History Franchise / Barbie

* HotterAndSexier: This occasionally occurs, such as with the "Franchise/MyScene" spinoff dolls.

Barbie got her own webseries called ''WebAnimation/BarbieLifeInTheDreamhouse'' in 2012, which features her and her family and friends in a RealityShow {{Sitcom}} with a wide demographic appeal.

* Franchise/MyScene

* CreditsGag: With the exception of ''The Nutcracker'', ''The Barbie Diaries'' and ''The Great Puppy Adventure'', the credits to each movie end with a moral by Barbie, referring to the overall theme of the movie.

* {{Retraux}}: Mattel revived Barbie's original cursive logo in 2000, and again in 2009.

* TransAtlanticEquivalent: {{Sindy}}, which first emerged in 1963.

* HotterAndSexier: This occasionally occurs, such as with the "Franchise/MyStyle" spinoff dolls.

* ArtEvolution: The most noticeable change of the years was the change from the original "cat-eyed" Barbie to the modern open-eyed variant.

* PinkMeansFeminine / PinkProductPloy: Barbie is all about [[WebVideo/TheNostalgiaChick piiiink]]. Her logo is pink. Her Dream Car and Dream House are pink. Packaging for most of the dolls and accessories are pink. One of her first outfits, "Enchanted Evening", has a pink evening gown. Her ''signature color'' is "Barbie Pink" and can't be used by another company without getting permission from Mattel. Therefor, when other products try to do the PinkProductPloy, it's usually a very close comparison to Barbie pink (just a hair lighter or darker). It is very much the Gold (Pink) Standard to which other pink products aspire to. Toys/HotWheels being the contrasting "blue for boys" product line.

** The toys take advantage of this. Barbie has had so many friends and even family members disappear or be replaced over the decades. This is because most kids outgrow the toys by age 12, leaving room for new kids who don't know who "Kelly" or "Midge" are.

* HormoneAddledTeenager: Despite the fact that Barbie is technically an adult. One of her "talking" lines drew a lot of criticism for having phrases like "Let's go shopping!", "Math is hard!" and "Will we ever have enough clothes?" A group called Barbie Liberation [[http://sniggle.net/barbie.php decided to do something]] about that, swapping out Barbie's voice boxes with those from GIJoe, so Barbie instead said things like [[SugarWiki/MomentOfAwesome "Vengeance is mine!"]]

* NotAllowedToGrowUp: Barbie has a confusing history of this and {{Sudden Name Change}}s. Barbie was explicitly a teenager when introduced however eventually she fell into the range of "usually 19-30 [[ArtisticAge except when needed]]". Her younger sisters however are perpetually stuck as children. Barbie can be president of America (you need to be at least 35) but Skipper and Chelsea will never hit 20. Skipper was originally a preteen who hit puberty in the 70s, however since then she's barely aged and likely never will as Barbie is the adult doll. Barbie has three sisters: Skipper, Stacie, and Chelsea...Except she also had a toddler sister named "Kelly", an infant sister named "Krissy", a brother named "Todd", and another kid sister named "Tutti". Fans usually assume Tutti was just renamed "Stacie" and that Kelly was aged up and renamed "Chelsea", however nothing canon has been stated (or likely will ever be stated).

** Averted with the 2016 Fashionista line, which introduces 3 different body types to go with the standard, Curvy, Tall and Petite.

* PinkMeansFeminine / PinkProductPloy: Barbie is all about [[WebVideo/TheNostalgiaChick piiiink]]. Her logo is pink. Her Dream Car and Dream House are pink. Packaging for most of the dolls and accessories are pink. One of her first outfits, "Enchanted Evening", has a pink evening gown. Her ''signature color'' is "Barbie Pink" and can't be used by another company without getting permission from Mattel. Therefor, when other products try to do the PinkProductPloy, it's usually a very close comparison to Barbie pink (just a hair lighter or darker). It is very much the Gold (Pink) Standard to which other pink products aspire to.
** HotWheels being the contrasting "blue for boys" product line.

* HotterAndSexier: This occasionally occurs, such as with the "My Style" spinoff dolls.

The original storyline attached to the dolls was that of Barbie Roberts, a teenager and the oldest of many sisters, and her career as a model. Her surname and age have now been long since forgotten, and she generally plays adult characters, being showcased in [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barbie%27s_careers various careers]]. Barbie has also been featured in a series of animated direct-to-video features since 2001 (each with a tie-in toy line), most of them based on {{Fairy Tale}}s and famous ballets, but also including originals like the ''Fairytopia'' series. They tend to be accused of [[TastesLikeDiabetes Tasting Like Diabetes]], especially the newer ones, but have surprisingly strong, positive portrayals of women: i.e., the girls help each other without second intention and don't always bond only over guys.

!!This toy line provides examples of:

* BarbieDollAnatomy: Now the {{Trope Namer|s}}, as the dolls are infamous for it, especially poor [[TheDandy Ken]]. More recent iterations have modeled patterns over their featureless groins to resemble underwear.

* ChuckCunninghamSyndrome: Stacie and Krissy.
** Stacie was brought back & incorporated into the newest 'Barbie & her sisters' lines/media. Stacie's twin brother Todd however....

* {{Cloudcuckoolander}}: Teresa's latest movie roles tend to be this since ''Diamond Castle''.

* EverythingsBetterWithPrincesses: A lot of her dolls and films.
** In ''WesternAnimation/BarbieAndTheDiamondCastle'', she's a peasant but still becomes princess of music at the end, just because.

* FleetingDemographicRule: ''Barbie as the Princess and the Popstar'' comes seven years after the first ''Princess and Pauper'' movie.

* HairOfGoldHeartOfGold: Barbie and her little sisters, usually. In the animated films, they are portrayed this way.
** Except Skipper, who is brunette in the films. She's still got a heart of gold though.

* OnlyOneFemaleMold: Most of Barbie's friends have exactly the same body shape as she does. This was actually a selling point mentioned in the commercial for Midge; she could share all of Barbie's clothes, so you didn't have to worry about getting "Midge" clothes for her.

* PinkMeansFeminine / PinkProductPloy: Barbie is all about [[WebVideo/TheNostalgiaChick piiiink]]. Her logo is pink. Her Dream Car and Dream House are pink. Packaging for most of the dolls and accessories are pink. One of her first outfits, "Enchanted Evening", has a pink evening gown.
** Her ''signature color'' is "Barbie Pink" and can't be used by another company without getting permission from Mattel. Therefor, when other products try to do the PinkProductPloy, it's usually a very close comparison to Barbie pink (just a hair lighter or darker). It is very much the Gold (Pink) Standard to which other pink products aspire to.

* PrettyInMink: Loads of her outfits (officially being fake is the only nod to that trope, so the rest count as this) have fur, either as trim or fur garments.
** This started as early as the white fur wraps she wears in the "Enchanted Evening" and "Gay Parisienne" dolls, and the white fur jacket she wears for the "Icebreaker" doll.

* VagueAge: Barbie is constantly changing from someone in her early to mid-20s to a teenager (sometimes even a high schooler).
** And considering she (and all her friends) run for President every four years, it seems that she's at least 35, too.

* ImpossibleHourglassFigure: Tweaked around 2000 to be at least somewhat realistic.

A popular doll line, manufactured by Creator/{{Mattel}}, that has been around since 1959. Partly a revolution in doll design, because until then most fashion dolls were made to look like little girls. Barbie was made to look like a young woman. When she was first created, her figure was more akin to that of a normal young woman, but later adjustments changed her dimensions in different ways so that she would maintain a more natural figure under the thickly hemmed clothes.

* GirlsNeedRoleModels: Despite the excessive critical focus on her [[ImpossibleHourglassFigure body shape]] and [[RealWomenDontWearDresses clothes]], Barbie is an excellent role model in terms of having a wide variety of jobs, including a teacher, a ballerina, a business executive[[note]]first appeared in 1960[[/note]], a surgeon[[note]]first appeared in 1973[[/note]], an airline pilot[[note]]also in '73[[/note]], an astronaut[[note]]first appeared in 1965![[/note]] and various political roles[[note]]including President of the United States in 1992[[/note]] among many others. Her famous pairing with Ken is incidental at best, never infringing on her latest career choice. The car, which appeared in 1962, was always hers.
** The original Barbie novels were written with this trope in mind: it featured Barbie as a sweet, smart, GirlNextDoor with fits of petulance who supports her friends and features positive career and single female role models, women who thrive as people and aren't pitied or scorned for not conforming to the Housewife role, which was something for its [[TheSixties time]].
** The comic book series and books by Barbara Slate fit in with this trope as well.

* GirlsNeedRoleModels: Despite the excessive critical focus on her [[ImpossibleHourglassFigure body shape]] and [[RealWomenNeverWearDresses clothes]], Barbie is an excellent role model in terms of having a wide variety of jobs, including a teacher, a ballerina, a business executive[[note]]first appeared in 1960[[/note]], a surgeon[[note]]first appeared in 1973[[/note]], an airline pilot[[note]]also in '73[[/note]], an astronaut[[note]]first appeared in 1965![[/note]] and various political roles[[note]]including President of the United States in 1992[[/note]] among many others. Her famous pairing with Ken is incidental at best, never infringing on her latest career choice. The car, which appeared in 1962, was always hers.

The original storyline attached to the dolls was that of Barbie Roberts, a teenager and the oldest of many sisters, and her career as a model. Her surname and age have now been long since forgotten, and she generally plays adult characters, being showcased in [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barbie%27s_careers various careers]]. Barbie has also been featured in a series of animated direct-to-video features since 2001 (each with a tie-in toy line), most of them based on {{Fairy Tale}}s, but also including originals like the ''Fairytopia'' series. They tend to be accused of [[TastesLikeDiabetes Tasting Like Diabetes]], especially the newer ones, but have surprisingly strong, positive portrayals of women: i.e., the girls help each other without second intention and don't always bond only over guys.

** The original Barbie novels were written with this trope in mind: it featured Barbie as a sweet, smart, GirlNextDoor with fits of petulance who supports her friends and features positive career and single female role models, women who thrive as people and aren't pitied or scorned for not conforming to the Housewife role, which was something for it's [[TheSixties time]].

* FollowTheLeader: The Franchise/DisneyPrincess line.

* OnlyOneFemaleMold: Most of Barbie's friends have exactly the same body shape as she does. This was actually a selling point mentioned in the commercial for Midge, in that she could share all of Barbie's clothes.

* OnlyOneFemaleMold: Most of Barbie's friends have exactly the same body shape as she does.

* GirlsNeedRoleModels: Despite the excessive critical focus on her [[ImpossibleHourglassFigure body shape]] and [[RealWomenNeverWearDresses clothes]], Barbie is an excellent role model in terms of having a wide variety of jobs, including a teacher, a ballerina, a surgeon, an airline pilot[[note]]first appeared in 1973[[/note]], an astronaut[[note]]first appeared in 1965![[/note]] and various political roles[[note]]including President of the United States in 1992[[/note]] among many others. Her famous pairing with Ken is incidental at best, never infringing on her latest career choice. The car, which appeared in 1962, was always hers.

** Barbie is OlderThanSteam. Adult female dolls for children go back to the 14th century, and the Jumeau company turned out thousands of "Parisienne" fashion dolls in the mid-1800s.