Does anyone on DS actually collect Barbies?

[MelodyT]

... I can't bring myself to remove any of my dolls heads. Just seems wrong!

If you ever do, you have to be careful so you don't ruin her neck joint.

I have a tutorial at http://babes-in-toyland.blogspot.com/2013/10/How2-behead-babs-well.html.

edit: When my middle daughter was younger, I gave her the heads that I didn't want on the bodies that I didn't want (and most of the formal/prom-style dresses*). She was happy with that arrangement.

*My ladies favor more casual and active wear...

Yes, I can see how she would appreciate the dolls. I'm going to read your tutorial now... but it's just out of interest, ok.

[SetsunaKou]

My sis and I were huge Barbie collectors when we were younger. We have about 200 or so of them (about 175 Barbie, 10 Midge, 5 Teresa, 2 Christie, 2 Miko) plus about 25 Kens and a dozen Skippers & 6 Jazzie dolls. They were soooo important to us then! We renamed them all, and even had our mom memorize all the names, too, so we could 'quiz' her----'who is this one, Mom?'

Amazingly, she almost always knew! She told us later it wasn't the face she recognized, but rather their clothes or hairstyle. (Or in 'Darlene's' case, her heavy eye makeup. She is a 'Barbie and the Rockers' doll.)

I never touched their hair nor clothing but left them 'pristine' while my sister truly 'played' with hers. She cut off their hair, recolored their hair, changed their outfits, made them be gymnasts down our flight of stairs (breaking many necks along the way.), etc. She always tells me now that her dolls were more loved because she actually played with them while I just sat all mine in the Barbie dollhouse! :laughs:

But at least mine are all still recognizable who they are!

Now, we don't collect Barbies since anime dolls have taken over our house since 1998 and subsequently, BJD dolls (anime and portrait seiyuu). Our Barbie dolls are from 1982 - 1997. Pretty much we bought every Barbie that came out between 84-95. After then, it was mainly a certain 'Eras' Barbie I liked that I bought and I keep in box.

My favorite girl used to be the 'Magic Moves' Barbie from 1984 - 86. I can still remember buying her at night, in the mall. She was the 'queen' of my dolls and I still keep her apart from my other Barbie dolls, in a display box. I've redressed her in the more fancy 'Holiday Barbie 1991 gown and she seems so plain (hair and face) now but back then.....I thought she was beautiful and perfect!

Anyway, I think many of us started out collecting Barbie----she is and always will be a beautiful doll. Honestly, I still love my Barbies!

It's just that my sis and I now prefer anime looks to more realistic doll looks, so Barbie has taken a backseat,so to speak.

But of course, we still love her----she was our entrance into dolls and dollmaking and we have so many wonderful memories----making Barbie Christmas trees (Yes, we hung them on the tree as ornaments. Well, more like 'sat' them on the tree.) I remember our cousins getting a kick out of our "Barbie tree'.

We had planned to buy as many Kens as Barbies/friends, so that we could hold a 'ball' and they'd all dance together! However it was difficult to spend our allowances on duplicate Ken dolls, when new Barbie and friends were coming out! So in the end, only about 2 dozen girls had 'dates' while the other hundreds were all jealous 'wallflowers.' Ha ha ha ha.....

And we had many of their cars and motor homes, which we'd careen down our driveway (long, long driveway on a hill, leading right into a rural highway.). A few times, w'd have to kick the car into the side grass lawn or it'd be right in the highway! Once we missed and it did go on the road! We weren't allowed to go there so, we had to run, run, run to get our dad to hurry and 'save' the doll and car. Thankfully, no car came and ran it over.

And we used to have a huge, I mean, HUGE, as In the biggest willow tree you've ever seen in your life. Not kidding, this thing was gigantic......and umbrella-ed much of our upper driveway lawn/barn. So my sis and I used to take our Barbies and tie them into the branches, hanging there all day; From morning to almost night. It was about a 50-75 foot diameter and there'd be dolls hanging everywhere----I guess it seems creepy now, but at the time, we thought it great fun and so pretty! We always planned to have a 'party' there after we'd finished hanging them all up, but since there were so many, it took all day to tie them and always ran out of time. All 200+ dolls and at dusk, we'd have to go untie them and get them down. Sometimes, it'd get too dark to see them all and we'd miss a few, only to find them all dewy the next morning.

Those are things I'll never forget and it was thanks to Barbie who gave us those precious memories!

[embyquinn]

If you look at my sig pics, Miyae and Ashe are Barbies (but don't tell them that). Miyae is a Midge head on a Fashionista body, and Ashe is a Shakira head on a Fashionista. Megumi is a Fashion Fever Lea head on an Obitsu body.

In point of fact, all my krewe are at least partially "playline" in one form or another. Joe is a refurbished John Smith from Pocahontas with a My Scene articulated body. Belle is an America's Top Model head on an Obitsu body. Johnny is a Liv Jake who's been outfitted to wear wigs. And of course my beloved Cherry is a Moxie Teenz head with a Volks tan Dollfie Plus body.

I actually grew up with Barbies, and I'm really excited about the articulation in the Fashionista and Pivotal lines.

[DollyKim]

Mine aren't neglected to say. A good amount are hanging in over the door Barbie holders so I look at them all the time. I literally don't have space to have everyone out on the shelves or in the house so I have to make choices and not everyone can win. I still have Beaty Secrets Barbie who has been with me through her head falling off, losing a hand, and now her legs won't stay on. No changes for the gal who happens to be named Aurora. I finally got Phillip/Bo Duke (short curly blonde hair) back after a toy borrowing "friend" kept her for 20+ years then my sister hoarded her away.

As for giving them new bodies the dolls themselves generally don't mind. A lot of mine used to be on Twist N Turn bodies and went to 100 poses so they could have elbows and wrists. Better posing bodies better chances they'll be in photo stories. You can use warm water to soften the head and make it easier to remove. Unwanted heads go on unwanted bodies get packed up with unwanted clothes and go somewhere to make happy kids.

I'm for repainting too if the doll needs it or something like her lipstick is a color that doesn't suit her. Steffie Midge had terrible lipstick, now she's bare lips and smokey eyes but it works.

[TasiaChiba]

I had Barbies when I was a kid, and always tried to take good care of them. They were well played with, but I never wanted them to be destroyed so I did take care. Still, I use to pawn them off on friends who'd come over and let them play as they wanted with them without fear. (Except for hair cutting... I couldn't even bring myself to do that to my dolls aside from stray hair trimming, lol.) They've all been retired and placed in a footlocker for my children one day when I have them. However, that hasn't stopped me from occasionally purchasing gorgeous lovelies for display as they've called to me~ Just this past week I bought the Mars Explorer Barbie. I had always wanted the original Astronaut Barbie when she was released when I was a kid, but I could never get her. Ohhh, how I wanted her!!! All these years later when I saw the Mars Explorer playline release, I found myself so tempted to buy her as a sort of "full circle" moment. I kept putting her off, but finally caved. The fact that all Barbies and Barbie items were 30% off did help my decision quite a bit, lolz~

In the footlocker I also have a doll that I wanna get out one day, but figure she's safer where she is atm! When I was 10, one of my Christmas presents that year was a Navy Barbie. My Dad was in the Navy (was a career man, lol) and so my mother thought this would be a lovely gift to give me. I adored that doll! Barbie as a female Naval Officer! She was dressed in a nicely detailed uniform, what are called dress whites, and the cutest short bob of a hairstyle. My little brother ended up accidentally breaking her head off when he was four! >_<; This is the reason I initially put her in the footlocker for safe-keeping, because I didn't know how to fix her at the time and I didn't want anything more happening to her. (I definitely know how to fix her now, though, lol!) I'd had her for about five years before her "accident". ^^;

I also have a Dolls of the World Princess of Japan Barbie that was given to me as a present for my 22nd Birthday that I love dearly. She has also remained in the box the whole time, which has thankfully protected her from the copious amounts of dust we get in this house. @_@ I think she's absolutely gorgeous. She's simple and elegant and IMHO one of the best Japanese Barbie releases. I just adore her! (Also, Dolly Kim has this same Barb, too~) ^___^

One day I'd LOVE to get a Silkstone release, just one is all I want, but for now I'm happy with my new Fashionista's to customize and operate on, muwahahha! (I currently have 9 headless dolls sitting beside me on my desk! And a box full of heads that have been sealed waiting for me to blush/seal/paint~)

Barbie is a canvas. She is an outlet for our creativity and a medium of inspiration.

[DollyKim]

This is the batch on the door, a few are slated to go, but I can't avoid them



That's Tom Coment and Spectra on the bottom and some clones. Outside of the Lady Paradise and Takara heads and a Miss America Blair everyone else is Mattel.

[Geektopian]

There are a few here at Chez Geektopia but most of them are "Babitsu" Barbie-Obitsu hybrids. As for why I created hybrids, the Obitsu 27cm bodies are more petite and considerably more posable than the stock Mattel bodies. This worked better for the characters I created and helped them bland with the other dolls/action figures they needed to interact with.

I may still have some photos somewhere but the photo host I had them on suffered a major crash and data loss some years ago. They're likely on a backup disk but aren't readily available on the 'net right now for me to post them. The dolls themselves are OK but are currently in storage since my hobby room became a bedroom when my son was born.

[MelodyT]

This is the batch on the door, a few are slated to go, but I can't avoid them

A few are slated to go? Go where?

[MelodyT]

I just loved reading everyone's stories! It's really nice to know so many love Barbie, just sad that they have taken a back seat to BJD's and anime. But then, people change, their tastes change and so on.... That's life I guess I swore blind I'd never go bigger than Barbie. Now I have 2 Moxie teenz and my precious little H4H girl. And if I could afford it, I'd have a lot more H4H girls, lol. So yeah... it is hard to stick to one line when there are so many beautiful dolls out there just begging for our attention

[DollyKim]

By go I mean sell. I'm planning to part with some because I have too many dolls. Everyone here would get the first chance when I do.

I drifted away from Barbie back in the 90s went I got in to Teen Skippers, then it was Star Trek figures. Custom dolls I can paint etc was a natural evolution for me. Had I known about rerooting I would have started years and years ago. Most of my customs are 1/6 so they hang with the Barbies. The first I sought out a particular custom body for was Louis a skinny teenaged boy, Mattel just doesn't make that. Ken faces don't come in the shape I wanted for Bram. It's whomever fits the part at the time.