"Time" For Barbie

Time magazine has an article about the 2009 Barbie convention and Barbie's 50th.

Check it out here.

Too Cute

Pottery Barn Kids has a cute line of Barbie bedding that celebrates the 50th anniversary of the doll.

If only this stuff was around when I was a kid.

The duvet cover is designed by principal Barbie designer Robert Best and features a pink background with white polka dots and different dolls. The sheets feature the Barbie logo along with some pink accessories, like shoes and sunglasses.

Not every girl is going to be getting a pink Barbie bed set, however, because the prices are not cheap: $129 for a full/queen duvet cover and $119 for queen sheets. The decorative pillow is $34.

To Box Or De-Box...

...That is the question.

Here's an interesting article out of the 2009 Barbie convention that discusses the two general types of collectors: the NRFBers and those who de-box.

(Me? I'm a NRFBer.)

[Oops! Looks like the original link for this post doesn't work any more. So here's a different article on the same topic: Enjoy. ]

Can't Barbie Just Be Barbie?

I'm not in favor of Barbie AS someone specific, like Heidi Klum or Goldie Hawn.

It feels gimmicky, like a ploy to expand sales to Klum or Hawn lovers in addition to Barbie lovers. And the dolls are not all that exciting. (I give them a solid "meh.")

Now a recent Mattel launch that I found very excited was Pirate Barbie. Look at her! Gorgeous.

Mattel was able to capitalize on the popularity of pirates (Gee, I wonder why she looks like a pretty Captain Jack?) yet develop an original look that does not rely specifically on someone else's name and popularity.

Even co-branding does not bother me much, such as when Mattel teams with the Hard Rock Cafe or Little Debbie. (Do you know how many Swiss Cake Rolls I had to eat to get those dolls?) At least with co-branding, there is creativity and originality in many of the dolls. It seems that when Barbie is tied to a specific person, the designs lose their flare.

I'll stop my curmudgeonly rant now. Tell me what you think of the new dolls.

Thanks For Participating!

A big thank you to everyone who has taken my little blog survey!

The results are pretty interesting: The majority of survey respondents, 40%, have more than 300 Barbie dolls in their collections. That's amazing. 

Collectors with less than 50 Barbie dolls in their collections were the second-largest group at 22% of respondents. And there was at least one respondent for each category in-between. 

From my completely unscientific survey, it looks like most collectors have either A LOT of dolls or a few. 

All of the percentages are of June 9. I'll leave the quiz up for awhile in case anyone else wants to participate, but then I'll take it down and try another one. 

What do you think I should ask next?