Current Mood : Clean and happy.
Whew ! Well,
I’ve nearly reclaimed the kitchen from the mess FIL and Beloved have left it
in. Gosh, what a job. Three hours of dishes this week and I’m still not done. I’ll
be so glad when it’s our kitchen I have to clean – we don’t eat so much fried
food.
I was
cleaning up from yesterday’s fun when I had a thought. With careful nurturing,
it didn’t die of loneliness, so I’m launching it out into the world. So. Many
of Barbie’s playline ‘designer’ outfits these
days come in a single package, with shoes, a purse, and an accessory. The clothes
are tacked onto a plastic body shape which is then attached to a cardboard back
that hosts a stylized image of the dream girl, with the accessories attached
around her. The flat image is shown as sort of ‘modeling’ the outfit. These
tend to run about six bucks or so.
In comparison
/ contrast, the Monster High clothes also
come on a clear plastic body, but their clothes are tacked to more of a paper
doll instead of a flat image. It nearly
looks three-dimensional, since the paper doll is lifted off the package back, which
is dramatically striped, and adds to the eye appeal. MH clothes tend to come with matching shoes, a purse, another
fashion accessory, like a belt or jacket, and a prop, sometimes with a trading
card. I’ve been able to find all the ones I have for $8. or less.
My question
is this – would you prefer less packaging and fewer props if it meant the
outfits were cheaper ? Or do you think Barbie’s stuff would sell better if it
came with small props that weren’t made of paper ? If everything else was equal
– the contents, the availability, etc. – would you prefer to play Barbie prices
for MH clothes with less packaging
and props, or is the extra couple bucks worth it to you ? I’m curious.
Me, I like
how the MH outfits are presented, and
I love the props. I just don’t like how character-centric most of them are. If
I could get off my butt and find some confidence, I could probably make a mint
off basic black skirts and pants for these dolls. Not to mention the cash for
guy-doll clothes. But those things are easy to make, so I’m glad Mattel’s
taking more of a fashion risk with the MH
line. There’s no way I could make most of those shoes, for one thing ! And
I do so love the shoes….
Ahem. Anyway.
Not a lot else going on today, but I hope to sew tomorrow. The rest of the
kitchen disaster should only take an hour or so !
To be honest I don't really buy either. Since I can and do sew (not as often as I'd like though) I prefer to make my own. I also take some issue with the shortness and often lack of material in the outfits in both the MH and Barbie lines. Now shoes...oh those lovely MH shoes, *sigh* they are fabulous but also the bane of my existence! LOL I am too cheap/frugal to pay more than a couple dollars for a pair of shoes, even though I KNOW how much time and effort goes into molding and producing even the most basic 'after-market' shoes. So most of my ghouls wear their stock shoes or ones I managed to pick up off evil-bay for a song. I am currently trying to figure out how to make some of my own too!
ReplyDeleteWhat I would *really* love to see is for Mattel to bring back what they did a few years ago, where they had kind of a "fashion station" in stores, and EVERYTHING was packaged individually, ranging from $1-4 per piece. That way you could get shoes cheap, shirts cheap, skirts cheap, etc, etc, etc, and not be stuck with a bunch of junk you'd never use. I thought that had been a brilliant idea on their part, and it's too bad they stopped packaging things that way.
ReplyDeleteI'd really love to be able to find items separately, like Heather mentioned above me. Oh man, my girls would have SO many shoes!
ReplyDeleteWhile I love the distinct look of the MH packaging, which does an amazing job of showing off the fashions and making them look worth the $8 or so, the cheapskate part of me can't help but wonder if they couldn't downgrade it a little to bring the costs down. Maybe a blister pack with cardboard back instead of clear plastic all around? Something, anyway.
I really haven't been into buying either product. With the Big M the fabric used is so cheap looking it's not worth what they want for it. I have bought 2 of the newest MH fashion packs but that's because they're not cheaply made.
ReplyDeleteI wish M was like they used to be years ago when there was some quality to their product. There has to be a great sale for me to pick up their stuff. Most of the MH stuff I do buy I don't keep it by character. I mix and match their pieces to what would look good on who.