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Wednesday, April 19, 2017

I Can Be Musician Barbie Photos and Video

I Can Be Musician Barbie arrived swiftly from Amazon.com with one sneaker on and the other resting on her keyboard tray. I am glad my plans were to immediately release the doll from the box. Otherwise, the runaway sneaker would have been annoying.

The back of the box illustrates the doll comfortably seated on her bench at her keyboard stand with hands on keyboard. The box text provides girls with a description of a professional musician's skills.  It encourages them to explore their musical talents and the possibility of becoming a professional musician.

As noted in my previous post about Musician Barbie, the doll's accessories include: guitar with strap, keyboard, stand, bench, sheet music, two mics, headphones, and water bottle.

Video
The following brief video provides a closer look at the accessories.  Note that the video was recorded prior to detaching the doll from the box liner.





Still Photos of Accessories
Cellophane has been removed from the package for a closer look at doll and accessories.

Keyboard is realistic-looking.
Wood-inspired keyboard stand has tray for keyboard.  A black bench is included.
Mic stand is adjustable with extra larger mic that clips onto the mic stand; sheet music stand has sheet music decals; it attaches to the top of the keyboard stand.  Sheet music and bottled water, as shown, are included.

Musician Barbie wears light pink lipstick and has parted lips with undefined, painted teeth.

The pink guitar has a detachable strap.
Detached from Box Liner

With her high-top sneakers on, Musician Barbie can stand alone on a flat surface.

With sneakers off and guitar removed, she strikes a pose.

She has a slight arch in her feet, which as indicated in the video, will allow her to wear high heels.

The articulation is not as great as I expected.  The waist is not articulated.  The elbows, wrists, and knees are.  She cannot sit comfortably in the chair designed for PopLife Christie.  A taller chair would be more suitable.  She can cross her legs at the ankles but not at the knees as gracefully as I would desire.  I did not try her seated on her bench, which will probably work much better than the chair I selected.

In this seated position, her bottom does not touch the seat of PopLife Christie's chair.

This is the best crossed-legs-at-the-knees position she can achieve.  Her bottom never touches the seat of the chair.

This is the best she can do at crossing her ankles while seated, but she is almost standing.
Hair
Mattel made a decent attempt at capturing loose, curly-textured hair; however, the hair is not of the best quality.  As seen in the above photo, a small wad of it was dangling from the back.
Whoa!  Was brushing it a mistake?  She now has big hair, but it is manageable.

Complexion Comparison
None of the dolls I used for complexion comparison have the exact same complexion as Musician Barbie.


In comparison to Fancy Flowers Fashionista, Musician Barbie's complexion is close in color, but is a little lighter than her look-a-like friend's.


I knew her complexion would not be as deep as this doll's (Barbie Basics Model No. 04, Collection 001), but I went ahead with the comparison.


So-In-Style Chandra's complexion appears to be the best match, but it is still slightly darker than Musician Barbie's.

Lips

Finally, I darkened her lip color with a mixture of maroon and brown acrylic paint.  Using the same paint mixture, I also gave her a closed mouth.  Neither the light pink lip color nor the hint of teeth worked well for her, in my opinion.

Can she be a good body donor?  Yes, if you do not mind her limited movement and zero waist articulation.  The accessories should be useful for those who enjoy creating dioramas.


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20 comments:

  1. Thank you for posting these! I bought three ;-), hoping she would be a good body donor for the dolls with coloring comparable to SIS Chandra's (Alvin Ailey, Go Red AA, Generation of Dreams AA), but it looks as if she may be too light for those heads. Do you know if her complexion is more comparable to SIS Kara's?

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    1. You're welcome, TL. She is too light for all the heads you mentioned. I don't know of any doll her complexion matches.

      The colors vary from each batch of dolls to the next but usually the difference is very subtle and you can pull out of a swap without problem. Musician Barbie, however, appears to be in a complexion class all her own.

      In answer to your question, S.I.S. Kara is several shades lighter than Musician Barbie.

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  2. Musician Barbie looks so much better with darkened lips, closed mouth (no mouth-breathing for this girl!), and brushed-out hair. Mattel should have put her on a Made-to-Move body for more posing possibilities as she plays her keyboard and guitar.

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    1. Thanks, Gini. The hair is still a WIP. (Maybe the open mouth was so she could sing... my girl will be humming her songs.) :-)

      Mattel should have given her a more flexible body.

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  3. Thanks for all of the photos and information about this doll! Yes, she does look much better after your modification. I can't wait to get mine!

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    1. You're welcome, Roxanne. I look forward to reading your post about Musician Barbie.

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  4. Lol @"the runaway sneaker" detail. Who puts their shoes on their desks? Please. LOL.

    Thanks for the complexion and articulation comparisons. Oh and for repainting her lips. I wish Mattel would not choose frosty pink lip colors for darker black dolls.

    BTW - Love your Chandra's earrings.

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    1. Pink lipstick, frosted or not, is not very flattering on dolls with this complexion. I wish doll companies would cease using it.

      Chandra's earrings were part of a six-pack of hoop earrings purchased from Walmart specifically for my dolls.

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  5. Thanks for the pictures and comparisons.
    While she's not as dark as I hoped, I still want to get a couple of her the first chance I get. I like her enough to keep one as is, I'd love her props for my Blythe's and that body is bound to be a close enough match to get one of my older dolls out of her even less articulated body. (For example, I have a beautiful Mbili face mold on a Muse body which is really the worst.)

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    1. The ModelMuse body is so mannequin-like. I hope you have an opportunity to buy this one, but Mattel may use it in the future on a doll that is available to you.

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  6. Very helpful, post! I'm going to have to get one or two of these sets. The accessories are great. So much play potential.

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    1. Thank you for letting me know you found this post helpful Jewell. Hope you're able to find the sets soon.

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  7. Thanks for this post. I had plans to purchase several for body donor, but now I will probably only get a couple. I like her lip color much better. Shame on Mattel for using her hat shade.

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    1. You're welcome, G.G. I think having at least one is a necessity. I really like this doll, with the new lip color, new hairstyle, and Sparkle Girlz fashion she now wears. I know you'll like her too.

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  8. WOW! I want her! I have to put her on my wish list. This doll might not ever come to the stores!
    Thanks for sharing!

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    1. You're welcome, Ms. Leo. She keeps selling out on Amazon.com. I hope she does make it to stores.

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  9. Now that you have both the musician doll and Tropi-Cutie, would you tell me how their complexions compare? I'm really hoping I might be able to use musician Barbie as a body donor for Tropi-Cutie. Thx

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    1. Hi Jewell,

      Music Barbie's complexion is a shade or two darker than Tropi-Cutie's. You can see them both together in this post. They are not in side-by-side photos and different lighting was used in the photos I combined but they are in no way a match.

      The best complexion match for Tropi-Cutie would be an articulated So In Style Kara. Tropi has red undertones like Kara while Music Barbie is a more brown-gray in complexion.

      I hope this helps.

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    2. Yes, that helps tremendously! You confirmed my guess that SIS Kara would be the better match. Sadly I don't have a spare Kara. And thanks for the link.

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