at least twice the size of your average MH doll.  I couldn't compare her to Gooliope since Wal-Mart didn't have any, but I'm willing to bet this doll is taller than her too.

According to the box, this doll's eyes can change, and it's possible to draw on her.  In other words, she's a combination of a Color Me Creepy doll, an Inner Monster, and one of the tall dolls all rolled into one.

But wait, there's more!  Apparently some of the Ever After High dolls are being upsized as well.  Add those huge Barbie dolls to the mix and that makes for a huge group!

This will either be a huge success or a huge flop for Mattel.  I predict the latter since these huge dolls are more expensive and harder to store than the standard dolls.  They will never be able to share clothes with their smaller counterparts.  Ando frankly, the don't have anything that the smaller dolls lack.  They're just big dolls.  Yeah, they're probably easier for little kids to manipulate due to their big size, but that's really the only advantage I can think of.

What do y'all think?  Big hit or big miss?

Yours truly,
RagingMoon1987 

4 comments:

  1. The super giant dolls are a definite pass for me. They're too mismatched and huge for my taste, and they lack the great joints that EAH and MH dolls are known for. (plus their shoes don't come off!) The 17" dolls are pretty cool, though. I'm a little tempted by those. I saw Elissabat at TRU this weekend, and she's simply beautiful (if a little too pink-hued). IIRC, Mattel isn't actually making the Gore-geous Ghoul dolls, they're licensed from a third party, like the similarly-sized (and larger) Barbies that pop up this time of year. I guess it's a bit smart. Mattel gets the money, and takes less of the risk.

    (Have you seen the newer slim box EAH/MH dolls? Less articulation, simple outfits, one-sided prints on the clothing... where have we seen THAT before...?)

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    1. Well that's just great. Nothing like taking a perfectly good doll line and removing all the bells and whistles that make it special. If Mattel isn't careful their freaky fab dollies may end up like the LIV dolls.

      I forgot that a third party was making the extra-big dolls; that IS a smart move on Mattel's part. I plan on skipping them too, though. Not enough room for them.

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    2. Yeah, it's a bit bizarre, isn't it? Lately Mattel has been stripping away the things that made MH so great (painted details on accessories, nicely-done clothing instead of one-sided mini dresses on slimbox dolls, incredible articulation) on MH and ADDING amazing articulation and more fashion options for Barbie! I noticed some of the new "outfit" fashion packs that come with shoes/purse have one-sided prints, though.

      It's almost like they're degrading MH/EAH to give Barbie an edge, almost. #ConspiracyTheories #TinfoilHat

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    3. IKR? It makes absolutely zero sense for Mattel to be that way. They maintain their reign over other toy companies by having several nice lines at once, not by putting all their focus on one thing and letting the others rot. That's not smart when they do what they've been doing.

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