Greenhorne Ethan
Smash Apprentice
- Joined
- May 24, 2023
- Messages
- 114
- Switch FC
- SW-4106-6771-3326
What is Barbie? Who is Barbie?
Barbie is a toyline and multimedia franchise created at and owned by Mattel, one which needs little introduction. Released in 1959, the original Barbie was groundbreaking for being the first doll modeled after a young woman, in contrast to the many baby and toddler dolls of decades prior. In the following decades, many dolls and other products have been released, seeing Barbie, her family, and her friends assume various roles, from the mundane to the fantastical. Barbie herself is generally portrayed as an American teenager or young woman whose full name is Barbara Millicent Roberts, originally said to live in Willows, Wisconsin, but currently depicted as from Malibu, California.
Why Barbie?
Barbie is been one of the biggest icons not just in toys, but pop culture overall. Many people around the world have grown up inspired by the dolls, whether it be in their careers, or simply their fashion. Over the past year, Barbie has also seen a resurgence in mainstream attention surrounding her live action theatrical film distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures, though it is worth noting that the older animated Barbie movies have their cult followings. Though many toylines come and go, Barbie has managed to stay afloat for over 50 years, and has more or less always been the face of fashion dolls.
How would Barbie work?
If Barbie were to join the roster, her presentation would likely largely revolve around the one who serves as the Greta Gerwig movie's protagonist, but it is worth noting that, more recently, the Barbie name more generally applies to dolls beyond the original character of Barbie "Malibu" Roberts, which means she has a lot of potential for skins. Although the movie hasn't been released yet, its marketing has played up the fact that "Barbie is everything." The large pool of roles Barbie dolls have taken might make it seem like she has an overwhelming amount of moveset potential, but the movie's main Barbie seems to lead a particularly simple and carefree life of fashion and fun. I imagine that, for the sake of flexibility with skins, the moveset would try to avoid heavy use of specific jobs or accessories. Fellow veterans of campaigning for a Style Savvy character in Smash likely already have an idea of how this would work. (The idea of stance changing with different outfits comes back to mind.)
Pros & Cons:
Pros:
- As mentioned earlier, Barbie is one of the most iconic toys in history.
- Her versatility in roles gives her high moveset potential.
- Relevant to Warner during MultiVersus' post-beta, pre-launch development stage.
- Moveset could be unorthodox to an incoherent degree if not done carefully.
- New movie might lose too much relevance by the time the game launches, could stand out as a not-so-subtle movie promo character like Black Adam.
- Although the new movie is rated PG-13, the franchise is overall still largely aimed at families with small children, especially with its media. This could cause conflict of interests with other franchises they plan to include.
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