Guess who's staying up late Monday night?


The original tokidoki is kind of a Holy Grail for me.

 Not one I'd even thought I'd get, because she is far too expensive now. However, I really admired the styling and the pop-art feel. It also had a Japaneese inspired, pop-art feel to it that I loved aswell, so to see it refelcted in a Barbie was seriously fun.

Then there were the Tattoos.


A Barbie with cool, fun tattoos?!


So, when I heard they were doing another tokidoki doll, I was interested. I had too many things I wanted to get really think I was going to get the doll, but I wanted to see what they'd do.

I'll be honest: I wasn't that impressed with the styling this time. The dress was so simple to be unimpressive. They shoes were regular fashion Barbie shoes -- not a big surprise but with the simple mini-dress, I would have hoped for more creativity in the shoes. Plus, they canceled one of the two dolls they planned on releasing.

However, they injected this doll with the instant antidote of....


... A new head sculpt.

This head sculpt has only been used once. In the super exclusive, platinum label Karl Lagerfeld doll.



The only envy I had for people who bought this doll was 'new sculpt envy'. And even then I didn't feel it that much because it had the 'peace' skin tone. The super-pale, vampire skin tone:

by LDolls

 Totally useles to me. Who in real life is that pale?

But then... here this baby was... same sculpt... with natural skin tone...

First images of new TokiDoki dolls. Purple one was canceled.

I could tell even from this image that they were working with the Karl sculpt.

Some collectors - the one's who have the Lagerfeld doll - were upset that they were using the Karl sculpt for another doll.

As a fan of the sculpt and Barbe in general, I know from experience that the real fun of Barbie is in reinterpretation. How one item of clothing can be styled on a doll so many ways. How one basic head sculpt can be repainted to look vastly different from the original face-up.

Its why people still love the Mackie Sculpt, the Goddess Sculpt, the Lara sculpt, the Lea sculpt. These sculpts are beloved becasue of their versatlity. I don't expect the Karl sculpt to become the next Mackie - it is far too unique for that.

But I wouldn't mind it having the life of the Louboutin sculpt, where it is used to the super-high end dolls but also - every once and a while - used in the basic Barbie Collector lines.


If it has a life after tokidoki, it will probably have a life more akin to the Mermaid sculpt, where it is used only on high end dolls.


Still I'm hopeful for the Louboutin route. So, far the Mermaid sculpt hasn't had a doll with a start price under $100. tokidoki is $75, a big step down from the $200 the Karl Lagerfeld sold for.

Either way, the magic of Barbie stays intact.

I don't think the Lagerfeld Barbie is any less exclusive than it was before.

As for this new tokidoki...


I have the money set aside for one. Hopefully, down the line, I can snatch another. 

The Karl is just too good not to have multiples!