CREATABLE WORLD� Deluxe Character Kit - DC-619

Product Information

On a basic level, the doll falls far short of actually embodying or even representing a nonbinary identity. “Gender-neutral,” the term Mattel uses in its marketing of the doll, is not, in fact, a term that many—any?—people use to describe themselves. They use “gender-fluid,” or genderqueer, or nonbinary, or nonconforming. These dolls reinforce the idea that gender is “playful” and easy to switch around, accusations often leveled at trans youths. [10] See also [ edit ] Even though there is no scientific evidence to prove that this is the case, there will be customers who say that even exposing their children to a gender-nonbinary doll through commercials or in a play group would threaten to change their child’s identity. This debate will spin out into sociopolitical questions about whether the types of toys children play with affect their sense of identity and gender. I would have sworn that I'd donated my Creatable World sets to the Goodwill when we moved last year. In the blurred flurry of clearing out the house, I let go of a lot of things that I never thought I would be able to part with. But when I was sorting through some moving boxes a few months ago, I found both of the sets! I guess they made the cut. It was extra-fun to find these dolls because I couldn't remember exactly which ones I'd chosen, and I love a good surprise!

Dolls play an important role in child development; they foster empathy, develop communication skills, and allow children to role-play the world around them. At Let Toys Be Toys we believe that all toys are for all children and it’s the marketing that tells them if they are included or not: Mattel’s Creatable World dolls represent a really big step forward here. Picchi, Aimee. "Mattel's gender-neutral dolls are ready for the holidays, but shoppers may not be so sure". USA Today. Growing up as a first generation Asian American, my first language was Mandarin. I learned to speak English when I started attending elementary school, and it was difficult connecting to other kids in my grade due to language and cultural barriers. My parents didn’t raise my sisters and me to conform to gender stereotypes and beauty standards - this is something we didn’t realize until we were adults and I deeply appreciate my parents for that.I love the neutrality of these dolls, too. They are truly fluid, which is the natural state of young kiddos. Puberty has a magical way of redirecting that fluidity, and thankfully it seems like each generation affixes those changes with more of a reposition-able adhesive rather than permanent, if not within the self then definitely as it relates to the preference of others. You do you. Thanks for doing this review. I had suspicions that the wigs were gong to have issues, and you confirmed them; that said, I really like their gentle faces and expressions. The more that I look at them, the more i see, well, as an adult, that the wigs are kind of superfluous. I get the sales end and the “kids like to play with hair” angle, but right now, at least In some circles*, gender is so non-specific, that anyone can wear any type of hairstyle or length, and Almost any kind of clothes. The clothing is not really gender specific, nor are the hairstyles. I think they are a very nice product that is open for all manner of play. Well done to the design team...well, let’s work a bit on the articulation! Mattel has taken risks before. Most recently, in 2016, it added three new body types to the Barbie doll: tall, petite and, most radically, curvy. It was the first time the company had made a major change to one of the most recognizable brands—and bodies—in the world in the doll’s almost-60-year history. The change helped propel Barbie from a retrograde doll lambasted by feminists for her impossible shape to a modern toy. She is now on the rise. Her sales have been up for the past eight quarters, and she saw a 14% sales bump in the past year alone, according to Mattel.

Rodriguez, Adrianna. "The company that created Barbie is introducing a line of gender-neutral dolls". USA Today . Retrieved 4 October 2019. The journey in the research, design, development, and launch of Creatable World took about two years. The doll can have long hair or short, wear play clothes or party clothes, and crucially the child gets to decide if it’s a girl or a boy. The dolls are jointed, like an action figure, giving children more options for how to play with them. There were two waves of Creatable World dolls, and the second wave had a lot of repeats from the first wave. If I could sum up the vision of Creatable World in one statement, it would be these words from Chella Man: “If I exist in this world, then I deserve to be represented.”

Creatable World DC-220

My path into art school was not easy. Like many Asian Americans, pursuing a career in the creative field is uncommon. My parents sacrificed nearly everything they had to immigrate to America for the future of their children, and becoming a designer wasn’t what they had envisioned for me. I constantly fought with my parents, pleading to let me go to art school. They eventually supported me going to art school when they saw how passionate and serious I was about becoming a designer. Creatable World was praised by Jess Day, a campaigner for Let Toys Be Toys, who hoped that more toy manufacturers would follow suit in the future and avoid gender stereotypes. Day stated that "Toy companies have been quite slow to take on board that the world has changed. Most parents don't really want to see their children's interests limited." [8] Madeline Schulz, writing for the Washington Examiner, criticized the doll line. Schulz argued that the doll line went beyond Mattel "trying to break down stereotypes" and was " woke capitalism", since the dolls were "more than three times the price of the average Barbie doll." Schulz also argued that Mattel was alienating a substantial portion of their target customers. [9]

Being creative requires a focus on your end goal, which in my case, would be the outcome of a project. In a world where ideas are a hot commodity, what is equally (if not more) important is the execution of that idea. If your idea is amazing but the execution is poor, then its intended audience will reject your idea. Staying true to yourself also means being open to adapting and evolving your vision to make the best and biggest impact.

Why does it matter how dolls are marketed?

After the session, Dreger analyzed the parental response. “Adults get so tied up in the descriptions and definitions,” she said. “They jump to this idea of sexuality. They make themselves more anxious about it. For kids it’s much more intuitive.” Creatable World is a customizable doll line that serves as a blank canvas for kids to create their own characters with endless combinations, all in one box. Every piece in a Creatable World deluxe kit allows a child open play, and could represent anyone. One child’s doll could look completely different than somebody else’s, while still representing themselves or someone the child could have in their everyday life. The only dad in the group shrugged. “I don’t know,” he said. “My daughter is friends with a boy who wears dresses. I used to be against that type of thing, but now I’m O.K. with it.” Never heard of this line before, but I really appreciate its existence as a nonbinary and genderfluid person myself. Toys can be so obsessively gendered, and this has always bothered me even as a kid. I would have loved to grow up with several dolls like this. Not to mention, the fashions that come with the dolls are fun and colorful, which is great to see when a lot of clothes today that are branded as "gender-neutral" are just plain brown or beige. I also think the potential for play is really great here, because kids can make many characters out of one doll to fit a variety of stories, regardless of gender. It's such a shame that the wigs do not fit right and are just plain bad in some cases, because I really like the idea of having dolls with rooted hair under wigs so that you can choose whether to give the dolls bangs or not, and you don't have bald dolls lying around like you mentioned about the Liv dolls. Still, these dolls will now have a special place in my heart, as I wish I could have grown up with a toy that treated gender-neutrality with such normalcy as these dolls do, if only the wigs were better lol. The 11-inch dolls present themselves in short hair and simple outfits. This blank canvas is the perfect starting point to let children's imaginations run wild and create whoever they wish. Create Unlimited Scenes

Schulz, Madeline. "Why on earth is Mattel making gender-neutral dolls?". Washington Examiner . Retrieved 13 May 2022. Other than my mom, I was not surrounded by many artists during my upbringing. A majority of my peers and their parents were involved with science, engineering, mathematics, or physics. My dad is an engineer, so this is where I get my practical & analytical side from. My mom is very creative and very clever, she always had ingenious solutions to enhancing a product to better suit her needs. She forever inspires me and encourages me to think critically and creatively. Across all cultures, to play is fundamental to a child’s growth and development. We make emotional connections to our favorite toys from our childhood. Through play, we learn to make decisions, to be social, and exercise creativity. We act out stories and imagine the world from different perspectives. We practice communication, problem solving, and empathy. Toys allow kids to build emotional skills, and toys shape their ability to interpret the increasingly diverse world around them. It’s important for me, as a doll designer, to provide options in the mainstream market for children to easily identify with, in terms of race or gender. Interestingly, both children wanted a doll that looked like them; then as they began to play they became more imaginative. They played together for the first time in a while, sharing the clothes and accessories, and commenting on the different combinations each other made. They tried plenty of different options with both long and short hair. A 2017 survey conducted by the Pew Research Center found that approximately 76% of Americans supported girls pursuing interests perceived as masculine and approximately 64% of Americans supported boys pursuing interests perceived as feminine. There were differences based in responses from different political affiliations: approximately 84% of Democrats supported girls pursuing masculine interests compared to approximately 66% of Republicans. Responses also varied by gender: approximately 58% of Republican women supported boys pursuing feminine interests, in contrast to approximately 38% of Republican men. [6] A 2019 consumer survey of approximately 700 adult shoppers indicated that 25% expressed a positive view of gender-neutral toys and that 5% were interested in purchasing dolls from the Creatable World line as a holiday gift. [7]

Over 100 Different Combinations

The dolls are sold in kits, and 6 different kits are currently part of the doll line. The kits offer several customization options, including different hairstyles, clothes and accessories that are intended to offer a variety of both feminine- and masculine-presenting play options. [5] The dolls are designed to be versatile: with wigs to change hairstyles, and a variety of clothing options. [2] According to Kim Culmone, the senior-vice president of Mattel Doll Design, Creatable World is "an opportunity for us to open up that dialogue around what dolls are for and who dolls are for". [5] Michelle Condoni, a spokeswoman for Mattel, has stated that "we see this is as something that's all about play and not about politics". [3] Reception [ edit ] I do wonder whether these dolls would make okay siblings for the Ever After High line...? After seeing your comparison photo for the eye paint, I definitely think their facial screening would work for that, but I wonder if Creatable World's more realistic proportions would be prohibitive... And yet creating a doll to appeal to all kids, regardless of gender, remains risky. “There are children who are willing to cross those gender boundaries that society places on toys, but there’s often a cost that comes with crossing those boundaries,” Dinella says. “That cost seems to be bigger for boys than it is for girls.” Some of those social repercussions no doubt can be traced to parental attitudes. In Los Angeles, the majority of the seven parents in an early testing group for Creatable World complained the doll “feels political,” as one mom put it.