Am I the last parent of a preschooler to hear about Dora the Explorer's upcoming makeover?  Apparently they will be keeping the original Dora for little children, but in order to make money off of them longer they will be debuting a tweenage Dora as well:  http://www.theage.com.au/news/entertainment/tv--radio/dora-explores-new-look/2009/03/18/1237054858563.html. 
     Many parents are in an uproar about how stylish she looks, saying their daughters don't need another materialistic fashionista as a role model.  Maybe because I'm a bit of a materialistic fashionista who lets my daughters play in my makeup, that's not my beef.  If you look at how they have designed her, she doesn't have nearly the cheap hooker look that you see on a Bratz doll.  I do take a bit of an issue with how much more proportional her head has suddenly become to her body, but I could look past that.
    No, here's the real problem:  those devils at Mattel and Viacom want to make me suffer through even more of this obnoxious character, just when I was beginning to see the light at the end of the tunnel.  Thanks to my 10 year old stepdaughter, I have been with Dora from the beginning.  My home has been inundated with her shows and merchandise ever since.  I love the idea of introducing other languages and cultures to children.  I have just listened to the particular abrasive cadence of her speech as many times as one person can in her life with out poking knitting needles into her ears.  Saturday Night Live feels my pain (WARNING:  YOU WILL NEVER BE ABLE TO MAKE IT THROUGH ANOTHER EPISODE OF DORA IF YOU FOLLOW THIS LINK):  http://www.hulu.com/watch/1610/saturday-night-live-tv-funhouse. They couldn't have been more spot-on! 
    So, my only issue with this makeover that warrants my sharing my views with the world is Dora's continued presence in the toy aisles. And the word on the street is they are planning to charge a whopping 60 bucks for the interactive middle school-aged version!  I have been through my share of Dora paraphernalia littering my home.  I found it to be a major milestone when my daughter deemed her Dora vanity- complete with styling head- "creepy" and allowed me to banish it to the attic.  I only have one more little one to get through the Swiper minefield.  I even thought Dora might be on her way out when Nickelodeon introduced Kai-Lan, the adorable Chinese-American girl (http://www.nickjr.com/shows/ni-hao-kai-lan/index.jhtml).  I was quite pleased when I watched an episode of that, as I find the level of empathy for others stressed on that program to be something that is unique and highly beneficial to my daughter's emotional intelligence- something that is difficult to teach!  So, I really thought they were planning to allow Dora to meet her end.  And after all this time, I want to see Kai-Lan  demolish her.