As an Australian I don't really know what the Hard Rock Cafe is, but I know I have heard of it. I am vaguely under the impression that it was mentioned multiple times in the Babysitters Club books I devoured as a child, but that doesn't really give me too much information about what it is.

There have been a number of Hard Rock Cafe tie-in Barbies over the years. Many of this are quite expensive on the secondary market, as a factor of being limited edition collectors items as well as showcasing a style for Barbie that she does not often get to show.

For example, how often does Barbie get to show off her punk side?

Most of the Barbies are designed after different music subcultures and/or loosely based on the design aesthetics of particular performers. This is true to the point where it has actually led to legal action - in 2010, after Mattel released a Hard Rock Cafe Barbie in "rockabilly" style, Patricia Day of the Horrorpops sued, claiming the doll was made in her likeness but without either acknowledgement or authorisation.

I couldn't find (although full disclosure, I didn't look that hard) conclusive evidence of what happened with the lawsuit but I saw a few people alluding to Mattel settling out of court. I suppose it is up to us to wonder if this is because they didn't want the publicity of the trial, or because they did use Day's likeness.

I'll let my readers be the judge of that...

Anyone wish to have The Weird Cool Barbie with her own box and outfit?

I never had Mattel's Barbie, like, the original Barbie. I only had the knockoff Barbie that comes with cheap plastic body and yellow-corn-like hair, so having this specific Barbie with details and outfit just like in the movie would be a dream come true 🥹❤️

🐦👱🏻‍♀️

I WAS ONE OF THE FIRST MONSTER HIGH DOLL COLLECTORZ. BUT THE ORIGINAL DOLLS WERE MADE OF ROTTING BURD FOOD SO I HAD 2 THROW THEM ALL AWAY N TRIED 2 SUE MATTEL 4 FALSE ADVERTIZING!!!

i think if my mom had a little more money and space when we were growing up she wouldve been a doll collector

Had an idea you might be able to use for something: Klingon Soap Operas.

(sigh)

Thanks for the thought. I appreciate your kindness!

But unfortunately, because you've sent me the idea and I've read it, I can now not use it, ever. No matter how much I might like to.

This isn't about you, you understand. And in its way it probably seems like a cruel paradox. You were only trying to be helpful! But if I was working on something for Trek and this concept came up even in casual discussion, I would be honor-bound (and contractually required) to inform them that the idea had come to me from a reader or fan. And then—rightly, from their point of view—they would forbid me to use it, because the idea's originator might some day, despite all their friendly intentions now, sue them over it. And the evidence that I was at fault would be easy to obtain. Sending a DM on any major platform generates an electronic "paper trail" that will confirm its target has opened and read the message in question. And that electronic record can be subpoenaed and submitted as evidence, and would stand up in court.

"Oh, come on, who'd do a thing like that, what are the odds...?" people will say. But it's not generally known that I've already been involved in a high-stakes lawsuit in which someone tried to sue Mattel over material I wrote when developing the initial form of the "Barbie: Fairytopia" universe (and the first Fairytopia film) for them. I'd never so much as met or communicated with the person suing them, had never read even a word of their work... but they still went to great trouble and expense attempting to prove that I'd had access to their material and used it without permission.

Mattel won the suit (as I'd frankly been expecting: the attorney handling their defense was one of the most expert IP lawyers in the US). But it gave me the chills... and made it clear how very wrong things could go, and the kind of damage that could be done to my career and my personal life, if I even accidentally used ideas from unauthorized sources.

Seriously, folks. I know you all mean well! But please don't make me tap the sign. DO NOT SEND ME STORY IDEAS, no matter how vague or general or unformed they may be. To do so is to absolutely guarantee that they will never, ever happen.* (And in my own universes, your innocently-meant suggestion could mean that neither you or anyone else will ever see that particular Young Wizards or Middle Kingdoms plot, no matter how much you'd like to... because I take this stuff seriously.)

...Thanks, all.

*This is also why I don't read fanfic set in my universes. Which you also shouldn't send me: please and thank you.

ETA: I would really, really appreciate it if y'all would refrain from giving @eldritchcatpossumamalgam grief in the tags. They made an honest, well-intentioned mistake, that's all, and they don't deserve to be personally raked over the coals for it. (And any of you who think I would derive any kind of satisfaction from that happening plainly don't know me very well.) So thanks in advance for your cooperation.

we are NOT going to hear aqua's barbie girl in barbie 2023 because of the beef mattel has with the song please look up mattel aqua barbie lawsuit and put this whining and wishful thinking to rest 🙏

what was WITH MGA in the early 10s way too many of their dolls had hair that felt just deeply unpleasant to touch and handle

I feel like Gojo would be a Barbie girlie.

Let me explain.

Although Ruth Handler created her to challenge gender expectations and give little girls the freedom to dream further than motherhood, Barbie remains the quintessence of traditional (white and cishet) womanhood. Despite Mattel’s “efforts” to make her more inclusive and interesting, to the general public Barbie will always be the blond, conventionally attractive doll that most kids, especially girls used to play with. Gojo was born as and remained the pillar of the horribly conservative, predatory and oppressive Jujutsu system despite hating the way it works and making it his life mission to change it. Although he put great efforts into making his students become stronger and reliable, he still represented the traditional values that are so dear to the system. He’s both a “relic” of the old system and a harbinger of changing ideas. Just like Barbie.

Geto would be a Bratz because of the legal issues, his style, his power unexpectedly being important enough to allow him to keep up with Gojo, and all the problems that followed. He craved disruption but was put to rest by Gojo (Barbie vs Bratz copyright infringement lawsuit that Mattel won lol). It gets even funnier when you remember he used to wear a Gojo-kesa and acted like he was Buddha (Gojo) reincarnated.

In 1994, FAO Schwarz released the special edition Radio City Music Hall Rockettes Barbie.

As an Australian I know very little about the Rockettes except what I have picked up from various media. I don't know exactly how much of a cultural institution they are.

The Rockettes have their own doll line as well which look very similar to Barbie. In fact, on the secondary market a lot of Rockettes dolls are described as Barbies or include "Mattel" in the description, even though they are not produced by Mattel or a part of the Barbie line.

In fact, Mattel sued Radio City Entertainment over this.

It was a complicated case, including appeals. The crux of the matter was whether Mattel's copyright on the Barbie design covered facial features which could be argued are "standard" such as the spacing of the eyes, pert nose, and slim features.

Mattel cited two specific Barbies that they thought the Rockettes ripped off: Neptune's Daughter Barbie from 1992 and CEO Barbie from 1999. Specifically, they alleged that a specific Rockettes doll was violating this copyright: the Rockettes 2000 doll.

I'll let you be the judge of how Barbie-esque this looks.

“Their intentions aren’t exactly a secret. Government programs that attempt to redress decades of racist policies would be eliminated should Trump be elected to a second term. “As President Trump has said, all staff, offices, and initiatives connected to Biden’s un-American policy will be immediately terminated,” Trump’s campaign spokesperson, Steven Cheung, told the news outlet.

A top Biden campaign official said Black voters needed to pay close attention to Trump’s plans.

Trump is “making it clear that if he wins in November, he’ll turn his racist record into official government policy, gutting programs that give communities of color economic opportunities and making the lives of Black and brown folks harder,” said former Rep. Cedric Richmond (D-La.), one of the co-chairs of the Biden campaign. “It’s up to us to stop him.”

The warning comes as polling shows Biden’s level of support from Black voters has slipped. Democratic strategists have some fear about GOP plans to target Black men in the coming election. And they have major fears Black voters could stay home or vote for third-party candidates. Highlighting Trump and Miller’s plans could raise the stakes of the election for Black voters.

Miller, who pushed white nationalism and xenophobia in leaked emails, is at the heart of the effort. America First Legal, the right-wing nonprofit group Miller founded, has filed over a hundred lawsuits against “woke” corporations — like Disney, Mattel and Nike — that it alleges discriminate against white men. These complaints — many of which cite the 1964 Civil Rights Act — are laying the legal framework for Trump’s Justice Department to eliminate programs designed to counter racism, Axios notes.

Jasmine Harris, director of Black media for the Biden-Harris campaign, said the report should worry Black Americans.

“This report, in addition to all of the recent examples of shameless racism by Donald Trump and MAGA Republicans, serves as a warning to Black America: Donald Trump is a selfish and vindictive man who doesn’t give a damn about Black people,” Harris told HuffPost. “He will make our lives worse by using the very laws that the pioneers of the Civil Rights Movement fought for, against us.”

Miller’s group is not alone in the effort to roll back DEI initiatives.

The right-wing think tank Heritage Foundation crafted Project 2025, a sweeping playbook that lists policies and initiatives for the next conservative administration. The initiative is open about its goal to reshape the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division. One of the mandates within the playbook is to “reorganize and refocus the DOJ’s Civil Rights Division to serve as the vanguard for this return to lawfulness.”

Trump has affirmed to supporters that he aims make good on his promise to eliminate DEI. “We will terminate every diversity, equity and inclusion program across the entire federal government,” he told a crowd in Rochester, New Hampshire, in January.”

If you follow corporate ongoings at Mattel at all you'll be aware of the toxic work culture present in the doll division of the company.

From bullying to hostility to outright harassment, this is the reason why there are no Black doll designers currently employed at the company.

Well now we can officially add ageism to the list based on this lawsuit from last year.

Just another negative notch to add onto Mattel's incredibly problematic and toxic belt.

idk if this is an unpopular opinion bc i don't think anyone cares enough to have an opinion but having read a lot about the Mattell v Bratz lawsuit in the past I actually do think Carter Bryant stole or at least partially stole the original concept for Bratz from Lily Martinez so it kinda annoys me when people call MyScene a ripoff of Bratz since Lily Martinez also created that line. Mattel and MGA both suck but anyways aren't Lily Martinez's original prototypes for Monster High so cute.

I got an 11.5 inch Hong Kong Lilli recently (I’d love an actual Bild Lilli in that size one day but the prices are crazy). The Hong Kong Lilli’s were actually cast from the original Bild Lilli molds, after the original manufacturer sold the molds to a toy factory in Hong Kong (which they did after selling the rights to Bild Lilli to Mattel after a lawsuit against Mattel). The Hong Kong Lilli’s were made of thinner lighter plastic, and usually had a much more slap dash assembly with a lot of messy glue and face paint.

I’m not done with the restoration of this doll yet, it’s been very difficult and I’m trying to stay motivated so I thought I’d post what I’ve done so far.

This poor doll has definitely seen some things in the last 60 years:

After scrubbing and scraping off as much old glue as I could, I restrung the doll (Bild Lilli was strung on elastic, and the Hong Kong Lilli’s are assembled the same way) and opened up the head to get rid of the old glue and broken hair. It was gross.

I then removed the old paint, and did a repaint where I tried to capture the actual Lilli-ness of the sculpt:

I now need to add new hair and reattach the head cap, which sounds simple but has been a pain so far. Hopefully my next update will be once this has been completed.

Round 3

Blur's Self-Titled: And when she lets me slip away… Some bands make their debut with an eponymous album (Placebo did the year before, as would Albarn's second great success Gorillaz) but Blur knew that declaration of self-actualizion was worth saving. Blur by Blur is the fifth studio album by the acclaimed English pop-rock-alternative-shoegaze-anything that'll stick-band, fronted by 90s coverboy Damon Albarn. The album brought us the singles Beetlebum and Song 2, the former of which debuted at #1 on the UK charts, and the latter of which would properly break in the US and give the band the footing on American soil they'd previously missed. Woo-hoo! Despite its mainstream success (the album is certified Platinum) Blur has a distinctly more experimental sound than their Britpop classics and explores rougher indie production sentiments; guitarist Graham Coxon centers his widening musical tastes and produces some of his proudest work, while Albarn has stated that the track On Your Own may be regarded as the first taste of Gorillaz-before-Gorillaz. Although it would not be the end of the road for the band's internal turmoil and eventual reconciliation, it would come to represent an era of growth and emotional authenticity in their music.

The Aqua v. Mattel Lawsuit: Life in plastic is fantastic... but outside of it, mega-corporations are litigious. In 1997, the world was introduced to the Danish-Norwegian group Aqua via their Europop smash hit Barbie Girl; the song was so big, in fact, that Mattel sued the band's American record label MCA over the lyrics and the use of their trademarked shade 'Barbie Pink.' Turns out Lady Justice would not be on Mattel's side as Barbie's original messaging rang true, confirming that girls in the 90s could be anything, including tongue-in-cheek pop performers protected under parody law. Mattel would even petition the Supreme Court (really!) while Aqua and MCA would file a countersuit, but none would find great success in litigation. The whole debacle is best summarized by Judge Kozinski's iconic line, "The parties are advised to chill."