The worst 2017 line for me is the Thronecoming dolls. It's a shame that they named the line same to an existing line. They have the same accessories just recolored. I guess this is the reason the dolls never showed up at ComicCon. The designers think that they can get away with no articulation just because of Barbie.
I've always felt these "save Ever After High" attempts are misguided. Mattel started the line in the hopes to get tweens buying a doll that was basically a more affordable version of a high end collectible. However sales were never quite what they were hoping for because tweens would rather spend their money on self expression. And the higher prices blocked out the majority of parents of younger kids since most parents would rather go with the cheaper option since after a month both will be stripped naked with ratty hair and a homemade napkin dress.
I've always felt these "save Ever After High" attempts are misguided. Mattel started the line in the hopes to get tweens buying a doll that was basically a more affordable version of a high end collectible. However sales were never quite what they were hoping for because tweens would rather spend their money on self expression. And the higher prices blocked out the majority of parents of younger kids since most parents would rather go with the cheaper option since after a month both will be stripped naked with ratty hair and a homemade napkin dress.
SO MUCH THIS. Mattel always does this. Hasbro does too, just to compete with Mattel. They get people interested in the initial well-thought and designed toys, then slowly they can cut back on quality and people don't really notice that much. There's an initial investment and they get lots of profit, but then they see if they can get the same profit or more by cheapening something. Most people don't take note of all the small little things that build up to kill a doll toyline. You have fun outfits but then the shoes are pop-on. You have fun shoes but there's permanent underwear. You have great wig quality and horrible facepaint. You have cool clothing and then they switch to plastic snap-on outfits. They release more body types but there's not as many points of articulation.
There's a magical breaking point for the target market when sales slow, when the toys stop moving on the shelves, they're not "cool", they're not in the hands of children pressuring their peers, the toys fall to the bottom of the toybox and there has to be some other gimmick to draw the kids back to the toy shelves again.
I mean... how many children were unhappy with their Hatchimal? The commercial portrayed a fun, communicative toy that was customized to your desires . Somehow, a handful of parents and kids missed the whole marketing bit about the AI learning to communicate through quality time spent with the robot. Like you might actually have to spend hours with it, training it like a puppy. Not, it pops out of the box, saying, "Hi Timmy! You should get Mom to make us pancakes!" :(
Parents will jump at the $12 doll over the $24 doll, but both end up on the floor with missing accessories and then there's no quality comparison. I swear Hasbro/Mattel destroy each others' toyline profitability on purpose - makes me feel terrible for the actual toy designers.
Hasbro is doing the same thing with my little pony. Why is everyone rebooting when the original lines were fine to begin with? >_<
So is there really no sign of any further EAH releases? :( I'd be sad to see the brand die, but given the recent dolls... it was kind of in the cards. The fashion doll boom seems to be over, and a lot of lines are thinning out or vanishing altogether... I guess that's just the great circle of (retail marketing) life. XP