auradis

Okay, so I was not happy when I heard that certain cartoon figures were getting makeovers. The two foremost examples of this are Strawberry Shortcake and Dora the Explorer, whose new image was only recently revealed:

They indeed look like they have progressed from being five years old to being 12 years old. Is this really what little girls want, however? I don’t think a six-year-old would really care that much, given the choice, and if these companies think that preteen Dora will attract actual preteens, then they are seriously deluded. In a world where Hannah Montana & Jonas Brothers sit at the top of the heap and Seventeen magazine is actually read by 13-year-olds, these new figures will never make it big.

Clearly, these decisions were probably driven by a desire for profit. In time, though, children will grow out of their old playmates altogether and move on to something else, although I admittedly never grew out of my love for Pokémon, heh. I really hope that they don’t try to age these characters any further, though, otherwise we’ll be seeing “Dora Explores College!” bedsheets at Wal-Mart in a few years.

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