Here’s one thing about me, all
randomness bothers me greatly and so far I’ve avoided it in my
collection by sticking to the theme I’d selected – glamorous, richly
attired dolls, wearing dresses out of proportion. My three Dolls of the
World aren’t really an exception to the rule, they’re rich and
glamorous enough and fit with the rest of my girls beautifully. My
Skipper dolls? Well, let’s just say I have a soft spot for Skipper. But
Paint’n dazzle Barbie 1993? She’s just a girl next door. If she’s not
random in my collection then I don’t know what she is.
But here’s the thing, she just kept
popping up until I felt positively stalked by the doll. She’s kept me
mesmerized ever since I first laid my eyes on her. The Paint’n dazzle
series includes four dolls, three of them bear the beautiful Superstar
mold and they differ in terms of their general color scheme, the fourth
is AA Christie mold. Anyway, out of the four dolls I liked the Redhead
the best and, as it happens, she was available for so long. Yet I kept
postponing the purchase on the basis that she’d be so random and
isolated … I succumbed.
The Redhead arrived and no pictures do
her justice. Her vibrant red hair is straight, long – goes past her
waist, and so incredibly silky that if this is not saran, then I don’t
know what it is. Unfortunately, her rubber band disintegrated, got very
sticky and messy and it took me a while to get rid of it. Her
disproportionally large fringe is perfect, and luckily doesn’t cover her
pretty face. And the face is stunning. Her eyes are turquoise and
there’s blue eyeshadow on her lids and another one (something between
salmon, pink and red) reaches her eyebrows. The raspberry red lipstick
finishes the look.
She’s wearing huge blue earrings and a
matching ring. Her iconic pumps are color-coordinated with her jewelry
and of course, her brush. The doll is lovely, but it’s her outfit that
really makes her stand out. It’s a three-piece and it shouts the 90s!
The oversized jacket imitates denim to perfection, though it’s only a
print. Under a row of orange, iridescent sequins there is a colorful,
flowery section of cotton that matches the doll’s leggings. Her
short-sleeved orange dress / tunic is also adorned with sequins and
trimmed with white lace. I would actually wear an outfit like that had I
the legs for it, but I would certainly like to have that dress, it’s so
cute!
Her outfit is so bright and colorful, so
decorative and altogether great, who would’ve thought of changing or
adding anything to it? Well, Mattel did actually. They included a number
of vile accessories designed to decorate or rather damage the doll’s
clothes. Her box contains some more of the orange sequins, some pear
beads that can be glued on and two tubes of fabric paint to smudge it
all up. To all likelihood, the little girls who were fortunate as to get
the lovely doll would use these instruments of destruction so
purchasing her used with her stock outfit not ‘’customized’’ is hardly
possible. That’s why I was so torn about her. On one hand, I wanted the
doll badly, on the other, I didn’t want to buy her NRFB.
But a doll’s box has for the second time
turned out to be able to reveal some of the doll’s history. The price
tag bears the logo of Kay Bee Toys which used to be one of Toys’r’us
biggest competitor until its demise in 2009 when they went bankrupt and
Toys’r’us bought what was left of them and that is mostly their brand,
website and intellectual rights. Strange how things turn out, now that
Toys’r’us is going out of business, KB Toys have announced their
comeback and it is quite probable that before the end of 2018 new rows
of Barbie dolls’ boxes are going to be tagged with Kay Bee Toys logo.
Only, the dolls in those boxes aren’t going to be quite as marvelous as,
for instance, Paint’n dazzle the Redhead.
No comments:
Post a Comment