Dora the Explora Goes All Tween-y

In honor of St. Patrick's Day, I'm going to highlight the plight of a little girl most likely hailing from somewhere deep in Central America. If that doesn't make sense, it's because I'm only 6.3% Irish. Possibly 7%. Anyway.

I've seen the transmogrification of beloved animated characters over the years, bending to meet trends and marketing campaigns, not to mention the actual "aging" of said characters' original core base. Some of these have been great, some good, some pretty good, some just okay, and some horrifyingly disgusting. Or worse.

I've actually worked on some Dora products, too, and, for the most part, think that Dora, as a creative whole, is pretty positive. Now, please never put Diego and Dora's heads next to each other again, particularly when they're forced to wear headgear, as their head shape and size discrepancy is simply too extreme to consider humane. Are we sure they're in the same family?

I also understand how devoted a following she can inspire, as she is good, just, helpful, adventurous, and overall, fun. Her best friend is a monkey who wears giant red boots, and her parents see no problem setting her out on untold dangers with no one but said monkey who wears giant red boots. Hmm. Well, the show's not about her parents, anyway. It's about Dora. Who explora's, you know?

That said, I really don't hold it against the makers of The Dora Empire to occasionally want to evolve some things a bit. This sneak-peek image was a mistake to reveal, yes. I'll wait and see; I guess it's just one toy, anyway. Yes, I really despise toys aimed, particularly to girls, female images that are creepy, trampy, superficial, vapid, and waaaay too grown-up, and sexed-up for their target audience. Or, sometimes, for ANY audience. I've seen lots of this kind of thing, and would really dislike seeing Dora go down that path. But folks, this is a toy, and a corporate juggernaut, at that, not anything more. But, we know that already, so, it's cool, and hey, Dora should be successful. Don't buy things for your kids that you hate, even if they ask for it, and definitely not because the manufacturer asks you to.


Yes, the color version was finally, and desperately, released, maybe a bit late. Except that everyone is talking about Dora again, something that has, let's face it, has probably trailed off a bit. You know, from complete and total world domination, that's all. That color picture's really not so bad, is it? She looks pretty cool to me. Maybe she has more sense not to hang around crocodiles so much anymore, especially while balancing on floating logs .

Sadly, a Tween Swiper has not been announced, probably due to Juvenile Detention.

P.S. And, oh, by the way, there's nothing wrong with this design at all, either. There, I said it.