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Here are two examples of the so-called "pixelation". Not my photos. Both come from Ethan Wolf, a fellow collector on a Barbie Facebook page where I'm a member.


Barbie X-tra:


Lunar New Year:



I see it more in the Xtra above than Lunar New Year.



For comparison, this is the Chewbacca Barbie. Not quite the same angle and lighting, but it's as close as I have to a more recent Barbie face. The "smearing" or "pixelation" isn't visible on this doll.




Also not visible on the David Bowie Barbie:




From what I understand, Mattel is back to applied paint in some cases (rather than decals) and sometimes, the machines aren't set right. Not in all cases, but in some, even for the same doll. So you might get one Barbie Xtra that looks good and another might look "smeared" or "pixelated."

Normally, you can see a little pixelation on some of the newer dolls. For instance on my AA Tim Horton's doll, if you are close enough to her, you can see the individual paint pixels that make up her eye. From a distance, though, she looks fine. Kind of like an old CRT television - you get too close and you can see the dots that make up the bigger picture.

However in some cases, the machines go wild with the pixels and create a smearing effect when you look at the doll - kind of like someone just learning to repaint.

I haven't seen this effect in person since I don't buy many new dolls these days. The newer dolls I do have (Tim Horton's and the Hudson's Bay) are both fine and not dolls that are known to have problems.

However, the most recent crop of dolls (Lunar New Year, current Fashionistas, Barbie Xtra and whatever the latest BMR doll is) seem to have the problem. To me, I would refer to it more as looking like a smear than a pixelation, since I think I probably have a different definition of pixel that most.

Thoughts?