Barbie: The Girl, the Myth, & the Weird

0:01 Hello, bizarre story dolls. If you're listening right now, you are tuned into the bizarre A F where we talk about the strange, the absurd, the unknown, and all things bizarre. A FI am Teresa. I mean Alicia, your host for today's episode. So as always, we ask that you keep an open mind, keep a skeptical ear, but keep on listening to those facts as we take you on our newest journey. Barbie, the Girl, The Myth, the Weird.

1:05 Hiya, Bobby. Hiya, Ken. We could not resist that. Not resist you. Are adorable too. Thank you. I think we're both really adorable. I I was trying to channel today Teresa, which Teresa was like my like the go to Barbie because she had brown hair like me. So that's what I'm doing and kind of like the totally hair Barbie. That's where my makeup has come from. So if you're not, if you're only listening, it'll be worth it. To actually watch, we are all decked out. Kevin looks like Ken. I'm a I'm a There's a lot of kins, too.

1:46 Like there's the clean shaven can and then there's the Gay kin. We'll talk about 5:00. O'clock shadow can? Yes, that's. That's what? Blond hair, brown little 5:00, o'clock shadow. With your little polo and sweater, always hide. Sweater around the shoulders, Yeah, well, and typically we have our headphones on. And I was talking to to Kevin before, I mean Ken before the podcast and I said, gosh, I just don't think Barbie's going to fuck up her hair and have a headset on like like they may just like have as as an accessory like here's my accessory, my headset. But it is very strange for me to be. It's like that is like you're like DJ Ken, He has one up to his ear.

2:30 We created a new Ken doll. So as you know, the Barbie movie is upon us, right? Are you going to go and watch it, Kevin? Oh yeah, yeah. No, I think it's going to be spectacular. Oh, it's going to be so good. Yeah, like, I cannot wait. I cannot wait. I am gonna get some friends together. We're gonna all go to the same showing all dress. Like, I'm probably gonna wear this wig not too dissimilar to what I'm going to. Well, yeah, you be. You look amazed, like you are a legit Barb. Thank you. It looks, it looks not nearly as dark as it is and normal light, yeah. But yeah, I'm.

3:12 I love, I love it. So I'm thinking go there. Do the whole thing. Make an entire night of it with a bunch of friends. Yes. And yeah, just. I think go out, go Barbie's going out, yes. Oh my God, you guys have so many people that are looking at you. Oh awesome. Yeah, and like the most ridiculous fucking shoes, you know? Yeah, gold. Like or whatever. Studded bright. Anyway, I am stoked. Yeah, me too. And I was absolutely a Barbie girl growing up. My favorite ones were like the mermaid Barbies. And I know we kind of talked about that before on a mermaid episode. I would actually arrange them like perfectly on my shelf. You know, make sure all of them had their accessories, their hair brushes, which, oh, that would have been perfect If I had like a Barbie hairbrush bag, Like, that would be so cute. Anyway, yeah, I.

4:01 Wear that from Amazon before you go. Oh yeah, I I need to stop spending money on Amazon. But whatever. Next time, Next time. It's important. It's the Barbie movie. So I, like, did not want them to get too messy. I was always careful. I had the High Barbie, High Stepper Horse, like the horse actually moved Barbie. You know, Jeep Barbie, camping set, You name it, I had it. I loved it. Our girl Barbie actually comes from humble beginnings. Did you know that? No, I don't know. I don't know where she came from. No, let's say I don't know. I don't know. Well, to find out, we are doing our podcast here in Denver, Co Yes, the lady who created Barbie the could they start call her the cofounder, but she really, she was the one who started everything.

4:50 Ruth Handler is from Denver, Co She was born in Denver. She went to East High, which is really fun. She was the president of Mattel and really helped create the Barbie we know and love today. Oh wait, so did she how did she become the president? Like was she? Did she didn't found found a Mattel? Like, did they find, like, she create the doll and then became president or she was created, like she was the cofounder of Mattel? Wow. Yeah. Yeah, she was the cofounder. It was her and her husband. And ultimately, like, you know, she, they were, her husband had like a hobby.

5:32 He was a hobbyist, you know, building furniture, trying to make things. And they got into plastics like Lucite, which was one of the first versions of plastic and plexiglass and they were making furniture out of it. So her and her husband were making this, this furniture she looked and or she saw her husband doing this. She's like, hey, this plastic stuff, this is new. There's there's some money to be made here. She's really the businesswoman behind everything. So she said that he's really the brains behind the design and she was the salesperson who created Mattel. So they created Mattel and they actually combined her husband's first name and then their partner, Matt, so Elliott and then Matt Matson. And you know, they had a dry spell with, you know, doing the furniture and stuff.

6:30 And after World War Two, they started to try something new. What happens when when your business starts to dry up? Well, you're trying to do anything to try to grasp that business, you know, some kind of business, find something to make some money. So she said, I think that, you know, plastic toy furniture is going to be, you know, what we should start doing. So they started doing that. They started getting gaining success. And. And not doll furniture, but like, toy kids like toy furniture. Toy furniture, yeah. Because, you know, plastics were so new, they didn't have plastic furniture. Like things were made out of wood or made out of metal. Yeah, right. Like it was. If you think about seeing like old kids toys, it's always like, you know these pieces of metal like those metal like.

7:16 Yes, like heavy duty shit, Like not cheap. Or you had dolls that were made out of like, you had paper dolls or you had these like dolls that you would make like porcelain dolls, stuff like that. Or fabric dolls. But they're like, we need to move in a different direction. This like we're finding a lot of success with this children's market. How can we find more success? We we can pivot now once again. Bruth is like the business lady. She's like, oh, we need to have more options. So there's a lot of lore surrounding the actual creation of the Barbie doll. One of the stories is that they're on a European trip, and Ruth sees a doll in Europe that looks like a woman that was actually created based off of a sex doll, like a sex doll. And she's like, huh, Like it's very different from the typical Barbie dolls that, you know, that I've that we've seen or typical dolls.

8:21 Not Barbie dolls. That's how crazy it is. I am so like I think of dolls and dolls and Barbies are synonymous for me. That's insane. But they had just like these you know, dolls that didn't, that looked you know kind. You have the fabric dolls. Then you have this plastic doll that was modeled off of a sex doll. Really or like and that was different. She's like, I've not seen like. Anatomy. Like but boobs. It had. But had boobs. Yeah, and you could get accessories and stuff. Uh huh. Do you remember paper dolls? Yeah, sure. So you had like these paper dolls and? Then you would just like change the fabric to change the outfit. You would just like fold the little tabs over yes it and just like they were like flat, they were flat. There are two-dimensional paper, paper, and so you could do like, shoes, you could do dresses, pants, whatever. But yeah, they they were only two-dimensional. You couldn't change them.

9:19 But that was really kind of something that was fun for girls to be able to quickly change out there. There was a hole in the market. She's seeing that there's like a hole in the market. So she also says, I want something more 3D, more what little girls want to be. Yeah, right. Yes. So once again, we're not entirely sure what created the the real story of Barbie and Barbie's origins, but it's somewhere, probably within the plastic doll and the paper doll idea. Whether it happened in Europe, who knows? And so you said this is after World War? Two.

10:06 So I'm bad with geography and history. Is it 40 like timeline? Yeah. So Barbie, the OG Barbie premiered at the American Toy Fair in New York City on March 9th, 1959. So you so she was getting you think she was kind of getting ready for this in the early 50s like this was so maybe if. She's finding the doll. Yeah, so, so she was, they were, you know, building those toys, those or those plastic like furniture for kids, finding a lot of success. They go on a vacation or something happens and they build up. Have a prototype of Barbie in 1959, Release it and it goes wild, Girls Go Crazy, and Mattel sells over 350,000 dolls within the first year of business.

11:04 First year. They're like jackpot. And you know what else helped? Ruth is this amazing businesswoman. She says, OK, where can we? We need to start advertising to kids. How? What are kids watching in the 50s? You know, there's a lot of things. Mickey Mouse Club. Mickey Mouse Club But how do you duty is a good idea how do you duty. I think I feel like how do more boys but also I feel like they had their own items that you can buy. Yeah brand already of course Mickey Mouse had Mickey Mouse stuff but like she's like let me use the Mickey Mouse club to to advertise.

11:47 So it was Barbie was actually the 1st item that was successfully advertised to children and it was through the Mickey Mouse Club. So you have Barbie and Mickey not in bed together but in the same house they're sharing dinner. So this, you know, they they they're seeing success. Well, Barbie needs to have friends, right? Right. So who do you think comes first? So I'm trying to decide do I think it's another Barbie or a? I think it's Ken. It is Ken. OK, Ken needs a boy, a boyfriend, and they actually name him after the hand.

12:30 Barbie needs a boyfriend, but yeah, yeah. Excuse me, what did I say? Ken needs a boyfriend. Well, Ken just probably do, but not at that point. People were not cool with that, you know? They're fucking squares now. Now you're like, yes, of course. Right, because they've they're like, OK, we're gonna create this Barbie. Now girls can give over cool clothes, accessories. This is like miniature play versions of real people. So of course the natural progression would be she needs a boyfriend. She needs a boyfriend, yes. And we have our kid Ken, and we're just going to name him after. We're going to name him after it, so. Their son. Their name? Ken was named Ken. They named Ken after their son.

13:12 Wait, sorry. Let me go back. How did they get the name Barbie? Do you know it's a, well, Barbie has a whole back story, which we will, yeah. OK. Do you think they OK, OK, we'll talk about. That OK. Yeah. Yeah, so wait a second. Oh my God, I'm so stupid. Barbara was Ruth's daughter, Barbie. Barbara was Ruth's. OK? Barbie, they had another kid. So they have a girl and a boy. And Barbara, Why not Ken? But also boyfriend, girlfriend. It's whatever. It's all right. I mean, of course you. Knew it was kids. No, no, that's true. So they there have been tons of characters that have come into Barbie's world, right?

14:01 Like we have Ken, we have Skipper, we have other other characters. Well, I'm going to tell you a little bit more about. It's a whole world. It's an entire world. We're going to walk into Barbie's world. She has a full name too, and a full back story, so her full name is Barbara Millicent Roberts. Millicent. OK, so I would say she was born March 9th, 1959, but that's not the case, right? But I'm sure Barbie's birthday is that date. But so she, Barbie had her first friend in 1963. That was Midge.

14:46 So Midge had like, you know, red hair. OK, 1964 is when Skipper came around. OK. And then. Ken's friend? Or is that like Barbie's friend? Bar Barbie's friends? Really. I mean friends. Yeah, I guess it would be Ken's friends too. Because they're. Yeah, cuz they're boyfriend, girlfriend, yeah, yeah. Boyfriend, girlfriend, yeah. Yeah. I'm so excited for the movie. There's, Can I just say this? Yeah, I'm just gonna say there's a scene with. Wait, you've seen previews? Of course I have. They have. Oh, really? Yes, I think I've. Seen like 1. Yeah. So the preview, it was Ryan Gosling. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

15:26 So he's like, he said So Barbie, I thought I should stay over tonight and she's like, Oh yeah, of course, you know, what are we going to do? And he's like, or he's like, she's like why? He said, well because we're boyfriend, girlfriend and she's like, yeah, OK, he's like, she's like what are we going to do? And he's like, I don't know which which would make. Sense they can do because they have nothing. They have nothing. But then also, it's like as you as a kid, you didn't really. That's not was nothing. It was just like you held hands, although I did some fucked up things.

16:07 Oh, I'm sure, like like we would like they'd get kidnapped because we watched. This is gonna reveal a whole lot. Do you have a little white van? Oh my God, I totally forgot this until this. Well, no. So we would get toilet paper or like, tissues and like, put like masks over the men's faces. Or like, it would be like other Barbie who was next door and she was like, jealous. Like that's awful. Like a soap opera. Because I watched, we watched soap operas. When we were young, I used to watch Days of Our lives. So what would I do?

16:48 I would pull stories out of what I saw. So one of the the storylines in the soap opera was Marlena. If you guys, if you know, you know, OK, Marlena in Days of Our Lives was possessed by a demon. What did I do? My, my Barbie for sure was possessed by a demon, and she was tied. She was tied up because she was hurting herself, like tied up to, like, the bed. Now that I know that I'm like, that's crazy. I know it was never because she was tied up, because there was any kind of, like, sexual thing. It was always. To keep her under control. What does that say?

17:32 Because she was crazy Barbie. It's crazy Barbie. That is insane. Another insane thing about Barbie? There were no real dolls of color until 19. 80 So that was the first time that there was like a black Barbie doll. And ultimately, you know, there's a shit load of criticism about Barbie. You know, she is incredibly materialistic. So she has like all these cars and clothes and houses and you know, accessories and you know. Yeah, perfect body, perfect clothes. Perfect face. Perfect hair. Yes. Yeah. And like, there was actually some researchers in Finland in 1994 who were like, OK, let's break down Barbie. If she existed as a real person, OK? And they're like, if she was a real woman, she would not have enough body fat to even menstruate. And so they, Mattel, heard this, and they're like, oh, OK, maybe we should be, maybe we shouldn't have had this Barbie that was, like, based off of a risque, like, sex doll or like, risque doll.

18:42 That was what she was built on. They're thinking they shouldn't have. Yeah, like, maybe we should rethink this because these girls are seeing this doll and it's so off in human proportions. OK, right. OK, so Mattel's like, OK, we're going to change Barbie's Barbie, Barbie's body mold. So they she was given smaller boobs, a wider waist, slimmer hips, and now they have multiple different types of Barbies. So they have like a petite, a tall, a curvy and I guess like from from that you know people have opinions. Do you have any opinions about the changing of the I do? Can you're You're rolling your eyes a little bit. I don't, OK?

19:42 For me, it's just a it's a damn doll. Yeah. It can be in. It can be whatever, because it's not real. It's like, it's that's true. And so why does it have to be representative of every little possible thing? Like, OK, it's fine that you do that. I mean that. There's absolutely nothing wrong with that. But but for them to go, oh, if Barbie were real, she couldn't menstruate. And they're like, shit, we got to fix that. What? It's a doll like this. Of course it's unrealistic. It's a, it's a it's a fantasy doll, right. You know what I'm saying?

20:25 So yeah, I get a little irritated with that, that kind of stuff. I like I said, I don't think it's any problem, but if you can see make a doll that's representative of of a person or something, if that's what they want then. Sure. More power to you. Yeah. Go. Go for it. Great, great, great. But I just. I think it's silly that when you said this, silly when they're like, oh, she was real, she couldn't menst straight. Well, of course not. If it's, it's a doll and it's. It's not supposed, not supposed to be the perfect representation of a normal human being. Hopefully we're teaching our children that, like, that's the key, like your parents are. Like, yeah, you. Like, is Barbie a little vapid? Yeah, but what make believe it's nothing to strive for?

21:06 It is a fucking fake odd shaped plastic doll. Yeah, it's an odd shaped plastic doll. When I was playing Barbies and she was kidnapping people, did she have outfit changes? Yes, she did. She couldn't. She couldn't wear the same outfit twice, right? You know, like, right. Of course she had to. In captivity, it gets, you know. Wrinkled quickly you have. To yes, yes, at one. She couldn't be recognized, dude. Wow. Does it? Does it? Yeah. Does it? Does it. Is it surprising that now we're on the bizarre? Yeah, right. One so fucking weirdo. Always a weirdo. So I was telling you a little bit more about, like, Barbie's like, full back story.

21:49 OK, so there were actually a series of novels that were published by Random House in the 1960s and I told you her full name. Barbara Millicent Roberts. Her parents names. Are George and Margaret Roberts? And they're from a fictional town in Wisconsin called Willows. So she's from Willows, Wisconsin. Have we ever met George? I don't think that we've ever seen Barbie's parents. I could be please tell me if I'm wrong but I I I don't believe we have ever met them. She. Let's see here she also sorry, what did you say her mom's name was? It's. Georgia. Georgia.

22:30 It was Margaret. Margaret. Yep. And so she Ken also has a full name. Well, actually two names, cuz I guess it's all that's all Ken needs. So it's Kenneth Carson, Okay? So he had appeared in 1961, and in February of 2004, Barbie and Ken split up. That's what I mean when I sound upset. Here we wait. We have to redo it too. Okay, Hold on, let me okay. I think. Oh yeah, here we go. Okay. So as of 19. Oh wait, hold on, what did I say? Oh yeah, in February of 2004.

23:17 Mattel announced that Barbie and Ken split up, but in federally, officially, officially. So they're just friends play in the fields. Why did they do that? I just create a story and. Probably, but also at during the time consciousness. Can you blame Barbie? She had a. Another male Sir Australian surfer came while Ker and Ken were broken up. So she played that field, saw experience, new things, did the things. How interesting.

24:04 She breaks up with Ken and then meets an Australian surfer. I mean if there is one thing that you would want to do. You'd want to meet an Australian server. Like, I can't, I can't play Barbie at all. Girl, get your get your thing. Yeah, get your bag. Anyway, was he hotter than Ken? I think he was pretty hot probably. There's there have been so many iterations of Ken that like it depends on which one. Yeah, right, right. So in 2000. OK, so in 2006. Wait, was he hotter than me? That's what. Man, that's what I meant to say. Was he hotter than me? What's his name? Gosh, I don't know what the Australian one was called.

24:44 We'll call him Bobby. What's an Australian name? Bobby. That was English. Nevermind. Keep going. Crikey, Crikey. Steve Arwin. Yeah, There you. Go So in 2006, they were. Mattel was hoping that Barbie and Ken would back together. Rekindle a relationship. Meet halfway. Still dating Steve? She was. She was seeing Steve. Steve was. Steve was there, You know, she was having a great time. Ken's like, what can I do to win Barbie over? And he's like, I have to, I have to have a makeover.

25:26 Mattel gave him a makeover in 2006, hoping that this would be enough. For the girl who has Everything Right didn't work. So in 2011, Mattel launched a campaign for Ken to win Barbie's affections back. Right. OK. Barbie's living that single life. She does not need any man tethered to her Girls got a house in Malibu, She's got cars. She has. She has a pool boy named Steve who you know. Great. He knows how to. He knows how to time, you know, I don't know where I'm going.

26:07 I know where I'm going with it, but I'm going to stop shorts. So in in February, February 14th, Valentine's Day 2011, Ken and Barbie get back together. They rekindle their relationship, which is great. And and how is this announced? How does Mattel announce this reunion? So like a big marketing campaign? It must be a marketing campaign that they just go through and they're like, right, Guess what? You want a new Barbie, right? Barbie and Ken are back together. The new Barb, The. The. The. Yeah, exactly.

26:47 The happy couple Barbie, yeah. Right. OK, So we talked about like Barbie has a bigger family. She has three younger sisters, Skipper, Stacy and Chelsea. Chelsea was actually named Kelly until 2011, but then she changed her name. She didn't really like, you know, Kelsey or Kelly. Who would Chelsea's better? And then, sorry, Kelly. Sorry about that. And then there are a couple of retired members of Barbie's family. She has Todd, which was Stacy's twin brother. Stacy's twin brother, Todd Todd. Yes, retired. How?

27:30 He retired to Mongolia and is no longer, so we don't even keep in touch with Todd anymore. He just. Todd just kind of thought he's like. I need to go and find myself and finding myself does not have anything to do with my parents or Wisconsin. I'm going to Mongolia. Yeah, I need to find myself, mom and dad, so. Then Chrissy was the baby sister. She had Francie, a cousin, and she has multiple friends. Hispanic Teresa. My girl Midge. An African American Christie Christie doll. And then Steven is Christie's boyfriend. So, oh, this was his name.

28:18 His name was Blaine. Blaine is the Australian surfer. So Barbie and Blaine. I mean, I'm sorry, but what sounds better, Barbie and Blaine or Barbie and Ken? Barbie and Ken. Remains to be seen. Barbie. Barbie playing your options. Barbie. I'm playing BB. B. Keep your options open, girl. So she's also had over 440 pets. So cats, Dogs, a horse like High Stepper. Oh yeah, Panda. She also had a lion cub, a zebra. She's owned all the vehicles. Wait a minute. Just a minute. OK, you're telling me that Barbie had exotic animals? Can you say Tiger King crossover, right? Exactly.

29:15 And how did she get them? I want to know how she got exotic animals. Of course she can get anything she wants. She's Barbie. She is. Barbie Yeah, But was it? Was it through ethical means? This is a good question. We need answers. I'm gonna have to call my girl Barbie up and see. Excuse me? Hello Barbie, You're right. Exactly. We need a plastic pink phone. Barbie. Hi, Barbie. So Barbie, yeah, she had a ton of She also had a bunch of cars, as we know. Yes, Right. Yes. So she had a pink bug, right? Corvettes.

29:59 Convertibles. Yes. Trailers. Jeeps. Crowd. Owner of the Jeep with the blue tires she also own is a pilot. She has a her pilot's license and she can operate commercial airliners as well as being a flight attendant. So could you imagine? Well-rounded, She's incredibly well-rounded, she. Really, ultimately, the reason that they started doing this was they wanted to show children that Barbie could be any, anything. She could be anything that she wanted to be. So a tiger king A. Tiger King or Queen? Or or a flight attendant?

30:41 Or a teacher? She also was an astronaut and a doctor and even NASCAR Barbie. Which is Oh yeah. That was the first thing I think of when you say NASCAR Barbie is Ru Paul's Drag Race outfit. Oh my gosh. Yes, with the red and the white stripe, yes. Oh my God. So, you know, as far as Barbie goes, she's really done it all. I wanted to talk about some messed up Barbies in the history of Barbie. Are they like legitimate Barbies? Yes, yes, yes. They're actual Barbies. Wow, that were made OK. Do you recall any that are kind of strange? I no, I don't.

31:22 I do. I feel like I remember discussions or something happening about someone complain, not complaining, but yeah, talking about a messed up Barbie and I, but I can't think of what they are, OK? OK, this is a good one. Yeah, yeah, yeah, this would be good. This would be. Good Elvis and Priscilla Presley. They did an Elvis and Priscilla Presley Barbie for Let's see. I think it was like the one of their wedding at anniversaries. This was in 2008. And Graceland was like, yeah, we're down. That's great. OK. Do you know why this was so controversial? Was it does have to do with their appearance? No, Oh.

32:15 So they looked great, Graceland said. Yep, we're good. It was because. Do you know how old? And this is like one that this is a topic I want to talk about, but Elvis started dating Priscilla when she was like 14, right? Yeah and she so when they first started dating was 14 I believe when they got married she was not much older like 16 or something. So and he also like during their marriage he would give her like drugs all the time. It was like. But of course he was doing drugs. I'm not saying either one's right, but they had a fucked up marriage that only lasted 6 years. So Barbie, you know Mattel company like doing this Barbie commemorating their marriage is really bizarre when you look at the structure of their relationship in general, like he was incredibly controlling, was really into young, young girls. And yeah, it was just kind of crazy. So that's an that's.

33:19 So that takes me back to what I was talking about before. Like, I would have put that together in my mind. Like, I would have been, oh, it's Elvis and Priscilla. We all know who. Elvis and Priscilla. Yeah. Yeah, famous celebrity couple. He dressed in like some bedazzled shits, perfect doll outfits. Like that's where my mind goes Priscilla was beautiful with her winged eyelined eyes and her big beehive hair. I mean, like this is all like, yeah, that's where my mind goes. But people really go into like the again, like the unmenstratable Barbie people go into oh, she got married when she was 14 and they they kind of get offended. I mean, I understand I love the fashion of Priscilla and Elvis, but at the same time, like I do understand the the. The thought process of, like, he was potentially abusive, like drugging her when she was like 16 years old, you know, like while they're in her, while they're married, Yeah, he had a child bride.

34:22 Like, I do understand the claims glamorizing people who really don't morally, who are just. Not super crop great. Yeah. Yeah. And and saying like, oh look at this great marriage. Like, cuz it wasn't just like. Elvis and Priscilla. It was Elvis and Priscilla on their wedding, so it was really celebrating the marriage itself and that union, when in reality, those were pretty dark years for her. Yeah. OK, Yeah, so I get. It I get both. I get both sides. I at the same time you know they have other Barbies which of course they would have a Barbie that would be like.

35:05 Tan Barbie, like super Tan Barbie. They had one called Sun Gold Malibu Barbie. So she was like brown, brown, brown and she had like gold outfit and they had a skipper Sun Gold Barbie. But they're like, OK, cool, she's super tan Melanoma. So they pulled the the Barbie. They pulled the Barbie it was they released in 1983. And then? And then they quickly took it off the market because people were were weird about it. That one. I'm like, of course you'd have a tan Barbie. It's kind of silly, but it was very controversial in Barbie's time. OK, I know I'm.

35:48 Struggling. It's a bit much. Another struggle bus is like wash and watch Barbie. So she had a dishwasher. And like, it was like a kitchen with a dishwasher and a chair. And like she had like all of her little like a KitchenAid and stuff, so you could put all the utensils inside of the dishwasher and like, have it wash the dishes. And people like, uh, shouldn't, shouldn't these girls like, who are playing with Barbie, shouldn't they want to do a little bit more than just wash dishes? And I'm like, fuck that. We loved that as kids. Like now I'm getting irritated. Yes, OK. Tell me because like you're it's a it's part of a world. Like maybe I really even want a bathroom in a shower. Yeah, maybe I would want yeah, a kitchen with a dishwasher or I don't freaking know, like it's a world. Like, it's as a kid, like you're getting to be an adult and wash dishes in a.

36:42 Dishwasher. And you know what I mean. Yeah, it's it's interacting with the world around Jill and figuring, yeah, gosh darn it, OK. So they. Back in the day, one of the OG like accessory bits that you could get was this like sleepover, like Barbie accessory pack and it had like a robe and little like slippers and Pj's and like a, you know, mirror. It also had a book that said how to lose weight and it had a scale. And the scale was permanently It was a pink of of course everything's pink, yeah.

37:23 And the scale was like, permanently affixed to 110 pounds. Oh yeah, yeah. I don't know that that's appropriate. No for a child. No. How to lose weight book and then like yeah. It being 110 pounds. Yeah. Now I think we're getting. Yeah, now we're getting into the not so cool zone. Like, yeah, like, I get about trying to mimic life, but like, you wouldn't have a murderer, Barbie, or you wouldn't have a Yeah, although you made. I did. Kidnapped by I was a murderer.

38:04 Barbie. Oh, we killed people all the time. Yeah. But I mean, exactly not. Yeah, you wouldn't have anorexic Barbie or alemic Barbie. Yeah, that would be. That's terrible. And that's. Basically, and that's really what that was. Yeah, that's exactly what it was. That's not good. Yeah, no. So it so people uproared on that one. Yeah, yeah. Which I mean, I, I don't know at the time if they were super, like, upset about it, but then later they're like on the spot. Yeah. It's the culture, yeah. Yeah, totally. They Barbie. Also, I told you she had all these pets. They had a dog that would poop. And Barbie could, like, pick up the poop in a poop bag.

38:46 Like little there's like a little, the little thing that you pick up the poop with like a little clip and and the dog. Like, you could push the tail and like poop would come out of it, which I think is hilarious is hilarious, but. People are like, this is a little weird. It's like, yeah, of course it's weird, but what? Kids have animals, sure. And they're having to pick up poop. Yeah, exactly. Be responsible. They're reacting. Pet Dogs poop. Yes, yeah. Yeah, there was OK. There was another one. Really great idea. OK. It was called Share A Smile, Becky. Share a smile, Becky. So this was Becky was one of.

39:29 Barbie's friends, a shortly lived friend and you'll find out why. So the idea is like, you know, she had a friendship necklace that, you know, you, Becky could wear and you'd share it with Barbie. And she was in a wheelchair, so she didn't have, she wasn't able. She was like a, what is it? Paraplegic. Yeah, Barbie. And her wheelchair was, you know, had a pink seat and like, you know, purple metal on it. Super cute. But it didn't fit in any of the Barbie like the dream houses so you. So.

40:10 Like she couldn't. Like if you were playing with her in Barbie's house, like. Her wheelchair could not get through any of the doors, which is hilarious accessible. Inaccessible. That's that. People are like, oh, you mean inaccessible Barbie, Which is funny. Of course, they didn't think about that, right? Like, they're not like, oh, this needs to fit in there. But that was pulled pretty quick. I believe that. Yeah, yeah, yeah. They also had like a Barbie that would like you could tattoo her. So and she had like, I think I remember and does it like could you wash it off or disappear? Yeah, it was like temporary tattoos. You could tattoo on her, you could tattoo on yourself. But it was like, it was called Totally styling tattoos.

40:53 And there was one tattoo that was like a tramp stamp, but it had like like a heart. And it said Ken's name inside the heart on the tramp stamp. It's hilarious. You'll see. You'll see it in the show notes. But people are like HM. Now that there's anything wrong with like, tattoos, but like, that's a little fucking weird. That's a little bizarre. They had kissing Barbie, which was a little weird so you could like, you know, put. I think it was like if. She had like a cold, like temperature change. She'd have lipstick. Or like you could take the lipstick off, or whatever It was called Totally kissing Barbie, the doll who kisses.

41:34 And so you were these dolls the same regular size, Cuz those lips are teeny teeny teeny tiny tiny tiny. They were, yeah. They're teeny tiny. So these were they. These were all the same size Barbies like the original. They're not. Weren't like bigger or anything, right? Well, it was the same size. Barbie. Yeah, OK. She had a button on her back that if you push on on her back, she would lurch forward like she was kissing. Saying like gotcha, but also it had lipstick with it. So you could put lipstick on her okay and she would kiss okay. Yeah, Ken. All right, well, that's. But it was a little weird. That's all they did. They also had a fucking Oreo Barbie. Oreo Barbie. Why would this be offensive? Well, it could be misconstrued I think as skin tone. Yes, it was a black Barbie.

42:28 Oreo Barbie was a black Barbie. Why was it called Oreo Barbie? Cuz they like partnered with Oreo? Like the company? Oh. Nabisco was they who thought that through. They did. They clearly did not think it through at all, at all. They did not think it through. And so like, see, I was thinking when you said Oreo Barbie, I was thinking oh it was like a white person and a black person dating or something. It could be derogative. You know how they called 3 threesome, right? That's exactly right. And if if somebody had pitched that to me instantly, I mean, I would have instantly said no, no. We can do Teddy Graham Barbie Okay or like or like a circus animal Cookie Barbie.

43:14 Let's not do Oreo Barbie, Okay. And let's not make her black like this is weird. Super weird. We're just trying to be inclusive. No? Do it. Right. Do it right. Do better. Yeah. So it was like, bad, bad, bad, bad. And they had no idea they were so like, out of touch. That Oreo is a drop of term, so out of touch. So nobody wanted an Oreo? An Oreo Barbie? Of course not. But I wonder how much they are on eBay now, because they're probably weren't a ton that were actually sold and they, like, had recalled a bunch of them. So if people actually have the Oreo Barbie, I'm sure she's worth a bunch. Well, yeah, be a rare, a rare thing. Another Barbie that we had was, OK, let me see. I was trying to find this one.

44:06 OK they had like romance novel. Like there was like a romance novel Barbie, so like the Raider. So it was. The story was let me see. Let me just read. Yeah, go ahead. Let me read to you. So it was like one of those Specialty Barbies. OK, I knew you'd understand. What the Raider and I have goes beyond more mere passion. It's a meeting of the minds. Oh, Alex, I wish I could forget him. Would you kiss me again? Try to make me forget. So that's the excerpt of Jude Deveraux's super cheesy romance novel that came out in 1987 called The Raider. And that is on the box of this 2003 Special Collectors edition Barbie and she has the Raider and he has like this like dark black hair and like of course the open like white shirt and and like with the longer lapels and kind of puffy sleeves. And then she has the the beautiful like dress with like puffy sleeves off the side.

45:11 And I mean it's like so ridiculous and people like should we really be doing this? But. Honestly, I think it's hilarious in camp and I'm all for it. So they look like a cover of. A romance novel. A cheesy romance novel. Yes, exactly. OK, this is a pretty weird one, but I can only imagine being on the the floor, like, where they're trying to talk about. OK, what kind of new Barbie we're going to come up with? What is? What does every girl, like, go through? Like, what are some things that, like, girls want to see? Oh. A skipper that looks just like me, that grows up just like me.

45:52 So on the packaging it says cute little girl and then she can morph into tall, curvy teenager. So wait a minute. Yes, puberty. This is like they're talking about going through puberty. Yes. Yeah. So they have, Skipper. They wanted to do growing up Skipper. And in 1975, when she was first introduced in 1964, you know, they wanted to make her look slightly different. She had, you know, bang stuff like that different from Barbie, right. But this book or this one came out in 1965 or 1975 and what you what you could do is you would twist Skipper's arm. And her torso would stretch and cause her stretch up an inch and cause her to be taller, and then her chest would fill out so she she would she'd gain boobs and then grow taller. Oh my God.

46:56 And you could reverse it too, so you could be like, oh, today she's puberty. Nope. Tomorrow she's a kid again, so you could go back and forward in time. That can't be a common bar item. Have you seen? It before, I haven't. I've heard of it, but I've never seen one. This was back in the 70s when it had come out, so I wonder if it's if it's really like around a lot like now. I'm sure it's worth a lot. I remember this Barbie. They've done another Barbie like multiple times with being like them being pregnant. So like Barbie expecting OK, like the first iteration, you'll see it in their show notes, it has like a baby upside down. And Barbie's stomach, like there's like a hole in Barbie's stomach so you can see the baby.

47:47 So you can see the baby and pull it out. And then there's another one that's Midge and Baby. So you have Barbie and then you have Midge and Baby, where Midge is like expecting and she has like a specific outfit that like looks like a Mumu or something like that on. But yeah, it was. It was released in 2003 that they had pregnant versions of Midge and Barbie. So they had, you know, hollow centers and they were stuffed with a magnetic belly. You can remove them, the belly, remove the actual belly. And then, Oh yeah, of course, her belly's super flat. When when she's done.

48:30 Yeah, exactly. So, you know, those are a few. You had hinted at one Barbie and it was actually Ken doll. There are a couple of weird Ken dolls. One of them being there was a total like shaving Ken. And I remember my friend had this one and I thought this Ken was like the hottest. And he had like fake hair, like, actual like hair coming out. Yeah. And then he had a goatee and you could shave his face with like using warm water or something and it would make it go away, yes, but then would grow but come back, Yes. Yes. Yes, you could. Yes, you could do that. So that was one. Yeah. And then the other one was, like you said, gay Ken. Yeah. So in the 90s they released another Ken doll.

49:11 And they're like, how can we get like we need to sell more Ken dolls. How can we make Ken cool to to have girls want to try to to buy Ken, Ken dolls? Because Barbies, we don't have a problem with Ken. We need to don't really necessarily want the Kens. Yeah, you have one Ken or two Kens and like, really, do you need anymore? I mean, Barbie says no. But so. So you would have, They're trying to, like, talk about, OK, what can we do to make Ken more interesting? Let's give him highlights. OK, so we have Ken with highlights. OK What else can we do that'll make him cute? Well, let's have him be, like, super fashionable. OK, what's fashionable right now? Like a mesh shirt. Let's do, like, a mesh fluorescent shirt. Put on a mesh fluorescent shirt.

49:56 Let's give him an ear piercing. So they give him an ear piercing. Ken comes out. And it doesn't do super well like, but it does do super well among one group of people. I wonder. Which one would you think I'm going to have to guess is probably the gay boys. They're like a gay Ken. We're done. So, like, so they were buying them. They're like, this is gay Ken. And like, word got out, they're like, this is gay Ken. And so Mattel's like, Oh my gosh, we didn't. No, we didn't mean these are the same creators of the Oreo Barbie. Exactly. I was just gonna say these people, some are just absolutely clueless. They're so clueless.

50:37 They're so clueless. Actual health. So this they repackage it with like rainbows and stuff or no? No, they like they they stopped with that version of Ken. They did so because I it was still like kind of you know during that well, yeah. And like the egg AIDS epidemic was going on, so you know. That was not something they wanted to associate their brands with. But you can still find that Ken and that Ken fetches a pretty penny, pretty penny. But he has like great highlighted hair, like his, like his fashions on on the mesh shirt and the earring. And the earring and the like.

51:18 All of them together. It's just it's great on the nose. So Barbie's had a pretty like, long and illustrious life. My God, you know what's brilliant about this whole thing and like I said it earlier, is that sky is the limit because the world, it's a world. And they could, you know, I don't know, Cool Shark Barbie, You know what I'm saying? Like it could be. Yes, anything. Darts Barbie, Tennis Barbie. I'm sure they've already done that Peanut butter and Jelly Barbie. But just don't make her brown and red or something because that's like really weird.

52:01 Like you could really, the sky is the limit. You could do anything. They had have computer programmer Barbie like that's a Barbie. As times changing. Barbie's consistently changing, right. So. The sky really is the limit, and I like just researching Barbie in general, like I knew how prolific Barbie was, but I'm learning more and more how much. Everyone has had some kind of story with Barbie and has special moments with it. Like, for instance, Dave, he used to cut his sister's Barbie hands off, like just because he was an asshole, right? I'm sure there are so many, like, men who tortured their, you know, their sisters or, you know, siblings with their Barbies, tore the head off. And then like, anytime you try putting the head back on, it's like her head was like this and you're like. This is like not a good Barbie to play with. That sucks.

53:00 I remember crying because of that. But like, you know, we all have these like, you know, very personal stories with Barbie and you can say what you want to say about like, you know, the dimensions of her body and like how this is an issue and problematic. Barbie has shown girls that they can be and do anything and I think that that's great. I don't. I think that we should focus on that rather than focusing on what, Barbie? Barbies outward appearances. Let some things just be for vanity's sake. Yeah, I used to love just changing my Barbie doll and like having her go to, you know a restaurant in a different outfit and like seeing how to match things.

53:42 Like it can just be that and right. Like dress up and fun. It doesn't need to be like. This ultimate, you know, experience where everything's morally, like, perfect, you can just be vapid and shallow and fun, right? And that's what Barbies for. And then make believe and just, yeah, fantasy of. It playing out, you know, match reality, yeah, does not have to match reality. You can play out an exorcism with your Barbies. You can kid. Clearly they can be kidnapped and tied up so they don't hurt themselves. You can steal things from your Barbie Friends. Exactly. Steal their man like in Oh my God, Like a Soap opera.

54:24 Please tell me what that says about me. Wow, that you're creative. Thank you. I thought it said that there was something really, really wrong with me. If you guys have have had that experience or done some messed up things with Barbie, let us know. Go on to the bizarre AF I would.com here Store Barbie. Story. Leave a message and tell us. I want to hear. I would love to just like, listen, like have another Barbie like. You know, sneak and listen to what people used to do with their Barbies. Yeah. Yes, please tell me I'm not alone. There is no way, girl. I promise you, there's no way. Good. But thank you for today's episode. Yeah, it was a super fun, fun, fun episode.

55:06 Yeah. So you guys, don't forget to visit us at our website, thebizarreaf.com. And you can watch us on Spotify, watch us on YouTube, and listen to us on to us on all the platforms. Yeah, rate, Rate. Wherever you're listening. Yeah, thumbs up and as many stars as you want to. Also, we're on all social media. Instagram, TikTok, Twitter, you name it, it's the Bizarre F That's right, do some fun little things on TikTok every once in a while. So yeah, check us out and read us. Alrighty, Ken. Thanks, Barbie. Thanks, Ken. See ya. See ya. Bye.