In what’s perhaps the most on-brand collaboration in recent memory, you can be Kenough as Ted Lasso now. Mattel has a new line of Barbie Signature dolls based on the television show, with Lasso getting a figurine alongside characters Rebecca and Keeley.
On the heels of the success of the Barbie movie and its take on various issues regarding feminism vs. patriarchy, mental health, and that Billie Eilish song you’ve probably cried to accidentally when it pops up in every other TikTok, the Ted Lasso collaboration makes plenty of sense. It’s a series as much about positivity and its characters’ mental health as it is about soccer, as any avid viewer can attest.
Ken’t believe this is a real thing https://t.co/wyuifXNrRp
— Ted Lasso (@TedLasso) October 24, 2023
In a way, Ted Lasso was already the Barbie of soccer coaches. Now he just has the doll to match.
“Ted is so sweet, kind, and perpetually joyful,” notes designer Suim Noh on the Ted Lasso collection’s page. “We captured this Ted-ergy and sculpted 12″ of plastic fantasticness wearing AFC Richmond’s finest.”
That “plastic fantasticness” renders itself in Lasso’s customary AFC Richmond tracksuit, aviator sunglasses, and mustache. Rebecca and Keeley also get customary looks from the show, but the release does have us wondering about some of the dolls that were left on the cutting room floor for the Lasso Barbie collection.
The obvious missing character here is Roy Kent, who we imagine didn’t make the final product line due to his perpetual scowl. A talking Roy Kent Barbie doll that just yells “piss off!” in various tones probably doesn’t hit Barbie’s target audience, either, but we can dream.
It also seems like Mattel would already have the respective hairstyles for Jamie Tartt and Dani Rojas dolls stored somewhere in a Barbie factory. If there’s any character in Ted Lasso that has a mojo dojo casa house, it’s certainly Tartt. Then again, that could be the strike against him.
Alas, soccer and Barbie enthusiasts will just have to settle for the front-office characters that make up the world of Ted Lasso. But can you truly put a price on such a ray of positivity, so forward-thinking in its discussion of sport, media, and mental health?
This is Mattel we’re talking about, so you sure can! If you’re in need of a Ted Lasso figurine constantly staring at you beneath hauntingly perfect eyebrows or any of the other dolls on offer, they all sell for $50.
