Apart from the obvious doll-like Barbie heads, Mattel makes some really pretty head sculpts.
I saw this Beach Barbie brunette in a bin of discounted toys at a local department store, noticed her lovely smile and big green eyes and was instantly smitten.
Actually there were two of these brunettes in the bin, each with a different but lovely expression so I could not resist getting both. I kept one original and used the head of the other one to create Sylvia.
Mattel puts no names on the boxes, but there is an ad for the 'A Mermaid Tale' DVD on the box and after a bit of searching I learned her name was Hadley, one of the main characters in the Barbie 'A Mermaid Tale' movie.
Her head is more doll-like than the true CG heads, it is slightly bigger (but at 27mm width and 40mm height it still is credibly sized for a 1/6 scale head) and her eyes and mouth are considerably larger but I consider that part of the charm.
Apart from the long legs and tall neck, the Beach Barbie body has fairly realistic proportions but unfortunately it is rigid, as are the arms which only move at the shoulders, the legs however are soft skinned and come with posable knees.
The feet are realistically sized and almost flat but also a bit floppy so she isn't really sure-footed.
Fortunately Mattel makes some sneakers for these Beach Barbie feet, so I got some, dropped a small magnet in, wrapped a bit of cling film around the feet and fitted the sneakers, making sure the magnets remained in the heels of the shoes.
Apart from the obvious doll-like Barbie heads, Mattel makes some really pretty head sculpts.
