My Scene: The Forgotten Barbie Line

Barbie went through phases Just like how we go through different phases, But one of my favorite phases was the My Scene addition to the Barbie toys.

What is My Scene? I will tell you.

It is one of the best things that ever happened to Barbie, and sadly it got forgotten.

When I was a little girl, Barbie became a huge part of my life before I could even walk. I brought my Barbies into the bathtub to play with, I made dresses for my Barbies. Even when I was getting to fifth grade, I didn’t let peer pressure get to me to stop playing with my Barbies. But I was getting to a point where Barbie wasn't gonna be part of my routine. Just like Andy in Toy Story, we never know when we’re going to outgrow are toys, but we enjoy the time that we do. My Scene came at the right moment before I stopped playing with my dolls and it was the best last run. I had for Barbie.

I went on the Barbie website all the time to play the games and then there was a new brand that came through. That was just called “My Scene”. It was shown in bright pastel colors that were different than the usual pink and white logo I saw for Barbie. Now Barbie shared the spotlight with other characters.

Barbie had always shared the spotlight with other characters. I remember seeing the name Skipper around. But when you look at a Barbie doll case with two dolls. It's hard to not see it as two versions of Barbie. Not Barbie and friend.

My Scene knew how to make it so that people wouldn't confuse the other characters with other versions of Barbie.

Barbie was made in a whole new way while she still felt familiar. She had a different design that started to reflect the early millennial era. This time Barbie wasn’t the main character, she was one of 4-6 characters. Barbie wasn’t the focus, she was in the background, while also being in the foreground.

There was Chelsea, Kennedy, Madison, Nolee, Delancey, Nia, Hudson, River, Kenzie, Bryant, Ellis, Sutton, and...Barbie

Lindsay, Jai, Tyson, and Ryan were additional characters. As much as I scratched my brain to see if I remembered those characters, they were not there and it seems the brand itself created too many characters.

Here's the funny thing about how My Scene prepared which characters that were a part of the My Scene Story. Barbie HERSELF was dismissed from the second edition of characters. The My Scene story didn't need the character and looking at it. The My Scene girls carried the same personality as Barbie, so there wasn't a major change.

Looking back on the addition of My Scene into the Barbie universe if another toy had challenged Barbie to change the game. My Scene had a posse of 6 teenagers. I wonder if the arrival of Bratz made the game change for Barbie. In Bratz, there wasn’t one central female character. There were central female characters.

Turns out I was right in ways I didn't see coming. Bratz sued Barbie for copying them. So I was right that Barbie felt challenged to do something different. But that something different was too close that it was obvious My Scene had taken a major creative liberty. Bratz had a gaggle of different characters and then all of a sudden so did Barbie. As much as I love My Scene (and still do) I can't deny the convenient logic that Barbie had utilized a trade secret to their benefit.

The lawsuit did crush Barbie to permanently retire the My Scene dolls in 2011. When I learned about what happened to my favorite toy, it put a memory in my head that asked myself years ago. What happened to the My Scene Dolls? Now it's weird to think as a child I held a 'trade secret' in my hand.

I had to think about why I loved My Scene as a little girl. And it wasn't hard to remember why. When I first saw the My Scene dolls, all the other colorful toys faded in the distance when my eyes saw My Scene. Barbie had different friends who had unique styles for all of them. Their personality could change on their clothes (even their hair). I felt like Charlie in Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory. It was a world of pure imagination to get to see different girls with different styles.

My Scene was a phase with many layers and too many characters. But I have to admit, it did the job for a girl like me who loved Barbie.