Barbie On The Cover: Four Ways

Mattel continues Barbie's 50th anniversary celebration with a ToyNews magazine promotion.

Barbie rivals Tyra with four different cover shots on the magazine. Each of the four different designs will be sent to a quarter of the magazine's subscribers.

Does anyone subscribe to this? Which one did you get?

Does This Mean I'm Old Now?

Mattel long has been introducing reproductions from its greatest-hits lists of the 60s and 70s. Collectors tipsy with nostalgia currently can purchase the original striped-swimsuit classic (1959), Campus Sweetheart Barbie (1965) and Malibu Barbie (1971), among other retro offerings.

Nostalgia is a powerful marketing tool that motivates normally sane individuals to shell out many multiples the original cost to own (again) a toy they had as a kid.

How do I know this?

Because Mattel has started on the 80s.

The company introduced this year Barbie from Barbie and the Rockers. The doll originally debuted in 1986.

I haven't yet purchased the doll, though I admit to excited squeeling when I discovered her in the catalogue.

The squeeling eventually was replaced with the quiet realization that I am old enough to have a company reintroduce a doll from my childhood in its "Vintage Repros" category alongside reproductions from the 60s and 70s.

Ouch.

Of course, I probably should have anticipated this. A lot of toys from the 80s are back. My Little Pony, Strawberry Shortcake and Cabbage Patch Kids are all things I played with as a child, and I can see them all again at my local Target.

Rerooting Experiment

I've been intending for the past couple of weeks to post a picture of the three Barbies I've going to practice rerooting on. (My grandma generously donated a few gently loved dolls. Thanks, Granny!) Unfortunately, I couldn't find them.

My husband during a fit of cleaning before some friends came over buried them in the deepest, darkest region of the front closet. According to him, it's weird to have a sack of dolls sitting on one's end table.

Perhaps.

I doubt he'll react well to the actual rerooting process, when there will be bald Barbies laying around next to piles of hair.


I did eventually unearth the dolls, and here they are!

I'm keeping my expectation low for my first attempt at rerooting hair. If on the first attempt I can get the old hair out and the new hair in without splitting open a head or gauging a hole, I'll call it a success.