Barbie Looks Model #2

 This is a very very belated review. I bought this girl back in September!?? but then I got distracted and didn't open her. So she's sat on my desk for months, making me feel bad. 

well she's open now!

Honestly i'm a little behind in reviews so i'm going to try to write up a few to queue. I've been really distractable lately. Sorry about that. 

Anyway, 

Barbie Looks is an interesting line from Mattel. So let's get a look at it. 

This line is a Barbie "signature" line, which means it's aimed at collectors and older kids I think? Looks come with Made to Move bodies, brand new currently unique to them head sculpts and simple outfits. All in a slim line white box for around £25. 

Now for comparison, the Rainbow High dolls are £35 and the Barbie Extras are £25-30 depending on store. So it's not a bad price comparatively. 

I actually ordered this doll all the way back in August but supply chain issues meant Amazon couldn't fulfil their preorders (AGAIN) and she didn't arrive till late September. I had also ordered Model #3 but after they sent her all the way from Europe and then cancelled her the DAY she was supposed to be delivered because the "box was damaged" (probably slightly scuffed ffs) I got a bit grumpy and decided to just cancel the order and focus on the one I wanted most.

 

 

The back of the box shows all 6 dolls from the first wave. A second wave is now out in the US but hasn't hit the UK yet. 

 

Interestingly, while the two boys use the regular Ken MTM body, all four girls have a different body type. #1 is the regular mtm, #3 is petite, #6 is tall and #2 is curvy. I appreciate this variety. 

 

 

 

Model #2 has a brand new face mold which is apparently called "Elle". She's gorgeous. 

She's a sort of orangish brown tone with incredible thick afro styled hair and almond shaped brown eyes. 

Unlike a LOT of Mattel's recent releases, her paintwork doesn't appear to use that dotty UV printing bullshit and is instead crisp and clear. YAY. 

 

Also unlike a lot of Mattel's releases, she has a nice neutral lip colour rather than an unflattering pale pink that Mattel seems obsessed with giving all their dark skinned dolls -_- 

 

My doll came with elastic band marks in one hand thanks to her packaging which is annoying. 

 

 

 As I mentioned she's on the curvy made to move body, which is my favourite of the modern Barbie bodies. I like how hefty and solid it feels to play with lol, and I like how it fills out clothing. I dunno, I just prefer a wider hipped doll okay? 

The Made to Move body may not have the prettiest looking joints but they're damn impressive. As has been the case with all my MTMs though, the joints can be quite stiff out of the box and require some firm manipulation to get them moving freely. 

Elle comes wearing a very basic looking black jumpsuit and silver boots. It's a simple outfit but it's effective. I definitely prefer this to the ridiculous "I got dressed in the dark" outfits of the Barbie Extras or the shitty half print polyester sack dresses the Fashionistas keep getting. 

The jumpsuit looks simple but it's absolutely beautifully made. It's made from a quite thick stretch fabric which feels both heavy and durable, I love it. 

I also find this outfit reminds me a lot of older dolls who would come in a fairly basic outfit with the idea that you'd buy fashion packs to fill out her wardrobe and accessorise her. I don't think i'd be too upset to see a return to that model of selling dolls honestly.

That said, i'm not totally sure what the target market for these dolls is. They come with a certificate of authenticity and a stand like the BMR dolls did, and like the BMR dolls, they aren't available in regular stores but appear to be Amazon exclusives. This makes me think they're aimed at collectors more than anything else.

Which is almost a pity because I think a kid would quite enjoy the variation of body types and the simple mix and match outfits they all come with. 

 

 For some reason Elle's jumpsuit straps are glued to her body with a little square sticky... label.. thing. It's really sticky and gross but it peeled off fairly easily. 

I don't understand why they bothered though, it's not like those straps NEEDED to be affixed like that or that they'd move much at all in the packaging, they're UNDER the doll ffs. Mattel you are wierd sometimes.

Elle's stand is a lot better than the oversized gimmicky BMR stands though. It's their normal round stand base that they've used for the past couple of decades. If it ain't broke don't fix it right? 

She comes with nothing else. No brush, no accessories, just her jumpsuit and boots (I added the necklace in this picture), a stand and a paper certificate.

She uses the same body as my BMR Curvy girl. They go fairly well together I think, and they both came with stands and certificates so I feel like the Looks line is a better dressed successor to the BMR line. Damn the BMR outfits were wierd.

My BMR girl doesn't wear her original outfit because it was an ugly floral sack and she deserved better. Okay i'm not sure crazy animal print fairy is better but eh. 

I feel like Elle needs some accessories. A belt or a jacket maybe, just something to pull her whole look together. I like her jumpsuit but it feels like it's missing something. 

Like all MTM dolls she has exceptionally good articulation. Her head tilts every which way, her limbs all can fold against themselves and the arms and legs can also rotate thanks to the mobility joints in their shoulders and upper thighs.

This is a fairly brief review because I honestly haven't got much more to say. Elle is a simple doll who comes with very little stuff so there's not much to show. 

But she's beautiful, possibly in my eye one of the prettiest Barbie dolls we've had in the past few years. 

I honestly like that the budget clearly went into these new face molds, the hair and paint, the body and the quality of the outfit rather than into gimmicks, plastic pets or flashy garish clown ensembles (cough cough i'm looking at you Extras) Yes she's a similar price to things like Barbie Extra, but the quality of this doll in comparison to them is like night and day. 

The Extras all have garish clothes with printed on details made using cheap printed on fabric while the Looks dolls, least this one, has a beautifully constructed dress made of a thick durable fabric that feels realistic and quality. The Extras have dotty grainy face paint while Elle has crisp clear paint. The Extras use the older Fashionistas style articulated body with limited mobility while Elle has the far superior Made to Move body. 

Overall, I vastly prefer the Barbie Looks dolls and I can't help but wish they were more widely available. While the quality control seems to be pretty good on them, I feel like it's a shame they appear to have been produced in such limited quantity and have only been noticed really by collectors. I can't help but think kids deserve a product that's better than the stuff Mattel currently has warming shelves. 

Overall the Barbie Looks dolls show that Mattel CAN produce decent dolls, that they CAN make decent clothing and that they CAN produce face paint that's not grainy and pixiliated. So why the hell are they shoving the pixilated clown dolls down our throats in preference!?? 

Make some dolls like this with colourful hair or something if Rainbow High is such a threat and release a load of good fashion packs for them! It'd be wonderful!

I'm rather pissed off that instead we get dolls wearing what look like skinned muppets and underwear. 

Wave 2 of the Looks dolls features only 3 more dolls, another Ken and two Barbies. They all look pretty awesome. I hope we get them over here. 

Given how quickly they seem to be selling out both in the UK and in the US, I feel like Mattel should maybe take this as a sign that people actually want quality dolls from them please, and can they make more of the same? 

They're the same price as the Barbie BMR dolls and substantially less polarising with their clothing options. It's a pity to me that they haven't seen a wider distribution (in the uk at least) so more people were aware of them.