The company that created Barbie is launching a line of superhero dolls that reflects what girls want in their toys. And Mattel should know; in addition to getting help from "a collection of feminists, bloggers, and academics," the toy company also asked little girls for their opinion on what makes a great doll.
According to Bloomberg, Mattel has just partnered up with Warner Bros.' DC Comics to create the DC SuperHero Girls line, which will be launched in spring. The line includes 12-inch dolls of DC good girls like Wonder Woman, Supergirl, Batgirl and Bumblebee as well as the villains Harley Quinn and Poison Ivy, who are more on the mischievous side in this collection. All the superheroes have their own backstories as high school students.
But what makes the DC SuperHero Girls line different from the regular dolls like Barbie and Monster High? For one, the design for the dolls was based on the opinion of women who want to create a toy that little girls will want to play with.
Toy designer Christine Kim, who helped create the collection, made sure her team got their inspiration from real-life gymnasts and dancers.
"We wanted to have this very strong, toned body, but keeping in mind that they are still in high school, so they're not fully mature yet," she said. "But they still look like they can save the day instead of being saved."
It was also a good decision to ask little girls what they wanted, because it turns out that girls don't like the same things as boys. The researchers found out that girls want to save the villains by being their friends and are interested in superpowers like getting the truth out of people. The girls also shared their opinion on the first round of dolls that were made, where one girl stated that Poison Ivy's scarf would just get in the way of her crime-fighting.
The DC SuperHero Girls collection was already well received at the recent New York Comic-Con, but the line will officially be launched this fall.
