what now?: History Repeats Itself: Dora's a Tween!

The internet's been all abuzz lately about this not-so-little lady ...

It's Age-Projection Enhanced Dora the Explorer!

Mattel announced plans to introduce a tween version of the intrepid cartoon heroine, and grown-ups commenced to go nuts about this new "sexed-up" Dora. I don't know if I'd go so far as to call her sexed-up, but she certainly did shed the baby fat and bought herself a tube of lip gloss. She looks like a fairly typical, pretty middle school girl. She hasn't stumbled into Bratz territory, so I'm not too worried about her. I just don't think she's particularly necessary. (Frankly, I'm more curious about what happened to Boots. How's middle school treating that monkey, anyway?)

The thing that surprises me most about this whole deal is how short our collective cultural memory is. This, friends, is not the first time a sweet little cartoon girl has skipped a few grades and made the leap from daycare to middle school.

Lest we forget ...

Miss Pebbles Flintstone

Yes, those of us who endured a seventies-era childhood are in familiar territory with this Tween Dora controversy, for we all remember when our favorite Stone Age cutie pie suddenly morphed into ...

Prom Date Pebbles!

There she was in her wasp-waisted, mini-skirted splendor. (Thank God she inherited her mother's figure!)

She was cute.

She had a knack of getting into trouble.

She had that big galloot Bamm-Bamm trailing her with dog-like devotion.

And we hated her.

The show was dumb, and the only reason most of us watched was because we only had three channels to choose from.

Are you listening, Mattel? Kids today have limitless media access, and I fear tween Dora's destiny might just be the clearance rack.

While looking for pictures I did learn something, though. There is an entire website devoted to Flintstone's costumes. It bears the highly original address www.flinstonecostumes.com. I had no idea there was such demand for this.