Dream Time Barbie 1984

A few last posts have been long beyond measure so I’ll keep this one short and concise. The 80s are my favorite decade in Barbie’s history and I’ve been pretty lucky finding some great examples of the Super Star era of late. This time it’s the Dreamtime Barbie 1984 made in Taiwan.

Dreamtime Barbie was being produced in Taiwan and the Philippines and so the dolls differ a lot. The Philippine doll has round eyes that give her the expression of innocence and sweetness and you feel like the doll is about to go to sleep and her dreams would be filled with flowers and butterflies and perhaps her prince charming would appear there bearing a bouquet of roses or lilies. She’ll wake up at dawn to find joy in admiring beautiful sunrise and fresh dew sparkling like diamonds on cobwebs. The Taiwan Barbie is a successful businesswoman, so she goes to bed to have a good sleep because she’s got an important meeting in the morning and she’ll be negotiating a very lucrative contract for her company. She goes to sleep wearing full make-up like Alexis Colby but that’s only for time economy. She’ll sleep like a Geisha and in the morning she’ll only brush her golden locks, grab on a toast and put on her best business suit and she’s ready to go. At least, that’s how I see these dolls. I’m not so lucky to own both, but you can see them here, on a blog by a Polish collector. In 1988 Mattel reseased another version of the doll, the box is almost identical and she’s wearing the same gown only pink, not lavender, but the dolls couldn’t be more different. The 88’ version has platinum blonde kanekalon curls and her face paint is somewhat sharp.

the source: https://www.etsy.com/no-en/listing/559889976/pair-of-dreamtime-barbies-bb-bear-1984

 

the source: https://picclick.com/DreamTime-Barbie-Doll-with-Bear-9180-New-NRFB-263189583611.html

I’d panned to purchase the doll new in box, but her price was way more than I was prepared to pay given the steep ebay Global Shipping Program charges and customs on top of that so I opted for a second-handed doll. Her outfit isn’t trimmed so it shows the signs of wear especially at the bottom, but it’s acceptable given the age of the doll (who by the way, is my age). She was barefoot and her Teddy is missing, but her ring is still in place, her hair is gorgeous, she got a replacement Bear and I found a perfect pair of heels in my own box.

So here’s my Dreamtime Barbie and Victorian Barbie with Cedric Bear and don’t they look dreamy!