Hot-to-trot ponies? Dolls that wax? Toys get tarted up
Peter Pan may never have grown up, but Tinker Bell and her fairy friends definitely have. The Disney Fairies boast hourglass figures, coy glances and barely-there mini dresses. In short, these girls aren’t your mama’s pixies.
Even trolls have come of age. Those formerly stout, pug-nosed kewpies, have reemerged in a new slim, thigh-baring line called Trollz. Rainbow Brite and Strawberry Shortcake have become tweens and shed their baby fat. And et tu, Holly Hobbie? She’s traded her prairie dresses for a saucy wardrobe and lightened locks.
In recent years, Disney, Mattel and other major companies have revisited a host of iconic dolls and turned them into freshly tarted-up — or at least more grown-up — toys. New lines, like the Monster High Dolls and hot-to-trot Struts horses (yes, horses), came out of the gate tramping it up and they’re making some parents — and psychologists — uncomfortable.