I gotta give the shorts credit on this one, they are really hanging on to those positions in spite of the overwhelmingly good news that's come out this year about Mattel (MAT). I think they know that I've got their number though, and so they're starting to cheat to avoid covering and locking in those losses. The scam they're up to is about posting fake reviews of Hello Barbie on Amazon (AMZN). Now obviously, I cannot fully prove this, but for the people complaining, there are cracks in the seams of the stories, and some of them are clearly fictional. Take this one for example: Sorry, but no, there is no chance that this hacking ever took place. You can't just hijack a Wi-Fi connection like that and start reprogramming devices, especially ones that just hit the market where nobody has had time to analyze how they work. Very clearly made up. But "KAGAMUSHA" kept right on trying to convince others: So it wasn't enough to post a bad review, he got on the very next day to post comments to try to fool other people. Out of the negative reviews, the majority are one of two things: Either the customer had trouble connecting to Wi-Fi (Probably legit, internet connectivity is confusing for a lot of people with home networking, and you have to download an app to your mobile device to set it up), and the other claims are that the product has problems charging the batteries. The bad battery claims are questionable to me as well. I say that because of the people who had positive, 5-star reviews, they mention that the product arrived with a full charge, where the negative reviewers are saying that they had to attach the doll to the charging base and that it wouldn't hold the charge. Mattel was clearly testing the product before shipping them, so I have strong doubts that these are real issues that so many people are having. The people posting the reviews have a good number of technical products in their purchase histories, not toys, so it also supports the idea that thesis that these are savvy tech users, probably day traders who are short or have put options in place and aren't keen to see the losses mount up. Shorts, we know what you're up to, and it isn't going to work. I already know that the Hello Barbie wasn't widely distributed anyway, so the majority of Mattel's year end profits won't be coming from that one doll. It was the monster sales of the Dream House and an uptick in Fisher-Price goods that will be leading the charge in this year's annual report. Year end results are due after market on February 1st. I expect good things. If Hello Barbie really is having these technical issues, the company is sure to fix them before creating a second generation product. If you're short, you should probably cover before the real damage comes on the 1st. I remain long on Mattel and continue to rate them a strong buy. Mattel stock closed up 42 cents on Friday to $26.24.