Barbie Gets Competition from Bruised and Scarred Lammily: Watch

By Beth Dalbey (Patch Staff)

Barbie, get a real life. You’re so out and Lammily is so in.

At least, that’s what the creator of a new doll that looks more like average young women in America and his financial backers are banking on.

More anatomically correct than Barbie, Lammily more closely resembles the average 19-year-old woman in America, who stands about 5 feet 4 inches and has a 33-inch waist.

Moreover, the new “it” doll goes where Barbie never dared, and has the bruises and scratches, stretch marks and cellulite, and mosquito bites and dirt stains to prove it.

“I wanted to show that reality is cool,” creator Nickolay Lamm told TIME. “And a lot of toys make kids go into fantasy, but why don’t they show real life is cool? It’s not perfect, but it’s really all we have. And that’s awesome.”

Face it. Were she human, Barbie would have to walk on all fours because her tiny bones are so frail, wouldn’t be able to lift her oversized head, and has room for only half a liver and a few inches of intestine behind her itty-bitty waistline, The Daily Mail concluded after extrapolating toy Barbie’s measurements to real women’s proportions.

Lamm compared that unrealistic portrayal of young women’s bodies to data from the Centers for Disease Prevention and Control in his quest to show that “average is beautiful,” according to a Huffington Post interview on YouTube.

Lammily is fit and strong, stylish, wears minimal makeup and promotes a healthy lifestyle, he said.

Lamm used a crowdfunding to manufacture the dolls and is consulting with a former manufacturing executive at Mattel, which manufactures the Barbie line. The backers will get 19,000 of the dolls, but 25,000 more are ready for shipping before the holidays. They sell for $24.99 each.

Lamm told TIME there are skeptics who treat the Lammily project as “a joke.” But, he said, “I hope there are enough people who believe what I believe.”

It’s true that big toy manufacturers aren’t going to change their designs any time soon, he said in the HuffPost interview. “Rather than wait for change to happen,” he said, “let’s be the change” to help girls grow up to be stronger, more confident women who are proud of their bodies.

The dolls come in a jean shorts, a blouse and white sneakers. More clothing will be unveiled in January, as will stickers that give Lammily a real-life, been-there look.

The bruises and scratches were controversial among some critics who “were like ‘Oh my God,’ as if I’m promoting domestic violence or something,” Lamm told TIME. “Look, we all get boo boos and scratches. Life isn’t perfect, we all sometimes fall down but we get back up.”

And because real women don’t have necks that are more swan- than human-like, as Barbie does, they can lift their heads in confidence and pride in their bodies.

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Photo: Lammily.com