inspiredbybarbiesfitness

[inspiredbybarbiesfitness]

[inspiredbybarbiesfitness]

[inspiredbybarbiesfitness]

[inspiredbybarbiesfitness]

According to my Care Bears calendar (yeah, I'm a dork) May 17 has the honour of being Pizza Party Day.

(Technically actually I think Pizza Party Day is a moving holiday - instead of being attached to a date, it's the third Friday in May.)

And so this puts me in mind of a doll from my childhood: Pizza Party Skipper.

Themed around the restaurant Pizza Hut, Pizza Party Skipper was part of a collection with Pizza Party Courtney and Pizza Party Kevin.

Between them they had a variety of pizza party supplies, from pizza slices to a whole pizza to sandwiches to condiments and a side of Pepsi.

If that wasn't enough, there was the matching playset with a pizza shop, featuring what appears to be Stacie and Todd as surprise guests.

I'm kind of confused by this playset because the theming makes it sound like Skipper, Courtney and Kevin are attending a pizza party, as does the text on the back of the box, but they're all wearing Pizza Hut branded clothing. Are they working at the Pizza Hut? If so, the Pizza Hut has some strange uniforms. Courtney and Skipper's tops don't match as they have different sleeves, and the midriff cut doesn't look like any uniform I've seen.

The year prior, 1993, Mattel did a similar Pizza Party playset, but themed around Dominos instead of Pizza Hut.

But never fear - if you're interested in pizza but without supporting either of those chains, Barbie is now herself a pizza chef.

Happy pizza party day!

[inspiredbybarbiesfitness]

In 1996, Mattel released the Empress Kaiserin Sissy Imperatrice Barbie, a Barbie in the likeness of Empress Elisabeth of Austria.

A classic of the Barbie style in many ways, featuring a princess ballgown and an elaborate hairdo, this Barbie specifically was based on the Empress as depicted in Franz Xaver Winterhalter's 1864 painting.

Although I can see the likeness and the inspiration, the Mattel designer behind the doll appears to have taken a few liberties with some design elements.

I think her hair really is the standout here as that updo is really quite intricate and they could easily have simplified it.

She is well regarded as one of the more interesting mass-release collectors dolls, and I can completely see why.

Given the fact that Elisabeth was known to be very intense about her appearance and used a combination of strict dieting and tightlacing to maintain an extremely slim appearance (and in the modern day would almost certainly be considered to meet the criteria for a restrictive eating disorder), there are more comments to be made about the suitability of her adaptation into a Barbie... but I will leave my comment at that.

[inspiredbybarbiesfitness]

In the US, May is Bike Month. And if you happen to be small enough to still fit it, there are a great deal of Barbie-branded childrens bicycles for you to use.

I have to assume, however, this isn't at the top of the list for most people... so let's consider the woman herself, Barbie Millicent Roberts, and how she gets around.

For example, this Barbie and Bike playset features as pink and blue bicycle with a basket and water bottle. It also comes with a helmet... but I can't help but notice that Barbie isn't actually wearing it. Barbie, your protective equipment doesn't do anything hanging from your wrist.

This doll came in more than one variant, but note even with the pink helmet she still isn't actually wearing it.

Barbie herself isn't the only member of the Roberts family choosing the more eco-friendly way to get place to place.

Barbie Sisters' Bike for Two depicts Skipper and Chelsea pedaling away -- Skipper, much like Barbie, seems to be under the impression that simply carrying her helmet is sufficient, while Chelsea is at least actually wearing hers.

This is a problem that has plagued the Roberts family since at least 1993, as even Bicyclin Barbie does not actually wear her helmet.

I love the colour scheme on this one, though. 10/10 no notes.

[inspiredbybarbiesfitness]

It's no secret that my favourite collectors series is Dolls of the World. (Yes I know I started a bracket for it and never finished because work got real busy -- it's not abandoned just on indefinite hiatus I swear!)

While Dolls of the World represented Barbies of different world cultures to teach children about the world, the Pink Passport series features Barbie and friends as international jetsetters experiencing various parts of the world as tourists. Some are specifically themed around countries Barbie has traveled to, while others are less specific and more based on vacation activities.

For example, Barbie Pink Passport: Paris shows Barbie with a croissant, baguette and coffee mug featuring the tricolore. Pink Passport Italy trades out the baguette and croissant for a pizza and gelato.

Whereas Pink Passport: Winter Getaway is a giftset depicting all four current Roberts sisters at an unspecified ski resort.

Some are even less specific like Pink Passport Ken with motorcycle.

This one features a map to show his travels, but isn't otherwise themed in the same way that the Paris and Italy Barbies are. What is the map? I genuinely have no idea. I can't tell if it's a real place or not and I can't find a high enough resolution image to zoom in sufficiently to say for sure. Whatever it is, it isn't listed in the official Mattel product description which just describes it as "a map".

Probably the highlight of the collection is the Glamour Jet, which shows that while jetsetting around the world Barbie is not particularly interested in minimizing her carbon footprint.

Despite the fact that the plane exterior shows four rows of seats, the inside only has room for three Barbies.

Literally not even featuring enough room for the Pink Passport cabin crew (sold separately).

[inspiredbybarbiesfitness]

There have been a number of mermaid Barbies over the years; so many that even though I have previously referenced them in posts, I could not even begin to catalog all of them.

If we were to set our sets back 30 years to the glorious days of 1993, a number of mermaid Barbies (and friends/family of Barbie) present themselves.

Fountain Mermaid Barbie is notable because she has a gimmicked headpiece that sprays water - hence the name "Fountain". Judging from the picture on the back of the box, the mechanism for this is a hand pump - the water goes in a higher or shallower arc depending on how you squeeze the shell.

Also from 1993 (though some sources on this one say 1992) was Magical Hair Mermaid Barbie. What was "magical" about her, you might ask? Her hair changed colour in water of different temperatures!

Her hair turned purple in cold water, then pink in warm water. Notable is that this is described on the box as "turning purple" and then "back to" pink, but in almost every picture I've seen of her she already has purple hair. (Including on the box art - although to be fair Mattel and I might not see eye to eye on at what point a shade becomes "purple" or "pink".)

Featuring the same colour-change technology is Mermaid Skipper and the Sea Twins.

In this case, the tails of the baby mermaids and the fins at the ends of Skipper's tail changed colour - according to the commercial, to pink in warm water and blue in ice water.

Interesting to note is that one Amazon listing I found describes these as "Krissy-type Baby Dolls", but the character of Krissy didn't actually debut in the Barbie line until 1999. So technically you could say that Krissy is a Sea Twins-style Baby Doll.

I dunno why you would, but you could.

But specifically, Mermaid Skipper and the Sea Twins is fascinating to me because... well, do you know this reaction picture?

According to some reddit sleuths, this has been identified as Mermaid Skipper from Mermaid Skipper and the Sea Twins.

(With a face filter, obviously.)

[inspiredbybarbiesfitness]

"Bumble Bee" Gala Barbie® Bob Mackie Le Papillon Barbie® Whispering Wind Barbie® Artist Series - Inspired by Renoir Barbie®

Barbie® Bazaar - April 1999

[inspiredbybarbiesfitness]

Is there any angel or demon barbie ?

There are a lot of angel Barbies, in fact.

Some themed around holidays.

Some around birthdays.

Some collectibles.

And some playline.

To the point where I could make an additional post about angel Barbies, not reference any of the four above, and still not be able to include all depictions of Barbie as an angel without pissing people off with the length of the post, and my posts tend to be long enough as is.

Demons are a bit of a different matter. Demon isn’t quite as marketable.

I can’t say with 100% confidence that the answer is never, but I will say I can’t think of any, and it’s almost impossible to find on a search because the results are flooded with customs and Barbies that have been controversial because religious conservatives see them as demonic.

[inspiredbybarbiesfitness]

Source : barbie_dolls_shop on Instagram

[inspiredbybarbiesfitness]

Source : barbiehistorian on Instagram 🤍

[inspiredbybarbiesfitness]

Did you know that the third Sunday in July is National Ice Cream Day?

It feels like a while since I've done a National X Day post. But never fear!

Yes, Barbie has an Ice Cream Shop as part of the You Can Be Anything range. This particular Barbie comes with a soft serve machine and two colours of "soft serve" dough to feed through to create swirls of ice cream in a bowl or cone.

Barbie shares the love with her little sister as well with the Barbie and Chelsea Ice Cream Cafe.

This seems to have inspired Chelsea to strike out on her own as she also has her own ice cream cart.

And a pet cat to help her sell ice cream. Which is normal for ice cream, as I understand it.

We can cast our eyes into the past, also, to see the 1997 Ice Cream Barbie. She does not have any functions for making or selling ice cream. She is just a Barbie themed around loving ice cream.

There's an ice cream menu and notebook, but that's about it.

So perhaps we need to go back further, to 1987, and the Barbie Ice Cream Shoppe.

[inspiredbybarbiesfitness]

Inside Look into the Disney Princess Castles

[inspiredbybarbiesfitness]

[inspiredbybarbiesfitness]

Peaches ‘N Cream 1984

[inspiredbybarbiesfitness]

Source : fashionfairytale21 on Instagram 💕