Dolly Dress Discussion: Barbie Dolphin Magic outfits

I'm going to step away from vintage outfits for this post and review three that I very recently picked up.  My assumption upon seeing these packages was that these duds were tied in with yet another Barbie movie, and indeed it is.  There's a bit of an original twist with this one; Barbie and her sisters are going on a diving expedition to research dolphins, when they run into a pod of rainbow-colored dolphins that only visit the locality once a year.  Of course the not-so-original theme of mermaids factors in, as does a litter of puppies, and a character who hasn't been seen since 12 Dancing Princesses, a girl named Isla.  Of course the two Islas are different, but I digress.  I can remember the past movies having plenty of merchandise, but no extra outfits.  Indeed, Mattel appears to have stopped releasing extra outfits with new lines around 1999; the last line I can remember that had add-ons was the Butterfly Art line.  So it's nice to see Mattel reviving this trend, even if it's only for this line.  The three getups I've got have an obvious beach theme.

My models today will be Elizabeth (left), Cassandra (center), and Sherralee (right).

Two of the three pairs of shoes I got are meant for flat feet, thus why I wanted Cassandra and Elizabeth.

Since these are beach-themed they'll be fairly easy to review.  First outfit is about as simple as they come:  it's a bathing suit with the bare necessities for spending an afternoon on the beach.

The swimsuit itself is a purple one piece deal with holographic scallops painted on.

In keeping with the trend of not printing clothes all over, the swimsuit is plain in back.  I knew that the all-over printing of the pink and black dress was too good to last.

But then again, the swimsuit has something that the pink and black dress did not:  shoes.

They're pink jelly sandals, the kind that Daddy refused to let my sister and me wear.  He was so afraid that we'd step on something sharp that we were usually only allowed to wear tennis shoes.  Yeah...anyway, these shoes are similar in shape to a gold pair that I got in a shoe pack recently.

These will only fit flat-footed original or petite dolls, thus why I chose Elizabeth to model this.  Catherine the Second and Bambi would've worked too.

In addition to the shoes Mattel included a pair of sunglasses that are a different shade of pink than the shoes...

...a little bottle of sunscreen...

...and my favorite accessory, this puppy!

The puppy is made of hollow brown vinyl with a darker brown nose, and pink and yellow sunglasses that are both molded and painted on.  He's got a hole in his...butt?  Base?  Whatever one calls that, he's got a hole there.

Not a bad idea since a hole like that allows water to drain out (if this little guy is indeed meant to go into the pool or the tub), but then again if he didn't have a hole water wouldn't get in in the first place!  He's a cute little dog, though he's not as realistic as the dogs that came with my Dolls of the World.

Now, here's what Elizabeth looks like in this outfit.

I love how the pink accessories go with the streaks in Elizabeth's hair.  This fits Elizabeth quite tightly, so it's probably out of reach for curvy and tall dolls.  Petites and originals should have no problem with this, but if you want to use those shoes make sure you've got either a flat-footed doll or a doll with jointed ankles.

The second outfit is more of a landlubber style.

Well, actually it's the third outfit in the in-box picture, but it ties in with the first outfit in a minor way so I'm showing it out of order.  It looks like a top and a dress at first glance, but these two pieces are sewn together so it's technically a dress.  The top part is a brightly colored floral print on a black base.

Happily, this eye-catching print continues around the back.

I don't know why, but this fabric reminds me a little of the fabric used in Tropical Splash Skipper's bikini.  Maybe it's because both fabrics have flowers printed against a black background.

The skirt part is made of a different fabric, sort of like white denim.  It's got pockets, belt loops, and a front seam printed on, plus seven silver studs on this front "seam."

The back has a similar belt loop printed on, plus the waistband and some fake stitching.

Like the outfit before it, this outfit comes with shoes.  They're white round-toed...HIGH HEELS???

These are cute shoes, no question, but who in the right mind wears heels to the beach???  Barbie, what have you been smokin'?  LOL, high heels are better than no shoes at all, even if they are out of place in a beach-themed clothing line.  Maybe this outfit is meant for some sort of after party or a trip to a beachside restaurant, because it includes a drink in the form of a pink translucent plastic tumbler with a straw.

I'm led to believe that this contains lemonade due to the unpainted lemon molded on the side...but then again, maybe it's a lime molded on there, and this tumbler holds a huge margerita instead!  Maybe I should've asked Barbie earlier what she's been drinking rather than what she's been smoking.

Last piece is the tie-in to the first outfit:  another puppy.

The first puppy was cute, but this one is way adorable!  She's winking!  She also has a molded and painted flower tucked behind her left ear...

...and a bunghole or whatever this hole is for.

The two puppies look enough alike that they could be littermates...

...and indeed, the backs of these packages include several screenshots of the movie, one of which shows a group of puppies being pulled by a little pink dolphin.

Now let's put this on Sherralee.  She is strictly a high-heeled girl, so this outfit will be perfect for her.

That red streak in Sherralee's hair clashes a little but, but otherwise she looks good in this.  I always thought she looked like the type that would get mildly drunk on margaritas anyway.  I did have some trouble pulling this over Sherralee's hips though, something that I wasn't expecting.  Like the first outfit, this one is strictly for petites and originals.

Oopsie, I forgot to take Sherralee's jointed arms.  These joints mean that she may be able to hold her puppy.

Well, she can, but it looks awkward.  In truth Sherralee's elbows are a little too loose to hold this dog properly.  If I sit the doll down it'll probably go better.

Just for the heck of it, here she is with Tropical Splash Skipper, since I borrowed her bikini top earlier.

Boy, how Barbie has changed over the past two decades!  Skipper looks like she belongs more with Licca and Jenny than she does Sherralee.  It's easy to see the differences in the fabric here, though.  Skipper's bikini has flowers that are more orange and yellow, while Sherralee's flowers are more pink.

Okay, last outfit.  This is the only one that doesn't have a puppy.  It has the pink dolphin instead.

This too is a swim set, but instead of a purple bathing suit, the main piece of this outfit is a colorblock wetsuit.
Blue, white, and black, with a blue heart framing two pink dolphins on the chest.

The heart motif is echoed on the left hip in the form of a tiny pink patch.

The back is plain blue.

The accessories are where this gets fun.  The shoes are simple, just blue flip-flops in a mold that has been showing up in a lot lately.

Next is a snorkel, an item that few Barbie outfits come with.  Amazon shows this outfit as having a pink snorkel, but the one I got, for a pleasant change, is blue.

The plastic is translucent like plastic snorkels sometimes are, and it's pretty tough.  It's flexible enough that the strap can go around Cassandra's head (as you'll soon see), but getting the thing fastened isn't 100% easy.

Lastly, that dolphin.

She's pink like the vast majority of Barbie's extraneous bits and bobs are, with darker pink spots painted on her sides.  The largest spots are (surprise, surprise) shaped like hearts.

Amazon's picture appears to suggest that this dolphin is a squirt toy, so I looked closely at her mouth.  Sure enough, she's got a hole there!

Squirt toys WOULD make sense given the water theme of this line, so I wonder why the puppies weren't made into squirt toys too?  Maybe the dolphin is known for spitting in the movie and the puppies aren't?  I dunno.

'Nuff chatter, let's put this on Cassandra, whom I could easily picture as a snorkeler.

As with the other two outfits, this one is strictly for petites and originals.  My tall dolls might be able to squeeze into it, but I don't want to stress the fabric so I'm not going to try that.  That being said, I had very little trouble getting this onto Cassandra, but I did have a slight snag (literally) when pushing her sleeves over her arms.  One of the sleeves caught in an elbow joint, and if I'd forced the outfit on her the sleeve likely would've been damaged.  Keep that in mind when dressing these Made to Move dolls; most outfits are not problematic, but beware just the same.  The shoes will have to be rubberbanded to Cassandra's feet, as both foot and shoe are hard plastic and have no friction between them.  The snorkel looks a little goofy but fits Cassandra's head fine.  It's a little tricky to fasten the back strap, so if any of y'all out there have kids and they want that snorkel on their doll, I'd advise that you help them.  And forget it if the doll has a big hairstyle.  I say this because the strap has no stretch (and not much bend, either), and big hair appears to be making a comeback among Barbie and her cronies.

Early June often brings the onset of hot weather, though the way it's been in southern Missouri lately makes me wonder if we're not transitioning into a danged rainforest, with the rain and the humidity being what it's been.  Oh Lord, don't tell Greedypeace that, or they'll start up another stupid anti-Barbie campaign.  But anyway, by sheer coincidence I happen to have two other new swimsuit sets ready for review, and they'll present an interesting contrast to what I've got in this current review.  The new Dolphin Magic outfits are perfectly acceptable little playthings, but what you see is what you get...and there ain't a lot in those packages!

But then again, sometimes less is more.  As you'll see with the two new/old swimsuits, extra bits and bobs aren't always better.  So these little outfits are alright, though two pairs of shoes won't fit dolls with high-heeled feet very well.  They also won't fit curvy bodies as far as I can tell, and since the tall bodies are wider at the waist than original bodies are, I have my doubts about them being able to fit into these outfits as well.  The old Francie body might work, though.  I'll have to try that out later, like tomorrow...or never.

Hugs,
RagingMoon1987