Swappin' Styles/Heads Barbie "Review"

[Biff]

I bought the new Swappin' Styles Fashionista (Sassy) barbie to see if the head swap would fit on the older MyScene, but sadly it does not fit. The piece has been redesigned so it goes lower down on the bust and won't even go down all the way. I will probably do another "review" once I get my hands on my other Fashionista without the swapping piece to show the different in jointing, as several of the joints have been redesigned. Most noteworthy though is the lack of a torso joint, which didn't allow for a lot of mobility to begin with however.



I don't really dislike this face, as this is the second doll I've bought with it. The purple streak is actually on the opposite side of the head, on the Swappin' Styles doll it is actually on her left.



It is much smaller then the MyScene head, but not surprise there. I am kind of amused both dolls have purple hair streaks, however the MyScene's hair is overall lighter and more low light with some black while the other doll is pretty even.



Now on to the bad news.... The doll arrived stained in at least 3+ locations, the first and most noticeable 2 are photographed.



The dress is also damaged because of the waist piece sticking.



The waist piece is stained from the dress too.



One of the hands was also damaged because of the clear plastic straps over it but I could not get a photo showing that well. The photo does show off the new redesigned knee joints which I really like. The doll can even sit swarriko sort of, but they only bend back to about a right angle. The doll is a bit overly light, so she has to be balanced slightly to sit down.

[DollyKim]

For a rebuttal I own 5 bodies and 2 spare heads. I haven't noticed or cared about anything with the hands being messed up from packaging. It is possible to take just the head off of a shoulder unit and replace it with any head that will fit on a Mattel neck. All the caucasian ones are the same Barbie skin tone that's been out all year.

The lack of a waist is a bit of a problem but I don't let it bother me, then again I'm bigger on elbows and wrists. These are the same arms and legs on the regular 100 poses dolls, what I call the ball knees as opposed to the hinge knees on some older 100 poses. I do agree they're head heavy.

[Biff]

For a rebuttal I own 5 bodies and 2 spare heads. I haven't noticed or cared about anything with the hands being messed up from packaging. It is possible to take just the head off of a shoulder unit and replace it with any head that will fit on a Mattel neck. All the caucasian ones are the same Barbie skin tone that's been out all year.

The lack of a waist is a bit of a problem but I don't let it bother me, then again I'm bigger on elbows and wrists. These are the same arms and legs on the regular 100 poses dolls, what I call the ball knees as opposed to the hinge knees on some older 100 poses. I do agree they're head heavy.

Yea, but the staining still sucks, but at least it's on the torso. I think the head plastic things are pretty annoying too. I noticed they seemed to be pretty much the same skintone, I guess if it at least stays consistent enough most of the heads will be swappable. I'm going to keep the 2 dolls as is for now as I'd rather keep them "whole."

I only own an older 1000 poses atm, but I'd like to see a comparison of the older and newer bodies if you can take one. The best I can take atm would be the older with the heading swapping one.

[DollyKim]

Comparison of knees


With everything I was doing I didn't get them naked next to each other but it's the same body, except for the knees, on my Mattel page.

[Wardah]

Couldn't you get the marks off with a magic eraser? I know it does wonders for pony marks.

[DollyKim]

I just looked at mine and it didn't stain at all. Perhaps that Barbie was somewhere very hot.

In the history of staining from the factory I've had Jenny and Licca dolls stain all over from factory black clothes that I washed, and Dragon hands and feet. In all my years of Barbies they've come out of the package fine stain wise.

Magic Eraser is great for washing Barbies. I took 20 years of love off my Skippers and brightened their faces literally.

[Biff]

Haven't tried an eraser yet, but the waist piece and dress are damaged too so that's unfixable. I'll have to give the eraser a shot though. I've discovered this specific doll is very unusual to find in stores. I made some interesting packaging design discoveries so I'll be posting that once I get the photos uploaded.

I thought that too, but it makes no sense because it hasn't been over 50 degrees F in a month. Frustrating.