Barbie Dream Besties by Mattel

Well, November is almost over and December is shaping up to be either a busy month for the blog or a bust.  Let me explain.  I've been on an advent calendar kick for the last few weeks, finding myself amazed and overwhelmed by the diversity and complexity of the current choices.  So I wanted to do an advent calendar feature all throughout the month of December, and I bought about ten calendars (maybe a few more than that...) for the occasion.

But one of my kids has to be in the hospital at the beginning of December, and I want to be as helpful and present as I can.  So a lot of the month will be spent traveling across the country and being a mom.  That will either give me a lot of time for the blog (since I have a few weeks off from my animal shelter job), no time at all, or something in the middle.  We'll see.

As I wait for December and whatever it might bring, I have some time to chat with you about one of Mattel's newest playline releases, the Barbie Dream Besties:

Barbie Dream Besties Brooklyn (left) and Teresa (right), $19.99.

In the first few seconds that I saw these dolls online, I assumed that Ever After High was back.  Rumors have swirled about that possibility, and it would have been exciting in many ways, but I'm also not sure that every popular old doll line needs to be re-released.  I'd rather see new concepts.

The reality is that the Dream Besties aren't associated with Ever After High at all.  But I still think there's a resemblance that's hard to ignore--especially with the smiling dolls:

Kitty Cheshire from Ever After High Explosion.

The Dream Besties also look a lot like Mattel's Enchantimals, except for the large difference in size:

Enchantimals Felicity Fox.

The Dream Besties might have familiar faces, but they don't have any of the whimsical, magical elements of the Ever After High or Enchantimals lines.  They're just regular girls from the Barbie universe.

There are four Dream Besties characters in the first release: Malibu, Brooklyn, Teresa, and Renee.

Top, from left: Malibu and Brooklyn.  Bottom, from left: Teresa and Renee.

These are the same four characters that appeared in the 2023 My First Barbie line, with the same coloring and ethnicities, too.

From left, My First Barbie Malibu, Teresa, Renee, and Brooklyn.

The 13-inch My First Barbie dolls have disappeared from stores, by the way, making them one of the fastest-failing Mattel products I've ever seen.  I didn't think they were that bad.  I really liked my Renee.  Too bad I took her skin off.

The Dream Besties feel a bit like a second attempt at the My First Barbie concept--in other words, making a version of the standard Barbie characters that will appeal to a younger audience.

With what I could glean from online photos, Teresa was the character that appealed to me the most.  Her hair looks reddish, or has red streaks, and I love red hair--especially when it's accompanied by green eyes:

  

I got distracted by the hair and didn't notice the outfit.

Teresa came in an asymmetrical plastic box with a cardboard backdrop.  

There's an illustration of her character in the upper right hand corner that looks cute: 

The bottom of the box showcases a large number of plastic accessories, many of which involve teddy bears:

Here's a closer look:

Teddy bear phone case, teddy bear glasses, and an actual teddy bear.

"Dream Besties" is printed on decorative cardboard at the bottom of the box, and the plastic shell has raised letters over the word "dream:"

The back of the box is colorful and lively, with a large graphic rendition of all four first-release characters:

Here's a closer look:

Underneath the picture, there's some information about Teresa's personality:

She likes to code video games and also does gymnastics.  Her favorite thing is her headphones, and her favorite color is coral.  But there's no mention of teddy bears.

There's a small message at the top of the box that says, "watch it on YouTube Kids," which I took to mean that there's an animated show to accompany these dolls:

I watched a little bit of the show to see if it might give me more insight into Teresa's character--especially her love for teddy bears.

The premise of this show is a bit shaky.  It's glossed over in the first episode as something along the lines of "we were watching Barbie on TV and then activated a dream portal and were suddenly inside the show.  So now all of our dreams can come true."

Why not.

There are two additional characters in the show (Ken and Daisy) but those dolls were not available in time for this review.  They're in a later release that's only now available at places like Amazon.

Daisy looks like she'd make a really cute doll:

And, indeed, the promos of the doll look great:

Except for that dress.

I especially like the little letter bead necklace:

The Ken doll looks good, too, and is a very accurate depiction of the character from the show:

He's missing his lizard pet, though.

The animation in the show is a little strange.  This is what Teresa looks like:

Something about the way her face stretches and moves makes her look much, much older than the dolls.  I'm not exactly sure how old the dolls are supposed to be, but I'd guess tweens or teens.  The animated Teresa looks like she's in her thirties or forties.

And the box art looks nothing like the animation, which is odd.

Another thing that's odd is that while all of the characters have pets in the show, Teresa's pet isn't a bear (as you might suspect from her accessories) but a rabbit named Unicorn:

But why not a rabbit named teddy bear?

I guess bears don't make great pets, so that's fair.  But I'm still confused about the teddy bear accessories.

Anyway, I ripped off the plastic part of the box, which was a huge pain, but think there was an easier way to do it.  I get impatient sometimes.  I also hate all of the plastic.

Here's the cardboard backdrop that was left behind:

Teresa was easy to remove from the backdrop, with just a few annoying plastic ties in her head.  The accessories were harder, since they all came enclosed within more plastic:

I feel like nobody's even trying with sustainable packaging anymore.  It's so depressing.

There's no stand included, which is also bummer, but Teresa can balance on her own with a bit of effort:

She came wearing headphones with bear ears, which emphasizes her similarity to Enchantimals:

There's even a redheaded bear Enchantimal named Biloxi:

Distant cousin?

Teresa's hair is a nice chestnut brown with red streaks.  It has a slightly wavy texture and falls down past her knees:

Even before I manipulated the hair, I could see the rooting pattern in a place where the hair had been squished up against the backdrop:

The rooting is actually quite good and nicely uniform, but the scalp isn't painted, so it's pretty obvious:

Teresa's hair has two braided sections that are decorated with little plastic bows.  The bows are tied in place with clear rubber bands:

The bear ear headphones were also tied in place with a bunch of rubber bands and a plastic tie:

I wrestled the headphones out of Teresa's hair:

They're all the same translucent bright red color, and they have a few molded details:

With the headphones out of the way, I was able to brush Teresa's hair.  It looks really nice!

I think the fiber is saran, so it feels soft and smooth, but doesn't have a lot of silkiness or shine.

The headphones fit fairly well over Teresa's hair, and they stay in place even without the rubber bands:

But I had a hard time getting both sides to cover her ears.  Chunks of hair kept getting in the way:

I prefer how she looks without the headphones:

As nice as Teresa's hair is, I tied it back so that we could get a better look at her face:

The more I look at her, the more she reminds me of an Enchantimal.  I keep thinking she's supposed to represent some type of animal...probably a teddy bear...which is a strange way to feel about a doll.  The resemblance to Ever After High is not as pronounced as I first thought.  

Here's a GIF with a smiling Ever After High Maddie Hatter so you can see the similarities and differences:

They're definitely related, but Teresa's features look more symmetric and defined.

Teresa has a bright, friendly face with olive green eyes and bright red lips:

I especially like the molded dimples in her cheeks.

The face paint on my doll is visibly pixelated in areas (especially in the eyeshadow), and there are a few defects.  There's some missing paint in the right eyebrow, and the outer edge of the right eye is stippled with white:

The left eye is better, with just mild pixelation in the orange and yellow eyeshadow:

Teresa has simplified ears with no earring holes:

As I was photographing Teresa's face, her necklace kept getting in my way.  It's a simple yellow plastic piece with molded beads and a gem-like pendant.  There are no painted details:

All of the other accessories were packaged separately.  These include a teddy bear phone case, a plastic teddy bear, teddy bear glasses, a backpack, a keyboard, and a phone:

The backpack is made out of semi-flexible vinyl and has "game on" written on the front:

The pack doesn't open and isn't very impressive, but it fits over Teresa's shoulders:

They keyboard is even less impressive:

There are molded keys that are hard to see, and no other details.  Ho hum.

The sunglasses are pretty interesting.  They have molded frames that look like fuzzy brown fur:

However, the lenses are completely opaque.  There's no way Teresa could see through these!

And they look funny on her:

The frames remind me of donuts for some reason.

Or owl eyes, maybe?

She'd make a good Enchantimal!

The little plastic teddy bear is cute, but he can't move or open his eyes:

The cell phone case also features a teddy bear:

And the phone itself just says "game over."

It's like they picked the least interesting screen for a phone to possibly have.

The phone fits into the case, though, which is fun:

And Teresa can hold the phone in her left hand:

And be perpetually disappointed by her game being over.

Despite the boring screen, I think the phone is one of the better accessories.

Teresa's outfit is not my taste.  I didn't pay much attention to it when I was looking at the dolls online, but in person it's hard to ignore:

It consists of bright red shorts and a matching bow bikini top, both of which are made out of ultra-shiny vinyl that feels like a cheap tablecloth:

With very unflattering wrinkles.

The fabric, if you want to call it that, is probably meant to look like leather, but it's so shiny.  And the shorts are not especially well-tailored, so they look like diaper covers.

The bow on the vinyl top sticks out a lot in front, which is distracting:

The top closes in back with a small strip of velcro:

Here's the top on its own, where you can see the woven straps a bit better.  They're the best part:

The back side of the red fabric is all white, and the stitching looks decent:

Underneath the vinyl top, Teresa is wearing a long-sleeved mock turtleneck that's made out of dark red netted mesh:

I really like the mesh top, although it's see-through, so doesn't necessarily work well on its own.

Here are the shirt and the shorts on their own:

Love one of them, hate the other.

The construction of the shirt is about the same as the other pieces, with neat stitching but unfinished edges:

To complete her outfit, Teresa is wearing wedge-heeled sandals that are molded to look like they're covered in fur:

Teddy bear fur, I assume.

The shoes are easy to get on and off, and they stay on pretty well since their contours match well with Teresa's feet.

How many teddy bears died to make these shoes?

Under all of her clothes, Teresa has a plastic body with mostly all-vinyl limbs.  The exception is her thighs, which are plastic.  She has eleven points of articulation:

There's a large "Genuine Barbie" mark on her back, with a 2023 copyright date:

The underwear is skin-colored, but has a molded lace trim and a molded pattern with the word "Barbie."

Because of the similarities I saw between the Dream Besties and Ever After High, the first thing I wanted to do was see how the two bodies compare.  I was wondering if perhaps Mattel just tweaked the EAH body to make the Dream Besties body.

Here's Teresa with Ever After High's Holly O'Hair:

Dream Besties Teresa (left) and Ever After High Holly (right).

The bodies are very different.  First of all, I'd forgotten how skinny the Ever After High girls are!  I remember that they seemed almost normal compared to Monster High, but they're really skinny by any other metric.  I prefer the Ever After High body for its unconventional, highly-exaggerated shape, but the Dream Besties body is definitely more realistic.

The two dolls are about the same height, but Teresa's stand makes her look taller.

Now let's take a closer look at Teresa's articulation.  Her head has great mobility.  For example, it can spin around:

And also look up and down:

And tip from side to side:

Her shoulders are rotating hinges that can lift up and away from her body to 90 degrees:

Her arms can also spin around:

Both her elbows and her wrists are rotating hinges.  Her elbows can bend to 90 degrees, but her wrists are slightly less flexible:

Teresa's arm articulation doesn't quite allow her to touch her mouth:

But she can touch her nose and run a hand through her hair:

Teresa's hands have a simple mold with two fused fingers and no molded details:

I was curious to see how they compare to Ever After High hands:

The two hands have the same basic shape, but the EAH hands are more detailed and expressive.

Teresa's hands are removable, but it's not easy to pull them off.  The first time I did it, I thought I'd broken the hand.  That little dot of white on the peg looks like broken vinyl:

Oops?

But the hands snapped back in without any problem, and were slightly easier to remove the next few times.

Phew.

Teresa has limited side-to-side mobility in her hips, and can't do full splits:

It's not splits, Emily, it's a fashion pose!

The Ever After High body is a little more flexible (and fierce) in this regard:

THIS is a fashion pose.

A lot of dolls can't do side-to-side splits, so that's not such a big deal, but Teresa can't do front-to-back splits, either, which is disappointing:

But I look good trying.

This pose is not a problem for Holly:

Nailed it.

Teresa's knee joints are rotating hinges, so she can kneel on one knee:

Or on two:

She can also sit in a chair nicely:

Despite the rotation in her knees, she can't quite sit cross-legged:

Ouch.

And she struggles to lounge on the ground with her legs out to one side:

This feels awkward.

Holly is better at this pose, too:

Piece of cake.

Teresa can sit on the ground normally, though:

She can even sit glamorously:

Top this, Holly O' Hair.

Don't say things you might regret, Bestie.

Teresa can also do this, which looks, um...unique:

I dreamt about this pose and it came true!

Teresa has fashion feet with no articulation in the ankle:

So she can't stand on her own without her shoes, but with the help of a borrowed doll stand, she can strike some good action poses:

At 11 inches tall, Teresa is just a bit shorter than a standard Barbie like Petra:

Barbie Dream Besties Teresa (left) and Signature Looks Barbie (right).

I was surprised to see that Teresa can share Petra's clothes, too!

Barbie Dream Bestie wearing Signature Looks outfit.

That's clearly an upgrade, but regular Barbie shoes are way too small.

I was curious to see how Teresa compares to a curvy G3 Monster High doll, too, so here she is with Draculaura:

Barbie Dream Bestie Teresa (left) and G3 Monster High Draculaura (right).

Not surprisingly, Draculaura's shorts fit Teresa quite well...

Dream Bestie wearing G3 Draculaura's outfit.

But the top can't close in back:

And while the shoes technically fit on Teresa's feet, they're too big.

Standard G3 Monster High dolls are too skinny in all areas to have much hope of clothes-sharing:

So Teresa's inability to fit into Clawdeen's outfit was not much of a surprise:

I dug around for other dolls with similar proportions and found my ily 4EVER Bambi:

Barbie Dream Bestie Teresa (left) and ily 4EVER Bambi (right).

Bambi's clothes fit Teresa quite well, although the boots look ridiculous:

Still an upgrade.

I also wanted to see how Teresa compares to a Rainbow High doll, so here she is with Jett:

Barbie Dream Bestie Teresa (left) and Rainbow High Jett Dawson (right).

I love how Jett's black and white outfit looks on Teresa:

Barbie Dream Bestie wearing Rainbow High outfit.

But the shoes are big and, once again, the top doesn't close in back:

That's too bad.

Part of my inspiration with all of the clothes-sharing was to find Teresa something different to wear.  I really don't like the shiny red parts of her outfit.

Since the ily 4EVER clothes were the best fit, I gave Teresa a pair of ily Jasmine's shorts and then let her wear her own pretty red mock turtleneck...despite its transparency:

I thinks she looks great like this!

Fashion pose!

But, for the sake of thoroughness, I put Teresa back into her original outfit for a few more pictures:

I feel like the over-the-top shiny clothing and teddy bear ears take away from this doll's attractiveness.

What dream is coming true here?

But, overall, she's cute, nicely poseable, and has beautiful hair.

And a cool phone.

When price allows (and even when it doesn't), I find it helpful to look at more than one doll in a new line.  There can be small differences from doll to doll that change my evaluation.  Because the Dream Besties are already well-priced at $20, when they went on sale for $17.99, I took the opportunity to buy a second character, Brooklyn:

Barbie Dream Besties Brooklyn, $17.99.

I chose Brooklyn because I like her New York themed outfit, and I love her freckles.  Her accessories make it look like she's an animal-lover and a musician, which are also traits that I can relate to.

Here's the box art version of Brooklyn:

Her accessories include a keyboard, a boombox, a ring light, and the standard purse and phone:

She also comes holding a small dog:

In the show, Brooklyn's dog is named Pumpkin, and she has pink ears:

From left: Teresa's rabbit Unicorn, Brooklyn's dog Pumpkin, Malibu's cat Blissa, and Renee's guinea pig Pancake.

I'm not positive about those names, but I listened to the YouTube episodes more times than I'd like to admit to try and figure them out.

And let's not focus too much on the fact that the guinea pig is the same size as the cat and the dog.  Rodent of Unusual Size, I guess.

Brooklyn's bio says that she's a dancer, and dreams of being a world-famous choreographer:

Here's everything that was in the box:

At first glance, Brooklyn's accessories look more interesting than Teresa's.  I especially like the ring light:

The boombox looks good from the front:

But it's hollow in back:

Sigh.

The purse has a nice printed rainbow design on the front:

And it actually opens at the top, which is nice:

Yay!

The phone case has a fairly simple design with a grip that says "Barbie" while the phone itself is stuck on a screen that says "best friend calling:"

So much better than "game over."

The phone doesn't easily fit into the case, although I know that it's supposed to:

I like the detail on the keyboard, but it's very flat--like a tablet, I guess:

My favorite accessory is definitely the ring light, especially because the phone fits into it perfectly:

Brooklyn came out of the box looking pretty rough.  Her hair, which has a lot of multi-colored tinsel strands, was a big mess.  Also, Punmkin is very small, and it's not clear how Brooklyn is holding him:

Velcro?

But Pumpkin is cute, even though I wish she had open eyes:

She looks a bit like a miniature cocker spaniel, with long wavy ear hair:

Teacup spaniel?

My dog has a small bubble defect on her right cheek:

When I got around to looking at Brooklyn, I had a lot of trouble.  The tinsel in her hair is ridiculously hard to tame.  Her asymmetric ponytails add to the problem, since the hair on the left side of her head is so high that the tinsel is always hanging down and sticking to her face with static electricity.  

It took a lot of smoothing and primping to get this one picture, and the hair still isn't very neat:

I think the ponytails are cool in theory, though, and I've never seen a hairstyle quite like this before.  There's a rooted part that runs from the middle of Brooklyn's right side in the front to the back of her left side:

Here's a top-down view:

And her face is adorable.  It's not as pinched as some of the Ever After High closed-mouth faces:

Brooklyn's lips have more fullness and definition than Holly O'Hair's, and she also has a larger nose:

EAH Holly O'Hair.

Brooklyn reminds me more of Ashlynn Ella:

EAH Ashlynn Ella.

Brooklyn has big brown eyes with bright blue eyeshadow.  Her eyebrows are nice and thick, and she has matching tendrils of hair painted around her hairline:

Brooklyn's freckles and lips are my favorite of her features, though.  The freckles are dainty and well-placed, and the lips have a realistic two-toned pattern:

I only wish that the pixelation on the lips was a bit less obvious, but it's not as glaring in real life as it is in my up-close pictures.

Brooklin has large heart-shaped earrings that fall at a strange angle along the side of her face. Unfortunately, they're not removable:

Brooklyn's outfit includes a fuzzy-sleeved sport jacket with "New York Brooklyn" written in block letters on the front:

The applied lettering is bright and clear, and I like the shimmery blue color of the background:

The jacket has decent construction, with a ribbed collar and hemline:

The rest of the outfit consists of a white cropped tank top and a simple jean skirt:

I like the classic simplicity of this outfit, especially compared to Teresa's red plastic abomination:

Both the top and the skirt have velcro seams in the back:

These pieces are extremely simple, but get the job done:

Brooklyn's shoes are high-heeled baby blue pumps with attached vinyl leg warmers:

There's no color distinction between the shoes and the leg warmers, which is a bit disappointing.

So many things about Brooklyn are great, and I wanted to take some final portraits to show off those features, but I was really struggling with the tinsel in her hair:

It's a nightmare.

I started to have fantasies about ripping all of the tinsel strands out, which I thought was a good sign that I should move on with the review.

Here are Teresa and Brooklyn side-by-side:

Barbie Dream Besties Teresa (left) and Brooklyn (right).

Brooklyn looked taller to me in that photo, but I wasn't sure if it was just the high ponytail.  So I removed the dolls' clothing to do a body comparison:

Barbie Dream Besties Brooklyn (left) and Teresa (right).

Brooklyn is definitely taller.  And, strangely, her underwear does not have a printed pattern on it:

At least it doesn't say "Ken."

Finding that two dolls in the same line have different bodies is always a mixed blessing for me.  I love to see this kind of diversity, but then it means that I feel obligated to track down the rest of the dolls in the series to see what the full range of body variability is.  This happened with the LUV dolls pretty recently, too.

Fortunately, the Dream Besties aren't that expensive, so I was able to purchase both Renee and Malibu for under $40.  I won't do full reviews of those characters, but I'll quickly show you a few of their features.

First, here's Renee:

Barbie Dream Besties Renee.

She has a lively, happy face, slightly messy hair (with a little bit of tinsel), and highly-gelled bangs.  She comes wearing a purple knit crop top with a heart-shaped corset on top.  She also has matching purple denim shorts and vinyl high-heeled boots.

Renee is the food-lover of the group, who always has tasty snack on hand.  Her bio says that she enjoys skateboarding, basketball, and painting:

She has a different face mold from both Teresa and Brooklyn, with an open-mouthed smile and slightly smaller, more shapely eyes:

I like her thick eyebrows and pretty eyes, but her two-toned lips don't work for me as well as Brooklyn's:

I don't notice as much pixelation in Renee's eyes as I did in Teresa's.  They're nicely done, and I like the hint of green in the irises:

Renee's accessories include a lot of snacks, and also a laptop and a bread-shaped purse:

The snacks remind me of the G3 Monster High accessories (especially the chip bags) and I wonder if some of the molds were re-used?

The laptop is a fun accessory, with its cute toast and egg screen saver, but it's really cheap.  

It can open and close, but the vinyl is thin and warped:

The toast and egg purse is by far the best accessory:

Especially because it can open and close.

The last character is Malibu:

Barbie Dream Besties Malibu.

Malibu comes in a pink babydoll top with matching arm-length gloves.  These are paired with plain denim shorts and pink sandals with bows on the front.

Malibu is the main character of the show, and loves to help her friends.  Her passion is experimenting with makeup, and she dreams of owning her own makeup company:

Malibu has platinum blonde hair with crimped pink streaks at the front.  The pink parts of my doll's hair are wonky:

But she has classic Barbie sunglasses.

The pink parts of the hair also came with a ton of gel that made them crisp and hard.  I brushed some of the gel out, which offered a slight improvement, although those areas still look messy, uneven, and a little dry:

Too much time in the sun.

Malibu has a pretty face with yet another different face mold.  Her features are similar to Brooklyn's, but she has a narrower nose and more of an upturned mouth:

I really like her subtle smile.

Malibu's eye makeup is fancy, with layers of pink and silver.  She also has three different shades of blue in her eyes, which looks good:

I also don't see any pixelation in or around Malibu's eyes--even when I'm zoomed in close.

Pretty good, right?

Malibu's accessories are, not surprisingly, makeup themed.  They include a makeup case, compact, hairdryer, mirror, and phone:

The phone is strange because the case looks like an old flip phone:

But the back of the flip phone holds a smart phone:

Which is the real phone?

In the YouTube show, Malibu's phone looks exactly like this, and she talks into the flip phone side:

But the smart phone side is illuminated.  Hm.

Two of Malibu's accessories can open and close: the makeup case and the compact:

The makeup case falls apart into two pieces when it's open, and can hold the small lipstick and mascara accessories.  The compact opens to reveal a fake mirror, and it can hold the powder puff:

I think it's strange that Brooklyn is the only character who comes with her pet as an accessory.  From what I saw, the pets play a big role in the YouTube episodes.  I think it would have been a lot of fun for kids to have all of the pets from the show--and I could easily choose which accessories to omit in favor of those pets.  For example, with Malibu, I'd delete the mirror and hair dryer and replace them with Blissa.  No question.

Anyway, I bought Renee and Malibu so that I could see what their bodies are like, so let's take a look at that:

From left: Barbie Dream Besties Teresa, Malibu, Brooklyn, and Renee.

From what I can tell, there are three different bodies here, all determined by the leg length.  Teresa is the shortest, with short upper and lower legs.  Malibu and Brooklyn have the same body, with short upper legs and long lower legs.  Renee is the tallest, with long upper and lower legs.  And all of them have molded underwear except Brooklyn.  Weird.

If I look back at the promotional photo for Daisy, the character I didn't buy yet:

Her legs look thicker than the other four girls, so I suspect she has yet another body type.  So I'll order her and update the review with all five female dolls at some point.  

Owning the four dolls that I have so far is great because it confirmed that the first two I bought are, indeed, my favorites...except for that silly tinsel in Brooklyn's hair!

Yearning to give Brooklyn a second chance, I gave into temptation and used a pair of tweezers to pull out most (but not all--I got tired) of the tinsel in her hair.  I also gave her a quick boil wash.  

I think she looks a lot better now:

Those silly earrings will be the next things to go.

The extreme side part makes it hard to get the hair to lay normally on the left side, but it looks okay:

I'll probably go back and pull out the remaining tinsel over time, but for now I'm very happy with this transformation.

Brooklyn is much more fun to play with, and certainly more photogenic:

One bonus to getting all four dolls is that most of them have nice clothing that can be mixed, matched and shared among all of the girls.  I gave Renee's cute purple top and shorts to Teresa, who was thrilled to have a more normal outfit:

Even though purple might not be her color.

I wish that there were outfit packs for these dolls, so that I could choose the doll I wanted without worrying too much about how much I like her outfit.

Whatever she's wearing, I love Teresa's dimpled smile and dramatic reddish hair.

Bottom line?  I had a roller coaster reaction to the Dream Besties throughout my interaction with them.  First, I was excited to see a line that so closely resembles Ever After High.  That brought back a huge wave of nostalgia.  Then, when I saw how different and generic these dolls are when compared to Ever After High, I felt deflated.  But as I got to know the Dream Besties for who they are, I discovered that they have a lot of good things to offer.  And in the end, I guess I'm relieved that Mattel did something new rather than re-releasing another old brand.

So, what do the Dream Besties have to offer?  First of all, I like the range of face molds and complexions.  Each character has a different face mold, and there's a good mix of open and closed-mouth expressions.  The face ups are nice overall, but there's some pixelation in some of the screening, and a few random defects that are distracting.  I particularly like Brooklyn's face, with her realistic two-toned lips and delicate freckles.  The other three characters have some standout features, too, like Teresa's cute dimples, Malibu's pretty smile, and Renee's smiling eyes.  All of the characters have different complexions and hair colors, and the hair fiber is a nice saran with good rooting.  Teresa's red-streaked hair is particularly beautiful, but Brooklyn's tinsel-ridden hair is a nightmare.  Only by yanking the tinsel out at the roots was I able to fully enjoy the doll.

I also like the Dream Besties body style and articulation.  There are three different body heights among the dolls I looked at today, all determined by leg length, but the girls can share clothes perfectly.  And while the bodies aren't as well-articulated as dolls like Ever After High, Monster High, or Rainbow High, they have eleven joints that function well.  I'd have loved to see stands included with these dolls, especially because they can't balance alone without their shoes (and they balance precariously even with their shoes), but I understand the constraints on producing a doll in the under $20 range.

The clothing and accessories in this line are a mixed bag.  I really don't like Teresa's shiny, plastic-feeling bubble shorts and bow top.  They look and feel cheap and tacky to me, and detract from the doll's overall appeal.  However, I like Brooklyn's entire outfit and many of the other pieces, too, especially Teresa's mesh top, Renee's top and shorts, and Malibu's pink top and gloves.  All of the clothing is basic, with simple construction, few stitched details, and some unfinished edges.  The accessories look fun and inviting in the box, but many of them are flimsy and cheap in reality.  For example, Brooklyn's hollow-backed boombox is a disappointment, as is Renee's warped laptop.  Some of the other accessories are great, though.  I like all of the phones and covers, although I wish that the phone screens were more interesting and the covers fit better.  I love the purses that open, especially Renee's toast and egg tote.  Brooklyn's ring light is a unique piece that actually holds the phone, and her dog is fun and relevant to the YouTube show.  I just wish that a few of the less interesting accessories had been omitted in order to allow every character to come with her special pet.

It's not clear to me what motivated Mattel to create these dolls or what niche they're intending to fill.  They're like a mix between Ever After High, Enchantimals, and My First Barbie, and they cater to a younger audience than typical Barbies.  They don't resemble traditional Barbie dolls at all, though, but manage to channel some of the lore from those characters and television shows.  They're missing the fantastical and creative elements that make Ever After High and Enchantimals so special, but their generic personas are a nice blank canvass for young, imaginative minds.  I guess it doesn't matter why these dolls exist.  I'm happy to have their cheerful (familiar) faces and solid articulation in my collection, and they'd make sturdy, versatile, and affordable play companions for a wide range of kids.