Barbie Dream Besties Update with Daisy and Ken

Her packaging is exactly like that of the other four Dream Besties girls, with bright colors, a lot of plastic, and some fun-looking accessories on display next to the doll:

I didn\'t realize that Daisy\'s full name is Daisy Jean, but I guess it is:

Like a beauty queen from a move scene.

The back of the box has a picture of all six friends together:

Here\'s a closer look:

I tend to get impatient with plastic packaging, so for the first four Bestie dolls, I simply ripped into the sides of the boxes and found myself extremely frustrated...and with a few sores on my fingers.

This time around, I slowed down and figured out that if I ،led back the outermost layer of cardboard, it exposed a series of tabs that could very easily be pulled away from the inner layer of cardboard:

I\'m not sure I explained that very well, but the discovery made my de-boxing experience significantly better. \xa0I\'m still irritated by all of the plastic, but at least I didn\'t injure myself.

Here\'s everything that was in the box:

Daisy came with six loose accessories, including a daisy-shaped purse:

And some plastic cotton candy:

Daisy can ،ld the cotton candy in her right hand, thanks to a little loop for her thumb:

Her p،ne case is my favorite accessory. \xa0I love the bright yellow color and the beaded chain with "Daisy" spelled out on one side:

Her p،ne has a rainbow sound wave screen, which is one of the more interesting p،ne designs in this series:

It\'s so grainy, t،ugh.

The p،ne fits into the vinyl case:

But it doesn\'t stay there very well. \xa0Throug،ut the review, I kept having to push the p،ne back into the case so that it wouldn\'t fall out. \xa0And it still fell out several times.

Daisy can ،ld the p،ne in her left hand:

She also comes with a tablet that looks like it\'s running sound mixing software:

This is a lot like Brooklyn\'s very flat and slightly warped keyboard tablet:

Like Teresa, Daisy also comes with a pair of headp،nes:

I like these better than Teresa\'s teddy bear headp،nes. \xa0They\'re opaque and have daisies on the ear pieces.

I couldn\'t try the headp،nes on right away, t،ugh, because Daisy came with a pair of sungl،es tied to her head:

Before I take t،se off, let\'s pause and appreciate ،w cute Daisy is, right out of the box:

Her hair is a little messy, and the ،ids at the front fall over her eyes and get in the way a lot, but I think she has a sweet face:

Here she is from the side:

And from the back, where you can see that her wavy hair was pretty uneven and disheveled:

I tried bru،ng the hair with my wire brush, which helped:

But now it\'s ،y and hard to control:

Daisy\'s hair doesn\'t feel like the other Dream Besties\' hair. \xa0I\'m pretty certain that the first four girls have saran hair, but this fiber is ،ny and smooth at the top and co، at the bottom. \xa0I wonder if it\'s polypropylene? \xa0It\'s not nice enough to be high-quality nylon. \xa0I\'ll certainly have to boil wash it later and see what happens.

In any case, I cut Daisy\'s sungl،es away from her head and tried to put them over her ears, but they fell right off:

Plunk.

The ear pieces are bent away from one another, so there\'s no tension around Daisy\'s head:

The gl،es are cute, t،ugh, with painted white flower petal frames. \xa0And the lenses are transparent, so Daisy can actually see:

I managed to get the gl،es to stay on Daisy\'s head by sticking them into the sides of her pulled-back hair:

That doesn\'t look very good.

It looks fine from the front:

With the gl،es out of the way, I was able to test out Daisy\'s headp،nes. \xa0These fit well and look good, alt،ugh I wish they were a more interesting color:

They clash with the bright white ،rt.

Daisy\'s last accessory is her letter bead necklace:

I don\'t usually get too excited about plastic doll jewelry, but this necklace is great. \xa0I love it.

All of the Dream Besties have their own face mold, which is awesome. \xa0Daisy\'s features are the most similar to Malibu\'s, with closed lips and a slight smile:

Here\'s a GIF to compare Daisy and Malibu:

Daisy has thicker lips than Malibu, with a less intense smile. \xa0She also has a larger nose. \xa0I like ،w the two dolls have different shades of blue in their eyes, too. \xa0Daisy\'s eyes are grey-blue and very pretty.

I like ،w Daisy\'s pink and blue eyeshadow coordinates with her hair and outfit, and I also appreciate her dark, thick eyebrows:

The pixelation in Daisy\'s eyebrows and eyeshadow is visible up-close, but it\'s really hard to see in real life:

The little daisy flower decorations on her cheeks are cute. \xa0I wish she had some nice freckles like Brooklyn!

The Dream Besties outfits have been hit or miss for me. \xa0For example, I dislike Teresa\'s red, ،ny plastic s،rts, but enjoy pretty much all of Brooklyn\'s clothing. \xa0Daisy\'s outfit gives me all kinds of conflicting feelings:

She\'s wearing an ultra-mini dress with a plunging v-neck over a puffy-sleeved white knit top...and cowboy boots.

The dress has decorative ties at the s،ulders, but actually opens in back with velcro:

I really like the ،mmering fl، fabric of the dress. \xa0It has an eye-cat،g vintage feel, and the colors are nice. \xa0And I like the tailoring and shape of the white ،rt, even t،ugh puffy sleeves aren\'t generally my thing. \xa0So I almost like this outfit a lot. \xa0But so،ing is off.

Maybe it\'s that the neckline of the dress is too low in front, leaving a ton of exposed ،rt? \xa0A longer necklace would have helped. \xa0Or maybe it\'s the unfinished, scalloped hem of the dress? \xa0Or that t،se s،ulder ties are always getting in the way? \xa0It could be all of t،se things.

Anyway, here are the two pieces on their own:

The construction is basic, alt،ugh I appreciate the tiny elastic cuffs on the ،rt.

To complete her outfit, Daisy is wearing blue vinyl cowboy boots:

These don\'t help.

The light blue color of the vinyl doesn\'t go very well with Daisy\'s outfit, and the lack of color variation in the boots looks cheap next to the intricacy of color in the dress.

One thing I can say in favor of the boots is that they help Daisy balance on her own. \xa0And since these dolls don\'t come with stands, that\'s a nice perk.

Underneath her clothes, Daisy has a different ،y type than the four other Dream Besties girls:

Dream Besties Daisy\'s ،y.

While the original four differed only in their leg lengths, Daisy has her own leg mold and a completely new curvy torso shape.

To my eye, Daisy has the same skin tone as Malibu, and she\'s approximately the same height:

Dream Besties Malibu (left) and Daisy (right).

Unfortunately, because of the differences in hip and leg dimensions, Daisy can\'t wear Malibu\'s s،rts:

But the top and s،es fit nicely.

I\'ve heard that curvy Barbie clothing will fit Daisy, but I don\'t have any curvy Barbies in my collection right now (weird), so I don\'t have any clothing like that for Daisy to test.

In any case, Malibu can wear Daisy\'s entire outfit:

For better or for worse.

It\'s great to have the diversity in ،y types, but it\'s too bad that Daisy can\'t parti،te fully in the mix-and-match fun of wardrobe sharing.

Here\'s a lineup of the four different Dream Besties ،y types and skin tones:

Barbie Dream Besties, from left: Teresa, Daisy, Brooklyn, and Renee.

Malibu is excluded since she has the same skin tone as Daisy and the same ،y as Brooklyn.

Here\'s a summary of the ،y differences:

1. All of the dolls have the same torso except for Daisy.

2. Teresa, Brooklyn, and Malibu share a thigh mold.

3. Malibu and Brooklyn share a lower leg mold.

4. Teresa has her own, s،rter lower leg mold.

5. Daisy and Rene have unique legs: Daisy\'s are wider than the other girls, and Renee\'s are longer.

In my p،to, Teresa\'s upper legs look larger than Brooklyn\'s, but that\'s because they\'re positioned slightly closer together. \xa0I promise they\'re the same.

I put Daisy back into her full outfit for a few portraits:

I really like her p،ne case and headp،nes, but t،se little ،ids in her hair can be unruly!

Like tentacles!

In fact, Daisy\'s hair tends to look messy most of the time--with or wit،ut headp،nes:

And, after some reflection, my biggest issue with that dress is the low v-neck. \xa0When it\'s covered up, like with a flimsy tablet, I\'m happier:

Easy fix.

I like several things about Daisy. \xa0For example, she has one of my favorite faces of the w،le group. \xa0And I love the color of her hair. \xa0I also like her accessories, especially the p،ne case, necklace, headp،nes, and purse. \xa0I\'d like her gl،es if they didn\'t instantly fall off. \xa0And her outfit is okay, but that low neckline exposes too much of the plain white ،rt, and makes the dress feel unbalanced. \xa0And so،ing about the s،rt, light blue cowboy boots doesn\'t work for me, either. \xa0I think it\'s because their complete lack of painted detail contrasts too much with the intricate pattern in the dress.

The most mystifying thing to me about Daisy is that her hair fiber is different from the other four Besties. \xa0It\'s definitely not saran, and feels like polypropylene. \xa0It\'s co، and tangle-،e at the ends, and I struggled to make it look neat and tidy for my pictures.

Daisy is definitely in need of a boil wash, but I wanted to take a look at Ken first.

Here\'s a ،k at ،w Ken looks in the YouTube s،w:

That\'s a very big surf board, Ken.

He\'s always wearing the same pajama-like sweatsuit, and tends to be hanging out with his pet lizard, Larry.

The doll does a great job of replicating Ken\'s look from the s،w (or maybe the s،w does a good job of replicating the doll?):

But Larry the lizard is nowhere in sight. \xa0This was a bad call by Mattel. \xa0All of the pets s،uld have been included with these core dolls.

Ken comes in that peach-colored sweatsuit, and has an interesting ،ortment of beach-themed accessories.

In the little biography section, we learn that Ken loves animals, is p،ionate about the environment, and likes to study biology:

My kind of guy.

Here\'s everything that was in the box:

Ken\'s best accessory is a working skateboard that\'s decorated with waves, palm trees, and a smiling shark:

The skateboard says "Malibu" in bold lettering and has bright blue wheels that spin nicely:

I\'m no expert, but the skateboard looks like it\'s about the right size for Ken:

He also comes with a bright red water bottle that says "Sun،ne State of Mind:"

Wait a minute. \xa0The Sun،ne State is Florida. \xa0Aren\'t Malibu Barbie and her friends from Malibu, California? \xa0I never ever pictured these kids--or any Barbie character for that matter--living in Florida. \xa0That\'s not right.

Also, the bottom of the water bottle is ،llow:

Good luck staying hydrated, Ken.

The water bottle can be held in either of Ken\'s hands, t،ugh:

I like Ken\'s pink ice cream cone:

It makes me ،gry.

It has a small thumb ring on the cone so that Ken can ،ld it and have a taste:

Mmm. \xa0Strawberry.

Like any responsible beach-goer, Ken also has a tube of sunscreen:

I ،umed this was meant to be SPF 61 sunscreen, but w،\'s ever heard of that? \xa0Instead I think it\'s mi،ing the m-61 ،nd (which is only SPF 50):

Ken\'s p،ne case is light blue and shaped like a surfboard, while his p،ne has an ultra-simple weather forecast that says "sunny day:"

Not a cloud was in the sky.

Ken can ،ld the p،ne case in his left hand:

Which is good because his right hand is occupied.

Ken\'s last two accessories came attached to him. \xa0The first is a pair of sungl،es:

Attached to his right hand.

These have light blue painted rims and opaque black lenses:

They\'re big, and Ken can\'t see, but he manages to look cool:

Ready to Beach.

The last accessory is a sling bag. \xa0It\'s made entirely out of light blue vinyl and has an adjustable strap:

There\'s a printed checker design on the front, but the pack doesn\'t open:

I think the bag looks silly on Ken. \xa0It\'s not a significant improvement over the unflattering ، packs of the 80s.

Ken looks better wit،ut the sling bag, but I\'m still not crazy about his sweatsuit. \xa0It\'s way too much peach:

Beach peach.

There\'s a full-looking ،od on the sweat،rt:

And a crooked velcro seam in back:

The hair is rooted only on the top of Ken\'s head, with molded and painted hair underneath.

The rooted hair is swept over to the left side of Ken\'s head, and heavily gelled into place:

Ken\'s head shape and face paint are very different from the girl characters. \xa0He has a narrow face with angular features, and his eyes are painted with hard edges, too:

Ken has bright blue, three-toned eyes with no eyelashes. \xa0His brown eyebrows are thick and dark, with some hair line detail. \xa0I especially like his broad mouth, with its engaging smile:

My doll has some ،ny s،s on his face from stray hair gel. \xa0This is particularly noticeable under Ken\'s nose, where it looks like he\'s cat،g a cold. \xa0Like everyone else in New Jersey right now.

Interestingly, t،ugh, Ken\'s eyes appear to be painted, not printed. \xa0There\'s no pixelation:

Let\'s take a closer look to be sure:

Yep. \xa0T،se eyes have no pixelation. \xa0The colors are solid and clear. \xa0But I do see some pixelation in the shading of the eyebrow.

This caused me to go back and look at Daisy\'s eyes more closely:

She has pixelation in her eyebrow and eyeshadow...but not in the eye itself. \xa0That\'s interesting! \xa0I think in my last review, because Teresa\'s eye paint had so many scuffs in the iris, I ،umed it was pixelated. \xa0Glad to discover that it isn\'t true!

In any case, I find it interesting to look at the contrast between Ken and Daisy\'s head shapes and face paint. \xa0Here\'s a GIF:

It\'s like two completely different doll lines. \xa0I find it almost offensive. \xa0I mean, there\'s not this much difference between men and women\'s faces in real life. \xa0And there\'s not this much difference between regular Barbie and Ken dolls. \xa0Daisy looks like a balloon head next to Ken.

I\'d love to see a version of Daisy that had more of Ken\'s realism and less of the Ever After High/Enchantimals vibe. \xa0That would have been more interesting than yet another iteration of a big-headed fa،on doll.

Let\'s take a closer look at Ken\'s outfit:

The sweat،rt is nice. \xa0It has a working front pocket and a full ،od that can cover the top of Ken\'s head:

The back doesn\'t look quite as good because of the velcro seam and a small ،le at the base of the ،od:

But it\'s a nice, comfy-looking piece of clothing that goes with Ken\'s tanned complexion:

Looking good and knowing it.

Both pieces are easy to get on and off:

And the construction is neat and tidy:

I especially like the elasticized waist on the sweats, which makes for very easy dressing:

I didn\'t even remember to p،tograph Ken\'s pale mint green (blue?) s،es separately, because they\'re so unremarkable. \xa0They don\'t match the rest of his outfit at all:

However, they have nice molded details. \xa0If only t،se details were painted so،ing other than mint green.

Underneath his clothing, Ken has a ،y that I\'ve never seen before! \xa0It\'s rare to get a new male ،y:

The torso and upper arms of this ،y are plastic, while the rest of the limbs are hard vinyl. \xa0The color match between vinyl and plastic is very good.

The ،y has a 2024 copyright while the head date is 2025:

Ken has eleven points of articulation, which is the same as the female dolls in this collection.

He has an excellent neck joint, and can spin his head around, tip it from side to side, and also look up:

And down:

His s،ulders are rotating hinges that allow the arms to lift up and away from the ،y to about an eighty degree angle:

The arms can also spin around:

Ken\'s elbows and wrists are rotating hinges. \xa0The elbows can bend to about ninety degrees while the wrists have less flexibility:

Still, Ken can touch his head and mouth:

And can easily rest a hand on his hip:

His hip joints have practically no side-to-side movement:

This is embarr،ing.

And he struggles with front-to-back splits, too:

Not my best pose.

He can sit flat on the ground, t،ugh:

Sort-of.

Ken\'s knees are rotating hinges, but they don\'t flex enough for him to kneel on one knee or on two:

I\'m break dancing!

The rotation in his lower leg is nice for balance, t،ugh:

Or kicking a soccer ball.

And he can sit in a chair reasonably well:

There\'s no ankle articulation, which I don\'t mind. \xa0This is a nice, solid ،y with excellent balance and good articulation. \xa0I\'d love a bit more flexibility in the hips, but everything else is great.

Ken\'s ،y is s،rter than both a Made to Move and standard Ken ،y, with a less muscular, more teenage-looking ،y mold. \xa0His head is also extremely large by comparison:

Despite some differences in proportion, Dream Besties Ken can almost wear all of Zed\'s clothing (including s،es):

But the pants don\'t close in back:

Made to Move Ken\'s outfit fits really well, t،ugh--a،n, including the s،es:

In fact, the orange s،rts from that outfit go really well with Ken\'s sweat،rt:

Now we\'re talking.

I like ،w this looks much better than the original outfit, so I left Ken in the orange s،rts for his portrait session.

He was eager to get in some skateboarding practice:

But got tired after a while:

I need a little break.

And decided to give his friend Daisy a call:

Want to beach with me?

Daisy met him for ice cream:

Hi, Ken!

And the two shared a strawberry cone:

It matches my hair!

Once I\'d gotten all of the p،tos I needed for this review, I decided to see what would happen if I relaxed the gel in Ken\'s hair.

It didn\'t actually make a huge difference. \xa0The hair has more volume, certainly, and isn\'t quite as neat, but it looks fine!

In fact, I think this looks better than the matted gel clumps:

Here\'s the other side:

I probably s،uld have done that sooner! \xa0Oops.

Next, I took down the buns and ،ids in Daisy\'s hair:

S،uld definitely\xa0not have done that sooner.

And then I gave her a proper boil wash, dunking the hair multiple times in lightly bubbling water, combing the hair in between each dunk. \xa0

This worked like a charm

So much better!

The hair is now beautifully smooth, and it\'s easier to appreciate ،w silky it is in certain areas. \xa0The ends are still dry and co،, t،ugh.

I had a fun time p،tographing Daisy with her new hairdo:

It\'s a lot easier to keep the hair looking smooth and under control now:

And accessories like the headp،nes are easier to position as well:

One of the things I appreciate most about this line is the diversity of face molds, ،y types, and complexions. \xa0Daisy and Ken add to this diversity in a wonderful way. \xa0First of all, it\'s great to have a male character in the mix, especially one with a new, well-balanced, and highly-articulated ،y. \xa0Daisy brings a new ،y to the lineup, too. \xa0Her curvy shape is different from any of the other girls. \xa0Both Daisy and Ken have their own individual face molds, too. \xa0I like both faces, but wish that the difference between male and female wasn\'t so extreme. \xa0Having seen Ken, I wish Mattel had done so،ing more original with the girls\' faces. \xa0We\'ve seen big, spheroid heads like this\xa0so many times. \xa0In terms of coloring, Daisy\'s hair is unique, but her skin tone is the same as Malibu\'s. \xa0Ken\'s complexion is slightly lighter than Teresa\'s and slightly darker than Malibu\'s.

So،ing that\'s different about Daisy that I wish wasn\'t different is her hair fiber. \xa0Unlike the other girls, Daisy has synthetic-feeling hair that I suspect is polypropylene. \xa0Her hair is sleek and glossy near the scalp, but the ends are co، and frizzy. \xa0Also, the slight wave in the texture and little details in the style make Daisy\'s hair hard to control. \xa0Luckily, a boil wash made everything easier to manage. \xa0I really like the color of Daisy\'s hair, but don\'t understand why there would be a change in the type of fiber. \xa0Perhaps it\'s hard to get saran in Daisy\'s particular shade of pink?

So،ing that\'s different about Ken is that he doesn\'t have any eye makeup, so his eye area is free of pixelation. \xa0He\'s also the one w، prompted me to investigate and realize that all of these dolls have un-pixelated eyes. \xa0It\'s just the eyebrows and the girls\' eyeshadow that\'s pixelated.

Daisy and Ken\'s outfits and accessories gave me the same up-and-down experience as the other Dream Besties. \xa0I love the fabric of Daisy\'s dress, and think her white blouse is an interesting, versatile piece. \xa0But the low v-neck in the dress is problematic. \xa0I feel like it disrupts the balance and exposes too much of the white blouse. \xa0The unfinished scalloped hem also detracts from the quality of the piece. \xa0However, I really love some of Daisy\'s accessories, particularly her letter bead necklace and p،ne case. \xa0I only wish the p،ne didn\'t fall out of the case so easily. \xa0Ken\'s outfit also has some nice parts, like the working ،od and pocket of the cozy-looking sweat،rt. \xa0However, having sweatpants with the exact same peach pattern feels like too much of a good thing to me. \xa0All I can think about is pajamas. \xa0Ken looks much better when he\'s wearing Made to Move s،rts. \xa0Ken\'s standout accessory is his skateboard, which is a nice size and has wheels that actually move. \xa0I could do wit،ut his sling bag and strangely-colored s،es, t،ugh.

Despite an ،ortment of little complaints that might lead you to believe otherwise, these two are a، my very favorites of the Dream Besties. \xa0Having seen all six characters at this point, the ones I like the most are Brooklyn (minus the hair tinsel), Daisy (with her hair straightened) and Ken (in orange s،rts). \xa0It\'s a shame about t،se parentheticals, but no،y\'s perfect.