New Dolls

I decided to buy a couple of new Barbie dolls recently. I found some ebay auctions for an Allan doll, and after making sure that he had straight legs and not the yucky bendable legs, I bid and finally won. It's not in perfect condition, of course, and he doesn't have his iconic rainbow shirt. For those, the cost would be way too much. But I have some extra Ken clothes and Allan's charming face is great.

In looking for more Asian Barbie dolls I came across the 2002 Star Skater Barbie based on Michelle Kwan at the Winter Olympics. At least this Asian doll resembles her namesake, and she's articulated so she can do spins and such. Her Twist N Turn body is very similar to a 1996 Olympic Gymnast Barbie I already have, with articulated joints and flat feet. That's the way that Mattel did articulation back before the Made to Move dolls. When I received the delivery, I saw that the Michelle Kwan doll has green eyes. It's very cute. Also her blue skirt is partly painted on her butt, and it's supposed to meet up with her blue panties. In practice, though, the panties keep falling down as they're connected to her pantyhose. I may have to add a real fabric skirt to make up for the disconnect between torso and legs. The ribbon fringe skirt doesn't cover enough.

The doll is missing her orange ice skates, but I have some other boots that work. They're sky blue ice skates from the 1997 Olympic Skater Barbie, which open on a hinge and then snap shut over the foot. I recently bought extra blue ice skates on Ebay along with the pink ice skates from the 1998 Ice Capades Barbie. The pink skates are the same size and design as the blue skates, but for some reason the metal blades are too loose and keep falling out the bottom. I may have to glue them in, but I'm worried it will interfere with the opening and closing of the skates. And I might want to use the pink skates without the blades as boots for any other flat-footed Barbies I have. It's very hard to find cowboy boots in this size.