Barbie Conventions, Swap Meets, Estate Sales and Dioramas

This transcript was generated from the episode captions and lightly edited for readability. Names and product terms may occasionally be imperfect. Quoted dollar amounts retain the wording of the interview; the currency is not always specified.

0:00Hello dolls and accessories. I'm your host, Kelly, and this is Barbie Talk. Barbie Talk with Kelly in Pink. Today's guest is someone whose Instagram page is a nostalgic treasure hunt. From thrift finds and estate sales to vintage Barbie discoveries at swap meets, Don't Touch My Toys brings the thrill of the hunt to life. Her collection spans decades of nostalgic toys. But naturally, we're putting the spotlight on Barbie. She even dressed up as Barbie and participated in the fashion show at the National Barbie doll collectors convention in Austin, Texas. Please welcome Summer. Hi, Summer. Welcome to Barbie Talk. Hi. Thank you so much for having me. I'm so excited to have you on the show. Oh my goodness. I love everything that's happening behind you. Very Barbieesque.

0:52I love it. [laughter] Thank you so much. I love your content. Can't wait to get into it. Tell us a little bit about yourself, where you're from, and how your relationship with Barbie started. I am from Texas. I'm a Texas native, but uh my husband was in the military. So, we've kind of traveled all over. And uh right now, we're currently in California and he's retired now. So, this is going to be our home for probably until the final retirement. I am just somebody who enjoys nostalgia and I've kind of always been that person who gravitates to things from my childhood. Like as I've grown up, I've always just had that attachment to the 80s specifically and childhood things. And it's translated into the way that I live my life, the things that I decorate my home with. And that is kind of the gateway that like led me into revisiting Barbie into adulthood.

1:56It didn't happen overnight. It kind of just trickled in. And then my love for Barbie was fully reignited. And before I knew it, I was having to just dedicate an entire room only to Barbie because she just kind of captivated my heart. And the other collectibles that I was kind of picking up from time to time were slowly getting phased out of the room because I wanted to have more space for Barbie. And then here we are now. We have an entire Barbie room. So everything you said there makes sense. I think a lot of people pull on nostalgia. They remember those easier times and carefree times and we want a little bit of that back in our life. So that makes a lot of sense. So did you start playing with Barbie really young? So, I was an only child and my parents kind of were just busy all the time. They worked. They both were working families and since I didn't have siblings, I needed to entertain myself. So, therefore, my parents just kept throwing toys at me, you know, to keep myself entertained. And Barbie just happened to be my favorite thing to play with because I could really replicate life with Barbie. And that's where it kind of started. And I had other toys like baby dolls and things like that, but Barbie was my favorite. And

3:19she was pretty affordable. So my parents could afford to get me at least like the beach dolls. I I wasn't one of those Barbie collectors that had the houses and the furniture and the playsets, but I at least had the beach line super playline like $3 dolls that you could get at the drugstore. But of course, it had to be Barbie. It couldn't be a clone doll. Can't be a clone doll. Come on. Come on. So, do you remember what was your first Barbie? I honestly can't recall the first Barbie that I have. I I know. I I recognize the Barbies that I had in childhood. I just don't remember the first one that was gifted to me because I'm I'm almost positive I had to have been like 3 years old the first time I got a Barbie. though. I can't recall the very first doll that I had, but there's notable dolls that I remember playing with like Ice Capades Barbie, uh, Superstar 88, Cool Times Barbie. Um, those were some of the ones that I vividly remember playing with throughout childhood. And do you still have any of those dolls in your collection today?

4:28I wish I wish I did, but I just my mom always made me kind of phase things out on an annual basis when Christmas was coming around. Have you bought any to kind of add them back to your collection? Absolutely. So, when I first [snorts] started collecting Barbie again, that was the main goal was to get the childhood dolls that I no longer had that I still really loved and that I wanted to have back in my collection. And so that was the very first mission when I decided to start collecting Barbie again. And it started off like most collectors. I only intended to get a select few dolls. And then of course I ended up going down that slippery slope and I ended up purchasing a bunch of other dolls that were not dolls that I even had in childhood, but that I just really loved. Most of them are on my shelf cuz they're out of box. But I would say that like let's see, all of the dolls right there on that shelf are going to be those childhood dolls that I was really hoping to get originally. So at the start of my journey, I was an outofbox collector. So as soon as I got a doll, I had to take them out. And now I'm pivoting how I collect. And now I'm trying to get those dolls in box and not have them out of box. Usually it's the reverse. Some people

5:52are like, I've have them in box. I don't have the room. I want to take them out of the box or I want to touch them. I want to play with them. So two of these were sourced at the swap mates. And then one of them I purchased new in box, but of course I immediately took her out of the box. So we have to start with an icon. Of course, we have to have a totally hair. So, this is mine. And of course, she was a hot mess when I found her. And then we had to jij her up. And um she's still not complete. Like, she's missing her ring. But I've managed to piece her together over the years. And you know what? She looks fantastic. She's in great condition. The rings are always missing. You can always throw a pair of blue shoes on her. It's hard to find those little details, but the fact that you have her in great condition in her dress, she's a stunner. She's a stunner.

6:43She's still on my grill list this Yes. Yeah. Surprisingly, I find her somewhat frequently, secondhand, of course, and usually she doesn't have the dress. She's usually naked. But what I like to do whenever I do pick up these big mystery lots of doll clothes, anytime I have an iconic fashion outfit in those mixed lots, even though if I already have the doll, I will hold on to those fashion pieces because if I ever do find another one secondhand that's in better condition, I want to be able to swap things in and out of my collection. So, I have found her probably like at least 10 times over the last 10 years that I've been collecting. See, we'll talk about these swap meets and these estate sales that you go to in a bit, but like I've struggled. If I don't pay top dollar, like I'm not going to find her, right? She is very expensive. Even just nude. Yes, she is very expensive. So, another one that I pulled out that I am still trying to complete this line. I'm still missing Christy from this line. And this one was also one that I found secondhand is Rapid Rock and Barbie. She doesn't have her boom box with her right now, but I do have it. I just really, really love this. This is so early '9s. It just screams early9s, and I'm obsessed with her. I

8:03think she's such a cool doll. Still trying to find her inbox someday. But um this is another one of those that I remember very vividly, but I never received her for Christmas or my birthday when I was a child. Look at that face. So, I have her as well, but her skirt is starting to just fall apart cuz of that leather, right? Yours looks like it's in decent condition. And does she have the green socks and the pink sneakers? She does. Yeah. I don't think these are her original sneakers. I doubt it because it looks like those are 2000's logo on there, but It works. It's close enough. Totally works. Yeah. Yeah. That whole set is adorable. Like the Teresa, the Christy, even the Ken. Like, they're so cute. Actually, I think Ken is the only one I do have in box, but the others are out of box. And then, uh, this one is a splurge item because I actually paid for her new in box, although she seems to be missing an earring. I don't know where that went, but um, California Dream. I mean, this one is difficult to find. The Christy. It's so easy to find Barbie, but Christiey's a lot harder to get. So, love it. I love this line. I have a special place in my heart for the California line, California Dream. It was also called Club California, so I always say Club California, too. It was one of my first dolls as a kid. So, the Barbie followed by the

9:25MIJ and the Hot Dog Stand. So, all that just like that whole line and it was difficult to find the Christy like once I was trying to complete that. And now you live in Cali. You're a Cali girl. So, you got to get the California Dreamline. Exactly. Exactly. I just think I love the colors of it. I love the makeup style that they put on these dolls. I love this how she has the little deco inside of this little clear window here. I just think it's a great line. It's super super iconic. And the fashions they made, like they made fashion packs for them. They're so cute. They're so so cute. What's your oldest doll in your collection? I have plenty of mod dolls now in my collection. Not plenty, but like eight mod dolls. So, I have two here because I don't know which one would be older out of these two. I'm really not knowledgeable. Well, maybe somebody can comment below and let us know the years cuz is that not a Francancy? So, yes. I think this is like one of the Francies that her hair you can like I think it grows or something. I think it does. I'm not super knowledgeable with them. And then this one is I think she's a talking one, but I don't think her voice box works anymore. Yeah. Oh, that's too bad. Well, if anybody knows these dolls and like just look at the rooted lashes and she's got the little sideburns, the fancy, which

10:45is sweet. I've found these a couple of times, you know, at estate sales and things like that, and I just never really picked them up. They didn't really spark joy for me like some of the dolls in my childhood do. And people would always be like, "Oh my god, are you crazy? Why didn't you get that? That was such a good price." And I was just like, cuz I don't collect it, you know? And it's taken me until like maybe last year that I have been holding on to one or two now when I do find them. But before I used to just like not even bother picking them up. And people used to get so mad, like literally trying to like just go off on me in the comments for leaving those things behind when I would see them. I've had a few instances, too, where it's like, "Did you pick up that doll?"

11:30And I was like, "I didn't." You know, she had mold on her face and it's like, "Well, that's a vintage this, this, and that." I'm like, "Oh, no." And then I have FOMO. I'm like, "Damn, I got to go back and try to find it." What would you say the percentage of your doll collection is? I'm going to say thrift as if it's secondhand of some nature versus brand new. I would say probably 30% of my collection is brand new, meaning like I purchased it off of eBay or like Merkari. 70% I'd say comfortably are dolls that I have either found at a swap me, a garage sale, an estate sale, or a doll show. Cuz I still don't consider that brand new. Even though they are in box, I don't consider that brand new cuz I'm getting a deal on them. But yeah, paying market value on dolls, I would say 30% of my collection. And that is mostly going to be at the start of my collecting journey when I was still a baby collector. After probably like 2 years into collecting, I stopped paying retail market value on dolls. That's amazing. You always feel better about it. And I'm sure you're piecing them together still. So, you know, you're getting it at the swap meet, then you're going to like find the accessories or find that. So, I'm sure it takes time to kind of complete that, but that's fantastic. And so, since we're on the topic, we can get right into it. I love watching your videos when you go to an estate sale and someone's like bumping into you or pushing you to

12:51like try to get there first. But, what would you say is one of the best finds you've come across? That's such a difficult question. Honestly, I have found so many incredible things at estate sales, and I did pull a couple of things down here. I would say like most people would look at monetary value of dolls and that's how they identify what's really really crazy. Like me personally, I get really excited about even modern stuff as long as it's something that I'm really really excited about. So, I'm just going to throw this out since I have so many different things that I could really select. Something that I was excited for, but that I paid like almost nothing for was this Francancy here. That was a complete surprise. Was not even expecting to find her. I ended up paying $20 for a bin of mystery dolls. No idea. I could barely see a My doll in this clear bin. And they wouldn't let us open up the bin to see what was inside. It was just kind of like 20 bucks and you may end up with a really crazy haul. You may end up with just beach dolls, but that's a risk you're going to take. It's only $20 and you're getting a bin worth of dolls. So, for 20 bucks,

14:13I took that risk, not knowing if it would be anything I'd want. And I ended up getting quite a few dolls that I was really excited about. And then this Francancy was in there. So, she's like perfect. She's in beautiful, beautiful condition. Definitely worth the 20 bucks and the risk for sure. Oh my goodness. Yeah, that's a steal. Steal. Absolutely beautiful. Yeah. I mean, she was just one of the dolls that were in that haul that I was really excited about. There was plenty of other ones in there. So, yeah. I mean, when you really break it down, I probably only paid like if you wanted to price it individually for what was in that bin, I probably only paid like a dollar for this. Yeah. That's unbelievable. Yeah. So, that's something that I found that I was really excited about. Another one that I found recently at an estate sale that I was really, really stoked about getting was a more modern doll. I mean, it's still 2000s, but I was really, really happy to find this Powerpuff Girls Barbie. This came out in um the year 2000, so she's still, you know, she's able to drink already. She's over 21. But yeah, I was really excited about this. For whatever reason, this doll is very expensive and she doesn't pop up very often on eBay or Merkari. So, I've been

15:33trying to find her out in the wild. I knew that she was something that I wanted, but I didn't want to pay market price for her. And so, I finally found her at an estate sale and was really, really stoked to have her in my possession. I most likely will not take her out of the box, though, because the box is just so it's so good. I don't blame you. Is there an image of what she looks like on the back or is there artwork? There is uh if you can see kind of see what she comes with. So she comes with that really like very early 2000s like the bubble chairs. Mhm. Which is remind the inflatable. It reminds me of what sit and style Barbie comes with. Sit and style also came with that. And does she come with like stickers? Are they power like are they Powerpuff Girl stickers? Yeah. Some reusable stickers that you can put on her furniture it says. And I like these pants. They look a little like they're like flared or bell bottom which is kind They look like they're flared and they have like some glitter or like some metallicy type little dots on it. I like it. It's very Spice Girls like it's the time. Yes. Early 2000s. That That's cool. And you found that out in an estate sale? Estate sale. Mhm. At an estate sale. Yeah. How do you get notified or find out about estate sales? Cuz here in Toronto, big city in Canada, I never hear about them. They're not as common as they are like out in California. So, how do you find out about

16:53them? So, I use a website called estatesales.net and I generally check that every single week and I search for Barbie and it will pull up all of the different sales that are uploaded to that website with Barbie in the description. So, I do that and I kind of just filter through all of the different states because I could just look for California and narrow it down to just my area. But I like to look and see what other sales look like. And if I can't go, I will tell my friends that live in those states, and I've done this many times, like I have friends in Chicago, and I'm like, "Hey, there's a crazy estate sale in Chicago. I know you live in Chicago. You should go check this out." Or one of my friends in New Jersey like, "Oh my god, how far is this from you?" This is a New Jersey. And so it's just really fun cuz I really do generally get joy out of seeing other people's hauls and seeing what they find as well. It's so fun and I feel like you're saving somebody's collection to know that they're going to a home, they're being taken care of, and that their story doesn't end. Same with the swap meet, right? It's nice to know that those dolls are going to have a second chance at life. So that's interesting. And so do they just video call you and like here it is. What do you want? Well, I don't even do it so they can shop for me. I'm like, "Look at the sale. Like, you should go to this if this is like close to where you live." Sometimes my

18:15friends will offer. They'll be like, "Oh, well, if you see anything you want, let me know." But like, that's not even the expectation. I just do it to share like when I find out about a sale that's close to them so they can go cuz I'll be quite honest, I don't like paying shipping. So half the time when people offer to pick things up for me, I'm like, "No, it's okay." And I truly do get the thrill out of finding it myself. And that's the thing. It's the thrill of the hunt. I could so easily get stuff cuz I have so many reseller friends or doll collector friends that are always constantly offering to sell me stuff or to pick up things from places. And I'm just like, I want to find it myself. I appreciate the offer. I think it's so sweet that they consider me when they see stuff that they know I would like, but I truly get the most joy when I find it myself. For sure. I can totally sympathize with that. I thought there was a ton of swap I mean estate sales just in California cuz I know Grandma Gets Real attends some. It just sounds like I guess California being where Barbie's from like naturally there's a lot more availability of Right. No, absolutely. There there are estate sales all the time. I will say I'm living in Northern California now. I used to live in Southern California two years ago and the amount of estate sales that

19:38are Barbie focus in Southern California greatly tops what we have here in Northern California. And I'm thankful for that honestly because it's a good thing that I moved away from that area because it was way too easily accessible when I was right there in that neighborhood. That makes sense. It's probably better. It's a little bit more controlled. Exactly. Did you ever find an item in your treasure hunting that you didn't really realize the value or how special it was until you kind of got home, maybe went online or somebody told you like, "Hey, do you know what that is?" Yes. I actually purchased this doll because she was wearing this outfit and I wanted this outfit. I could just tell right away that this had to be a mod fashion piece and I only bought this doll because she was wearing this. I didn't really gravitate to the doll at all. And um whenever I posted the photo, somebody recognized the doll and they were like, "Oh my god, you just got a German Francie." And I was like, "German Francie? What's that?" And they're like, "That's a German Francie." And so this is a German Francie. And I think I paid $7 for her. Of course, she has not been restored whatsoever. I need to send her to an account that I've talked with

21:00over the years, and I want her to fix up her hair and probably do a fresh repaint on her. Anyhow, when I looked up the German Francie, she's very rare and hard to find, and she's very expensive. And in fact, I ended up going to Barbie convention this year and there was a seller that was doing room sales and he had just very very rare, hard to find dolls. Extremely expensive. I mean, thousands of dollars for these dolls and um I saw the German Francie that he had and I was like, "Oh my god, that's German Francie." And he was like, "Yeah." He's telling me, educating me a little bit about her and I was like, "Yeah, I actually have one." He was like, "Oh, you have one?" Like it's like he was surprised that I owned one and I was like, "Yeah." I was like, "I actually found her at a garage sale." And he was like, "Are you sure it's a German Francie?" And I was like, "I think so.

21:47That's what people have told me." He's like, "Do you have a picture of her?" And I said, "Yeah, I do." And so I showed him the picture. He was like, "Well, I'll be that's a German Francancy. You're so right." He's like, "That's crazy. You got her for seven bucks." And so then when I found out how hard it is to come across these, especially for seven bucks, I was like, "Well, how could I very well get rid of her? I got to keep her now." And honestly, I wouldn't have recognized her either. But isn't it nice to be able to like go to the doll community and have people who have the knowledge? Yes. So, she's going to stay in my collection now. Now I have one, but we have to get her jijged up. So, she's going to get sent to the Dolly Hospital this year and get a spa day, get some plastic surgery, you know. Exactly. A little tuneup, you know, and then we'll find a better outfit to put her in as well. So, that's awesome. I was at Savers and I love Japanese dolls.

22:38That's like my new passion right now. And I found this Kira that was customized. And I thought, "Oh, wow. This is really cool." And honestly, if you didn't know any better, you could think that she was a factory doll, maybe just one that we don't really see or know about. And I purchased her because I just love Japanese dolls. And she is Barbie. She is Kira. But when I was at Barbie convention, I was going through the raffle, the prize room, [clears throat] and they had this doll on display there, and it shows who donated it and what doll it is. And this doll, oh gosh, I wish I remembered the the artist who made this doll. But there was a San Francisco collector that was a part of the San Francisco doll club that used to do these one-of-a-kind custom dolls. And this is one of his designs. And it makes sense because I only live an hour away from San Francisco. So somebody must have donated this to Savers and I happened to pick her up. I can imagine you being a convention though and being like that's that's [laughter] that's my doll. Yes. And that's exactly what I did. I was like freaking out. I was like, "Oh my god, that's her." Because I wanted to know more about this doll. I bought her just because I loved her. I just thought somebody dressed her

23:59up. But then when I found out about the collector who did this, I looked him up and I pulled up some forums and Reddit threads about him. And um I was just like, "Wow, how special that I have one of his one-of-a-kind pieces." is I mean I'm sure this doll probably like back when he was still going to a convention I'm sure he probably entered her into some of the contests and things like that. So how really fun to have her now in my home. [clears throat] Yeah, absolutely stunning. And Kira's beautiful. Doesn't get the attention sometimes I think she deserves. So tell us about convention. You were there this year in Austin, Texas. Was this your first time? This is my first year. Yes. Wow. What would you say was your biggest takeaway? The overall experience was just hard to even put into words. It was more than I could have expected it to be. I really went into it with the intention of only going once. I was like, "This is great. I want to be able to experience it, but I think I'm just going to be a oneandone type of girl." I [laughter] I really did not think that I would want to go be one of those annual attendees. And it was just such a special experience because it really is hard to explain, but like being surrounded by people that love Barbie as much

25:22as you. And this sounds so so cliche. I always see like all perspectives when people are talking about experiences. And I hear this all the time from people that I've talked to about convention and I'm just like, "Oh my god, whatever." Like I know I'm not going to feel that way. I'm going to be like, "Oh, it was fun, but you know, I've done it. I don't need to go back." And I really thought that that was going to be my mindset. And no, it's not. I totally am so excited about going again next year. And it was the people. And I mean, again, people say this all the time, and it just sounds like, okay, sure. But it really was. Sounds like a broken record. Yes. Exactly. Yeah. So, it was magical. Um, that was like my Disneyland, but but even more tiring. You took out the words from me. I'm like, I feel like it's kind of like from what I get people saying, I almost feel like it's like being a kid in Disneyland. Yes. Cuz you're all there for the same reasons. You love the same thing. Everybody there wants to talk about Barbie. Right. Exactly. And that's why I didn't think I would want to go back annually because I'm very introverted. I am such an introvert and a lot of people don't see me like that because I do have a presence online and because I do shoot content and they just automatically assume that I'm like super extroverted and like I am probably like the

26:44girl with like the group of friends and I'm not. I'm a lone wolf. Like I'm usually by myself. I get very overwhelmed by large groups by crowds of people. Even when I hang out casually with people, I only want like maybe like two other people to hang out with at the same time. Like anything more than that, I get very like overwhelmed, over stimulated. And I didn't think I was going to enjoy convention that much because of that obstacle that I deal with with my own social anxieties. And it was not like that. I will say for the first two days, yes, I was very overwhelmed. I had to find my footing. But [snorts] after those first two days, I felt really comfortable. I felt right at home after [clears throat] that. That's fantastic. And I think a lot of people, whether they have social anxieties or not, I've heard like it's very overwhelming and it becomes physically and like mentally exhausting because it is a lot going on and you're socializing a lot and it does take a lot out of you. You don't even realize it and I wouldn't have ever guessed. Also, you were part of the fashion show. So, that takes a lot of guts to do that. So, kudos to you. Tell us a little bit about how you got involved in the fashion show. Well, again, it was that mindset of girl, you're doing this one time. So, if you're going to do it once, you got

28:04to do it all because you're not coming back to this again. And I didn't want to do the fashion show because of that very big social anxiety that I deal with. And I was talking to one of my Barbie friends and he was just like, "Girl, just do it like summer." So, were you asked or did you sign up for it? How does it work? No, it's definitely volunteer-based and there's a timeline. You have to submit by a certain time frame and then they also take into consideration what character you're choosing because they obviously don't want like 10 solo in the spotlights in the fashion show. And I was dead set on if I'm going to do this fashion show, I'm going to be Terin. If I can't be Terin, I'm not doing it. That's the girl I'm going to be. Which first of all, you did fantastic.

28:50Why Terin? Why did you pick her? I'm a big old Texas gal, you know. I had to represent something western. I love Texas. I love the campiness, the over-the-top, bold choices that they used for Terin. And I had to embody that. If I was going to do this, I needed to be big and bold. Big, bold, and beautiful. And Terin, I just I think she's an iconic western doll. And um I knew that I could rock her out. I was like, you know what? I can look like Terin. I'm going to do it. She's the one. Definitely. Like you looked like Terin. Like I don't know what else you would have done. Like it was absolutely perfect. Tell us a little bit about the process into making the costume because that's all on the model to take care of. Yes. So I learned a lot from that experience.

29:43I will say that I do want to do fashion show next year again and I'm already having to really narrow down what I want to do now because what I learned is you can't just at the last minute decide to throw something together and it's going to come out perfect and as seamless as you want it to be. So, I made this decision to do the fashion show probably at the end of February, which is extremely late because a lot of the people who enter the fashion show, they're working on their costume all year long. And this was like almost March by this point. So, I didn't have a lot of time. I submitted to apply for it and I didn't even know if they were still going to have spots. So when I contacted them, I said, "Is there still any spots available for the fashion show?" And they said, "There's only like three or four spots, so you need to apply right away. We'll send you the form." And so they sent me the form. I went ahead and filled it out. And um it took probably about a week before they contacted me to tell me that they accepted me. And by this point, we were in full-blown March. And so now it's like, okay, am I going to make this costume myself?

30:59Do I even have time to do this? Because I want to go out there and I want it to look good. I don't want to go out there and it's going to look janky or, you know, not put together. It's my first year. I need to do it right. And so I decided I was going to not put all of that on my plate and I was going to hire somebody to make my costume. And that's where the time frame of prepping really comes into play because it takes a long time to get your costumes worked out when you're hiring a professional. And most of the people I contacted just like laughed at me like, "Huh, there's no way I'm going to have this done for you by June. Like, you should have contacted me six, seven months ago." So, I was really getting desperate and it was getting to that point where I was just like, well, if I can't find somebody, I'm just going to drop out because I'm not going to go up there and it not look great. So, I was trying to think like, who do I know that potentially may have a resource for a costume maker? And there's an account that I follow called Sweet Honey Glam based out of Corpus Christie. and she's this amazing Selena entertainer and she has elaborate costumes. So, I was just like, "Duh, why didn't I think of that? Let me ask Honey, she has to know somebody." And

32:22so, I reached out to Honey and I explained what I was trying to do. And um she obviously already knew who Terin was and I was just like, "Do you know anybody?" Like, I'm desperate at this point. I know that it's asking a lot because at this point I think I only had about a month and a half to work out this costume. And she said, "You know what? Let me make some calls and I'll get back to you." And like a day later, she reached out. She's like, "I found somebody for you." And I was like, "Oh my god." [snorts] So she put me in touch with a costume maker in her town and she went above and beyond. I mean, was really assisting with picking out the fabrics, making sure the colors were on point, all of that. She was the liazison between me and this costume maker. So, I could not have done this without Sweet Honey Glam. Amazing. I'm actually interested in seeing her stuff because I love Selena. Who doesn't love Selena? So, that's awesome. I actually interviewed Raphael and he had a photo of him in his Ken sale and he I think he was with you. You were wearing your Terin. You did a fantastic job. So kudos to you, especially for someone who maybe has some like, you know, some anxieties and things like that. Like that's not easy to do. And you broke the ice, girl, and you did it. And so I'm proud of you. So good, good job. Good job. I would love to see what you got at convention because I've never been. And I know room sales and the sales room is quite

33:46popular. There's a lot of stuff that you get from your tablemates or from your table host. Is there anything there from convention that you can share with us? Yes, of course. So, I was being very strategic at convention because again, convention has all sorts of stuff that you could buy, but because I go shopping on a weekly basis and I already know what's easily accessible for me, like things that I will find time and time again and things that are rare and that I typically do not find in my area, that impacted how I shopped at convention. So, I didn't purchase as much as people probably would have expected me to purchase. Um, but I did find some things I was very excited about. Like, I had a wish list. Like, this is what I'm looking for. And some of the stuff on that wish list was not necessarily Barbie, but I knew it would be there. But, I want to focus on Barbie today. So, one of the items that was on my wish list that is Barbie related was the Happy Family Grandma the AfricanAmerican version. I've been looking for her for years and I would love to find her in a baggie on the wall at Savers, but it's just it has not happened. I have not been that fortunate. Grandma Gets Real finds lots of grandmas, but the AA one is not as easy to find. Exactly. Exactly. So, yeah, this one was probably the biggest purchase

35:10that I made at convention and I still got a good price on her. I got her for at least half of what she's going for on the market. So, I was content with that. She's actually standing on a practical item that I need in my collection. So, these are mad doll stands. madaboutbe.com. And I really, really liked these. So, I bought about four of these doll stands cuz you always need doll stands. And I love these that they're acrylic. They're clear. They're not as distracting as some of the other bulkier stands. So, I picked up several of those. cuz that was a very practical purchase that I made. And then I did make some impulse buys. I'm in my Fashion Fever era right now. So, I did treat myself to one Fashion Fever doll. Not a need by any means. Not even one that I been trying to find, but she was a decent price and I hadn't purchased too much, so I was like, you know, I'mma treat myself. Oh, she's cute. I love this. I mean, Fashion Fever is also early 2000s nostalgia. Yeah. So, she was one. Again, I didn't purchase a whole lot of stuff, but these were some of my favorites that I did get. And some of these, well, actually, one of them was a gift, which was amazing. It was an amazing convention gift. I purchased these backdrops from uh Lacy.

36:32I love that it's double-sided. Yes, I love. And as a diarama person, I mean, these are fantastic. So, this is like the Palm Springs backdrop that she had. And then she also had a Chanel backdrop. That's where I've seen this. I've seen some people already use this in their photos. Oh, look at that closet. That's wonderful. Right. Amazing. Amazing. So, I bought these two from convention. I thought that those were really, really cool. And then this one was actually a convention gift. This is probably my favorite gift from convention. Like I know people are going to think I'm crazy for liking this more than the doll, but realistically like this is more my jam. We received this backdrop as well. You know what? That's just so smart. People making diaramas and scenes and then you guys had that theme night, some sort of yacht night or something. Right. Right. And that was the night that we got this. So that was incredible. I was very, very happy with this convention gift.

37:34So yeah, that's pretty much all I pulled out from convention. Um like the the stars of the convention purchases. The other stuff was really just like small little tidbits here and there, but um those were the the bigger purchases I made. So I I was actually pretty good this year. No, good for you. And hey, next year we'll see. Like at least you're going in next year prepared and going, "I've been there before and now I know what I want." And you clearly know what you are looking for, right? Exactly. Is there a Barbie that you regret walking away from? Yes, [laughter] so many, but the one that stands out the most is the blondes Barbie. Um, the one with the gold bodysuit with all of the chains just dripping off of her. She's got a Lara face sculpt and platinum blonde hair. It's a designer doll. Yes. So, the blondes Barbie I saw in person at the Mattel store and unfortunately that day my husband was with me and I saw the price. It was $150 for this doll and I have never paid $150 for a doll. And since he was with me, I just could not I could not buy it in front of him. Like had he not been there that day, I would 100% purchase the doll. But he was

38:54with me and I felt so guilty spending $150 on this Barbie. He's gonna She's gonna watch this, right? [laughter] Yeah. So, I walked away and I didn't buy her and now she's like at least $400 every time you see her. So, I regret that all of the time. I don't want to blame your husband cuz I'm very supportive, too. And and he was I mean he would have he was like, "Well, just buy her if you want her." And I was like, "I can't." Yeah, I cannot justify paying $150 for a doll. I can't do it. And now, of course, you know, cuz I was still early on in my collecting journey. Like, this is when I was strictly only buying at the swap meets. So, yeah, 150 bucks was like three swap meet trips for me. Yeah. You wouldn't have known that at the time that she was going to like skyrocket in value, too. Like, it's so hard to know at the time, right? Exactly. You know what?

39:50Positive manifest. She's going to come to you somehow. She's She's going to show up at one of your state sales or swap meets. We're crossing my fingers and toes someday. [laughter] So, I see you have some beautiful diaramas behind you. Is there a way we can get a closer look at them? Yes, of course. I will flip my camera around. I'll give you a quick little tour. Okay. Um, you Oh gosh, she's topless. Oh gosh, I forgot to put her shirt back on. It's okay. So, this is where you keep all your diuramas. I love the space how you're using shelving to create different rooms. Yes. How many diioamas do you have here? 21 diaramas. Technically 23 cuz there's one up there and then there's another one right there. So, yeah, about 23 diioamas. This is probably like my easiest diarama. This is just a little daycare because I really really love Kelly dolls and I don't collect them anymore, but at one time I had probably at least a hundred Kelly dolls and I wanted to have a functional way to display them as well as all the cool little pieces that I've thrifted over the years like all the little playsets and stuff like that. So I decided, okay, I'm just going to make a daycare. So that's this one here. It's just a little daycare.

41:05And then down here we have like a little school setting. Ooh, like a high school I would say. Yes, a high school. So I got like my teen skippers and stuff there with mixture of furniture pieces from playsets. And again, all of this stuff I found at the swap mate. So the little playset pieces and things like that I've just kind of put together. And then [snorts] down here we have a laundry mat because I got to wash their clothes. Oh, I had this set as a kid. You just brought me back. Yes. set as a kid. It only came with You've got two washerd dryer sets which is it only came with the one the table and then the little like coin machine where you would go and buy the like the detergent. That's very Yeah, exactly. So, this is how it kind of started out was me just kind of like throwing together random furniture pieces and creating a scene. But then during lockdown, I wasn't able to go shopping, right? Cuz we were on lockdown. So that's when I had to get creative and that's when I started venturing into scratch build diaramas. So that's how the record shop came to be. Oh, that is adorable. So we were doing this before mini verse was a thing. Okay. We made our own mini verse. All of these little records I made by myself. So they're all filled with records that I did just with paper and cardboard and tape. So we didn't need mini verse. We just uh made this

42:30ourselves. So, bunch of bands that I like and some of the miniatures that I have in my collection. But then I did get gifted Miniverse. They ended up contacting me when they did release their record shop and I got that as a PR package. So, I was really really stoked to have that because yeah, obviously we appreciate music. So, yeah, I have a couple of scratch builds on display as well. This is one that I wanted for so many years and it was really hard to find and I actually got gifted this by my friend Barbie and Beyond. He sent this to me as a gift. This is a Barbie doughnut shop which is from like the 2000s but really really cool. And then we just kind of decorated it and I got to use some of my really cool miniatures by Reint and Barbie in here. This is awesome.

43:18And it goes to show for people who I feel like this sometimes like oh I can't build diioamas. I don't have the space. But look at how you can take a shelf. Yeah. And do it. Like you really don't need that much space. Yeah. This is just a standard bookshelf. Yeah. Yeah. And even if you don't have space for multiple bookshelves, there's a lot of ways to like make collapsible diaramas, too. Like you just need the backdrops and piece of paper as the floor. Like it's really not as complicated as maybe we make it seem. And you're using a lot of pieces here that you've thrifted or found or came across. So or made too. So exactly. This one is another Barbie playset. So, this is a Barbie food mart. Another kind of hard to find playset, but really cool. It's a got sound and different action that you could use with it. I would have loved something like this as a child. Yeah, I had a little fashion boutique counter that had the cash register that did that, but I've never seen the shopping marked. I've never seen this. Yes, this is really, really cool.

44:18This particular one is filled with my Japanese dolls, but this is still a Barbie Mattel playset. And then this one up here, another co creation. I wanted to uh build a new diarama during lockdown, but since I couldn't get out of the house, I needed to use stuff that I already had in my collection and I had a tub of furniture. So, I was like, you know what? I'm going to make a nail shop. So, this is the nail salon. Hollywood nail salon. I love it. Yes. Yes. So, we have our nail uh text over here and I was able to use all my fun little miniatures of nail polish and showcase some of my other dolls like my Generation Girls in here. So, that one was built and then I love tattoos. So, I wanted to make a tattoo parlor since I don't know necessarily that Barbie will ever make a tattoo studio playset. So, we made our own here. Do you have any tattoos on your Barbies?

45:18I do. So, this one right here is a back tattoo. She's getting a full back piece there. Wow. And I had a girl up here, but she was topless because I forgot I borrowed her top, so I had to remove her, but she's covered in tattoos as well. I did buy some tattoos, like I don't know, AliExpress or Timu, and I put them on my Odal, and I like it. Like I It really does level up things. Yeah. And I gave her I gave her a belly piercing. Like I just let her express herself. You could totally change it up. I had so much Barbie food that was accumulating over the years, so I decided, how can I showcase this and um the grocery store was the perfect opportunity to show off all the fun food that I've collected over the years. So, [snorts] this is a couple of different Barbie grocery store pieces that we've kind of thrown together. Hold on, I need to see the blonde in line with the brown coat. Is that Marina Evans from Days of Our Lives? Yes, it is. That is her. Yes, it is. I love dolls that replicate all different ages. And I will say that Mattel really, if you're not getting an Inspiring Women doll, most of the dolls, they don't represent different ages. Like, they do represent different features and ethnicities and stuff, but you don't find a lot of like in your

46:38fashionistas, you don't have different aged dolls. They all seem to be in that same age range. So, I really gravitate to the Inspiring Women dolls because they're all different ages. Yep, that's a very valid point. I'm starting to want to gravitate to happy family grandparents, the heart family grandparents, cuz you kind of want to have that age variety in your collection. Exactly. Exactly. I mean, I'm no longer 20 years old, so I want dolls that look close to my age. So, here's a bar scene. little nightclub action. Again, another opportunity to show all of my fun miniatures. Yes. And then this is my favorite dio here, the blockbuster, of course. So, all of this is scratch build. Well, for the most part. Like obviously like things like this and and this I didn't build myself, but everything else is scratch build just from paper and foam board. I really really like VHS tapes. and I used to work at a rental place called Hastings and so I thought that this would just be perfect to showcase all the VHS tapes and I just have a really cool backdrop and scene and um this was another lockown creation. So I had a lot of free time on my hands and this took me about 2 weeks but there's over 200 VHS tapes that are handcrafted in this dio. Wow,

48:02that's impressive. That's a lot of work. It was but it was a labor of love. Like I was so excited when I thought to do this and it's collectively I've had this for probably like five or six years and it's still when people see it it's their favorite. They love it so much. And I mean as much as those were unprecedented times, we had a lot of time on our hands to do things like this that we wouldn't do otherwise. Let's be honest. Exactly. Exactly. I love the detail that you have. Like even behind the cashier, they used to have the new releases. Like they would have like the dates of when Biodome is coming out. I just remembered that when I'd go rent a movie at Block. Yes. So, I mean, this has just been really fun to showcase my dolls and my collection in different ways like this. I love miniature food, so this is one of my favorite ones because I can show all of my really fun, realistic food here. So, [snorts] this is my fine dining restaurant. I really enjoy showcasing my dolls in this way. Like, if I could honestly just have a room of diaramas, that's probably the way that I would realistically love to display my collection. But [snorts] if that were the case, I would have to rehome all of these dolls. And I just I'm not ready to let all of them go like that. So, we're going to have to just keep it with this half of the room with Dios for the

49:22meantime. So, there was the bar. What else did you have there on the other side? I saw some nonPG-13 stuff, but that's okay. That's fine. You had the dentist. I think the dentist is so cute. I have for having this dentist Barbie. Very. So, I have the dentist up here doing a cleaning and then just some patients kind of waiting. But yeah, just some playset pieces that I really like. Oh, this is I think it might be that table right there. I thought that might have been from like a boutique shop. Yeah, this one is from the bank. The bank. It's the So, I had that set, too. So, this is the bank. You've got them the vault. Thank you. I'm just It's back here. The vault being guarded. Arrested at the bank. No, I just have somebody uh you know guarding the vault. So, I have a couple of people back here on duty. Couple back here. Good for you. I love the detail. Yeah. I mean, yeah. I love the doll in the suit. Ooh, is this like Henry Higgins over here, Ken? Yes. [gasps] See, stuff like that. And even I forgot her name in the leopard there. Yeah, I can't remember her name either, but I love that doll because she has brown eyes with blonde hair. Yes. And look, oh my god, the ATM machine behind her. Adorable. We can skip the strip club.

50:33We could that one. I loved it. I thought it was super cute, but I just, you know, we could skip. Yeah. Yeah, for sure. The Basket Robins. Yes. So, this one is a Japanese exclusive. This one's by a different brand, but it's just so cool. So, I do have my Japanese dolls on display. It works with the right scale. It totally works still. Exactly. And then two of my favorite playsets for food. We've got the Pizza Hut. Yes. Oh, I have those dolls, too. The Pizza Hut dolls. I love that. I love the little chandelier hanging from the ceiling. Good job. Yeah. I love that. Yeah. So, Pizza Hut over here. And then next door to Pizza Hut, we have McDonald's. Of course. Of course. I love that. And these are all things you found. Yes. Yes. Absolutely. Lots of fun things to look at. Oh, I didn't show you this one. This is the bakery. Oh, that's cute, too. That's another Mattel playset, but I've just filled it with all my fun little miniatures. And this one also does I don't have Barbie in this one. This is my Japanese dolls, but that's fine. Half and half, you know.

51:40Yeah. But it's very well done. I would sit in this room and just stare for hours. Yeah, it's fun. It's fun to do tours in here. From time to time, my Barbie friends will come and they'll get to take a look at everything and pose their dolls, their mini me in these scenes. That's cool. Yeah, that's definitely fun. So, now that we've seen your diaramas, do you have a mini me that often is in the diaramas? I do have a mini me. She is a little bit shy, so she doesn't come out in my dos that much anymore, but I used to photograph her a lot. The only reason why is because she needs to get an update. You know, I I've had a couple of updates since this mini me was first created. So, I do need to send her back to the salon so she can look more like the 2026 version of Don't Touch My Toys. So, this is probably the 2024 version of me. And you know, we're a girl that likes to transform frequently. So, I need to like be one of those collectors that has multiple mini me that when I change through the seasons, they can change with me. So, this is her. But, um, you know, we don't have bangs like this anymore. We've lightened up our hair recently. Today, we're curly. Sometimes

53:01we're straight. So, I need to get multiples of her. But, she is custom. So repainted by Tricky Light is the account if I'm not mistaken. So she has had a couple of makeovers. So when I first started using this doll, she probably came out in like 2019 or 2020, definitely before lockdown and I did not have tattoos at that point. But then I did cut my hair. So she went to the spa and got her hair done. But yeah, now I have a bunch of tattoos. I have lighter hair color. My hair is longer and I'm usually wearing it curly. So, she needs to be judged up a little bit more now. [clears throat] She actually just got a new body, too. I hung out with my friend on uh Sunday and he gave her a petite body cuz I am a a petite girl. Mhm. So, um he gifted me a petite body. So, thank you Cosmo the doll. Now, she is a height accurate. [laughter] That's important. That is important to get that accurate. Do you have a doll there that has a memorable story attached to it? Let's talk about this one here. I have several stories. So, one of the most incredible estate sales that I went to had a lot of dolls that are from Japan, and I do have a love for Japanese dolls. And if you're not familiar, Barbie also was released

54:28in Japan. And there were some Barbie exclusive Japanese dolls and they're usually really really expensive well into the hundreds. And you know, I'm a bargain shopper. I don't like spending $100 for a doll. And at this particular estate sale, I ended up finding this Japanese exclusive Barbie. And you can tell there's just something in the eyes that you can tell they're not a normal Barbie. Like they definitely have a little difference there. Yeah, [clears throat] right away the eyes are bigger or rounder or brighter. Something about the right away. She's so cute. Oh my goodness. Isn't she so adorable? And I also love that we were just talking about the blondes with brown eyes. You don't see that a lot with Barbie. But with the Japanese release Barbies, they do tend to do that quite a bit. they tend to put the blonde with brown eyes. And so I was very excited to find her at that estate till she was only $3. And she came with her original outfit. So this was very exciting for me. I was not expecting to find this doll there. And every time I see her, I just remember that incredible estate sale. It was so good. I will say, yeah, that was my

55:48favorite estate sale of all time. Like my hand was literally shaking as I was just grabbing dolls cuz I could not believe the sheer amount of Japanese exclusive dolls that I was finding there. That's amazing. That's amazing. I can only imagine the feeling of euphoria and almost like, "Oh my god, start the car." Right. Yes. Like I was like, "This is a fever dream. I'm going to wake up and it's going to be another work day and this is going to be like the dream that I don't want to end." But no, it was reality. And so, yeah, I was really stoked, very, very happy to find this doll. Not expected to find her at an estate sale in my town. I know. So, that was really, really fun. [clears throat] If Mattel walked into your room today and said, "We're going to do a reproduction of only one doll." Which one would you pick? I would say a series, but if it had to just be one doll, it would be Generation Girl Mari. Mari specifically, I I would absolutely die if they did the entire series. But if it had to just be one, it would be Mari. She's my favorite from Generation Girl. But this just so good. I really gravitate to this line specifically because they put so much attention to the bios here to their backstory. So, I really, really, really love Generation Girl. I just think that it's such a fun line. They all have a name, a personality,

57:11a hobby, an interest. I just think that's really, really cool. and it helps me connect more with the doll. This is Maro. She's from Tokyo, Japan. Her nickname is Mari. Her favorite way to chill is playing video games. All of this is on the back here. Her New York favorite eats are hot dogs. This is just so cool. I would love for Mattel to revisit Generation Girl. Yeah, it definitely gives the dolls a personality. And I mean, they did the repros on three of the rockers. Maybe they could do some Generation Girls. So, if Mattel, if you're listening, we want Generation Girl back. Please bring it back. [laughter] That's right. What's one doll that you hope to find out in the wild? I mean, this is a stretch. It's a very ambitious doll to try to find because she's so hard to even pop up on eBay. But, if I could find the Barbie Diaries doll, I want to say it's Raquel, but it's a Bill Granny design. She is wearing like a green skirt. She's got a side glance. And she's got like this blondish like honeyish blondish brown color like a brond color I guess. But that doll is just so stunning to me. And I have never seen her even at a doll. I've never seen her in person ever. Not at a doll show, not at an estate sale, like nowhere. And if I could find that doll, I

58:36I probably would pay over $100 for that doll. I'm not going to lie. I would go against my break your rules. I would break my rule because that's one of those dolls that I just never seen. Like she's so rare that if I found her, I would just pull the trigger and I would go ahead and buy her. Bill Green has posted about her on his Instagram. That was one of his designs. And she's just beautiful. She's such a beautiful doll. Like his work. Yes. Chef's kiss. Yes. Thinking about your collection, is there a doll that you have that you think deserves way more attention than she actually gets? I found this doll recently. She's been on my wish list for years, and for whatever reason, she's really expensive. I I don't know why Fashion Fever is so expensive, but Fashion Fever dolls are just so expensive. And she's one of those harder to find Fashion Fever dolls. This is one of the series called Modern Trends. And um she's a Leah face sculpt. And I just think she's gorgeous.

59:40So so gorgeous. Really really stoked that I finally have her in my collection. But I feel like not enough people know about her. Not enough people know about her. And then the ones that do know about her, most of us don't have her in our collection because she doesn't pop up very often. And when she does, she's extremely overpriced. So, one of my prized possessions, one of my favorite recent finds for dolls. Yeah. Like I've never seen that doll before. I don't know if it's just me, but like just the Leah face sculpt in general is maybe not as seen as much, you know? So, yes, definitely. And she's one of my favorites. I mean, I have so many of that particular face sculpt. And sometimes I can't even recognize that it's a Leah face sculpt. Yeah. And then after doing a little bit more research, I'm like, "No wonder I like her. She's Leah." Ta. There are definitely face sculpts that I gravitate more to and Leah is one of those. She was probably one of the top five face sculpts that I have. Yeah, she's cute for sure and definitely underrated. Do you have a doll there that has a funny story attached to it? I used to go to a doll show in Texas when I'd be visiting family and I would go to this doll show annually by annually actually. I'd go twice a year to go to this. And then the first time that I was not able to make it, a friend of mine went instead

1:01:04and she was showing me like all the stuff that she saw. And I had been looking for a particular series of dolls ever since I started going to that doll show. And I never ever saw that doll series show up at this particular doll show. And that's the Tokyo Fashion Fever dolls. And the one time that I didn't make it, my friend sees it there and I'm just like, "Oh my god, the FOMO was so intense and so real." And I decided that I was going to make it my mission to go again the following year and I was going to go get that doll. I can't honestly remember how I knew that the doll was still going to be there. I don't know if my friend got there late and told me that it was still there. I don't know why, but I just I had this assumption that the doll had not sold that day and that it was going to be there for me the next show. Manifested it, I guess. I have no idea.

1:02:00But I ended up going the next time to the show and I was like at the very front of the line when they opened and I already knew what dealer had that doll because when she showed me the contact, I recognized whose table it was. I already knew the layout of where they normally would set up at. So, I knew where they would be at. Made a beline straight to that vendor. And when I get there, I'm looking. I'm looking. I'm looking. I don't see any Fashion Fever dolls at all. And then [snorts] there's a box on the ground full of Fashion Fever. And so I'm like, "Oh my god, there they are." And as I go to like dig in there, he says, "Oh, all of that sold." And I'm like, "What? What do you mean this is sold? Like y'all just opened. Like I'm one of your first customers. What do you mean?" He's like, "Yeah, somebody bought all this already." And I'm like, "Oh my god." I'm like devastated. Absolutely devastated. And so me being the competitive person that I am, I'm like, "Who bought these Fashion Fever dolls?" You know, I'm going to find out who got these dolls and I'm going to see if they'll sell it to me because I came here to purchase that doll and I'm going to leave with that doll. If I can't do anything about it, I'm leaving with that doll today. [snorts] And so I kept kind of like scoping out, scoping out. And I finally saw the person who purchased it come

1:03:20back. And I mean, yes, collectors generally do buy in amounts like that. But I just had this feeling that by the sheer amount of dolls that this person had purchased that they probably were a person that resells or that has like a doll store or something like that, right? I was [snorts] like, that's a lot of inventory for just an average collector. So, with that mindset, I'm like, "Well, if they're a reseller, they can resell it to me. You know, I'm here. I want to buy it. You know, I want to leave with that doll. That's why I came here." And so, I waited for the person to approach the box. And I went up to them and I was just like, "Do you have a storefront? Like, do you sell anywhere?" And they're like, "Yeah, I do. I sell online." I just was like, "Okay, I'm going to just throw this out here. I'm gonna humble myself and I'm just gonna like throw this out here and if I get rejected, I get rejected. But I was just like, look, I came to this doll show with one goal in mind and that was to leave with that doll that you have in your box. You can tell me no and that's fine. I respect it, but I have to shoot my shot and I have to ask you, will you please, please sell me this doll that you have in the box? And it was this doll here. So Drew from Tokyo Fashion Fever, I said, "Can you please please sell me that doll?" Like, that's the only reason I even came to the show today. And so she ended up selling the doll to me. And she could have

1:04:44charged me a lot for it. She could have charged me market value for it. She only charged me, I think, like $10 or $15 more than what she paid. So she still made a little bit of money off of it, but she could have honestly said no and listed it on eBay. Wow. I feel like I was like sweating at some point. Like, oh my god, this sounds like so dramatic. Like, did she get the doll? Which obviously you did, but I could just imagine being in your shoes. It's almost like walking in on your partner cheating on you. You're just like devastated and crushed. You're just like, "How could you do this to me?" That's how it felt. So, I was happy I ended up leaving with her and mission accomplished. So, let's see look of her outfit from head to toe. She's got quite the fit on. Yes. Oh my goodness. With the boots. I love the hair. I'm a sucker for red hair. And she's got the blue in front. That's fun. Yeah. Just decked out with accessories. I mean, so many pieces, so many fine little details that you could miss if you like are not paying close attention. Like, and all of this is factory. All of this came with her. I have not added a single thing to this doll.

1:05:50Like, this is how she came. Layers and layers. Accessories with accessories. Just loaded. Fully loaded. Yeah. I've never seen her before. She's so cute. I love the accessories. Is that like hair pins? Does she have hair pins? These are just her elastics. But I mean, she's got so much so many tiny little accessories here. Bracelets, [snorts] socks, tassels on her boots. Cute. Super adorable. And it pains me because like I was probably like 20 years old or in my 20s when this doll came out. So, I wasn't collecting Barbie at the time. I was a broke college kid. So, I didn't have money to be even going down the toy aisle at that time. So, I missed this entire like release, the entire series. I didn't know about this line until I started collecting dolls again in my 30s. And when I found out about it, this was one that I've been searching for for probably about 8 years. And um really, really stoked to finally have her in my collection. And I wanted to get her in person. That was the thing. I did not want to order her on eBay. Was she in a box when you got her and you took her out? She was. She was. And I immediately took her out because this was one that I knew that I needed to display. Definitely. Um, so very memorable doll for me. My very first Tokyo Fashion Fever doll. Well, I'm glad she's with you. I'm glad that that person sold it to you.

1:07:13She belongs with you for sure. She was meant to be with you. I'm going to ask you this just cuz I'm curious. Do you have a Barbie tattoo? I do. Yes. So, I have Astronaut Barbie here. Wow. Astronaut Barbie. Can I ask why Astronaut Barbie? Well, I will say although I do like space and sci-fi, the main reason why it's Astronaut Barbie is because it worked the best for the tattoo cover up that I needed to take place on this arm. So, this is a cover up piece. And I had these really hideous tattoos here that I was just so embarrassed by. And every time I'd be doing my videos or showing things, it was just like an eyes sore. I could constantly just see those ugly wrist tattoos and I knew I wanted to cover them up. And so, I contacted my tattoo artist. She's based out of SoCal. And I literally fly back and forth to go see her cuz I just love her work that much. and I trust her ultimately. [snorts] So, I contacted her and I said, "Hey, I want a tattoo cover up. I really want a Barbie. These are some ideas that I have." So, I presented her Barbie and the Rockers. I gave her Astronaut Barbie, couple other Barbies, and um based on what I needed to cover up

1:08:33and the placement and the colors, Astronaut Barbie just happened to be the winner. And she was like, "Out of the ones that you've chosen, that one is going to do the best job at covering it up. and it's not going to be noticeable or detectable. So, it was one that I chose, but she had a variety of options that she could choose from. So, so as you're talking about Astronaut Barbie, look who I have here. Love it. Right. I just so happened to have her. Um, that's awesome. From 85, which is my year. The picture like faded on the back, but there's astronaut Barbie. And I noticed your tattoo and I was like, is that who I think it is? And there she is. Yes. So good. Just so good. Iconic. Iconic. So before we end off the show, I always like to ask my guests if they have a doll in their collection or maybe it's a doll item that's one of their prized possessions. Do you have something like that that you can show us? So prized possessions plural. Since I've been collecting dolls for so many years now, it's kind of shifted the things that I get really, really excited about finding. I shop so frequently now that dolls alone just don't excite me as much anymore because I've done this for so many years and with the sheer amount of shopping trips that I

1:09:55do, it's got to be something outside the box. And so I would say that my prized possessions right now at this moment in time are not necessarily Barbie dolls, but they're Barbie merchandise. I find that Barbie spanned for such a long time that there are so many things that are Barbie merchandise that people don't even remember about. And again, since I'm a nostalgist at heart, those things that can really like spark those memories and take me back to a different time period are what really really get me excited. And that's what I love to hunt for the most. That's what I love to see out in the wild and I really geek out about. And I know people are probably going to watch this and be like, "Really? I don't all the stuff you have in your room, you're most excited to find that stuff." And I'm like, "Yes, like that to me really gets me super super excited." So again, obscure things. So Barbie toothpaste. Oh my god. Colgate. Funny.

1:10:57Barbie toothpaste. This is probably from like the early 2000s. So use it. No, I don't use it. But I have this stuff like on display, you know, decor and things like that. Barbie hairbrush her in a in a convertible. This is glitter hair Barbie. Oh my goodness. Obsessed. Obsessed. A beauty fragrance gift set. Barbie perfume. But like I think items like this are probably really hard to find online. They are. They don't I mean they pop up sometimes but like I don't think people would keep them like they would a doll. So I can understand it being a priced possession cuz I could see a mother being like toothpaste this is expired perfume. This probably doesn't smell anymore. Exactly. But yeah, this is the stuff that I like really really love. Like some body cream, hand and body cream from the '9s. It makes sense because your whole thing is not even just your content but your interests are very nostalgia based and taking you back to like childhood. And this is the type of stuff that kind of just falls within that umbrella. Exactly. So, yeah, I love stuff like this. And I mean, I love Barbie jewelry, like vintage Barbie jewelry, like And I actually wear this type of stuff. Like, if I get these things, I wear it. Barbie necklaces, Barbie earrings, Barbie watches. These are functional things that I accessorize with. I think the cover popped open and you could see the time.

1:12:20Yes. Yeah. Like, and it would have the digital time. Oh, that's awesome. Yeah. So, this is the stuff that I really really geek out for. If I can find this stuff at doll shows and things. A stuff bag. So cool. So, so retro like Yes. You know, and I use it. It truly is functional. So, like when I go to Barbie Con, I'm going to be decked out with vintage Barbie purses and Barbie keychains and Barbie jewelry and things like that. So, that's the stuff that I really, really love and cherish. And it's things that I can take out with me that's not just going to be on a shelf in my room. Things that I can functionally use, but that's still nostalgic and retro. Yeah, I love that. Thank you so much, Summer, for giving us a peak into your Barbie world. I love how your passion for vintage finds keeps the excitement of discovery alive. It's almost like you're traveling back into time for just a few minutes to save the toys that somehow lost their home, and they need a new home.

1:13:20Your positivity shines bright and don't let anything ever dim your light. Thank you so much for showing us every diarama that you've worked so hard to create. I'd like to see more of it on your content because I don't think we see enough of it and it's absolutely stunning and timeless. Thank you so much for your contribution to the doll community. Thank you so much for having me. This was a blast. I really enjoy connecting with other doll collectors. I mean, this is what's so fun about the community and it's been a blast chatting with you. So, thank you so much for having me. It was so much fun. Let everybody know where they can find you on social media. You can find me on all social medias. Everyone that you can think about except for what is now Twitter. I don't do Twitter, but Tik Tok, Facebook, Instagram, of course, is my main. YouTube, don't touch my toys across all platforms. Let's connect. Let's be doll friends. Thank you so much, Summer. Take care. Bye bye. It's amazing how one doll can connect decades [music] of memories. Make sure to like, subscribe, and hit that notification bell if you love all [music] things Barbie. And if you enjoyed this episode, click here to see one of my other episodes. Thanks for watching.