We all know by now that the “Barbie” movie has been a moneymaker for Warner Brothers and a career booster for almost everyone involved — especially its already in-demand director Greta Gerwig. It’s been a presence in pop culture for months, spawning numerous memes and merchandise drops.
As you might imagine, Barbiemania is also having a big impact on the price of the movie’s titular dolls. How big? Even the long-discontinued Allan doll is fetching bids of over $500 on eBay.
Some sellers are bullish on Allan doll sales. One is charging $605 is the starting bid on eBay for a mint-in-box, “untouched” Allan doll from 1965, used but with the box, while another has a “Buy it now” price of $799.99.
Those prices might seem slightly optimistic, but they’re not too much higher than reality: In several current auctions, prices are climbing; one with 41 bidders is up to a price of $510 at the time of publication. Even used versions of the doll are doing well — one sold this week for $410, and 56 bidders were involved.
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That’s a surprising jump in demand for a toy that most people outside the doll collector community didn’t even know existed until the “Barbie” movie opened last week.
But then, the film is full of callbacks to obscure and outright strange dolls from Barbie history. If you saw “Barbie,” you caught appearances from “Earring Magic Ken,” “Merman Ken” and “Growing Up Skipper,” all of which are real dolls that were on the shelves at one point in Mattel’s history. There was even a version of Tanner the Dog that (like his movie counterpart) left behind plastic pellets of dog doo (pooping Tanner and Barbie are up to $76 in one current auction).
And then, of course, there’s Allan, played in the movie by “Superbad” and “Scott Pilgrim vs. The World” star Michael Cera. His doll was originally marketed as a friend to Ken and a boyfriend (and eventual husband) to Barbie’s pal Midge. A pregnant version of Midge was released in 2002, and even that doll is being priced at over $300 on eBay.
Of course, in the movie Allan’s relationship with Midge isn’t really front and center, and his friendship with Ken is … more emphasized.
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If you’re not up to paying out hundreds for a vintage Barbie doll, Mattel isn’t resting on its laurels in the wake of the movie’s success. There is now an entirely new line of Barbie dolls dressed in outfits from the movie, and individual figures are priced at $25-$50.
This story originally appeared on Simplemost. Check out Simplemost for additional stories.
