Barbie owes her existence to a 1950s German comic strip

Tech Insider
Composite pictures of Barbie doll (left), Bild Lilli doll (right)
"The 'Lilli' doll was the embodiment of an idea I'd pitched to Elliot and our other Mattel toy designers some five years earlier," Handler wrote in her autobiography.

Frederic Neema/Sygma via Getty Images, Chesnot/Getty Images

Barbie's creator wanted Ken to have more of a 'bulge' — but Mattel refused to give the doll a prominent crotch

Tech Insider
Ken dolls over the years.
Ken dolls over the years.

Matthias Schrader/AP; Mattel, Inc.

Barbie and Ken, this summer's hottest couple, were actually named after a brother and sister

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Ryan Gosling and Margot Robbie in a scene from
Ryan Gosling as Ken and Margot Robbie as Barbie in "Barbie."

Warner Bros.

This Week's Toy News Is Everything, and He's Just Anaken

Gizmodo

Welcome back to Toy Aisle, io9's weekly roundup of the coolest toy news around the internet. This week, Playmates ensures that the horrors persist with an update to its classic ‘90s TMNT figures, The Marvels takes flight in Lego form, Hasbro rolls out even more Transformers: The Movie goodness. Check it out!

Open Channel: Tell Us Your Thoughts on Barbie

Gizmodo

2023 has been a pretty big year for movies, but not many of this year’s blockbusters have quite the hype behind them that Barbie’s had.

3 ways the Barbie movie could drive more upside for Mattel stock as weekend box-office projections top $150 million

Tech Insider
barbie singing in the car
Margot Robbie as Barbie.

Warner Bros.

Mattel accused by health expert of 'stealth marketing' to children by placing free Barbie dolls in schools

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Ryan Gosling as Ken and Margot Robbie as Barbie in
Ryan Gosling and Margot Robbie as Ken and Barbie.

Courtesy of Warner Bros.

The 'Barbie' movie could make as much money as it spent on months of elaborate marketing stunts in its first 3 days

Tech Insider
Margot Robbie as Barbie
Margot Robbie has been fully embodying Barbie in the run-up to the movie's release.

Stuart C. Wilson / Getty Images

Barbie is the star of the summer's hottest blockbuster. The much-hyped movie is the pinnacle of a 60-year history filled with rejections, lawsuits, and controversies for the world's most iconic doll.

Tech Insider
A chronological order of all the Barbies throughout history, ending with Margot Robbie in the Barbie movie.

Mattel Inc.; Chelsea Jia Feng/Insider

Barbie Is Pretty to Watch, Fun to Play With, and Hard to Make Sense of

Gizmodo

In the millennial search for meaning, much has been made of the recontextualization of childhood toys. It seems we’re desperate to turn many things that are relatively harmless into something much more meaningful than it needs to be. Naturally, the ubiquitous Barbie doll has been up for debate for decades. Is she a …

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