Oh, Mattel… What’s Up With Skipper?

As many of you know, I collect Skipper dolls.  Skipper, Barbie’s little sister, has been around almost as long as Barbie. She’s had quite a few face lifts over the years.  Take a peek at most of them below… (As always, photos are mine and are not to be used by others without permission.  You can fave them on flickr if you’d like to reference them.)

I was super excited when Mattel brought out the 2010 Camping Skipper.  Blonde with funky highlights, she was an adorable re-introduction to Barbie’s Little Sister.

Now a year into the new Skipper line and I’m slightly less enthusiastic about the line.  The brunette Skippers have a slightly different head mold than the original 2010 release.  The most noticeable differences are that the original release has an open mouth smile, side glancing eyes, and blonde hair with brown and pink highlights.  The new mold, which has been used on the past five releases, has a closed mouth smile, a straight gaze, and brown hair with purple or pink highlights.

As far as hair color, I love the brown.  I’ve always been partial to brunette dolls, probably because I, myself, am brunette!  I take issue with the fact that if you look at the current Skippers together, they all look the same.  Their make up and hair are the same across the board  and the outfits are pretty similar doll to doll.  Take a look at the picture for a moment.

Do you see what I mean?  They’re all very similar looking.  While I understand it’s cheaper for companies to re-dress the same factory face/body, I really wish they would change the make up or hair styling a little.  It was rare to see the 90’s anime eye (or big eyed) Skipper in the same hair style twice in a row and she had a great deal of make up changes during her time on store shelves, so why can’t we get some with this new line of dolls?

While I will still continue to buy these new Skippers (b/c I wouldn’t be a collector if  I didn’t!), I really hope Mattel breaks the current cycle.  I love the facemold–it’s adorable–, but let’s give it a refresh!  (And yes, I will be telling Mattel this via e-mail…  Sometimes they need to know the consumers opinions!)  🙂

Leave a comment and let me know what you think?  Am I just being too picky about this?  Do you see the similarities between the line?  Does it bother you?  Let me know!