This Barbie and Ginger toy dates back to 1997. Ginger is a battery powered dog that barks and walks, and can be used to tow Barbie on her skateboard, complete with little Hotwheels-style wheels. The top frame is a still from a creepy TV commercial. It may have been 1997, but the girl on the left looks like she’s stuck in a 60’s children’s book. The screen cap looks craptacular, but that’s as good as it gets. Someone digitized TV commercial in pre-hd days. The same low-res version with awful motion compression artifacts is all over the web under assorted watermarks. Unfortunately nobody’s uploaded a decent version of it, not that you’d want to watch it endlessly. It does have a sort of hypnotic quality to it, in a Jonestown massacre sort of way. – Thanks to Goofyfoot Rff for the tip.

Editor’s Note: I found this post draft from 2012… I wonder what I was waiting for. She may not be an actual sporting girl, in the Deadwood era meaning of the term, but Skipper is still an expensive date. $139 on eBay, which is ridiculous, but this old Barbie spinoff toy regularly goes for that kind of money. This doll’s name is Fluff actually, she’s Skipper’s playmate. “Fluff is a sporting girl” was just a bit much. Besides, she’s already been covered.

Barbie’s sister Stacie riding a skateboard in a McDonalds Happy Meal toy that dates back to 2000. Apparently “Awesome Skateboard Stacie” was a toy on it’s own before it became a downsized Happy Meal toy. I found a 1999 commercial for Awesome Skateboard Stacie, who had two friends that skated too.

I don’t know about you, but I always had Ken pegged as more of the rollerblade type. Vintage 1993 Cool Times Ken outfit with skateboard accessory on sale now for a cool $36.99. “Skateboardin’ fashion and skateboard!” Ken is all mixed up. It’s 1993, and he’s sporting mid-80’s skateboard fashion and mid-70’s skateboard technology. I think that’s the same binding system that Daddy Yo uses. Barbie optional, because she wouldn’t be caught dead hanging out with you in that getup.