Charles's Pages about Doll Stuff - www.dollstuff.net

When I went to Target last week, they had refreshed versions of two current career dolls - Pet Vet™ and Seaworld® Trainer. Guess how they were changed?

Seaworld® Trainer Barbie® - Refreshed on the left, original on the right
(Click it to see them bigger)

Pet Vet™ Barbie® - Refreshed on the left, original on the right
(Click it to see them bigger)

Why, yes - they now have the old 1998 "Generation Girl™" Barbie® head.

Except for the heads, the new dolls are identical to the previous versions, with exactly the same packaging and everything. (You can see full-length box pictures of them in my Flickr gallery.) They have the same product numbers, so they're technically the same dolls.

I definitely have an opinion as to which versions look better. That would be the ones on the right in case you were wondering.

We may have to wait and see if these dolls are exclusive to Target (like the mermaids that showed up recently) or if all retailers will be getting these versions from now on. (This is just me being optimistic - there's nothing on the packaging that says they're exclusive to Target, so they most likely aren't. )

I'm worried about this - I assumed the dolls that were already being produced with the 2005 head would continue to be produced with it for the rest of the year... I really hope this doesn't mean all of the currently-available dolls will be changed to the old head. I was counting on those for "one of a kind" dolls. So I guess I have to start "stocking up" for real now.