Would Ken play with Barbie in the real world?
Parents will have been pleased to learn that Mattel is producing a new range of Barbie dolls with more realistic body shapes. Attracting particular attention is a “curvy” doll, which is bigger around the waist and hips than the traditional Barbie. According to the manufacturer, the new models will offer children “choices that are more reflective of the world they see today”.
What other toys and games could be made more true-to-life?
Ken
Once an immaculately muscular gym enthusiast, Barbie’s boyfriend has developed a beer gut and a patchy beard, and spends most of their time together glued to his phone. Although he professes to find Barbie more attractive now that she’s put on weight, he pays her less and less attention physically, and she’s beginning to have suspicions about his burgeoning online friendship with Sindy.
Monopoly
The addictive property game for players aged 40 and over. The object is to snap up as many properties as possible on buy-to-let mortgages – before any young families can scrape together a deposit! The winner is a moneylaundering foreign billionaire who buys up the whole of west London and then leaves all his properties to sit vacant because they’re essentially just convenient places to stash his wealth. Action Man The series of macho fighting figures is brought up-todate to reflect military budget cuts. Can YOU collect all 40 of Britain’s remaining soldiers? With public opposition to overseas military intervention at an all-time high, join Action Man as he helps unload sandbags in a flooded Cumbrian village, and bails out an old man’s kitchen in York. Scrabble According to a study published this week by the OECD (Organisation for Economic Co-Operation and Development), young people in England are now the most illiterate in the developed world. But that needn’t prevent them enjoying this classic word game, thanks to the brand new “Scrabble: Millennial Edition”. Simply place any tiles wherever you like on the board in any order. The winner is everyone, because language is constantly evolving and no spelling of a word is any less “valid” than another. Hornby train set Puff out your cheeks in resignation as your model locomotive makes an unscheduled 12-minute stop outside London Bridge station without explanation from the driver. Can YOU become the first railway operator in Britain to provide reliable passenger Wi-Fi? Complete with seven realistic fast-food odours and battalion of screeching schoolchildren.