#think....Barbie and Skipper?

[toxicxsugarxart]

This started as a joke after seeing the movie, but the second one I could actually see helping me adjust as a tween. Mattel please contact me I have so many ideas for educational Barbaras.

Commissions open!

[camelspit]

visibly clenching my jaw and shaking with rage. why are all the newer barbie movies trash.

[imreadyforascesion]

I learned Skipper (the Mattel character) had a friend she was sold alongside of in 1972 with the tagline “Skipper’s Tomboy Friend Tiff!” and I was like ‘oh they were DEFINITELY lesbians’. Tiff was discontinued shortly after her release, but I think she looked really cute, her face mold was so charming compared to Skipper’s soulless blue eyes.

I didn’t picture it here, but Tiff also came with a skateboard, so I like to think that these two met when Tiff was skating and bumped into Skipper meet-cute style.

[thelizardperson]

okayyyy seeing barbie the second time and some things i noticed that i think push more into the critique of barbie - on the first day where barbie has a perfect day and gets the perfect breakfast, she sips the milk but doesn’t eat the waffle, in fact barbie doesn’t actually eat. ever. and its not because she cannot as a doll, again she does the action of sipping milk, and in fact does even drink actual tea in the real world, but she doesn’t even pretend to eat. now i do think its a stretch but i think this could be greta’s nod to how barbie being an unrealistic body type can lead to unhealthy eating habits

-  even barbie world where everything is perfect and women rule the world, they still carry the harmful social dynamics girls experience when they don’t do femininity “right” - weird barbie is still ostracized and exiled for being weird. The Barbies still worry about having perfect hair and Barbie’s flat feet are considered unequivocally gross.

- something that im still thinking about is that at the end of the mom’s double standards speech, she ends with “i dont know” and i dont know if its intentional but both times ive listened to that and gotten to the end im like okay wow. but uh. what was the point? and that i dont know at the end makes me feel like it is a critique on like, feminism that is just about pointing out the things wrong with the patriarchy without offering a real solution ? (im still trying to understand my own take on this tbh) and how like this sort of rhetoric managed to snap the barbies out of their patriarchy trances and magically solve everything but like. that doesn’t work in the real world. the real world is aware of this dichotomy, take sasha, the politically correct middle schooler, who is portrayed not just as an exception, a nerdy sjw, but in fact as a cool girl, leader of the intimating middle school girl posse - she knows that women are mistreated, but that doesn’t solve that companies “still do patriarchy very well, but just know how to hide it better“. Like i guess its that the message is here. everyone knows we Should treat women better, but how do we institute that kind of change? As we see with the way barbies treat each other and approach beauty as a necessity, even just putting women in power doesn’t necessarily solve it? im not sure, but i think somewhere in here is the heart of the movie, this movie which says only men in power doesn’t work, but neither does just women in power. - ordinary barbie... who is she? are we able to glamorize and idolize a regular woman? I think “mattel” says she will sell because she is relatable, and that is what people are clamoring for atm, especially youth who want accurate representation and to be seen. but like, idk the consequences of that are not discussed. Will she stay relevant? Will she ever be as iconic as stereotypical barbie is? Can she be? - The way mattel is portrayed in this movie is ... interesting. I think a lot of it must be censored/restricted by the actual company’s influence on the film, but like... hmm. They’re portrayed kind of as an “average corporation”, boring office, all male executives, the quip at the end being like oh if ordinary barbie sells we’ll make her. But also the ceo not caring that ken is making money, and only “caring about little girls and their dreams” was a weird, unexpected line for me. is this them trying to protect their image? like an oh we do only really care about making money but we can’t just outwardly sell patriarchy because that would look bad? or was that genuine? Is he too lost in the corporation sauce that he sold himself on that idea? Also because the executives are portrayed very de-humanized and lacking in autonomy (honestly some of the least human-like characters in the movie about dolls).

[alicornmoonstar]

I can’t wait to see if the Barbie movie being successful ends in us getting a whole bunch of retro Barbies re-released 😃 I’d love to get a rollerblading set 

[televinita]

"We see your Barbie movie and raise you 'Barbie's Uncle's Uptown Estate'."

[barbiedha-deactivatingsoon]

when they said it was Skipper’s movie, they really meant it was SKIPPER’s MOVIE

[honeyblssom]

This pre-prom party was so fun that Elijah skipped prom altogether

bc he met Betsy

Hehehehehe

[livorna]

A fair point but we’re just gonna pretend Kira didn’t exist? :P

sorry im still thinking about how everybody in barbie (2023) is called barbie or ken (apart from midge and allen) and while its disappointing that barbie and ken's friends like christie, teresa, brad and steven haven't appeared i understand why they didn't do that. While we don't actually know if they'll still show up in the movie (doesn't seem likely), i think they did this to appeal to everybody not just people who are really into barbie. like most people/people that don't really pay attention to barbie don't know the names of their friends, they just refer to them as "[defining feature] barbie"

also i think its funny that everybody in that world is called barbera and kenneth. but there could still be hope that barbie's friends do show up if they bothered to put a spotlight on midge and allan (but i still think its all just for comedic purposes, because allan is a forgotten character and midge had controversy surrounding one of her dolls. plus midge and allan will probably have something going on in the movie because canonically allan got midge pregnant and you know, midge is pregnant in the movie)

[yougavemeyourheartyouknow]

Thinking about Jealous Baby daddy! Miguel O'Hara who seems grumpier during the next custody swap the following week. A permanent scowl etched on his face as he crosses his arms over his chest while leaning against his car. Only answer in a grumble when you asked what’s wrong, wanting to see if you’d mentioned anything about the date you went on, acting as if he didn’t know about it. You didn’t.

Jealous baby daddy!Miguel starts to probe any info about your new suiter from Gabriella whenever he can during his weeks with her, wanting to see if it was only a fling or if it had any potential to turn into something serious. Huffing when his daughter starts to tease him about it when she notices he starts to be asking about it too often, denying her claims of him “having a crush” on mommy again, him trying to defend himself to the 10 year old by saying he only wanted to make sure that the guy wasn’t a jerk.

It didn’t matter if he was the nicest man on earth though, Miguel wasn’t gonna like him either way.

Jealous baby daddy!Miguel who finally cracked and “casually” mentioned to you that Gabi has been making comments about you seeing someone as of recently during one of her games and “accidentally” forgot to mention that he’s been basically interrogating your girl about him. Purposely leaning in a bit closer as he whispered into your ear while you both sat on the metal bleachers, fighting off an oncoming smirk from his lips when he noticed your shoulders tensing up and your cheeks growing warmer even if your eyes stayed on the field.

Jealous baby daddy!Miguel who purposely starts to get more touchy. Not in an inappropriate way, but in a smaller strategic way. Letting his fingertips linger a second too long against yours when he hands you Gabriella’s school bag, his thighs brushing against yours the whole time during a soccer game. Small things that he can dismiss if you try to confront him by saying you’re being silly, but he knows that it driving you crazy.

Jealous baby daddy!Miguel who suddenly starts sending you photos of you both in college when you were both dating before you had Gabi, saying he “stumbled across it” while cleaning.

—

“Okay, go get ready for bed, amor.” (Sweetie.)

“Si mami!” (Yes mom!)”

As the pitter patter of Gabriella’s blue crocs make their way over to the bathroom, you got up and off the couch to tidy up the mess of Barbies off from your living room carpet floor. While putting away the skipper doll back in the toy bin, you heard your phone vibrate on the couch, quickly placing it in the bin before standing up straight and dusting your hands off to go see who texted you, expecting it to be the guy you're talking to.

To your surprise though, Miguel’s name was popping up instead, with a raised brow you go to open the message. Your face of mild confusion turns into one of a small look of nostalgia.

“Look what I found while cleaning up my computer storage.” Was the message that accompanied the photo, you and Miguel, around 19 you’d like to say, in a candid shot one of your friends took of you both, you playfully smuggling some ice cream on the side of his cheek while you both laugh.

“Mom! I’m ready!” Your daughter’s sudden call quickly took you out of your state of reminiscing, snapping you back to present time. Telling her you’d be right up as you close your phone and placed it back on the coach, but not before liking the message.

—

Part 1<

Part 3<

Not proofread

Word count: 600

[anonpolls]

Thanks, Anon!

-submit your poll!-

[overly-distressed-mouse]

Okay I'm now home from watching the Barbie movie, so I have to bestow some knowledge upon you fuckers (aka me infodumping actual Barbie lore because there were a lot of references there).

So, first and foremost, in one scene, we see "Earring Ken" and "Growing up Skipper" (very short scene, don't worry if you missed it). But these were actual Barbie dolls released by Mattel way back whenever (See pictures below)

So, "Earring Ken" was actually "Earring Magic Ken". His whole thing was Mattel wanted to be cool and hip with the kids or whatever, so they created him. Except their idea of going out and finding inspiration and information as to what was "hip with the kids", was gay bars. And raves. As you can imagine, Earring Magic Ken did not stay on shelves too long (about 6 months) (though he did sell actually really well and I believe is still one of their most sold despite only being available for such a short time). I'm pretty sure his necklace charm could be swapped out too and also worn as actual earrings. HOWEVER, the part about Earring Magic Ken that kills me, is that because they went to gay bars, not only did they give him a mesh shirt and shit (as seen above), but the charm on his necklace? Is a cock ring. Did Mattel realize this? Probably the fuck not, but that's what it was💕

Growing up Skipper was also an actual doll, and just like in the movie, if you twisted her arm, she grew boobs. She also grew like an inch taller or something. I'm pretty sure she also was not on the shelf long, but she was introduced in the 1970s. So that's fun

Next up, Midge and Allan (who both play slightly bigger roles in the film but here's pictures anyways)

So Midge was Barbie's best friend, and was released specifically because Mattel found themselves faced with high demand for a pregnant Barbie doll. But of course, Barbie can never get married or be pregnant or have kids, because it ages her, and obviously seeming a little older means Barbie is suddenly worthless and unappealing (Woo patriarchy!). So their solution was Midge, who, ironically, ended up being everything Barbie couldn't (which is kind of funny since she's supposed to be able to be any and everything ever). So, them making her only personality trait in the movie her pregnancy, is kind of spot on. She did have actual dolls initially but then seemed to disappear for a while, having been replaced with other "Barbie's best friend!"'s. Actually they also replaced Barbie's siblings several times but that's another post. Midge did eventually return though in Life in the Dreamhouse (See below)

One thing they never mentioned in the movie, however, is that Allan was actually Midge's boyfriend. I don't have too much on him besides that but I think it's worth mentioning.

Anywho, there's my rant on some of the characters in the Barbie movie, if you made it this far, thanks :))

[princessgemma12]

So, I haven't had a chance to watch the movie proper, yet--I plan on going to the AMC near campus after the semester starts. But I like learning about Barbie and the BarbieVerse! Especially the weirder aspects--like the history of Midge, or the "Pregnant Barbie."

So! Let's talk about Midge for a minute.

Pregnant Midge is not a teenager when she has her baby.

Let me state that plainly. At her debut, in the '60s, she (as well as her debut-bestie Barbie) was a teenager. She was made as the best friend to Barbie, a bit softer in her features but with the same proportions so they could share clothes. She was discontinued in '67 and returned in '88 with the Barbie beach line. Alan/Allan debuted two years after her in the '60s, as her boyfriend.

A set of Barbie dolls in 1991 featured Barbie as Midge's maid of honor, at Midge's wedding to Alan. This is BarbieWorld canon into the 2000s.

In 2002, Midge and Allan were sold in the Happy Family Line. Alan was sold with their little boy Ryan--his age is never confirmed but based on 3-4 year old dolls of his same size/proportions, it's generally assumed he is about 3-4 years old--and Pregnant Midge, carrying their second baby--their first daughter, Nikki.

Barbie, who is the same age as Midge, canonically, was the doctor that delivered Nikki. This is BarbieWorld canon for the Midge and Alan Happy Family Line.

Their third child's name was eventually revealed to be Cassandra.*

Considering Ryan is pre-K age when Nikki is born, and Barbie delivered her, Barbie and Midge would realistically need to be well into adulthood by the time Midge had even Ryan. To put numbers to it, let's assume Barbie was completely average in her timing. A bachelor's takes 4 fours to complete, medical school is another 4, and residency yet another 4--assuming Barbie was 18-19 when she began university, she (and therefore Midge) would be about 30 when she finished.

Now, yes! Med students CAN DELIVER BABIES. And being her bestie, Midge may very well have been perfectly fine and trusting of Med Student Barbie and consented to have Med Student Barbie deliver her baby Nikki. However, let's say Barbie is even a first year med student when Nikki is born.

Barbie Roberts's birthday is March 9. For the sake of numbers, we'll say she was born 2010. She'd be able to start preschool in 2014, at 4-5, then kindergarten at 5-6, and then first grade at 6-7. I know and understand this because I'm also a winter baby--this is how school and aging works for most people born between December and April--you end up being on the older end of the class, because classes don't start until Fall, when you're already half-way past the usual starting age. So, like me, Barbie would most likely be 18 years old when she graduates high school; 18-19 her first year of college, 19-20 her second, 20-21 her third, and 21-22 her fourth. She would be 22-23 her first year of Med school.

Now, assuming they grew up right alongide each other, same classes, Midge would also need to be a winter baby--it's canon that they were in cribs together not just diapers, and while Midge doesn't have an exact birthday, we know she's the same age as Barbie. Which would mean that she's 22-23 during Barbies first year of med school; the same age as her basically their entire lives. So in the unlikely scenario that First Year Med Student Barbie did deliver Nikki, with Ryan being about 3-4, that would mean that Midge and Alan were about 18-19 when they got married and had Ryan. So... incredibly unlikely as it is, even with Barbie and Midge being best friends, that Barbie would be allowed to outright deliver a baby--any baby!--as a first-year med student, if she did, Midge and Alan would have been teen parents initially. They would have been teenage parents for baby Ryan. By the time Ryan is 3-4 and Nikki is on the way, they're all well into their 20s.

More realistically, they'd be closer to 30, or after 30--well into Med School for Barbie, or her residency, or during her post-schooling practice. Regardless--Midge has never been meant to be a teen mother; she's always been meant to be a relatively long-married woman expanding her family with her loving husband. She's always been meant to be an adult when having children (post-marriage) with Allan.

Pregnant Midge is not a showing of teen pregnancy. She is the only pregnant Midge doll--the Midge in the movie, being pregnant, would therefore reasonably be the Happy Family Midge doll pregnant with Nikki. Ryan was never sold with her; him and Alan were only ever cardboard cutouts after the controversies surrounding the Midge doll. So regardless of whether Ryan is ever in the movie, it only makes sense that Movie!Midge is pregnant with Nikki, her second child. As an adult.

The idea of her being a teen mother--and a single one at that!--is from conservative outrage against the Pregnant Midge doll (which was marketed as an educational tool to families) in the early 2000s. She was not initially released with an obvious or separate ring, and she was never sold with Alan or Ryan in the Happy Family Line--conservatives took her model completely out of context, out of every bit of recent and relevant lore, and pushed the false idea that Midge was, or was meant to be, a teenager in the Happy Family Line--a teenage mother. Mattel, as the outrage ensued, attempted to remodel her and Alan were separate, cardboard rings, more obvious brands on their fingers--it didn't matter because the line was ultimately a teaching tool for expanding families. Midge, in the early 2000s, was supposed to be a representation of real families expecting their second baby--a new sibling, a pregnant Mom.

This line was quickly discontinued, and the next time Midge appeared, in 2013, she was seemingly single and childless--who the hell knows what went down with Alan during the blank years of their canon, but it seems she just got completely retconned.

SO. The Barbie movie. Midge is pregnant. The other characters said they "cancelled her." They did. Mattel did. Because their attempt at providing a useful teaching tool to stressed, expanding families, was met by conservative fear-mongering. They're not shaming teen pregnancy in the movie--because Nikki wasn't a teen pregnancy, and (realistically) neither was Ryan.

*Note: there was a second Pregnant Midge doll that was much more obscure, which had a randomly sexed baby per box--so Box 1 could have a baby girl and Box 3 a boy. However, I can't seem to find much info on that model--just vague mentions of it. It's possible this model was a different line entirely, not directly connected to the Happy Family line that the "popular" Pregnant Midge doll was part of, and maybe not even canon. The Cassandra I refer to here is featured only as a picture in a photo album in the set for Nikki's first birthday--which featured Midge, Nikki in a baby carrier, a small dog in a carrier, and the photo album, among other small assorted items.

What about Midge?

Margot Robbie’s “Barbie” movie has become a cultural phenomenon. It’s projected to make between $75 million and a whopping $140 million on it first weekend.

But is it good? I don’t think any movie can live up to the hype that has been generated. I thought it was interesting and odd.

Warner Brothers has released so many clip from the movie that the first third involves connecting all the dots of Barbie’s bubble gum pink world.

The second third is your classic fish out of water story - Barbie’s rude awakening that women (and girls) are not empowered in the real world. But more importantly, it sets up the villain of the last third of the movie - Ken as the villain.

Until now Ken has been treated as an “also ran”. Barbie barely acknowledges him despite his professions of love. So when he sees men control the power structure of the real world - he brings that back to BarbieLand.

This section of the movie is very existential with Barbie trying to understand her place in the world. There’s lots of talking about empowerment.

What I thought was odd, was how easily and quickly the Barbies of BarbieLand turned over their power to the Kens. Is there an underlying message?

The movie is fun and bright (and has a terrific dance number by the Kens) and it’s also thought provoking. BUT little girls (and boys) who actually play with Barbie Dolls won’t have a clue about what’s going on. And their mother’s might be shocked when Barbie proclaims, “I don’t have a vagina.”

Margot Robbie is great, both as Stereotypical Barbie and as Dazed and Confused Barbie. Ryan Gosling is terrific as Ken and he really committed to the role. Can an actor win an Oscar for portraying a plastic doll?

I also enjoyed Simu Liu as Ken’s rival Ken#2. I think it will be a long time before we see the sequel to Marvel’s Shang-Chi so it was nice that he had screen time.

With all the talk about empowerment and discovering who you really are, I was surprised the movie shamed Teenage Pregnancy. Mattel created Midge in 1963. She was supposed to be Barbie’s best friend. They gave her a boyfriend too - Allan, played by Michael Cera. In 1988 Mattel released a pregnant Midge (with a small baby doll in her belly). It created a bit of a controversy and the line (and Midge) was discontinued.

In the film, Pregnant Midge appears a few times - but always in the periphery of the scene, and when someone notices her, they proclaim, “I thought we cancelled her!”

In the 21st Century I thought we had grown beyond shaming Pregnant Teenaged Girls.

By the way, it was fun seeing cameos by 1993’s Gay Ken (check out his necklace). And 2009’s Sugar Daddy Ken (He has a dog named Sugar, and he’s the dog’s “daddy”.)

NOTE: The entire subplot involving Will Ferrell was pointless and unnecessary.

[barbielore]

So Much To Do was a Barbie line from the 1990s featuring Barbie as a busy woman on the go running errands. This is fascinating to me in many ways because in addition to showing us some really mundane minutiae of the Barbie world, these Barbies generally depict her patronizing different places rather than working in them, as is typically her way.

In fact, Ken is typically the one shown working in these playsets, as he is representing the employee at the Post Office, the Bank and the Supermarket.

In a way, in fact, you could interpret this run of Barbies as being an odd throwback, as the Kens are mostly the ones with jobs and the Barbies are the ones doing chores and keeping the household running. Because, in fact, these playsets were not just errands that took place outside the house. Barbie also got real domestic.

I have to say, though, you can interpret it however you want, but I love this. Barbie has a handheld dustbuster! She has a little bottle of cleaning spray!

And the Kens aren't the only employees in this branch of Barbie World. The Mini Mart seems to be run by a Skipper.

I'm not sure what's happening in the background art there on the box, but it really looks like a police officer is giving Barbie a parking ticket. I mean, let me know what else you think that could be. But I think that's a Ken Cop giving Barbie a parking ticket.

I love these so much because I love any Barbie set that comes with a bunch of little items. Little items are always the way to win me over.

Thank you, Mattel, for providing the world with tiny Barbie-sized laundry liquid and an iron. We needed that. Even if we didn't know it.

[dollsahoy]

If we're going to talk about Mattel sculptors, I have to bring up Hussein Abbo

Brandy! Goddess! Mbili! (Desiree's face is really cute, it just ended up too big for her head in the playline dolls 😑)

I have also seen an old press release that said he sculpted Shani, Nichelle, and Asha.

Now, I, personally, happen to think that Nichelle has a lot of design elements in common with Mackie, which I also think has a lot of design elements in common with 1987 Skipper.

I have also seen the claim that he sculpted Generation Girl Blaine.

If he did sculpt all of those, then he may be my favorite Barbie sculptor

[crazyworldofemmamarie]

I happened to be doom scrolling on pinterest and found a collection marvel comics when that was all about Barbie: her adventures, fashion mainly

so basically people, typically young girls (throughout what I think is the 80s/90s) would submit their designs and drawings for outfits that would be styled on Barbie (or Her friends and Skipper) and in my research I thought some of it was really cool so in a five part series I will share some of my favourites.

(Some are really cool)

Part 1: