So since I feel so crappy today,here is a quick post. The doll for today is Becky.
I know we just had a Becky a few days ago,but this is a different one. She's School Photographer Becky.
Emma really wanted this doll years ago. I was really excited when I found her a second hand one. I wish I could find her now, so I could show her to you out of the box! We'll have to make do with these pictures of a doll I used to have.
The first Becky doll,Share A Smile Becky, was released in 1997. She had bangs, the Barbie head sculpt,and a pink wheelchair. She was the first doll in the Barbie world with a wheelchair. Today's doll followed in 1998. The chair was a more realistic red this time,and Becky had the Teen Skipper head sculpt. Becky was now the school photographer. She came with a camera with a red ribbon strap,a back pack that apparently didn't open, a pretty cool mini yearbook with actual pages,and a pair of red sunglasses.
Becky has a twist waist,and jointed knees and elbows, as well as strung hips with elastic joints. She has the flat Barbie feet. I think she has the same body as the 1993 Gymnast Barbie. She came out at the same time as Perfect Pink Teresa,Extreme Green Teen Skipper,Purple Panic Christie, and Cool Blue Barbie. Why couldn't Becky have matched them?
Not that I don't like her outfit better than theirs. Becky has a white sleeveless t-shirt,jeans,red high top tennis shoes, and a plaid shirt.
There was supposedly a Sign Language I Love You Becky doll, but all I can find online is Sign Language Barbie. The last Becky released was Paralympic Champion Becky,which came out in 1999.
Becky was originally met with excitement by the disabled community,thrilled that Barbie's world was being inclusive. Excitement soon turned to disappointment, and even anger,when it was discovered that Becky's wheelchair couldn't fit through the door to the Barbie houses,or in the elevator. The kitchen didn't have accessible appliances. Now, I can see why that would be upsetting. And I can see why people might be upset that instead of reworking the houses,cars, horses, and everything else in Barbie's world,Mattel instead chose to discontinue the Becky line. Complaints were that such a move sent the message that it's easier to just get rid of the disabled than to deal with them,and,that just like real life,Mattel wasn't really willing to be inclusive as long as there was any inconvenience for them to do it. But let's look at this realistically. Mattel is a business. They have to make a profit. They sold considerably fewer Beckys than other dolls,and it would have been super expensive to redesign everything in the Barbie world. Mattel reuses bits and pieces of old designs for years. Even the High School Musical High School has bits of other houses about it. And some of those have been used since for other houses. It just wouldn't have been economically feasible. Thta's not to say that if Mattel ever does completely redesign all the parts to Barbie's house they couldn't make it wheelchair accessible. Then maybe they could bring Becky back.
See you tomorrow for another doll. Hopefully I'll be feeling better then!
I hope you are feeling a little better.
ReplyDeleteThis doll is new to me.
I am sure Mattel didn't consider how the doll would fit in the Barbie house. It's too bad they discontinued her instead of trying to address the issue.
I've always thought it was a great idea to introduce Becky to Barbie's Universe and I regreted that Mattel discontinued the doll. Luckily, the 2019 fashionista line's brought the idea once more and there's a doll with prosthesis as well. Hopefully, this time they did it all the way. As for Becky featured in your post, I've always preferred this one to the Share a smile Becky. The School Photographer sends a certain message and I like how active in the school life she is.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
DeleteSorry,I screwed up what i wanted to say the first time. I prefer this one too. I think it's kind of weird that they didn't make her outfit match the rest though. She still doesn't seem part of the crowd that way. I like her clothes better than theirs, but still. I do think this doll has a prettier face sculpt than the other Becky too.
DeleteBeautiful doll. Now that they have a new wheelchair doll, they could at least make her an appartment that fit her. In the real world, not every house is wheelchair accessible just because there are many people in wheelchairs. But in Norway new houses and appartment complexes (I think also when made by ordinary people with no need for it) have to be made wheelchair accessible (with broad doorways and lots of room in bathrooms) just in case a future occupant might need it.
ReplyDeleteThat's a good idea,(about the new houses).
DeleteThe dolls with wheelchairs shown at Toy Fair this year come with a ramp that was shown in the current Barbie house door, so maybe they finally designed the chairs to fit!
ReplyDeleteThat's good. I hadn't read that.
DeleteThis was a great idea to have a Barbie released in a wheelchair but yes a shame she didn't fit into the house etc. But I'm interested to hear that there is another release of a girl in a wheelchair, it makes so much sense as there are a lot of kids out there who have restricted mobility.
ReplyDeleteI hope you're on the mend now and that the flu is on it's way out!
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Hopefully they are prepared for the new girl.
DeleteThanks. I thought I was better yesterday, but no such luck!
still have this one, what a jem..the purse does open and i put the yearbook and an extra camera in it.fun set.
ReplyDeleteI can't remember when COVID started hitting, so I hope this new bug you had at the time wasn't the first signs of it. Its hard to read old posts because things happened years ago and I am still commenting. LOL I love the doll and understand why they couldn't re-work everything, but I think they should have made a new one story house that work have worked. It could be used for able bodied dolls too and there is never enough houses!
ReplyDeleteI have wondered many times if it was a Covid like thing, even though it was a year before Covid hit. It seemed to have had almost all the same symptoms.
DeleteThey could have made a change to the current houses, or offered a coupon for some sort of ramp or elevating attachment for the old one.