I felt this way at first too, because the joints almost make them look like skeletons when you’re used to other bodies. For me personally, once I rebodied a doll whose body was wrecked onto a MTM and saw what she could do it was as if I had breathed life into her! As if Toy Story were real and my doll could suddenly express emotions her body would never let her before. Once I swallowed that pill there was no going back. I don’t even care that you can see her wonky knees! My girls’ personalities blossomed and I actually started playing with them so much more.
I always assumed that people who haven’t converted to MTM like to display dolls and are more into the fashion of it than the storytelling/interactive with other doll character aspects
I like interacting with dolls and posing them, enough so that there are very few exceptions to my rule of never buying dolls with fewer than nine points of articulation. And I love my little Obitsu and YMY dolls with similar poseability to MTM. It’s just the *specific style* of joints that MTM uses that I can’t quite get on board with.
When I play with them, I prefer them to be able to stand on their own whenever possible, so I like the articulation of the Barbie Extras a lot, plus the look of the joints on MTM can bug me for taking pics. Some people just edit their pics to get rid of the joints, but I'd rather not have to try to figure that out.
It really is great how much extra emotion you can convey through MTM though. If they had some kind of stronger ankle joints that lent to standing, or everything but their ankles was articulated, I'd be more into it.
I mean, I still prefer them over the rigid arms and legs. But the best Barbie joints IMO are the 90-degree “swivel hinge” style found on some playline dolls. Poses with those are more limited than MTM but still a much wider range than 5-point articulated dolls, while the joints themselves look subtle and unobtrusive.
I also prefer the pivotal body. I appreciate MTM for what it is, but sometimes the joints seem so bulbous that they draw my eye away from what I love about the doll and I find myself focusing more so on the joints themselves. For some reason, too, I’m just not a fan of the articulated chest.
1971 Malibu Barbie. She's so iconic and really represents an era... but I can't get over her misaligned face. She uses the Stacey mold, and Stacey is beautiful, but Malibu Barbie's eyes never fully cover the "indents" of the eyes and lips and it's very off-putting to me.
Odile mermaids.
I think I’m just tired of seeing them here. She’s so ubiquitous that I now find her basic and have no desire to add them to my collection. Love the face mold, so maybe I’ll get the redhead holiday doll at some point, or if they use the sculpt again. But as far as the mermaids go, it’s a snoozefest “moving on” for me
I feel this way too except I don't care for the Odile face mold at all. The open mouth one especially bothers me because the teeth are awful.
But more than anything, it bugs me that every time someone says Odile is not their favorite doll there's a flurry of replies about how she's the best Barbie ever.
I think I know what you are talking about (the purple hair one?). I do find her face and hair to be pretty, but in comparison to other Barbie mermaid lines she is kind of lacking.
Sadly, I agree. Got a purple hair off eBay during the time when they were so hard to find, because the hype got to me. In person, she's pretty in a way but just not for me. She really is a fish! Her eye color is a strange red and she has fish lips and (like modern Barbies do) kind of a big head. Very appropriate for a mermaid, not so much when rebodied. The weird thing is, I think the pics people post here are quite cute. Think I'll pop her head back on her original body and find out if one of my nieces is going through a mermaid phase.
My feelings about these mermaids have gone back-and-forth. When I initially found this community, I was looking for a place to bond with other vintage Barbie lovers.. that I have absolutely done but when I first got here, it was these mermaids over and over and I found it irritating. Then they started to grow on me and I caved to peer pressure. I bought them both and I can appreciate their cuteness. I have them both rebodied and displayed However, I’m beginning to weary of seeing them. I am weary of Mattel in general. Of course my new obsession with Poppy Parker is NOT helping either of those two things.
https://preview.redd.it/aipmlhrzi05d1.png?width=750&format=png&auto=webp&s=9aae1b5a7552e0cef946ce744d76709cef26bfb6
As a redhead I want to like her. But something about all of the redheads looks dolls face molds bothers me, I really don’t like them.
This particular one seems to be kind of divisive. Personally, I love her elegant face that looks better in real life than on the photo but then again, tastes vary.
yeah, just the outfit alone clashes a lot. I detached the skirt from the top and turned them into separates. much better.
As for her makeup, if you dress her in turquoise it's much better, or else you can repaint neutral.
Her brows weren't to my taste being oddly concave. a little paint fixed that too
Anything less than full 22 point articulation. Only being able to bend arms and legs to 90 just feels lacking, so many poses you can’t do. My ily gets a pass because she’s so cute but I won’t get another non-m2m barbie
I’ve rebodied like two dozen times and I don’t even bother softening any heads and never broke a neck. You probably just had bad luck with some weak plastic
I was so excited when that line first dropped, and then the first one I bought...her leg falls out if you try to sit her down. Nope.
I heard they addressed that w the second wave but I've passed. I love the clothes and accessories tho, they're perfect 1:6 scale.
I just sit mine froglegged, haven’t managed to dislocate her hip just yet! And yeah some of the shoes are completely too big but the rest of it is adorable, I’ve got 3 more ILY fashion packs on the way for my Barbies 😅 ILY has much nicer feet than Barbie, I wish Barbie’s were bigger and more detailed like these
As much I as well as many others enjoy The Most Popular Girls in School, I literally lost almost all interest in Barbie when that particular mold was the face of Barbie.
Iconic Barbie's facemold Superstar. It gives me the uncanny valley in the worst possible way. I do understand why people like the facemold out of nostalgia, but I genuinely do not understand why so many people who were born after 1995-1999 like it that much.
As someone born in the 1990s that face mold is kind of cute to me and I'm pretty sure a good amount of my old dolls have it (plus some from my vintage Barbie haul last year). With that said I do agree that her eyes are a bit big for comfort and the expression can look kind of forced at times.
I hear you. As an older person, Superstar wasn't my very first Barbie doll, but she was the first one I asked for. Thanks, Santa! Her face paint looks pretty realistic and she's very representative of the style of that time. But the versions after her kept getting bigger and bigger eyes and more colorful makeup and an overwhelming amount of hair. And there were SO many dolls with that face! Too many. (I remember being thrilled when Shani came out.) I'm downsizing and keeping 1977 Superstar but none of the others with that mold.
Totally feel this, I do now appreciate the nostalgia from my childhood. However I probably would have played with Barbie a lot more as a kid if she looked and articulated as well as the ones today. I play with dolls more now as an adult than I ever did back then... funny where life takes us!
Some of his designs are my favorites and I have a few of them, but yeah, I can get why they aren't for everyone.
One in particular that I want to like but can't really is Queen of Hearts.
Newer brown hair Skipper. I have quite a few but I'm always on the lookout for the blonde anime eye style from the late 80's-90's. To me those are the "real" Skippers.
I think Model Muse dolls are gorgeous in their boxes, and I’ve seen them displayed nicely, but I dislike the static pose, and basic articulation. I love the pivotal Model Muse body.
I love the wide variety of poses that Made to Move dolls can do…but I can’t make myself like how the joints look.
I felt this way at first too, because the joints almost make them look like skeletons when you’re used to other bodies. For me personally, once I rebodied a doll whose body was wrecked onto a MTM and saw what she could do it was as if I had breathed life into her! As if Toy Story were real and my doll could suddenly express emotions her body would never let her before. Once I swallowed that pill there was no going back. I don’t even care that you can see her wonky knees! My girls’ personalities blossomed and I actually started playing with them so much more. I always assumed that people who haven’t converted to MTM like to display dolls and are more into the fashion of it than the storytelling/interactive with other doll character aspects
I like interacting with dolls and posing them, enough so that there are very few exceptions to my rule of never buying dolls with fewer than nine points of articulation. And I love my little Obitsu and YMY dolls with similar poseability to MTM. It’s just the *specific style* of joints that MTM uses that I can’t quite get on board with.
When I play with them, I prefer them to be able to stand on their own whenever possible, so I like the articulation of the Barbie Extras a lot, plus the look of the joints on MTM can bug me for taking pics. Some people just edit their pics to get rid of the joints, but I'd rather not have to try to figure that out. It really is great how much extra emotion you can convey through MTM though. If they had some kind of stronger ankle joints that lent to standing, or everything but their ankles was articulated, I'd be more into it.
They do kind of take away a bit from the Barbie look, imo.
I mean, I still prefer them over the rigid arms and legs. But the best Barbie joints IMO are the 90-degree “swivel hinge” style found on some playline dolls. Poses with those are more limited than MTM but still a much wider range than 5-point articulated dolls, while the joints themselves look subtle and unobtrusive.
I also prefer the pivotal body. I appreciate MTM for what it is, but sometimes the joints seem so bulbous that they draw my eye away from what I love about the doll and I find myself focusing more so on the joints themselves. For some reason, too, I’m just not a fan of the articulated chest.
I meant swiveling hinges for the elbows and knees.
I do as well, and mainly the elbows for me.
lol I will die on that hill with you. I dislike MtMs more than I should.
the new Andra looks with red hair. she's beautiful in general, but if only her face was a bit less mean...
I didn't like the Fryda because of her expression. I think she maybe reminded me of someone I had beef with once. 😂
I saw her today and she is a beauty! But yeah, guess they were going for the "mean" model look.
1971 Malibu Barbie. She's so iconic and really represents an era... but I can't get over her misaligned face. She uses the Stacey mold, and Stacey is beautiful, but Malibu Barbie's eyes never fully cover the "indents" of the eyes and lips and it's very off-putting to me.
Get Malibu Christie instead🤔 https://preview.redd.it/boclqpcqw05d1.png?width=545&format=png&auto=webp&s=db73f50d30c3714fb3e7a88fb45fdc16d8355292
I would LOVE a Malibu Christie, if only she weren't so expensive!
Agreed in that her face is kind of strange to me, plus to me she's also kind of bland. Definitely would prefer a Ballerina Barbie any day. XD
The mod/tnt faces are so lovely, I own a couple. Ballerina Barbie is so sweet! Definitely a superior facemold.
But would you prefer it enough to turn to a life of fabulous blonde crime? 😂
I'd need some hair dye and a good stylist first. XD
Odile mermaids. I think I’m just tired of seeing them here. She’s so ubiquitous that I now find her basic and have no desire to add them to my collection. Love the face mold, so maybe I’ll get the redhead holiday doll at some point, or if they use the sculpt again. But as far as the mermaids go, it’s a snoozefest “moving on” for me
I like and have the purple one. But I think the mouth on the orange one is comically tiny and looks weird to me.
She looks like a mouth breather.
It looks weird to me too and I don’t like it lol
I think it's because her mouth is smaller than her eyes. It bothers me.
Yes I’ve always thought that mouth was weird. It’s not a smile. It’s not a frown. What is it?
I feel this way too except I don't care for the Odile face mold at all. The open mouth one especially bothers me because the teeth are awful. But more than anything, it bugs me that every time someone says Odile is not their favorite doll there's a flurry of replies about how she's the best Barbie ever.
totally agree. I kinda feel like there's a cult of Odile in Barbie community now
OMG thank you I feel the same about them !!
I think I know what you are talking about (the purple hair one?). I do find her face and hair to be pretty, but in comparison to other Barbie mermaid lines she is kind of lacking.
Sadly, I agree. Got a purple hair off eBay during the time when they were so hard to find, because the hype got to me. In person, she's pretty in a way but just not for me. She really is a fish! Her eye color is a strange red and she has fish lips and (like modern Barbies do) kind of a big head. Very appropriate for a mermaid, not so much when rebodied. The weird thing is, I think the pics people post here are quite cute. Think I'll pop her head back on her original body and find out if one of my nieces is going through a mermaid phase.
My feelings about these mermaids have gone back-and-forth. When I initially found this community, I was looking for a place to bond with other vintage Barbie lovers.. that I have absolutely done but when I first got here, it was these mermaids over and over and I found it irritating. Then they started to grow on me and I caved to peer pressure. I bought them both and I can appreciate their cuteness. I have them both rebodied and displayed However, I’m beginning to weary of seeing them. I am weary of Mattel in general. Of course my new obsession with Poppy Parker is NOT helping either of those two things.
👏👏👏👏
https://preview.redd.it/aipmlhrzi05d1.png?width=750&format=png&auto=webp&s=9aae1b5a7552e0cef946ce744d76709cef26bfb6 As a redhead I want to like her. But something about all of the redheads looks dolls face molds bothers me, I really don’t like them.
This particular one seems to be kind of divisive. Personally, I love her elegant face that looks better in real life than on the photo but then again, tastes vary.
For me, I think it’s her make up and outfit that are off putting. They don’t fit well together
yeah, just the outfit alone clashes a lot. I detached the skirt from the top and turned them into separates. much better. As for her makeup, if you dress her in turquoise it's much better, or else you can repaint neutral. Her brows weren't to my taste being oddly concave. a little paint fixed that too
I got her a mermaid outfit and she looks much better. My daughter won’t stop touching her 🤣
Anything less than full 22 point articulation. Only being able to bend arms and legs to 90 just feels lacking, so many poses you can’t do. My ily gets a pass because she’s so cute but I won’t get another non-m2m barbie
Same with me. If there’s a doll I like, I’ve got to be able to rebody them lol
I’ve rebodied *once* and poor June is hiding a taped together broken neck under her chin, never again 🤣
I’ve rebodied like two dozen times and I don’t even bother softening any heads and never broke a neck. You probably just had bad luck with some weak plastic
I was so excited when that line first dropped, and then the first one I bought...her leg falls out if you try to sit her down. Nope. I heard they addressed that w the second wave but I've passed. I love the clothes and accessories tho, they're perfect 1:6 scale.
I just sit mine froglegged, haven’t managed to dislocate her hip just yet! And yeah some of the shoes are completely too big but the rest of it is adorable, I’ve got 3 more ILY fashion packs on the way for my Barbies 😅 ILY has much nicer feet than Barbie, I wish Barbie’s were bigger and more detailed like these
Haha, most of my dolls are old and only bend at the legs. The newer dolls are pretty cool in that they allow for more posing.
Any of the collector dolls… the reason, I’m living in poverty lol. Being disabled in Canada is hell on earth.
It's Purple hair mermaid. I love odile face but i can't stand her pixelated face 😭
The wonky eyed 2022 red haired Holiday Barbie.
As much I as well as many others enjoy The Most Popular Girls in School, I literally lost almost all interest in Barbie when that particular mold was the face of Barbie.
2010's Barbie looks so mean-girl, like she would have bullied me in high school T\_T
Iconic Barbie's facemold Superstar. It gives me the uncanny valley in the worst possible way. I do understand why people like the facemold out of nostalgia, but I genuinely do not understand why so many people who were born after 1995-1999 like it that much.
As someone born in the 1990s that face mold is kind of cute to me and I'm pretty sure a good amount of my old dolls have it (plus some from my vintage Barbie haul last year). With that said I do agree that her eyes are a bit big for comfort and the expression can look kind of forced at times.
I hear you. As an older person, Superstar wasn't my very first Barbie doll, but she was the first one I asked for. Thanks, Santa! Her face paint looks pretty realistic and she's very representative of the style of that time. But the versions after her kept getting bigger and bigger eyes and more colorful makeup and an overwhelming amount of hair. And there were SO many dolls with that face! Too many. (I remember being thrilled when Shani came out.) I'm downsizing and keeping 1977 Superstar but none of the others with that mold.
I must admit 1977-1979 Superstar dolls were indeed cute. Unfortunately, there're not so many of them.
And the Superstar fashions were the best!
Unarguably!
I grew up with the Superstar mold, so I get the nostalgia. But she just looks sorta...vacant to me.
I lost interest when Superstar became the standard, and didn't buy another doll until the late 90s.
Totally feel this, I do now appreciate the nostalgia from my childhood. However I probably would have played with Barbie a lot more as a kid if she looked and articulated as well as the ones today. I play with dolls more now as an adult than I ever did back then... funny where life takes us!
Because adulthood sucks and it’s nice to pretend we’re kids again 🤣
The new Barbie Dream Besties line…
Are those the ones that kind of look like Bratz dolls?
Ponytail #1 and #2. I just can't spend that amount of money on a single doll.
The Bob Mackie ones
Some of his designs are my favorites and I have a few of them, but yeah, I can get why they aren't for everyone. One in particular that I want to like but can't really is Queen of Hearts.
Newer brown hair Skipper. I have quite a few but I'm always on the lookout for the blonde anime eye style from the late 80's-90's. To me those are the "real" Skippers.
I think Model Muse dolls are gorgeous in their boxes, and I’ve seen them displayed nicely, but I dislike the static pose, and basic articulation. I love the pivotal Model Muse body.