Just like the Miss Melody doll, this unknown clone doll has a cheap hollow plastic body. It also has thinly rooted hair, located only in the middle part. The vintage hairstyle and the austere look got to me so I decided to take her home. Let's call her Cosette from now on.
This clone doll came packaged like those vintage baggie Barbie dolls. Its body is made of hollow plastic. It had the label "Miss Melody". Aside from the blond hair, the actual doll didn't look like the doll on the label. The doll on the label had round eyes. Her austere expression and almond-shaped eyes appealed to me. Even if her eyes used to be blue, I saw a possibility.
I have been wanting an Asian counterpart for the Barbies with the nostalgic head mold. I don't mean the nostalgic head painted with Asian features like in the BFMC. I want something like Fabiola of Hollywood, but she is hard to get. (Hey, Mattel. Here's an idea. Instead of selling the nostalgic mold all by itself, give her more vintage friends with distinct molds and ethnicity. Rewrite some of what was wrong in Barbie herstory.)
While I wait for the re-imagination of Barbie's past, Miss Melody will have to be one of Barbie's vintage friends. I plucked all her blond hair out. It was just rooted in the middle part, so it wasn't that hard. I painted her eyes brown and lend her a vintage Fashion Queen Barbie wig. She is Miss Melody no more. Let's call her Diyan.
If you need no bourgeoisie dolls, clones are the way to go. One of the more popular clones comes from the Defa brand, Lucy. She knows how to make a scene with an upcoming relaunch. Despite the criticism of inclusivity, she do what she do. A doll with Chinese roots, she don't need nobody to tell her how to run it. She got herself some baddies, it's simple as that.
Defa-neatly, we love her once, but will we love her twice with the relaunch? She will run it, run, run it. This is no debut. Will she go the bourgeoisie way? It's time to roll the dice.
My first dolls were modern Barbie clones. After nearly 2 decades of collecting Barbie dolls, I now find myself collecting clones dolls. I feel like they have their own stories to tell, just like this Filipina Igorot doll.
This doll appealed to me because it was made in my country. I also like the details (the authentic Igorot fabric and wooden beads) on the costume. Most importantly, it came in a clone doll price. It was inspired by the Ethnic Barbie dolls released in the 90s, but unlike the Mattel dolls, these dolls have flat feet. The face sculpt seems like a clone of the Teresa face mold.
A quick search on the web showed other variants. The dolls below were searched from the web, and are not mine.
ICYMI, a lot of Barbie dolls are now made in Indonesia, and less from China. This did not prevent Chinese sellers from offering Barbie dolls at competitive prices. I recently bought a Barbie Looks doll from a Chinese seller (not from any local seller) because the price was unbeatable.
How can Chinese businesses offer cheaper prices for the same item? No, it's not because they sell knock-offs! Their government subsidizes favored businesses allowing them to sell their goods for less. If this continues, local sellers, especially the official local distributor (Richwell aka Richprime aka KidsCompany) might suffer. Not only does the Philippine government offer little to no subsidies, the government also tax imported goods (even if they have no direct local competition) making Barbie's more expensive. The local SRP of a Barbie Looks doll is a little over US$50.
If I have to buy from Richwell, I wait for the sale season or maybe after a year after the release. They usually offer huge discounts by then. Barbie's popularity has declined despite the movie, sellers still have stocks years after the initial release.
Of course, you can't blame the local sellers for selling at a high price. They got it for a high price as well. In the same manner, you can't blame buyers who buy from China since they want to get the best value out of their hard-earned money. I blame the government but I wouldn't expect most doll collectors to agree.
