Barbie In A Mermaid Tale Swim 'N Dance Mermaid Barbie Doll

by Mattel

Product Features

• Inspired by the movie, Barbie in a Mermaid Tale
• Swim 'n Dance Mermaids love to play in the water
• Watch them swim, spin and dance through the water
• Features Color changing hair activated by cold water
• Doll includes flower floaties for their arms and a seashell hair tie

Product Details

• Product Dimensions: 10 x 2.8 x 12.8 inches ; 13.6 ounces
• Shipping Weight: 13.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Shipping: This item is also available for shipping to select countries outside the U.S.
• ASIN: B003FZAAVG
• California residents: Click here for Proposition 65 warning.
• Item model number: T1474
• Manufacturer recommended age: 36 months - 10 years
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #10,432 in Toys & Games (See Top 100 in Toys & Games)
• Average Customer Review: 2.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)

Product Description

From the Manufacturer

Barbie in a Mermaid Tale Swim 'N Dance Mermaid Doll: From the movie, Barbie in A Mermaid Tale. Swim 'n Dance Mermaids love to play in the water. Wind their tails and watch as these gorgeous mermaids swim, spin and dance through the water. To make the mermaids swim, flip the tail up, wind the tail, flip back down, place in water and watch them swim. Color change hair is activated by cold water. Doll comes with flower floaties for their arms and a seashell hair tie.

Product Description

What a splash-tastic stylista. Girls can make this gorgeous mermaid swim, spin, and dance through the water. Just flip up the tail, wind the tail, flip it back down, place the doll in the water, and watch her go. This shimmery beauty also has color-change hair, which is activated by ice-cold water. For more enchantment, check out Swim 'n Dance Brunette Mermaid sold separately. Comes with flower floaties for her arms. Plus, a seashell tie for her lustrous hair. Inspired by the movie Barbie in A Mermaids Tale. Act out favorite scenes and invent new underwater adventures.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

19 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars A Big Let Down, July 4, 2010

By 

mkat - See all my reviews

= Durability:1.0 out of 5 stars  = Fun:1.0 out of 5 stars  = Educational:1.0 out of 5 stars 

This review is from: Barbie In A Mermaid Tale Swim 'N Dance Mermaid Barbie Doll (Toy)

My 4-year old daughter was so excited when she received this doll for her birthday. After winding it up only two times, the tail fin completely fell apart into a bunch of pieces. Needless to say, I am returning it tomorrow. It is very poorly made and a big disappointment, especially to an excited 4-year-old.

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Gimmicky rarther than fun, December 2, 2010

By 

Talvi - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: Barbie In A Mermaid Tale Swim 'N Dance Mermaid Barbie Doll (Toy)

We have both of these. The doll comes with two 'flowers' that keep her upright when in water and a windy hair piece to play with her hair.

To use the doll, you wind up the tail fin and then let it go. The 'motor' (a rubber band?) turns the fins. The problem is that the elasticity of the drive means that when you let the fin go after winding it, it goes very fast and then stops. I think this would have been much better if the fin always turned at about the same even speed. As it is, you spin the tail forever for about half a second of frantic jerky motion of the fins in the water. Whether standing upright (won't work in a bathrub) or 'swimming' under the water, neither works smoothly or easily. It's just a quick jerk couple of spins and that's it. The motor just spins too fast and the water pressure isn't enough to slow it down.

The doll is quite large and doesn't fit into a bathtub well. I think she is far better suited to a poll where she has room to move around. Even then, she doesn't really 'swim' and my 7 year old quickly lost interest in winding up the tail only to have it spin wildly for half a second and then peter out. The doll just jerked more than swam.

The tail fins are made of thin vinyl type of material and if left into a bent position too long, keeps that position permanently. Then she no longer swims at all.

In all, we've already lost the two flower pieces, the tails are all bent from bathtub play, and my 7 year old long ago stopped trying to wind her up. Which makes a big waste of money in having that motor in thre in the first place. She definitely does not live up to the hype of the commercial.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars overpriced toy, misleading TV ad, December 12, 2010

By 

AS (New Jersey) - See all my reviews

= Durability:1.0 out of 5 stars  = Fun:1.0 out of 5 stars  = Educational:1.0 out of 5 stars 

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Barbie In A Mermaid Tale Swim 'N Dance Mermaid Barbie Doll (Toy)

My 4 year old daughter was so excited when she saw this doll on TV. Its commercial makes the doll appear a lot more fun that it really is. On the Christmas list the doll went, and when I received the doll in the mail, I was very disappointed over the huge price markup for an otherwise unremarkable toy. The price should have been half of what Mattel and Amazon charge. Basically, it's a typical Barbie with a somewhat moveable tail. Forget about the "Dance" part this doll will only swim after the tail is manually wound up. The doll is somewhat long, so I imagine, you'd need something larger than a bathtub to really enjoy it. I don't know why it's called "swim 'n dance". My daughter received this toy today at a brunch with Santa and although she was glad to get something from her list, I could tell she was disappointed because she expected something much more fun and interactive. As a parent, I am doubly disappointed because of her and the money I "threw away" when I bought this toy. If you can, avoid this toy at all costs.

12/16/2010 Update: My daughter used in the bathtub a couple of times and here are my comments:
*The doll doesn't really do much other than spinning horizontally in one place, there is no forward movement.
*The commercial shows the doll spinning vertically - doesn't work. Even if it did, you'd have to use it in the pool to see it. The doll is so huge that you'd have to fill the tub almost all the way just to cover the width of the tail fin. Standing up, the doll would be sticking about water.

End conclusion: huge waste of money.