Bye-bye Barbie Bizarre

[tikistitch]

This is just weird.

February 21, 2006

Dear Subscribers and Advertisers:

It is with both excitement and sadness that we bring this news. The April/May 2006 issue of Barbie Bazaar will be our last. It has been a wonderful and joyous experience, but, in our opinion, the marketplace is too small for a Barbie only publication. This has been a very difficult decision; but one that is necessary considering the enormous changes in the publishing business.

The good news is that we are expanding and improving the quality of Haute Doll. Haute Doll is our fashion doll magazine and every issue will feature some editorial on one of the most famous fashion model dolls around --Barbie!

We started up a-collectin' in the early 90s, and the two periodicals that got us pointed fatally down the road to Obsessionville were Master Collector (which, we believe, fell by the wayside long, long ago, done kilt by eBay) and BB. We recall grabbing the magazine out of our mailbox and starting to read from the back--where the classified ads were. And we also remember the sting of receiving the mag 2 to 3 days after everyone on the east coast, so that all the good dollies were already gone (long sigh).

BB was the first time we connected with other grownups silly enough to collect little dollies. Though we tended to snark unmercifully at the mag's lack of sophistication (we recall well an article about variations in early Mattel prototypes that was titled "Barbie Boo-Boos," as if modifications in the production process needed to be patiently explained to 6-year-olds with ADD), we do regret its passing, as we are a bit chary about the Plastic Princess sticking her pert nose into future issues of Haute Doll.

From biscuitbear.

Comments

[mythosidhe.livejournal.com]

That is sad. I haven't bought BB regularly in a long while, but I remember waaaaay back when I first started collecting Barbie, before I even had access to the internet, and BB was my only source for information on new dolls. I used to haunt Barnes & Noble every other month for the new issue!

Wow, makes me think about all the dolls I coveted back then, simply from their BB cover photos...Morgan le Fey, the Phantom of the Opera set, the original Silkstone pair...oh, now you've gone and made me all nostalgic. I'm going to have to hunt them up to scan, as a memorial....

It really shows how much the collecting world has changed over the last few years, doesn't it? Barbie is no longer a law unto herself.

[tikistitch.livejournal.com]

Barbie's become the unpopular girl, and now she's trying to sneak into the Haute Doll clique!

[blythou.livejournal.com]

I used to read BB too, since I started on the obsessive collector's road with the plastic princess. I used to drool over the pics and read the ads, too, but there was no way I could buy anything since no seller was willing to ship to France... I stopped buying the magazine a couple of years ago, long after I'd given up collecting Barbie. I'll somehow miss it... Haute Doll just isn't as good as BB.

[tacohime.livejournal.com]

Aw, man! In a way, it's not really a suprise, but at the same time, it is truly the end of an era, too. Barbie hasn't been able to recapture my heart for a long time, and I know I'm not the only one feeling that way. Still... it doesn't seem right somehow. A world where Barbie isn't queen is strange, even if she hasn't been doing much of note recently...

[annlarimer.livejournal.com]

I used to enjoy BB, but the content got weaker and weaker (and the price higher), with endless pictures of convention attendees bunched together and columns by dealers bitching about how tought they have it. I just hope that Haute Doll doesn't pick that stuff up. I want to read about dolls, not about how the East Lansing Fashion Doll Club recently had its 30th anniversary.

[princesse-d.livejournal.com]

That's pretty sad. I kinda fell out of Barbies too in favor of Pinky:St dolls and Pullips and such; but she still has a place in my heart.

It's kinda in to hate Barbie though, lately, like omgwtflolbarbiesuxors, which saddens me because I don't think something is bad just cuz it's Barbie.

At the same time she's no longer the center of the market anymore. Hopefully her presence in Haute Doll won't be overkill.

And yay for grownups with doll obsessions! :D