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July 21, 2010
Reader Comments (55)
The thing with Barbie is, fabric thickness does not scale down. If she wasn't insanely skinny with big boobs, then she would have no discernable figure whatsoever. Silk at human scale is tarp at Barbie scale.
The more you know . . .
Ooo, silhouettes! I don't think I've seen you use them before - nicely done.
I don't suppose it should go without saying that the comic was quite funny. That was well done, too.
Panel 3 FTW!
The problem with the fabric theory is that we now have MICROFIBER. Although Barbie's gargantuan breasts hardly qualify as micro.
The whole Barbie shape is ridiculous. I keep wondering how that started in the first place. Why make a doll that's meant for little girls be so unrealistically endowed? I mean, I can understand why the Tomb Raider character is built like that - the idea there is to attract males, who are more likely to play video games anyway. But what's the point in doing this for a girl's toys?
Funny comic today.
Panel one, last dialog: FTW.
The real problem is that everyone BUYS Barbie. End of story. Demand change by refusing to give them money, and they'll change it. Wish for change while writing them a check and they laugh all the way to the bank. And we have so many more toys and options now than we did back when Barbie came out that it's not as though the girls of the nation will be forced to play with sticks if we follow this path.
Actually, Lara Croft looked like that in the Tomb Raider games because one of the model developers accidentally increased her bust size by 150%. His co-workers convinced him to keep it that way. xD
Awesome comic, as always, Scott.
I was gearing up to make a point and then you went and made it for me in the fourth panel. Funny AND true. Good episodes of the Simpsons, btw.
I like how you point out that no one ever complains that action figures for boys are "unrealistic". Barbie isn't really much less realistic than those blonde, blue-eyed plastic monstrosities you'll find in the next aisle over, and no one complains about them. Mocks them, sure, but complaining, not so much.
Similarly, people will complain about the level of violence in comic books and video games, but they never complain about, say, Nathan Drake setting an "unrealistic" standard for male looks and physical ability. I'm not sure if it says that people think that boys don't need protection, or that they think girls are unable to distinguish the difference between plastic figurines and reality.
My magazines have pictures of half-naked women in them, trying to sell me guns and cologne. My wife's magazines have pictures of half-naked women in them, trying to sell her perfume and weight loss products. The point is that women's role models are beautiful women, and men's role models are themselves, but with beautiful women hanging off of them.
@ Kris
The same reason male media is full of buff sweaty men. Even if something dosent "do it for you" their is a segment of wish fulfillment.
I always thought Batman was the best role model for growing boys. As I always tell my wife and friends
"What would Batman do?"
>I keep wondering how that started in the first place. Why make a doll that's meant for little girls be so unrealistically endowed?
Barbie is based upon Bild Lilli, a doll carried by bars and tobacconists and marketed to single men, as a gag gift. Think blow-up doll meets voodoo doll, framed by mid-century German pop culture, and you'll begin to see where it started. From Wikipedia: "Many parents considered her not appropriate for children."
The easy answer is to just make Barbie bulletproof.
NEXT!
Agree. Barbie needs a bigger ass
Wilson: not so. Check out 1/6 scale (play scale) "action" figures by Hot Toys or Sideshow Collectibles. There is some awesome work out there. The rule of thumb is the fabric needs to be softer, not thinner (so it drapes).
Because boobs are awesome
ZOMG, you're right, this debate has been going for so long!!! I remember talking about this in grade 8...The whole Unrealistic Barbie vs. Who takes her seriously anyway? But it's so true, what's the point of having a kid's toy made with such huge assets??? Kid's don't mind playing with flat-chested dolls, I'm pretty sure. But anywayz, setting the whole Barbie arguement aside, good job, I completely cracked on the last two panels xD.
Actually, if they wanted to make Barbie more realistic, the dream house would have come with a bald, out of shape middle-aged guy. Barbie and Ken would have to be very careful not to be seen together by that guy.
True story:
The reason Barbie looks like a well-endowed adult is because other dolls at the time when Barbie was invented were all baby dolls, and thus it was an untapped market. It was originally marketed to adults, but became popular with children who enjoyed dressing it up in outfits, something that they couldn't do anywhere nearly as well with baby dolls. The supermodel proportions were to make it look better in the different outfits - the same reason real models have such proportions.
Simpsons did it!
Brilliant.
Is it me, or does Female Co-worker's face bear a stunning resemblance to Rick?
The barbie figure may also be unrealistic because, as many theorize, she was based on a German doll of a street walker. Lilly Gesucht.
I've been meaning to tell you Scott, do you mean to draw office co-worker as a tremendous -sized blow-up doll? Just sayin' ...