List of Barbie's friends and family

The list of friends for the popular Barbie line of dolls that began in 1959. Since character continuity has not been consistent over time, there is no real "canon" lineup. At different times, different groups of dolls were offered, and the naming and apparent age relationships of the characters has varied considerably.

Barbie family and other principal characters

Barbie

Barbie is a fashion doll manufactured by the American toy-company Mattel, Inc. and launched in March 1959. American businesswoman Ruth Handler is credited with the creation of the doll using a German doll called Bild Lilli as her inspiration.

Barbie is the figurehead of a brand of Mattel dolls and accessories, including other family members and collectible dolls. Barbie has been an important part of the toy fashion doll market for over fifty years, and has been the subject of numerous controversies and lawsuits, often involving parody of the doll and her lifestyle.

History

Ruth Handler watched her daughter Barbara play with paper dolls, and noticed that she often enjoyed giving them adult roles. At the time, most children's toy dolls were representations of infants. Realizing that there could be a gap in the market, Handler suggested the idea of an adult-bodied doll to her husband Elliot, a co-founder of the Mattel toy company. He was unenthusiastic about the idea, as were Mattel's directors.

Barbie (film series)

There have been several American computer animated and motion capture-based direct-to-video films based on and featuring the doll Barbie. Since her film debut appearance in 1987's Barbie and the Rockers: Out of this World, Barbie has been a computer-animated virtual actress starring in several feature films and short films (including a 1998 video game, Barbie: Riding Club, that contains a short film). After a fourteen-year absence, Mattel commissioned films to feature Barbie as a heroine of several princess or fairy-themed stories to accompany a franchise of related dolls and accessories. Barbie also made appearances in My Scene, Toy Story 2 and Toy Story 3.

Many of the Barbie movies are stand alone tales. There are several series within the overall collection. The most notable of these are the Barbie Princesses Collection series, Barbie Fairytopia series, mermaid-themed series, modern day-themed series, as well as musical and ballet series. Some films are based on the stories of E.T.A. Hoffmann, the Brothers Grimm, Mark Twain, Charles Dickens, Hans Christian Andersen and Alexander Dumas. Some also include music from Tchaikovsky, Beethoven, Dvorak, Mendelssohn, and Adolphe Adam.

Barbie (1991 video game)

Barbie is a multi-platform video game developed by Imagineering for Hi Tech Expressions. It is based on Mattel Inc.'s doll of the same name, and it was created in an attempt to get more girls to play video games. As such, it is one of the few explicitly girl-oriented NES games. The game takes place in a dream where Barbie must travel through three different worlds (Mall, Underwater and Soda Shop) to gather accessories before attending a ball to meet Ken. Despite it having been of little interest to typical gamers at the time of its release, some critics have praised it as "not bad" for a generic platformer. Others have advanced the view that its genre is not appropriate for its content.

Plot

Barbie dreams that she has been invited to the Fantasy Ball, but in her dream she has nothing nice to wear. She travels to three different worlds to gather accessories for the big night and a chance with Ken. Along the way she meets a veritable menagerie of animal friends and searches to find Dream-Ups, Glamor Items, and Charms for her bracelet that will help her along her way.