Wishes for 2019

While writing the last article for 2018 I think about 2018. What happened in 2018? My blog became available for Smartphone users. I tried to mordernize it a bit. I have written many articles. I also invested a bit in better equipment for my videos. I also plan to invest in 2019 but not this week. I’m still enjoying my vacation. I have ideas for new videos in 2019. My biggest wish for 2019 is that you watch my videos and read my articles. It’s not always easy to get a feeling for what you like and what not.  

I have no special dolls in mind that I want to have urgently in 2019. I think I’m beyond this point of collecting now. Do you have any special dolls you want to have? But until you have or get them, let’s have lots of fun with my first dancing video. I among the dancers.

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.

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Centennial Barbie
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Centennial Barbie
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Tradisyong Barbie
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Tradisyong Barbie
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Tradisyong Barbie
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Tradisyong Barbie

The biggest controversities about Growing Up Skipper

Can you imagine that you just tape a video, load it up to youtube and get many many comments? Great imagination, that’s what every youtube channel hopes. Then you get views and views and views but also a lot of strange comments in which people complain about the process of growing up itself because Mattel did a Skipper doll in 1975 with a function that when you move her arm in the right direction her breasts grow and she grows. I don’t know what exactly is the reason for this controversity.

I got comments like “why did you show this doll” and “what a shame” and comments of this quality. I taped it because I heard of the doll and wanted to see if the mechanism still works after almost 40 years. Talking Barbies don’t talk anymore because their mechanism works with a rubber band which tends to melt within a decade. I was just curious to see if it still works. Not more and not less. I don’t even know how good or bad she did sell. There are no numbers. Some people told me that it she is hard to find.

I found one and it was not the problem to get one in Europe. What I don’t really understand is the controversity my video caused. I was just curious to see if it still works. This is just a doll, no human. Why does growing up causes a discussion? Every human grows up.

Why Victorian Holiday Barbie is sexy

Have you ever thought about how Christmas celebrated in the Victorian era? Well it must have been very different from how we celebrate today. Can you imagine a Christmas without Christmas Card written or no holiday from work? I can’t imagine it. Can you imagine only handmade toys were given to children? The most part of the society was poor only a few were wealthy. With the industrialization coming up the society changed. 

uSanta Claus was not red like we know him today.  Queen Victoria was one of the first persons in Great Britain with a Christmas tree. This tradition was unknown in GB before Prince Albert came to GB. But I think most of you have never thought about it. Anyway history has always been romanticised in the look back. This is what this Barbie shows you. She’s nice, beautiful and very festive. Do we really want to know how it would be to live in Victorian times? I think most of you don’t want it.

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Victorian Holiday Barbie

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Victorian Holiday Kelly
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Victorian Holiday Barbie & Kelly
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Victorian Holiday Barbie  & Kelly

Who has really no Holiday Barbie dolls?

The Holiday season is not far. Since August you can buy the lastest Holiday Barbie 2018 if you want. I’m not such a fan of her. I have several Holiday Barbie but not the latest ones. I think the history of the Holiday Barbie series is very interesting. Within the last 30 years many things have changed like the jewelry, the Make-Up and the dresses themselves. 

I think they are not so festive anymore. The early Barbie dolls from this series you can see a greater “wow”-effect. I don’t know really how to describe it but I would express them as beautiful. Maybe this is so because I grew up in this era and they were familiar to me. Anyway, I also have later Barbie dolls from after the 2000. 

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Holiday Barbie 2015
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Holiday Barbie 2004

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.

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Different versions of the Tropical Barbie
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Different versions of the Tropical Barbie
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Different versions of Tropical Barbie

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.

Busy B.s Barbie doll collection turns 22
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.

How not knowing the Winter Holiday outfit makes you a rookie

You maybe know the say “unexpectedly comes often” and so it was with this outfit. Last week I saw it and bought it. I had seen it in a video before and liked it. It was not a long time ago. My outfit is not complete here. It’s just a part of the whole outfit. The handbag, the jacket and the shoes are still missing but I like the hoodie and the pants. I was surprised how the hoodie was cut. The idea with the little zipper is just great. In general I think I have told you about the quality of early Barbie doll fashion.  It’s very good in comparison to what is sold nowadays in toy stores.

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Is it warm enough for a Winter Holiday?
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Or is Barbie freezing in these pants?
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Anyway, let’s hope the best.

How to put a perfect crest for Barbie doll from the 1980s

Have you asked yourself how to do a perfect crest after a reroot? Well, here’s my method in pics.

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Start at the back of the head
It’s easier to start here.
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Continue ….
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The more streaks the more difficult is the task.
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Use clips as little helpers.

The head you see here is the Peruvian version of the Tropical Barbie from 1985. I got her bold but I wanted her to look great again. So I rerooted her.

The complete result will follow as a video on my youtube channel Busy B from Germany. I hope you’ll watch it.

Francie, the cousin of Barbie

Today I’m going to present you Francie. She’s the first and only cousin of Barbie. She was released in 1965 and was produced for approx. 10 years. She disappeared around 1975. When she was available she was popular among young girls. At first she was only available as Straight Leg doll (without knee joints) but in 1967 a Bend Leg version was available too. Francie has a different body than Barbie and she is smaller. She was originally called Francine Fairchild but she was sold under the name of “Francie” and was thought to be a 14 year old.

The Francie dolls are popular among the collectors too. She was available in a wide variety of dolls like the two one I have in my collections. The “No Bangs” Francie is the most expensive doll. She has no bangs and giant hair do. I don’t have one yet in my collection but I really like her. She so late 1960s – stylish. Her wardrobe is very beautiful. Exiting outfits from the Mod-era (Mod-era 1966 – 1975) contribute to her popularity. The Growing Hair Francie was the only mechanism Francie doll.  I was glad to get one last week.

1970 Growing Hair Francie

1970 Growing Hair Francie

1967 Bend Leg Francie

1967 Bend Leg Francie