Barbie stuff

I recently bought the new curvy fashionista #144 with the microbraids. She's so pretty, and I named her Keisha. I also did leg transplants on a "beach feet" Barbie I own; these 1990s dolls came barefoot with large flat feet that don't fit into typical Barbie high heel shoes. I don't mind the realistic feet at all; what I minded was the rubber bend and click legs which are so difficult to dress in pants. It's the same reason why I hate vintage Ken's rubber bend and click legs. So anyway, I found a pair of hard plastic legs that matched my Barbie's tan skin tone, and I managed to do the leg swap without breaking the legs or joints. Success!

In other news, Mattel has released a lot of historical figures lately as their Inspiring Women Barbies. I recently bought the Susan B. Anthony doll, because she is a Curvy Collector body. (Mattel's website incorrectly lists her as "articulated Original" body instead.)  Other dolls like Sally Ride, Rosa Parks, and Florence Nightingale have been too skinny with spindly limbs, so I passed on them. I do already have Curvy articulated Black dolls, so I was happy to get a Curvy Caucasian doll this time.

The Susan B. Anthony doll was packaged with a whole lot of plastic underneath her dress. Possibly they feared that the black dress might leave stains on the pale body. They also wrapped the knees in cardboard to make sure they didn't break during shipping. The collector dolls have different knees than the Made-To-Move Barbies. So anyway, it took a lot of work to unbox her and get all the annoying plastic off her. She has grey hair and wears glasses, but her face is too smooth and youthful looking. It's so strange, because I know that Mattel is able to create realistic wrinkles on other dolls when they want to resemble a real celebrity. Her grey hair is very stiff from the gel used to style it into a low bun. Also, her glasses are sewn into her hair crooked, and it makes her arched eyebrows look more sardonic.

So I prefer to pretend that this doll isn't Susan B. Anthony. This is either Kate Warne or Grace Humiston in disguise, working undercover on a case. In fact I'm still undecided about what to name her. What name did Kate Warne use when she was playing the fortune teller in Pinkerton's case? I could reread the book, I guess, but I actually have a new novel about Kate Warne that I started reading. It's called The Lincoln Special by Peg A. Lamphier. I haven't gotten very far yet because it isn't available as an ebook; I had to buy it as a softcover book, and I don't often have time to read except on my lunch hour at work.