The Nostalgic Details Only Adults Notice In Barbie

As for “Growing Up Skipper,” she’s one version of Barbie’s younger sister, and she’s really a strange case. When you raise the doll’s arm, she gets taller and her chest grows, so it’s not exactly a mystery as to why this doll didn’t make it into the Barbie Hall of Fame. Skipper, however, was a pretty important figure in Barbie lore, and she gets name-checked elsewhere in the movie.

Despite being Barbie’s little sister, Skipper isn’t really in the film — but when Barbie and Ken escape to the real world, Mattel executives recall, to one another, that this kind of situation happened before. One time, Skipper made it into the real world, and she kidnapped a kid in Key West and tried to said kid to surf (Skipper’s job, in Barbie lore, is “babysitter”). Executives then acknowledge that Barbie being loose in reality is a much bigger deal than when it happened with Skipper, but even so, Barbie’s younger sibling caused a pretty harrowing situation.

“Barbie” is in theaters now.