Barbie Colour Reveal Mermaids - Why Are There Twelve Codes?
I purchased them for what I think was $17 each? It's been a while and I'm not sure where the receipt is lol. Regular retail is anywhere between $20-30 here, and they were 'on sale'.
Much like the Chelseas, the Barbies have codes printed on the top to identify who is inside. The black print makes these so much easier to read and photograph.
The numbers that matter are the second and third, so for example;
2540I - 5 and 4 are the two numbers of importance, which I'll bracket from now on.
While I was picking some up at Target though, I found that there was not only a set of a consecutive sequence of five but also some others with random numbers.
The consecutive codes are as follows, and after I've opened them all I will have added who is in them to this list. Thank you future me!
The other ones were these, seven, between 36 and 68;
NEW! 2780I - ???
I didn't purchase these ones, just the consecutive five. There are only five dolls in the series, why are there 7 entirely different other codes? Different factory maybe? That still doesn't explain the 7. If anyone reading has picked up dolls with these codes, could you let me know who was in yours? I'd love to complete this database, to help others, and you will be credited :)
--------------------
So 3 are 'effect' surprises, and 4 are accessories, although the tube says it only includes 2 accessories? Does it not count the sponge and fluke? Interesting.
--------------------
Before you start, be sure to have a towel on hand to dry the dolls and clean up the water mess.
Each wrapper opens with ease with a tear strip, but it goes right through the white-haired mer's face! I cut one of the wrappers at the seam with a craft blade so I can keep one in-tact.
--------------------
2[50]0I is the first in the sequence so I opened it first. Inside is a plastic tray with the doll and accessories in baggies plus the instructions and the checklist.
The mermaid inside is the first to the left wrapper - white hair, mint+purple+pink colouring and the shell-bra top. For purposes of further discussion, she'll be known as Pastel. The skin tone of this doll is far darker than the artwork of her on both the wrapper and the checklist which is interesting! Usually, it goes the other way with some dolls. Her face was kinda squashed in and I had to fix it.
Her accessories are a silver crystal or driftwood necklace, a pink brush, a shell shape sponge, and her minty green clip-in fluke.
The brush has very intricate seashell detailing that's super hard to photograph. I don't think I've seen this style before, but I could be wrong.
And here she is altogether.
--------------------
Next up is 2[51]0I. Same plastic tray inside, same baggies, but the contents are different of course.
This mermaid is the one immediately after the first on the left, so these numbers may be in order and corollate to whom is on the wrapper. They're not the same order on the checklist.
This one is the gorgeous tropical, floral, Hawaiian, islander design in a dark African-American skin tone. For future reference, she'll be known as Fiji.
Her accessories are a lei-style necklace, PURPLE brush, a heart shape sponge, and her hot pink clip in fluke. The brush has the same details as Pastel, except it's purple of course.
Fiji's colour change.
And here she is altogether.
--------------------
2[52]0I is the third along; the side-shaven almost punk style mer.
She's quite pale, with mostly mint, blue streaked hair. For future reference, I'll identify her as Midnight.
Her accessories are a choker collar necklace with a crescent moon pendant, star shape sponge, PINK brush, and deep purple fluke.
Here's her colour change.
And here she is altogether. She's meant to have a pink brush, I accidentally swapped it with Winter. She looks way better with the purple brush though.
--------------------
2[53]0I is second from last on the tube wrapper.
She's a deep tan with yellow blonde hair and a rainbow theme. I'll identify her as Rainbow.
Her accessories are a choker collar necklace with a rainbow pendant, star sponge, pink brush and bright neon orange fluke.
Here's her colour change.
And here she is altogether.
--------------------
Last but not least is 2[54]0I, and is the final mer in the set - snowflake winter theme. She's the second palest of the five with pure white hair and blue streaks. She'll be known as Winter when I talk about her later.
Her accessories are a white chain snowflake and gem necklace, star sponge, purple brush and blue fluke.
Here's her colour change.
And here she is altogether. She's meant to have a purple brush, I accidentally swapped it with Midnight.
--------------------
My faves are Pastel and Midnight. Pastel because of her general theme - it's my top fave colour pallet. Midnight because of her bright goth-punk look, and her colour change features are awesome.
There's a very healthy variety of skin colour, and Fiji is a tasteful cultural representation of the island peoples, but I feel she should have had hot pink hair, not purple.
Speaking of, the hair on these dolls is... subpar. It feels like low-quality polyethene and separates by the plug instead of keeping a solid form with the exception for Winter, who has curly hair. This wasn't a notable issue with the Chelseas but they do have far less hair.
In addition, their hair is very choppily cut and shed a fair amount. I took matters into my own hands to fix them by pouring boiled water over their heads, combing, and trimming the out of place hairs. Any girls with curled hair lost it, but it was a sacrifice I had to make to get the hair into a manageable and presentable state.
It would have been nice if hair ties or elastics of some sort were included to style the hair or strap the mer's necklaces in place. I'll eventually tie their hair in a display and store position 'cause it's too much hair not to for me. I added elastics from other dolls I'd unboxed in the past to the three with drop necklaces. The choker styles stay in place most of the time.
All of my mers have fairly straight faces and their eyes do have some pixelation, but it's more noticeable on the paler skins for whatever reason.
The paintwork of the tube tops is a little mediocre. Most moulded clothes seem to be this way.
The reviews on the Barbie website mention often that the flukes will not come out once inserted, and will break if removal is attempted. That's why I haven't put mine all the way in!
I'd like to be able to remove my dolls' flukes to store them with my other Barbies a little easier. I don't want to experiment with a doll in my own collection so when these go on sale again I'll try to get one, even better if I can find one of the ones with the weird codes.
--------------------
I'm still yet to learn if this paint stuff is environmentally friendly. I suspect it's not though, not with all the metallic microparticles.
It's still incredibly pretty though and I refuse to dispose of it.
The water in the Chelseas' tubes are still evaporating, and it's going well! I've almost condensed the paint water of 5 dolls into a single tube. There's a discernable difference in the water colour and transparency between the tube that is mostly metallic bits and the one I've been evaporating.
I aim to do the same with the Barbies but it will surely take a lot longer due to the larger volume of water.
A tip for evaporating is to leave the container in front of a main source of airflow or a fan. Water evaporates quickly this way - the air picks up the water as it flows across it. The long tubes won't work well for this at all because the sides are too high, so the air can't flow across the water surface as easily. I switched mine for one of my empty Chelsea tubes and will top it up as it evaporates.
Sorry about the blurr lol. Sun evaporation can also work, but you risk clumping the metallic flakes. I learned that the hard way and I don't know if it's salvageable.
--------------------
To sum up;
--------------------
I'm starting to do unboxing vids to show what's done. Most of the footage of this one is shaky and awful because I tried a different filming method but it looks like I'll be going back to the previous method. Some of the pictures used in this post are stills from the video! For any reviews I film and make videos, they will be linked at the bottom like this one, so keep an eye out when reading the reviews.
Barbie Colour Reveal Mermaids | Code Hack and Visual ASMR
--------------------
EDIT: I picked up the very last Mermaid I could find ANYWHERE in my area, a non-consecutive number 2580I, for a yucky $22, but it's for the research. She is the Hawaiian dark-skinned mer, also identified by me as Fiji, as stated at the top of the post with the other weirdo numbers. I'll be using her fluke to experiment with ways to modify it so I can remove the flukes without breaking them. I'll also see about repainting the brush in some way to make the mould shapes pop better. I'll add another update when I learn more :)
--------------------
If you have any questions or additional information about this product, please comment!
Don't take my words as an unbiased judge for this product. I'm very picky. Do some more research! Check out others reviews, check out their homepage below, or purchase one to discover it for yourself!
Thanks for reading, stay tuned for more! <3
--------------------
You can check out what I talk about, buy and open, in real-time over on my Instagram~
Comments
Post a Comment