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I adored Barbie dolls as a little girl. I’m not sure how other kids played with them, but I mostly undressed them, cut hideous bangs that usually stuck straight up and forced them to make out with Ken for two or three hours at a stretch. (You guys didn’t do that? Oh. Right.)
In April Mattel will release their latest Barbie collectibles (which, roughly translated, means "overpriced grown-up toy"), in the likenesses of Prince William and the Duchess of Cambridge. Launching in the month of the couple's first wedding anniversary, pint-size Will and Kate come dressed in replica wedding regalia. (Did you think they'd be sold sporting their red-and-white Baywatch attire?) At a hundred bucks for the pair, the dolls certainly aren’t meant to be played with, no less (heaven forbid!) used as beauty school guinea pigs. What a colossal waste it would be if they were, seeing as the minute this particular Kate doll is naked, she'd be virtually indistinguishable from any other Barbie in the box. (For the record, with his piercing eyes and cartoon-hero grin, Barbie-Will could never get mixed up with Ken, even if both dudes were in the altogether.)
These aren't the first royal clones, nor are they the cheapest or most realistic. For $195, you can own "action figure" Kate, complete with bulging guns and manly mug that make her look like Lou Ferrigno in drag. Then there's the Franklin Mint's "Royal Engagement Portrait" doll, which actually looks like the Duchess and features a jaw-dropping price tag of $295 to prove it. If my kids clamor for a plastic princess, they're getting this limited-edition “engagement” model that I think bears the most resemblance to the Duchess anyway and rings up at a reasonable $12.95. Who's with me?
