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Krissy, the Baby sister of Barbie #barbiefamily

Today I’d like to share with you another little treasure of my collection. It’s literally a little treasure because the set is very small. A small set for a small doll named Krissy. I don’t know exactly when she was released for the first time but I assume it must have been in 1999. She’s the youngst of all Barbie doll sisters and she was only produced for a short while. It may be that she is again in the current playline (the Barbie dolls that you can find in any toy shop). She’s very fragile. Her limbs are attached with strings. She’s really cute but hardly a doll to play with because of her fragility.

I have only this Krissy only play set with her. The other sets became very expensive in the meantime.

Krissy, Baby sister of Barbie

Introduction of Krissy from Barbie family

Baby sister of Barbie

 

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Eatin Fun Kelly/Fütter mich Shelly

I haven’t blogged about my Shelly/Kelly collection for several years. Today I’m going to change it. I really liked this little sister of Barbie from the beginning in 1994 or 1995 (she was not available in 1994 in Germany). She was so cute and I decided I had to have her. At the beginning there were only a few dolls. Back then I was not so much interested in playing with them but rather use them for a display. So I bought what I found. I think I was a little too old when this one was released but I found her later for only a few bucks. That’s the Eatin Fun Kelly. #kelly #shelly #barbieblog #barbietreasurechest #eatingfunkelly #barbielibrary

 

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And the TV add looked like this…

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Retromania !?

Today I saw a docu with the title “Retromania”. I admit I saw the title last Friday while watching youtube. It was interesting but I think that I’m probably not the only one who had the idea years ago. When I was still in school I thought about doing my own clothes because I had problems with mainstream fashion. There were trends I really hated and customized some of my own clothes long before. Once I sat in school and we discussed the whole topic. In my class were classmate who did not understand why I wanted to my own thing.

It all began with a preparation for a formal school graduation party. I wanted to wear a something like a Swing skirt but I had no idea of the name nor where you could buy one. Yes, there were times when these clothes were not so easy to get like today. We had no second hand clothes store where you could look. So my mom did her best to sew me a skirt. It was pretty fancy.

Maybe I have been more into Retromania than I ever thought before. I started to feel the way I started to collect Barbie and the feeling continues but nowadays it’s no problem to get the Vintage clothes. There are many stores where you can buy them. I have always been on the “I like to do what I like” way and not impress others. Why be so uniform? Why not be the Audrey Hepburn in heap of ….. ( I forgot her name).

Anyway I think others feel the way I feel too. Maybe we look for a bit stability in a world that changes constantly. I don’t know. Maybe that’s why I collect Barbie dolls. I can stay in touch with the past. Last weekend I did a copy of a great dress from the early 60s. I really like to copy early Barbie clothes. The quality of the fabrics is so good. The dresses are very detailed. You can easily understand how it is done. Maybe some of you understand me … and here’s a pic of my work.

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Talking Barbie repair – repair or not !? #barbierepair

While writing this post I think of another collector who told that she wanted to repair a Talking Barbie doll (from 1967, the ones with the pull string in the back)  but had no idea how to do it. She had no instruction, no parts for the repair itself and wanted every information for free. I gave her the advice not to repair the doll until she knows exactly what to do.

Later I got a message that she had opened the body but the parts were flying around.

This made me think. Maybe I’m overorganized but I study instructions how to repair things and order replacement parts before I do anything. Although the repair itself is not hard, the reassembly is a bit tricky. You have to test before you glue everything in,  you need the right kind of glue. No, you can’t use every glue. You need to know about the material of the body.  When I give this advice to anybody I know why I do it.  You also need a bit of technical understanding and manual skills.

I have repaired several Talking Barbie dolls and I know what I’m talking about. Here’s the last one I repaired.

I heard from other collectors with no instruction that they didn’t manage it.

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#barbietreasurechest #barbierepair #talkingbarbie #howtorepairbarbie

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Barbie from India

Have you ever heard from Barbie dolls made by LEO? LEO got the licence in the early 1990s to produce Barbie dolls under licence for the Indian market. These dolls vary from their cousins in Europe and the US. The most significant difference is the make up and the dresses of these dolls. Partly these dresses are inspired by traditional Indian Sari combinations and others by the regular playline (normal Barbie dolls that you can find in every toy store) Barbie dolls available in the Western world but with different make up.

What makes these dolls special? Well, they are hard to find in other parts of the world but India. You need good luck to find them. The range of Barbie dolls from India vary. I don’t know any book where all of them are listed. You find a part of them in “Around the world” with Barbie by Michael Augustyniak but the list is obviously incomplete. I heard it from other collectors who had different dolls not listed in the book.

I found one of the Happy Holidays from India several months ago. It’s a special edition Barbie and Ken released as a couple for Happy Holidays ( technically seen the only Ken ever produced for this series). Here’s a pic of the couple.

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The unique thing is that the production date is on the back of each box. If you have any boxed dolls, you can see their production date in the right corner. Furthermore I did a short video to tell the community from LEO Barbie dolls and showed there another Barbie doll. She’s a bit older than the couple here. Here’s the link https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jNQkD8QsDAg .

 

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What did Talking Barbie say in Japan?

Other collectors told me that she said the following sentences in Japanese:

“What shall I wear to the party?”
“Let’s go for a drive.”
“Today I have a piano lesson.”
“Thank you for the pretty flower(s).”
“Today was fun! See you again.”
“Let’s listen to music together.”

 

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Twist n Turn Barbie

Finally I found my very first TNT Barbie.  I don’t know the exact hair color but it doesn’t matter so much to me. It’s just good to have one. I have been looking for one for several months or years… I have forgotten it. Anyway, here she is…

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She’s the one from 1966 with the marking that you may have seen something like Pat. Pend. then (C) 1966.  She has real eye lashes but I have to replace them later since they are not perfect anymore. She’s the first one with bendable legs with joints and a hip joint.  She was produced in Japan ( typically for early TnT Barbie dolls). Later versions were produced in Taiwan and Korea. I did a short video to show her with all her beauty. Here’s the link to my Twist n Turn Barbie video.

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Strange ideas from Mattel …. worth to collect

In march or april 2017 I bought a Growing up Skipper from another collector and decided to do a video of how the mechanism works. Her breasts can grow … so you have two dolls in one … a pre-teenage “normal” Skipper and a teenage Skipper when you move her arm. She’s from 1975 I think.   She looks like this … not very special

 

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I have been interested in how it works for many years but I never found one. When I find her, I taped what you can see. Here’s my video.

And here’s the original commercial.

I was astonished that so many people were interested in her. I got over 11.000 clicks in the last months.

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Forgot to mention how it works

On Saturday I told you about my Hollywood Hair family but I think a video of how it worked is better than just to describe it. So what is better than the original TV ad? Demonstration pure…

If you prefer to watch the German TV ad, watch this video…