#i really said 'besties. bakers. barents'

[barbieidol]

chloe castleberry ( fc. lana condor ) : chloe was adopted into the castleberry family when she was only a baby. she grew up in a loving home with a stay-at-home mom & a superhero dad who puts on a white coat & saves lives daily. growing up, she was closest with her grandmother on her dad's side. she was the one who gifted chloe her first barbie ; her very own popstar barbie. bonded by their love of fashion, the two of them worked together to make amazing outfits for the doll. chloe took that passion outside of her home & into the world, deciding to study it & make it her career path. she is daphne's ray of sunshine, her person, her deepest bond & for a good while, her roommate. chloe is not much of a singer, nor much of an extrovert. she's warm & an unapologetic geek, punny, super duper gay & too wise for her own good. easily the person who knows best how to keep daphne grounded in reality.

jade washington ( fc. zendaya coleman ) : jade is the first friend daphne makes outside of chloe. proud canadian & self proclaimed hockey fiend, certified cool girl & board game enthusiast, jade is relatively new to the big apple when she comes across a struggling street musician barbie. she immediately encourages her to apply as a live performer to the coffee shop she'd just started working at – one way ticket café. jade is daphne's gateway to a stable job & eventually, to her success as a legitimate musician in the eyes of the world. she's loyal, protective & keeps the order in the coffee shop when anxiety runs high. you get used to managing big emotions when you've got two younger twin brothers navigating their teenage years at home. she is gwen's right hand at work & daphne's partner in crime, especially in the creation of their after hours poker group.

roland 'rolly' gray ( fc. trevor evarts ) : baker boi no. 1 ! rolly had not imagined much of a future for himself until he found his love for baking. he was always good at science, but he never realized this is what he was meant to do with it. his childhood was spent in survival mode – with an absent father & a flight risk of a mother, he learned to fend for himself for the most part & keep a smile on his face while doing it, the way he'd always been taught. it's not until his 16th birthday that an aunt he had no clue about shows up at his door & offers to take him in. his mother is grateful & finally ready to seek help. the aunt is the one that heals his heart. the one that puts him through culinary school. the one who asks him to bake the pastries while she brews the coffee when they open one way ticket cafe together. rolly is a sensitive soul, the goofiest goober, daphne's go-to for a hug & without a doubt, the heart of the workplace. he's also the first to make daphne realize she has a sweet tooth & truly her biggest hype man.

ace lockhart ( fc. will poulter ) : baker boi no. 2 ! ace mans the baking alongside rolly. for as long as he could remember, he'd always strived to be the best at everything he did. tunnel vision. a family who always put pressure on him wasn't all that helpful in that regard, either. he's an overachiever & what he lacks in social skills he makes up for in exquisite technique, steady hands & a knack for presentation. he's extremely professional & a perfectionist, which makes it a good thing that rolly & daphne are around, because he'd simply forget to take breaks otherwise. just because daphne could relate didn't mean she'd let it happen. he was the one person who didn't particularly like her when she showed up. her over the top energy & uneducated guesses about what they did there simply didn't charm him & for a while, this put daphne in a tough spot. she'd subconsciously try to make herself more palatable around him & she owes it to jade for pointing it out. he was a good lesson & she'd confronted him about it – he could either admire the brightly shining star or start wearing sunglasses for all she cared. that was the first time she'd made him chuckle.

gwendolyn snyder ( fc. kate siegel ) : gwen is the definition of class & sass. the brains behind the business & behind the counter, occasionally. she's never wanted anything more than to be her own boss & hated all the jobs she'd ever had for this reason alone. she spent her youth seeking escape from a strict, close minded family. she looked for life experience & traveled for the better part of her 20s, doing various jobs & saving money. unfortunately, that also meant leaving her younger sister behind, who didn't escape, but had already fallen into bad decisions & bad habits. they lost touch. gwen went on to live in italy for a while in her early 30s & she didn't find a home there, but she did find inspiration. so, she came back to new york hoping to fix what was broken & maybe even start something new. she reconnected with her sister & supported her though rehab, all the while taking care of the nephew she didn't even know existed & crafting her business plan. she could've never fathomed loving rolly like a son, but she so quickly started to. when daphne entered her establishment, she thought her a piece of pink bubblegum personified. but giving her a chance wasn't a mistake. it's like she had found the final puzzle piece & the two of them soon became fond of each other. daphne's decision to learn italian & french & her ambition to travel & see as many places as possible come from gwen's stories. little did she know how much of this world there was to see.

vincent davenport ( fc. ebon moss-bachrach ) : vince is daphne's great white musical hope in a finely pressed suit & a very mean faced shell. he's a single dad & works as an artist manager. he's your regular gentle giant type with the ability to crush you at the same level as he could build you up. he has two little girls, lily & olivia, & he gives into their every whim. he also unapologetically enjoys pop music & listens to his gut religiously, which is why daphne ended up on his radar in the first place. eight months into daphne working at one way ticket cafe, he'd come into the coffee shop to take shelter from the rain. the second time, it was intentional. & so were the next few times, until he'd finally introduced himself & changed daphne's life for good. in all these times, he'd also developed a crush on gwen, unfortunately for the heart he'd boarded up years ago, after a tragic loss. daphne definitely sees him as a father figure & he's one of the people she strives to make proud with her achievements.