Since I don't own these pictures, and they're not off of an official Mattel site, I'm not going to post any images here. But supposedly in July, Mattel is introducing a new line of five dolls called the Wild Hearts Crew. The theme of these dolls is that they do "cool" things like take pictures, play video games, or ride a skateboard; that's what I'm getting from their outfits. I'm pretty sure you don't have to be an Instagram member to see Instagram photos, so here is the link where I saw the dolls. There's an arrow on the side of the first photo, where you can click through to see all five dolls. If you can see them, what do you think? As an 80s teen, the safety pin jewelry made me laugh. We did it first! ;)
There are also small Monster High logos here and there on the girls' clothes, apparently an homage to Monster High. I wonder if they are targeting girls who played with Monster High when they were younger, and are now doing other things. As I was writing this, I just remembered my 10 year old niece bought a skateboard while we shopping together, the last time I saw her.
The dolls have articulation in their necks, shoulders, elbows, wrists and knees, as seen in the photos. Also presumably hips. There are also different body types, so I'm wondering if rebodying to a Barbie head would be feasible. One doll is wearing a necklace from a Barbie outfit, so I'm wondering if these girls will be able to share clothes with Barbie dolls. These dolls remind of My Scene; they have larger heads and are "edgier" than the dolls in the regular Barbie line. From a quick graphic I saw on Instagram, the dolls are going to be $14.99 each, and there will be outfit packs for them as well. They will only be available in the US at Walmart for now. I might buy one and review it, if I like the look of a doll, or think she would be good rebody material. XD
News has also been floating around about new Mattel dolls in the likenesses of K-Pop boy band BTS. Here is a webpage that talks about fans' mixed reaction to images of the line, but also has a good photo of each doll. I think I would only buy Jimin, but again, I wonder if these would be good for body swaps with pale-skinned Kens. Would anyone else like to see a line of dolls from a K-Pop girl band? I would! The BTS dolls are due to appear on shelves in September.
Ooo! Mattel posted a group photo of them yesterday, too. I wasn't sure if they'd look as good in real life. But the individual photos are looking good too! They remind me a LOT of the My Scene girls, which makes me hope they'll have the same sort of super detailed playsets.
ReplyDeleteTrying not to get excited because I know it'll be at least a year before they shoe up here, if they ever do.
Rachael, My Scene playsets were one of the first things that I thought of too. The dolls actually look pretty nice, although not my style, plus they're already getting fashion packs. Maybe playsets are on the horizon. I wish I could just push stuff into the ocean and have it float over to you. :)
DeleteI like the look of those Wild Hearts Crew dolls! Rachael is right; their faces do look a bit like My Scene faces.
ReplyDeleteYep, they are very reminiscent of My Scene. The edgy, "urban" feel also reminds me of the Flavas dolls. I'm looking forward to seeing how this line does.
DeleteI saw some of these on Instagram earlier. I'm looking forward to seeing them irl. The variety of body types is really nice to see!
ReplyDeleteThis is the most exciting thing that Mattel has come out with in quite a while.
DeleteHi Barb!
ReplyDeleteThe girls are not too bad and I'm wondering what how they would look with more realistic face-ups done on them. I will say the fully articulated bodies are a step forward for Mattel and I hope they keep it up with all their future dolls. I can see lots of repaints on the cards rather than body swaps.
I'm not familiar with the boy band (just getting a little old for pop-culture I guess) but from the photos the dolls look nicely made, with great outfits and a modern Asian look to them. I'd love to see them IRL. (The dolls not the band LOL!) :)
Big hugs,
X
I hadn't thought about face-ups! Although a lot of the face-ups I see being done on play dolls are not necessarily realistic, either. I guess that's something else to look forward to when these dolls come out.
DeleteI wasn't familiar with the band either, just happened to see a blurb for the dolls. I'm not super familiar with K-pop, but I do like some of the fashions that the girl bands wear.
I'm a little older than you Barb,so I remember the original Punks in the 70's. They did safety pins first.And no, I wasn't a punk! :) My kids tell me I was an early Emo, but I was just me. I just happened to wear black a lot. (With orange hair, what looks good?!)
ReplyDeleteOf course you're right on the original punks. By the time I was aware of the style, it had filtered down to us normies. I think I would have enjoyed dressing punk style, but my parents wouldn't have let me, and since I wasn't a punk personality wise, I would just have looked silly. I did dress fairly preppy, although I couldn't afford the big name clothes.
DeleteThe dolls are cute, but I'm not very excited about them. I would get one to review her if they were avaliable in my area. One of them seems like mashup between EAH Melody Piper and My Scene Delancey to me.
ReplyDeleteI also thought that Mattel had mixed together some concepts for this dolls, one of them being Monster High. In fact, one of the dolls uses recycled I heart fashion Frankie Stein earrings. They may be doing it to appeal the old Monster High collection, as you said. However, I would personally prefer a Monster High comeback. We'll see if it's succesful or not.
Take care!
Actually, I saw someone on line point out that one of the dolls is carrying a guitar-shaped purse identical to the one that EAH Raven Queen carries in her Date Night two-pack with Dexter Charming. So I guess a lot of this is recycled. I would prefer an EAH comeback myself, but Monster High would be great for all of the people that want it back. The official EAH YouTube channel keeps uploading mixed-together versions of all the old EAH webisodes; I don't know if they're gauging interest, or what? Unfortunately, I can't see Mattel bringing old lines back.
DeleteHere's the thing: if most of this stuff is recycled, how much effort did they put in this line? Did they already created it thinking it would dissappear some day? Both MH and EAH were special because of the details and creativity they put on the dolls, like the unique shoes that reflected the characters' taste and personality. I don't see any of that in this dolls.
DeleteI'm hoping they will bring those lines back at some point, for an anniversary or something like that.
Oh, I'm sure Mattel only expects this line to be around for a few years. I think they're trying once again to appeal to the older kids that are giving up playing with dolls. No, these aren't as special as MH/EAH, but I am happy to see something new after so much boredom in the doll world. Like Rachael, though, I'm mostly hopeful for detailed play sets.
DeleteFYI - I saw you comment on another blog about the doll with the roller skates.
ReplyDeleteI saw a review on YouTube - the roller skates on the doll are removable in the sense that the wheels come off and then she is just wearing a pair of what look like sneakers.
Thank you for mentioning that! I did see that elsewhere later, but I also saw that her neck is far to thick for her to be a body donor for a Curvy Fashionista doll. Because of that, I'm holding off until more dolls are available near me.
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