Friday, December 28, 2018

Beach Fun, the Cali Girl Sequel

     After the Cali Girl line ended, the very next beach line contained all of the dolls from that line. It was just called Beach Fun instead of Cali Girl. The line included Barbie (two versions), Summer (two versions), Christie, Lea, Steven, Blaine and the return of Ken! The return of Ken meant that this doll was the last Blaine doll to be released. 
     I'm not sure why Mattel released two versions of Barbie and Summer. It could be a later release, since Ken wasn't in the initial release, but the photos are showing the same dolls, even though others were released. I just don't know. 
     



The original Barbie
The second (and in my opinion, prettier) version of Barbie
The original Summer
The second version of Summer
Beach Fun Christie
Beach Fun Lea
Beach Fun Blaine (picture from eBay)
Beach Fun Ken
     And so ends the Cali Girl line. It was a fun line and I wish it had more, but as they say, all good things come to an end. Summer would live on in name as Barbie's friend for years to come, but Blaine was gone. Barbie and Ken got back together, so Blaine was no longer needed. Who knows though, maybe one day, he'll return! Until then, we wait and continue to collect those dolls we love. 

Thursday, December 20, 2018

Cali Girl, Hawaiian Style!

     The last official Cali Girl line was the Hawaiian Hair line. It featured Barbie, Summer and Christie taking a vacation to Hawaii. The girls all came with long, "wrap and twist" hair and over 20 hair accessories. They also came with suitcases and were dressed in Hawaiian style. As they had the bigger feet, the sandals they came with were the only other shoes you could put on these dolls beside the cowboy boots from the last line. 
     Two playsets were released with this line as well. First was a Hawaiian Party playset, which came with three activities: you could make a lei, a bracelet and a hula skirt. It also came with a small brown teddy bear dressed in a hula skirt. I imagine this is a souvenir for the girls to take back to California once the vacation was done. The second playset was the hotel the girls were staying at while in Hawaii. It had a check in kiosk where the girls could check in to their room. The room itself had a balcony and a hot tub. This set, unfortunately, is quite rare and I don't have it...YET! It's on my to-get list. 
     In this line, Summer, who is normally a brunette, became a lovely redhead. I'm not sure why they changed her hair color, but the red hair looked good on her. I had the hardest time trying to find Christie at a decent price, but I prevailed and finally obtained her. I was so excited! 
     Without further ado, the girls go to Hawaii!

Hawaiian Hair Barbie
Hawaiian Hair Summer
Hawaiian Hair Christie
Hawaiian Party with Bonus Bear
Back of the Hawaiian Party Box
Hawaiian Hotel (picture taken from eBay)
Back of the Hawaiian Hotel box (picture taken from eBay)
     And with this line, the official Cali Girl line comes to an end. These dolls were great fun and are my second favorite play line (after Generation Girl). They were beautiful, had great, fun fashions and introduced some new friends. I was sad to see them go, but there was a bit of a sequel! Stay tuned!

Friday, December 14, 2018

Cali Girl, Western Style!

     The next line of Cali Girl dolls featured Barbie, Lea and Summer. They wore Western gear and each girl had a horse she could ride. This was also the year the "Bigfoot Barbies" were released, so this line and the next were the only released dolls with shoes to fit them. The beach dolls now had bigger, more realistic looking feet, but none of the Barbie shoes will fit them. This trend continued in the beach lines for quite some time. 
     This line consisted of Barbie, Lea and Summer. Each girl was dressed for riding, including a pair of cowboy boots, which fit on those big feet! They came with accessories for their horses (sold separately) including a bucket, a sponge and a brush. These dolls were suntan lotion scented as well. 



Barbie
Lea
Summer
     Each girl had her own horse (of which I have one) and each horse had two foals (sold separately; of which I have none). Barbie's horse was called Pacifica and reminded me of her old horse, Dallas. Summer's horse was called Baja and was brown. Lea's horse was called Topanga and was gray. The foals were Hermosa and Redondo and Laguna and Torrance. They were shades of brown and tan. 

Lea's horse Topanga

The back of the box, which can also be used as a playset
Barbie's horse, Pacifica (not my picture; found on the internet)
Summer's horse, Baja (not my picture; found on internet; also could not find one in the box)
Hermosa and Redondo (not my picture; found on the internet)

Torrance and Laguna (not my picture; found on the internet; also could not find one in the box)
     As you can see, I still need to get the rest of the horses. This is a something I'm looking at doing as soon as I can. This way, I will have a complete set! Next, some of the girls head to Hawaii! Until then!

Monday, December 10, 2018

Cali Girl, The Unpopular Big Feet Style

      The new line of Cali Girl was back to basics. It was a beach line. One of the differences between this beach line and previous beach lines was that the dolls were scented like sun tan lotion! The other, more serious, issue is that the dolls feet were enlarged. They are unflattering nicknamed the "Bigfoot Barbies" due to this. 
      I admit it. I liked the bigger feet on the dolls. Previously, when Barbie went to the beach, her feet were small and dainty and stuck in the high heel form. The only time I saw feet like that at the beach is when the sand was hot and you had to tiptoe to the water to cool them off. These new feet were flat and had actual toe nails! They made sense to me for a beach doll, but I know a lot of collectors didn't like them because they obviously couldn't wear Barbie's regular shoes, not even those for the flat footed dolls. Since they were a beach line, this didn't bother me. The rest of the Cali Girl line had these feet. More on those dolls in future posts!
     The line consisted of Barbie, Summer, Lea, Teresa, Christie, Blaine and Steven. Blaine and Steven have been found using the "Cali Guy" label instead of "Cali Girl". Steven is also somewhat hard to find. The girls are lovely and are some of my favorites as far as facial painting go. 



Barbie

 
Teresa


Summer
Christie
Lea
Steven
Blaine

   
Back of the box 
      Each doll came with a paperboard "surfboard" and a bottle of suntan lotion. The girls also had sunglasses. The back of the box showed various scenes with the dolls, giving them that extra dimension of realness. These dolls were a fun addition to the Cali Girl line!