If we think back far enough, most of us went through some sort of destructive or creative phase with our toys, whether it was coloring them with markers or cutting their hair or changing their clothes.
But one toy that seemed to lend itself particularly well to this was Mattel's Barbie, and everyone seemed to have at least one "Weird Barbie" in their household, if not a whole family of them.
In the new Barbie movie starring Margot Robbie andRyan Gosling, Kate McKinnon portrays a Barbie who has been played with "too hard" and ultimately dubbed the "Weird Barbie" of the community. Her hair has been dramatically cut and highlighted with markers, she has face tattoos that were clearly drawn on with the same marker colors as in her hair, her eyeliner is dramatic, and she spends most of her time in the splits.
The interesting thing is that the nature of Barbie Land is dependent on how the dolls are played with in the real world. Because Weird Barbie was played with too hard, her physical appearance in Barbie Land reflected that, whereas Robbie's Barbie was transformed more so through her thoughts and beliefs.
Since the movie premiered there's been a TikTok trend going around of adults showing off their own "Weird Barbies," with most also apologizing to their Barbies for how they probably looked to the other Barbies in Barbie Land because of how hard they had played with them.
For example, there was this one, who removed the arms and body from her Barbie and kept the rest.
And this Barbie who was left wandering around, trying to impress the Kens with her little dinosaur body.
And don't get us started on "Carrie Barbie."
But the one that might take the cake is a Barbie who wasn't transformed by her owner at all...but, rather, a house fire.
In her video, TikToker @fortheunderdog explained that when she was seven, there had been a fire in her parents' garage, and because her bedroom was directly above the garage, all of her possessions were destroyed.
After the fire was put out, the TikToker's uncle revisited the space in search of anything salvageable, and he came across her Barbie—which had either been inside an '80s-style plastic wicker purse or underneath it, because the basket had melted onto the Barbie and trapped her in.
Her uncle dubbed the Barbie:
"Barbie in bondage."
You can watch the video here:
Fellow TikTokers immediately fell in love with "Barbie in bondage."
@fortheunderdog/TikTok
@fortheunderdog/TikTok
@fortheunderdog/TikTok
@fortheunderdog/TikTok
@fortheunderdog/TikTok
@fortheunderdog/TikTok
Some theorized the role she would have played in Barbie Land.
@fortheunderdog/TikTok
@fortheunderdog/TikTok
@fortheunderdog/TikTok
@fortheunderdog/TikTok
They also had a great time giving her other names.
@fortheunderdog/TikTok
@fortheunderdog/TikTok
@fortheunderdog/TikTok
@fortheunderdog/TikTok
@fortheunderdog/TikTok
@fortheunderdog/TikTok
The Barbie's owner was pleased with the comments.
This is one of those situations where it was clear that this Barbie was very loved, despite her outcome.
She would have made quite the sight in Barbie Land, indeed.
@jaketapoer/Bluesky
@BillAckman/Twitter