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On the penultimate night, the Barbie’s Best Friend award was handed out. Photograph: Héctor Mata/AFP/Getty Images Mattel had been “in financial difficulty, so they were trying to pinch pennies”, Yarbrough concluded. The discoloration “is just low-quality vinyl that they were trying to maximize and kept re-melting”. Our most gregarious companion was Arnaldo, a landscape architect and natural storyteller whose hobby of refurbishing damaged dolls has made him into one of the highest-regarded doll doctors (Arnaldo asked me not to use his last name as, like many conventioneers, he prefers to keep his Barbie and professional lives separate). When he started in the 90s, Arnaldo told the table, restoration was quasi-taboo. “People were scared,” he said, “because they could be passed off as fakes.”
Everyone has their own reasons for being at BarbieCon: parents inheriting kids’ inventory, investors building retirement funds, nostalgics recapturing their childhood, being named Barbie or Ken and just rolling with it. But as the questions in the seminar made clear, the panelists were not the only experts. Here, everyone seemed an autodidact archivist at the small museums they stored in their homes. Spencer handed out trophies to two longtime volunteers, including one of the Barbaras. As she introduced the last honoree, her voice became garbled. “I’m presenting two awards to these partners, both in life and somewhere beyond all this,” she choked. A man took the stage and embraced her; the speech became still harder to hear. Eyes watered around the ballroom, including my own, though I had no idea what she was saying. “That’s a famous dealer,” Dale whispered. “His partner passed last year.”Yarbrough launched into a detailed description of vinyl injection molding and how sculpting Barbie’s body parts yields a byproduct of excess plastic called slag. “It’s supposed to be thrown away,” he explained, “because once it’s remelted and reinjected, it’s no longer colorfast or chemically stable.” But occasionally, Mattel had dabbled in slag recycling, he went on, not least in the early 1970s. No one needed to ask what he meant: the SEC charged the manufacturer for fraudulent accounting in 1973. Little horse lovers can spend a day at the Horse Stables with 3 Barbie® micro-dolls and 9 animals. Kids can play as they build the barn to care for animals. They can feed and groom the 2 horses, 2 bunnies, 2 birds, a pony, lamb and puppy with accessories like carrots, a brush, water bowl and more. Then, Barbie® and her horse can get ready to ride when kids build the stables. Kids can build the garden to plant flowers and give the animals a place to play and rest. Designed for beginners, this building set is easy to build and provides storytelling play with every step. Wonder Builders building toys are designed for ages 4+
The doors opened as she recounted the years she’d spent saving and spending, gradually amassing the exact assortment of dolls she’d acquired as a child. The 10-person arrangement included a “Table Host”, assigned to steer the activities among each group, who sat beside her “travel Barbie” – a common accessory among conventioneers. (“I bring her with me everywhere,” she said. “Last year, we went to Paris.”) Eight, 10 and 11-year veterans sat alongside a young mother who, like me, had arrived alone and for the first time. Another tablemate, who tagged along with her niece, did not own a single doll. At least until that day. “I have three now,” she said. Barbie doll and Chelsea doll are ready to ride wearing casual outfits and riding boots -- a cactus on Barbie doll's t-shirt is a perfect statementMigrating between rooms at the convention amounts to a crash course in collector argot, with terms like ‘NRFB’ for ‘Never Removed From Box’. Photograph: Mel Melcon/Los Angeles Times/Getty Images This was the true attraction of BarbieCon: collectors are aware their obsession attracts sneers. The external disregard has made them secretive, but still more devoted to one another. There’s a whole range of Barbie Fashionistas and career dolls to explore too, encouraging real-world storytelling. Discover the widest range of Fashionista dolls to date, celebrating diversity with unique fashion dolls in a wide variety of skin tones, eye colours, hair colours and textures, body types and fashions. Or realise you could be anything with an exciting range of Barbie career dolls, from teachers, vets and doctors to Barbie pilot dolls and sports stars. Set off on camping adventures with the Barbie camper van, create your own fantasy world with Barbie Dreamtopia and discover what you could be with Barbie careers dolls. Kids can play out all kinds of open-ended dreams with Barbie and Ken, Stacie, Chelsea and Skipper. Imagine the possibilities with Barbie! There’s a wide range of Barbie dolls, playsets and fashions to explore, from the beautiful Barbie Dreamhouse to the latest Fashionistas.
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