Definitely not a typical toy franchise for this message board...but I thought it was kinda funny. ARTICLE: Plus-Size Barbie Image Sparks Heated Debate (pics and video) Wow. This brand can never catch a break do they? They're damned if they do, they're damned if they don't.
There has been a plus size Barbie. The Friend of Barbie Rosie O' Donnell doll. It looks nothing like this triple chin thing that some random dude who doesn't work for Mattel rendered up.
Why does it, despite not being morbidly obese, have four chins? Has the image creator not actually seen a plus-sized woman?
Oh, you mean Bazooka? (Technically, he was just a security guard before being pulled back into service.)
Hm...they bring up the point of a young girl's "body image" Would girls think that just because Barbie is skinny, they have to be too? because as a kid I've never looked at my superhero figures and thought "I need to be really buff!" As for whether I'm for or against it? I don't care all too much. I agree with the OP that Mattel is darned if they do, darned if they don't.
This is the epitome of people needing to stop taking everything so seriously and lighten the fuck up.
I first thought the image was from Mattel. Now that would have been surreal. I would be all about better representation of girls with a realistically-proportioned Barbie. That doesn't mean what we have here. What we currently get is completely unrealistic, but I'd say that the triple-chinned "plus-sized" picture is almost, if not just as far from what an average girl's body is like today. It wouldn't just average out to have a super-thin model and a super-large model. Honestly, I think most toys which aren't licensed to pre-existing media need a massive overhaul that'll probably never happen (until toys get completely overshadowed by video games at least). More creativity and abstraction, less focus on realism and representation. Stuff that's cleverly engineered and not aimed at any one group. The closest thing I can think of is Lego's Creator line, and I think that's pretty sad. TL;DR: It sucks that girls' toys aren't as good as boys'.
It's gotta be a female thing, because growing up a fan of super heroes, action movie stars, pro-wrestlers and super manly masculine men of all kinds etc etc etc I never once thought "gee, seeing how those guys look makes me feel bad about myself!" This so much. For as much flak as they got for it, making "girly" nerf blasters was probably one of the smartest things Hasbro has done in the past few years cause those things always seem to sell.
Well, I've never felt bad about myself because of He-Man either (nor have I become a roid freak), but lets be real here. He-Man was hella cool because he was a superhero, not because of his pecks. Barbie on the other hand is pretty much a skinny bitch who hangs out with her friends and goes shopping. Not exactly the same thing in my opinion.
Oh lawd. Those chins. Everyday I'm reminded of how thankful I am for having grown up in the late 80's/early 90's. Kids today don't stand a chance.
