I have three reasons why I bought The Barbie Look Sweet Tea doll. For starters, it has a more sensible price compared to most model muse dolls being sold locally. This doll is priced PhP2100. Nude Barbie Basics dolls are priced at least PhP1500, more if the doll is using a popular mold. The additional PhP600 is a small price to pay for the additional value–the articulation of the doll, clothes and accessories.
The doll is made in Indonesia. That's another good reason to buy. I guess this reason doesn't make sense if you don't live in a country where the territory is being challenged by China.
The most common reason for buying this doll, and for some it's the only reason, is the head mold used. The new mold has been made more accessible. The Karl head mold was previously used in hard-to-get dolls and by hard-to-get, I don't mean high-quality.
Although there are enough reasons to buy this doll, I don't like it as it is. I decided to make the eyes smaller. I also softened the curls of the hair. This strikes a good balance between my taste and her original character.
A sweet to sultry transformation can be seen in the photo above, but with certain styling, she can still can be sweet and simple. That's how I like my models, versatile.
Filipinos can really be cruel toward dark-skinned people. Recently, a local celebrity posted a photo of her baby on Instagram. A certain @joan132132 left a mean comment calling the six-month old baby "negra" (black) and "panget" (ugly). The netizens condemned the cruelty of user @joan132132 forcing her to terminate her account. Bianca Gonzales, the mother, narrated in a later post, how she herself was bullied for having dark skin when she was 10 years old. I really fear for my 8-year old nephew who has a dark skin.
A lot of Filipinos normally have dark skin. It's just sad that Filipinos were taught to hate themselves for what they are. It's deeply rooted, being a colony of people with light colored skin (like Spaniards, Americans and Japanese) for around three centuries. It cannot be easily unlearned in one go, especially if someone is benefiting from the idea that a light colored skin makes someone better, not even if you flood the toy shelves with black dolls.
But I still think that little steps matter. Having black dolls on local toy shelves help. It gives kids the idea that dark-skinned dolls, like people, are fun, too. It gives kids the opportunity to include dark-skinned people in their happy imagination. Through play maybe kids can associate positive feelings towards a dark-skinned person because most of us just can't.
I recently bought The Barbie Look Sweet Tea. I opted not to do the usual photo/review post since the doll has been criticized enough. I also don't want to promote the doll mainly because of the marginal satisfaction one can get from it and to think that it costs around US$45 locally (more if bought from online sellers) versus US$30, the suggested price for America. I think there's a paradox there somewhere, a person from a third world country paying more than someone from a first world country for the same frivolous thing.
I'm digressing. I didn't want to talk today about paradox. I wanted to talk about adjectives, adjectives we associate with black dolls to be exact. In my previous post, I mentioned the need to associate positive images to the black dolls. Black dolls don't need to just be present. They also need to have a positive image.
The first adjective is artsy. In the original Fashionista line, the black doll was associated to the word artsy. The black doll was never labeled glam, sporty nor sweetie, only artsy. What's wrong with artsy? Artsy involves pretension. Between artsy and artistic, you want to go with artistic.
In my previous post, I mentioned how the black dolls from the Barbie Basics and The Barbie Look series sold out quickly. If you asked the collectors what they liked about the black model muse dolls, a lot would say they like how fierce the dolls were. Our second adjective is fierce. Fierceness can be seen as a show of power and we see power as a positive image. This kind of power is, however, associated with aggressiveness. Although aggressiveness can be called for a lot of the time, there are also other ways of displaying power, like in a cool, calm, and collected manner. The black presidential Barbie was never sold locally, neither were the queenly looking black Holiday dolls. The image of the black dolls displaying non-aggressive power didn't reach our country.
So today, I want to try another adjective on a black doll. In the Barbie Fashionista line, a white doll had a monopoly to the word "sweetie". In The Barbie Look line, this adjective was echoed by a white Sweet Tea doll. Why not associate the adjective sweet to someone black?
In recent releases, there were black dolls that portrayed sweetness. They just didn't reach our country. I also noticed that I don't have a lot of sweet looking black dolls. They either look fierce, somber, or beautifully pissed. My smiling black dolls don't look sweet with their heavy makeup. I could have been unconsciously made to think that black dolls can't be sweet. I had to do something.
The problem is I'm not black, so the image above doesn't have a black perspective. I don't know how it is to be black. I'm actually think that the doll I styled looks a little oreo. I am not saying black dolls should be dressed like that to make their image positive. I'm just saying white dolls don't have a monopoly for certain looks and adjectives.
"I was nervous to go up the stage to receive my medal," my 8-year old nephew told me. I asked him why. "They laughed at me during practice because of my dark skin. I was afraid they would laugh at me again."
I may not have a dark skin, based on Filipino standards, and I have enjoyed some privileges based on my looks, but still I get little heart breaks every time anyone makes fun of someone dark-skinned like my nephew. That is why the on-going Black Barbie embargo is troubling for me.
I noticed the embargo on black Mattel dolls early last year when they started releasing these stiff Fashionista. Everyone in the lineup was available locally except for Nikki. The same thing happened with the Life in the Dreamhouse dolls. The Nikki doll was not sold locally. The Barbie Style dolls with ankle joints landed locally without Nikki nor Grace. While the western world was celebrating the racial diversity in the Barbie Fashionista lineup, our part of the world was short changed with the absence of certain dolls (pictured below) from the local toy stores. Not pictured but was also not made available locally was the dark-skinned Made To Move doll with the Asha head. In my 8 years of collecting Barbie dolls, I have never seen a black Holiday Barbie sold in the local primary market.
"Embargo" and "banned" may have been strong words and since the dolls mentioned above can be bought by hook via online sellers, with an extra cost, of course. Some dark-skinned dolls also made it to local toy shelves like the burgundy haired doll I bought. Those beach themed dolls always make made it to local toy shelves even if they are dark skinned. Dark skin and beaches goes together, I guess. Or were they made available because they look more Latina than Black??? (My burgundy haired doll look more Latina.) The collector dolls have, at least, better luck. Some of the locally sold The Barbie Look dolls have dark skin. The story changed recently.
Now, adult collectors no longer has easy access to dark-skinned doll as demonstrated by the absence of the Night Out doll from the last The Barbie Look release. This is silly because based on experience, starting from the very first Barbie Basics line, the blacks dolls are the first ones to get sold out. That is true even with the stiff Barbie Look dolls. In major toy stores, there is still a lot of white Barbie Look dolls available but none of the black ones (because they sold out). It makes no sense why the Night Out doll, which has a good chance of being sold out, was not sold locally. Could it be because of the recent change in the leadership in Mattel?
Initially, I thought our local distributor was at fault. Maybe they didn't order the dolls because black dolls don't sell well locally. I have no sales record to confirm that but it is what most Mattel apologists say. If you look at the things our local distributor has no control over, like the packaging, you will realize that even before the dolls were boxed, someone already made sure that they won't be officially distributed in certain markets. Did you notice how the black dolls are missing in the packaging of Barbie Fashionista and Made to Move dolls?
I can't think of a dark-skinned Filipino, especially with ethnic features, who is regarded with high esteem locally. We do have a dark-skinned Filipino in a high position in the government but a lot of people see him as a corrupt official. The only dark-skinned character my 8-year old nephew looks up to is Nick Fury and he's not even black in the comics. It is important to me to have positive images like power, beauty, kindness and intelligence, to name a few, to be associated to an image of someone with a dark skin. It's for my nephew. This is where Mattel and Richprime could have helped.
I don't understand how Mattel is willing to promote diversity in certain parts of the world but not in others. It sounds a little discriminatory to me.
Why should you make my concern, your concern? If your a non-racist white person, you probably have a number of Black friends. You wouldn't want your friends to experience what Elayne narrated in the video below.
Let's keep this from happening ever again. Help associate positive images with black people and make these images available worldwide, not just where black people lives. This includes having black Barbie dolls on the Philippine toy shelves.
I've been following this guy on Youtube for his toy reviews, mainly for the action dolls. I don't really find his reviews insightful. I just wanted to know what is available in the local market so I follow different local toy collectors in various social media. So basically, I don't treat them as toy reviews but as local toy news or advertisements. I just want to know what's available or how to get it, in case I'm interested.
It was a surprise for me that he posted a video review for fashion dolls. Although I don't agree to a lot of what he said, I give him respect for doing that review. Not a lot of men are comfortable in handling dolls. Dolls are like kryptonite to their son of Martha.
In another review done by another guy, gender insensitivity is my major concern.
Although the Daredevil is the main character, I don't think the women are just there to be his love interests. It's ironic that he finds that the womanizing part "didn't work." By that, I'm assuming he meant that it was not a good idea or it wasn't handled well. But he liked the idea of having the female casts pit against each other for the Daredevil's love. What's up with Team Elektra? Team Claire? Team Karen? I think it was a very male-centered view of the situation.
My nephew, being a Batman fan, asked for this as a reward for doing good in school. I thought I'll have a hard time hunting for this toy since this has been available since last year and with the popularity of this toy, I expected it to be sold out. Once again, I enjoy how easy it is to buy this. Availability has never been a problem here with bootlegos.
This is not from the last Superman/Batman movie, Sons of Marthas, but from the better in every way movie Dark Knight Trilogy.
The Lego set 7888 was copied by Decool but opted to skip the ice cream truck. That was very practical.
I have some issues with this set. Some pieces are slightly warped making them more difficult to snap into place. The cockpit cover is also not flush because of some warping. The rear axle design can be flimsy. The rod holding the wheels may either break or bend. The rear wheels don't rotate easily as well. Also, Batman's head is stuck in the cowl.
Those issues are really minor considering this only costs PhP450 from Divisoria.
While season 3 of Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D is painting the danger in the rise of super powered humans, the hero or vigilante question was built up in season 2 of Daredevil. Both will eventually lead to the issue of controlling and regulating these extra-ordinary beings by the government, which will be tackled in Captain America: Civil War. We'll be getting too far ahead with the story so we'll just dial it back to the Netflix series.
To paint the hero or vigilante question, the Daredevil's style of fighting crime is juxtaposed with that of the Punisher from the get-go. While both of their style is bloody, the Punisher leaves a lot gruesome dead bodies. The Daredevil just leaves a lot of broken bones. The Punisher is clearly a vigilante while it seemed like the Daredevil is a hero trying to save lives, not take it. Then comes Elektra to further reveal the Daredevil's character. The Daredevil continuously tried to respect life despite Elektra's rationalizing the need to take lives. He still appears to be a hero. He actually tried his darndest to be a hero even reaching the obnoxious level of disregarding his daytime responsibilities.
More than the expectedly awesome fight scenes leading to the fall of the villains and clues on what could still happen in case there will be a season 3, what I felt was most interesting in the finale episode was the revelation in the Daredevil's hero status. He unmasked himself with the following statements:
"...this is a part of me that I need and you're the only one who gets it. Without this I'm not alive, I'm not, not really. And I know that now, thanks to you."
Although not explicitly defined, which part he was referring to, the part that he needed, the part that Elektra got, one can assume that it was being the Daredevil, something he has kept a secret for the majority. And for those who knew, like Claire and Foggy, they are opposed to it. They don't get it.
In the same conversation with Elektra, the Daredevil was willing to abandon the city he was trying to protect so he can go disappear with her. What's the Daredevil without someone to save or worse forsaking the your beloved city? Not a hero, for sure. The part that makes him feel alive is not really the saving of lives. It's being a daredevil, the daring stunts, the danger. He can give up being a hero just to feel alive.
It seems too simplistic to reduce the Daredevil to someone who just get a kick out of living dangerously. One cannot discount the lives he saved. This season showed us that maybe the saving of lives is just an excuse so he can live as a daredevil. For me, it is a satisfying enough answer on whether the Daredevil is a hero or not; but hero or not, I enjoyed the Daredevil series.
I'm no head shrinking expert. I'm not trying to get others experimenting on head shrinking. I don't like giving advices regarding head shrinking because I don't want to be blamed if it didn't turn out as planned. I have gotten less desireable results like these heads that ended up smaller than the "normal" sized head. By "normal", I mean the collector sized heads.
Next to the Lea/Kayla face mold, the Goddess mold is my 2nd favorite. Here are my top 5 dolls from my collection using the Goddess mold. At least, they are the top 5 for now.
The middle and right most heads were shrunken but the middle head shrunk more. Head shrinking is more like cooking than baking. The middle doll's cheeks looks less chubby compared to the plump faces of the rest. I made the eyes of the middle doll smaller, from the previous entry, since she has a slightly smaller face.
The only other doll that is interesting in this lineup, aside from Team Glam (16) is the Ice Cream Romper (17). I don't have many dolls with burgundy hair. The mint glasses and romper are cute, too. The rest of the dolls are either meh or looks similar to a doll I already have.
Most people I saw with burgundy hair usually has a strong personality but doll 17 doesn't seem to have that. She just needs a makeover. She's a little bolder now after head shrinking, a repaint and some hair styling. She's gonna melt some ice cream!
I wanted the top part of the head to be slick while rest nappy. I also wanted to show her face completely so the hair was held in place by tying it with a thread above the ears.
She just looks so sweet now. She looked sultry in the previous entry. See how much a hairstyle can do?
The new outfit for her will be started next week. Meanwhile, another fashionista is getting a makeover.
First thing first, we are not celebrating St. Patrick's Day. It just so happens that the skirt I have is green. I have created this skirt last year but I can't seem to find the right girl to wear it. I also don't have a top that can go with the skirt. Luckily, I found a mint green top but it didn't have the same look of the skirt. I decided to undo some stitches to make the top look tattered.
Even if there seems to be an unofficial embargo on the sales of dark-skinned Barbie Fashionista (and Made to Move) dolls locally, we still get to enjoy partial diversity. Hurray with sarcasm! But seriously, I commend certain dolls in the line up, one of which is the Glam Team Barbie doll with the Asha face mold. This is reminiscent of the doll dubbed as the albino Desiree from last year. They express the same experimentation on skin color not usually used on certain face molds. Carlyle Nuera, the designer of the two dolls, already did it with OOAK dolls at 2015 Madrid Fashion Doll Convention. It was nice to see a repeat of that idea in a more accessible level. This could lead to more unusual dolls like dark-skinned Raquelle and Ryan, but with the unofficial embargo on the sales of dark-skinned dolls locally, I have to jump through hoops to get one. With my numerous dolls that already satisfy me, I don't feel like exerting extra effort to get a new doll. It has to be available in local toy stores or else I won't buy.
I'd like to believe that the Barbie Fashionista line promotes diversity and being different even if I usually find Mattel insincere (as discussed in my earlier blog entries). Given that this Glam Team doll is ubiquitous, I want to give my doll a certain difference from other Glam Team dolls. She had a dental extraction, head shrinking and a full repaint.
I wanted her eyebrows to be almost faint. I wanted the eye makeup very light but I don't want the attention to be taken away from the eyes so the full lips should be muted. Would you believe her if she says, "I woke up like this"?
I'm satisfied with this no make-up make-up look. The repaint is done, for now. I'm still figuring out the hair style I want for her and her character. She's giving me a fairy vibe, though, or least she looks like that she's not from anywhere I know.
Ever had that feeling of wanting to buy a toy, any toy, even if you don't really want it? You then make up justifications of buying the toy, like you can sell it if you're sure you don't want it, or you can customize it to something you really want.
That's the case for this 4-inch Divisoria Deadpool action doll. This gray-black suit is Deadpool's uniform when he was a member of the X-force, the more millitant version of the X-men. Hasbro released an official X-force Deadpool (middle and right images above). It can be seen how the gray Divisoria Deadpool is different from the official release, from the scabbard, to the belt pouches and the holster. This Divisoria figure won't pass as the original. No wonder, online sellers are not selling this.
The same thing can't be said about the red Divisoria Deadpool. It looks like the original X-men Origins comic version Deadpool. The gray Deadpool is just a repaint of the red, except maybe for the head. They have different head sculpts. The gray is bigger.
A lot of Deadpool stuff are being sold in Divisoria. They have the Marvel Legends and Select scales. I only care about the 4-inch stuff. The red or gray Deadpool is being sold for PhP500 each.
I found this toy car while thrifting. I thought it was cute with the opening doors. The 4-inch dolls could also fit in. It is missing the roof but I don't care. I might create a makeshift roof or I could just leave it as is. It's a Lil Bratz Lil' Coupe.
I tried the new dress you have made specially for me and I love it! At first, I thought the huge prints will make me look bigger but then what's the point of denying the fact? It's bold and fun just like me. I like how it shows off my legs. I also like the cool belt! Thank you. You have no idea how much this means to me.
I thought my fashion woes would end with the arrival of the curvy Barbie dolls. I was hoping that I can share clothes with them. When I found out that they can share clothes with dolls having the original body size, I felt something is wrong. I knew that I still have very limited clothing options.
How can a curvy girl share clothes with one who is not? What kind of delusion is that? Dolls of different body types sharing the same size of clothes trivializes the fashion problems of plus size people. How can other people understand the frustration and the difficulty of someone bigger trying to find the right size of clothes? Mattel decided to just sweep our frustrations under the rug by adjusting the curvy body so it won't be too big, so it will still fit the clothes meant for the original body size. It's like the fashion industry telling fat people to be slimmer so they can fit in the clothes the fashion industry makes.
These curvy dolls could have communicated this fashion frustration to kids and collectors had the dolls been curvier. Mattel could have addressed the issue with the fashion industry's lack of attention to the plus size figure by making a separate set of clothes made specially for the curvy dolls. Mattel could have done so much with the new body but they took the easy way and designed the curvy body to make the fashion problems seem almost non-existent. It just shows that Mattel is part of what's wrong in the fashion industry and at the same time denying something is wrong.
Different bodies being able to wear the same size of clothes isn't a celebration of diversity. It's forcing people to fit in one size.
But you get it. You get me, Niel. You understand that I can show off my style even if my body is bigger, even if I don't have a pronounced waist. You understand that I can have this body and still be beautiful. I'm so lucky.
I have water based pens but the mark they leave on printed fabric is not very visible. Since it's water-based, it seeps through the fabric. I want the mark to stay on top of the fabric and very visible even on a printed fabric.
The tailor's chalk is too hard. The soft fabrics, like chiffon, move a lot when marking with a tailor's chalk.
The dermatograph makes thick lines. We know how a few millimeters off and it could mean a bad fit. I love these Dong-A Twistable Color Pencil for the job. If only they were sold separately and with neon colors...
Some time last year (or was it 2 years ago?), I found a dark-skinned 12-inch Original Action Figure Body. I got it from Divisoria unboxed. It was missing the additional neck pegs and the closed fist hands. I had no doll head that match the skin tone so the body was left in storage. I realized that my chances of finding a head for this body for a good price is impossible so last weekend, I went ahead and painted an action figure head to match the color of the body.
If there was something I was looking forward to last weekend, it was making this dress inspired by the red Dior dress worn by Jennifer Lawrence in this year's Golden Globes. I made the cutouts larger to make it more visible on a small doll's body. I like the dress for its simplicity. The cutouts reminded me of the 60's but it looks very fashion forward. This dress is timeless. It's a must have for every dolly wardrobe.
There are a lot of Dolls of the World (DOTW) peg warmers in the various local toy stores. There is no news of any upcoming dolls in that line. It might as well be dead. Ever wonder how that happened?
Starting 1980, Mattel released Barbie dolls with various ethnicities, like the first Black and Oriental Barbie dolls. Although criticized for a lot of cultural misappropriations or lack of authenticity, it wasn't enough to totally kill the line. It brought different faces to Barbie's circle. It was actually one of the major selling points for these dolls.
Now, ethnic diversity can be had from different Barbie lines. This was one of the reasons why the Barbie Basics was a hit. It was the same for the university cheerleader dolls. (The Barbie look flopped partly because they insisted on including the Mackie and Aphrodite molds a number of times.) With these lines, you get the diversity in ethnicity without the cultural misappropriation. Plus, the idea of getting just one doll is not enough. Collectors welcome the diversity so most bought a few, if not all, of the dolls in a line.
Now the same formula is being used for the current Fashionista line up. You don't have to pay a "collector" price for a DOTW doll just to harvest the head. It is now easier to snag a Lea/Kayla, Mbili or Goddess face molds. These are usually reserved for the collector and exclusive dolls. You also get a reusable piece of clothing with no cultural issues, hopefully.
So what's the point of collectors buying DOTW these days? I'm really fine with them gone AS LONG AS the diversity is present in at least one of their lines available globally.
I'm happy you didn't make a sock dress for me. You took time to create a pattern just for me. I feel special knowing that unlike others, the patterns cannot be shared by a number of dolls. It's especially made for me.
I know my love for fashion doesn't show because I don't aspire to be anorexic like some fashion models but I do appreciate beautiful clothes and styling. Not a lot of fashion designers would want to dress me. Manufacturers would rather not risk spending extra capital on to solve plus size problems in fashion.
They stereotyped us as people who doesn't care about the way we look just because of our size. They think we can settle with dated and shapeless clothes that lacks character. I even heard someone say that I can just borrow Ken's pants. The nerve!
My love affair with fashion is unrequited but you loved me back.
I'm glad you didn't style me like Melissa McCarthy, fully covered. I like showing my arms even if they're big. I'm also happy that you didn't make me wear dyke fashion like Rosie O'Donnell even if we have the same body and we're both lesbians.
I really appreciate what you have done for me. Please don't take it the wrong way if I expected more. Let's be honest. The clothes the you've made me are pretty basic. I know I need to build my basic wardrobe, too, but I'm looking forward to you making something that shows my character. You know how I am. I'm far from basic.
