Thursday, September 25, 2014

Hispanic Heritage Month Doll Focus: Mattel Rebelde Dolls



Mattel created a sextet of Barbie-sized fashion dolls based on Rebelde, a pop music group that emerged from a Mexican telenovela about the lives of six students at prestigious boarding school, Elite Way High School. The RBD pop group won many musical awards and became the most well-known Mexican pop group, receiving worldwide coverage in five years from 2004 when they formed for the telenovela to when they disbanded in 2009. 

Here are the dolls along with their Wikipedia RBD biographies in case the link to the first episode piqued your curiosity.

Mattel issued the RBD dolls in three waves:

Elite Way High School red uniformed girls only
Concert girls only
Elite Way High School red uniformed boys AND girls sold in 2-doll sets   

Summer - Winter of 2008, I was on my Rebelde hunt. I bought Schoolgirls Lupita and Roberta separately. Then, I bought the Concert versions of Lupita and Roberta. I could not wait to find the boys. New playscale men? Yes! Ethnic men? Double yes! Here are the dolls I have minus Mia.




Schoolgirl Lupita redressed in a Generation Girl Tori jumpsuit stands alongside the box of "older" Concert Lupita. The schoolgirl girls are 11" tall while the Concert dolls are 11.5." The guys are 12" tall.






Concert Lupita - best face, I think. I'm likely going to keep her and to eventually de-box her.




Schoolgirl Roberta redressed in a Generation Girl Tori jumpsuit stands alongside the box of "older" Concert Roberta. If you see a Roberta out of her box and she has bangs (fringe), then she is the Concert doll.




Concert Roberta definitely going to the for sale pile. At first, I liked her excessive make-up look. I can't say that I completely love that look now. Hhhhhhmmmm ... thinking ....




Here are the Rebelde guys showing off their profiles. Yeah, they're fine. They're fine.




But do they look like the actors of the Rebelde group? I think Miguel does a good enough job.




Diego, however, fails to resemble the actor playing Diego. Not even the hair matches. Good looking doll, but no likeness to the actor.




And the Giovanni doll? Wince. I can see an attempt was made. But no, this one gets no prize for strong resemblance either. The doll's head should be narrower.


Found your new or recovered an "old" musical group? The RBD group has an official website. While the group broke up in 2009, they might reunite some day. 

If you have the dolls though, they can perform together whenever you choose. Such is the magic of playscale ;-)



18 comments:

Phyllis said...

I have the entire "Red" set. Of course, I have rebodied all of them to poseable bodies. I agree with you on the resemblence factor for the guys. At least the girls all have different face molds. I guess Mattel did their best with only one male face mold -- at least the hair color gives each a somewhat different look.

Anonymous said...

I like this doll line. The uniform of the boys looks great, and if the dolls are not compared with the real ones, they are well done :-)

jSarie said...

I like the style of the line - celebrity tie-in dolls can be so hit or miss, but these look solid.

And even if the likenesses aren't the best, at least they made an effort!

Unknown said...

Hello from Spain: This series was very successful on TV in my country. I have to Roberta. The boys were not sold in my country. Keep in touch

D7ana said...

Hi Phyllis, Night Owl, jSarie, and Marta!

@Phyllis - congratulations on having rebodied your Red set onto poseable bodies.

Mattel used two head molds for the boys. The markings on the back of their heads read:

Diego - ©2005 MATTEL,INC

Giovanni and Miguel -
TM/©2001 MATTEL,INC.

I should have noted that in the post ;-P

@Night Owl - yes, the line is well done and the uniforms look good on the guys.

@jSarie - some celebrity faces are probably harder to reproduce in playscale AND within a certain timeframe than others. I think Mattel jumped on the RBD train when they were hot - understandably - and Mattel wanted to get the dolls out before the band's popularity fizzed. So no personalized molds. The likenesses of the female dolls work, especially the eye screening for Lupita and Mia. So if two of the boys look a little less than spot on, I shouldn't complain. They are prized dolls in my collection.

@Marta - the series looks interesting. I'll have to watch a full episode. I am glad that you got the cast member you admired (Roberta). The boys are still available on the secondary market here, but of course, they cost more now although there was a brief time when they hit the bargain stores.

Thanks for your comments. Sometimes, sharing dolls online helps me appreciate them more offline ;-)

Natalia said...

I have school girl Mia and concert Roberta. I hope to collect other dolls some day.

D7ana said...

Hi Natalia Tadra - best wishes for your finding the other dolls some day.

Smaller Places said...

This is fascinating! I'm now sure I haven't seen one in person, which is weird, given where I live. Lupita's face is probably my favorite at this moment.

The grandmommy said...

I have been immersed in 1:12 so much I missed a lot of cool 1:6 dolls. Thanks for sharing!

RoxanneRoxanne said...

Thanks for sharing the information about these dolls! I had seen them before, but never knew where these characters originated.

Vanessa said...

So great to see all the Rebelde dolls. I have only one of the ladies in my collection. This is my first time seeing a few of the other ladies. You know you aren't going to sell that concert Rebelde. lol. That was the first thought that came to mind when I read that.

Jewell said...

Wow, thanks for sharing! I love being introduced to new playscale dolls. I really like Miguel. I might have to try to find him for one of my ladies.

Barb the Evil Genius said...

So has Roberta's face ever been used again? It's very distinctive.

Muff said...

How coincidental! I just found the Concert Lupita at the Thrift Store. She was nekkid, but it's definitely the same head. She looked so dramatic I thought she was a Dancing With the Stars doll perhaps.

I like this line!

Lindaivette38 said...

Hola, yo tengo a Lupita y Mia Collucci, espero conseguir a Roberta.
Saludos, es un gusto estar en tu blog, ya me puse al corriente con tus post, jaja, si que estaba atrasada.
Saludos.

D7ana said...

Wow! Great to see the comments pouring in! Thanks Smaller Places, The grandmommy, RoxanneRoxanne, Vanessa, Jewell, Barb the Evil Genius, Muff, and Linaivette montes de oca!

@Smaller Places - the Rebelde dolls were out in 2008 so they probably are not featured prominently anywhere. As Muff mentions in the comments, she found a Concert Lupita at a thrift store. So while they probably are no longer in mainstream stores like Walmart, Target, Toys R Us, they can be found online, in thrift stores, among other collectors, etc.

Lupita has the Teresa face mold. The face screening on some of the dolls is lovely. (Some though have high foreheads though. Just FYI.)

@The grandmommy - my pleasure! Glad to lure you away from 1:12 scale, lol.

@RoxanneRoxanne - glad to share. I mean to go back and watch that first episode at least ;-) Not that my characters match the show's characters.

@Vanessa - lol. Uh huh. I'm trying. I'm going to list the ones that gotta go. She's cute, but she gotta go, lol. Glad you enjoyed seeing them all.

@Jewell - oh, yeah, he's my FAVORITE of the guys, Miguel. Not so much because he looks like the actor as that he's a hunky doll. Ffffuhh-fine ;-) Hope you can find him and at a good price.

@Barb the Evil Genius - Roberta has an Ana/Lara face as seen on several post 2007 Barbie dolls - Twilight Alice, Pirates of the Caribbean Angelica, etc. Her make-up though is very heavy on the RBD dolls.

@Muff - all the Concert RBD female dolls have that bent arm, lol. Even nekkid, they exude drama.

@Lindaivette montes de oca - Felicitaciones por tus muñecas Lupita y Mia Collucci. Espero que puedas encontrar un Roberta y pronto;-)

Siempre contento de ver a sus comentarios en mi blog.

Carrickters said...

These are totally new dolls to me so thank you for the introduction. I don't think they were ever released here, probably because the band and the TV series never made it here either. They look like an interesting line though.

D7ana said...

Hi Carrickters! Glad to share a "new" series with you.