Barbie deBarbiefied (continuously updated)

GubernatorFan wrote:I can't believe I find myself saying this, but I bought a Ken Doll! I had been hearing (and seeing) about the Barbie line coming up with more articulation, but this is pretty impressive. Double-jointed knees and elbows, great wrist and top-of-the-neck articulation, very good hips, an ab crunch (right under the chest), and pretty good ankles (they only pose in two directions but you can rotate the foot). If the cartoonish almost-Bieber-like head is your thing or if you figure out a good way of attaching another head on the body, this has plenty of kitbash potential, especially if you cover up the exposed joints. I'll let him show off for a moment: ...

It is difficult to find a decent wheelchair for a decent price in our hobby, as most are overly specific (Professor X, Game of Thrones) and certainly pricey. This one had potential. To be sure, it needed some repainting and sprucing up. Ideally, it would have had arm rests and especially handles for pushing. I didn't do the arm rests, but I did fashion handles with aluminium wires and electrical tape. The metallic color areas I covered with chrome Molotow acrylic marker, not worrying about perfect consistency, as I was hoping to make it a little lived-in. For the same reason, I dirtied up the green parts and the wheels a little bit with some Vallejo oily steel acrylic paint. I probably could have done a lot more, but didn't want to have it too messy.



The four wheels all work as expected (although ideally the little ones in the front should be able to turn around), the foot rest can be swung forward or backwards at a desired angle, and the little brakes for the big wheels can be rotated into on and off positions.

What do you think?

I've had this in hand in the store (before we went back to a complete shut-down of all "non-essential" sales) and I figured I would buy one eventually, probably waiting on the first Toys'r'Us "Barbies Go on Sale" after the shutdown lifts.  You took Ken through his paces in a way that answered my questions; well done and thanks.  

IMHO getting a Made-to-Move  Ken is a big deal for the actual Play-with-Barbies market but less significant to us in the "more serious" 1/6 world then when they created the Made-to-Move females.  The reason for this is that there are several mostly upscale Barbies that have nothing corresponding in the HT / DAM / etc. inventory but fill necessary gaps on the female side:  mostly Ancient Egyptian, Medieval and Renaissance.  Swapping them to M-t-M bodies was great.  The same is not true on the male side as I can't really think of anything that exists in a Ken version but not otherwise by a more "serious" manufacturer.  There would be a few outfits in supporting roles such as Pilots, Servers, Baristas but they started doing this thing where all the accessories and layers are just pictures printed on the fabric and for our purposes they don't look right at all.  GF you make me think though (heresy, I know) that in some cases if this M-t-M Ken body becomes more widely distributed, it might unapologetically be useful (concealed joints, swapped headswaps) as a cheap easy alternative on background characters.  Time to watch the thrift stores. And again there are going to be Ken outfits that fit on this now posable body where you couldn't previously put them on Power Team Elite or whatever.

The wheelchair here is much of an an improvement on the previous Barbie Wheelchairs (and the one Monster High gave their fish-man) which were previously the best cheap option.  Your improvements make it better still, especially the handles. But the "elephant in the room" remains that lime green plastic.  It would look quite different in any more sober colour with a matte texture, but it would probably be fragile as heck.  And I assume (going by previous Barbie Wheelchairs) that this one cannot be easily disassembled to facilitate that level of repainting?

Moonbase Alpha Male wrote:I've had this in hand in the store (before we went back to a complete shut-down of all "non-essential" sales) and I figured I would buy one eventually, probably waiting on the first Toys'r'Us "Barbies Go on Sale" after the shutdown lifts.  You took Ken through his paces in a way that answered my questions; well done and thanks.  

IMHO getting a Made-to-Move  Ken is a big deal for the actual Play-with-Barbies market but less significant to us in the "more serious" 1/6 world then when they created the Made-to-Move females.  The reason for this is that there are several mostly upscale Barbies that have nothing corresponding in the HT / DAM / etc. inventory but fill necessary gaps on the female side:  mostly Ancient Egyptian, Medieval and Renaissance.  Swapping them to M-t-M bodies was great.  The same is not true on the male side as I can't really think of anything that exists in a Ken version but not otherwise by a more "serious" manufacturer.  There would be a few outfits in supporting roles such as Pilots, Servers, Baristas but they started doing this thing where all the accessories and layers are just pictures printed on the fabric and for our purposes they don't look right at all.  GF you make me think though (heresy, I know) that in some cases if this M-t-M Ken body becomes more widely distributed, it might unapologetically be useful (concealed joints, swapped headswaps) as a cheap easy alternative on background characters.  Time to watch the thrift stores.  And again there are going to be Ken outfits that fit on this  now posable body where you couldn't previously put them on Power Team Elite or whatever.

The wheelchair here is much of an an improvement on the previous Barbie Wheelchairs (and the one Monster High gave their fish-man) which were previously the best cheap option.  Your improvements make it better still, especially the handles. But the "elephant in the room" remains that lime green plastic.  It would look quite different in any more sober colour with a matte texture, but it would probably be fragile as heck.  And I assume (going by previous Barbie Wheelchairs) that this one cannot be easily disassembled to facilitate that level of repainting?

Thank you for the detailed and insightful response on these different aspects of the set. I actually agree. If you need relatively cheap yet decently articulated characters that you will bash with suitably concealing clothes and accessories, these new (made-to-move) Kens will probably do nicely. Their slenderness would ease fitting into a range of outfits, and if it looks like the clothes are too big, they can always be stuffed a little with some padding.

I agree with you about the lime green plastic. If it had been pink or purple I would have done what I could to repaint it, but being green, decided to let it be. I actually saw examples of real (1:1) wheelchairs where those parts are painted in one color or another, when I was looking up the most basic handles (for pushing) design to model mine after. I confess I did not attempt to take the wheelchair apart before repainting and partial weathering (didn't want to break anything), but that would help, especially if one wanted to do a more thorough and even job of it. I'm glad you liked the improvements.

The MTM range are undoubtedly the best thing Mattel has done for Barbie in recent years, because god knows their overall quality has dropped outside of that line! The joints aren’t the most aesthetically pleasing, and I think they should have taken a look at Obitsu dolls to see how to make double joints that don’t stand out too much, but I digress!

The wheelchair is great, but I must point out something I wasn’t aware of when I posted on Instagram about customising mine with a different seat - this particular style is designed for folk who can control the chair themselves, hence the lack of handles, the rims on the wheels and the lower back to the seat. I had a few folk tell me that actually most wheelchair users really dislike ones with handles and they were really pleased to see a more practical and independent style depicted.

GubernatorFan wrote:Thank you for the detailed and insightful response on these different aspects of the set. I actually agree. If you need relatively cheap yet decently articulated characters that you will bash with suitably concealing clothes and accessories, these new (made-to-move) Kens will probably do nicely. Their slenderness would ease fitting into a range of outfits, and if it looks like the clothes are too big, they can always be stuffed a little with some padding.

I agree with you about the lime green plastic. If it had been pink or purple I would have done what I could to repaint it, but being green, decided to let it be. I actually saw examples of real (1:1) wheelchairs where those parts are painted in one color or another, when I was looking up the most basic handles (for pushing) design to model mine after. I confess I did not attempt to take the wheelchair apart before repainting and partial weathering (didn't want to break anything), but that would help, especially if one wanted to do a more thorough and even job of it. I'm glad you liked the improvements.

For the wheelchair alone, the other color choices are blue, red and pink but those come with female Barbies.  The first M-t-M Barbies with wheelchairs were blue and gave a choice of a blonde Barbie or an interesting Afro-American with hairbuns.  As you know from the back of your box this present wave has two more, the interesting one being a Barbie Afro-American with crimped hair and a red wheelchair.

Since moments ago I've been kind of rethinking the usefuleness to me of a fully posable Ken body since I'd forgotten to take into account various Barbie "Famous Couples" sets that I own, where actually it would be great to have a non-shampoo bottle posable version of the male outfits of Arabian Nights Sultan, Romeo (of Shakespeare), Merlin, King Aragorn and Frank Sinatra.  Gone with the Wind Rhett Butler, too.  And I haven't used him much since QMX, but I suppose Barbie Captain Kirk could be rescued also.

Lynkhart wrote:The MTM range are undoubtedly the best thing Mattel has done for Barbie in recent years, because god knows their overall quality has dropped outside of that line! The joints aren’t the most aesthetically pleasing, and I think they should have taken a look at Obitsu dolls to see how to make double joints that don’t stand out too much, but I digress!

The wheelchair is great, but I must point out something I wasn’t aware of when I posted on Instagram about customising mine with a different seat - this particular style is designed for folk who can control the chair themselves, hence the lack of handles, the rims on the wheels and the lower back to the seat. I had a few folk tell me that actually most wheelchair users really dislike ones with handles and they were really pleased to see a more practical and independent style depicted.

Thank you for the info. Good to know they are in fact based on reality. When I did my little bit of research before customizing, I saw plenty without arm rests, but none without the handles for pushing in the back, which is why I fashioned those. In fact, there are plenty of supplementary handles for pushing that one could add on for greater convenience (the standard ones apparently being too low), often resulting in two sets. But anyway, I can see how someone capable of self-sufficient operation might not need either. (I suppose Mattel could have provided handles one could plug in or take out.)

Part of the history here is that the guy who did Lammily the realistic bodyshape doll started pushing for a realistic chair, pointing out that Barbie hadn't done one since 1997, and doing his own wheelchair on Kickstarter (don't know how far that got): https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/teleplay/bring-back-the-wheelchair . Mattel evidently was listening.

That's quite a lot of sets, MBAM. Yes, these bodies would be useful. Thanks for the backstory/history of the wheelchair.

The Lammily wheelchair is actually for sale :

https://lammily.com/product/lammily-wheelchair-first-edition/#

At $19 + shipping costs + sales tax for USA citizens.

Overseas will be another story, for example to Belgium (and other EU countries) :

$19

+ $25.95 shipping (a normal cost)
-------------------
$44.95 subtotal

+ $ 9.44 VAT 21% (in Euro) on subtotal
+ $28.56 (actually 24 Euro) handling charge.
-----------------------------------------------------------
$$$ 82.95 $$$

If you don't know it yet, the waiver exempting goods up to 22 Euro from VAT and handling charge is gone forever.

Of course I didn't buy the wheelchair. If only Lammily had a EU seller.

Great work, GF! Glad you have discovered the fun of the Made-to-Move line! Agree with Lynkhart that it is definitely one of the better things that they have done in ages. Though I also agree with MBAM that the printed layer clothing they do for a lot of those figures is really annoying.

The green is a bit bright but not too terrible. I think it kinda fits for Andy to have a slightly garish looking colour on his wheelchair, lol. ;p

DarthJ wrote:The Lammily wheelchair is actually for sale

Thanks for the info, DarthJ. Looking at it and reading the reviews, I think I might prefer this (Mattel/Barbie/Ken) one after all.

skywalkersaga wrote:Great work, GF! Glad you have discovered the fun of the Made-to-Move line! Agree with Lynkhart that it is definitely one of the better things that they have done in ages. Though I also agree with MBAM that the printed layer clothing they do for a lot of those figures is really annoying.

The green is a bit bright but not too terrible. I think it kinda fits for Andy to have a slightly garish looking colour on his wheelchair, lol. ;p

Thank you very much, glad you liked it. Yes, like you, I do wish it were a darker and richer shade of green, but I can live with it. But let's remember this was just Andy being a goof as usual. He has no proper claim on the chair. Until he gets injured again, anyway... but hopefully he's older and wiser now.

GubernatorFan wrote:Thanks for the info, DarthJ. Looking at it and reading the reviews, I think I might prefer this (Mattel/Barbie/Ken) one after all.

Could be that the Lammily chair would be better for a medical / hospital / temporary injury situation, given the adjustable leg support etc, while this one is better as a life accessory for a disabled person. It's odd that AFAIK GI Joe never made a wheelchair, especially thinking of that fundamental Vietnam Medic Accessory set that has so many basic things -- elbow cast, crutches, stretcher, IV stand, tools etc -- very useful and never duplicated.

Moonbase Alpha Male wrote:Could be that the Lammily chair would be better  for a medical / hospital / temporary injury situation, given the adjustable leg support etc, while this one is better as a life accessory for a disabled person.  It's odd that AFAIK GI Joe never made a wheelchair, especially thinking of that fundamental Vietnam Medic Accessory set that has so many basic things --  elbow cast, crutches, stretcher, IV stand, tools etc -- very useful and never duplicated.

You are probably right about the distinction between the wheelchairs. Speaking of crutches, I picked up a couple of nice ones from a relatively recent set (although I forget which one it was) -- I haven't used them for their first intended purpose (propping up floppy-footed seamless females), but you can see them here:
https://onesixthfigures.forumotion.com/t1403p123-clothing-tbleague-phicen-seamless-bodies-updated-part-xxiii-january-28-2021#48119

This is an old one, but was never really showcased here and the subject of deBarbiefied vehicles has come up recently (like HERE). I'm happy with my modifications to it, but I have come to realize just how undersized it really is. I thought it was a matter of a square inch or two, but it is off by a bit more than that. Still, being a mini cooper convertible, it works in a pinch. All puns intended.

The deBarbiefied MiniCoope was supposed be Ken's car, but the original vanity license plates read: "(heart) Ken (heart)." I don't think even Ken is so vain. I changed the plates to something realistic (from a MiniCooper ad), repainted the several elements that were supposed to be silver chrome but were actually light grey plastic, added translucent hemispherical covers for the front turn lights, and replaced the bluish paper decals in the three rear view mirrors with actual mirror surfaces.

Overall, it is a pretty promising vehicle, although too small. The degree of detail varies from excellent to passable to poor (for example, the front grill is sculpted, the back one is a decal), and I could fix only so much of it.













More photos here:
https://onesixthfigures.forumotion.com/t4027-paul-and-jessica-on-vacation#55522

Hope someone finds it useful.

Sindy also owns a Mini, a closed one with a (sort of) British flag detachable roof. It's larger than the Ken model (I have both to compare) and as most Sindy vehicles it has the right size for 1/6th scale figures. Right hand steering of course.

It looks great, DarthJ. Probably too difficult to get one, but what are Sindy's mini cooper's dimensions (length, width, and height)? And do you have a photo of her driving it (and what body are you using for her)?

These pictures date from last year and the car is parked in the attic right now so I can't measure it but here is a link to a picture comparing both vehicles :

https://www.pinterest.com/pin/128774870571562764/

It's massive compared with the Ken cabrio.

For the same reason I can't make a picture of a figure driving the car. And the intention of the thread where I originally posted these pictures is to show both vehicle and pin-up so pictures in a vehicle are rare.

I almost always use the smaller S24/S25 or S26/S27 figures as the other ones won't fit in fashion doll clothing.

The Sindy 2002 Mini can be found on Ebay.UK for about £30
Though each one of those I found had its mirrors missing, one had the roof missing and one had yellowed white parts, which contrasted very visibly with the non-discoloured flag roof.

Thank you for the information and the link, DarthJ. The size difference is substantial, and the Sindy version is obviously a better-sized vehicle, although even it might not be quite perfectly sixth-scaled (although these are just eyeball measurements, so I can't be sure). The smaller TBLeague bodies do make better sense for most average-sized real women translated to sixth scale, in general. I think I found the very same ones you are referring to on eBay. They appear to all be in the UK (is Sindy a UK line?) and as for mirrors missing, that is a common problem with all of these vehicles when buying second hand.

The "correct" scale doesn't always look or act "correct". I know that from my model building days trying to fit figures into vehicles.

The original 1960s - 1970s Sindy by Pedigree was very British. A bit more classy than Barbie, if Barbie was part of the jet-set, Sindy was part of the upper class. owning a Range Rover. Though she has known a few owners and facelifts since then, at one point being sued by Mattel because she looked a little bit too much as Barbie. This is an interesting site :

https://www.oursindymuseum.com/aboutsindy.htm

Yeah, I’m not a big fan of the Sindy dolls themselves, but the clothes and accessories were incredibly detailed and very lifelike! You can usually find job lots of them on eBay for not very much money too which is a bonus. I customised some of the vintage kitchen cabinets and fridge a while back. They’re too short without modification but if you raise them up a bit they’re perfect for 1/6th figs.

Max and Juno's new kitchen by Christine Sutcliffe, on Flickr

Lynkhart wrote:Yeah, I’m not a big fan of the Sindy dolls themselves, but the clothes and accessories were incredibly detailed and very lifelike! You can usually find job lots of them on eBay for not very much money too which is a bonus. I customised some of the vintage kitchen cabinets and fridge a while back. They’re too short without modification but if you raise them up a bit they’re perfect for 1/6th figs.

Max and Juno's new kitchen by Christine Sutcliffe, on Flickr

That's an absolutely crucial Barbie DeBarbiefied point, right there.  It's not as mathematical as multiplying or dividing everything X 6.  Lots of times something that seems way too underscale becomes surprisingly credible simply by raising the feet.  It works on seating etc as long as the raised seat line falls in a natural place, simililarly with tables. cabinets etc. as long as everything is consistent  That's a great looking kitchen -- natural accumulation of detail totally sells it.

Fantastic shots guys! Love the mini's I have a sindy one too with the Union Jack roof.

It looks to me like Sindy accessories generally need less modification in appearance than Barbie, but sometimes suffer from similar problems of size. Adding height to furniture through the legs seems to work very well.

I’m not going to lie... a week or so back was the FIRST time I recall actually actively browsing the “pink aisle” for clothing and accessories that would work for the TBL figures.

I was kind of surprised that Mattel offers Barbie “clothes” as separate items. Sadly, I didn’t really dig through them to check compatibility.

GubernatorFan wrote:It looks to me like Sindy accessories generally need less modification in appearance than Barbie, but sometimes suffer from similar problems of size. Adding height to furniture through the legs seems to work very well.

That was true for the original Pedigree Sindy but once Barbie went all pink in the 1980s Sindy and every other fashion doll followed. Even re-releasing items in pink colours that previously had been released in more realistic colours.
Also some of the later vehicles don't seem to have been designed with the same realism standards either and were probably outsourced to other manufacturers than before.

This is the Sindy Range Rover MKI. Roof and C-pillars can be removed and if I remember correctly this vehicle can be either left-or right hand drive.

collectorofmany wrote:I’m not going to lie... a week or so back was the FIRST time I recall actually actively browsing the “pink aisle” for clothing and accessories that would work for the TBL figures.

I was kind of surprised that Mattel offers Barbie “clothes” as separate items. Sadly, I didn’t really dig through them to check compatibility.

Most "Barbie" and other fashion doll clothes will only fit the smaller TBLeague figures.
Kenner figures (Jamie Summers, Dusty, ... are larger).
Ken, Action Man, Big Jim, ... clothing will fit larger figures too. I use their shoes for "flatfoot" TBLeague figures.

@DarthJ, Good to know, thanks. Too bad.

@collectorofmany, on the packaging there would be some indication for the body type that clothing would fit -- look for the curvier silhouette, if you want a chance that the clothing will fit on TBLeague bodies. I'm pretty sure DarthJ meant that some Ken items would fit on TBLeague female figures; most won't fit on male figures, though some accessories from other lines do.

This may be a bit of left field comment -- but just for fun, one of the uses of a too-underscale Barbie or Sindy vehicle would be to "Mad Max it up."  Obviously because of the wheels you couldn't just increase the height as you might for a sofa (without drastic surgery).  But the underscale factor kinda recedes if you slap machine guns, ballistas or war drums on them, and paint war stripes in the Mad Max style, and the whole overall effect is kind of tongue in cheek. And cheap enough to do for kicks.

One other use that I can see would be to have these vehicles be props in some kind of superhero fight diorama, where again, the size imprecision deficiency is less important.  I don't think I kept the test pic sadly, but I remember one time I had Superman lifting some Barbie-ish car that was Green (and not otherwise stylistically suitable) in the manner of Action Comics #1, and I thought it looked cool.

These sound like perfectly valid ways of dealing with lemons (make lemonade), MBAM. It's just a shame, since there is so much potential in these pieces. But the Mad Max route in particular sounds tempting.