It’s official. My Scene is rumored to come back this year! My Scene was first launched as a fashion doll series released by Mattel in 2002. The dolls were created to compete with MGA’s Bratz, hoping to make Barbie seem “cool” again. Similarly to Bratz, My Scene also had a diverse lineup of dolls with exaggerated features such as larger lips and high cheekbones to help distinguish them from other traditional fashion dolls. Madison was confirmed to be African American, Nolee as Japanese American, Delancey as Irish-Italian American, and Nia was described as a “Latina.” Several of the male characters also came from minority backgrounds, which is something a lot of fashion dolls at the time did not capitalize on.
Initially, there were only three dolls: Barbie, Madison, and Chelsea. Later, Mattel added more dolls to the series, starting with Nolee and three male characters, Bryant, River, and Hudson. However, the most recent lineup was made of seven characters, Kennedy, Madison, Chelsea, Delancey, Nia, Hudson, and River. In 2003, Mattel released the “Hanging Out” collection. They packaged MyScene dolls with DVDs that had short video clips, music, and fun activities. This began a trend that sparked three additional My Scene films: My Scene: Jammin’ in Jamaica (2004), My Scene: Masquerade Madness (2004), and My Scene Goes Hollywood: The Movie (2005). With this success, Mattel even received special rights to create the likeness of actress and singer Lindsay Lohan for their “My Scene Goes Hollywood” line. However, the most exciting thing about the MyScene franchise was the web series and online games.
The My Scene web series ran from 2002 until 2008 and included games, webisodes, character bios, and other videos. Online games were a big part of our generation’s coming-of-age, girlhood experience. Pollypocket.com, Barbie.com, Girlgames.com, and so many more were the best things in the late 2000’s and early 2010’s. Some of the My Scene games included the My Scene Beauty Studio, My Scene Shopping Spree, and Fortune Fun. The webpage flourished as the popularity of My Scene grew until the website’s unfortunate closing in 2014. Hopefully, the revamped version of the dolls will not be too different from the original dolls, and their fabulous style will not be changed. Regardless, the iconic dress-up and makeup games will forever live on, and maybe, just maybe, the OG My Scene dolls will return!
Words by Jade Pettyjohn
Graphic by Juan Cruz