Barbie's Sister Chelsea and Her Pet Fish

I've mentioned that I am not a Barbie expert, but when I saw this doll, I got pretty excited.  I got a little confused, too, because I always thought Barbie's younger sister was "Kelly."  I like the name Kelly and I think it goes really well with the name Barbie, but never mind that. What's really great about this doll (aside from her $6 price tag) is that she has a pet fish.  A fish.  In a plastic bag.

Let's face it, Barbie dolls usually come with impressive, out-of-reach accessories.  Barbie sometimes comes with a pure-bred dog (or a pure-bred dog with puppies), a new custom pink convertible car, a "dream townhouse," a new kitchen, a vacation jet plane, a pool...heck, even Barbie's shoes are so cute they're probably Manolo Blahniks.  But a fish?  That's an awesome accessory.  Virtually anyone who wants to can have a fish.  And as a parent, it's easy to say "yes!" to a fish.  If your little girl buys a Chelsea doll and wants to emulate her by having a pet fish--that's a slam dunk moment.  Buy a pet fish in a plastic bag and be Mom of the Year.  Seriously, though, maybe buy the fish a nice tank, too.  Actually, did you know that at certain chain pet stores they won't let you buy a goldfish (even a $0.25 "feeder" goldfish that is sold as food for other animals...) if you don't also buy a tank and a filter?  Yep.  My son wanted to "rescue" a feeder goldfish and they wouldn't let us buy it because we didn't want to buy a filtered tank.  Needless to say, we went to another store, rescued our fish, and put it in a nice big (unfiltered) tank.  That was six years ago and the fish is still alive and happy.  True story.  That's a huge tangent, though.  Sorry.

Look how thrilled Chelsea is with her fish:

In a plastic bag.

Barbie Fashionista "In the Spotlight" Artsy Doll by Mattel

I don't collect Barbie dolls, so I don't know a whole lot about them.  In fact, I never had a single Barbie doll when I was growing up.  I think this was because my mom didn't approve of them, skinny waists and all.  One other possible explanation for my lack of Barbies is that whenever I was given a doll with rooted hair, I would gradually cut off all the hair until it was just a wreckage of uneven spikes (and then I would poke the spikey ends into the head with a pencil).  So, yeah.  That could be it, too.

For one reason or another, I have mostly avoided the Barbie aisle for my entire life.  However, when Mattel released the "Fashionista" line and I learned that the dolls have exchangeable heads, I was interested.  Actually, on these dolls the whole head and shoulder unit comes off, and you can buy extra head attachments to change the look of your doll.  This means that stores have extra heads for sale on the shelves.  Picture it: rows and rows of disembodied Barbie heads smiling out at you from shiny plastic boxes.  It's a little weird.  I had to get one and try it out.  The trouble is, I know so little about Barbies that I bought the wrong thing.  I bought a doll that said "Fashionista" on the box, and I bought a head that matched her skin tone and also said "Fashionista," but when I got everything home and tried to get the doll's head off, it simply would not come off.  So, the first thing I learned about the Fashionista line is that not all of the dolls have interchangeable heads.  Watch out for that.

About a week ago, I got an email asking me if I had ever considered reviewing the Barbie Fashionistas.  Well, I have to admit that I had been waiting for an excuse to give the head-swapping adventure another try.  I mean, I still have the head I bought sitting here in its box with no body to put it on.  Armed with new determination, I headed out to Toys R Us and bought this:

Fashionista Artsy