Doll drama: Barbie slips as rivals like Monster High gain ground in battle for popularity

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FILE - In this Thursday, Feb. 17, 2005 file photo, Ashley Cebollero, of New York, looks around in front of a bank of Barbie Fashion Fever dolls in New York. Debuting in 1959, Mattel’s 11.5-inch blond fashion doll has long held the No. 1 doll title with an estimated .3 billion in annual sales. (AP Photo/Gregory Bull, fIle)

NEW YORK, N.Y. – As far as catfights go, this is a doozy.

Barbie, long the reigning queen in the doll world, has suddenly been thrust into the battle of her life.

But Barbie’s competitors look nothing like the blue-eyed, blonde-haired, long-legged fashion icon. And they don’t come with the same old standards of beauty either.

Monster High dolls are vampy teens that are patterned off the offspring of monsters like Dracula and Frankenstein. They wear mini-skirts with skulls on them and go by names like Draculaura.

Although it’s still the No. 1 doll, sales of Barbie have slipped for four straight quarters, even while the overall doll category is up 6 per cent, according to the NPD Group. Meanwhile, the No. 2 doll brand in just three years.

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