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The leg repair of an Equestrienne Barbie

Last week I told you a little bit about the leg repair of a Talking Stacey and how easy it is to repair her fallen of legs. If you forgot to read about you can do it here http://barbie.final-memory.org/talking-barbie-and-her-leg-problem/

Successful leg repair of an Equestrienne Barbie

This weeks I would like to tell you a little bit about the leg repair of an Equestrienne Barbie and how easy her repair really is. I have done a video about this topic many many years ago when starting to do videos but until then no second Equestrienne Barbie crossed my way to do the repair another time. However I realized I got a pair of legs and a suitable body for the demonstration of this repair in the last months, had forgotten it completely.

That’s Barbie without legs

When searching in my workshop for new video ideas I found the semi-assembled Equestrienne Barbie just waiting for me. She was the one I was looking for. The good thing is that for this kind of Barbie doll the amount of time needed for the repair is very low. You can do it within 5 minutes when you are trained to do it. This is no joke. You don’t need more time for the leg repair of an Equestrienne Barbie. It’s very simple. You just need hot water, the legs, a little towel, the upper body and some minutes time.

After putting the legs in your bowl with hot water you just need to wait until they become soft. You dry them with a towel. You know the problem that can appear when not doing it properly. Read more about it here http://barbie.final-memory.org/tutti-todd-and-their-problems/

Here we are in the middle of the repair

You dry the legs and them push them over the joints with some feeling. It’s really hard to explain how much to push and how much is too much. I suggest simply trying the leg repair of an Equestrienne Barbie. More than not being able to get the leg in the leg joint again can’t happen. Then you do it another time and it will find its way.

One leg reattached …
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One Barbie doll, so many different make up variations

In the last days I saw a Magic Curl Barbie on Instagram and I wrote a comment that I have three of them and each is a bit different. You never see twins. Every doll is a bit different may you consider make-up or hairline. Maybe it comes from the fact that each doll was still kind of hand painted. I don’t regard the difference as something bad but just as something that we can see. Here are some pics of my dolls.

First Magic Curl Barbie I got
Second Magic Curl Barbie I found
Magic Curl Barbie in box

Comparison of my Magic Curl Barbie dolls



What do you think? All a bit different huh?

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What is Congost Barbie and where do they come from?

Congost produced Barbie dolls under license in Spain from 1975 until 1990. The reason for the production there was the limited capacity of production by Mattel itself. I asked some Spanish collectors why Congost produced them a while ago. They are said to have a poor quality although many sellers want to make big money with the dolls. They often have lost a part of their make up or hair. Some even have lost a hand. If you want to see how they look, watch this video.

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Nice Christmas presents

Although I didn’t expect to find any special Barbie doll for X-mas I was surprised by a nice seller who had a good offer. So I was able to enlarge my Barbie made for the Philippine market collection this Christmas. I had to wait long years to find any Barbie doll from there in general and suddenly it seems that some collectors sell a part of their collection from this very special country. I recently saw a report about a hospital and the poverty there. So I’m surprised that there were sold so many special Barbie dolls only for the market there. In a way that’s strange somehow. As far as I know Spainish is the offical language. Their indepence was celebrated in 1898 and for their 100th independence anniversary  were Barbie dolls available. I got one of them for X-mas.

Centennial Barbie
Centennial Barbie
Tradisyong Barbie
Tradisyong Barbie
Tradisyong Barbie
Tradisyong Barbie
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Unexpected ways to meet Tropical Barbie

Do you know Tropical Barbie with the vibrant swimsuit from 1985? Yes, that’s right. She is already 33 years old but she’s not alone. She has many sisters worldwide and I don’t want to talk from the US version. She has a sister in Spain, one in Peru and one in Venezuela. Maybe there are even more versions I never heard of. I have four versions. Two versions made for the US, one from Spain and one from Peru. I haven’t found a version from Venezuela but there are pics online.

Anyway today I want to share my versions of the dolls with you. The Spanish one came in May into my collection although she is hard to find. One of the US versions came recently. My first version came several years ago but her hair is very thin. The versions from Malaysia and the Phillipines are the same but the make up is different. The blue is different and the amount of make up used for the dolls.

Different versions of the Tropical Barbie
Different versions of the Tropical Barbie
Different versions of Tropical Barbie
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Let’s celebrate 22 years of Barbie collecting!

Sometimes the time goes by really fast. That’s how it feels when I look back. I really started 22 years ago with Collecting Collector Barbie as she was called in the last 10 years. When I started in late 1996 the whole collector thing was known as Barbie Collectibles. I still have some advertising and catalouges from back then. All of them were made very high-quality. I guess the input to produce the whole thing was very expensive and very time consuming back then. Not to forget to mention that it was a very expensive hobby since single dolls were very expensive and at first I had to convince my parents to drive with me to special toy stores where they were sold. You were never sure what to find. It was not like ordering online. It was still unknown to most people. I got my first book online ordered in 2003. Man, that was a thing… and the delivery time for English books to Germany was 4 weeks from amazon.

My collection is not under age anymore

In the last decades I got to know many Barbie collectors. Some collected only for a short while. Other are long time collectors like me. What we all have in common is a topic to talk about. Although it became easier to order the dolls online you often still need the help of other collectors because there’s always you want and can’t buy immediately.

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Totally Hair Barbie around the world

Have you ever asked yourself if the Totally Hair Barbie had the same make up in every production place around the world? If your answer is no, then you are right. There are many different make ups depending on the production place. Here are some of them as examples.

African American version of the Totally Hair Barbie
Steffi head mold
Ultra Hair Whitney, a friend of Barbie
Totally Hair Brunette version ( only sold in the USA and Venezuela)
Ultra Hair blonde version
Totally Hair Barbie/ Ultra Hair Barbie

Thanks to Christian Felipe Silva for the permission to use his pics.

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The unbelievable flexibility of Raquelle

I know I’m a bit late with my blog post this week but I had so much to do … no time to write earlier. Nevertheless I have a new topic for you. I got my very first modern Raquelle last week. I think she’s the Dream house Raquelle. I don’t know it exactly. Although I’m not a collector of modern Barbie playline dolls I must say I like her.  She’s nice. I admit I played around with her a bit. She helps me to generate new ideas for my blog and for my videos.

Her hips are wider than the hips of most Barbies I own. So she hasn’t very much clothes to wear now. I put her in one of my handmade dresses, a copy of the MODERN Sunflower dress where you can adjust the opening. She’s looking good, isn’t she?

Raquelle moves
and she discusses
Oh, I’m so small.
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Why Chelsie is sexy

I never thought about the name in detail but several days ago I got a Chelsie doll that I wanted for a long time. But there is an oddity because there’s another Barbie family member with the same name but she’s a little bit older although she’s still very young. Maybe this was planned, maybe it wasn’t but for sure there are two dolls with the same name. The first Chelsie doll was a friend of Shelly and I think she was available in 1996. I have her in my collection ever since.

The second one with the same name is part of the Generation Girls series from the Millennium. Chelsie is here a grown up character and a friend of Barbie. Maybe she’s a student. I’m not 100% sure what this group is representing. Anyway, have a look yourself.

Little friend of Kelly /Shelly
Chelsie, little friend of Kelly/ Shelly
Generation Girl Chelsie Dance Party
Barbie Generation Beat
Generation Girl Chelsie
Barbie Generation Girl Chelsie

By the way, she was a Toys ‘r’ us exclusive … if anyone remembers this toy chain that is now gone. I like her. She’s cute somehow and I’ve been searching for her for several years.