Dora the Experimenting Explorer?

Parents are UP IN ARMS because Mattel recently announced that Dora the Explorer would be growing up with her fans and is being redesigned to look like a "tween". I totally get the outrage- since when do cartoon characters grow up? Micky Mouse did not grow up with me! If he did, he'd now have hair coming out of his ears, huge glasses, and would probably be in Depends- and that's if he'd still be alive! Belle, from Beauty and the Beast, would certainly have gray hair, and possibly a a grandchild, and Chicken Little would not be so little anymore!

What about the new crop of young'ns that pop up all the time- they can learn from Dora too!

In response to the outrage, Mattel went ahead and released a photo of the "new and improved Dora".

what happened to the chub? What happened to the backpack? Backpack!Backpack! Where is map? Where are the velcro sneakers? For Shame- she has her ears pierced!!!! And Dora would NEVER highlight her hair- never. She is too genius to be so vain.

The new Dora is actually kind of cute, and as long as she encourages thinking like the old Dora, I'm all for it [but how many tweens to you know who still watch cartoons?] but ONLY if they keep old Dora for the little ones. Even I like old Dora- how do you think i learned Spanish??