What's Her Face (doll)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

What's Her Face is a line of customizable dolls that straddles the line between traditional fashion dolls and creative activity toys. Made by Mattel, the line ran from 2001 - 2003, and enjoyed only a modest success in a market dominated by Mattel's iconic Barbie and MGA Entertainment's Bratz dolls. Following the discontinuation of the What's Her Face line, their body molds were used for the Wee 3 Friends line of Barbie-related dolls. Several fashion, wig, and activity packs were also released for the What's Her Face line.

[edit] Features

What's Her Face is approximately 9.5" tall. A What's Her Face Doll's most recognizable feature is her lack of facial features. The completely blank face is intended to be drawn on and designed by the owner, using included washable colored markers and if desired, special rubber stamps of eyes and mouths. A flower-shaped mask was also included, with corresponding holes to help align the stamps on the Doll's face. The Doll's oversized head lacks rooted hair, and has velcro on top, designed to help their brightly colored wigs stay in place, while still being changeable. The Doll's body resembles that of a pre-teen, and has large, flat feet, which allow the Doll to stand on her own when properly balanced. Many of the Dolls sport molded-on floral-print panties, but the earliest Dolls did not, this feature being added midway through the line's run.

There were eight different characters in the What's Her Face line, sporting a range of ethnic diversity:

Glam, as her name implies, is the fashionista of the group. The first edition "Glam" had changeable hot pink and blue wigs, and wore a reversible zebra-print mini skirt, (a possible reason for the addition of the molded panties later) and silver platform boots. In 2002, two further editions of "Glam" were produced, "City Glam" in yellow snakeskin pants, and "Evening Out Glam" in a reversible blue-to-pink mini dress. All the 2002 Dolls featured temperature-sensitive color-changing streaks in the hair of their single wig.

Sweet has the most artistic personality, and usually wears pink. Her 2001 debut edition had a bright red waist length wig, and a yellow wig with pigtails. 2002 brought two further versions of "Sweet", "Party Sweet", and "Shopping Sweet" later in the year.

Hip likes music, and has a medium complexion. She had a medium-length, side-parted green wig and a pink wig with pigtails, and she wore bell-bottoms/capris and a reversible T-Shirt. A very preppy "School Hip" debuted in 2002's wave.

Cool is the sporty girl. She has the darkest skin of the Dolls in the line. "Cool"'s first edition had a long straight orange wig with bangs and a purple wig tied in low pigtails. "Cool" wore an ensemble of a T-shirt and cargos that shortened to hot pants. Swimsuit-clad "Beach Cool" came out in 2002.

Wild, Fresh, Chic, and Retro were only available in the third wave in 2003, and seemed to correspond as slightly older versions of the four earlier characters in the line. As such, these Dolls were about an inch taller, and slimmer than their predecessors, and added a dimension of fashion designing to the play, with tubes of fabric that could be cut and customized into unique clothing items.

There were also two special edition Gift Sets: a Christmas Themed Set in 2001, that came with Three Wigs and Three changes of Clothing, and "What's Her Adventure" from 2002, a Safari-inspired Set, that came with a re-arrangable "Whatever" Pet. Both of these Gift Sets were available with either a dark-skinned or light-skinned "What's Her Face" Doll.

[edit] Clothing

As the line is meant to spark creativity in young children, most of the clothes are customizable in some manner. The First-Year Dolls' Clothing were reversible, or changeable by adding or removing pieces (extra Pants Legs, for example). The Year Two Dolls' Clothing got more creative: not only did the clothing transform, they were made of materials that could be drawn on and decorated, much like the Doll's faces! A line of Four Extra Outfits were also available, including Pajamas, a Raincoat and Boots, a Swimsuit, and a Silver Party Dress, all of which could be customized and cleaned over and over. The Year Three Girls (who were taller and slimmer than previous releases, and also wore painted-on bikinis) went even further with the customization possibilities: in addition to one simple outfit, they came with a long, multi-patterned tube of fabric and a pair of scissors. These tubes could be cut into any number of unique tank tops and dresses and skirts for the Dolls. A few other doll lines can share most clothing with What's Her Face, including:

• Wee 3 Friends
• Bratz Boyz (female Bratz cannot wear the same size clothes, however)
• Teen Skipper

Some Barbie clothes (particularly shirts) can loosely fit as well.

[edit] Spin Off Lines

• What's Her Baby?: A line of two toddler-type dolls with rooted hair instead of a wig. Kissy Face has rubber-stamping lips that extend from the face by way of a lever in the back. The lips could also be traded for a pacifier. Pixie Do has a long braid that extended and retracted from the top of the head. Both dolls were only available with light skin. A Third "What's Her Baby?" Character, "Stylin' Steps", was at least planned, for she appeared on the (now-defunct) whatsherface.com Website, but was evidently never produced.

• "Whatever" Pet: Comes with multiple sets of snap-on ears and tails to create the appearance of different animals.

• There was also a playset, "What's Her Space?", full of two- and three-way transformable furniture (a chair became a TV, the couch became a bathtub became a bed, etc.)