Major oopsie by Mattel. Giving a new meaning to "defying gravity"

Mattel has made a major oopsie.  On the packaging of the dolls, Mattel has linked to the porn site www.wicked.com (owned by Wicked Pictures, a porn production company) instead of Wicked movie's real site, www.wickedMOVIE.com.

The intended site www.wickedMOVIE.com

A safe-for-work screenshot of www.wicked.com.  For the not safe for work screenshot, click here. 

The wrong website appears on the box of all the Mattel range of Wicked dolls, including the Glenda doll, the Deluxe Elphaba Fashion Doll, and the Madame Morrible doll (pictured below).

Madame Morrible doll (credits: Leah Kissinger on Facebook)

Video proof provided by just2goodYT

This isn't isolated to the US.  Dolls sold in the UK are also affected as shown by the pictures obtained from dolls purchased from Amazon UK.

 Glinda Fashion Doll (credit: Thu Win/The Techy)

Deluxe Elphaba fashion doll (credit: Thu Win/The Techy)

In addition to the errant misprint on the packaging, the error also appears in the manual of both the singing Elphaba (archived via Wayback Machine) and singing Glenda dolls (archived via Wayback Machine).

Picture from the review of Mattel Wicked, Singing Elphaba Fashion Doll & Accessories Amazon listing

Picture from Mattel's PDF user guide of the singing Elphaba doll

Picture from the user guide of the singing Glenda doll

As of the publishing of this post, Mattel has published an apology but has not issued a recall of the dolls.

Mattel had sent a statement to The Techy saying: 

"Mattel was made aware of a misprint on the packaging of the Mattel Wicked collection dolls, primarily sold in the U.S., which intended to direct consumers to the official WickedMovie.com landing page. We deeply regret this unfortunate error and are taking immediate action to remedy this. Parents are advised that the misprinted, incorrect website is not appropriate for children. Consumers who already have the product are advised to discard the product packaging or obscure the link found on the package, and obscure the link found on any instruction materials."

This would be a costly fix for Mattel because the domain www.wicked.com belongs to Wicked Pictures and was registered on July 19, 1994. The first appearance on Wayback Machine was on December 19, 1996.  Therefore, Mattel couldn't simply buy the domain.

Wicked is a film by Universal Pictures and will be released on November 22, 2024.

If you are wondering about the title, Defying Gravity is one of the main theme songs in the Wicked musical.

See this version by Idina Menzel:

The author would like to credit iamwomanhearmepour on Reddit for breaking this news.

Update: Added statement from Mattel.

Review: Samsung Fold6 folding phone

Ever wish you could have a large display on a phone that still fits in your pocket? The Samsung Fold6 is the answer.

Design

I like the way the phone "unfolds" to have a larger display. The device is a cross between a [mini] tablet and a slab phone phone.  This phone is the best of both worlds since if you need a large display, you can simply unfold it, and when not in use, it folds down to a compact device that easily fits in your pocket.

This makes it an ideal media consumption device. I found myself using the fold more than my tablet, even around the house, since it's compact enough to put in my pocket when I'm out and about and then use it to play media when I'm cooking.

Additionally, the large inner screen makes it easy to read emails, news articles, websites, and other content. No more squinting and trying to zoom around on a website.

As with other Samsung phones, the display is quite bright and vivid, and despite its size, the phone is quite light.

The large display also makes it an ideal note-taking device with an S-Pen. I've used the Fold to take notes during courses.

Performance

The phone is quite fast and doesn't display any lags.

The camera on this device is also quite decent, and you can’t tell the difference between a picture taken by the Fold and one taken by Samsung’s other flagship devices.

One drawback of the phone is that the battery is smaller compared to traditional phones at just 4400 mAH, though there are battery improvements compared to previous generations.  However, in my experience, the device lasts about a day and a half before having to charge up again.  But again, your mileage may vary depending on your use pattern and device installed.

Usability

In the Fold6, Galaxy AI is front and center, taking up space in the menu item.  I haven't fully used all the features of Galaxy AI, but I frequently use the feature to remove items like people in the background from photos that I had already taken.

Galaxy AI also has a sketch-to-image mode, which looks quite fun. I haven't used the feature extensively, but I can see where it could be useful.

One area where Samsung devices shine is the Samsung Dex feature. On my recent vacation to Scotland, I forgo my laptop and brought a touch-screen monitor, which I plugged into my phone.  This greatly reduced the number of devices I had to carry around and keep track of.  Plus, I could play media content from my phone.

Durability

One of my concerns about getting a folding phone was its durability. In my time with it, it has withstood the rigors of daily life. Unlike previous generations, the hinge looks robust, and the device folds flat, which left a small gap between the two screens.

The phone has an IP48 rating, which means it should be resistant to water and dust, for the first time.

Summary

In summary, the Fold6 is a good all-round device.  Though its battery life may not be that good or the camera that great, its biggest strength is compactness.  It offers the benefits of a large screen without the bulkiness.