#takara barbie

[horechattalove]

(〃･ω･)ﾉ~☆･ﾟ+｡*ﾟ･.+🍮🧃ジェニー🎀🍮

[valleydoll]

So I recently picked up this super cute doll for a great price - I don’t usually collect 80s Barbies but I made an exception for this one:

1982 Takara Barbie

Her box was already open so I don’t feel too bad for getting her out (and there was a lot of dust in there anyway):

She came with this pretty stand:

I tried to get a good picture of the Mattel info on the box but it’s a little blurry:

The only other similar dolls I own are the vintage early 2000s Mimi World dolls I got recently from Goodwill - you can see the similarities, but Mimi is much taller. Here are my two bride dolls together:

Takara Barbie may look familiar as Takara still makes this doll under the name Takara Jenny (their Barbie license with Mattel ended in 1985/86 but they retained the rights to the doll design).

If you are unfamiliar with Barbie’s history in Japan there were a few YouTube videos added recently that give lots of good info (and isn’t it weird that there seems to be some sort of doll collector hive mind that sees lots of different people get interested in the same thing at the same time with no interaction?).

[pagerunner-j]

Still thinking about Barbie, the movie, and Barbies, collectively, and the very particular quirk of my childhood experience with the doll.

Here's the thing: I grew up in the '80s. (Yes, I'm old, hush.) I had several Barbies, and you'd probably recognize a few of them. Peaches & Cream Barbie even made it into the opening sequence of the movie, after all. That one was, justifiably, a classic.

But my favorite Barbies as a kid looked like this.

Yes, that's an officially licensed Barbie doll, made by the Takara company for sale in Japan. For several years there, from the early '80s to 1986, Japanese Barbies looked like they'd walked straight out of an anime, big, cartoony eyes and all. They came dressed in a variety of fashions, of course, just like their American counterparts, but it's hard not to highlight the traditional kimono. A friend of mine's dad did regular business trips to Japan, and he'd bring home dolls for her, so I got to play with her Barbies during visits to her house, and I always thought they were so much cooler than mine.

Years later, after the advent of the internet and, crucially, eBay, I decided to do some research and see if I could finally snag one of these dolls for myself. To my disappointment, I discovered that Takara no longer held the Barbie license, and the company that produced Japanese Barbies thereafter made the dolls look just like ours.*

*eta: Addendum here: Bandai had the license for a few years after Takara did, and their Barbies looked a lot like Takara's, although not exactly. The last thing I found said those were made until 1989. Correct me if I'm wrong about what happened after!

Returning to the main point, though--

But then I also found out what Takara had decided to do.

They'd lost the Barbie license, specifically. Mattel didn't have any ownership over Takara's doll design, since, after all, she didn't look like Barbie. There wasn't anything preventing Takara from producing the same dolls under a different name.

So this happened.

Meet the Takara Jenny. Same look, new name, new slogan ("Jenny is another yourself"). And without the restrictions of conforming to someone else's license, Takara had the license to do what the hell ever. Traditional dresses? Frothy, elaborate Lolita designs? Friend dolls modeled after famous J-pop singers? Why the heck not?

Takara did feel compelled to come up with an explanation for the name change, I note, beyond "Mattel won't let us call her Barbie anymore." The excuse they eventually went with still amuses me. I'll just quote Wikipedia for brevity:

Prior to 1986, the doll was known as Takara Barbie. In 1986 Takara ended their licensing agreement with Mattel, and, as they owned the rights over the Takara Barbie's design, came up with a new name for the doll. The explanation given for the name change was that Jenny was the name of a character Barbie portrayed in a play, also titled Jenny. The play was a success and Barbie had become so associated with her character's name that she decided to change it to Jenny. Jenny's boyfriend was renamed from "Takara Ken" to "Jeff."

Alas, alack, no more Kenergy for Jeff. Ah well.

(Seriously, though: Imagine that your girlfriend gets so carried away with a famous role she played that not only does she change her name, you have to, too. Poor Ken!)

Anyway: Takara Jenny's had a longer run than the Takara Barbie (interrupted during a discontinuation, but I hear she's back in 2023!), although of course Barbie still reigns supreme in the fashion doll world, and even in Takara's stable, their original fashion doll, Licca, was always more popular. But I've got a soft spot for the Jenny. After all, I'm a Jenny, too. And I still think the doll design is cute as hell.

Now, for an anime movie where Stereotypical Jenny looks like this...

Edit: Okay, I have to add this video. New Licca and friends, including Jenny!

[eepop-stuffs]

Two of my fav dolls rn. Neither of them are on their original bodies💀

[cempasuchilpodridos]

I still need to get an outfit for her. She came in a very generic pink dress that I dodn't fancy, so I put her in something else, but she is an early Takara Barbie from around 1982, before she had to change her name to Jenny. I'd love to get a Licca chan from around the era too

[chernobog13]

The Takara BBi Cy Girl 1/6th-scale action figure Destiny, with her own sweet little mini-gun.

photo by me

[orokay]

[magazinescans]

Lina - High Fashion Doll Written by Sachiko Kobayashi Photos by Miyoko Mizuhara

Barbie® Bazaar - April 1999

[neptunefairytales]

What I found this morning at a garage sales:

I'm so happy because I didn't have the 2 Enchantix dolls but poor Tecna is missing an arm! I also can't believe I found a Hong Kong exclusif Tsum Tsum!

The Strawberry shortcakes were kind of expensive. The seller have a lot of them but I could only afford 2, my little collection of them is growing nicely!

(Personnal pics. Please reblog if you liked, do not use or repost. Thanks! NSFW AND KINK ACCOUNTS DO NOT INTERACT !!!)

[thelivesofourdolls]

Namiko in Barcelona, Spain.

[thegreymoon]

My Barbies wearing Takara Jenny outfits 🖤

MTM purple top Lea wearing a Takara Jenny kimono:

And a playline Lea rebodied onto a MTM body also wearing a Takara Jenny kimono:

[valleydoll]

Finally cleaned up those Mimi dolls I got from Goodwill and put their outfits together as best as I could figure out - the only one I could find a picture of was the orange hair pop star themed Mimi. I think they turned out really cute and I think I’m a little obsessed with Mimi now.

First the pop star:

The Asiana Airlines flight attendant:

The maybe country girl themed doll? I’m not sure what you call this look (and I’m not sure all of the outfit pieces are right):

Finally, the bride (and one little pic of the groom):

These dolls have the sweetest little faces and I find myself smiling at them whenever I see their little smiles.

[fluffydreamland]

Good morning tumblr!,today is my birthday and I turn 16!!! (⁠≧⁠▽⁠≦⁠) (Im not american so I dont do the sweet 16 thing or the driver license stuff),You may dont know but one of my special interests are stereotipically girly videogames!!,I Already have a big collection but this are my additions for this year birthday

Boxed nds games:

Oshare majo love & berry ds collection! (Sadly I dont have the card reader neither the cards to correctly play this one,but it still fun!)

Wantame Music Channel Dokodemo style (I dont have the card reader or the cards play this one but it still playable withouth cards!)

Mecha motte inchou!,Mezase beauty box!

Not boxed nds games:

Barbie groom and glam pups! (Didnt the 3ds version became rare?)

Barbie jet set style! (The character models are horrifyng but its super fun!)

Bratz girlz really rock! (The faces are pretty different from the actual dolls)

Hello kitty big city dreams! (Another addition to my hello kitty game collection!)

Bratz ponyz 2! (Super cute and addicting!)

Bratz kidz party! (My sister says its boring but I love it!)

Gba games:

Barbie superpack: secret agent barbie, barbie groovy games (both of them super fun!)

Care bears: care quest (extremely cute and one of my dreamies added to my collection!)

Barbie and the magic of pegasus (my sister loves this one so much!,so I always lend her this one to play in her gba sp)

Bratz forever diamondz (pretty and fun!,I also have the rock angelz one and its a huge update from that one,they Even got character sprites when they talk!)

Disney princess (very hard!,even on easy mode!)

Kim possible (super fun and smooth sprites!)

Decorations and clear case for my nds:

Thanks for reading!,I hope you liked it!,if any of you wants to see other games I havebinn my collection,tell me down below!,bye bye!

[raurquiz]

#Barbenheimer #BarbieTheMovie    #Oppenheimer #Transformers #fantoys #ft24 #rouge #masterpiece #arcee #anotheruniverse #optimusprime #actionfigures @hasbro @takaratomytoys @hasbrochile

[eepop-stuffs]

Jen, Barb, and Flora see the Barb movie. Flora has been added to my travel squad.

[cempasuchilpodridos]

the two dolls that I'm most excited for. The crusty image is the Yellow Submarine. The Jenny would be super cute to style to have Usagi's buns