Dora Links is scary.

Dora the Explorer has grown up .. and so has the expansion of her product line. The newest addition to the Dora the Explorer franchise is Dora Links, a tween targeted interactive doll.  She has joined the likes of the Bratz league, but Dora features more than a new makeover, she’s actually educational and oddly interactive. With a built in USB plugin, the new Dora Links doll interacts with its software and DoraLinks.com. Dora fangirls can solve mysteries, help friends, play dress up, learn how to use a computer and perform customizations to have the”perfect” Dora doll.

its a little creepy how interactive she is. when you change her features on the computer, the doll will automatically make the same changes. i had to research if it was true that you could change her hair length in gameplay and the doll would sync the hair change, oh and it is most definitely true. the same applies to the eyes. if you dont want plain old Dora to have her regular brown eyes, you can completely change her eye color.

even if shes not plugged in, Dora somehow knows whats happening in her town and she will give you updates.  she also has an entourage now, the Explorer Girls. of course any tween would be too old to be seen talking to a purple monkey.  she grew lips and surgically enhanced her eyes to make her seem more anime-ish, and i do miss her backpack.

i read some Dora Links amazon reviews and most are positive.  my two favorite reviews are “doll is NOT mac-compatible” and “the doll was returned two hours after buying it because it was scary looking.”  im sure Dora fangirls love this doll, but honestly, i didnt see her growing up this way.  she went from cute little explorer tomboy to high-end fashionista.

its a shame they had to go down this route, Dora had such a great thing going for while promoting the imagination is a great thing.  i feel they took the interactive show and just kept rolling with something that could potentially work to add to the whole experience.  sadly, they modified her image to be more marketable while losing her baseline spirit.

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