‘’… and there’s this switch that makes
her raise her hands and gently tilt her head backwards (here I present
the dramatic gesture), no batteries…” – I explained
“Hmmmm, a doll that moves on her own without batteries… creepy” – my sister replied.
My sister usually listens with patience
and enthusiasm to my reveries about this doll or that doll, but this
time Mattel’s genius overwhelmed the girl evidently. And no wonder,
Magic Moves 1985 swept me off my feet the first time I saw her. Her
mechanism, her outfit, the jewelry and the face (faces), everything
about this doll is a pure perfection. I decided that this time I need
the doll in a great condition and with her stock complete. How then did I
end up with an old, dirty, smelly and broken doll? I haste to explain.
Magic Moves Barbie used to be
manufactured in the Philippines and Taiwan simultaneously and it follows
that the dolls bear certain significant differences that exemplify the
factories’ facepaint style. The same applies for Crystal Barbie or
Peaches’n Cream, but this time the differences are not only pronounced,
the dolls are entirely different, they even smile differently. Miss
Taiwan, for example, is a lovely girl next door, she smiles sweetly,
whereas the Philippines Barbie is a sophisticated woman, she smiles
mysteriously, a sort of a Mattel Mona Lisa. Many collectors favor one
over the other but I just want both of them and as I operate within a
limited budget, one of them doesn’t need to be perfect or wearing her
stock outfit, the other one must be pristine. I’m still searching for
that perfect Philippine, but my Taiwan girl’s turned out to be quite a
revelation and full of surprises too.
When she arrived she was in a horrible
condition that spoke neglect and misuse. She was dirty, smelly and
wearing an old Crystal Barbie gown. Her mechanism was broken, the switch
didn’t work, so I wasn’t quite so gentle with her as per my usual
custom. I moved her arms up and down and repeatedly, they were strangely
loose, but at some point one of them sort of clicked and as the switch
was up, it moved upwards by half an inch, but no further. This intrigued
me greatly and I continued playing with her gleefully and observed the
left arm rise further and further, the right one wouldn’t budge. Soon my
duties called, I left the doll and went to prepare supper for my hungry
family. After the meal hubby sat at the laptop, girls went to sleep and
mommy went to play with her new Barbie. At this point the left arm
almost touched Barbie’s head and to my joy I heard the same click with
the right arm that went upwards half the way. By the time I went to
sleep the doll was fixed and she’s still working. It seems she just
needed some exercise.
Next evening I washed her carefully. Her
previous owner informed me the doll’s hair had been cut a bit. It was
in a pretty decent condition, so after the usual spa treatment (and very
gentle too) I curled her hair and left her for the night. Next day I
gave her an outfit and photographed her. Her facepaint is all about
simplicity. Her eyes are beautifully blue with and a blue eye shadow to
emphasize the color. Her lipstick is bright pink and that’s it. That’s
the charm of the early –mid 80s that I love so much. It may be just me,
but when I looked through a million pictures of the doll, I got an
impression that even the Taiwan dolls differ in terms of their eyebrows.
Some of them have a very sweet, sort of surprised face, mine is regular
I’d say.
I can’t imagine Magic Moves wearing
anything but blue, turquoise or mint so first I gave her a very nice
contemporary dress, only to replace it with something absolutely
fabulous – the Twice as Nice Reversible Fashion Pack #4828. The set
comes with a pair of open toe stiletto heels that are missing, but the
rest of the pack is there. There’s a frilly, pale, pink top trimmed
turquoise with some shiny, pink elements and a reversible skirt
turquoise on one side, pink on the other, both the top and the skirt
close with snaps. The outfit belonged to another doll but it didn’t
quite become her. Magic Moves, on the other hand, looks like million
dollars in it. The outfit was also released in a yellow/turquoise color
scheme.
The commercial below presents Magic
Moves Barbie in her stock outfit and with her accessories and these
include Barbie sized comb, a brush and a hair dryer, regular size brush
and a comb and some cardboard cutouts. The commercial also shows how her
mechanism works.
I’m still hunting for that perfect
Philippine and with patience and persistence I’ll get her sooner or
later. To purchase the “same” doll or seemingly same doll may seem a
little odd to some people. After all, I’ve already heard opinions like
“but they all look the same, they just have different dresses…”. I
disagree, strongly, and to demonstrate that, I’ve put the two pictures
below. One of the dolls is of course, the Taiwan Magic Moves, the other
is my rescued Hollywood Hair. They’re both wearing identical dresses,
they’re blondes too, of course they share the same headmold, but they
couldn’t be more different to me.
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