Barbie's Competitors Throughout the Years

Imani and Menelik by Olmec 1997

Last week I received an email from Cheree Franco of  the Arkansas Democrat Gazette (ADG), who was working on a story about Barbie alternatives throughout the decades.

Her request was for a high resolution image of Imani, after having seen the above image of Imani and Menelik in a blog post from January 2010 (most of the hyperlinks in that post are now dead).

I obliged Franco with a photo of the above pair and added another group photo of  Olmec's Naomi (1988), Ellise (1989), and Imani (1991).

Naomi was Olmec’s first African American fashion doll.  The name was changed after one year to Ellisse.   Naomi and Ellisse share the same head sculpt.  That head sculpt was also used for Imani until a new head sculpt was created for the 1990s and final version of Imani.

Franco next requested a photo of any Get Set dolls and any Smartees dolls I own.  Two additional photos of the requested dolls were submitted.

The article, "Hello Dolly Look Out Barbie You've Got Some Competition," was published in the ADG on December 2, 2014.  It, however, is only visible to subscribers.  I have read the non-pay wall version in a link Franco provided.

The article introduces Nicolay Lamm's Lammily doll as Barbie's newest competitor.  The doll is claimed to be, "the first fashion doll made according to typical human body proportions to promote realistic beauty standards."   As of now, unfortunately, these beauty standards do not include dolls with darker complexions.  If the line is around long enough, perhaps, Lamm will realize that beauty extends across all color lines and his dolls should reflect this. 

Get Set Club (G5) Vanessa 1999

Mixis dolls mixed race, 12-inch fashion dolls with proportional bodies; articulation, however, is limited.

Franco's article moves on to mention a few dolls throughout the years that have been Barbie contenders, past and present.  These include, but are not limited to, Get Set Club, Get Real Girls, Mixis, Gods Girlz, Smartees and others.  Most of the mentioned alternatives are no longer on the retail market, which proves that many have tried but failed to topple Barbie's empire.

Competing with Barbie remains a difficult task for several reasons:  Barbie is the "it" girl for people across generations.  Some grew up with the doll; their children grew up with her, and their children's children are now playing with Barbie.  Love her or hate her in all her pinkness, Barbie is a pretty tough act to follow.

Franco did not use my Get Set Club Vanessa's photo in the article, but I was pleased to see photo contributions from D7ana of A Philly Collector of Dolls and Action Figures.  Franco did share a link to the photo gallery with me.  I won't share it here, but when I entered "Barbie alternatives" in the search box at the ADG website, several links for portions of the article, including the complete gallery, resulted.

Here is that search result (from this link, scroll to the "Alternatives to Barbie" link to access the entire photo gallery for the article).

What do you think?  Will any doll ever surpass the success of Mattel's Barbie or has Mattel offered doll consumers an overdose of pink Kool-Aid for which there is no antidote? 

dbg

New Head Love

After leaving a thrift store empty handed without a suitable articulated body there in sight, I returned home where I intermittently scanned the doll room for several days.  I needed a body for a Dollar Tree fashion/styling head like one of these.  Finally, I spotted Alexis in the corner, still dressed for winter, waving one hand frantically in the air with a pleading facial expression,  "Pick me!  Pick Me!"

LIV Alexis volunteering as a body donor

Alexis, hugging her new head, is pleased to be the chosen body donor.

Alexis immediately latched on to the new head long before I placed it on her body.  Eager for me to complete the swap, I felt her extreme gratitude after the styling head replaced her original, oversized cranium.

Here she is, looking relieved, in her original, Makin' Waves fashion, with the weight of her former big head off her shoulders.  At a cost of only $1, the fashion styling head has a pretty face.  The hair is not well rooted, so I left it styled in the original two side ponytails. 

There is a minor difference in the complexion with the new head being a shade darker than Makin' Waves Alexis's body, but "Alex" -- the transformed doll, does not mind.   

I did not realize the extent of LIV dolls' cephalomegaly until completing this head swap.  Those heads are enormous!  What was Spin Master thinking or why were they not? 

The last photo of Alex (looking quite youthful) was taken outside after a final redress in the tunic from a Liv'n Fab fashion (formerly worn by BB Model 8, aka Jean Shanté, before she underwent a recent fashion and wig change). Alex's earrings and shoes are also by LIV.   

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(Most) LIV dolls and fashions are on sale this week at Target.  I picked up the following two  Liv for Hair fashions for $6.98 yesterday.  The Liv in Color dolls were on sale for $7.98, not a bad price to pay for their colorful fashions, but I left them there.



Liv for Hair fashions on sale at Target this week (06/24/12 through 06/30/12)

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Alexis's New-to-Her Outfit

Do you ever tire of seeing your dolls dressed one way or another? Maybe the manufacturer's fashion concept or a redress you selected is screaming, "Change me!" or maybe the doll is doing the screaming.

Whatever the case, I experienced the need for change with Makin' Waves Alexis. See her original fashion here.

Yesterday, she tried on an assortment of different dolls' fashions, mostly Barbie's before finally settling on one of Barbie's Fashion Avenue outfits.


The pink, thin-wale corduroy pants pair well with her bathing suit utilized as a bodysuit, as shown above.

Alexis also looks great wearing the outfit's blue denim, pink faux fur trimmed jacket...

...either open or closed.

Since she cannot wear the B-girl's shoes, her accessories are her own:   Livin' Hip tan moccasins, brown handbag, and gold dangle earrings borrowed from Alexis #1.

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Alexis to Alexis, "Ooh! I like your outfit.  Where did you buy it?"

Alexis to Alexis, "You do?  Girl, this old thing has been here for years.  It's older than me. (Giggle.)" 

With a Mattel copyright date of 2002, she's telling the truth.

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