I'm sure you know the story - Barbie® and Ken® "broke up" in 2004, and now Ken's trying to "win her back" by "commissioning" custom-designed cupcakes and "taking out ads" on billboards. (You can read more about it here.) You can even visit this website to "vote" on whether or not Barbie should "take him back".

The punch line was supposed to come on Valentine's Day (next Monday), when this giftset was to be released:

However, just like Then and Now Bathing Suit Barbie, the "surprise" was ruined when the sets started showing up early. (Some people were finding them in stores back in December, apparently.) It kind of takes the "excitement" out of voting.

The She Said Yes giftset is essentially this year's "Then and Now" ultra-low-priced "stunt" product. I found a couple of them at Target last week for US$5 (and, of course, at Toys R Us for $14.99... ).

Taken out of context (as it must have been when people started finding them before the promotion began), I'm guessing some people were left wondering exactly what Barbie "said yes" to... (Although it does say they're "together again" on the box, that photo on the front looks very "let's get married"-y.)

As tacky as the whole "break up/make-up/billboards/superficial-'reality'-show-competition" thing is (and I think it's pretty tacky), you can't beat this set for the price. For less than the cost of one beach doll, you get two beach dolls - and "super-fancy" beach dolls at that, since they both come with shoes, their outfits have extra-fancy details - and Ken even has a watch!

Ken's dressed in red board shorts with lots of top-stitched details) and carries a yellow towel, which is a nice throw-back to the outfit he originally showed up wearing in 1961 (complete with flip-flops). He has a "kiss print" on his cheek - which is cute, but I don't think dolls should have things like that permanently printed on their faces. (Why not make it temporary ink so it could be wiped off? Sure, you can use paint remover, but most kids don't have than in their toy chests. I hope.) he print is exactly the same color as Barbie's lips, though, which is a nice detail.

Of course, Barbie wears yet another take-off on her original 1959 "zebra-print" bathing suit. I like this suit a lot more than the one the 50th anniversary Bathing Suit doll wore - it's more faithful to the original but still looks "updated". Plus, it's really nice to see Barbie in a one-piece swimsuit for a change!

It goes without saying that I was staking this set out for "parts". (*mwahahahaha*) Specifically, I wanted Kens because I love the new body and head. And, like I said, this set is less than the price of a single beach Ken doll, so you'd literally have to be crazy not to stock up on them. (Just allow me to delude myself, thanks. ) I'm still not a fan of the 1998 Barbie head (), but I can always use bodies (*mwahahaha again), and this Barbie doll's body is unusual with a bent left arm.

The other reason I was looking for this set was because I'd seen that Barbie had the new non-bending big-foot legs the current beach dolls are using (yes, their legs don't bend anymore), and I wanted to see what they were like. Of course, as is the case almost every time I get more than one of something to use the spares for "parts" (see this and this for two of the 7 million examples), when I got home and actually looked at them I discovered a variation:

She Said Yes™ Barbie®'s legs - old bendable ones on the left, new non-bendable ones on the right

In some the sets Barbie has the non-bending legs, but in others she has the older bendable big-foot legs. It's easy to tell the difference (if you're actually looking for it) - the non-bending legs have the big scooped-out areas on the inner thighs. Of course, I wasn't looking for it and managed to only get one set with the non-bending legs - and I'm a huge non-fan of the bendable ones, so back to the store for me.

Doll Diary 10 February 2011