Amy Schumer has a new doll, and it fills a romping, bawdy niche on the toy market. The cabbage patch incarnation is just a smidge “too real”, a lot like Amy herself and hangovers.
Doll Amy debuted on Inside Amy Schumer with a promo video that features her sleeping in until 1pm and waking up beside male doll strangers (who she will later discover to be named Ken and/or GI Joe). Skinny jeans are included, but they don't quite fit. Doll realism abounds.
Doll Amy flounders on to the scene just one week after Mattel announced its “Sheroes” line of Barbie dolls, which emulate powerful and influential women (or “Real-Life Dolls”, as they are known to Barbie enthusiasts and sexists alike) such as director Ava DuVernay. Mattel is careful to categorise its selected starlets with the gender-specific pronoun, to avoid any confusion with real heroes.
This is the same Mattel that had to pull its Barbie book I Can Be A Computer Engineer off the shelves last year. In spite of her pink glasses, Computer Scientist Barbie is apparently not a Shero. The book features her breaking stuff and recruiting two boys (or "heroes") to fix her mistakes. She settles her disputes with pillow fights. Everything she does, in fact, disputes the validity of her ability to be a computer engineer.
Toys R Us got into similar heat for its Breaking Bad action figures, which had to be removed from the store last year after enough mammies complained about the removable "bag of crystal meth" accessory. Actor Aaron Paul lashed out at the company for pulling his toy, arguing that the drug-dealing action figure is less "damaging" than a Barbie doll.
