Rumors that Elon Musk was spotted banging a “Barbie” around Los Angeles and San Francisco sounded scathing and mean until a recent message cleared the picture, like the time she basically put glasses on had to put on myopic Hubble Space Telescope.
On Wednesday (July 20) — exactly 53 years to the day since Apollo 11 landed on the lunar surface — Mattel announced that it has reached an agreement with SpaceX to produce a line of space-inspired toys that will take toys there , where many toys have been before. but not quite like that.
Establishing a high orbit immediately after launch, Nick Karamanos, Mattel’s Senior Vice President of Entertainment Partnerships, said, “We are proud of our ability to create products and experiences that honor cultural moments and inspire humanity. As space exploration advances faster than ever, we are excited to partner with SpaceX and help spark limitless play patterns for the space explorer in every child.”
Merchandising is no stranger – the SpaceX Shop is packed with backpacks, caps, Martian coffee mugs and our favourite, the unisex spaceship sweater – SpaceX Vice President Brian Bjelde said: “At SpaceX we believe in a future where humanity is outside is Stars is fundamentally more exciting than one in which we are not. We look forward to working with Mattel to inspire the next generation of space explorers and enthusiasts.”
The new SpaceX toy line will be produced by Mattel’s Matchbox brand, which makes sense given their experience with toys for aspiring pilots and astronauts, including the Hot Wheels® Mario Kart™ Gliders assortment and the Disney Pixar Lightyear Hot Wheels R/C Spaceship in the SpaceX sweet spot.
Have you seen the Hot Wheels R/C spaceship? Makes the SpaceX Dragon look like your grandfather’s Oldsmobile. It also has a Buzz Lightyear action figure. Where do we sign?
Astro Nuts
In fact, there was no news about Barbie in the SpaceX-Mattel announcement, but she’s been to space quite a few times. Actual Space. The real thing. And that too recently.
As Mashable reported, “Two Barbies took off from Wallops Island, Virginia on February 19 on a Northrop Grumman Cygnus space flight. Now they are residents of the International Space Station, marking the first time in Barbie history that the doll has literally traveled into space.”
“Literally” is the operative word there. Barbie first donned a spacesuit in 1965, and there’s been a steady stream of Astronaut Barbie updates ever since. A quick web search will find everyone from Amazon to Target to Walmart who don’t have space barbie supply chain issues.
Meanwhile, Mattel Creations, a direct-to-consumer “collectible platform that provides a canvas for today’s and tomorrow’s most innovative creators,” had the good sense to make a collectible Samantha Cristoforetti Barbie doll last year. The real Samantha Cristoforetti is a member of the European Space Agency and has many actual space miles to her credit.
We love that Mattel immortalized Samantha Cristoforetti, but for our money the real fun is the Barbie Space Discovery Space Station Playset, which comes with NASA-approved (not really) accessories, including Space Explorer Barbie (obviously), one Workstation with all sorts of science equipment and – wait for it – her pup and a pup bed. Because no self-respecting Barbie goes into space without her Pomeranian.
The set also includes “astronaut food” – but we’re making no assumptions.
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NEW PYMNTS SURVEY FIND 3 OF 4 CONSUMERS WITH STRONG DEMAND FOR SUPER APPS
Around: The results of the new study by PYMNTS, “The Super App Shift: How Consumers Want To Save, Shop And Spend In The Connected Economy”, a collaboration with PayPal, analyzed the responses of 9,904 consumers in Australia, Germany, the UK and the US and showed a strong demand for a single multifunctional super app instead of using dozens of individual apps.
