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These are the main body types. Then there are a lot of variations and gimmicks to them. The worst part in my eyes are the fact that, with the big alterations and changes, clothes never fits new versions. The MM body can use almost any garment but with the need to pin down here and there. Pants might be on the short side as they are legs, legs and legs! Miles of them. The BB can't wear anything other than the fashions made for them - with the exception of tops that aren't form fitted to older body types. No pants or skirts, if not made by soft, stretchy materials. Don't even get me started on the kids' department! Then we have the issue of shoes. The flat gymnast feet and the ugly beach feet rarely have anything suitable to wear. Sandals and sneakers. And the occasional ballerinas or Mary Janes. Sandals for the beach feet. Variation is good but not to the cost of lost fashion senses and playtime with that. The new Tall and Curvy dolls have bigger/longer feet than the 'Original' Belly Button and the Petite.
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Different body types through the years
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continued... A mix of body types of all eras with different arms and legs and torsos.
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Bigger bodies Mattel has made a few
big size bodies and I have two different versions. The first plus size doll
was Rosie O'Donnell. Her feet are the same as Barbie's but her legs are
thicker, belly is completely differently built and her twist waist too.
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Body comparison - articulations Below is a compare of later years' articulated bodies, ea Fashionistas and (Model Muse) Pivotal. There are more versions and variations of the fashionistas bodies than what are represented here, but it is what I had on hand at the time of the photo session.
In 2016 we saw a brand new body,
called Made to Move. It had 22 points of movement and made posing a
lot of fun. The body below has gotten the head of my Travel Doll
Ester (not a match, as my bratty niece would say). It used to be the
blonde Barbie.
Trying to pose:
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 Stamp of the 1999 Belly Button body The only articulation this body has are the arms and wrists. Legs are the old rubbery plastic legs with the "three-click", hidden, bending knees mechanism.
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Speaking of legs...
My friend Beatrice had a doll with icky sticky legs and got curious to see what was under the skin. She cut and peeled off all the sticky vinyl and revealed a plastic skeletton. This is what the 80's-90's dolls looks like under all the vinyl. "Who needs the new prosthetic leg doll, when one can make one?"
Doll belongs to and photos taken by Beatrice Victor and used with permission.
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The two Fashionistas:
A clear view of the torso of an Artsy doll/swapping head.
Left doll has the first generation (100 Poses) body and the right doll has a swap torso. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The 100 Poses body is marked 2009
The button on the back is used to snap loose the upper torso with the head. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ A closer look at the knee joints of the two body types:
The old leg type (same as Equestrienne/Horse Riding Barbie had in the mid 90's) to the left and the new more articulated to the right. Legs are made of hard and hollow plastic.
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Model Muse Pivotal body:
Just like the Model Muse body, the Pivotal is narrower over the hips than the Fashionistas/play Barbie. She is slimmer, taller and has longer legs. There is a distinct right and left foot and the knee joint is slightly different than on the newer Fashionistas. Not as "pointy".
The Pivotal is marked 2006
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New Fashionistas/Style Years ago the Style dolls were the "cheap" narrow box version of Barbie. Now they are the follow-up of Fashionistas and they have gone down in quality and/or at least articulation. Fashionistas today are statuettes, very much like the Muse dolls. While people love the Muses they most often despise the F Statuettes/PLM (Play Line Model). This started with the boys, but also the girls were given these new body types with a hip stance and stiff, hollow, with one slightly bent, legs.
Can't see what caused the date change on the new torso. A simpel change of "panties" pattern doesn't render a new date. At least it didn't use to. Could be the leg joint, maybe. 2009 on the left and 1999 to the right.
* I dubbed it fairy because that is the only thing I can see differs from the old belly button body, besides the pattern on the molded panties.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Another look at these, with a mirrored model
The "longer side leg" is the same one as on the straight torso body. The "shorter side leg" differs between the body types.
This is how close together, the legs come.
Angle of the short side legs.
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Tall/Curvy/Petite In 2016 Barbie got a total makeover with three new body types - and a new date on the "old" Belly Button. Barbie is Petite. Barbie is Curvy. Barbie is Tall. And Barbie has her "original" body. Sort of.
Curvy, Petite, 'Original' and Tall, all are marked 2015.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Waiting for some new Fashionistas to compare them with flat feet vs heeled feet.
2013
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Curvy Curvy vs 'Original'. She has a lot more curves. Waiting to get a high heeled foot Curvy. I need to take a better shot - maybe use a stand? LOL!
Fashionistas
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Tall I put a Tall next to an Integrity and a Pivotal Muse to compare heights. Waiting to see a high heeled foot Tall and she might be as tall as the IT girl here.
IT Vanessa, Elvis Barbie, Fashionistas 30
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Petite
Petite with heels vs flat feet
2015 Petite vs Skipper
Petite vs the latest Skipper body types
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Curvy I was working on a blog post when I found something odd that have passed me by. This Curvy Fashionistas 179 had another year mark than the one I have marked for Curvy; 2015. She was marked 2016. I took out the box of Curvy dolls I have nearby and looked them through. Most are marked ©2015, but some are marked ©2016 and some ©2017. What? I can't see anything that would call for that change. For years and years and years all Barbie bodies was marked ©1966, even if there was a change to the waistline or legs or neck joint etc. The torso had the same measures. Now we have three different years marks of a curvy body that I can't see anything different in? Some have flat feet, others high, some have straight arms, others have bent arms, but that is the same no matter the year mark. What caused this? Now I have to go through all my dolls as time allows, to see if there are other differences in any of the other body types, as I decided to put that info in my blog posts and never double checked. I just went, ."curvy, ok that's ehhh 2015", checking with my text file. Maybe it is the pattern in the undies? They are different and upon further investigation, the pattern follows the year marks in my dolls.
Can this be the cause? The pattern in the undies? It's the only semi logical explenation I can find.
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Short Curvy Fashionistas 208 (Down Syndrome Barbie) got a
new body, marked ©2022. It is a curvy body - but short, like the Petite.
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Euro/Standard Barbie These dolls have the vintage SL type of legs - or shape of legs, the plastic is hollow and pink. The torsos are built like the vintage bodies, some with twist waist, others not. The arms also differs from the vintage arms to strait PTRs, Francie or Mexico arms. There is a variation of head sculpts on these as well. Mostly you see them with the Steffie sculpt, but also with a slightly redheaded or blonde Stacey, or MOD/Twist'n Turn Barbie. The Steffie dolls have different hair colors, some affect the head color more than others and they can have a big difference in the shade from their pink body complexion. They were often sold in blister packs dressed in Best Buy fashions. Some came in a cardboard box with pink swimsuit. Others wore a yellow swimsuit. These dolls were sold in Europe, Canada and Australia.
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Model Muse body types
None of the dolls above has the "original" 2003 muse body! Well...
The Belk Barbie above has the original body (left in pic). Left leg bent, right arm bent and left arm straight with a slightly outwards pointing hand. The Holiday Barbie has a new arm sculpt that is pointing further out from the body and a slightly more detailed hand, otherwise it's the same.
Belk Barbie on the original 2003 muse body and Basics Lara with the 2003/2008 mirrored version.
The straight arms are angled differently.
Left arms are the muse original.
Same arm angle but different hands. The dolls' left arms are the original bent, only mirrored, while the right arms have a new sculpt of the hand with the thumb pointing upwards. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Pivotals:
Pivotal vs straight (and hollow) leg Muse:
The straight leg muse is the only one that has the split function. The legs are hollow, vs the regular muses, that are (were) filled and heavy.
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Another closeup look of the pivotals: These are two different pivotals. At first glance they seem just alike but upon closer inspection differences appear.
The knee joints are different. One is less visible than the other when bent.
No difference in the toes.
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2023-05-17
