Dora the Explorer Grows Up

I love cartoons...and I often buy some of my cartoon favorites on DVD and watch them with my kids on our home theater system. Don't laugh - that's pretty fun to do! Anyway, there's been a lot of talk about children's favorites growing up - particularly Dora the Explorer, best known as the tomboyish travelling bilingual little girl. I've been searching for positive feedback about the supposed grown up image of Dora that Mattel developed. I saw the image and didn't think there was any problem with the new Dora. Besides, it's not like the young Dora is going away. She'll still be around, teaching our youngsters a little Spanish and English as she travels around different places.

Here's the original Dora the Explorer that we've come to know all these years:


Originally, many parents were afraid that the new Dora was going to become a streetwalker or be start going the way of Barbie who I hear is getting tattooed. But here's the image that was released of the new Tween Dora:


Here are a few related articles I found explaining the new image and the reason behind the change.

New Tween Dora Causes Uproar Among Parents
After Dora Uproar, Nick and Mattel Soothe Parents

Added 04/06/09: So PastExpiryCartoons posted a link to this in my comments (don't know if you read comments on blogs). I thought I'd add this because you really have to have an open mind to appreciate the humor behind this. Or you can look at it and understand why parents get into such a hubbub about change to their children's beloved characters.





Courtesy of Past Expiry Cartoon