"
Designed by women for girls, not one crafted by men for boys."
DC SuperHero Girls Line
The new Mattel characters, created through a partnership with Warner Bros.' DC Comics, are aimed at a 6-year-old girl. The DC SuperHero Girls line, which launches this spring, will include 12-inch dolls, 6-inch action figures, and gadgets such as a Batgirl utility belt. Some of the products will be unveiled for the first time this week at New York Comic Con. The two companies joined forces last year after seeing a hole in the market, one Warner Bros. wants to help fill with girl-oriented books and animated Web series.
With declining sales for Barbie, Mattel's biggest brand, and the pending loss of the licenses for Disney Princess and Frozen,
SuperHero Girls will be one of the first major tests of a comeback effort under new leadership. DC supplied the characters from its comic books and then Mattel helped craft a story around them as teenagers in high school—a well-worn and successful plot the company has used with homegrown brands like Monster High. They also softened up the characters for a younger audience. Take Harley Quinn: Joker's girlfriend is described by DC as "psychotic" after "murdering countless civilians." The high school version is a "jokester" who lives for "LOLs."
With feedback in hand, they discovered the differences between the genders, with boys willing to kill off the villains, while girls wanted to redeem them and become friends. "
Girls also desired different superpowers, including the ability to talk to animals, hear whispers, and force people to tell the truth." Girls also didn’t want the superheroes to be "
too girly, a problem with the first round of dolls that Mattel developed." The line's designer instructed her team to "
use gymnasts, dancers, and basketball players as primers for sculpting more muscular versions of the dolls and action figures. "We wanted to have this very strong, toned body, but keeping in mind that they are still in high school, so they’re not fully mature yet,...But they still look like they can save the day instead of being saved." They also stuck with existing colors, leaving Supergirl’s cape red instead of shifting to pink."
(Source:
Bloomberg)
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