Friday, January 6, 2017

Raven's Story (Silken Flame Barbie reproduction, brunette)


The fear of being replaced is something that is unique to dolls. Humans don't really understand it. Treesa read those two sentences over my shoulder and said that that's not entirely true. The friend she gave Wedding Bells and Wedward to was replaced when her job was outsourced overseas. Treesa's friend has a new job now, but she went through some difficult times to get there. Treesa also said that there are plenty of stories in popular culture about men who replace their wives with younger, prettier women when they're going through a midlife crisis. She said there's even a term for the younger women - trophy wives.

I still believe that the fear of being replaced is more common in dolls than in humans, because dolls lives are mostly controlled by their owners. Humans have more opportunities to choose their own fate and make their own decisions. Now Treesa's saying that that's not entirely accurate either. She says that sadly for some humans it's almost impossible to change their circumstances, mostly due to lack of money or social status.

I managed to get Treesa out of the room by telling her that if she wants me to get anything posted, she needs to stop interrupting me. Only now I think I've lost my train of thought. I know where I want to go, but I forget what route I was going to take to get there. I suppose I'll have to go back to the beginning and start over.

My story started the way every other mass produced doll's story has started, in a factory. I'm the type of doll that's commonly known as a 'reproduction'. Sometimes the abbreviation 'repro' is used, mostly in online auction listings. What these terms mean is that I was designed to look like a doll that was manufactured in the past, and that I was mostly marketed to adult collectors. Although in my case, I was also marketed to adults who wanted that special little girl in their family to have a doll like the one they played with as children.

My first owner was one of these little girls. I was purchased for her as a gift when she was just an infant, so in the beginning I was kept in my box on a shelf. Eventually the day came when my first owner's parents decided she was 'responsible' enough to handle me. On that day I was taken out of my box and placed in my first owner's hands. She was very proud of the fact that her parents thought she was mature enough to be trusted with me. Then she added me to her assortment of playline dolls. When she became 'too old for dolls' we were passed down to her younger sister, our second owner. And when our second owner outgrew us we were all put in a cardboard box, along with a few other dolls that had only ever belonged to our second owner, and were then put in storage. After a few years in storage we were taken to a flea market.

If you've read Dandelion's first post, then you know what happened after that. Treesa and her sister were at the flea market. Treesa's sister saw the box first and brought Treesa over. Treesa pulled me out of the box, looked over the other dolls inside, and asked for a price. After she was told we were fifty cents each Treesa picked up a few other dolls along with me, including Dandelion.

When Dandelion said in her post that I was 'an attention getter' I think she was referring to the number of comments I attracted from the adults in my first, and second, owners' lives. Any relative or family friend who was old enough to recognize my vintage style head mold would, when they saw me, share stories of the dolls they had owned as children. Even younger adults who weren't familiar with Barbie history could see that I didn't look like the other dolls in the collection and would ask about me.

I'm sorry to say that all this attention went to my head. I began to think that being a reproduction doll made me better than the more 'common' playline dolls in my first and second owners' collections. The reality of course is that every doll is unique and special in her, or his own way. After all, every vintage doll that is now considered a collector's item started out as a playline doll.

My high opinion of myself remained even after Treesa bought me. In fact, it had been bolstered by the knowledge that Treesa had chosen me out of the box first. Though she hadn't said so out loud, it was clear to me that if we dolls had been more expensive then Treesa would've bought only me. And Treesa's then current practice of separating her reproduction dolls from her playline dolls also supported my inflated sense of importance.

Treesa's other reproduction dolls tolerated my ego. Francie (a 30th Anniversary Francie reproduction) has always been shy, so she never contradicted anything I said about the superiority of being a reproduction doll.

Francie

And Vesper Holly (a Cool Collecting Barbie made with the vintage style head mold) was still disappointed over Treesa's decision to separate her reproduction dolls from her then small collection of vintage dolls.

Vesper Holly

Vesper had been good friends with an older Mod era doll named Summer Sand, and had been helping look after Summer's baby boy KC. The three of them, Vesper and Summer and KC, had become a family of sorts. Vesper thought of Summer like a sister, and KC like a nephew. After Treesa separated them, Vesper missed her surrogate family terribly.

Summer Sand and KC

I'm sorry to say that I did little to comfort Vesper during this time. I don't think I truly understood her feelings, having never really had a doll family of my own.

For years I stubbornly held on to my own narrow view of the world. Then Treesa bought Sable at the thrift store.

Sable

Sable was what I could only pretend to be, a vintage brunette 'bubblecut' Barbie. That's when the fear of being replaced hit me in force. Over the years Treesa had acquired a number of second-hand reproduction dolls, but many of them had later been let go. Two of them had been given away to Treesa's mother. One had been given to the mother of the friend that Treesa later gave Wedding Bells and Wedward to. And then there was the blond 35th Anniversary Barbie that had been handed over to Treesa's sister to sell at a family yard sale.

For the first time in my life, any feelings I'd had of being special deserted me. I was worried, and frightened, about my future. Worse than that, I felt that there was no one I could really talk to about my insecurities. I realized that my non-inclusive attitude had effectively isolated me from everyone. Even among 'my own kind', as I'd then thought of the other reproduction dolls, I hadn't formed any close friendships. It was as if I'd thought my status meant that I was above needing friends. The reality of course is that everyone needs friends in their lives, someone to share the good times and offer support in bad times.
Treesa just poked her head around the door frame and asked if she can check her emails, so I'm going to have to finish my story later. I apologize for any inconvenience this causes.

Quote The Raven
(This sign off was Treesa's idea.)





2 comments:

  1. Aww Raven, I hope that your story has a happier part II!

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    Replies
    1. Thank you for your comment Erin. I'll try to get the second installment posted soon.
      Quote The Raven

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