Teen Skipper

     As most people know, Barbie has a younger sister named Skipper. When she was first introduced in 1964, she looked like a little girl around 10 (in my opinion). She has gone through many different looks, aging to a teenager more than once and back again. One of my favorite versions of her though is the 1997 Teen Skipper. 
     Given a body similar to Francie, Barbie's mod cousin from the 60s, she was a 16 year old who hung out with her friends, Courtney and Nikki. She had a new face mold, which was adorable, long blonde hair and cute clothes! Courtney was an old friend of Skipper's who was introduced in 1989 (see Teen Time Skipper) and Nikki was a new friend. They could all share clothes and shoes with each other, but not with Barbie. 
     The girls were all dressed similarly with a cropped top which doubled as a bathing suit top, jeans and high tops. They came with a bathing suit bottom, sunglasses, plastic bag and paperboard accessories. 
     

Teen Skipper

Teen Skipper in her bathing suit

Skipper's accessories - she has car keys and a driver's license!

Teen Courtney

Teen Courtney in her bathing suit

Courtney's accessories - the charms on the keys match the ones in their hair

Teen Nikki

Teen Nikki in her bathing suit

Nikki's accessories - I love the package of Tic Tacs!

      Separate fashions were also produced for the dolls, but they will be covered in the next post. Til then, enjoy the dolls!
     

Tonner City Girls Doll Collection COMPLETE!

    For a long time now, I've been on the hunt for the final outfit to complete my City Girls collection, Gray Haze. I FINALLY FOUND IT!! After literally years of searching on eBay, I was finally able to purchase the outfit and now my collection is complete! Without further ado, I present my own Gray Haze!

The long sought after Gray Haze outfit - my favorite of the group

     Since the collection is complete, I have decided to unbox them and dress them in their outfits. I have matched Billy with Networking, Houston with Cape Town and Brook-Lyn with Gray Haze. Since Astor already has two outfits, she didn't get one of the fashion packs. I have discovered the high heeled shoes are a nightmare to get on the doll's feet! But I managed it. 

Color Block Astor unboxed

Golden Swirl Astor unboxed

Taxi! Billy unboxed

Billy in Networking

Basic Houston unboxed

What's under the robe for Basic Houston

Houston in Cape Town 

Cape Town without the cape

Basic Brook-Lyn unboxed

Brook-Lyn in her lacy basics

Brook-Lyn wearing Gray Haze

Gray Haze dress

     And so my Tonner City Girls collection is complete. I'd sent the company an email a couple of years ago asking if they were going to release more of these dolls, such as the ones featured at Toy Fair (see previous posts) and they said it was a possibility. I'm assuming with the closure of Tonner's business, that possibility is gone. Oh well, at least I have the whole collection now! Until next time folks!

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. 

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!

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!

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!