Posted by mary/skippercollector
on 7/13/2008, 10:09 am, in reply to "to karen about discussion group"
216.215.128.45
I've often wondered about the Fairytopia and related dolls myself. Last summer a theatrical version of Barbie in Fairytopia was touring, so I went to see it. (Me and several hundred 6-year-old girls.) Although the little girls (and probably their mothers and grandmothers) called the main character "Barbie," to me, she wasn't Barbie at all.
What I got out of the play was that it was an actress playing Barbie playing Elena (I think that was her name). None of the other characters had anything to do with Barbie's usual friends, and the sole actor in the play was very clearly NOT being Ken.
After seeing that play, reading the boxes of the various Fairytopia dolls, and watching a few of the DVDs, I've come up with the following theory: Mattel is trying to get away from the Barbie name, because it probably isn't that relevant to the 21st century any more. But the name brand is still well-known, so Mattel is tweaking the doll considerably.
From what I've learned about Fairytopia/Mermaidia et al, I don't know if these story lines were something that Mattel created itself, or if the story lines were already out there and Mattel purchased the rights to them. In other words, I think the Elena stories and related stories originated first, along with all of the friends and villains. Mattel simply designed one of its Barbie dolls to look like Elena, and went from there, creating a separate Barbie universe, but not advertising it as such.
Does that make sense?
There have always been separate Barbie universes from year to year, but they periodically overlapped. But the delination is much more sharp now. By that I mean you've got the Cali dolls, the Silkstones and various expensive model dolls, and the Fairytopia lines, and they have absolutely nothing to do with each other. (Not to mention that the bodies are different so of course they each require their own sets of clothes!)
Mary
P.S. No wonder I quit collecting!
P.P.S. To me, it's the Kelly dolls that are doing what Mattel used to do with Barbie. Kelly's the one with the umpteem friends now, the clothing and accessories, and the whole "feel" seems more reminiscent of what Barbie formerly was.
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