real question for other doll people: why doesn't mattel just create a doll customizer brand?
i don't mean something like creatable world, with its new body and head sculpts that got lukewarm reviews, multiple fashions and wigs that were packaged in a "high end" box that ended up with a pretty high price for a base doll. (i know that wasn't the purpose Mattel marketed it with, but for a lot of people, that was a possible appeal.)
i don't mean something like CAM, which made parts modular (which I think was great conceptually), but also introduced flat and dull face molds in fantasy skintones people weren't as interested in as the OG MH dolls.
i don't even mean barbie basics, signature looks or made to move, which have sought-after bodies or face sculpts that come in an acceptable range of skintones but are somewhat limited in their releases so can be somewhat hard to find after a while. (limiting 2 signature looks dolls per customer? i spit.)
i mean something more like Obitsu, AZONE International or Volks. i know there's a different culture of doll collecting in the BJD community, but many collectors don't even consider these "real" bjds. (even the vinyl dolls that function through ball joints are othered for not being resin.) these are the 1/6 customizer's dolls. and the culture around using these as a base to create new dolls isn't unlike the ooak communities around MH and Barbie?
mattel makes multiple pieces that are sought-after by customizers. (MH heads, MtM Barbie, Barbie Collector Heads and the Ever After High Boy Body come to mind.) why not monetize this? like, even if theyre afraid that selling these parts separately will dilute the brand, why not do R&D to create a new customizer-friendly doll brand?
i ask not because i expect it of them (i mean, i'm not asking this about Hasbro, MGA or Integrity Toys), but because Mattel specifically seems to run brands into the ground to cut costs and/or appeal to the parents of children who want to play app games instead. so if appealing to adult collectors with quality products (good screening on good sculpts in well designed and well executed fashions that don't have QC issues) is too difficult/expensive, why not just give us blank dolls?
just blank heads with blank bodies that are made to be put together easily. maybe they're modular like CAM was. maybe we can buy separate fashions like barbie basics. the only thing they'd have to do is produce new face and body sculpts now and then. (they could frankenstein parts from existing bodies - they do that a lot anyway these days.) sure, they'd probably have to release a few new molds in a range of skintones every year... release collector heads or fantasy skintones now and then as LE... but how hard is that for mattel??? it seems like they wouldn't have to invest as much in the production of these to turn a decent profit as long as they listen to artists in the R&D stage.
the only reason i could figure they wouldn't do this are:
a) diluting the "brand" of the company being a maker of big name toys for kids that everyone knows... but they introduce new brands all the time (wild hearts crew, cave club, creatable world) and they also try to appeal to adult collectors (barbie signature, he-man).
or b) it could pull attention away from barbie... but how important could this be right now if they're willing to bring back monster high, which was arguably more popular in its heyday, and definitely will be right now since Gen Z is deeply nostalgic for it, rather than barbie?
idk, i don't "get" business or capitalist ideals a lot of the time. so i tend to think giving the people what they want is generally a good tactic for making money. (i regularly wonder why luxury fashion brands don't just sell old products instead of cutting them up and throwing them out.) so i admit i could be missing something big. but i think about it all the time. (especially when looking for an EAH Boy and finding they go for $50 used...)
