She-Ra exclusive SDCC Mattel doll - with a stolen design for her sword

It has been a few days since images of the exclusive San Diego ComicCon exclusive She-Ra doll from Mattel surfaced on-line, first in USA-Today and later in various websites and forums. She looks impressive and has a new body design that is somewhere between the Made-to-Move bodies and a superhero sculpt. She will retail for $75 and of course you can only get it if you visit ComicCon.


She has different outfits and accessories that are interchangeable, offering a variety of looks.


Some more photos:









The thing is that Mattel (or more precisely, the designer working for Mattel who did this doll) has copied the gold sword from a professional Greek comic artist, Yannis Rubus Rubulias, who had done a fan-art depiction of She-Ra back in 2011.


See what they did?


The resemblance is uncanny. It is not the first time we see this kind of copying in the doll world but a major company doing it is the icing on the cake. Whoever designed the doll should have contacted Yannis to ask for permission and copyright. What do you think?

All doll photos are by Mattel, art by Yannis Rubus Rubulias