Mii

When I was 10 years old mom and dad gave me a Makeup Barbie. She was a life size Barbie head complete with long glossy blond hair. She was very pretty and I was so enamored with her that I cleaned my room so that when she sat on the freshly cleaned dresser my room looked perfect. She came with her own cosmetic kit and I spent hours and hours applying makeup to her already perfectly made up face and styling the fake hair.

I have never seen anything, for a boy, that is the equivalent of playing with a Makeup Barbie. That is until we got the Wii.

My boys spend hours and hours making Mii’s. They’ve made a Mii for every person in our immediate and extended family. They’ve made a Mii for every outrageous stereotype - including aliens. They gather around the TV and work as a team to pick the most appropriate face shape, hair style, eyes, facial hair, body size, lip shape and where to apply freckles or wrinkles. They debate over the placement of the nose and the shade of the blush. If glasses are needed the options are fairly limited but the effect is dramatic so the choice cannot be rushed. The eyebrows convey emotion, more than the style of smile, so each pair of eyebrows must be carefully considered. If someone has a prominent mole – or beauty mark as I like to call it- they love applying that to the Mii because it is such an identifier.

This “Makeup Barbie” behavior isn’t limited to boys. The men are very involved with their Mii’s. Roland has recreated himself perfectly with a sandy colored goatee, starry eyes, and long luscious eyelashes behind his trendy new glasses. My brother-in-law Mike proudly showed us his Mii, a little skinnier than the real Mike but still, quite a resemblance. And the Mii he made of his wife Chris is just as darling as the day he first saw her in High School.

I haven’t had the opportunity to create a Mii. Whenever I try the boys usually take over and become so distracted they forget the game they originally planned to play. That is okay because I really don’t feel compelled to create Mii. But the boys do. The first week of Wii Ownership found Gabe, Noah, and Ike waking up as early as possible to get extra Wii time in, and one of their greatest joys was the creation of a new Mii.

Unlike my Makeup Barbie which supplied endless hours of creative individual play time, Mii Creation seems to draw a crowd. Fancy salon music plays in the back ground, and there is a general atmosphere of an upscale boutique. Fellow Mii enthusiasts offer suggestions and immediate feedback with each detail of Mii Creatation. Mii Creation is best enjoyed with others.

Now that our Mii’s are well populated the boys enjoy looking them over while they walk around waiting to be picked for a game. It is like they are visiting dear old friends. Mii Creation is an old thing now, unless someone new comes over to play Wii and they want their own Mii. Then I can feel the Makeup Barbie fever take over the room.

Create your own Mii here.