Barbie Cam

I was never a doll person. I was a huge tomboy, so sure I had a lot of stuffed animals and sure I liked the Disney characters, but for the most part my toys were things like pirate maps and Indiana Jones whips. I believe I was given a Cabbage Patch doll around the age of six and I promptly cut off its hair. I promise I'm not a sadistic nut job. I had short hair when I was little so I probably just wanted the doll to match me and not be so girly, but I think my Mom told me that the reason I gave her for the offense was because it 'looked like poop.'

But I digress.

Though dolls were never for me, I have never begrudged others their taste in them, and despite my general apathy towards dolls, (that is until I had a niece who loved them), I have always found the Barbie phenomenon fascinating. I remember several years ago when an official statement was made in the news that Barbie and Ken had broken up and she was now seeing some new surfer guy and I am intrigued by the Barbie Through the Years display every time I go to the FAO Schwartz toy store.

The latest Barbie update news has me on the fence. My friend Heidi, who is also entertained by the random and obscure, brought to my attention that this summer they are coming out with a new Barbie that is also a video camera. My initial reaction when Heidi presented me with a link about this information was:

"Wow. I don't know if I'm impressed or appalled. I specially like the line, 'this new toy actually gives aspiring kids a tool to help realize their dreams.' A bit presumptuous to say, but I guess it is pretty cool. I may just have to blog about this."

So here we are. The article that quote was from is overly bubbly and takes the product very seriously as a helpful, teaching toy, and you can read it in its entirety here. Other articles are a little more humorous and in some cases wary of the product, and I must admit I am leaning toward their corner at the moment. Here is an example.

The geek in me is impressed that technology can create such a small camera, but, okay, its already bad enough that anybody can just can go online and learn how to put together a hidden camera, but now we are just going to provide them? In something as supposedly innocent as a child's doll, no less. (Its just like stupid IT where the clown is the villain- blast you Stephen King and the way you can make me cringe!) I mean, you can learn how to make bombs online too, so shall we start selling bombs in Wiffle balls to save people the trouble? I realize that is an extremely dramatic response, and yes, it is technically just a toy after all, but I feel like after the buzz of this cool newness, this toy will in the long run be the catalyst for people who will make future appearances on Americas Most Wanted, not the Oscars. Thoughts? Are all you girlies who grew up Barbie fans, like, super amazing excited about this until I ruined it with my bomb talk? Do the rules for airplanes apply to blogs and I should quit saying BOMB? Discuss.

(I know. I'm a cynic.)