Review: Joan Jett Barbie

Posted by Lindsay

So we did a tiny bit of shopping back on Black Friday, and this is one of the things we bought.  I honestly don't know too much about Joan Jett, although I read up on Wikipedia, and I like “Bad Reputation.” I like the look of the doll, regardless.

Joan is part of the Ladies of the 80's collection, and is a Pink Label collector's doll.

This is one of the only Barbies I have for display that isn't based on a fictional character.

Others:
Race Car Driver Barbie
Pop Life Barbie

Appearance and Construction:  7/10

Joan has a pretty spiffy look overall.  I love her pants and shoes especially: the tiny fake zippers at the bottom are sweet.

Her head unfortunately isn't as nice as the rest of her. 

Her hair looks decent, except where it's crushed from being in the package, but it doesn't look that much like Joan Jett.  There are actually some layers cut in there, but they're all glued together with gel such that it looks like a plain shoulder bob. 

I love her earrings and her eyeshadow, but her expression is a little vacant. 

The costume also looks sloppy from the back, but I know it's hard to tailor low-rise pants for a doll.

Pretty good, but far from perfect.

Packaging and Accessories: +1

Her packaging is Barbie standard: big clear box, doll well secured, huge pain in the butt to get her out.

She gets a bonus for her guitar, which is a pretty nice prop, because many Barbies don't come with anything at all.  I worried that the little silver threads that make the strings would be fragile, but they're holding up well so far.  The strap on the guitar is not adjustable, but it is removable.

Her costume consists of shirt, pants, belt, sneakers, wrist cuff, bandana and non-removable necklace and earrings. She also comes with a stand and a certificate of authenticity, but that's standard.  (Happily, it is the correct Model Muse stand, and works well.)

Play and Display: -1

I know she's collector grade, and thus not intended for play, but I have issues with the Model Muse body.  I hate that the legs are made of hard plastic and thus have no knee joints, and her hip joints are just cuts. She does have ball joints at the neck and shoulders, but she's really not meant to be posed.

Also I was scared to fully remove her costume, because without the little plastic tabs holding everything together, I'm sure I couldn't get it back to looking this good. That's a penalty for a fashion doll in my book.

Price Tag and Final Analysis: 7/10

I got Joan on sale at Big Lots on Black Friday for $18.00.  This is a fine price for a collectible doll, but a bit more than I really like to pay for a piece like this, which I like, but don't love.

Of course, more often I've seen the Ladies of the 80's for 30-40 dollars, so this was a pretty good deal. 

Although I see a lot of “Debbie Harry” on the shelves... maybe she'll get marked down eventually.

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