All the attention on the epic battle between Bratz and Barbie got me thinking about some dolls -- stylish action figures, really -- I loved as a kid: Glamour Gals.
Four-inch-tall ladies who tooled around town in Firebirds, wore sparkly outfits and had names like Loni and Jessie, the Glamour Gals were similar to Bratz except: a. not as slutty; b. they appeared to have much less collagen in their lips; and c. their heads were not 85 times larger than their bodies. Best of all, they could be carted around in a sweet carrying case, as demonstrated by this commercial:
My favorite part of that commercial, by the way: The impressionable little girl urging Shara to "buy something pretty." Yeah, the Glamour Gals really made young females dream big.
The GG line didn't last long; Kenner sold them for a couple of years in the '80s, then sent them off to the Glamour Graveyard. Personally, I'd like to see them come back as an alternative to Bratz, if only because they're a little more, well, elegant. (If Carrie Bradshaw had been a tad younger, she totally would have played with Glamour Gals.)
But given the somewhat sexist subtext behind the dolls, they'd need to be smartened up to make them truly appropriate for girls circa 2008. Maybe call them Glamour Gals with Grad Degrees? Or make them environmentally-conscious Green Gals, who drive hybrid vehicles instead of Firebird? Hmmm ... I might be on to something there.
Image: Bigredtoybox.com
RetroFitted appears every Thursday on Strollerderby.
