65th Anniversary Fashionista and Mermaids MIA

Hello 2024! It feels like forever since I’ve written a post, I’ve been unwell – including finally getting Covid despite hardly going out and wearing a mask when I do.  It’s so annoying to get it this late in the game, but thankfully it was mild.  I’ve also had a lot on (and still do), so I really haven’t had much time for dolls.  I really must get back into a routine though and give myself time to play. And I’ll apologise up front in case this turns into a bit of whinge (and it will, I’m still not feeling great and I’m grumpy).

I was really surprised a few weeks ago when I found a couple of the new Fashionista 65^th Anniversary Barbie dolls at my local Kmart.  I seem to be in an area that is one of the last to get new stock, so I wasn’t expecting to see them, and luckily, one of them was #214 with a new face mould.

I have to say I’m a bit tired of anniversary dolls (and reproductions too), celebrating ‘oh’ anniversaries is one thing, but celebrating mid-decade too is a bit much.  There are six anniversary Fashionistas so far, each inspired by a doll from the past (see here).  Although the inspiration is somewhat tenuous, with most of them it’s easy to see – one has a top based on the original black and white swimsuit; next, a pink dress with a ruffle is a tribute the 1977 Superstar doll; there’s one with rainbow detailing on her top and skirt similar to Great Shape Barbie; a dress with sheer peach ruffles pays homage to Peaches and Cream Barbie; and there’s another’s fashion with a star print and iridescent fabric a la Rockers Barbie. The one I bought is apparently inspired by the 1967 Twist and Turn Barbie, but the inspiration is almost non-existent, she wears a shimmery white tee shirt dress with the motif, ‘Twist and Turn Up the Volume’. Perhaps if the dress were orange or included net fabric, similar to the outfit shown on the box the link would be clearer.  Still, she has a lovely face even if her decals are pixelated and I love her dark hair with pink streaks. She uses the petite body in pale vinyl.

And here comes the whinging.  You know I hate the unbending Fashionista bodies, I like my dolls to move, so I swap the heads to articulated bodies, but finding dolls with pale vinyl is a challenge.  I thought it might be a bit easier once I saw the release of the Made to Move Career Tennis Player doll, but these dolls are yet to show up in Australia.  A new range of Made to Move dolls is available, but there’s only three in the range and none are pale.  So for now my new doll will have to make do with a LIV body and I’ll keep searching op shops in the hope of finding some older ‘purple top’ Made to Move dolls.

The Career Sport dolls are not the only recent dolls that haven’t shown up here, there’s always the odd Fashionista we miss out on, but there are a couple of new Dreamtopia mermaids missing from our shelves too.  Now, I don’t really buy a lot of dolls.  I don’t buy many Collector editions and mostly only buy play line dolls with face moulds absent from my collection.  And these two missing mermaids use a face I don’t have.  Both have the little used Odile mould, and although I usually like to have only one of each face sculpt, these dolls are so gorgeous and so different to each other I’m breaking my self-imposed rule and want both. Every day I see these two dolls popping up in my Instagram feed, rebodied and restyled by other collectors and looking gorgeous, but I can’t get my hands on them.  The really annoying thing is that this range is available here, but only two of the four dolls, and not the two that collectors desperately want.  Will we eventually get them? Will they show up later in the year? Or even next year? Of course we could buy from overseas, but with postage and exchange rates they will cost 3 or 4 times their $13 (ish) shelf price. There is already a reseller offering them on pre-order for $80. In the past I have resorted to buying Fashionistas unseen here from overseas, only for them turn up months and months later.  Why does Mattel do this? Why not just send us complete waves?

The new mermaid dolls, there’s four in the range and we have only the two on the left on our shop shelves whereas collectors really want the two on the right.

It seems to me that Mattel has always had a problem with just what to supply – and how many – to our market.  Often we’re swamped by one particular wave (currently we still have Barbie movie dolls to spare) or even one particular doll, before Mattel ‘swaps them out’.  Surely they should just mark them down and clear them out.  Even in the 1970s not everything released in the US made it to our shores, but we often got the European and Canadian exclusives which were very different and often much better than US releases.  We also got dolls in bubble packs made up of weird combinations of dolls and fashions, which seemed to be Mattel using up old stock (collectors refer to these dolls as X Files). In fact, until recently we seemed to be the place for excess stock and over runs – I remember toy sales at the show grounds when I was kid where I picked up dolls I couldn’t find in store and at discounted prices, and more recently sales were held at Mattel’s factory shop and warehouse where things not sold in shops could be found (and oh, how I miss those sales).

Department shop shelves yesterday: movie dolls galore and one shelf made up entirely of just these two Fashionista dolls. Surely they should just be put on clearance?

It really does annoy me (and perhaps others) when we miss out on dolls here in Australia.  I know it occurs in some European countries too, and I really don’t understand why. I know we’re a smaller market – and it seems Mattel has always had a problem understanding that (just send us smaller quantities of everything) – but dolls that don’t show up on shelves here can often be found in Singapore, just a five hour flight from our west coast. Granted, perhaps Singaporeans have more money to spend on dolls than Aussie families, but we have 5 times their population so surely it all breaks even? Whatever the rhyme, reason or logic behind us missing out on dolls, I’m not going to go out of my way anymore to source the dolls I want.  I’m not going to pay exorbitant prices to get them from overseas or from resellers or online auction sites.  If I can’t find it easily and at a fair price I’ll just spend my money on something else (and probably swear at Mattel under my breath as I do).

Now, I know that all of this rant is a first world problem, there is so much horror and misery in the world right now.  But I also appreciate that our dolls are our momentary escape from that darkness.  So please, if you’re able to, donate to one of the humanitarian aid agencies operating in war-torn and disadvantaged countries.

Don’t forget, I’m now on Instagram – @jenjoysworld(and a non-doll photo art account @jenniferbs_world). There’ll be some unique content and behind the scenes stuff, so head over and follow.

(C) Jennifer B – All content is subject to copyright and may not be re-published or reproduced without written permission.