Why Did Liv Fail?

I was reading a blog tonight by The Toy Box Philosopher that got me thinking.

Why did Liv fail? This is a fairly difficult question to approach, because I thought Liv dolls were brilliant at the start. But it is interesting to think about why Spin Master's first foray into the world of fashion dolls did not last.

I think it's appropriate to examine what brought Liv dolls their initial success in terms of comparison to other brands.

Liv dolls were appealing to me in the beginning because they shared certain qualities with BJDs. Following that model, they're highly articulated. They can be posed in many lifelike ways. They're great for photography in that respect. They're fun to display. By comparison to ball jointed dolls, they're made of more durable materials. Like ball jointed dolls, they're very customizable. Liv wigs are easy to remove and swap for a whole new look.

There were several other doll brands that tried to wade into BJD style dolls. Why did things go wrong for them?

The first one I was made aware of, and probably my favorite so far, was Juku Couture. Juku Couture dolls were very, very cute. I have three in my collection, but I'm sad to say one is a duplicate Jun. They're great dolls, if you can find them. They had lots of mismatched layers of clothing, designed to resemble Harajuku girls in Japan. You could choose to redress them in their original outfits several different ways. They had beautifully painted faces and expressive inset eyes. They had fairly good articulation.

What went wrong with Juku Couture dolls? They had some trouble getting their price point and quality control at a level where you felt like you were getting a good deal for your money. The first issue dolls were amazing looking, the second issue dolls looked like they'd been made much more cheaply to bring down costs. The articulation, although good overall, produced some bizarre and awkward looking sitting poses. Jun was a particularly pretty doll in this series, but she had way too much product in her rooted hair, and once it got messed up it was rather difficult to restyle. They were an odd size too. They're smaller than Bratz. They had almost no name recognition or public enthusiasm. So, is it any wonder that after only three lines, Jakks Pacific pulled the plug?

The big advantage Liv had over Juku Couture was in the basic design details. The wigs, the ability to share fashions with barbie, and the greater range of motion were all huge points in Liv's favor. Although they never directly competed, you can see why one survived longer in the market than the other.

Another doll that shared qualities with BJDs was Lorifina, and she was a beaut. She was massive and elegant and had great customization qualities. She had options for different skin tones and eyes, and you could order her from Hasbro however you liked. You could even customize which clothing and accessories they sent with her for a price. She had a lovely soft face and you could swap out her wigs. She was rather a lot like a BJD for little girls.

But in a way, her highly structured customization features damaged her chances. She was rather expensive for a playline fashion doll from a parent's perspective. Also, I don't remember ever seeing her in a store. I remember her website being a lot of fun to play around with and try different combinations, but I wonder whether the website got enough publicity to hold up a toyline. Also, from the reviews and other information I've read about Lorifina, her articulation isn't great, and her wigs are rather funny looking. They are also an odd size, and don't have an easily associated doll to share clothes. This contributed to the impression of high expense, individual Lorifina fashions would have to be purchased and shipped to the child.

By comparison, Liv dolls were very inexpensive, easy to acquire, and looked pretty good even without their wigs.

The third similar playline doll to go, I'm very sad to say, was Moxie Teenz. These dolls are stunning. They have very large eyes and good articulation. They are bigger than the standard fashion doll, and yet occasionally you find something that fits them pretty well from another doll's wardrobe. They have the cool wig swapping ability. And, best of all, they had a really cute guy friend.

Moxie Teenz came into the game late. The dolls are very pretty, but poor distribution and high price prevented parents and enthusiasts from purchasing the doll when it wasn't on sale. There were some pretty bad MGA quality control issues. The wigs range between terrible and okay. I don't remember ever purchasing a Moxie Teenz wig and thinking about how fantastic it is. And, unlike Liv dolls, the wigs did not secure into place well. The earrings are terribly prone to falling out and getting lost. And their articulation? Far inferior to Liv articulation.

So, let's revisit the question, why did Liv fail?

This is my opinion. I think Liv failed because Spinmaster did not look at what happened to these other doll companies, first of all. Quality deteriorated over time. Accessories (such as shoes) that would have been painted in the early lines became molded plastic. The great articulation that interested adult collectors and kids with active imaginations were replaced with gimmicky action bodies. Price and value became hard to justify. Finally, quality control issues started cropping up. Doll head pegs were breaking off in the doll's skull straight out of the package.

Also, the premise got kind of stale, after a while. Much like Barbie, they became flat fashion dolls. You feel like you only need one of each character, and then you could just buy fashions for them. Instead, it felt like you were buying the same doll over and over with a different outfit on.

The Toy Box Philosopher made a really good point in another post about Bratzillas. Why didn't Liv try some other eye colors? It would have been very cool to see some fantasy eye colors in Livs.

Really, what I would have liked for Liv to try would have been customizable eyes. If they had a line where you could open up the back of the head like a bjd and clip in a new set of eyes with a mechanism of some kind, that would have been a new lease on the whole series. Granted, that wouldn't be the end of their problems, but it would have bought the dolls some time.

But instead, Liv slowly declined into mediocrity and then stopped selling. The Liv girls, who had personality in the beginning, became merely color variations of the same boring character. Also, Monster High dolls have become so explosively popular that it became difficult for some of the other doll companies to keep up.

These are the same problems that killed Lorifina, Juku Couture, Moxie Teenz, and even high end dolls like Delilah Noir.

So, to tie all this together, toy companies should try to do the following with this relatively new style of doll making:

First, make the doll a fairly common and popular size. It doesn't have to be the same as barbie, but it helps if it's close to her size, or the size range of Bratz and Monster High. That way, parents feel like the toys that the child already has are compatible with the doll on the shelf. Liv got that part right.

Second, make a doll that is highly customizable. I think Liv was on the right track, and to be honest I think Liv was doing a better job than Monster High is at that right now. The Create a Monster dolls are fun, but they're a hot mess. There's farther that can be taken, though. I think much more interesting things are possible with the customization concept that the industry just hasn't learned to utilize creatively yet. Maybe Liv could have had a small trial run of blank dolls or dolls that come in interesting plastic colors? Or maybe an eye changing line?

Third, keep articulation up. Liv was right on that until the line wasn't serious about it anymore. Then the bodies of the dolls weren't even useful for people who were using those bodies for customs.

As my fourth point, I would say that quality and value should be rationally comparable. By the end of the Liv line, these two things weren't tied together, and this is the same problem that killed the other three lines I mentioned. I should get what I'm paying for when I buy these dolls or accessory packs.

And lastly, there needs to be a way to capitalize on a doll line without depending on selling a blue million versions of the same doll. I think Lorifina was closer to being right about this than Liv was. I think Liv needed to find a way to make the fashions and wigs more desirable. With ball jointed dolls as the model (and I'm not saying any of these companies were trying to be ball jointed dolls but stick with me on this) doll owners spend just as much money on accessories and clothing as they do on dolls. In many cases, more money is spent on the doll's stuff than the doll itself. Quality wigs, clothing, and accessories are expensive but worthwhile parts of the hobby. And yes, there are people who sew their own fashions, make their own wigs, and so forth, but aren't there ways that the doll company could capitalize on that? Couldn't the company sell sewing kits and patterns for kids? Or even no-sew designing kits? Wig making kits for kids? These are all fun doable things that a line could try.

But of course, that's just the way I would do things.