I thought it was time to do another new release round-up as there are a bunch of new Barbies that I have a little, but not a lot, to say about that have come out in the last couple of months.
I don't remember if I have said this before but one of the challenges with the new release round-ups is that unless I keep notes on releases (which I usually don't) it's easy to overlook something when I go to do a post like this because the Mattel website, even when you tell it to "sort by newest"... doesn't. I don't know if there's a coding reason why that makes perfect sense, but sometimes a newer release will get buried below older ones and if I don't specifically remember to go looking for it, it's easy to slip by me.
Anyway, one of the releases I wanted to talk about was Mattel's gender-swapping of the Inspiring Women line with their first Kenbassador: Lebron James.
Lebron James I am sure has a lot of reasons for being a great choice for a Kenbassador but the main association I have with him personally is that he's the only current basketball player that I can name off the top of my head which makes him my automatic answer for any basketball-themed trivia questions.
A lot of time is given on the website and on his packaging to celebrate the Lebron James Family Foundation which he founded and does a lot of work for at-risk youth and their families.
Lavender Daydream is the second doll in the Gala Collection, following 2024's Pink Premiere. My hot take on this doll is that I don't particularly like it. I can't put my finger on any reason why, it just feels like it slips right off my brain without sticking with me at all. I might just be a curmudgeon.
She's just nothing to me, unfortunately.
And just in time for AAPI Heritage Month, a new Inspiring Women Barbie dropped at the end of April: this one in the likeness of fashion designer Anna Sui.
If you are anything like me, the reason the name Anna Sui is in your mind is because she has collaborated on some Barbies in the past, such as the Anna Sui Boho Barbie from 2006, but I know her influence extends far beyond the Barbiesphere.
One criticism I saw of the Anna Sui Inspiring Women Barbie is that Anna Sui is famous, apparently, for her closed-mouth smile in pictures so the choice to have a big toothy smile struck some people as odd.
