“i actually really love designs that are more elegant and understated” *puts 1990’s beautiful pink monstrosity at the top of the list where she belongs* 😝😝💕😝
One thing I'm noticing as a consistent theme is the importance of texture. The worst holiday barbies have uninteresting textures, stuff we've seen before, or materials that are outright cheap. The nicer holiday Barbies are more luxurious, more daring, or the material just sits nicer. Tldr: in my opinion, lace, velvet, and fur are key ingredients to a quality collector's Barbie
I think the issue is that these elements aren’t super trendy right now. Fur is sort of making a comeback and I could see a faux fur jacket becoming a part of the design next year maybe, but no fur trim. Velvet and lace are just not in currently, and when the holiday Barbie is supposed to sort of represent the year, it doesn’t make sense to include anything that isn’t part of the contemporary look. Maybe in a few years we’ll get something new and interesting.
@@Mercutihoe i don’t think the most recent barbies do a good job of representing what’s popular. what was 2020 and 2021? they’re just weird to me. and they don’t feel as playful and festive either. they’re missing something, but i also think the festive backgrounds/boxes for the earlier images help to make them feel more interesting as images in a video. maybe i’d feel differently if i saw all the dolls in their packaging (but i doubt it). might look all of these up later. i also feel there is a distinct lack of quality in the newer ones. the materials look cheap and they drape horribly!!! like why are you choosing that for the barbie that’s supposed to look luxurious lol
OMG yes especially the plastic bodices that some of the dolls had, they ended up looking so cheap! They didn’t even remind me of Barbie. The velvet dresses were the most slay imo!
I remember when I was a kid I got into DEEP trouble for almost opening the 1999 Holiday Barbie to the point it's STILL in my mom's closet and on a high shelf after several moves and a divorce. I remember being very intrigued, she's absolutely beautiful!
That is so sad. I understand the point of collecting, but why scold a child for wanting to play with a doll? Worst case scenario, just buy one for the kid and hide the other one in the box.
I never played with my Odette barbie and I still keeping her on the box because I think she's so beautiful. My family found it surprising, a kid not playing with a barbie, but they all agree shes too pretty for this.
@@inakiaraquistain5731 I think it'd scolding the kid for touching something they're not supposed to. Most items only have the value we attribute to them, so it'd important for a kid to learn that even if it were a half eaten banana on a shelf - you're not supposed to mess with it if its important to someone else. :)
the 2016 one is literally my villain origin...she is diabolical, a disgrace. i remember when she came out and i saw her for the first time i was in shock honey, in tears almost. this doll deada*s deserves her own tier😭 also VERY glad to see the early 00s girlies at the top💅
I got one in box recently from goodwill and I like her a lot as a barbie, but not as a HOLIDAY barbie. She definitely lacks in comparison to the others
I'm suprised there was never once a cape with a hood. It just screams winter. Also the breastplate of the last looks like armor and I think people would have preferred that instead over the actual dress despite it not being christmas themed at all.
"...it is horrible, it is ghastly, it is dreadful..." it is definitely 2020 the doll. No arguments there. OOF. 2008 is by far my favorite. I actually love the over the top mermaid skirt, but I am an 80's kid, soooooo...
Underutilized colors: deep plum purple, light blue, black, creamy white, champagne. Underutilized details: long sleeves, cloaks, capes, hats, gloves, boots. Other things I would like to see would be a dark dress spangled with stars and a better executed icicle themed dress. I think they would benefit from bringing back a few Up doos since there are so many in a row with very similar hair, or maybe like a thick elegant braid or something different. There is so much potential for unique designs if they weren’t afraid to try something new.
Here's something that really needs to be discussed, and I bring this up all the time in doll forums, and it makes peoples' eyes glaze over: *These dolls all cost the same at retail.* That's a *HUGE* problem. Mattel falls into this trap all of the time, and their lines all decline in quality because of it. A doll released in 1988 for $40 would cost about $90 today adjusted for inflation. There is no way in hell to maintain the same standard of quality over *THIRTY* years without significantly raising prices. I find it incredibly annoying that collectors get upset over incremental pricing jumps. They're 100% necessary if you want to maintain quality over time. It's a *miracle* that the dolls from 2000ish to 2010ish look as good as they do. By effectively not raising prices on Barbie overall since the 90s, Mattel has driven her into the bargain basement of doll lines. Up until ten years ago part of the magic of Barbie was that she was always the premium option. That's not remotely the case anymore, regardless of whether you're talking play line or collector line. Honestly, I don't even like giving Barbie as a gift to a child anymore because the quality is appallingly cheap. Don't get me wrong- I'm all for accessibility. I'm glad there are $6 Barbies. On the other hand, not every doll has to be affordable to every collector. The $200 dolls of yore made the $40 dolls seem all that more glamorous. Mattel has *absolutely* no idea how to treat a modern collector market, and they're trashing a heritage brand in the process. No one wants to buy a toy for their child and say, "Wow. This is worse than I remember."
But in the 90s, 40 dollars was worth more that today. At first, I also thought that quality decreased in order to maintain the prices. But then I started comparing Rainbow High dolls with the Barbie collectors and it just can't compete. If MGA is able to use high quality clothes for the same price, why can't Mattel too?
@@jessicarodriguez474 Mattel is a Fortune 500 company, while MGA is not. They have different profit structures. It's pretty unrealistic to compare Mattel to smaller brands. You can really only compare Mattel to Mattel. Improved quality is going to mean higher prices. At this point, I've pretty much written them off and buy from Integrity instead. Even if Mattel's quality were better, the design of all of their collector dolls look like they were designed by five year olds, for five year olds.
Have you seen the lower priced holiday barbies ? 2000 Holiday Surprise is just 1 example. there is a caroling doll a doll that comes with a Christmas tree you decorate . i have a bunch of them .
@@jessicarodriguez474 I heard it's because Mattel has shareholders who want to see profits. MGA doesn't have shareholders. You would think Mattel would sell more dolls if their dolls were actually good though? But what do I know? I don't work in the doll industry. Its sad what Barbie has become.
The 2002 Barbie hair/ makeup styling seems like it would be more relevant for today’s Holiday Barbie as opposed to the makeup/ hair they have currently been putting out. Also absolutely love your videos. There are a lot of other doll channels our there but I always come back to yours. Your commentary is always on point!
Ah yes. 1999 Barbie. I remember her well. She was my introduction to parents who would buy their kids expensive adult collectable toys and not let them play with them as "investments for their future". So many memories of sleeping over at my friend's house, looking at her mint in box doll, and wanting so badly to get at it lol.
RIP to Barbie's quality post 2010. Its sad that they can't even put effort and money into one of their most collectible lines. I understand the decline in quality in their play lines but this is Holiday Barbie for crying out loud.
I honestly agree with mostly of your choices but i will say this.....2009 is an icon. She's a legend. And we do not deserve her. She's honestly my favorite holiday Barbie next to 1990. I literally have three of her. But the dolls after 2010 i started not liking at all. They're all kind of hideous to me. I do love that the 90s holiday barbies were so campy and elegant and ridiculous. They're just so fun to look at. Would you ever consider doing a birthday Barbie rankings?
I HAVE the 2003 doll (she's just chilling in the back of my closet as holiday barbies do rn) and somehow I didn't realize that the back of the box was translucent until you pointed it out, I always somehow thought that it was just a backdrop! Also I agree that the trees look beautiful and along with the blue tinted back and the mostly white doll it really brings the presentation of the box together
I agree with you there. I love how she comes with trees and how you can open the front of the box in case you want to touch her dress or display her like that without taking her out of the box.
I own the 2003 and she is sooo beautiful and the box is gorgeous as well. I noticed that all the other Barbie’s have a very lack luster box but for some reason they just put their all into the 2003 holiday Barbie and I appreciate it!
I am 14 and got a Barbie from the thrift store a few years ago for Christmas. Watching your video I just realized I own the 1996 holiday Barbie! Her curls are kinda messy and skirt a little flat but other wise she is still stunning 25 years later!
I was gifted the 2009 Christmas Barbie when I was at the hospital, she’s so beautiful it’s a shame that I don’t have the box anymore but I was always gentle with my dolls and she stills looks amazing 🥺
I have the opposite problem, I'm trying to find 1998 for forever...that was the year my daughter was born and she lost it in Hurricane Katrina, very hard to find 😢
Hey, thank you for identifying the doll that my mother had as a kid and is now sitting on my shelf! I never realized she was a holiday Barbie due to lack of red, gold, and green, but now it does make sense. (She’s the African American version of the 1998 Holiday Barbie.) Edit: I will say that I think the African American version of the 2020 Barbie looks a lot better than the Caucasian one. The dark skin tone pairs with the gold color very well. The dress still isn’t the greatest (the sleeves are particularly yikes), but I’ve found that fanning out the bottom as opposed to leaving it in its poofy ball shape helps the silhouette, at the very least.
YES the black 2020 barbie just looks so pretty, it was the first black doll my sister got (she doesn't have many but she loved this doll so much I felt bad not buying it for her) she doesn't play with it much but that's because she doesn't want to ruin the dress or mess the hair textures, the only thing I hate about the doll is the packaging all the barbies on sale had cuts on their hands from the plastic but overall it was the first holiday barbie I even knew existed since I'm not into dolls
The 2021 black holiday Barbie looks a lot nicer than her white counterpart too, though the breastplate and netting is still pretty unfortunate; I think including natural black hairstyles on these dolls helps them a lot--it adds some interest, texture and shape to the overall silhouette.
It’s crazy how the other 2016 dolls are leagues better than the Barbra Barbie. Even by just using different color combos and hairstyles they knock her straight on her ass. Seriously I love seafoam green but that white bodice looks like a dead coral reef with it.
2020 made me audibly go "BWAHHHHG" Hard agree on her ranking. I would have put the red gown with big star barbie a little higher, her hair and makeup sleighed
Micarah's recreation of the 2020 dress was a vast improvement. No gold foil on the tulle, no weird frowny-face semicircle cut out in the front, and fairy lights strung up to give the dress an extra sparkle.
I remember seeing a holiday barbie in a store once, with beautiful long dark hair and a dress full of tulle. I never asked for her because I was in a "boys toys" phase and didnt want to be bullied for liking dolls despite being a girl in the target age range. if I find her in the thrift store one day, Id love to pick her up and let her hang out next to all the Christmas trees she wants
Ooooooo, I'm honestly not a holiday person at all but I'm here for the tea on these dolls. That and I'm thinking of beefing up my small Barbie collection so I'm excited to see which ones are favored by you. 👀 EDIT: As someone who knew about none of these dolls, my favs were 96, 98, 99, 02, 04, and 09. So confused why they didn't do more blue and silver ones? Least fave is 1993 and most of the ones from 2013 onward. Don't make me choose. Lol
4:16 I think if her ribbon was a bright warm red, her colors would pop and her ribbon would lift the outfit instead of weighing it down like a funeral veil lol. The execution on the jewels is unfortunate but overall the silhouette is very regal to me. I think she could have been a sleigh but other than that I agree fully 12:15 it looks like foil cupcake liners. If they just yanked it off and let her wear a minidress for holiday, she would have won Christ-yassss.
I still remember the Holiday Barbie 2004, my favorite so far! She’s so gorgeous, fancy, pretty and very 00's 🥰 She reminds me of my childhood and I love the fact that she’s on the top!
i feel like literally everything made in the past 5 years (toys and movies and shows etc) has significantly lowered in quality. its always about selling the most things the fastest, and its so sad
I'd like to see a Holiday Barbie in a Jumpsuit next. Maybe have some Louis Vuitton Pumps and half-up half-down hair. It would be nice to not have a ball gown for once.
I got the AA version of the 2017 doll for $5 after Christmas when they put her on a huge sale. I would've been pissed if I'd paid full price for her since even $5 felt too generous. The quality of her dress was horrid and cheap, her big star fell off if you breathed too close to the doll, and her Model Muse body felt so cheap and nasty compared to the Model Muse Holiday dolls I got as a kid. That being said the 2009 doll is a QUEEN and I had her as a kid but I need her in my life again I miss that doll so bad 😭
I only knew Holiday Barbie by their Hallmark ornament version from 2001-2004 and did not like most of her dresses thereafter for a long time (plus now the height for them are all over the place), you can tell now that they're based on early versions sometimes, such as the hair-do for 2021 being different than the doll version.
I only got the 2021 holiday Barbie dress since it looked like a more accurate version of Cinderella's ballgown than what we've been getting from the Disney Store lol
I love that all of us doll tubers watch the same creators. I watch Beautyinsidethebox as well, I just watched their Barbie movie dolls ranking and I'm curious to see how your guys's opinions differ
Why do so many of them have no necklace? No bracelets? Where in the heck are the long gloves?? A lot of these ladies look half naked to me because of the lack of attention they were given.
I have the 1998 Holiday Barbie. I actually really liked this one-which is why I bought it in the 1st place -though the black gown is definitely rather somber for an Xmas Barbie. Still ,it does lovely jewel embellishments;along w/the shocking pink satin stole which provides a great contrast to/the black dress. 👌
2008 looks like someone designing this saw three slightly flattened silver patty pans {cupcake tins} & thought, ‘yeah, this is my inspiration for a skirt...’
I think 2017 is my favorite, because the design is subtle and elegant, but then you have the star which is just so out there. But they work well together, in my opinion. Also, 2021 just looks like 2013 but cheaper.
I'm always shocked to see how the quality of Barbie declines in recent years. The materials become cheaper, the textures worse and worse, there's fewer and fewer accessories. It's really sad to see in a way even though I don't collect Barbies. I only collect LOL OMGs and Rainbow High at the moment with the occasional outlier like Cave Club, which I really fell in love with for some reason. But Barbie was such an iconic part of my childhood in the 80s and 90s and always my biggest goal to have because as a boy I wasn't supposed to play with them.
I have and love 1997’s. The sleeve/bows come off (it’s like a shrug) and she looks so much better without it. I also had/have 1993 and she was so pretty too
My sister had '97. I don't know what happened to the doll. It was the first time she could get the MAIN doll in dark hair like hers. She looks like a big ol' present. '98 is my favorite (which I never got), but she was WAY over-produced. Had she not been a Holiday doll, I think she might have sold better, but in the 90s, you NEEDED red and green to sell as a Christmas doll. 2003 is screaming, "I'm the white witch, bitch!" (viewers of Dominic Noble will get it) 2010, I would like to see a red underskirt with the bodice design trailing onto a white sheer overskirt. 2012, I would just change her clothes, as she would be a lovely model for a fabric artist. Candy Cane Barbie needs GLOVES. Long, slinky, candy cane striped gloves.
2000 has a really nice sequined corset-top and fur, and I like the use of layered sparkle tulle. If anything the gold skirt might not seem like the quality silk its trying to imitate, but this feel very preciously vintage glamour, like some sequined and beadedtaylor swift show outfits.
So the Millennium Barbie holds a special place in both my mom's and my own heart. My mom was never into collecting Barbies, but had some as a kid. So when she was pregnant with me in 1999 and found out I was a girl, she got really excited (she already had my brother, so her and my dad hoped for a girl the second time round). I was born in the early months of 2000 but my mom wanted to buy me something as an early gift, something to hold onto for the rest of my life. That something was the Millennium Barbie. She was never taken out of her box, and since we moved alot since I was born, supposedly we put her in my mom's storage unit. Hopefully we can find her and get her back in the house.
Lol, I favor silver/crystal motifs so most of your hated ones are my faves. Also that pink late 1980s abomination you ranked as peak fashion made me physically wince. I hate pinks and prefer strong reds and silvers. It's crazy how perceptions differ. XD
Honestly they where making hits in the 2000s and late 90s. And im an early 2010s kid so im not letting this "nestolgia" factor bias up my opnion cause i dint have it. But i can say these dolls are objectively good
Actually the 2013 doll is one of my favorites. I do have the auburn hair doll that was a Kmart exclusive. Sometimes hair color can make a big difference.
I grew up with my sister's hand-me-down 1990 holiday Barbie, I was obsessed with her dress it was so big and poofy it only went on my most favorite Barbies. The highest honor a 5 year old can give.
Aww it could just be the circumstances around actually receiving her for Christmas one year, but I have 2013 Barbie and have always loved her, very special doll to me ^^
1997 will always have a special place in my heart. It's the one Barbie my grandma bought and I would constantly stare at her thinking she was the most glamorous doll I've ever seen.
The only one I've ever owned was the 2012 one. I loved it, but yeah the design is really generic and boring now that I've seen the rest of the dolls. Merry Christmas!
I just realized that all the Christmas Barbie dolls that my parents bought me were from the 90’s. It must have hurt to watch me tear open that box when I could’ve waited a few years and sold them for a good profit. Oh well.
After watching this video I ran to eBay and grabbed a 1996 Holiday Barbie. I'm not a doll collector, but she is just SO GORGEOUS that I had to have her! She is going to make a beautiful Christmas decoration!
I think it's a shame you didn't get into the different ethnic (?) versions. I have the AA version of the 2017 one in the red dress you hated so much. She's absolutely gorgeous. The red really pops with her skin and lip color, plus her face mold, which is beautiful, has only been used once before, with it's 1920s Era special edition Lavinia.
I have the Blonde Holiday Barbie from The Peace Hope And Love Collection. I found her last year at Value Village, and she was beautiful. She didn't came with her dress, so I dressed her up in Barbie Clothes from Barbie Fashionistas, and Fashion Packs. And I gave her a Made To Move body, so I could pose her for pictures.
I had to google 1992 because it was my birth year and I wanted a closer look at the dress and while I respect your opinion on it, I like it. The silhouette is good, I love the silver and the holographic sequins (I love holo). Although the bead things hanging off the bodice make me tilt my head. Like... what...? Are those supposed to simulate icepicks? Totally agree on 2002, though, that deep magenta is so gorgeous and the silhouette is perfect for a ballgown. I also love the shawl moment on the shoulders. It looks comfortable AND stylish! 2004 is beautiful too! I love the sleeves, I've always loved long sleeves with some kind of interesting element to them. 2006 is... Huh. Gotta respect that bell-shaped silhouette, I guess.
I actually really like 2017. I like that it has some texture and pattern to it to give it more visual interest than a plain red dress, I like the ruching on the bodice and the mermaid tail split shape of the skirt, the little gold strappy pumps, and I love how she wears the star on her back. Reminds me of a peacock.
I have no idea how this video found me but it is obviously something I needed. Your commentary is magical and I love your ranking names. Thank you so very much. 😁
1989, 90, and 93 ate my fav superstar barbies, I'm a sucker for superstar mold so put her in anything and I'm here for it. 02, 07, and 09 are SNATCHED too. ❤
Our family’s 2007 Barbie (affectionately called Christmas Babs) is married to my holiday nutcracker, Sir Nut. I’m surprised to learn she’s so relatively young, I thought she would be from 2000-2003 at least-
My personal favorite holiday Barbie, wasn't even a Holiday Barbie. She was a much cheaper general Christmas themed barbie I got from my neighbor as a kid, she had a much simpler design than the collectors dolls but I always thought she was gorgeous. Long straight light brown hair, red velvet long sleeved top with white fur trim, gold trim, and if I recall correctly a green bow at her waist. No fancy accessories, each piece of fabric was one solid color and texture, but she was beautiful in her simplicity. They made her interesting with different textures of fabric and colors instead of patterns and detailing, so she looked great and I never felt bad for playing with her so much even as I got older and realized I'd never seen her anywhere online or in stores. I adored that doll and she's definitely on the list of dolls I regret giving away when I was trying to convince my father that I really am a guy.
My favorites are ‘96, ‘99, 08 and I actually like SOME of the sea of red dresses we had in the later teens but my least fav has to be the 2016 holiday Barbie. An insult to the tradition, as far as I’m concerned there was no holiday Barbie in 2016
