GOOD NEWS – these dolls are jointed! fantastic for posing! weeeee!
BAD NEWS – no Hispanic or Asian characters… FOUR blondes… ONLY ONE Afro-looking doll… a brunette with blonde bits…let’s read again – FOUR blondes… but NOT ONE Hispanic or Asian character? *stumped*
These facts were realised upon seeing the below image, since this series has yet to be released nor can detailed information be found… I do hope that my assumptions are totally wrong and we do get to see more Hispanic and Asian looking representations on the shop shelves in the future…
teeny tiny image
For a tiny bit more information of these future Fashionistas – Barbie Fashionistas @ Toy Shop UK
EDIT 14-08-09 – these dolls are now listed on barbie.com here… calling out for all those body snatchers 
artsy, sassy, wild, girly, cute & glam
… of course I post the above image and find a much better one immediately after… (the doll labelled “cute” on barbie.com seems to really be “cutie” according to the flyer)
Barbie Loves Peek & Cloppenburg
you can download the original pdf document from Peek & Cloppenburg here (1.6mb – better image quality + other stuff)
Tags: barbie fashionistas, epic fail, erasure & exclusion, mattel
Those dolls scream for head swap, reroot or repaint. Thanks to Mattel, doll customizers will never be extinct.
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Therese Reply:
August 13th, 2009 at 2:06 pm
It is most annoying because the Hispanic dolls are the ones that come closest to being similar to Asians and this time they are not even included. When will they stop pushing us out? When will they start to include Asians?
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jaquaw Reply:
October 4th, 2009 at 2:57 pm
The one thing I’m be doing is headswapping so I will have my ethnic representation no matter what, the “sassy” looks close enough for a Miko, or the exotic beauty barbie headswap, and the “artsty” one can be an afro Christie from one of the beach collections, or one of the SIS dolls, folks I’ve learned never rely on Mattel to come correct on anything Barbie anymore
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Ah, poseable dolls with – it seems – nice joints. Yay!
I’m not 100% sure that doll to the right – pink minidress – is “Black.” She reminds me of Kayla, i.e., the one-tan-fits-all-ethnic dolls. Mattel started the Fashion Fever line like that – Kaylas bu no Nikkis/Christies in the first few waves.
Back in 2000, Mattel made Barbie for President in a White, a Black, and a Hispanic version. There were protests that no Asian dolls were included. 2004 and 2008, Mattel included Asian American dolls in the Barbie for President line. Guess they need to hear from the public again to expand their ethnic line.
Is there any information as to why Mattel stopped producing Asian dolls – aside from the Collectors’ lines and the Toys R Us President dolls?
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chdenni Reply:
August 14th, 2009 at 4:36 am
When I first saw the Artsy doll I didn’t reconize her as a black doll at all.I I thought she was a tanned Summer .Then it was brought to my attention that she has the AA 2002/Desiree face sculpt. Hopefully when released she will have a darker tone and maybe she looks lighter against the bright pink background. Anyhow I do like the concept though the jointed knee joint looks like the old jointed bodies. I’ll wait and see what the irl dolls are like. It’s a relief to see dolls with regular heads again.
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D7ana Reply:
August 14th, 2009 at 9:56 am
Thanks, Chdenni, for the additional information about the mystery tan doll.
I could not distinguish the doll’s features from the photo so I hesitated about considering her AA. Either the lighter complexion or the darker complexion would do for me. Desiree is a medium brown so the new doll could look different either way.
I’m hoping for joints like the Pivotal dolls and the continuance of NORMAL sized heads!
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I do miss the variety. I remember when the Amazing Nails Dolls were released the first ones I got were Lea and Kayla. I miss that concept.
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I have the Amazing Nails Lea and Kayla dolls – incredible how Mattel can take one doll face/mold and transform the doll into a new character.
I miss the variety Mattel had around the mid-2000s.
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Thanks for the great links/pictures. I was hoping to see some more poseable playline dolls and really wanted to see pivotal bodies. This might be an ok compromise. Would like to see some more variety for sure.
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I know I’m going to buy Des and I going to use the other chicks to rebody my other dolls!
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Chdenni Reply:
August 16th, 2009 at 10:30 pm
I plan on this too but it will also depend on how much they are. They’re just a basic doll so if they’re $25 forget it!
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i am currently dissapointed in all dolls in 2009, at least in 2008 there were Hispanic, AA, and other characters…
this year what have we got?
in the Fashion Fever lines….. barbie, summer, teresa (hyspanic)
but there hasnt been any Ken (other than beach dolls) and christie/nikki.
i would love to see Lea, Kayla or even Kira return mattel wonders why girls are turning to bratz? there are no dolls that look like them or they can relate to.
2002-2006 they were great years for childeren and collectors of most racial backgrounds…and if you ever notice that barbie is always left on the shelf and her friends are always sold faster (if available) another reason why the bratz are selling there are sooo many characters and most girls unless they have a favorite have many different characters….
i agree the fashions are great…but there is really nothing new other than that!
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I think if any year they should have stepped it up, it should have been this one. Barbie’s 50th of existence? Gosh, they should have had playline designs galore. I’m so uninterested in these Princesses they keep coming out with. Put more emphasis on dolls to attract the adult collector other than collector series. We like playline too.
I did buy Artsy and Sassy. I love them. Sassy can work for other ethnicities. She’s not the same color as Barbie. Close, but not exact. I too believe Mattel should address the different shades of people. They have created enough shades to do it. Stop being so cheap and investing so much in securing the darn dolls to the box. Put that money into the dolls.
I too don’t wait for them to satisfy my thirst. I mix, match and customize to get what I want.
I’ll even go as far as dying and painting them. lol
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Articulated Female Action Figurine ( A.F.A.F.- i made that up) are hard to find and poseable Barbies are really rare. I’m happy that they made these dolls but I’m surprised that the company don’t make much ethnicity than any other doll companies besides the collectors items and black and white. I’ve seen so many people of color on every neighborhoods, YouTube, schools, news, magazines and so on. Asian, Hispanics, even Indians will be surprising though.
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[...] Every other Fashionista had the same white-girl skintone so I used a few of those to rebody some interesting heads I got through garage sales. Mostly brunettes and redheads from the 90s when the heads were not so large on the non-Collector dolls (Mattel calls these the “Playline” dolls). [...]
Trying to find the one called “sassy” but can’t…
Soooo excited to see such posable dolls just wish there was a paler skinned one
x
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