Originally posted by Katie148:
Well, of course I can only speak for myself on these issues...but here are my opinions.
I hate the plastic ziptie because you cannot remove the doll's head to do repairs the way you can when the head is attached by the cloth string. You may have to remove the doll's head if you ever need to take out her stuffing and clean her body, or tighten a loose head, or readjust a head that might be slightly crooked, or even to restring a doll with loose joints. The plastic tie will not allow you to do any of these fixes on your doll.
I personally don't mind that the Mattel dolls are skinnier. I am skinny, too, and there is nothing wrong with that. [img]wink.gif[/img] I think what annoys a lot of people is that some of the new Mattel clothes seemed to be sized for these skinnier dolls and don't fit the older PM dolls. I haven't had this problem myself, but I would certainly be upset if I couldn't buy any new clothes for my beloved old dolls because they wouldn't fit. [img]eek.gif[/img] I do have to say, though, that I have a PM Asian AGT who is extremely chubby, and she is one of my favorite dolls to hold and cuddle because of her soft, fully stuffed body. The new dolls do not feel like her at all, and I can see why so many people highly prefer the older dolls.
As for the eyelashes, the PM dolls have longer, softer, more realistic looking lashes. There's nothing horribly wrong with the Mattel eyelashes, but if you've seen both, there's no doubt that the PM lashes are prettier and more real-looking. So of course some people are disappointed that they don't use those nicer, more high quality eyelashes anymore.
Basically, I think that those of us who have been around since the early days of AG have gotten used to the high quality of the PM dolls, and some of the changes Mattel has made seem to have cheapened the dolls. Most likely someone who is not familiar with PM dolls would never be bothered by the things that old-time collectors are. It's just that when you get used to something, love it, and then it is changed in a way that seems inferior, well, you're not going to be happy! [img]graemlins/thumbs_down.gif[/img]
That said, I still love the Mattel dolls, of which I have many, and I think they are beautiful. I just don't want to see the quality of these wonderful dolls cheapened in any way. And the plastic zip tie and stiffer, darker eyelashes do exactly that, in my opinion.
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