When you think of “Star Wars Barbies” as a concept, you think it would be very easy for Mattel to just put Barbie in a Princess Leia costume and call it a day. Which, to be fair, Mattel has indeed done. But it has also gone beyond that to deliver two extra Star Wars Barbies who definitely are...well, very extra.
Mattel and Lucasfilm announced a new collaboration series today that will see three new Star Wars-themed Barbie dolls hit store shelves later this year, in line with previous Barbie collaborations that have given us everything from a Ziggy Stardust Barbie, to a 13th Doctor Barbie, to a truly fabulous Dana Scully Barbie, and her associate, Disheveled Fox Mulder.
The dolls aren’t necessarily straight up Barbie in Star Wars cosplay, or Barbie standing in as a character from the galaxy far, far away, however. They instead lean toward Barbie’s status as a fashion icon by re-imagining several Star Wars looks as high-end couture. The closest to a “traditional” Barbie in the trio sees her wearing a slightly more dramatic version of Princess Leia’s iconic gown from A New Hope. She comes complete with cinnamon bun-inspired braided hairdo to accessorize the look, but, also hilariously, a silver purse with the Rebel Alliance emblem on it, and wild high heels?
Those things are not going to handle trash compactor water, Leia-Barbie. But they do look fab. The next two dolls in the line are where it really gets wild though—because they’re fashions inspired by Darth Vader and...R2-D2.
They are, frankly, incredible. As much as I would’ve loved to have seen a Darth Vader body with Barbie’s head on it instead of the helmet, or Barbie essentially wearing R2-D2 as an incredibly unwieldly, boxy halter dress, these looks instead go full on weird and wild. Vader Barbie looks like a cross between Edna Mode from The Incredibles—if Edna deigned to wear capes, that is—and fashion designer Anna Wintour, clad in leather number that wouldn’t look out of place in Star Wars burlesque.
Bartoo-bie-too, meanwhile, is a truly out there look that kind of looks like a mashup between an astromech droid, Lady Gaga, and Dazzler from the X-Men, with some inspired make up and a clever re-imagining of R2's panelled design as a modernist print. And the C-3PO-gold purse she’s clutching? Brilliant.
These are so much more fun than just simply putting Barbie in a Leia, Rey, Jyn, or Ahsoka costume and calling it a day—it’s an honest to god merging of the sensibilities of both Star Wars and Barbie, instead of just franchise cosplay. But alas, such inspired Star Wars fashion demands a collector’s price tag: Each of these Barbie dolls will set you back a whopping $100 each when they release this November.
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