As I previously mentioned 2013 was the year that Mattel changed the playline Fashionista body to a non articulated one. Here is Willa who is a typical example of the current standard sized playline body although there are some variations in arm positions.
Of course the biggest change to happen to Barbie during the last five years was the introduction of the Tall, Petite and Curvy bodies for Barbie in 2016 and later for Ken.
So far I have only bought a Petite Barbie. She is the same height as 2010 Skipper but her body has a more mature look. She can, however, wear Skipper’s clothes. I wrote a post about her which you can read here.
Despite the large number of curvy and tall dolls released since 2016 I still have not seen any I love so much I just have to have them. Nor have any turned up at the Op Shop yet; so at this time I don’t have any examples to show you. If I do buy any I’ll update this post to include them. Here are some boxed ones I snapped while visiting the shops. Plaid Fashionista has a nice face but I can’t stand her outfit, Actually I don’t like any of their outfits so if I do buy a tall or curvy doll I will have to get them something else to wear at once. I’m also not keen on coloured hair or half shaved heads so nothing there for me in this batch. As for Ken if they had to make a “man bun” couldn’t they at least have made him with rooted hair so that it could be taken out of that silly style? I guess these fashions and hairstyles are the modern trends which for me makes the 2010’s an decade of complete fashion lunacy. And we thought the seventies and eighties were bad. Anyway that completes my look at the post 2000 Barbies although I do have plans to do a post on articulated dolls such as Made to Move, playline articulated and pivotal dolls at some point simply because I just love the poseable dolls.
One thing I notice about these dolls is that they appear younger than their collectible counterparts. The Millie face looks like a teenager to me anyway but also the way the dolls are dressed seems more youthful. Mattel never seens to have been able to make up their minds about how old Barbie should look. Digressing from the subject of body types it is quite interesting to me that while Barbie has gone from being a teenager to an adult and back again several times and Tammy started out as a younger teen and then grew up a little Pedigree’s Sindy was always marketed as a young adult. She drove or rode her moped, she did her own housework, she had jobs and was quite independent.
https://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-35670446
http://fashionistabarbieuk.com/2016/01/curvy-barbie-new-body-shapes/
Dolls, Dolls, Dolls 
I am pleasantly surprised by the new waves of MTM and Fashionistas and bought some. Some of the latest Fashionistas appear to have resurrected older face molds and the range of skin tones have improved. Thus people are rebodying them onto MTM bodies. At these prices, it’s affordable. Mattel is doing a much better job with ethnic dolls. I think they may be turning the corner and finally got the pulse of the market with truly exciting offering like the collaboration with Marni Senofonte and the release of Sheroes relevant to society and culture: Intihaj Muhammad and Laurie Hernandez. I hope to see the Chloe Kim doll. Take a look and let us know what you think.
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I’ll check her out.
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Maybe I will finally try rebodying since the cost of a Fashionista and MTM is less than a The Look doll, which I love, but there aren’t many of them. The recent City Chic grey sweater dress doll was selling in the secondary market at 3 x co$t! Mattel may finally be back on track with diverse offerings. The Harry Potter Hermione is very cute!
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Let’s hope so.
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