One of my favourite Kens! I got one NRFB several years ago- it was the one with the bicep illustration on the front of the box and with the black tennis racket and small black dumbbells. He's one of the friendliest looking Kens, IMO! Great video. 🤩
Great review! Also, All star Ken (1981) was a sort of sequel to the previous year's (1980) Sport & Shave Ken, with the difference of sport & shave had rooted dark hair and all star had sculpted light brown hair. I think the sports theme did very well for Ken which is why they (Mattel) did it again the second time around with this doll. The arm bulging a muscle was a feature that was originally introduced on the 1973 boy's action figure line called Big Jim by the same company, Mattel. In fact the arms are identical to Big Jim's, which in theory seems out of proportion since Big Jim was 9 1/2 inches and Ken is 12, but the size was close enough to be satisfactory especially since these were meant as toy's for children to play with. I have a feeling alot of Boy's bought both these early 80s ken dolls. The sports, all star theme, which was also used in 1973 on big jim as his core concept, was probably very attractive to Boy's, which was most likely the aim of the designers and marketing team at Mattel. These are FANTASTIC dolls and the packaging illustrations as well as the booklets are pure magic! Your absolutely right. I think they really did aid in selling the dolls. Great review. Please do more on this era of Barbie's world. It's one of my favorites too!
One of my favourite Kens! I got one NRFB several years ago- it was the one with the bicep illustration on the front of the box and with the black tennis racket and small black dumbbells. He's one of the friendliest looking Kens, IMO! Great video. 🤩
I love this doll…. I ended up with several factory left over heads too along with Todd heads. He came in like 3 different skin tones!
Great review!
Also, All star Ken (1981) was a sort of sequel to the previous year's (1980) Sport & Shave Ken, with the difference of sport & shave had rooted dark hair and all star had sculpted light brown hair.
I think the sports theme did very well for Ken which is why they (Mattel) did it again the second time around with this doll.
The arm bulging a muscle was a feature that was originally introduced on the 1973 boy's action figure line called Big Jim by the same company, Mattel.
In fact the arms are identical to Big Jim's, which in theory seems out of proportion since Big Jim was 9 1/2 inches and Ken is 12, but the size was close enough to be satisfactory especially since these were meant as toy's for children to play with.
I have a feeling alot of Boy's bought both these early 80s ken dolls. The sports, all star theme, which was also used in 1973 on big jim as his core concept, was probably very attractive to Boy's, which was most likely the aim of the designers and marketing team at Mattel.
These are FANTASTIC dolls and the packaging illustrations as well as the booklets are pure magic!
Your absolutely right. I think they really did aid in selling the dolls.
Great review. Please do more on this era of Barbie's world. It's one of my favorites too!
This was the first and only ken I was given as a child
My All Star is beige and Eddi's is pink. So strange! We had no idea.
I almost forgot about the muscle popping feature. Didn't the Big Jim dolls have it too?
Yup! Those are BIG JIM's arms indeed =)