The Wacky Barbie Dolls: Pregnant Midge and Her Sisters

Although unfortunately it is not possible to buy one Weird Barbie (Weird) that looks like Kate McKinnon, you can always fix it by cutting a regular doll’s hair and scribbling her face. Instead you can purchase a version of the dog pooping and lives with Weird Barbie featured in the film Barbie Of Greta Gerwig. The plastic pet is packaged with a Barbie doll wearing a striped sweater and sneakers; her official name is Barbie Walk and Potty Pup. “When it’s time to go to the toilet, push the puppy’s tail,” reads the text of the ad. “Barbie doll will be able to clean using a broom and dustpan.”

Barbie is the dream of traders, a product that is all in all appreciated by the public, subversive but captivating which, after all, is still one commercial two hours long. The film, however, does not give up referring to some of the Mattel’s most bizarre offerings. According to an article by New Yorkerthe dog defecating is actually based on Tannera Barbie accessory from the 80s who ate his own excrement – ​​yes! – and which was eventually pulled not because it was disgusting, but because the magnet inside Barbie’s paddle could detach and be swallowed by a child. (Barbie Walk and Potty Pup are essentially the same toy, minus the dangerous magnets.)

So let’s take stock of other toys like Tanner: the real-life wacky Barbies who have drawn complaints, ridicule and celebration as accidental gay icons. Barbie Proust, at least for the moment, is not among them.

Midge

Emerald Fennell has an applauded cameo in Barbie as Midge, a redheaded pregnant doll. Yep, that’s right: Midge is pregnant. This differentiates the film version of the doll from the original incarnation of her, released in 1963 as Barbie’s best friend. Midge was discontinued in 1967, then reintroduced in 1987, again in the 1990s and, once again, to great fanfare, in the 2000s, as part of the “Happy Family” line – Midge featured a small baby that could be inserted into a bulging belly (which the girls could add and remove at will, thanks to a magnet positioned in the center of Midge) or “born” from that same plastic dome. The husband and three-year-old son were sold separately.

Ginger Gaetz, wife of Mattannounced on Tuesday that he had seen the film by Barbie and that she was disappointed, in part because of the “unfair treatment of pregnant Barbie Midge.” There’s something ironic about that, considering the wrath of conservatives was instrumental in getting Happy Family Midge cancelled. “It’s a bad idea. Promotes teenage pregnancy. What would an 8- or 12-year-old girl gain with that doll?” a mother asked the Associated Press in 2002. The doll was pulled from Wal-Mart due to complaints; just like the narrator’s voice Helen Mirren tells us in Barbie, it was eventually dropped from the Mattel line because “too weird”. But perhaps Midge will have her revenge: according to a collector, today it can be worth up to 400 dollars, if in perfect condition.

Allan

Remember Midge had a husband? This is Allan, played in the film by a Michael Cera in dazzling shape. In 1964, it was introduced as Ken’s best friend. (Barbie is named after the creator’s daughter Ruth Handler and Ken by the son; while Allan from that of the then son-in-law, Allen Segal.) Ken and Allan are very close, as Cera tells us in the film, «all of her clothes fit me» (a phrase that comes directly from the commercial).

Like Midge, Allan has been in and (mostly) out of the Barbie universe for nearly 60 years. Mattel hasn’t made an Allan doll yet, but given how fun Cera is in the movie, it should.

Barbie Video Girl

Barbie Video Girl is hiding in the dream house of Weird Barbie (Mette Narrative), which looks like an oddity straight out of the 1990s, even though it was actually only launched 13 years ago. As he wrote at the time The Wall Street JournalBarbie Video Girl “has a large hole in her chest, disguised as a stylish pendant, which holds a video camera,” connected to the video screen built into her back.

The idea was that the dolls could be used to record and playback one’s own footage. (This was 2010, we recall, years before it was possible to shoot a blockbuster independent film entirely with an iPhone.) With the ability to capture around 25 minutes of footage, USB compatibility and free editing software, it was easy to imagine that the doll could be a success among the future Greta Gerwig. Instead, Video Girl was censored by theFBIwhich issued a notice stating the doll could be used for logging child pornography material. Perhaps it is useless to specify that Mattel no longer sells Barbie Video Girl.

Skipper growing up

Another of the creations discussed, this doll – also banned in the house of nightmares of Weird Barbie, played in the film by Hannah Khalique-Brown – is the version of Barbie’s little sister launched in 1975 who «grows as her figure matures». Basically, when she twists her arm, she gets taller…and her boobs swell. All true!

Talking Barbie

Introduced in 1992 (and performed on screen by Marisa Abela), Talking Barbie could say things like: «Let’s plan the wedding of our dreams!» and “Math class is hard!” The feminists rose up against the doll, inspiring a classic episode of the simpsons, which can be considered as a sort of first draft of the Barbie by Gerwig.

Ken Magic Ring

When Barbie (Margot Robbie) and Ken (Ryan Gosling) rollerblade into Venice Beach, Ken receives appreciative looks from two passersby coded as queer. The two boys might have been even more excited if they had met another friend of Weird Barbie: Ken the Magic Ring (in the film Tom Stourton). Launched in 1993, clad in purple leather and mesh, it had, of course, a single glittering hoop earring.

It was part of the company’s new Earring Magic line, but quickly stood out after being unofficially adopted by the company gay community, also for the splendid silver pendant he wore around his neck. (As passionate as the columnist Dan Savagesexual expert. they interpreted the jewel differently from Mattel. “It’s a necklace, with charms that you can share with Barbie,” a company rep told him at the time. “Come on, this is a doll designed for little girls”). His purpose was to convince girls that Ken was cool. Instead, she convinced a bunch of cool men that Ken was cool, which is, honestly, a more impressive accomplishment.)

Sugar Daddy

In 2009, 11 years after the debut of Will & Grace, one would have expected Mattel to have become more savvy in sensing how its products might be interpreted by adults. That year the company launched Sugar Daddy, as part of its Palm Beach toy line aimed at adult collectors. Sugar’s dad (played in the film by Rob Brydon) wore a beautifully crafted paisley blazer, an elegant pair of white moccasins and a small white terrier held on a pink leash. It was Sugar.

“The little dog’s name is actually Sugar,” a Mattel spokeswoman told al at the time New York Post. «The name comes from there, he is the father of Sugar, of the little dog. There’s nothing allusive about it.” Mmm. Talking with ABC News, the company seemed to have clearer ideas: «After all, this collection is aimed at adults», declared a spokeswoman, «even if the name of the doll refers to the dog, I think people will interpret it as they want». At least in this case, the joke could have been played on us.