Vitriol, as always

Not from me, mind y'all!  I never pass up an opportunity to harp about things, but I have little to harp about...well, my spine hurts, but that's to be expected.  No, I knew that these customizable Barbie dolls were going to be a thing, but I DIDN'T know that collectors were going to be trolling the line like sin.  The line is called Barbie Basics, and apparently its an extension of the line that I loved in 2011.  For the record, that first line looked like this.  Model Muse bodies, multiple faces and races, all clad in different versions of the little black dress.

Not the greatest picture, but y'all get the drift.  Later waves came in blue jeans and in swimsuits, but the premise remained the same:  doll comes in a relatively simple outfit, and it can be gussied up with accessories.  Mattel provided those too, of course.

Alrighty, so that was 2011, year of the tornadoes and the broken ankle.  Now it's 2025, year of money woes (and we're not even halfway through March), and the new Basics are oot and aboot.  The new wave has little black dresses meant for accessorizing, just like last time, but this time the bodies are Made to Move bodies.

There's only five of 'em this time, but they're a nice, diverse lot.  All the different body types are in play here, and multiple races and hair colors, and different facial expressions.  My favorite is #3, a beautiful black doll with big red lips and burgundy hair.

I like how she's serious but not bitchy like some Integrity dolls are.

Pretty cool, right?  The new dolls are kinda like the Barbie Deluxe Style dolls, only for grownups.  I think the Deluxe Style dolls are for both kids and adults, but don't quote me.  Now...to quote the late Christine McVie, we're not through yet.  There's a new line of Basics, also clad in black clothes, entitled You Create Barbie Basics.  This is old news, since just about everyone else I know has blogged about these, but heck with it, I'm doing it anyway.  These special Basics are a set of three bodies, three heads, three wigs, and some mix-and-match clothing items.  There's a light skin set...

...a medium skin set...

...and a dark skin set.  OMG, A BLUE WIG!!!

The blue wig takes the win, but these sets cost a hundred bucks so I'm SOL for now.  And here's where the complaining comes in; Reddit users and Failbook users alike are griping about the wigs, about the clothes, about the price, about...well, whatever anyone can find to harp on.  I feel the complaints about price, but when you stop to think you're getting three highly articulated and complete dolls with fairly well-made clothes, so I guess a Benjamin is about right.  As to the clothes, I think they're meant to be accessorized like the old Basics were, but...have any of y'all seen accessory packs yet???  'Cause I haven't.  Maybe they're in the wings.  Wigs?  As long as they're not like the Creatable World wigs then I see no problems, unless the fibers are bad.  I doubt that'll be the case, but I won't know until I read otherwise.

That brings us to the bodies.  I'm an outspoken fan of the Made to Move bodies, which these Basics possess.  Three of my dolls, Andra, Cassandra, and Isolde, have some variant of a Made to Move body, and they can attain poses that Barbies of the nineties could only dream of.

The original Basics came on a Model Muse body, and while I'm not as big a fan of those there are positive things to be said.  Model Muse bodies are stiff and are strictly for older collectors, but they also are beautifully sculpted and can convey a fair amount of personality.  Here's three of mine (OLD PICTURE!!!).

Sigh, I need to retrieve my Basics from Casa del Luna and start letting 'em strut their stuff again.  It's kinda hard to tell from the shadows, but these dolls all have popped hips and bent knees, looking like they're either walking or in a show-off stance.  Their arm positions varied as well; I like the graceful positions of the straight arms, but I love how the bent arms can monkey with hair, like so (OLD PICTURE AGAIN!!!)

In Willow's case monkeying with hair is easy, because she's got a LOT of it, more even than Andra does.  So being a Libra, I can play devil's advocate and say that both bodies have their strong points.  But at the end of the day I'm in Camp Made to Move for the new Basics, and I'm glad that that's the direction that Mattel went.  Model Muse fans have this pet to salivate over...or puke over.  Again, this one's got her critics.

I think she's cute!  I love the sixties vibe.

I guess the point I'm trying to make is that never will a company like Mattel (or anyone) be able to satisfy 100% of their audience, and a lot of times the ones that aren't satisfied make the most noise.  One Redditor noticed that both Camp Made to Move and Camp Model Muse have their extremists...jeez, just like political parties!  I'm in Camp Made to Move, and I probably wouldn't be as excited if these new dolls had the Model Muse bodies, but seeing a revival of Barbie Basics is good news for me regardless.  I loved the Basics line, and I hope it'll stick around for awhile.

What say my Barbie fans?  Yay or nay on the Basics revival?  What body type would you prefer, or does it matter to you?  Discuss.

Pink love,
RagingMoon1987