The box changed slightly, to accommodate BeForever. The box was now pink, and said BeForever and had the characters silhouette and name at the bottom. 
But a Barbie today only comes with a doll, skirt, shoes, and SOMETIMES a purse or headband and most of the time the shirt or swimsuit is molded on. Below is a Ballerina Barbie from today. She only comes with a doll, skirt, and tiara. Mattel is doing some SERIOUS budgeting! A Budget line doll is a cheap doll, usually no more than $10 (U.S. Currency) and doesn't come with many accessories and the clothes are usually not that great. Before anybody asks, Yes, Fashionistas are cheap, but they are basically the "Center Barbie line" meaning that most Barbie dolls Mattel's been making are Fashionistas.
Out of all of the Fashionistas, this one is my favorite. The underside of her hair is brown, and her clothes aren't pink!! Honestly, with most Barbies, it looks like there was a pink explosion in the Mattel factories. I "Interviewed" my sister, and when I asked what she thinks of when I say Barbie, and she said "That lovely blonde hair, and her pretty pink clothes and makeup..." I'd like to give her a Barbie wearing a yellow dress, because it's her favorite color. But gosh, I can't, because every single Barbie is PINK!!! Usually Budget Barbie dolls articulation is worst in the shoulders, as they only go forward and backward.
So, to wrap it all up, Mattel might be failing. Stay tuned for (one of) my next posts: The Slippery Slope of Budgeting.
Quality isn't as nice as a real Barbie's is, but much nicer than the Dollar tree Barbie. The expression can be either really cute, or really horrifying. Outfit's can be purchased, and quality is nice, but not great. Normally, the single dolls have rubber legs, but the 4 or 5 packs have hollow, plastic legs. The 4 or 5 packs look suspiciously like certain princesses, like Elsa, Belle, Anna, etc. Anna-like dolls usually have much thicker hair than the other dolls (And it gets frizzier...) and has the white streak. Sparkle Girlz usually cost 5 or 6 dollars, so you're getting what you pay for with these dolls. There are also dolls that don't necessarily "copy" Barbie, but try to "topple her throne." The biggest competitors to Barbie are MGA Entertainments Bratz dolls, and Hasbro's Disney Princesses.
Bratz are huge competitors to Barbie, due to their cool, modern, older look. In 2002, Mattel released the My Scene Barbie line, which resembled Bratz because little girls thought Barbie was getting babyish and pink, where Bratz were hip.
Here is My Scene Barbie, who I think looks like Bratz' Chloe. If her clothes were more covering, I'd really like her, but, they aren't. I love the boots though... I think I prefer My Scene because they have FEET, and the body is just the typical Barbie body, so it's easier to find clothes for them. The My Scene Barbie dolls are commonly found on EBay as "Bratz doll?" or "Barbie?" in my experience. If one didn't want to try to find an actual My Scene Barbie, they could widen a Bratz dolls head hole with scissors and put the head on a Barbie body. Which do you prefer, Bratz or My Scene? 'til Next Time! - JCole
Molly will come in a navy blue cardigan with a bow with red buttons, a cute plaid skirt, white ankle socks, and little red and white saddle shoes. Instead of her old grey/silver glasses, they are now orange, and kinda look like my glasses, only round. I like her new BeForever outfit better than her old historical outfit, I love how she's kept her patriotic look. Back in 2011, my family got an AG catalogue, and I wanted Molly with all of my soul (Molly and My American Girl #57) but in 2013, I still didn't have a Molly doll, and she and her collection were archived. This would be my chance to finally get the Molly doll I've always wanted. I hope she really is coming back. 2018, come sooner! Bring Molly McIntire and Luciana Vega!!! Here are pictures of Molly's books:
A Winning Spirit,
Stars, Stripes, and Surprises,
And Finally, Chances and Changes: My Journey with Molly. I really like the Molly books, but it was a pain to have to pick up all 6 of her books at my local public library, and I'm an older reader, so I don't need the pictures. I personally like the BeForever books and I really enjoyed Samantha's and Kit's My Journey with books, but I would rather if the character was more gender-neutral, as most of the time the character who's supposed to be me, is a girly-girl, and not everybody who's an American Girl Fan is a girl! . 'til Next Time! - JCole
See the pic? This is a pretty cute outfit, in my opinion. this is the same box the last one came in if you bought it full price. Instead of the bikini and mesh covering like 1967, she now came in what appears to be a shirt, shorts, and belt. Barbie still came with the ankle stand/"X" stand and hairbow, though it was now pink instead of the orange one she used to come with. Now, my personal favorite Mod Barbie doll, Talking Barbie!
This is the original Talking Barbie from 1968 and all of her plastic glory. Instead of all of these fancy thingamajigs of today, This Barbie has a pink flower-shaped pull string/cord that activates 7 different sayings. Although there are 7 sayings, I only know 2 and a half, A.K.A I can't remember one. She says stuff like: "Would you like to go shopping?" "Stacy and I are having some tea." and something like "What should I wear to the dance?" That last one is the one I'm not completely sure about. I like how on this doll, her speaker is on her back, instead of nowadays, on the doll's chest or stomach. Although this makes her look better from the front, she may sound "faraway," If that makes any sense.
This is a prototype, with a clear torso instead of a flesh-tone one. Well, I've been TALKING long enough, (Get it?) so I'm gonna wrap it up now, so 'til Next Time! - JCole 
Down below is the other 90's Barbie doll I own (excluding the outfit and accessories) and from her left knee to her foot is missing!! Brown Deer has much better articulation, at the neck, shoulders, waist, hips, and knees. Her right hip is fairly tight, where her left is a little loose, but her knees hold 3 of 4 clicks, which is not that common, as most of these rubber click-legged dolls only hold 1 or 2 clicks. It is actually pretty rare to find a played-with doll who's legs hold all 4 clicks. Sometimes never removed from box dolls still don't hold all clicks. Okay, I admit it, Brown Deer's knees originally held all 4 clicks, but she's been played with! Also, about 99% of 80's/90's Barbie dolls are BEACH dolls. A bit annoying, yes, but some actually have cool features, such as UV rays change her hair color! I found this pretty cool.
Here's a Sun-Kissed (Light Blond) Trade-In Barbie. The Trade-In Barbie comes with really everything the normal, full price ($3.00) Barbie came with, except the ankle stand. I think this post has been pretty long, so I'll talk more about these Mod Barbies next time (Hopefully Tuesday) and I'm dying to talk about the 1968 Talking Barbie, but we're still in 1967 =(. well, 'til Next Time! - JCole
