Opinion on Barbie Dolls?

I just wanted to ask, mostly of the folks who have characters who they make stories with.

What is everyone's opinions on having characters who are represented by Barbie dolls? Or I guess Fashion Royalty, or even say GI Joe. Basically Sculpts that are less "realistic" or detailed.

My personal opinion is that they're as enjoyable as "realistic" looking characters. If a certain headsculpt or type of toy resonates with you and you feel positive or happy about it, then that's all the reason you really need to have it or to use it in your stories.

For me personally, I like both realistic and anime style headsculpts and bodies. There's beauty and fun to be found in both. For realistic headsculpts, I often love ones that look beautiful, gorgeous, like a face that belongs to someone who would be part of a Miss Universe beauty pageant lol! For anime headsculpts, I like cute ones or those with hilarious facial expressions! For 1/6 scale, I have both realistic and anime style game characters. Tifa from Final Fantasy and 2B from Nier Automata are friends with Mr. Bean and the other TBLeague ladies I have here.

I remember having Barbie and Ken as a kid. They were bigger than most of my toys back then, but I loved them anyway. I just pretended they were "giants" and Superman and Robocop had to save them from Lex Luthor lol!

It depends on the visual style of the "world" you are trying to create in your stories, I suppose.

I used to mix GI Joe, sometimes Barbie, and seamless. Now that I have more seamless figures, I tend to segregate the seamless figs in to their own world, while the "toy" style figures mingle with each other.

A few members on another forum said a while back that they found photos mixing "playline" and the more realistic seamless figures visually jarring, having to do with the relative head sizes of the figures. Playline dolls, even Barbie, tend to have slightly oversized heads relative to seamless figures.

For my own stories, which are largely for my own amusement, the more "whimsical" (or maybe the word is "stupid") photos often feature a mix of figures:


But for visual consistency, I have begun to "rebody" some of my existing characters in to seamless form so they can appear in seamless-centric stories.


I was not initially intending to get as heavily in to seamless figures as I have. I thought I'd be doing a few little stories with a mix of figures, mostly GI Joe and a few Barbie-type fashion dolls.


I have received mixed feedback on this series of images which mixes a GI Joe figure with a seamless figure:


Some people have expressed very favorable views. Others have said the mix between the types of figures does not work for them. Personally, since my "story worlds" have never been especially realistic, this "look" works for me for my somewhat "cartoonish" approach to stories. I am not completely eliminating GI Joe and other playline figures from my seamless stories, but at this point, the "toy figs" tend to have their own storylines while the seamless figs appear in separate stories.

The master of Mix-and-Match among figures was MiskatonicNick on Flickr: https://flickr.com/photos/toyville/

Take a look at his photo stream for some fun scenes in which a variety of figures mingle together "seamlessly."

That said, for many of his excellent photos, Nick tended to use similar type figures for any particular scene, with an emphasis on Integrity (Fashion Royalty / Poppy Parker) fashion figures, and unless he was going for an intentionally humorous effect, he tended to use figures with a similar level of realism in his scenes.

Bottom line: it depends on your own visual preference, and also on the style of image you are trying to create.

Well, two of my barmaids in the Ammo Arms are Teresa'a and I have a Poppy

Honestly, it doesn’t matter to me. As Adeno said, if you are happy with them, that’s all that matters. If you want to see someone who puts Barbie-style figures to exceptional use, check out Lynkhart’s threads using her figures in wonderful storylines. Some of those Fashion Royalty dolls are pretty exceptional looking. There’s a few members here who use either GI Joe or Barbie-esque figures in their stories, so feel free to share if so inclined.

as has already been said: everyone according to their own preferences…

some people really excel at using different types of figures/dolls in one setting
and imo it works esp. good with humoristic set-ups as davidd has written

I have some selected Barbies, quite a lot of Fashion Royalty/Poppy Parker and even more action figures - but I normally prefer not to mix them in my pics as I feel the different styles and proportions don’t work that very well with each other, unless you specifically play with their differences.

As someone who is an appreciator of the stories posted here as opposed to a creator,  I don’t mind seeing different types and styles of figures at all.  I think every form of fiction requires a suspension of belief to some extent on the part of the reader/viewer to truly appreciate and enjoy the story, so I never read a photo story and wonder why a “fashion doll” is sharing space with an “action figure”.  It’s not the figures themselves that seem real, it’s the character and personality the writer gives them that makes them come alive.   Look at Bam!Comix.  He turned a frocked GI Joe that must be at least 50 years old into a believable and beloved leading man in a contemporary setting surrounded by contemporary figures.  At the end of the day, how any figure is perceived is in the hands and creativity of the artist.

Xavion2004 wrote:....  At the end of the day, how any figure is perceived is in the hands and creativity of the artist.

Agree

I agree with the others.

Hosted on Fotki
I think she was the top agent for an Elite Team of Barbies Assassin's sent to kill Lady Death and almost succeeded.

BAD WOLF-787 wrote:I agree with the others.

Hosted on Fotki
I think she was the top agent for an Elite Team of Barbies Assassin's sent to kill Lady Death and almost succeeded.

Good thing she didn’t. She’d have to cough up a roll of C-Notes.

Sounds like I'm going to diverge (I have been called a pure contrarian, though I naturally disagreed with that assessment). What I find fascinating about articulated figures is that this allows them to be posed and makes them more realistic to begin with. And the realism of high-end figures is a definite plus when it comes to that. My appreciation has not extended to dolls as such (Barbie, fashion, or otherwise), in fact I don't personally like them much. However, I do recognize that they can be beautiful and impressive, and I do appreciate some of the fantastic things others have made with them (scenes, photos, dioramas), and of course the various items and accessories that have come with such sets that are potentially useful in more realistic dioramas.

No limits on creativity or imagination on the creator, it doesn't matter on the source material. What matters is the end product whether if it is acceptable by the creator first.

Hmm.... barbie collection does wonders when it comes to clothes, imo.

I personally don't like Barbie dolls, generally speaking. I have some judgment around the idea that little girls get programmed to have to look like that, and I can't get that association out of my head.
I also don't like that permanent smile. It reminds me of some of the frozen faces I drew when I started drawing faces. Very stiff.
So I very much love realistic, not so smiley sculpts.

Having said that, I don't judge anyone for not having these negative associations and I can indeed appreciate a good photo story, regardless of the style of the doll.

And I have also seen ridiculously gorgeous repaints and highly polished fashion versions of Barbie that were truly art. So if taken to that extreme I can appreciate her again. When that kind of care and love goes into it, the style really doesn't matter anymore.

If asking whether Barbies are permitted on the forum, yes, they are. Lynkhart does amazing dioramas and photo stories using Made-to-Move Barbies, and shows just how much expression and emotion you can achieve with them.  

My personal feeling on Barbies is mixed. Barbies have come a long way from how they were in the past, and at least there is quite a lot of diversity there nowadays. But even so, when I see a Barbie, my first instinct usually jumps right to thinking how it would be improved (either by repainting or by 'upgrading' the outfit to a 1/6 scale action figure). Like Diana said, there can be some incredible Barbie repaints that bring out the best in them. And fashion dolls like Fashion Royalty and Poppy Parker have some amazing outfits, usually way nicer clothing than what is available on the 1/6 market, so I definitely understand the appeal. I've even purchased some MTM Barbie and Fashion doll clothing for use with my 1/6 figures.

In general, I'm definitely not against dolls --- in fact, I love dolls. I initially got into 1/6 scale because I had wanted to customise dolls, but discovered that the 1/6 bodies, parts, and accessories were more readily available and easier to work with for customising purposes. The action figures also suited my goals of being able to pose characters and make them interact with each other for photo stories, since action figures are intended to stand up on their own (while not all dolls can do so).

Do I like to see Barbies on the forum? I don't mind them, but I prefer if there has been some work that has gone into them, or into their surrounding environment. Some customisation. I'm open-minded though, and think there's always room for variety. : )

GubernatorFan wrote:Sounds like I'm going to diverge (I have been called a pure contrarian, though I naturally disagreed with that assessment). What I find fascinating about articulated figures is that this allows them to be posed and makes them more realistic to begin with. And the realism of high-end figures is a definite plus when it comes to that. My appreciation has not extended to dolls as such (Barbie, fashion, or otherwise), in fact I don't personally like them much. However, I do recognize that they can be beautiful and impressive, and I do appreciate some of the fantastic things others have made with them (scenes, photos, dioramas), and of course the various items and accessories that have come with such sets that are potentially useful in more realistic dioramas.

Basically my thoughts. 

When it comes to what I personally like/prefer on my shelves and what I prefer looking at, I very much lean towards GubernatorFan & Skywalkersaga.

Barbies are having a considerably harder time to impress me than AF or FR (Fashion Royalty). But it is not impossible

Just to clarify, after seeing some of the other comments, I did not understand the question in the sense of whether Barbies and other dolls are "permitted" or "welcome" in the Forum. We all have our preferences when it comes to themes, subjects, products, etc., but as long as it is sixth scale and conforms with Forum Policies, it has a place here -- even though this is not specifically a doll forum. Actually, we have a non-sixth-scale section too; and even a Barbie deBarbiefied topic. The last is the result of using Barbie items to make more realistic versions usable in realistic dioramas -- after so many cases of looking at Barbie stuff and thinking "I wish this were more realistic/articulated/not pink."

Well, I didn't mean to speak for the forum rules, but since Lynkhart's work is permitted here, I just presumed that anything similar to it would be as well.

When I explain my hobby to others, most of them haven't heard of 'one to six'. But when I add "It is like Barbie for adults", everybody understands. I mean, it all began with Barbie. Btw: there is a cool show on Netflix: 'The Toys that made us'.

When I first got into this, I said to myself, "Nothing but Phicens (TBLeague) will do!  I have high standards."

Since I was largely creating a world where skimpily clad women dominated, this choice seemed logical.  Phicens are seamless and look better when scantily clad.

010122_0116C by Gary  Menten, on Flickr

I clung to this for as long as I could, and still do when it comes to scantily clad female figures.

Kamiko an Glynnis in Dinosaur Valley by Gary  Menten, on Flickr

Laura_2 by Gary  Menten, on Flickr

They just look a whole lot better when shoulder joints, knees and elbows would be exposed. I even maintained the practice with figures that did not uncover these parts of their bodies....



63 by Gary  Menten, on Flickr

But by and large, it dawned on me that if I was going to do some bad guys, and a lot of them, I could not afford to do it with Phicens and would need cheaper figures, which is where the jointed figures come into play.  

The Good and the Bad in Dinosaur Valley 7 by Gary  Menten, on Flickr

Page_3 by Gary  Menten, on Flickr

After all, if they are fully dressed, with only the wrist joints visible, what does it matter that they are less expensive jointed figures, aside from not having the heft and stability of silicone bodied figures? Not much.

Page_2 by Gary  Menten, on Flickr

Aside from the wrist joints, which are a pain with both seamless and jointed figures, is there anything in these images that point to the figure being a jointed figure?

Now this brings us to using visibly jointed female Fashion-doll figures into the world of seamless figures...Okay....not something I've done myself, but this never stopped the late MiskatonicNick from using fashion doll female figures figures with their fashion doll faces and visible joints in his images, and Nick was one of the grand masters of telling stories with 1/6 scale figures and a camera and it never stopped him. I include here a few of his photos.

Guests at a party by MiskatonicNick, on Flickr

Two of the three figures here are showing their joints, the third isn't. But is the photo effective?  Does it resonate with you somehow?  If so, it proves that the visible joints don't much matter.

"Jiggle you will" by MiskatonicNick, on Flickr
Is this photo effective?

Cyber Hustle by MiskatonicNick, on Flickr

TAG GAME: Girls Night Out by MiskatonicNick, on Flickr

Does this work for you?  

Alien Experiments by MiskatonicNick, on Flickr

What about this one?  


The truth is that they all work for me.  They work because I look beyond the doll itself.  Great if you can afford nothing but TBLeague figures, but what made Nick's photos memorable and great, was not that his figures were jointed or seamless, but his creativity,  imagination, sense of humour, and his dios, which are to die for.  

I know you can build pretty awesome backdrops and dios.  I think you have a sense of humor.  Do you have a style yet?  I'd say you probably do.  

In short, if you put good stories together and good photos, I don't think anyone will be bothered by your mixing seamless and fashion-doll figures.as for me, while I don't own any fashion-doll figures, I have no qualms mixing anime style figures with more realistic ones if it suits my comedic sense.


Page_2 by Gary  Menten, on Flickr

This thread feels made for me! XD

My entry into the hobby was initially via ogling other people’s 1/6 figures, but at the time they were too expensive and hard to get for me, so I bought a couple of cheap barbies to customise, then Mattel brought out the highly articulated Made to Move bodies and well, that was that for me! The irony was that as a kid I hated the idea that I was ‘supposed’ to like dolls and everything they stood for. (Which, as a 90s kid, seemed to be nonstop pink, fashion and shopping ) As a result I had very few, and the only one that survived my childhood has literal battle scars and war paint from my early attempts to ‘de-barbiefy’ her

Since then I’ve made several hybrid figs on MTM bodies but with action figure/ 1/6 headsculpts and more realistic clothing etc. All my fantasy/sci fi characters are like this, and it’s only Max and Juno and their friends who are kept stylised and more doll-like.

Breanaa by Christine Sutcliffe, on Flickr

Breanna by Christine Sutcliffe, on Flickr

I love the realism in them, but one thing I find in the hobby in general, especially when people use seamless bodies is that there can often be a case of the ‘uncanny valley’ with them, mostly if the posing isn’t quite right, and that always puts me off. Barbies and other fashion dolls avoid that by being stylised from the get-go, but still convincing enough to fit with realistic dioramas and accessories.

Breakfast at Max and Juno's by Christine Sutcliffe, on Flickr

Breakfast at Max and Juno's by Christine Sutcliffe, on Flickr

Max and Juno by Christine Sutcliffe, on Flickr

Juno by Christine Sutcliffe, on Flickr

Max and Juno at the beach by Christine Sutcliffe, on Flickr

There’s a much greater range of diversity in the Barbie world these days, especially in body type, and clunky knees aside, the Curvy MTM body is my absolute favourite.

Kirsty and Petra by Christine Sutcliffe, on Flickr

They’ve also got a Petite (which I don’t have yet) and a Tall, which I recently switched Juno’s head onto as I’ve always thought of her as being a bit taller. (Unfortunately now most of the clothes I’ve made her over the last few years don’t fit properly ) I’ve also switched out both of their hands with Fashion Royalty ones I got off Ali Express as they’re much more expressive than the default Barbie ones.

Juno goes to IKEA by Christine Sutcliffe, on Flickr

Dungeons and Dragons and Dolls by Christine Sutcliffe, on Flickr

Dungeons and Dragons and Dolls by Christine Sutcliffe, on Flickr

(And yes, there will be a D&D photostory at some point, I just need to finish writing it, I took the photos months ago! )

I can totally understand why most folk aren’t a fan of Barbies and the like, and certainly straight out of the box they can be pretty bland and offputting, but with the right headsculpt and decent clothes they’re great little figures! Many of the recent playline ones do have oversized heads and weird teeth, so I always keep my eyes peeled for movie tie in dolls or older ‘Dolls of the World’ ones as they were much more realistic, though I’m lucky to find anything decent where I am!

Also @ThePhotosgsBlog, thank you for bringing up the much missed MiskatonicNick - his photos were so inspirational to me when I first got into the hobby, and I still look back at his Flickr albums regularly. Such a huge loss.

Much like with Nick's photos, Christine, when I look at yours, I look at the whole photo, not just the figure or figures. I look at what's in the photo when you've built a dio, or how you handle the discrepancies of scale when shooting outdoors. I look at how the photo is composed, how the figures are posed, and I ask myself, as I do with any photo, "is this effective. Does it communicate the message? " The answer has always been "yes." The fact that they are shot with fashion dolls or hybrids is of less concern than the composition as a whole. Do I prefer Phicens for female figures? Totally. Do I look down my nose at anyone who either can't afford them or prefers to use fashion dolls? Nope! That would be like saying that a skilled photographer with a $500.00 camera can't shoot a better photo than a mediocre or poor photographer with a $3000.00 camera.

Sarah, if you like the figures, the heads and so on, use them. They are your photos and your fun.

You definitely make the most of Barbie's potential, Lynkhart! And I'm glad you do, your figures and photo stories are an absolute joy to behold, and the 1/6 world would be lesser without them. :')

What happened to MiskatonicNick?

skywalkersaga wrote:What happened to MiskatonicNick?

He passed away. Cancer, from what I was told.

Ohh, Christine! I’m looking forward to your DnD photo story! That’s going to be epic if your Max and Juno photos are anything to go by.

That being said, I hope those that were adamantly opposed to Barbie haven’t scared Sarah from posting her stuff.