#Barbie dream besties

[mythosidhesdollhouse]

Holiday Unboxing Marathon (10/?)

I realized we haven't unboxed a single Mattel doll so far today, so I decided it was high time to break out Dream Besties Teresa!

...And give her an immediate, emergency restyle, because that red pleather garbage was just NOT IT (I think the shorts may have wrested the title of 'grossest fabric texture of the year' away from that Shibajuku dress). Luckily my supply of couture by @dollsahoy held the perfect solution once again.

With her fashion woes rectified her adorable face really has a chance to shine through. The dimples in particular make her especially charming. She just feels really sweet and happy.

I hadn't intended for her to end up looking so festive, but...'tis the season, I guess XD

(P.S. I am exceedingly pleased that she has zero hair tinsel, though in the short term I suppose it would have augmented her holiday vibes....)

[wildwheatfields]

Barbie vs Bratz

Girl, you’d know they’d be best friends stfu

🎀🧸💗Pastel girlies💗🧸🎀

💅🏽💋🔥Baddies🔥💋💅🏽

UNITE

[oceanicpride]

Barbie Dream Besties dolls: Malibu, Brooklyn, Teresa and Renee

[sleepytoycollection]

I got hit by the notion that I really wanted to repaint a Barbie Dream Bestie, so I purchased this VERY wonky Renee along with Brooklyn since I figured she could use the new face.

Also a chance to see that the blank sculpt looks like.

I didn't really go into this repaint with a plan, and just sorta made it up as I went. It's a little outside of my usual aesthetic, whatever that is, and I'm not sure if I personally love it. I'll sleep on it, but if I'm still not vibing with her I'll get a new Renee and sell this one.

[queenofsquids]

I know some people were looking for this size/height comparison, so here we are left to right:

Creatable World

Barbie Dream Besties Ken

Ever After High Hunter

[dollsinvogue]

Barbie Dream Besties “Malibu” » Giambattista Valli spring 2023 couture

[pinkfai]

Source : maidersondolls on Instagram 💕

[macaron-monster]

Well in case anyone else was curious, here's a normal sized barbie head as well as myscene on the dream besties body

[chimichangacongaline]

the dream besties are cute ig

[alldollsarevalid]

Brooklyn and her dog Taffy.

I finally got most of the tinsel out of her hair. This is so much better for me.

[cocoasnail]

Barbie Dream Besties Teresa wearing a dress I made :)

[mythosidhesdollhouse]

She's here! She's queer! She's curvy! She's practically perfect in every way... except she has polypropylene hair 🤦🏽‍♀️🤦🏽‍♀️🤦🏽‍♀️ DAMMIT MATTEL. Oh well, nothing I can do about it now, not like I'm going to send her back 😕 Give me a few and I'll get her unboxed for a better look--

[wildwheatfields]

Renee "Foodie" and Jade "Kool Kat"

[jobeeseverafter]

I finally got my first Barbie Dream Bestie. This is Renee. Unboxing her was a chore, but I like her box art and I really like the doll.

[sleepytoycollection]

Barbie Dream Besties "Brooklyn": A review

Barbie Dream Besties is a newly released doll line by Mattel, and is a spin off of their main Barbie line. Looks wise, they seem to be a spiritual successor to My Scene, Ever After high, and the more recent Barbie Extra/Barbie Extra Minis. Also trying desperately to compete with LOL and Rainbow High.

They are $20 USD each retail.

I was interested in these for three reasons: 1) I liked Ever After High and My Scene. 2) They have much more quality outfits than I tend to see from modern Barbie. 3) @queenofsquids enjoyment of them made me hopeful I'd like them too.

So do I? Let's find out.

I choose the character Brooklyn as I like her face up the best.

Her packaging is the standard plastic clam shell that seems to be all over the doll aisle anymore. I can't say I love it. I miss the cardboard boxes, so much easier to open and so much less plastic.

This box isn't super great aesthetically either. There's a lot going on in the service of nothing.

Which is a shame, because I do really like the actual character art on the box. It's super cute and matches the dolls really well. It would pop even better if the rest of the box was a smidge simpler. Sometimes less is more.

The back of the box.

We get more of this delightful artwork, showing of the full set of characters available at the moment.

We also get a short character bio for Brooklyn. She wants to be a choreographer, loves making dance routines, video editing, and creative writing. Despite her favorite color being listed as pink, she has no pink in her outfit and only one pink accessory.

Here is the box without the cover. This is what I meant when I said the box design was doing a lot for nothing. Over packaging isn't just a problem with Mattel dolls of course, MGA is arguably worse, but it's still frustrating.

Brooklyn herself is very pretty though. I tried very hard to pick one without a wonky face, but the way she's posed makes it very hard to tell.

I think one of her eyes is slightly bigger than the other. It's not enough to bother me at least. That said, so many of these were VERY wonky at the store. I would not buy these online unless you can see the specific doll you're getting. The QC is all over the place.

Here are all the accessories she comes with.

I do appreciate that all her accessories tie into her interests and character. That said, these are hit and miss.

The purse is nice, and does open.

The dog is okay, but I don't really care for these types of doll pets. It looks more like an in-universe toy than what's supposed to be an animal.

I initially liked that the phone and case were separate, until I tried to put the phone in the case and it didn't fit. It will not go in there. If I force it in, it just pops right back out.

It's a shame because I liked the 80's Barbie logo case, but without the phone in it, it looks weird when the doll is holding it.

At least the phone fits into the ring light stand.

May I also say some of these accessories feel really flimsy? The phone and Ipad are VERY thin plastic.

The boom box in hollow and unpainted.

I wish instead of having seven mid accessories we could've had two or three really good ones. Or nixed all of them and given her a stand. The doll herself is nice enough to deserve a stand I think.

Let's look at Brooklyn. She's pretty darn cute. She stands at the standard 11", and has saran hair with tinsel.

Her outfit isn't my favorite though. Mattel stop giving your dolls ugly fur sleeved varsity jackets challenge. This could've been so cute as just a regular varsity jacket.

Despite being ugly, the jacket is made pretty well. Though a button was already falling off mine. That poor QC strikes again.

Though I suppose it's moot as I doubt I'll ever put this jacket back on her ever again.

Now that she's free of that ugly thing, you can see how nice the rest of her outfit is. I didn't realize how much I missed dolls getting to wear neutrals until I saw her plain denim skirt and white tank top.

It's simple, but she's dressed like a real person. Plus, I can easily pair these pieces with a lot of other outfits. Doll wardrobes need pieces like this for mixing and matching.

Body wise she's a bit smaller than Barbie, and her feet are a little bit larger. This body reminds me a lot of the current bodies for the Disney Princess line now that Mattel has it back, though those have larger feet. If I can find the one I have, I'll do a body comparison to those later.

Her sculpt in three views. The Ever After High comparisons are very apt, though the screening itself is more reminiscent of My Scene mixed with a little bit of G3 Monster High.

For comparison, here's an actual EAH doll next to her. Brooklyn's head is just a smidge larger, but balanced out better with larger eyes, thicker brows, and bigger lips.

After this, I got Brooklyn redressed with just a few changes...

I replaced her jacket with this vintage Barbie and the Rockers one, added a necklace, and hey! Now she gets to wear her favorite color.

Final thoughts?

It's a good doll, but the quality control issues, on top of the same BS Mattel throws on all of it's dolls anymore, is dragging it down.

The fact you have to look through every single one of the shelf to make sure you're not getting a crappy one is exhausting. Plus, kids don't do that. They're going to get home with their new doll and then realize as they open it something's wrong. Kids don't deserve that.

The accessories are mostly cheap and not special enough to justify their existence. The purse, phone with case, and ring light would've been enough if they were made a bit better.

The outfit is well made, and a huge improvement over what I see in the main Barbie line, even if I don't like all the design choices, but again, that's if you get one without QC issues.

The doll herself is super cute though, and screw it, I like the tinsel. Fight me.

Overall I really love this doll, I just wish picking one out wasn't a hassle. Hell, I even bought a second one already.

I got inspired enough I wanted to repaint one, so I purposely bought this wonky Renee because she had the worst face up out of everyone at the store.

So I think there's definitely potential here. If this line continues, I hope they can improve the way G3 Monster High has improved from it's first wave.

I hope this can be the start of Mattel revitalizing it's Barbie line as well. It needs it. See ya next time.

[queenofsquids]

Barbie Dream Besties Ken and Daisy

I'm so happy there are more dolls to this line. I really want to get these two and Catch Em All for once.

I can't find a release date yet 😭