Get it this summer
Like many of the staff members here at Destructoid, writing video game stories isn’t my only job. When I’m not failing at being funny here or prostituting myself out to rich Saudis, I spend my days working for a toy company. While my job is, by definition, nothing but fun and games, there are certain aspects of it that I don’t enjoy and all of those aspects just happen to be girls’ toys.
I say this not because I’m a man but because the vast majority of girls’ toys suck. Barbie, Monster High, Bratz, Ever After High, Pinkie Cooper, LEGO Friends; it’s hard to get excited about selling toys that seem to just want to turn generation after generation of girls into mindless consumer whores, as if the end goal of the product is to ensure every little girl grows up to be Kim Kardashian without the ass.
“But CJ,” you say into your computer like I can actually hear you, “what about the dolls where she has a career?” Sure, career Barbies do exist, but most of the ones that come across my desk have her teaching, baking, nursing, or figure skating. You know, girl jobs.
There are, however, dolls Mattel releases in some years where Barbie gets a job that’s different from all the rest. Last year was Film Director Barbie (modeled after Selma director Ava DuVernay) and this year it’s Game Developer Barbie.
Equipped with a laptop and a gaming headset that is somehow not pink, Game Developer Barbie will be available this summer. Who knows what kinds of amazing fun little girls will have with Barbie and her laptop. Maybe they’ll create a Minecraft clone, or bilk the public out of thousands of dollars with a Kickstarter campaign, or even make the mistake of developing a game exclusively for the Amazon Fire TV. Let’s just hope they don’t end up making one of those terrible Barbie video games.
I genuinely hope that Game Developer Barbie takes off and we see her take on more jobs outside of the Pink Collar variety that aren’t just a once-a-year thing. And if she flops at retail, they can always repurpose the toy as a Supernatural Charlie doll.
Evolution of Barbie [Mattel]