2015-01-31

Bobeck's back!

Here's something surprising I discovered last week: apparently Mimi Bobeck dolls have become popular! Not because a new generation discovered The Drew Carey Show, but because doll collectors use her as body donor for Blythe. I'm not really into Blythe so this was all news to me, but from what I understand the trend started about a year ago. If you google or search on flickr you can find lots of blog posts and photos, and laments that the prices on Ebay have gone up (although I checked and most listings weren't all that outrageous, so maybe that was temporary). I have to agree it's a good idea: the result looks a lot like a regular old-fashioned fat babydoll, and the huge Blythe head looks a lot more proportional on Mimi's body than on a regular skinnier doll.

It seems people have encountered the same problem as I did when I bought my NRFB Mimi a few years ago, which is staining. She has a row of purple spots on her thighs from the elastic in her pants. Personally I've just decided they're varicose veins. The bright green staining from her shoes is more difficult to explain away (smelly feet?). Luckily, she didn't have stains around her neck like Drew himself (he wore a black suit jacket which gave him a big black mark on his neck - hmm, street brawl?).

As usual, shoes are the big problem. Mimi has tiny, absolutely flat feet, and most doll shoes have at least a little bit of a heel. That may not be a problem as long as she's sitting down, although she doesn't do that very well either so I prefer to try and make her balance. So far I've only found a few pairs that sort-of work: a pair of Liv sneakers that look pretty oversized on her, a pair of vintage Barbie shoes that I had to carve out the inside of because they were made for high-heel feet, and the black slippers from the new cat themed Barbie accessory set I bought recently. They have a bit of heel, so she can't stand in them, but they're close enough to fitting that I'm counting them anyway.

Barbie slippers on Mimi Bobeck
Barbie 2015 slippers on Mimi Bobeck doll
There's also the single red vintage ballet flat that is almost perfect for her, but I'm not sure what doll it belonged to: it could be Skipper, but her shoes are usually too long and narrow for Mimi, or it could be Francie, but doesn't her shoes usually have a bit of a heel? Anyway, I only have the one, but at least I know they're out there...

Of course, if you prefer the typical Blythe style with big shoes it's easier: you can just fill them out with socks!

6 comments:

  1. Curious. I thought a lot of the appeal of the Blythe dolls was their big head compared with their very small body (and their eyes, of course). I'll have to do a search and see what they look like on a different body.

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    1. I'm not really sure what it's about Blythe that people like, but I guess it's different things for everyone. There's lots of photos on Flickr, even a group I think.

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  2. Thanks for adding the photo. I was going to suggest Smartees - but their shoes are really tiny. Francie had some flats similar to Skipper's. The 1960s Francies had a foot shape between Barbie's and Skipper's. However I can't think of any red ballet outfits for Francie. Puzzling.

    Congrats on finding the 2015 Barbie slipper match. Those are cute ;-)

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    1. They're not exactly ballet shoes, just ballet slippers - I think that's what the style of shoe is called? Basically the regular flat Skipper shoes. Hopefully I've found some vintage shoes that she can wear, otherwhise I'll have to go with the socks.

      The new Barbie accessory packs are really cute!

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    2. ETA: I fail at words. The shoes I'm talking about are ballet flats/ballerina flats, not ballet slippers. Sorry for any confusion.

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  3. I tried hard to like that show when it first came on. Everyone was talking about how funny it was, but I just couldn't hang. I wanted to scrub her face so bad!

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