Gabby Douglas Barbie Photo Review

Scan from back of Gabby Douglas Barbie box illustrates Douglas in one of her signature gymnastics poses.

Text from back of Gabby Douglas Barbie box reads:

"I love a challenge.  I love to push limits and I love that my very own Barbie doll celebrates me for being a role model to girls." —Gabby Douglas

Additional text from the back of the box:

When Gabby Douglas was just four years-old, her older sister showed her how to do a cartwheel.  The little girl tumbling around her house would later become the first woman of color to win the individual all-around competition for gymnastics.  Her confidence, work ethic and belief in herself make her an extraordinary role model to girls.  The Gabby Douglas Barbie doll celebrates the extraordinary accomplishments of this inspiring athlete who breaks boundaries and expands possibilities for women everywhere.  Whether she is training at the gym or dazzling the crowd during competition, Gabby has earned her spot as a true Barbie "Shero"!

Other than the text on the back of the box, the box is quite nondescript.

Initially created as a one-of-a-kind (OOAK) doll in 2016, part of Mattel's Sheroes campaign, the production doll has a box date of 2016 as well.  It was released to the market in May 2017.  Whether or not Mattel already had plans to release the doll, or if the Internet petition for the doll that was created in July 2016 influenced their decision to produce it, remains unknown.  As a collector, I am excited to now own two.

The production doll on the right, poses beside a screen-captured image of the OOAK Gabby Douglas Barbie.

The doll's head sculpt is a very good likeness of Douglas (Mattel always produces the best portrait dolls).  With the exception of the eyes appearing somewhat lighter brown and the lip color being slightly different, the production doll actually looks quite like the OOAK doll.

The doll capture's Douglas' adorable face and bright smile.

Unlike the OOAK doll, the production doll does not include a gymnastics beam or other gymnastics paraphernalia.  A faux cardboard beam is what is seen in the box.  

Gabby Douglas Barbie has black rooted hair styled in a ponytail with crimped ends.  She has light brown painted eyes.  Dressed in a white gymnastics leotard with red, white, blue, and stars design on front, the back of the leotard is white with a Velcro closure.  Her two-piece warm-up suit has a pink jacket with black sleeves and faux zippered front.  The black pants have a pink stripe on the sides.  The Nike swoosh is on the front of the jacket and top-left pant leg.  She wears white high-top sneakers.

A doll stand and certificate of authenticity are included with the doll.

I deboxed one of my two dolls to display.  The freed doll readily posed as illustrated below:

The doll stand can be useful, but when positioned on a flat surface, wearing her original shoes, Gabby can stand on her own.

 With the Made to Move Barbie body, the doll has multiple points of articulation:

• The usual five places (head, arm and leg sockets) are articulated.  Additionally articulation extends to:
• Upper arms below the biceps area, which is rotational
• Elbows, which are double jointed
• Wrists,which are rotational
• Upper legs, which are rotational
• Knees, which are double jointed
• Ankles, which are rotational and can move up and down, allowing her to wear flat shoes or high heels, are articulated.

In her leotard, her multiple points of articulation can be seen.

Gabby can easily sit in the cross-legged position.

These Sparkle Girlz fashions were purchased last weekend.

We both wanted to see her in non-gymnastics clothing and selected two of the above three newly-acquired Sparkle Girlz fashions for her to try on.  Gabby also tried on one additional Sparkle Girlz fashion that was purchased at a different time.

Gabby looks quite fashionable in this one-piece dress with multicolored, geometrical print bodice.  The skirt is made of a denim-type material with yellow fringe at the hemline.  Barbie's black Roman sandals, yellow bracelet, and round sunglasses, from different accessory packs, complete this look.

Keeping the yellow theme going, Gabby tried on this one-piece short set.  The yellow bracelet and black Roman sandals work well with this as well.

Finally, this lacy-front, too-short aqua dress with floral appliqués at neckline was tried on.  With this she wears white high-heels from a Barbie accessory pack. 

We had many more Sparkle Girlz fashions to try, but we decided to stop with these three and return Gabby to her original clothes.  After doing so, Gabby found a temporary place of display in the collection.  (I imagine she will be doing aerial walkovers, somersaults, and cartwheels from location to location until she finds the perfect place.)

Another blog post on the Gabby Douglas Barbie by Roxanne's Dolls includes a video review that better illustrates the doll's articulation and other features.

To purchase (while quantities last), here is link to the BarbieCollection . com buy page.

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