It's no secret that I like Barbie dolls. I've got a six foot dollhouse (made for American Girl size dolls), a zillion Barbies, A redheaded My Size named Rusty, and an 18 inch Pocahontas. What might surprise some folks is that I don't run around buying them willy-nilly. I do have standards.
I prefer jointed dolls, as they are more easily posed in my scenarios and easier to dress. My favorite man dolls are Sulu and Pike - Playmates dolls jointed much like a GI Joe. If I can't get joints, I want a natural looking pose. The doll should have bent elbows or, at the least, relaxed arms. Those perfectly straight stereotype-zombie arms? No, thank you. One of my dolls isn't jointed at all, but the molding of her arms and legs and even the unusual body mold give her a sassy attitude. The blue hair and ornery expression help, too!
Unlike many Barbie Girls, I don't care for hair play - my last two purchases were short-haired, in fact. I go for unusual hair colors - many of mine have at the very least a streak of some odd color in their hair. The ones who don't definitely had some other feature I liked!
Facial expressions are important, too. Too many fashion dolls suffer from Vapid Face. Even if my doll doesn't look like a genius, it needs to have something going on. Barbies are meant to be a blank slate - at least that was what Ruth Handler had in mind when she invented them - but that's just a little too blank for me.
One bonus to having various sizes is that clothes almost always fit somebody. Even those ridiculously skinny Monster High clothes do - the less sexy ones make adorable dresses for Viv and Kelly (four inch toddlers).
I am not a collector. Collectors leave the poor things trapped in the boxes and I just can't do that - I've tried. I currently have Fred and Wilma Flintstone in boxes. They keep talking to me...
