I also think is specially insulting that- not only Mattel and Monster high ignores the LOUD outcry about their terrible releases, they keep promoting unavailable dolls on instagram, almost as if they pretend to live on an alternate universe. They promote dolls weeks or months after release that they KNOW fans have been loudly complaining about availability and distribution. “Purchase howliday Draculaura this holiday season, the perfect gift for the ultimate Skullector”, or stop motions and pictures using the creeproduction dolls. Like ??? Not only you pretend not to see your fan’s outcry, you consistently promote unavailable products on your main social medias. And if you check the comments- all of them BEGGING for the slightest comment addressing the situation. And they keep silent and living on this pretend perfect universe. It’s beyond me how someone can look at a company like mattel- and the eay they treat the “superfans” and still want to support them.
That's very true! And those are the comments they leave up. I linked the Mattel Creations, Instagram post that had information about their pop-up where they were selling Pennywise again in my description, just for the sake of giving a source. But it's, in some ways, useless because they deleted a lot of the comments complaining about the prices. It's like when an influencer does something wrong and just pretends it isn't happening, Mattel just doesn't want to acknowledge what's going on
Back then when I was little, the narrative was when you have Barbie, you have the highest of high quality fashion doll. Sad how it’s kind of the opposite now.
Well, tbh it's a combination for more recent fashion dolls having a really elevated quality and lots of detail, and the standards of both consumers and the industry itself to have higher quality and more detail, and tbh I think it's getting out of control
I’m a BJD collector and BJDs are PURE ART. Companies regularly close down because they are always small operations, and everything is hand made and hand crafted. Whenever I hold one it’s like I’m holding a beautiful sculpture.
My friend rehomed her BJD to me and I love her so much! First BJD I ever had. I always wanted one but they are definitely an investment. My doll needs to be restrung and I will admit that the re-stringing makes me super nervous to do. I watched a couple videos already but it still intimidates me... I also bought my first Smart Doll from Danny Choo and I love her too. Definitely my favorite dolls I own. =')
@@beelzemobabbity after looking into it, it's honestly much cheaper to make a bjd (using air dry clay) than buy one. I'd say the supplies to make one (excluding the wig and clothes) are probably under $250 USD. You can color the clay with acrylic paint very quickly. Any kind of 3D printer is completely out of my price range so IDK about resin. I was planning on making them a while back but it hasn't worked out so far. Sounds really fun though.
One thing we need to keep on mind as...where is the bar for what is expected to pay Barbie was $3 dollars in 1959. She came on a box with one swim suit. Adjusting for inflation that is $33 dollars today, for a doll, with a swimsuit. 1959 her fashion's were anywhere from $1.50 all the way to $8 dollars. Today that is $16 for the cheap all the way to almost $90 for her most expensive piece. This needs to be remembered when we look at what we are getting now for the money. You can't judge/evaluate/appreciate something till you have something else to compare it too. P.S. great video. Was looking forward to this since the announcement. Good Job Oliver
@@Antonyallen429 Were Barbie's fashion packs THAT much in 1959???? In 1968-70 we could get Dawn and Friends fashion packs for maybe a $1.50, and THAT would go on sale/clearance for .75¢ I never had Barbie so, not doubting, just shocked when I think how how many Barbies and accessories my neighbor played with. 😳🤦 Dang we were poor!!!!
It must be agonizing to the soul to be a creative person and work at a big corporate machine that sacrifices your art for the Almighty dollar. We CAN have both, art AND profit, it just comes down to different personalities recognizing each other's strengths and weaknesses and contributing to the whole team effort.....🤔
i'm a little tired of doll companies releasing lunar new year and dia del los muertos dolls for $100 and calling that diversity, or at least consumers praising them for diversity, i get it, they have tons of details and are high quality collector dolls but idk how hard would it be to release fashion packs of traditional clothing for kids to dress their dolls up in, that would be sooo cute and way more affordable/ accessible
Then they'll probably be accused of cultural appropriation right? 🤨 (Not defending the capitalists, just anticipating the "danged if ya do, danged of ya don't" cancel culturists.) 😆
This is why I want to create my indie doll lines, I don't trust big companies like Mattel and MGA. What makes their doll brands hit low is because they don't want to tell good stories or morals about their brands anymore. I feel like these companies don't care about the children or the collectors. I feel really bad for the creators of Mermaid High, they've worked so hard to make the line creative. Although I don't agree with everything you say, I can see that the pandemic shows us how greedy these big companies are.
@@rumis.dollsss.15 True, but storytelling is also cater to everyone (not just kids). That's why I'm creating some of my own doll lines that has some great stories to tell, so are my friends.
I am an action figure collector here. Never owned a doll in my life but it is probably good for the hobby to know what is going on in the other aisles. We rarely get brands in decline in the action figure community, they have mild declines time to time but usually lines get overpriced and hibernate for years at a time. The monster high story was fascinating considering how it echoes several action figure lines. As a transformers guy, it amuses me that G1 has a hardcore fanbase in another brand. Mattel creations is notorious in the action figure community for very poor availability and very high prices. Their crowdfunding has a better reputation than their limited run figures if that tells you how grim things are. I can't even imagine the outrage if a buy-in was required to make a purchase as in the case of barbie or self-scalped re-releases as monster high.
I think this year corporate America has been pushing prices up because they can and we have no choice. I can only buy these dolls when they are on sale. They are paying for using her name and it gives them reason to over charge. I am not buying her.
The damge on the MH reel drama dolls was mainly due to them being shipped in literal bags, not boxes. Really good video and I agree that the pricing and greed has gone waaaay to far.
Paris Hilton is famously a barbie collector and has them all over her house. Ironically her doll looks like a birdeen maxwell production a character who was MGAE's original bratz villain along with the tweevils. They were blonde pink and obvious piss takes of barbie... Such a weird choice from MGA
I think that the Paris Hilton doll makes sense, just from a trend standpoint. Within the past year, there’s been a HUGE resurgence in Y2K aesthetics and fashion, especially within an older teen to early twenties demographic. Paris was obviously the embodiment of Y2K trends at the time and is still relevant with people as a source of inspiration for fashion and lifestyle. I think the doll will really succeed with the older teen demographic, and kind of a smart money move on RH’s part as they will capitalize on demographics they don’t usually cater to. Even younger kids as they start to see Y2K trends taking over TikTok and various other social media platforms!
I think if RH or any other doll brand had a TikTok influencer become a representative for the brand, they would become somewhat of a joke. Not that younger kids don’t enjoy their content, but especially within older demographics and even tweens-teens, a lot of big TikTok creators aren’t taken very seriously, they get a lot of hate. It would probably lead to a big loss in sales
Thank you for compiling all the sentiments in the doll community as of recently, this was a great video! Also what I said about the scalper conspiracy with the Reel Drama doll was this, someone got a message from the company they ordered the reel drama dolls, but the retailer cancelled their order, and they said that they were going to get a refund because the dolls were discontinued, after that, Mattel in their Twitter (I think it was) said that some of their products were going to be redistributed and people thought that the original message that said the dolls were discontinued was an attempt by scalpers to increase the already inflated prices, but I didn't follow the drama after that so take my comment with a grain of salt (Peachy Reviews has a video on it if anyone wants to check it out, it's called: _So…the Reel Drama Dolls AREN’T Discontinued After all???_ wont post the link because youtube may think it's spam haha)
I love Shadow High and Rainbow High, but I do agree that the prices are getting out of hand. The removal of the second outfits in future releases is also very disappointing to me. Blind boxes are also very annoying to deal with and the idea of blind box fashion packs feels so wrong to me. But the worst thing for me, is probably the rumors of Shadow High being cancelled just because they don't sell as much as RH apparently. I get that darker, more goth and alternative doll lines are more niche, but my Aspie mind fell in love with Shadow High and especially the Storm Twins (I am sure that this is very obvious from my anonymous username and profile pic, and I am even considering getting a second set of their dolls to keep mint in box, which I don't normally do, because I love their designs so much). And then I see the new information about the SH Jeep playset getting cancelled, which was very disappointing for me because I would have loved to get that to display with 'my girls' (how I personally refer to my Veronica and Naomi dolls in my collection, and yes, they are comfort dolls for me). As for Monster High, I HATE the constant scalper problems going on currently. Even some MH Gen 3 dolls are being affected by it and its stuff like that that has made me favor collecting Shadow High over modern Monster High, because they actually have good availability, unlike how certain newer MH releases are annoyingly difficult and near impossible to find at times. And with the MH Alumni releases, the distribution issues and the scalper prices are an absolute mess in my opinion. I haven't even tried to get any of the Creeproduction or the Reel Drama dolls, but the scalper prices scare me more than the overpriced, questionable, RH retail prices. As for the Monster High 2016 reboot, I was a teenager during that time and the criticism from me and many other fans was brutal, and I still remember it as one of the biggest tragedies in the doll industry that I have ever had the displeasure of witnessing.
I agree it's really sad that SH is probably on the way out, it feels like anything different or unique has to hits such unattainable sales to be considered worthy of maintaining
Yes the scalpers are Mattel. They create the demand then sell the stores a few hundred, give the scalpers the rest to sell for double or triple the price. I mean do we really know who they hire outside with different addresses?
Read up on publicly traded companies like Mattel. It's all about the stock market and share values. No more reinvesting in the company when they have a great year. Employees don't get raises or bonuses for meeting quotas, if they're lucky they don't get laid off and get to be employed another year. The EXECUTIVES get the big bonuses and stock buy backs.
After video: you pretty much hit the nail on the head. I still have high hopes from these brands just becuz of how good the design team is despite how much the companies try to undercut them. It just still amazes me that these companies still haven't figured out that cutting quality doesn't work
Mattel is also cheapening the American Girl doll line (they are thinner and the clothing is not up to par especially on the new Truly Me line) while raising the price, comparing them to the Our Generation line price point. OG is so much cheaper and the quality is great for the price. AG is lowering the quality/quality control. Also I am glad you mentioned the SCALPERS on the secondary market.
I love what you had to say in this video and I agree with you so much. It's one of those topics that I have a lot of opinions on, but I've never really been able to articulate my thoughts and feelings on the matter very well in my own videos. Thank you for bringing this topic up!
51:59 I'm glad that I wasn't the only one experiencing this problem I also saw people complaining that some of the retailers bought 16 Draculas. I have to mention this but today they just revealed the new haunt couture Rochelle, voted by fans (except the dress). I felt like the quality of the haunt couture line dropped drastically, compared to the 1st 3 release.
I don’t think MonsterHigh team was the problem I think it’s all because of Mattel and those higher ups not MonsterHigh. But something needs to majorly change and improve on those og sculpt and collector lines! Haven’t seen holiday Draculaura in stores yet and I do hope they fix their own issues and she is actively in stores and available for purchase equally to fans/ consumers.
I enjoyed your video and agree with all of your points. Unfortunately I find capitalistic greed EVERYWHERE post pandemic. I think the past couple of years have really hit companies hard all the way around (clothing, cars, food) and then the shipping issues with shelves empty and products unavailable for long periods of time...no help either. Now, hoping in the near future supply will improve, profits will stabilize and MAYBE doll companies will start listening to consumers. If not, being a collector for the past 8 years in all doll varieties, I keep myself satisfied by thrifting when possible for great deals (i.e. old Monster High, Bratz, barbies etc.) I'm halting my manic purchasing of Rainbow High ( I went nuts when they first released and had to have each line as they came out!) Also, LOL OMG dolls took over my interest and they are still a pretty good deal and various collector dolls in that line too! All in all I think we're held hostage to the companies prices/quality etc. because in the end it's always about the almighty dollar. Sad...anyway happy holidays and enjoy the doll hunt! I hope you find some great dolls for favorable prices :)
Definitely it's not a problem unique to doll companies, which is even more of a shame 🫠 I would love to see things across the board stabilize but I don't know enough about economics to know whether that's a reasonable hope haha
@@FaeryTaleDolls me neither....I wish everyone were as into dolls as us and could advocate for us haha! wouldn't that be great! I don't know what it is about these little gems that captivate us in the doll world but I know I'm a better person for them
The whole appeal of rainbow high was the second outfit, and when i saw them i had a thought but assumed “they’re holiday dolls” despite being just as expensive. Then i saw the leaks of next gen, its so disappointing.
mattel's membership used to include a quarterly coupon. It was $20.00 off with a $100.00 purchase, every 3 months. This year they stopped it though. I was very disappointed and would not have renewed my membership this year if it wasn't for the members only doll series that I am still collecting.
I personally think that when it comes to collector/reproductions they don’t really care. I think they are devoting more energy towards the new gen and the g1 style dolls are just a way to cash in on nostalgia. They want gen3 to suceed and the collector/reproductions are just afterthoughts.
I definitely agree, any passion is being directed at G3. I do love those dolls, so I'm glad it seems like Mattel is putting effort in with them. It's just sad that they can't match that energy with the collector dolls. Even if they do just want to capitalize on nostalgia, if they put in more effort, I feel like they would only make more money 😅
I wonder what Garrett Sander, having been on the inside, could contribute to the conversation. Can't blame him for getting out. Corporations devour creatives. Feels pretty soul-crushing.
Got my first barbie in Pakistan somewhere in the park (someone may have left it) and all I knew was that I want more barbies. They were expansive (and still are) and my only way to get one was through the thrift stalls. I, my sis was impressed with the quality and sturdy bodies. Sometimes I do search for the shoes, bags, brushes, combs, and furniture pieces that the owner would usually throw in the boxes. I kind of miss those days because of the quality and detailed accessories and barbie faces. Now I am doing a job and find tons of barbies on local thrift stalls and there is nothing that impresses me anymore. Barbie is just a piece of plastic these days quality has significantly fallen (for me) The only barbie I believe is good to buy is the m2m and barbie model muse bodies.
This was a very well thought out and well done video. While I only collect MH and “some” mermaid dolls I feel you really covered it with what is going on in the MH community right now I can’t speak for MGA cept their Mermaze which have SO much potential but are missing the mark some how. I only own one shadow high doll but their clothing quality is pretty amazing I wish if Mattel is gonna be charging the amount they have been which has slowly been increasing with every launch (and yes I expect they’ll try the same with G3 soon too though the dolls need approvement greatly small example is the paint coming off dolls bodies that have painted details like Mattel can’t afford sealant 👀) they could make MGA quality clothes, I mean they exist and there is a reason ppl do like them, also it’s not like the webisodes for G1 isn’t online still and they could still get new fans AND HAVE with G1 dolls so put them on the shelves for crying out loud. There’s no telling how long G3 will last if it will do well still in say 2 years I fully expected the beginning to be a success but do they have the staying power? Only time will tell. 2 years was the time space of the last reboot. While G1 lasted 6 years and could of lasted longer. Off topic but MGA characters seem extremely shallow, as stand alone dolls and not being into the fandom they can be quite spectacular dolls but if you delve into their cartoons to me at least they have no character substance while obviously the cartoons are just glorified commercials to get ppl to buy dolls I feel like MH least also was not only entertaining but the characters had qualities each very different from each other that had some substance. Idk how I feel bout the new cartoon I find it boring mostly only the G1 Easter eggs make it worth watching. The dolls aren’t terrible but they lack that certain something the original had. Like I said 2 years from now I’d love a peek into the future where it will be. They could totally do 2 universes and definitely have G1 to fall back on if G3 just fizzles out and make money off both in the mean time. Unless they step up G3 I do not see it lasting as is. It’s a novelty right now and novelties always wear off.
I also noticed that while yeah mattel does some serious fvck ups and mga appears better, their dolls are getting more and more expensive too and while their quality is better and they often come with extra stuff their dolls still have mistakes and the quality we ask goes up together with price which isn’t always good. It’s still better that mga listens to fans more often i would just like playline and mass produced dolls to be cheaper or for companies to take breaks between lines bc it’s hard to collect or just buy things as a parent if you’re bombed with so many dolls in short time
I’m not a part of the doll community at all and I still watched to the very end and learned so much! You explained things so clearly and gave enough background information that even my uninformed self was able to follow. Freaking amazing job with this video!
I had to completely disagree when you said Barbie doesn’t put out interesting dolls anymore. I’m completely biased in this opinion and I’m fine with that, but I’m a wheelchair user and it made me so happy to see a Barbie in a wheelchair that looked just like mine and with natural hair like mine. To me, that’s INCREDIBLY interesting! And so is seeing a doll with scoliosis, a doll with a prosthetic leg, a doll with albinism! I hate that Mattel sacrificed quality for diversity but damn do I find disabled dolls interesting. And I find these new batches of Barbie Extra really good too. I can understand that the focus is on whether a doll is pretty or not but I find representing disabilities amazing and I’m always so sad when these discussions dismiss or forget that.
Definitely a valid criticism. I do absolutely love that Barbie has more diversity than any other brand, and I would say that's the best thing about her right now. I was so focused on finding good examples of her decline that I managed to not mention in-depth the good parts about Barbie, so thank you for bringing this up!
Barbie has always and continues to be groundbreaking in diversity! One of my favorite things about her! Barbie Extras are so cool, and the Barbie Looks line is GREAT! Hang in there Barbie, I still love you.
Honestly, I recently started collecting dolls, however, the releases are too fast and the dolls are too expensive for that and as a college student with 18 credit hours normal semesters and 13 summer semester (I am an engineering major and this allows me to graduate early) plus 2 part time jobs for my resume. I just cannot buy all those dolls and I want to buy many of them but then I talk myself out of it because they are expensive for something that gets a new release every other month
Guys, you have the power! I know we love the dolls but when you know you’re being extorted, stop buying them. I still buy but I have limited my buying. The price is up and the quality is low
I'm still to this day upset that we never got the opportunity to get the creeproductions in Europe and other parts of the world. Cant understand how difficult it is for a huge brand to distribute and restock such sought after dolls that aren't limited or collector editions. And its not like people aren't voicing their opinions either. If you go to their comment section all people are asking is for restocks.
A lot of collectors Barbie’s are not as innovative as they should be for the price. Many lack articulation which makes them less modern than other doll lines. I’m also very interested in IT dolls, but the process for obtaining many of them is outdated and tedious. Even if you find a representative that sells IT their is no guarantee that they sell the doll you want. Their membership is also pretty hefty and if your only planning to buy a couple of dolls or a specific doll the membership does not seem worth the price.
This could also apply to Disney 23 and LE dolls. Dolls that are sold exclusively during D23 are harder to get without scalpers overcharging them because of their value.
At the end of the day, you vote with your dollars. If you're not happy with the doll because of the price quality or the aesthetic, don't buy it. If you only buy the dolls you actually like, eventually if enough people do that then the companies will see the trends and see what people like and what actually makes them money and hopefully they will use that information to start doing more of that since it is successful. Obviously numbers don't lie, and one person boycotting or only buying certain products isn't going to make a huge difference, but overall when they see the buying habits of everybody collectively, that's when it's going to start to really make a huge impact.
I agree with you that corporate greed has gotten sooooo out of hand. They use excuses that I don't believe. I did want to say that so many collectors have been complaining about the recent releases of collector dolls. I've heard that bots buy up the dolls , Mattel needs to find a way to stop that.
Not only everything is expensive as f right now and hard to get, but with mattel europe fans like me are shaking rn bc it’s even more expensive to get things here and also you don’t know how long you have to wait for something to be available
One of the most comedic things to happen in doll companies is how Monster High decided to soften themselves. Did the people who they were trying to appease give them the profit they needed?
I think the issue with Barbie is the "potato chip effect"... With inflation and things changing over the years, people don't want to pay a higher dollar amount. They want to see that same price sticker on the shelf even though it's no longer 2001 or 1996. A doll that was $12.99 back in 1995 would cost many more dollars today just because the value of the dollar has gone down. It's just like potato chips, people don't want to pay higher prices for the same amount, so companies are starting to release bags with a smaller amount of chips in them so that way they can sell it at the same dollar amount. A $3 bag today gets you a lot less chips than a $3 bag would 8 years ago. I know it's a weird analogy, but that's where my mind goes when people talk about Barbie. And just because the quality has gone down to keep the price point at what it is, that doesn't mean that the line isn't successful. There's a reason Barbie still has an entire aisle to her name, and the majority of the Dolls you see are the $9 fashionistas. They're hitting their demographic and doing well enough. We will know when it's not working anymore when we see a significant change to the fashionistas line again.
Yes, I got several dolls on clearance for $13 Canadian, which is around $10 US. That’s less than half price, and I am very happy with them, but clearly they were not profitable for the company at that price. One thing I noticed is that the dolls took a long time to sell out, even at the sale price. I knew about them because I watch a lot of doll content, but the general public likely goes for the brand names they know. A few boxes near the bottom shelves don’t get noticed. So, it is really hard for smaller companies to go against Mattel and MGA.
@@c.w.2000 I started up collecting again and I mostly buy dolls that are atleast half off. I just bought the Devious twins for $15 wasn't planning on getting them but it was such a good price. I have left my Oceana and Mari in their mermaid outfits the skirts and shoes are kind of ugly. Plus they have pretty mermaid tails.
I just started the video but yea I've noticed this and am so sick of it!!! "Special/collector edition" but with consistently dropping quality but increased price is disgusting! I would NEVER pay over $65 for a single playline doll no matter how beautiful they are! And most of these companies are asking for way more than that! And it sucks because the consumers with money to burn do pay these prices and the companies get the okay to keep upping these prices!
No other brand can beat barbie when it comes to inclusivity, different face molds and bodies. The Fashionistas proved that but i agree that the quality did go down.
When you said that maybe we should grab a meal I expected the video to be about 30 minutes until I looked at the timestamp and omg. I love long videos so I'm glad I have something to play while rearranging my display lol.
Rainbow High I presume used the strategy of buying the market as in they probably made little to no profit at first in order to have a price point that would secure customer loyalty. Once that was attained - the increased the pricing in accordance with true profitability (if not a little more - hence people’s current issues). It’s definitely a risky strategy but can ultimately be very rewarding financially (and creatively some would argue). That is rarely done w public companies (excluding MH year 1).
as an international collectdor, monster high distribution issues suck even more... we never got the creepros or the reel drama dolls... G3 also didnt release in my country yet idk it just makes me sad to see that they dont care for international buyers at all? another thing that makes me so sad are store exclusive dolls, because often walmarts and targets only exist in America, so theres no way for me to get for example, the shadow high costume ball dolls. expet for that, i totally agree with all of your points... it makes me so sad that artistry is often ignored by the companies just so they can turn a slightly higher profit
I don't get why rainbow high is on this list, when they're the only doll brand going on and beyond what other playline and some collectors dolls aren't doing. Many of the things I've seen on collector RH is, they either invest in a deluxe box(Maria) swarovski crystals(Roxxi and Paris) or just a lot of accessories(jett). These things can change the pricing a lot. I mean more accessories does not equal more value. Dollar store dolls have up to 10 dresses and those are horrible. Talking about prices, retail exclusive are priced by the retailers. Rockstar and Slumber party were supposed to be $40 but the retail made them $50. That's why the rainbowvision dolls were $40. The Paris boots are disappointing but other than that, she's pretty much worth her money if you look at materials and construction. If more doll collectors knew more about materials and how much they can change the cost, rh dolls would be a steal to them.
I think for me, the problem with RH is the lack of consistency. If they had always been a very expensive brand, seeing high prices wouldn't bother me. For example, LE Disney dolls are always very pricey. I personally rarely would spend that much on a doll, but I don't complain about the prices as much with them, because that's their established price point. With RH, as an example, they proved that they could make a quality collector doll for $80 with Lily. So for them to then charge $50 more for Maria seemed weird. If RH had always been that expensive, I might not buy from them because I don't always have that kind of money, but it wouldn't be disappointing. It's upsetting to see because sometimes their dolls are very affordable for what you get, and sometimes they aren't.
@@FaeryTaleDolls Maria is so much more expensive because of her intricate box. Also the fact her dress probably costed same or more as Lily's both outfit. People are just looking at the overall stuff the doll comes with and not the materials/construction which can add up a lot to manufacturing costs. Rainbow High spoils so much in play line that sometimes the collector look not worthy, but for most part, they are. Of course RH still needs to fix their gems falling off, especially for collectors.
If only RH had quality control with their face screenings tho! You have to pick whether you want wrecked lips, lopsided eyeshadow/liner, or the one where the glitter is scraped off or the one where she’s got weird glue splotches on her skin. Smh. It is truly a hunt to find an acceptable specimen
I think the reason why they had Paris Hilton colab was bc of her high fashion status and she’s a doll collector. If rh were to any collaboration with a celebrity, she’d be the first
I've never seen your videos before and I thought this was well done. I was an 90's kid and having bought some Hasbro and Mattel dolls of today, I was shocked at the change in quality. They quality on so many name brand dolls like Barbie can be lower than some of the cheap knock off dolls I had as a kid. Barbies and the Disney Princess dolls for instance are plagued by this plastic, paper like fabric for most of their outfits that is hideous. I bought a higher end Queen Anna and was disappointed when she arrived that even she had that thin papery material for her skirts. It's stiff, often has a raw edge and just has no shape or stretch to it. There is another factor that effects the quality of dolls/toys today is that more and more it seems companies have their focus on pleasing their stock holders rather than consumers. It doesn't matter that a company is simply profitable, it has to be profits at a level where their stockholders are happy. So you need to play things as safe as possible and make the toys as cheap as possible that your consumers will still buy so you can maximize profits to keep the stockholders pleased. You don't want them offloading stocks because if the stock value goes down, it's bad all around for the company.
I was at Walmart back when Monster High G3 first dropped but some guy was blocking me in the aisle. He was there looking at them and seemed interested (he also had his kid sitting in the shopping cart). And internally I was like "awesome! this guy is going to buy Monster High!" So I walked around for a bit and when I returned he was in front of the Barbies and his kid had a barbie in her hand instead, and I was like "oh, Barbie's not going anywhere ever". lol It wasn't a fashionista or a color reveal since it was more of a blister plastic packaging, so maybe it was a Barbie extra or one of those career line Barbies. I didn't want to stare...
I’m Disabled and would like a disabled historical doll from American Girl…. But there's a big problem, the characters come with fewer books that have shrunk. The Six book collections that Pleasent Rowland designed had 300+ pages combining the six books, and this didn’t stop with Beforever; Melody’s books were around 400+ pages before they were abridged. By about 50%. Also after Nanea American Girl retired the Mysteries, which each book is about 49,000 words. As the Mysteries tend to be more action/adventure focused, this would be more emotionally satisfying for someone whose disability prevents them from having adventures. At least that’s what it feels like to me. The shot Stories were also great. My motor skills prevent me from interacting with most of the clothing and accessories for the dolls, which can make most collector groups lonely. The books provide me a way to interact with my beloved dolls, and I wish American Girl would go back to the unique way it was.
mattel for 30years creates new lines of dolls or makes changes to barbie and then discontinues or slowly nullifies those to go back to the same model like blonde white ideal and none can persuade me this is not intentional i firmly believe they use new creative ideas to get rid of competition when they can't by court and when the competition gets bankrupt they discontinue those it has been done so many times to be just a cooincidence
Im someone who is into horror and yes you arent wrong dolls like the grady twins are boring but in this case it works for the movie its based on-the shinning and it have VERY different vibes so it makes sense to me that the grady twins arent grand and the most fashionable, the two are after all just identical creepy ghost twins and the dolls translated it perfectly Same with the bride of frankenstein-the movie itself is again very different from it and yeah the dolls are ugly but idk it is the frankenstein monster we are talking about-ofc his not gonna be a prince charming😭 I really think it depends on those who watched the films vs those who didnt cause to me i am digging all the skullectors we got they perfectly represented the movies they came from and their styles
Nothing to say to this review but I AGREE WITH YOU ON EVERYTHING YOU SAID 100%! You articulated what I would say perfectly! Love to watch this (twice) and I shared it with my doll collecting friends. Thanks so much for this!
this is no hate to you i just think it's funny and cute how you refer to the barbie brand as "she" like miss barbara is out here sweating in the factories trying her best to keep up with the doll market right now :,)
I have a wonderful collection of G1 Monster High. I love them! I never bought a single G2 doll, they were obviously not what I loved anymore. I do think the G3 dolls are a respectable new design, I like them, but I don’t see myself loving them the way I did G1.
Mattel’s non-committal mishandling of the monster high brand has completely killed my interest in the newest reboot. It’s sad as I’ve been a fan since I was a child, but MH just isn’t cutting edge anymore- certainly not with Mattel’s increasingly poor treatment of their customers.
Someone said it. I really loved Rainbow High dolls when they got first released. Their unique taste on current fashion brand designs and high quality at fashions, hair and makeup totally dragged me in. And then... It happened. More and more releases and it was impossible to keep track of it, getting more expensive in a post-pandemic economy. I'm afraid it might suffer the Monster High effect. Im seriously beggining to consider collecting bjd dolls
i tried to get the howliday draculaura doll i ordered her off of amazon sometime in October and would get her from September 15-25 then they pushed the date to September 30th but something happened and I never got the doll they gave me my money back but im still so upset since i really wanted her:(
today ı had my second comunication and media theories lesson, and it is very exciting to watch this video with that point of view, thank u for trying variety of content as a content creator, although we still give them lots of money it is very healthy to know about this in sake's of indivuality and society
btw I live in Turkey and my lessons are english xd so no for education purposes whoever reading this and thinking like Turkish people ride camels in desert (dont even get me started on reddit) no we do not xd
With the mermaid high dolls do you know how hard it is to put their freaking shorts on I don't own any personally but I have cousins that have some and they're Shorts are just so freaking hard to put on
about those blind boxes of rainbow high if you do your homework you will know whats in the boxes so you can get what you want. Not all the time but i say like 75% of the time you will get what you want.
I have seen the guides online, and those are very nice! My problem is that, in my area at least, I've never seen a display for the blind boxes that hasn't already been looked through so it gets a lot harder to find the good ones 😅
Nobody Is probably gonna see this, but I wish unique lines like Pinkie Cooper, Catwalk Kitties, and Barbie Pose Me Pets were more successful, so there would be a bit more variety in the doll isle
I completely agree, I get that "unusual" dolls won't always sell as well unless they hit the right niche like MH, but they're so refreshing and creative!
excellently researched video friend! i dont think you were being too sappy at all in the emotional part, monster high has had a massive effect on so many people, especially the queer community in my opinion. i may be biased as a trans monster high enjoyer and doll customer though lol. it does hurt to see so many companies screw us over for the sake of profit, ive definitely found a lot of comfort from the ooak and bjd community in that regard. its nice that we can still have pockets of the internet that are motivated by love for the art of dolls first and foremost
I like what you have to say, but I think you need to insert more images and video clips to make the video more engaging. You would sometimes describe dolls without showing a picture of them, and I was left wondering if I should pause the video to go look it up.
Mattels mishandling of monster high has driven me nuts, I cannot believe they are so awful with it rn. And the explanation for barbie being mostly.... stale rn would make sense. The only good dolls from barbie rn are some of the extra dolls and the cutie reveal (i will literally die for that gimmick, whoever greenlit that i love them) Now MGA... based on the upcoming lines for OMG, RH, SH and Mermaze, some prices are seemingly going down at least. Not by a lot, but its something at least.
I'm going to answer my thoughts in sections as I listen to you so I don't forget anything. For your first thoughts on Barbie. It's not just about the competition I think. I have been feeling like whoever owns the company now and hires the designers just doesn't care anymore. I am the exact same age as Barbie and was born on the same day she came out on the market. I had the original Barbies and they were made very well. Mattel used real fabrics and they made the most amazing clothes with cohesive colors. As we go further into time around when you are discussing, there was a huge change in colors many of which are very garish and don't go together; facial screening and styles. Mattel seems to have focused more on Monster High now since they own MH and they are putting all of their eggs in one basket MH. They Know that no matter what price they put on MH dolls they Will sell. 2. Yes, Barbie membership has changed. I have a membership so I can get the Retro Silkstones and MH; but it hasn't even helped me. I have only gotten two dolls all of last year on their website because they sold out; so it wasn't even really worth it for me to have the membership. Not sure if I will keep it. 3. Barbie sales seem to vary depending on location. I live in a very small town in New Mexico and we have a small old Walmart which is not a super store. I go there quite often looking for dolls and I rarely see Barbies being sold. Yet they keep putting out Barbies and having to put the old ones on sale. Nothing really sells except the one miraculous day when we got some MH which sold over night and haven't been seen again. 4. Rainbow High is pretty new to me and I only found them last year. I have only one or two of them. I have the Bella Parker Witch Costume ball doll and one other which I don't remember if she's RH. I have four SH dolls Natasha, Shanelle, Heather and Eliza. I don't plan on buying many of them because I'm not really into rainbow colors. I like pastels more and I'm picky of what I buy. Quality issues I can't speak to because right now my dolls are inbox. I am most likely going to be unboxing all my dolls soon due to needing more space. I have noticed that prices are all over the place with these dolls and that some seem to be oddly more expensive than they should be. Right now I only want to get two more that I've seen and will decide as we go forward in the year. I'm interested to see what else they will be doing. 5. I am relatively new to MH and came into collecting just a couple when they had the bad budget dolls. I used to collect dolls and had what I thought was a large collection of about 600 dolls; which is nothing to the massive collections some people have nowadays. They were destroyed in a disaster and I didn't get dolls for a long time after that. I have a small collection now and became very interested in MH when I saw some of the older dolls in videos. I did as I said above, get a Mattel membership so I could try and get some. I did as I said, only get two last year online and one when I unexpectedly had to go out of state. I found one Frankie boo riginal in a super Walmart out of state. My views on Mattel specifically relating to MH are controversial and most people either act like I'm crazy or won't even respond to me. I think Mattel knows Exactly what they are doing and that they may even be working with scalpers or have some of their own employees selling on Ebay, etc. If you look Before a doll is supposed to drop, even a day before, you will see people listing the dolls. Some of them up to five dolls. I had another doll youtuber be snotty with me about this; but I still think its Extremely odd that they would already know they were getting those dolls. Those of us who want them and really love them can't even begin to buy them unless we pay huge scalper prices. I tried getting Howliday Draculaura and was literally waiting online for a week; in the Q exactly when she dropped, and I still didn't get her. She was the One doll I wanted most all year. I am ashamed to say it, but I literally cried when I couldn't get her :( I've been watching the Elvira craze; which I also tried to get and couldn't even though I had actually paid for her, and then was told she sold out while I waited for a confirmation no; it's insane the prices people are willing to pay for her and the bids I see on her doll. In the end, I don't think Mattel cares at all about those of us who really love MH and just want to collect them; not to resell them. They care about profit and no amount of calling them; which I have done many times; complaining and crying isn't going to help. I'm interested to see if you respond to this or even see my thoughts and how you feel about my Mattel conspiracy ideas. I'm glad you made this video because most people seem afraid to address this issue fully. Take care Sweetie
Low-key appreciate you responding in numbered points, it makes it easier to collect my thoughts! 1) That is so awesome that you were born on the same day that Barbie came out, what a crazy coincidence! And such a fun thing to be able to tell people! 2) I do feel the membership would be more justified. If members were able to guarantee they would get dolls? The idea that a paying member might still miss out just seems kind of wrong to me. 3) It's so fascinating to hear how sales change by area. For me, the only time I've seen Barbie shelves empty is around the holidays. Otherwise, they tend to stay quite stocked up. 4) I am very much hoping that RH stabilizes in price. Even if they end up being a more expensive doll line, at least that way we would know what to expect. This constant guessing game of how much things will be and how quality they will be is exhausting. 5) Don't be ashamed for being emotional about missing out! I've definitely been there. Mattel just makes it so frustrating to buy these collector dolls that they hype up so much. My main theory is that people who scalp the dolls for profit have invested in bots/really high speed set ups, so that they can pretty much guarantee they got the dolls. I don't think your idea about it at least part of it being an insider thing is that outlandish, though. It's all together possible that some people from within the company are seeing a way to make extra income with their knowledge, kind of like insider trading on the stock market. Plus, if Mattel is artificially inflating the secondhand market by doing this, it honestly would make sense, because it would sort of bolster their reputation. Like forcing the narrative of "our dolls are so popular people will pay HUNDREDS to get them secondhand." I have also seen people talking about the fact that it looks really good to Mattel's shareholders when the dolls sell out super quickly, so, even though it's not good for the fans, it's beneficial for the company to make sure the supply is not meeting the demand. Thank you for taking the time write such an in-depth reply!
@@FaeryTaleDolls :) Thank you for your thoughts as well. I just got a response to a post on the Elvira Skullector doll maybe on my other profile as I have two here, and they said that one of the sellers told them that they have a friend/relative in Mattel who secures the dolls for them. That's pretty rotten to me just so they can resell them on Ebay :(
Thank you for the video. It was an insightful and enjoyable watch. Just so you know the problems experienced by doll collectors in the USA are minimal compared to those who live in other countries around the world. We have to pay even more than you do. So when complaining about the quality/ quantity VS price, please spare a thought for the rest of us.
I actually really appreciate you commenting this! Since I live in the US, that's what I am qualified to talk on. But I'm definitely painfully aware that our prices are low compared to other countries, and also that especially from Mattel/MGA we have an easier time getting a hold of dolls a lot of the time
i LOVED rainbow high, still HELLA do, but lately theyve just been upping up the prices and lowering the quality and creativity with designs (looking at you Flopsie Blande)... SIGH
there was probably no dark skinned barbie with purple hair in 2004, but also their faces didn't look like a pixelated photo printed off a phone. all bmr barbies are locally on sale right now due to quality issues and nobody wants them
OMG would I want there is be a pre order!!! I would rather give my money to Mattel then a reseller. I was lucky enough to get the first three HC dolls but I had to go the ebay path for Cleo and Lagoona. I was one of the lucky ones. Its just painful for the collectors and people may stop attempting to get them.
I live in a supper small Town roul aera and i haven't gotten any of the new Monster high dolls in both my Walmart's, G1 rerelease,No reel drama and no G3 dolls. I've been wanting a MH doll for a very long time and i kick myself for not getting on the collocting train for MH i manly collect American Girl Dolls but i love monster high and now that monster high dolls are back and i love the live action movie and the cartoon and it means the world to me. I began collocting Fashion dolls again with Rainbow High with just series 1 and 2 I don't have room to get the rest of the doll line. I really want monster high dolls more so then rainbow high because I can relate to MH more then rainbow high same goes for American Girl im a mattel buyer more so but i loved loved Bratz when i was younger. I loved your video by the way
You're a very intelligent individual. I look forward to hearing your analysis. 🙂🖐️ I think the public schools and your own critical thinking skills have done you proud. I have a high school diploma (then on my own into the work force at 18) and an associate of science degree that I didn't complete until my thirties. But I never. stopped. learning. Many of us fellow Americans are self-taught, autodidacts. We have a natural thirst for knowledge. More power to the folks who go on & get higher degrees, but let's give a nod to the folks with good old fashioned horse sense too. There are plenty of academia nuts walking around with the truly brilliant. I call it "book smart, but no horse sense". 😆
I am trying to figure out what dolls I might have given my 30 year old daughter in about 2000-2005. These dolls looked like Monster High dolls, but those dolls hadn't come out yet... unless I am way off on my years and I gave my daughter Monster High dolls when they came out in 2010. Anyway, if anyone is able to help at all, it would be much appreciated. These dolls were different colors like blue and purple and tall like the Monster High dolls... 🙏
I also think is specially insulting that- not only Mattel and Monster high ignores the LOUD outcry about their terrible releases, they keep promoting unavailable dolls on instagram, almost as if they pretend to live on an alternate universe. They promote dolls weeks or months after release that they KNOW fans have been loudly complaining about availability and distribution. “Purchase howliday Draculaura this holiday season, the perfect gift for the ultimate Skullector”, or stop motions and pictures using the creeproduction dolls. Like ??? Not only you pretend not to see your fan’s outcry, you consistently promote unavailable products on your main social medias. And if you check the comments- all of them BEGGING for the slightest comment addressing the situation. And they keep silent and living on this pretend perfect universe. It’s beyond me how someone can look at a company like mattel- and the eay they treat the “superfans” and still want to support them.
That's very true! And those are the comments they leave up. I linked the Mattel Creations, Instagram post that had information about their pop-up where they were selling Pennywise again in my description, just for the sake of giving a source. But it's, in some ways, useless because they deleted a lot of the comments complaining about the prices. It's like when an influencer does something wrong and just pretends it isn't happening, Mattel just doesn't want to acknowledge what's going on
contact them directly
Back then when I was little, the narrative was when you have Barbie, you have the highest of high quality fashion doll. Sad how it’s kind of the opposite now.
Well, tbh it's a combination for more recent fashion dolls having a really elevated quality and lots of detail, and the standards of both consumers and the industry itself to have higher quality and more detail, and tbh I think it's getting out of control
Please what are BJDs
BJDs are ball jointed dolls, essentially dolls that can move at the joints :))
Right?
I’m a BJD collector and BJDs are PURE ART. Companies regularly close down because they are always small operations, and everything is hand made and hand crafted. Whenever I hold one it’s like I’m holding a beautiful sculpture.
I would love to own one someday!
@@FaeryTaleDolls Resinsoul is a good and cheap legit BJD brand imo. I love their dolls.
My friend rehomed her BJD to me and I love her so much! First BJD I ever had. I always wanted one but they are definitely an investment. My doll needs to be restrung and I will admit that the re-stringing makes me super nervous to do. I watched a couple videos already but it still intimidates me... I also bought my first Smart Doll from Danny Choo and I love her too. Definitely my favorite dolls I own. =')
Im saving for a bjd someday. Theyre the most expensive thing i can justify lol
@@beelzemobabbity after looking into it, it's honestly much cheaper to make a bjd (using air dry clay) than buy one. I'd say the supplies to make one (excluding the wig and clothes) are probably under $250 USD. You can color the clay with acrylic paint very quickly. Any kind of 3D printer is completely out of my price range so IDK about resin. I was planning on making them a while back but it hasn't worked out so far. Sounds really fun though.
You would think Mattel would have limited the number of dolls people could buy - when there's a lot of interest. I agree Mattel is mishandling this.
At this point if they dont make enough dolls, I’d rather have Mattel not make any more alumni dolls since it’s honestly an insult to collectors
One thing we need to keep on mind as...where is the bar for what is expected to pay
Barbie was $3 dollars in 1959. She came on a box with one swim suit.
Adjusting for inflation that is $33 dollars today, for a doll, with a swimsuit.
1959 her fashion's were anywhere from $1.50 all the way to $8 dollars.
Today that is $16 for the cheap all the way to almost $90 for her most expensive piece.
This needs to be remembered when we look at what we are getting now for the money.
You can't judge/evaluate/appreciate something till you have something else to compare it too.
P.S. great video. Was looking forward to this since the announcement. Good Job Oliver
@@Antonyallen429 Were Barbie's fashion packs THAT much in 1959???? In 1968-70 we could get Dawn and Friends fashion packs for maybe a $1.50, and THAT would go on sale/clearance for .75¢
I never had Barbie so, not doubting, just shocked when I think how how many Barbies and accessories my neighbor played with. 😳🤦 Dang we were poor!!!!
the mermaid high story is one of the best examples of the profit motive destroying beautiful art, ugh it's so heart breaking
I saw some of the concept work for MH and it was SO cool and I was SO excited! Such a shame what happened, the designers are amazing.
It must be agonizing to the soul to be a creative person and work at a big corporate machine that sacrifices your art for the Almighty dollar. We CAN have both, art AND profit, it just comes down to different personalities recognizing each other's strengths and weaknesses and contributing to the whole team effort.....🤔
i'm a little tired of doll companies releasing lunar new year and dia del los muertos dolls for $100 and calling that diversity, or at least consumers praising them for diversity, i get it, they have tons of details and are high quality collector dolls but idk how hard would it be to release fashion packs of traditional clothing for kids to dress their dolls up in, that would be sooo cute and way more affordable/ accessible
Then they'll probably be accused of cultural appropriation right? 🤨
(Not defending the capitalists, just anticipating the "danged if ya do, danged of ya don't" cancel culturists.) 😆
This is why I want to create my indie doll lines, I don't trust big companies like Mattel and MGA.
What makes their doll brands hit low is because they don't want to tell good stories or morals about their brands anymore. I feel like these companies don't care about the children or the collectors.
I feel really bad for the creators of Mermaid High, they've worked so hard to make the line creative. Although I don't agree with everything you say, I can see that the pandemic shows us how greedy these big companies are.
I have been thinking about this so much lately. They aren't really caring about storytelling anymore. Everything is a money grab now.
It's disheartening because as a teen now, learning about the brands that emotionally touched me as a kid were just money grabs hurt.
It's also ironic because they would probably make more money if they actually cater to kids with compassion in their hearts
@@rumis.dollsss.15 True, but storytelling is also cater to everyone (not just kids). That's why I'm creating some of my own doll lines that has some great stories to tell, so are my friends.
I am an action figure collector here. Never owned a doll in my life but it is probably good for the hobby to know what is going on in the other aisles.
We rarely get brands in decline in the action figure community, they have mild declines time to time but usually lines get overpriced and hibernate for years at a time. The monster high story was fascinating considering how it echoes several action figure lines. As a transformers guy, it amuses me that G1 has a hardcore fanbase in another brand.
Mattel creations is notorious in the action figure community for very poor availability and very high prices. Their crowdfunding has a better reputation than their limited run figures if that tells you how grim things are. I can't even imagine the outrage if a buy-in was required to make a purchase as in the case of barbie or self-scalped re-releases as monster high.
I think this year corporate America has been pushing prices up because they can and we have no choice. I can only buy these dolls when they are on sale. They are paying for using her name and it gives them reason to over charge. I am not buying her.
The damge on the MH reel drama dolls was mainly due to them being shipped in literal bags, not boxes.
Really good video and I agree that the pricing and greed has gone waaaay to far.
Paris Hilton is famously a barbie collector and has them all over her house. Ironically her doll looks like a birdeen maxwell production a character who was MGAE's original bratz villain along with the tweevils. They were blonde pink and obvious piss takes of barbie... Such a weird choice from MGA
I think that the Paris Hilton doll makes sense, just from a trend standpoint. Within the past year, there’s been a HUGE resurgence in Y2K aesthetics and fashion, especially within an older teen to early twenties demographic. Paris was obviously the embodiment of Y2K trends at the time and is still relevant with people as a source of inspiration for fashion and lifestyle. I think the doll will really succeed with the older teen demographic, and kind of a smart money move on RH’s part as they will capitalize on demographics they don’t usually cater to. Even younger kids as they start to see Y2K trends taking over TikTok and various other social media platforms!
I think if RH or any other doll brand had a TikTok influencer become a representative for the brand, they would become somewhat of a joke. Not that younger kids don’t enjoy their content, but especially within older demographics and even tweens-teens, a lot of big TikTok creators aren’t taken very seriously, they get a lot of hate. It would probably lead to a big loss in sales
Thank you for compiling all the sentiments in the doll community as of recently, this was a great video!
Also what I said about the scalper conspiracy with the Reel Drama doll was this, someone got a message from the company they ordered the reel drama dolls, but the retailer cancelled their order, and they said that they were going to get a refund because the dolls were discontinued, after that, Mattel in their Twitter (I think it was) said that some of their products were going to be redistributed and people thought that the original message that said the dolls were discontinued was an attempt by scalpers to increase the already inflated prices, but I didn't follow the drama after that so take my comment with a grain of salt (Peachy Reviews has a video on it if anyone wants to check it out, it's called: _So…the Reel Drama Dolls AREN’T Discontinued After all???_ wont post the link because youtube may think it's spam haha)
Oh okay yeah I heard it was disproved but I didn't know all that!
I also love the way that you were able to talk about this topic while still being relatively impartial and respectful.
Hi Chad! 🙂🖐️
I love Shadow High and Rainbow High, but I do agree that the prices are getting out of hand. The removal of the second outfits in future releases is also very disappointing to me. Blind boxes are also very annoying to deal with and the idea of blind box fashion packs feels so wrong to me. But the worst thing for me, is probably the rumors of Shadow High being cancelled just because they don't sell as much as RH apparently. I get that darker, more goth and alternative doll lines are more niche, but my Aspie mind fell in love with Shadow High and especially the Storm Twins (I am sure that this is very obvious from my anonymous username and profile pic, and I am even considering getting a second set of their dolls to keep mint in box, which I don't normally do, because I love their designs so much). And then I see the new information about the SH Jeep playset getting cancelled, which was very disappointing for me because I would have loved to get that to display with 'my girls' (how I personally refer to my Veronica and Naomi dolls in my collection, and yes, they are comfort dolls for me).
As for Monster High, I HATE the constant scalper problems going on currently. Even some MH Gen 3 dolls are being affected by it and its stuff like that that has made me favor collecting Shadow High over modern Monster High, because they actually have good availability, unlike how certain newer MH releases are annoyingly difficult and near impossible to find at times. And with the MH Alumni releases, the distribution issues and the scalper prices are an absolute mess in my opinion. I haven't even tried to get any of the Creeproduction or the Reel Drama dolls, but the scalper prices scare me more than the overpriced, questionable, RH retail prices. As for the Monster High 2016 reboot, I was a teenager during that time and the criticism from me and many other fans was brutal, and I still remember it as one of the biggest tragedies in the doll industry that I have ever had the displeasure of witnessing.
I agree it's really sad that SH is probably on the way out, it feels like anything different or unique has to hits such unattainable sales to be considered worthy of maintaining
Tbh it feels like mattel is working with scalpers
Yes the scalpers are Mattel. They create the demand then sell the stores a few hundred, give the scalpers the rest to sell for double or triple the price. I mean do we really know who they hire outside with different addresses?
Read up on publicly traded companies like Mattel. It's all about the stock market and share values. No more reinvesting in the company when they have a great year. Employees don't get raises or bonuses for meeting quotas, if they're lucky they don't get laid off and get to be employed another year. The EXECUTIVES get the big bonuses and stock buy backs.
After video: you pretty much hit the nail on the head. I still have high hopes from these brands just becuz of how good the design team is despite how much the companies try to undercut them. It just still amazes me that these companies still haven't figured out that cutting quality doesn't work
Mattel is also cheapening the American Girl doll line (they are thinner and the clothing is not up to par especially on the new Truly Me line) while raising the price, comparing them to the Our Generation line price point. OG is so much cheaper and the quality is great for the price. AG is lowering the quality/quality control. Also I am glad you mentioned the SCALPERS on the secondary market.
I love what you had to say in this video and I agree with you so much. It's one of those topics that I have a lot of opinions on, but I've never really been able to articulate my thoughts and feelings on the matter very well in my own videos. Thank you for bringing this topic up!
51:59 I'm glad that I wasn't the only one experiencing this problem
I also saw people complaining that some of the retailers bought 16 Draculas.
I have to mention this but today they just revealed the new haunt couture Rochelle, voted by fans (except the dress). I felt like the quality of the haunt couture line dropped drastically, compared to the 1st 3 release.
MATTEL DOESN’T CARE ABOUT US! I’m glad I’m not the only one who thinks that. 🥺
I don’t think MonsterHigh team was the problem I think it’s all because of Mattel and those higher ups not MonsterHigh. But something needs to majorly change and improve on those og sculpt and collector lines! Haven’t seen holiday Draculaura in stores yet and I do hope they fix their own issues and she is actively in stores and available for purchase equally to fans/ consumers.
I enjoyed your video and agree with all of your points. Unfortunately I find capitalistic greed EVERYWHERE post pandemic. I think the past couple of years have really hit companies hard all the way around (clothing, cars, food) and then the shipping issues with shelves empty and products unavailable for long periods of time...no help either. Now, hoping in the near future supply will improve, profits will stabilize and MAYBE doll companies will start listening to consumers. If not, being a collector for the past 8 years in all doll varieties, I keep myself satisfied by thrifting when possible for great deals (i.e. old Monster High, Bratz, barbies etc.) I'm halting my manic purchasing of Rainbow High ( I went nuts when they first released and had to have each line as they came out!) Also, LOL OMG dolls took over my interest and they are still a pretty good deal and various collector dolls in that line too! All in all I think we're held hostage to the companies prices/quality etc. because in the end it's always about the almighty dollar. Sad...anyway happy holidays and enjoy the doll hunt! I hope you find some great dolls for favorable prices :)
Definitely it's not a problem unique to doll companies, which is even more of a shame 🫠 I would love to see things across the board stabilize but I don't know enough about economics to know whether that's a reasonable hope haha
@@FaeryTaleDolls me neither....I wish everyone were as into dolls as us and could advocate for us haha! wouldn't that be great! I don't know what it is about these little gems that captivate us in the doll world but I know I'm a better person for them
The whole appeal of rainbow high was the second outfit, and when i saw them i had a thought but assumed “they’re holiday dolls” despite being just as expensive. Then i saw the leaks of next gen, its so disappointing.
mattel's membership used to include a quarterly coupon. It was $20.00 off with a $100.00 purchase, every 3 months. This year they stopped it though. I was very disappointed and would not have renewed my membership this year if it wasn't for the members only doll series that I am still collecting.
Didn’t the membership cost more than the $10 it is now, though?
@@c.w.2000 I think it was the same price.
I personally think that when it comes to collector/reproductions they don’t really care. I think they are devoting more energy towards the new gen and the g1 style dolls are just a way to cash in on nostalgia. They want gen3 to suceed and the collector/reproductions are just afterthoughts.
I definitely agree, any passion is being directed at G3. I do love those dolls, so I'm glad it seems like Mattel is putting effort in with them. It's just sad that they can't match that energy with the collector dolls. Even if they do just want to capitalize on nostalgia, if they put in more effort, I feel like they would only make more money 😅
I wonder what Garrett Sander, having been on the inside, could contribute to the conversation. Can't blame him for getting out. Corporations devour creatives. Feels pretty soul-crushing.
Got my first barbie in Pakistan somewhere in the park (someone may have left it) and all I knew was that I want more barbies. They were expansive (and still are) and my only way to get one was through the thrift stalls. I, my sis was impressed with the quality and sturdy bodies. Sometimes I do search for the shoes, bags, brushes, combs, and furniture pieces that the owner would usually throw in the boxes. I kind of miss those days because of the quality and detailed accessories and barbie faces. Now I am doing a job and find tons of barbies on local thrift stalls and there is nothing that impresses me anymore. Barbie is just a piece of plastic these days quality has significantly fallen (for me) The only barbie I believe is good to buy is the m2m and barbie model muse bodies.
This was a very well thought out and well done video. While I only collect MH and “some” mermaid dolls I feel you really covered it with what is going on in the MH community right now I can’t speak for MGA cept their Mermaze which have SO much potential but are missing the mark some how. I only own one shadow high doll but their clothing quality is pretty amazing I wish if Mattel is gonna be charging the amount they have been which has slowly been increasing with every launch (and yes I expect they’ll try the same with G3 soon too though the dolls need approvement greatly small example is the paint coming off dolls bodies that have painted details like Mattel can’t afford sealant 👀) they could make MGA quality clothes, I mean they exist and there is a reason ppl do like them, also it’s not like the webisodes for G1 isn’t online still and they could still get new fans AND HAVE with G1 dolls so put them on the shelves for crying out loud. There’s no telling how long G3 will last if it will do well still in say 2 years I fully expected the beginning to be a success but do they have the staying power? Only time will tell. 2 years was the time space of the last reboot. While G1 lasted 6 years and could of lasted longer. Off topic but MGA characters seem extremely shallow, as stand alone dolls and not being into the fandom they can be quite spectacular dolls but if you delve into their cartoons to me at least they have no character substance while obviously the cartoons are just glorified commercials to get ppl to buy dolls I feel like MH least also was not only entertaining but the characters had qualities each very different from each other that had some substance. Idk how I feel bout the new cartoon I find it boring mostly only the G1 Easter eggs make it worth watching. The dolls aren’t terrible but they lack that certain something the original had. Like I said 2 years from now I’d love a peek into the future where it will be. They could totally do 2 universes and definitely have G1 to fall back on if G3 just fizzles out and make money off both in the mean time. Unless they step up G3 I do not see it lasting as is. It’s a novelty right now and novelties always wear off.
I also noticed that while yeah mattel does some serious fvck ups and mga appears better, their dolls are getting more and more expensive too and while their quality is better and they often come with extra stuff their dolls still have mistakes and the quality we ask goes up together with price which isn’t always good. It’s still better that mga listens to fans more often i would just like playline and mass produced dolls to be cheaper or for companies to take breaks between lines bc it’s hard to collect or just buy things as a parent if you’re bombed with so many dolls in short time
I’m not a part of the doll community at all and I still watched to the very end and learned so much! You explained things so clearly and gave enough background information that even my uninformed self was able to follow. Freaking amazing job with this video!
That means so much thank you!!
I had to completely disagree when you said Barbie doesn’t put out interesting dolls anymore. I’m completely biased in this opinion and I’m fine with that, but I’m a wheelchair user and it made me so happy to see a Barbie in a wheelchair that looked just like mine and with natural hair like mine. To me, that’s INCREDIBLY interesting! And so is seeing a doll with scoliosis, a doll with a prosthetic leg, a doll with albinism! I hate that Mattel sacrificed quality for diversity but damn do I find disabled dolls interesting. And I find these new batches of Barbie Extra really good too. I can understand that the focus is on whether a doll is pretty or not but I find representing disabilities amazing and I’m always so sad when these discussions dismiss or forget that.
Definitely a valid criticism. I do absolutely love that Barbie has more diversity than any other brand, and I would say that's the best thing about her right now. I was so focused on finding good examples of her decline that I managed to not mention in-depth the good parts about Barbie, so thank you for bringing this up!
Barbie has always and continues to be groundbreaking in diversity! One of my favorite things about her! Barbie Extras are so cool, and the Barbie Looks line is GREAT! Hang in there Barbie, I still love you.
Honestly, I recently started collecting dolls, however, the releases are too fast and the dolls are too expensive for that and as a college student with 18 credit hours normal semesters and 13 summer semester (I am an engineering major and this allows me to graduate early) plus 2 part time jobs for my resume. I just cannot buy all those dolls and I want to buy many of them but then I talk myself out of it because they are expensive for something that gets a new release every other month
Guys, you have the power! I know we love the dolls but when you know you’re being extorted, stop buying them. I still buy but I have limited my buying. The price is up and the quality is low
I'm still to this day upset that we never got the opportunity to get the creeproductions in Europe and other parts of the world. Cant understand how difficult it is for a huge brand to distribute and restock such sought after dolls that aren't limited or collector editions. And its not like people aren't voicing their opinions either. If you go to their comment section all people are asking is for restocks.
A lot of collectors Barbie’s are not as innovative as they should be for the price. Many lack articulation which makes them less modern than other doll lines. I’m also very interested in IT dolls, but the process for obtaining many of them is outdated and tedious. Even if you find a representative that sells IT their is no guarantee that they sell the doll you want. Their membership is also pretty hefty and if your only planning to buy a couple of dolls or a specific doll the membership does not seem worth the price.
This could also apply to Disney 23 and LE dolls. Dolls that are sold exclusively during D23 are harder to get without scalpers overcharging them because of their value.
At the end of the day, you vote with your dollars. If you're not happy with the doll because of the price quality or the aesthetic, don't buy it. If you only buy the dolls you actually like, eventually if enough people do that then the companies will see the trends and see what people like and what actually makes them money and hopefully they will use that information to start doing more of that since it is successful. Obviously numbers don't lie, and one person boycotting or only buying certain products isn't going to make a huge difference, but overall when they see the buying habits of everybody collectively, that's when it's going to start to really make a huge impact.
I agree with you that corporate greed has gotten sooooo out of hand. They use excuses that I don't believe. I did want to say that so many collectors have been complaining about the recent releases of collector dolls. I've heard that bots buy up the dolls , Mattel needs to find a way to stop that.
I wonder if people working in Mattel are scalping them themselves?
Not only everything is expensive as f right now and hard to get, but with mattel europe fans like me are shaking rn bc it’s even more expensive to get things here and also you don’t know how long you have to wait for something to be available
This is officially my favorite video on UA-cam. Really well done, Oliver! You were so thorough that I don't even have anything to add 😺😺
Stop omg 😭 That's a very high honor thank you so much!! I'm really happy you liked it 🥰
One of the most comedic things to happen in doll companies is how Monster High decided to soften themselves. Did the people who they were trying to appease give them the profit they needed?
You mean the baby faced reboot? Yeah.
I think the issue with Barbie is the "potato chip effect"... With inflation and things changing over the years, people don't want to pay a higher dollar amount. They want to see that same price sticker on the shelf even though it's no longer 2001 or 1996. A doll that was $12.99 back in 1995 would cost many more dollars today just because the value of the dollar has gone down. It's just like potato chips, people don't want to pay higher prices for the same amount, so companies are starting to release bags with a smaller amount of chips in them so that way they can sell it at the same dollar amount. A $3 bag today gets you a lot less chips than a $3 bag would 8 years ago. I know it's a weird analogy, but that's where my mind goes when people talk about Barbie. And just because the quality has gone down to keep the price point at what it is, that doesn't mean that the line isn't successful. There's a reason Barbie still has an entire aisle to her name, and the majority of the Dolls you see are the $9 fashionistas. They're hitting their demographic and doing well enough. We will know when it's not working anymore when we see a significant change to the fashionistas line again.
But if you buy Mermaid High now you can get them for $7. At that price they are pretty good dolls.
Very true!
Yes, I got several dolls on clearance for $13 Canadian, which is around $10 US. That’s less than half price, and I am very happy with them, but clearly they were not profitable for the company at that price. One thing I noticed is that the dolls took a long time to sell out, even at the sale price. I knew about them because I watch a lot of doll content, but the general public likely goes for the brand names they know. A few boxes near the bottom shelves don’t get noticed. So, it is really hard for smaller companies to go against Mattel and MGA.
@@c.w.2000 I started up collecting again and I mostly buy dolls that are atleast half off. I just bought the Devious twins for $15 wasn't planning on getting them but it was such a good price. I have left my Oceana and Mari in their mermaid outfits the skirts and shoes are kind of ugly. Plus they have pretty mermaid tails.
I searched up mermaid high and oh my god the difference. The prototypes look so much better and I would’ve bought a couple too has they kept that look
I agree with you on everything my six dolls boxes are all crushed I had to unbox and I wanted to keep inbox
I just started the video but yea I've noticed this and am so sick of it!!! "Special/collector edition" but with consistently dropping quality but increased price is disgusting!
I would NEVER pay over $65 for a single playline doll no matter how beautiful they are! And most of these companies are asking for way more than that!
And it sucks because the consumers with money to burn do pay these prices and the companies get the okay to keep upping these prices!
It is true. I watched an old video from a channel and they did give you discounts on more purchases
No other brand can beat barbie when it comes to inclusivity, different face molds and bodies. The Fashionistas proved that but i agree that the quality did go down.
Rainbow High's weird pricing is the reason why I only buy them on sale
When you said that maybe we should grab a meal I expected the video to be about 30 minutes until I looked at the timestamp and omg.
I love long videos so I'm glad I have something to play while rearranging my display lol.
Rainbow High I presume used the strategy of buying the market as in they probably made little to no profit at first in order to have a price point that would secure customer loyalty. Once that was attained - the increased the pricing in accordance with true profitability (if not a little more - hence people’s current issues). It’s definitely a risky strategy but can ultimately be very rewarding financially (and creatively some would argue). That is rarely done w public companies (excluding MH year 1).
That's exactly what I thought.
The haute couture dolls are now on Amazon , but $ 130 -150
The sad part is that's a good price compared to some listings 🥲
Very well said, thank you for putting this frustrating issue into the right words, Great video!
as an international collectdor, monster high distribution issues suck even more... we never got the creepros or the reel drama dolls... G3 also didnt release in my country yet
idk it just makes me sad to see that they dont care for international buyers at all?
another thing that makes me so sad are store exclusive dolls, because often walmarts and targets only exist in America, so theres no way for me to get for example, the shadow high costume ball dolls.
expet for that, i totally agree with all of your points... it makes me so sad that artistry is often ignored by the companies just so they can turn a slightly higher profit
I love this😭 thank u for going in depth into this ongoing issue, u did perfectly! 💕👏🏻🔥🥰
This is an awesome video!❤ I love how you break down the issues mentioned.
I don't get why rainbow high is on this list, when they're the only doll brand going on and beyond what other playline and some collectors dolls aren't doing. Many of the things I've seen on collector RH is, they either invest in a deluxe box(Maria) swarovski crystals(Roxxi and Paris) or just a lot of accessories(jett). These things can change the pricing a lot. I mean more accessories does not equal more value. Dollar store dolls have up to 10 dresses and those are horrible. Talking about prices, retail exclusive are priced by the retailers. Rockstar and Slumber party were supposed to be $40 but the retail made them $50. That's why the rainbowvision dolls were $40. The Paris boots are disappointing but other than that, she's pretty much worth her money if you look at materials and construction.
If more doll collectors knew more about materials and how much they can change the cost, rh dolls would be a steal to them.
I think for me, the problem with RH is the lack of consistency. If they had always been a very expensive brand, seeing high prices wouldn't bother me. For example, LE Disney dolls are always very pricey. I personally rarely would spend that much on a doll, but I don't complain about the prices as much with them, because that's their established price point.
With RH, as an example, they proved that they could make a quality collector doll for $80 with Lily. So for them to then charge $50 more for Maria seemed weird. If RH had always been that expensive, I might not buy from them because I don't always have that kind of money, but it wouldn't be disappointing. It's upsetting to see because sometimes their dolls are very affordable for what you get, and sometimes they aren't.
@@FaeryTaleDolls Maria is so much more expensive because of her intricate box. Also the fact her dress probably costed same or more as Lily's both outfit. People are just looking at the overall stuff the doll comes with and not the materials/construction which can add up a lot to manufacturing costs. Rainbow High spoils so much in play line that sometimes the collector look not worthy, but for most part, they are. Of course RH still needs to fix their gems falling off, especially for collectors.
If it was only the gems that were falling off! The clothes can't be played with.
If only RH had quality control with their face screenings tho! You have to pick whether you want wrecked lips, lopsided eyeshadow/liner, or the one where the glitter is scraped off or the one where she’s got weird glue splotches on her skin. Smh. It is truly a hunt to find an acceptable specimen
Agree. I love rainbow high. Finally, a company cares about their collectors
I think the reason why they had Paris Hilton colab was bc of her high fashion status and she’s a doll collector. If rh were to any collaboration with a celebrity, she’d be the first
I've never seen your videos before and I thought this was well done. I was an 90's kid and having bought some Hasbro and Mattel dolls of today, I was shocked at the change in quality. They quality on so many name brand dolls like Barbie can be lower than some of the cheap knock off dolls I had as a kid. Barbies and the Disney Princess dolls for instance are plagued by this plastic, paper like fabric for most of their outfits that is hideous. I bought a higher end Queen Anna and was disappointed when she arrived that even she had that thin papery material for her skirts. It's stiff, often has a raw edge and just has no shape or stretch to it.
There is another factor that effects the quality of dolls/toys today is that more and more it seems companies have their focus on pleasing their stock holders rather than consumers. It doesn't matter that a company is simply profitable, it has to be profits at a level where their stockholders are happy. So you need to play things as safe as possible and make the toys as cheap as possible that your consumers will still buy so you can maximize profits to keep the stockholders pleased. You don't want them offloading stocks because if the stock value goes down, it's bad all around for the company.
I was at Walmart back when Monster High G3 first dropped but some guy was blocking me in the aisle. He was there looking at them and seemed interested (he also had his kid sitting in the shopping cart). And internally I was like "awesome! this guy is going to buy Monster High!" So I walked around for a bit and when I returned he was in front of the Barbies and his kid had a barbie in her hand instead, and I was like "oh, Barbie's not going anywhere ever". lol
It wasn't a fashionista or a color reveal since it was more of a blister plastic packaging, so maybe it was a Barbie extra or one of those career line Barbies. I didn't want to stare...
That’s so sad.
I’m Disabled and would like a disabled historical doll from American Girl…. But there's a big problem, the characters come with fewer books that have shrunk. The Six book collections that Pleasent Rowland designed had 300+ pages combining the six books, and this didn’t stop with Beforever; Melody’s books were around 400+ pages before they were abridged. By about 50%. Also after Nanea American Girl retired the Mysteries, which each book is about 49,000 words. As the Mysteries tend to be more action/adventure focused, this would be more emotionally satisfying for someone whose disability prevents them from having adventures. At least that’s what it feels like to me. The shot Stories were also great. My motor skills prevent me from interacting with most of the clothing and accessories for the dolls, which can make most collector groups lonely. The books provide me a way to interact with my beloved dolls, and I wish American Girl would go back to the unique way it was.
mattel for 30years creates new lines of dolls or makes changes to barbie and then discontinues or slowly nullifies those to go back to the same model like blonde white ideal and none can persuade me this is not intentional i firmly believe they use new creative ideas to get rid of competition when they can't by court and when the competition gets bankrupt they discontinue those it has been done so many times to be just a cooincidence
Im someone who is into horror and yes you arent wrong dolls like the grady twins are boring but in this case it works for the movie its based on-the shinning and it have VERY different vibes so it makes sense to me that the grady twins arent grand and the most fashionable, the two are after all just identical creepy ghost twins and the dolls translated it perfectly
Same with the bride of frankenstein-the movie itself is again very different from it and yeah the dolls are ugly but idk it is the frankenstein monster we are talking about-ofc his not gonna be a prince charming😭
I really think it depends on those who watched the films vs those who didnt cause to me i am digging all the skullectors we got they perfectly represented the movies they came from and their styles
The 100 dollar collector Barbie’s have almost always been worse than the 20 dollar looks collection.
Nothing to say to this review but I AGREE WITH YOU ON EVERYTHING YOU SAID 100%!
You articulated what I would say perfectly!
Love to watch this (twice) and I shared it with my doll collecting friends.
Thanks so much for this!
No thank you!! That's very high praise and I really appreciate it 🥰
this is no hate to you i just think it's funny and cute how you refer to the barbie brand as "she" like miss barbara is out here sweating in the factories trying her best to keep up with the doll market right now :,)
Thank you! Great discussion 🙂🖐️
I have a wonderful collection of G1 Monster High. I love them! I never bought a single G2 doll, they were obviously not what I loved anymore. I do think the G3 dolls are a respectable new design, I like them, but I don’t see myself loving them the way I did G1.
Mattel’s non-committal mishandling of the monster high brand has completely killed my interest in the newest reboot. It’s sad as I’ve been a fan since I was a child, but MH just isn’t cutting edge anymore- certainly not with Mattel’s increasingly poor treatment of their customers.
Someone said it. I really loved Rainbow High dolls when they got first released. Their unique taste on current fashion brand designs and high quality at fashions, hair and makeup totally dragged me in. And then... It happened. More and more releases and it was impossible to keep track of it, getting more expensive in a post-pandemic economy. I'm afraid it might suffer the Monster High effect.
Im seriously beggining to consider collecting bjd dolls
i tried to get the howliday draculaura doll i ordered her off of amazon sometime in October and would get her from September 15-25 then they pushed the date to September 30th but something happened and I never got the doll they gave me my money back but im still so upset since i really wanted her:(
I'm sorry that happened to you! I've seen a lot of similar stories, it's awful
today ı had my second comunication and media theories lesson, and it is very exciting to watch this video with that point of view, thank u for trying variety of content as a content creator, although we still give them lots of money it is very healthy to know about this in sake's of indivuality and society
btw I live in Turkey and my lessons are english xd so no for education purposes whoever reading this and thinking like Turkish people ride camels in desert (dont even get me started on reddit) no we do not xd
Your videos are ALWAYS fair and balanced but most importantly interesting!!!! Don't ever sell yourself short, your opinions are so valid!❤❤❤❤❤❤❤
With the mermaid high dolls do you know how hard it is to put their freaking shorts on I don't own any personally but I have cousins that have some and they're Shorts are just so freaking hard to put on
about those blind boxes of rainbow high if you do your homework you will know whats in the boxes so you can get what you want. Not all the time but i say like 75% of the time you will get what you want.
I have seen the guides online, and those are very nice! My problem is that, in my area at least, I've never seen a display for the blind boxes that hasn't already been looked through so it gets a lot harder to find the good ones 😅
Nobody Is probably gonna see this, but I wish unique lines like Pinkie Cooper, Catwalk Kitties, and Barbie Pose Me Pets were more successful, so there would be a bit more variety in the doll isle
I completely agree, I get that "unusual" dolls won't always sell as well unless they hit the right niche like MH, but they're so refreshing and creative!
@@FaeryTaleDolls I wish more people would talk about them, especially pose me pets cause I never see any mentions of them.
@@JAY-1-2-3-4 I actually hadn't heard of them, but looked them up when you commented and they're super cute!
excellently researched video friend! i dont think you were being too sappy at all in the emotional part, monster high has had a massive effect on so many people, especially the queer community in my opinion. i may be biased as a trans monster high enjoyer and doll customer though lol. it does hurt to see so many companies screw us over for the sake of profit, ive definitely found a lot of comfort from the ooak and bjd community in that regard. its nice that we can still have pockets of the internet that are motivated by love for the art of dolls first and foremost
I agree, the custom community is sometimes a really refreshing escape from the craziness of big doll brands!
I'm so sorry about Mermaid High 😢 I just got one and I love it. The line had potential. I have Oceana ❤
I like what you have to say, but I think you need to insert more images and video clips to make the video more engaging. You would sometimes describe dolls without showing a picture of them, and I was left wondering if I should pause the video to go look it up.
I appreciate the feedback!
mattel did make a great integrity dolls budget line with their barbie looks series ❤❤❤
hilton had a pretty explosive documentary come out in 2020, hence the renaissance. still, the doll doesn't look like her and is overpriced
Oh yes a queer anti-capitalist doll video is what my heart has been yearning for
Mattels mishandling of monster high has driven me nuts, I cannot believe they are so awful with it rn. And the explanation for barbie being mostly.... stale rn would make sense. The only good dolls from barbie rn are some of the extra dolls and the cutie reveal (i will literally die for that gimmick, whoever greenlit that i love them)
Now MGA... based on the upcoming lines for OMG, RH, SH and Mermaze, some prices are seemingly going down at least. Not by a lot, but its something at least.
I'm going to answer my thoughts in sections as I listen to you so I don't forget anything. For your first thoughts on Barbie. It's not just about the competition I think. I have been feeling like whoever owns the company now and hires the designers just doesn't care anymore. I am the exact same age as Barbie and was born on the same day she came out on the market. I had the original Barbies and they were made very well. Mattel used real fabrics and they made the most amazing clothes with cohesive colors. As we go further into time around when you are discussing, there was a huge change in colors many of which are very garish and don't go together; facial screening and styles. Mattel seems to have focused more on Monster High now since they own MH and they are putting all of their eggs in one basket MH. They Know that no matter what price they put on MH dolls they Will sell.
2. Yes, Barbie membership has changed. I have a membership so I can get the Retro Silkstones and MH; but it hasn't even helped me. I have only gotten two dolls all of last year on their website because they sold out; so it wasn't even really worth it for me to have the membership. Not sure if I will keep it. 3. Barbie sales seem to vary depending on location. I live in a very small town in New Mexico and we have a small old Walmart which is not a super store. I go there quite often looking for dolls and I rarely see Barbies being sold. Yet they keep putting out Barbies and having to put the old ones on sale. Nothing really sells except the one miraculous day when we got some MH which sold over night and haven't been seen again. 4. Rainbow High is pretty new to me and I only found them last year. I have only one or two of them. I have the Bella Parker Witch Costume ball doll and one other which I don't remember if she's RH. I have four SH dolls Natasha, Shanelle, Heather and Eliza. I don't plan on buying many of them because I'm not really into rainbow colors. I like pastels more and I'm picky of what I buy. Quality issues I can't speak to because right now my dolls are inbox. I am most likely going to be unboxing all my dolls soon due to needing more space. I have noticed that prices are all over the place with these dolls and that some seem to be oddly more expensive than they should be. Right now I only want to get two more that I've seen and will decide as we go forward in the year. I'm interested to see what else they will be doing. 5. I am relatively new to MH and came into collecting just a couple when they had the bad budget dolls. I used to collect dolls and had what I thought was a large collection of about 600 dolls; which is nothing to the massive collections some people have nowadays. They were destroyed in a disaster and I didn't get dolls for a long time after that. I have a small collection now and became very interested in MH when I saw some of the older dolls in videos. I did as I said above, get a Mattel membership so I could try and get some. I did as I said, only get two last year online and one when I unexpectedly had to go out of state. I found one Frankie boo riginal in a super Walmart out of state. My views on Mattel specifically relating to MH are controversial and most people either act like I'm crazy or won't even respond to me. I think Mattel knows Exactly what they are doing and that they may even be working with scalpers or have some of their own employees selling on Ebay, etc. If you look Before a doll is supposed to drop, even a day before, you will see people listing the dolls. Some of them up to five dolls. I had another doll youtuber be snotty with me about this; but I still think its Extremely odd that they would already know they were getting those dolls. Those of us who want them and really love them can't even begin to buy them unless we pay huge scalper prices. I tried getting Howliday Draculaura and was literally waiting online for a week; in the Q exactly when she dropped, and I still didn't get her. She was the One doll I wanted most all year. I am ashamed to say it, but I literally cried when I couldn't get her :( I've been watching the Elvira craze; which I also tried to get and couldn't even though I had actually paid for her, and then was told she sold out while I waited for a confirmation no; it's insane the prices people are willing to pay for her and the bids I see on her doll. In the end, I don't think Mattel cares at all about those of us who really love MH and just want to collect them; not to resell them. They care about profit and no amount of calling them; which I have done many times; complaining and crying isn't going to help. I'm interested to see if you respond to this or even see my thoughts and how you feel about my Mattel conspiracy ideas. I'm glad you made this video because most people seem afraid to address this issue fully. Take care Sweetie
Low-key appreciate you responding in numbered points, it makes it easier to collect my thoughts!
1) That is so awesome that you were born on the same day that Barbie came out, what a crazy coincidence! And such a fun thing to be able to tell people!
2) I do feel the membership would be more justified. If members were able to guarantee they would get dolls? The idea that a paying member might still miss out just seems kind of wrong to me.
3) It's so fascinating to hear how sales change by area. For me, the only time I've seen Barbie shelves empty is around the holidays. Otherwise, they tend to stay quite stocked up.
4) I am very much hoping that RH stabilizes in price. Even if they end up being a more expensive doll line, at least that way we would know what to expect. This constant guessing game of how much things will be and how quality they will be is exhausting.
5) Don't be ashamed for being emotional about missing out! I've definitely been there. Mattel just makes it so frustrating to buy these collector dolls that they hype up so much. My main theory is that people who scalp the dolls for profit have invested in bots/really high speed set ups, so that they can pretty much guarantee they got the dolls.
I don't think your idea about it at least part of it being an insider thing is that outlandish, though. It's all together possible that some people from within the company are seeing a way to make extra income with their knowledge, kind of like insider trading on the stock market. Plus, if Mattel is artificially inflating the secondhand market by doing this, it honestly would make sense, because it would sort of bolster their reputation. Like forcing the narrative of "our dolls are so popular people will pay HUNDREDS to get them secondhand."
I have also seen people talking about the fact that it looks really good to Mattel's shareholders when the dolls sell out super quickly, so, even though it's not good for the fans, it's beneficial for the company to make sure the supply is not meeting the demand.
Thank you for taking the time write such an in-depth reply!
@@FaeryTaleDolls :) Thank you for your thoughts as well. I just got a response to a post on the Elvira Skullector doll maybe on my other profile as I have two here, and they said that one of the sellers told them that they have a friend/relative in Mattel who secures the dolls for them. That's pretty rotten to me just so they can resell them on Ebay :(
@@missgothiquebarbie Yeah that's a yikes from me
Barbie fr is in her flop era 😭✋
Thank you for the video. It was an insightful and enjoyable watch. Just so you know the problems experienced by doll collectors in the USA are minimal compared to those who live in other countries around the world. We have to pay even more than you do. So when complaining about the quality/ quantity VS price, please spare a thought for the rest of us.
I actually really appreciate you commenting this! Since I live in the US, that's what I am qualified to talk on. But I'm definitely painfully aware that our prices are low compared to other countries, and also that especially from Mattel/MGA we have an easier time getting a hold of dolls a lot of the time
Barbie can make a comeback by making a Tokidoki line. They can also do world barbies, fashion runway barbies...ugh anything. I really hate Mattel.
i LOVED rainbow high, still HELLA do, but lately theyve just been upping up the prices and lowering the quality and creativity with designs (looking at you Flopsie Blande)... SIGH
I love this video, I'm surprised that's all this stuff is going on
there was probably no dark skinned barbie with purple hair in 2004, but also their faces didn't look like a pixelated photo printed off a phone. all bmr barbies are locally on sale right now due to quality issues and nobody wants them
I love the BMR Barbies!! What stores carry them??
In Barbie Signature’s defence, you get to order some of the dolls earlier when you have a membership before it goes on sale to the public.
aaaand now rainbow high dolls have mold too 🙃 great job mga
Oh dang I didn't hear about that 😳
i think barbie is still only relevant beacsue of its name, like if a brand new doll line made dolls like theirs it would flop
You were right on point!
OMG would I want there is be a pre order!!! I would rather give my money to Mattel then a reseller. I was lucky enough to get the first three HC dolls but I had to go the ebay path for Cleo and Lagoona. I was one of the lucky ones. Its just painful for the collectors and people may stop attempting to get them.
I live in a supper small Town roul aera and i haven't gotten any of the new Monster high dolls in both my Walmart's, G1 rerelease,No reel drama and no G3 dolls. I've been wanting a MH doll for a very long time and i kick myself for not getting on the collocting train for MH i manly collect American Girl Dolls but i love monster high and now that monster high dolls are back and i love the live action movie and the cartoon and it means the world to me. I began collocting Fashion dolls again with Rainbow High with just series 1 and 2 I don't have room to get the rest of the doll line. I really want monster high dolls more so then rainbow high because I can relate to MH more then rainbow high same goes for American Girl im a mattel buyer more so but i loved loved Bratz when i was younger. I loved your video by the way
You're a very intelligent individual. I look forward to hearing your analysis. 🙂🖐️
I think the public schools and your own critical thinking skills have done you proud. I have a high school diploma (then on my own into the work force at 18) and an associate of science degree that I didn't complete until my thirties.
But I never. stopped. learning.
Many of us fellow Americans are self-taught, autodidacts. We have a natural thirst for knowledge.
More power to the folks who go on & get higher degrees, but let's give a nod to the folks with good old fashioned horse sense too.
There are plenty of academia nuts walking around with the truly brilliant. I call it "book smart, but no horse sense". 😆
I am trying to figure out what dolls I might have given my 30 year old daughter in about 2000-2005. These dolls looked like Monster High dolls, but those dolls hadn't come out yet... unless I am way off on my years and I gave my daughter Monster High dolls when they came out in 2010. Anyway, if anyone is able to help at all, it would be much appreciated. These dolls were different colors like blue and purple and tall like the Monster High dolls... 🙏
If no one here has any answers (I don't myself), you could try the dolls subreddit!
@@FaeryTaleDolls 👍thank you!
Could you be thinking of Bratz? That was the hot non-Barbie fashion doll in those years.
@@veronicanovak8646 Well we did have some bratz dolls but my daughter seems to think that these were some thing other than bratz, but thank you!
Novi Stars!