I've seen that leak of the new MH Toralei doll and I'm absolutely disgusted that Mattel would allow this.
Toralei was introduced as a short-haired character. We short-haired women hardly ever get any representation, something I've always spoken out against. (And don't even try nonsense. There are too many examples of entire doll lines with shorter hair and characters with short hair to try to give that bullshit line about how little girls must have long hair to brush. Fuck off with that.)
When the reboot was coming and Toralei was a definite thing, I honestly fully expected her to have long hair. Mattel wasn't consistent with the doll's hair in the original line, though her animated version had short hair in every restyle. But a lot of the characters, including main ones, frequently sported bobs and other short styles in the original line. Let's not forget that.
So when we saw the animated version of Toralei in with the voice actor announcements, I was absolutely thrilled that she had a short bob. It was an unexpected but very welcome surprise.
Cut to today and the doll leak has fucking long hair. That is not the Toralei from the art. I'm assuming that is not the Toralei from the show. It is a Toralei invented for the doll for literally no good reason. It's a slap in the face to Toralei fans that loved her as she was intended to be and a slap in the face once again to women and girls who have short hair and rarely ever get representation in doll lines. In this day of such openness and more acceptance of different genders than ever, we should be beyond such stereotypes and there should be plenty of dolls with short hair to choose from. And Toralei should be one of them.
Mattel should be absolutely, utterly ashamed of themselves.
I'll be getting Toralei and I'll have a nice pair of sharp scissors waiting for her.
It seems that there are going to be many inconsistencies between the series and the dolls.
ReplyDeleteJust seeing Cleo's dress. Or the Lagoona doll that was just leaked: Where is her three-tone sweatshirt? What horrible scales does it have on its forehead? And her wonderful translucent legs of the prototype? Where is Draculaura's hat?
And finally, and on the topic of hairstyles: where is Frankie with the hair shaved to one side of her?
I think the series is going to be one thing, but the dolls will be a similar line but to please the thousands of Karens in the world. It is not going to be the same thing happens with the Cave Club: where they demanded that why those dolls had bones as accessories..... #mindexplosion.
Eh, an outfit swap isn't nearly as big a deal as an entire hair length change. The original image of the trio we saw was obviously a very early prototype because none of that ended up happening. That I can't fault them for changing. It probably was never meant to be seen.
DeleteI love the scales on her forehead. Anything to make them look more monstery is fine by me. I think she's going to be my favorite after Cleo.
Hair length should have nothing to do with the "Karens" who even have a stereotype haircut...that's short. Hair length has to do with this ridiculous notion that girls only play with dolls with hair they can brush, which is completely outdated and wrong. Look at all the awesome dolls with textured hair. That's for representation more than brushing. Look at all the 80s lines that were successful and had shorter hair. People didn't buy Strawberry Shortcake to brush her luxurious hair! And the original MH line had several dolls that had short hair. Doing this to Toralei is a huge step backward for Mattel and I'm very disappointed in them.
I think the new MH G3 is going to be canceled sooner than expected...
DeleteEh, we'll see. I'm still positive about the line on the whole. It's really just this one misstep that made me angry. The kids will be the ones to decide how it does.
DeleteThe long hair is totally ridiculous, not to mention gross bc of that cheap fiber they're using. (Poor Clawdeen!) Anyway, what I would do, if they *had* to have long hair on the first one, is give her some character development in the story where something inspires her to cut off her hair. They could make another doll with her new look to double profits, haha.
ReplyDeleteEven with the garbage hair, I really want to get her and Cleo. (I already have Drac on the way to me.) Huge favor, but if you happen to see more than one Toralei at Walmart, could you grab one for me and I could send you payment? I'm asking mainly bc the Walmarts in my town in FL are abysmal and I can never find their exclusives. It's okay if you can't, just thought I'd ask.
Yeah, I'd be okay with it as character development. It just looks confusing and messy right now because we clearly saw the animation with short hair but the doll has long with no backstory. Maybe they'll make it okay somehow, but I'm not counting on anything.
DeleteTotally forgot to add that yeah, I can keep an eye out for Toralei. My stores are notoriously slow though.
DeleteAh, thanks for keeping an eye out! Yeah, I always dread Wal-Mart exclusives.
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