My Scene

At the turn of the 90s and the millennium, there were a lot of changes happening at Mattel. The famous era of Super Star Barbie full of fantasy, fluffy hairstyles, and pink beauty came to an end. The new narrative, Generation Girl, introduced a group of high school girls attending an international school in New York. And even back then, in 1998, that group was truly diverse. Barbie became just one of many characters, with others like Nichelle, Tori, Chelsie, Lara, and Ana representing different ethnicities. The toy line was accompanied by a series of 12 novels, meticulously thought out to the last detail. Everything seemed ideal, however, the premature end of Generation Girl was caused by 9/11. A restart was necessary at that time. Therefore, in 2002, the concept of My Scene was introduced. New York remained, and Barbie was one of many characters as well. This time, her friends were named after locations in New York City: Kennedy, Madison, Chelsea, Delancey, Nia, and Hudson. That was the first time web episodes of an animated series were released alongside the toy line from Mattel, later accompanied by standalone movies. The episodes were released on the My Scene website, while the movies were available on VHS/DVD as an addition to the dolls, and they were also shown on Nickelodeon. Today, something like this is a given, and thanks to YouTube, similar series are a global affair, and even toy boxes come with a notification about which animated series the toy is connected to. What was the series like back then? Surprisingly good for its time. The purpose was clear - to introduce individual characters, and their relationships, and portray the fashion style in which the dolls could be found in stores. The basic series ended in 2005 after 23 episodes. At the turn of 2008/2009, Mattel tried to introduce a new animation style, but the following 10 episodes did not have the success that was expected. Barbie's character was replaced by her doppelganger, Kennedy, and nobody could make sense of such chaos anymore. Additionally, there was a dispute going on with the competing company MGA and the Bratz dolls, which later led to the end of both My Scene and Bratz, making room for other new releases to take the stage. (04.02.2024)