Still Having Fun with Basics Collection 2.0

Barbie Basics Collection 2
Originally uploaded by The Doll Cafe

I just recently went "Pro" on my Flickr account and have had tons of fun posting pictures of the Barbie Basics Collection 2. I was lucky enough to find all of them at Walmart and Target a few weeks ago and I just completed my collection with the Louboutin Model No. 14. This collection has something for everyone. With the variety of facemolds and the addition of the Ken Basics this collection is a real winner. Barbie Designer Bill Greening posted on the Barbie Collector board that there will be a collection 2.5 and this collection will have some articulation! The dolls in the collection have not yet been revealed. It seems like this will be a mini collection until there is another full collection! Exciting!

Barbie Basics Collection 2

Model No. 1 close-up
Originally uploaded by mo1160

The Basics Collection are popping up just about everywhere, except Amazon! They showed up about a month ago very briefly. It appears some third-party sellers are selling them for the ridiculous price of $45.99. Hopefully Amazon instead of a third party seller will stock these dolls soon!

So far, I've managed to find the dolls at Target and Walmart but for the last few that are difficult to find Amazon might be a great bet. Of course, Barbie Collector is now taking pre-orders but the dolls will be available on January 13th. Get your orders in now, scour your Targets and/or Walmarts, and get your hands on some of these beauties. They are the hottest thing sweeping the Barbie Collector community since Barbie's big 50th! Wow, with three new Basics guys and this year being Ken's 50th, who knows, we might be celebrating even bigger than with our girl!

Model Muse Dolls In Your Future!

Mattel has finally released a picture of the Hard Rock Cafe doll announced earlier this year. She will be available in the fall at the bc.com shop and at the Hard Rock Cafe stores and online shops. She is a gold label doll (produced in amounts limited to 25,000). She will retail for about $75.00. You can see a small picture here. HRC features the Mackie head mold, very pale skin and gothic style make-up. Her hair is platinum blonde with jet black bangs and streaks in a high ponytail. Her jewelry is silver-toned and and gold toned with gem-like accents. Her dress features spaghetti straps and is a Lolita style in black and a tartan plaid print. Her look is completed by red fishnets, black stiletto heeled-boots and matching plaid and black fingerless gloves. She also comes with a guitar. She is pretty racy for Mattel and I applaud them for stepping out and creating a doll that mirrors "hard rock." This doll was designed by Sharon Zuckerman.

2009 will see the release of the American Favorites Collection. One of the dolls in this collection is the Hershey Barbie. She is a model muse doll with the Lara/Drew face mold. Her make-up is vivid and smokey to go with the Chocolate theme. She has beautiful long brunette hair and a dress with silver and brown designs. Her belt reads "Hershey's" in the company logo. The dress has a bell shape to simulate a Hershey's chocolate kiss. She is very cute and will be released in 2009. Hopefully we'll see some sneaks of the actual doll at the Mattel Toy Fair. She is the creation of designer Linda Kyaw. Both of these girls are on my list!

Still Cleaning Up and One More New Girl

I've been working very hard cleaning up the galleries for the grand opening. Looking through the various galleries and deleting many pictures also brought back some memories. The Mattel playline has really changed in recent years. It seems like the playline is really trying to separate itself from the collector line with the body changes and head mold and head size constantly changing. But then again, Mattel adds Model Muse dolls to playline with the Top Model collection. It's hard to know what direction Mattel will go in next.

On that note, there is always Ebay and I could always go back and buy dolls I missed out on! Speaking of new dolls, today I ordered the AA Dallas Cowboy Cheerleader. I'm really eager to get her. She's the last one I need from the set. I haven't de-boxed the Blonde or the Hispanic doll but I'm sure as soon as I receive the last one I'll have a little de-boxing party . . .

Here is another doll I worked on last weekend. With the Barbie Collector $12.99 sale I picked up two extra AA Birthstones. One of them was Opal. I thought she would perfectly match the Birthstone Opal from the last collection. I'm quite fond of this doll because she was the only one with this skin-tone in the entire collection. In addition, very few Hispanic or African American dolls are made with the Mackie mold and this is one of them. In addition, my birthstone is Opal. I'm quite pleased with the way she turned out.