My Scene

My Scene were a line of fashion dolls released by Mattel in 2002. The line originally consisted of 3 dolls named Barbie, Chelsea and Madison (also known as Westley in other countries) who were portrayed as being from New York.  The dolls were made to appeal to the tween market and were made to compete with MGA Entertainment’s Bratz.

The first line was released in 2002, and each doll came with 2 outfits and a stand.

The line became very popular when they launched. More dolls were eventually added to the series, starting with Nolee, Bryant, River, and Hudson who were all introduced in the “Spring Break” line. Delancey and Ellis premiered in the “Hanging Out” line, which debuted in late 2003. Mattel made a web series based on the line and also released a CD-ROM Game.
The line then spawned a direct-to-DVD film called “Jammin’ In Jamaica” in 2003, the film was sold with the Jammin’ In Jamaica dolls. The film also aired on Nickelodeon.
The brand then introduced Kenzie in 2004 in the “Getting Ready” line. And then another direct-to-DVD film was released called “Masquerade Madness” which was sold with the Masquerade Madness line.

The line garnered controversy, when on April 13, 2005, MGA Entertainment filed a lawsuit against Mattel, alleging duplication of its Bratz dolls, their multi-ethnic looks, fashions and packaging. The suit further accuses Mattel of “engaging in acts of unfair competition and intellectual property infringement intended to damage its market share, confuse consumers and trade on the company’s goodwill.” Mattel had previously sued MGA Entertainment, alleging that Bratz creator Carter Bryant was working for Mattel when he developed the idea for Bratz in 1999, and had taken the idea to MGA secretly. MGA developed the first-generation fashion dolls while obscuring Bryant’s involvement. The MGA toy makers sought 1 billion dollars in damages testifying that Mattel violated antitrust laws.

The first direct-to-DVD film to be released apart from the dolls was “My Scene Goes Hollywood”. The film was released on DVD in 2005. The film also featured Lindsay Lohan as herself. Mattel even produced a Lindsay Lohan doll to promote the film.

The brand caused more controversy when Mattel introduced the “My Bling Bling” line. Most parents complained that the dolls were considered “too racy” for children. The line introduced a new face screening that had the dolls with more detailed makeup and front-gazing eyes.

Barbie was later discontinued as a character and was later replaced with another blonde doll called Kennedy. She was introduced in the Fab Faces line.But in 2007. Mattel replaced Nolee with previous character Delancey. But they reintroduced her with black hair instead of blonde hair.

Another controversial line Mattel released was the Growing Up Glam line. The doll’s gimmick is that it had a key in the back of the doll that not only made the doll grow taller, but made the doll grow breasts. Parents found the line to be too inappropriate for children, with some even comparing them to the infamous Growing Up Skipper.

Mattel later rebooted the web series, but with a new animation style and character designs. Most fans were negative towards the new webisodes.

Mattel also introduced a new character called Nia. Sales were drastically decreasing, which resulted in Mattel releasing the final My Scene dolls in the U.S. before discontinuing them in 2008, although they still produced them in other countries. Mattel released more dolls in other countries, until Mattel discontinued them altogether in 2011, though the website didn’t close down until 2014.

The dolls have became very valuable towards collectors. The dolls from 2002-2004 have ranged in price, but the dolls from 2005-2011 became very expensive on Amazon and EBay.

(Updated on 2/18/2018)