Tag Archives: toys

Sweet Talkin’ Ken Is Barbie’s Bitch

Jessica WakemanDecember 28, 2010 //

At last, a man who says everything you want him to say! Meet Mattel’s Sweet Talkin’ Ken doll ($31), who records five seconds of your voice and plays it back in a deep baritone. Barbie and her boy toy split ages ago, but I’m sure they’ll get back together as soon as Barbie realizes she can totally make Sweet Talkin’ Ken her bitch. Repeat after me, Sweet Talkin’ Ken: “You look like you need a foot massage!”; “Don’t worry, I’ll take the garbage out”; “Sure, I’ll go down on you while you watch ‘Real Housewives!” Sigh. If only we could program men in real life this way. [Mattel via Outblush] Keep reading »

The Black Baby Doll Project Puts Dollies In Hands Of Little Girls

Jessica WakemanDecember 8, 2010 //

One of the privileges I had as a little white girl was always having had toys that look like me. In fact, American Girl‘s brown-haired, brown-eyed Samantha Parkington doll looked almost exactly like me. Like little girls all around the world, I used to hold her, brush her hair, pretend she was my daughter and enjoy how beautiful she looked. That’s why I think The Black Baby Doll Project, which is in its 13th year, is so important. Sponsored by the Ida B. Wells Living Learning Community, a gateway program for first-year African-American students at Mary Baldwin College in Virginia, BBDP collects black baby dolls each year to gift to little girls so they have a toy who looks like them … Keep reading »

“Pink Stinks” Parents Group Are Anti-Pink Toy Crusaders

Jessica WakemanDecember 6, 2010 //
princess dress girl photo

There’s good news across the pond for parents who want their little girls to believe they can grow up and be anything they want: A parents group called Pink Stinks, which pressures toy companies and stores to rise above marketing based on traditional gender roles, seems to have been successful in getting the Early Learning Center to change their pink ways — at least a little bit. Keep reading »

Facials Are A “Brainy” Toy For Girls

Jessica WakemanNovember 9, 2010 //

What sort of “brainy” toys can your little girl play with from the MindWare catalog, which prides itself as “the nation’s best resource for educational toys for kids”? Facials! Your little Einstein-ette can “whip up a body scrub” or make fairy dust, fairy glitter and lip balms “from scratch” with her very own all-natural day spa set. I guess toy makers think to get girls interested in science — and I use that term loosely — it has to involve fairies and lip goo? [MindWare] Keep reading »

Cuddle With Sarah Palin’s Cojones

Ami AngelowiczOctober 19, 2010 //

These “cute and cuddly” Sarah Palin Talking Cojones plush toys are officially for sale. Squeeze them and hear a clip from her infamous “cojones” quote. $24.95 for one; $21.95 if you buy in bulk. Christmas shopping … done! [Hero Builders] Keep reading »

Barbie’s First-Ever TV Commercial

Jessica WakemanSeptember 23, 2010 //

Long before she was a TV news anchor in a pink miniskirt, Barbie was just a “girl” with a “purse and hats and gloves galore” in this 1959 commercial. It’s apparently the first Barbie ad to ever appear on television. The times — and Barbie — sure have changed, huh? [YouTube] Keep reading »

Could Mattel’s Japanese Barbie And Ken Be Any More Stereotypical?

Jessica WakemanSeptember 16, 2010 //

A geisha girl and a samurai warrior: these are the stereotypes Mattel used for Japanese Ken and Barbie dolls. Barbie is dressed as a geisha with lotus blossoms in her hair, a gold fan, and some gladiator heels which are badass-looking, but I’m thinking not particularly Japanese. Ken is dressed as a bare-chested samurai warrior with a small ponytail and a long sword. An ex-boyfriend who went to grad school in Japan called the Japanese Ken doll, quote, “pure Fu Manchu stereotype” — minus that nefarious mustache, of course. Surprise, surprise, Mattel has a long history of representing their Japanese Barbies as geishas. Keep reading »

Getting A Disease Has Never Been Cuter

Carli Alexa BlauJune 30, 2010 //

Getting a disease or sickness has never been something that anyone looked forward to, but now you just might. These giant plush microbes are stuffed animals of diseases like syphilis, herpes, anthrax, and mad cow, which are only some of the many different stuffed diseases that are available. Giving someone herpes or the kissing disease doesn’t have to be such a bad thing now, after all it’s cute, fuzzy and comfortable to sleep with. These stuffed toys come in all different cells, diseases, and viruses, and while they make a great gag gift for a friend, they can even be a great get-well gift too. Now when you tell your friend “I’m sorry you have the flu,” you can give them the stuffed animal that goes along with it too. Happy sneezes! [ThinkGeek] Keep reading »

Put Away Your Ouija Boards, The Magic 8-Ball Is Getting A Movie

Kelli BenderApril 30, 2010 //

The Magic 8-Ball can now tell all the other fortune-telling toys that made fun of it to go suck it, because 8-Ball is about to get its own movie. Paramount recently announced that as part of their continuing deal with toymaker Mattel, the all-knowing 8-Ball will be the next toy to get the Hollywood treatment. The studio was eager to continue to work with Mattel due to the success of the “Tranformers” and “G.I Joe” movies. I understand that the money brought in on hocking childhood memories is alluring, but why the 8-Ball next? The previous toy films featured playthings that had personality, things you were suppose to make believe are animate. The 8-Ball is just a kitschy piece of plastic and hasn’t really been given an identity outside of that. It has helped millions of people understand the legitimacy of their middle school crush, but it is hard to imagine a film just based on people trying to make out vague messages through squirmy blue liquid. The studio and those involved with the project have yet to unveil any details about the movie except that it will be a live action film and that a script is in the works.

I suppose the only place to go for more info about the film is the 8-Ball itself. I asked mine if the movie would be a success. Its response? “My sources say no.” Not very self-confident, eh? [Deadline New York] Keep reading »

You Must Watch This: The Scariest Baby Doll Of All Time, Ever

Lily QApril 7, 2010 //

Sorry to be pansies, but this baby doll commercial makes us pee ourselves a little. There’s literally not a single child’s toy we can imagine wanting less than this maniacally laughing doll. [Copyranter] Keep reading »

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