i hate the idea of selling collagen implant modern-looking porn slut dolls to kids instead of the old-fashioned playboy plastic porn slut barbie dolls, but this is funny. not any improvement. what kind of parents buy these things for their kids?
from yahoo
By Paul Majendie
LONDON (Reuters) - At the ripe old age of 45, Barbie has been knocked off her perch in Britain by streetwise upstart Bratz in the Christmas battle of the dolls.
"It is the first time Barbie has been out of our top 10," said Ben Green, chairman of the UK Toy Retailers Association as it predicted the must-have toys for Xmas 2004.
"Bratz has such a phenomenal impetus behind her. She is very much the new kid on the block," he told Reuters.
The busty and blonde Barbie has ruled supreme ever since her launch by U.S. toymaker Mattel Inc .
She saw off Cindy but now faces her toughest competition yet from multi-ethnic Bratz, brainchild of Isaac Larian who founded U.S.-based MGA Entertainment, now billed as the world's biggest privately owned toy company.
"The toy market is very fickle and so are children. Barbie is in her 45th year, Bratz is only in her second," Green said as the 2 billion pound UK industry geared up for the crucial Christmas market that accounts for 50 percent of annual sales.
"Dolls dominate the girls' sector which is worth over 400 million pounds, so it's no wonder that the competition is hot," Green added.
Barbie, all a-glitter in her sparkling "Princess and the Pauper" carriage with interactive kitten Serafina at her side, put a brave face on the demotion.
"We are still confident we are going to have a great Christmas. Barbie will continue to evolve," said Sarah Allen, a UK spokesman for Mattel.
Just down the aisle from Barbie at the association's pre-Christmas media preview, Bratz was pouting in triumph and flicking her thigh-length hair in a Seventies disco outfit.
"I think she is responding to the post-Spice Girl generation. Kids want streetwise fashion," said Emma Sherski, marketing director of UK licensee Vivid Imaginations.
But at least Barbie is still in with a fighting chance for Christmas back home in the United States.
Tuesday in New York, she and Bratz were both picked for the "Hot Dozen" holiday list released by Toy Wishes magazine.
Parents of boys will have to dig deep into their wallets, with Robosapien, an all-dancing, karate-kicking robot already proving a popular choice at 80 pounds in Britain.
Nostalgia is also playing a big part this Christmas on both sides of the Atlantic with a revival being enjoyed by Cabbage Patch Kids, "adopted" by 65 million kids around the globe since first being launched in the Eighties.
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