Rudy Panucci On Pop Culture

Toy Fair 2018: Barbie News

barbie-001The PopCult Toybox

Mattel showed off a ton of new Barbie Product at Toy Fair, and we have some images to share. These aren’t exactly scoops. The dedicated online Barbie fandom uncovered most of this info in the middle of last year, but now we have Mattel’s official photos to confirm what they already knew by haunting accidental pre-order listings on Amazon and Chinese eBay postings.

At the bottom of this post you’ll find a link to a comprehensive blog post that shows multiple images of all of the products that Mattel is releasing in the Barbie line this year, along with news on sets which have not yet been seen. Mattel releases dozens of new Barbie figures in a multitude of forms all year long, and if you’re a die-hard collector, you already know that.

The trend this year is away from the high-tech gimmickry that failed to catch on for the last few years. Barbie will focus on new fashions, new careers and high-quality dolls based on upcoming movies. After failed ideas such as a Wi-Fi enabled Barbie and a Barbie drone, Mattel has realized that they don’t really need to change their core product that much. Barbie is Barbie, and with the demise of Monster High and the recent slump of Disney Princesses, Barbie remains the grande dame of the fashion doll world, even in her 59th year.

Tomb Raider Barbie was announced at Toy Fair as coming out in March, but was already available locally at the Barboursville Toys R Us over the weekend. This thirty-dollar figure is based on the upcoming movie and has an articulated figure with a great headsculpt that resembles actress Alicia Vikander, who plays Lara Croft.

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Other movies that will inspire Barbie sets this year include Jurassic World: Fallen Temple, A Wrinkle In Time and Wicked. No images were released for Wicked, or for the upcoming new X-Files, Nutcracker and the Four Realms or Mary Poppins sets, but we do have Jurassic World and Wrinkle sets depicted below.

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Barbie’s Fashionista’s line continues with new dolls in a variety of body types and skin tones wearing all-new fashions.

 

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The impressive big playset this year is the Barbie Large Rescue Vehicle, which is due out in June. Barbie comes to the rescue with her care clinic vehicle, which includes a working siren and lights.

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Lift the lever at the back of the colorful vehicle to instantly transform it into a care clinic. Barbie can greet her patients at the check-in stand that flips up in the center of the clinic. On the left, a yellow couch can be pulled down to reveal a waiting room with a fish tank. Pull down the fish tank to reveal a gift shop, where you can pick get-well gifts like a teddy bear or heart-shaped balloon! On the right, an exam room is fully equipped for medical emergencies and check-ups. The pink patient bed can be adjusted for comfort and also doubles as storage.

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While these are great for Barbie collectors, 1/6 scale action figure collectors (think the original GI Joe) might have some interest in the kit-bashing and customizing potential for some of Barbie’s items, particularly this Ken Traveler set with Motorcycle, which is in stores now for thirty bucks.

 

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These are just the highlights.  PopCult Note: We have removed a link that was here originally after being informed that the site we linked to pilfered their content from other websites. Sorry for the inconvenience.

3 Comments

  1. Thomas Wheeler

    Tomb Raider Barbie?!???!

  2. Ada

    That page you linked takes images and info from other doll blogs/doll Insta accounts/doll groups and publishes them without credit. Other people do the work and he/she just takes it. I even had to ask them to take down my own images that I have taken at conventions or graphics I did for my articles.

    • rudy panucci

      Good to know that. Thanks for informing me. I will edit that link out.

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