Barbie Dream Besties Update with Daisy and Ken

Back in November, before the whole advent calendar series started, I was looking at Mattel's new Dream Besties.  These dolls have an accompanying YouTube show featuring six friends: Malibu, Teresa, Renee, Brooklyn, Daisy, and Ken.  However, dolls representing two of the characters (Daisy and Ken) were not released with the very first wave of products, so I didn't have them on hand for my initial review.

Because Daisy and Ken are different from the four dolls that I've already reviewed, I didn't feel like I could move on without taking a quick look at them:

Dream Besties Daisy and Ken by Mattel ($19.99 each).

Besides, these two are really cute.  When I first saw the animated version of Daisy in the YouTube show, I thought she'd make a good doll:

Okay, maybe that's not her best expression, but still.

And the promotional photos of the doll looked good, too.  So I was eager to plunk down my $20 to get this cutie.

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:

This is different from the packaging I showed you before, where the boxes have a smaller group picture on the back:

The back of Teresa's box.

The larger group picture is a modification of the original: Daisy has been inserted in between Brooklyn and Teresa, while Ken is stuck onto the end in front of Renee's big hair.

The box also has a short description of Daisy's personality.  She dreams of being a famous DJ, and also loves yoga, gardening, and playing the guitar:

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 peeled 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.  I'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 hold the cotton candy in her right hand, thanks to a little loop for her thumb:

Her phone case is my favorite accessory.  I love the bright yellow color and the beaded chain with "Daisy" spelled out on one side:

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

It's so grainy, though.

The phone fits into the vinyl case:

But it doesn't stay there very well.  Throughout the review, I kept having to push the phone back into the case so that it wouldn't fall out.  And it still fell out several times.

Daisy can hold the phone 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 headphones:

I like these better than Teresa's teddy bear headphones.  They're opaque and have daisies on the ear pieces.

I couldn't try the headphones on right away, though, because Daisy came with a pair of sunglasses tied to her head:

Before I take those off, let's pause and appreciate how cute Daisy is, right out of the box:

Her hair is a little messy, and the braids 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 brushing the hair with my wire brush, which helped:

But now it's poofy and hard to control:

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

In any case, I cut Daisy's sunglasses 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 glasses are cute, though, with painted white flower petal frames.  And the lenses are transparent, so Daisy can actually see:

I managed to get the glasses 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 glasses out of the way, I was able to test out Daisy's headphones.  These fit well and look good, although I wish they were a more interesting color:

They clash with the bright white shirt.

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.  I love it.

All of the Dream Besties have their own face mold, which is awesome.  Daisy'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.  She also has a larger nose.  I like how the two dolls have different shades of blue in their eyes, too.  Daisy's eyes are grey-blue and very pretty.

I like how 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.  I wish she had some nice freckles like Brooklyn!

The Dream Besties outfits have been hit or miss for me.  For example, I dislike Teresa's red, shiny plastic shorts, but enjoy pretty much all of Brooklyn's clothing.  Daisy'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 shoulders, but actually opens in back with velcro:

I really like the shimmering floral fabric of the dress.  It has an eye-catching vintage feel, and the colors are nice.  And I like the tailoring and shape of the white shirt, even though puffy sleeves aren't generally my thing.  So I almost like this outfit a lot.  But something is off.

Maybe it's that the neckline of the dress is too low in front, leaving a ton of exposed shirt?  A longer necklace would have helped.  Or maybe it's the unfinished, scalloped hem of the dress?  Or that those shoulder ties are always getting in the way?  It could be all of those things.

Anyway, here are the two pieces on their own:

The construction is basic, although I appreciate the tiny elastic cuffs on the shirt.

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.

The boots have a long slit in back and are easy to take off and put back on again:

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

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

Dream Besties Daisy's body.

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 shorts:

But the top and shoes fit nicely.

Malibu can wear Daisy's entire outfit:

For better or for worse.

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

Here's a lineup of the four different Dream Besties body 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 body as Brooklyn.

Here's a summary of the body 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, shorter 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 photo, Teresa's upper legs look larger than Brooklyn's, but that's because they're positioned slightly closer together.  I promise they're the same.

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

I really like her phone case and headphones, but those little braids in her hair can be unruly!

Like tentacles!

In fact, Daisy's hair tends to look messy most of the time--with or without headphones:

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

Easy fix.

I like several things about Daisy.  For example, she has one of my favorite faces of the whole group.  And I love the color of her hair.  I also like her accessories, especially the phone case, necklace, headphones, and purse.  I'd like her glasses if they didn't instantly fall off.  And her outfit is okay, but that low neckline exposes too much of the plain white shirt, and makes the dress feel unbalanced.  And something about the short, light blue cowboy boots doesn't work for me, either.  I 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.  It's definitely not saran, and feels like polypropylene.  It's coarse and tangle-prone 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 peek at how Ken looks in the YouTube show:

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 show (or maybe the show does a good job of replicating the doll?):

But Larry the lizard is nowhere in sight.  This was a bad call by Mattel.  All of the pets should have been included with these core dolls.

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

In the little biography section, we learn that Ken loves animals, is passionate 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 "Sunshine State of Mind:"

Wait a minute.  The Sunshine State is Florida.  Aren't Malibu Barbie and her friends from Malibu, California?  I never ever pictured these kids--or any Barbie character for that matter--living in Florida.  That's not right.

Also, the bottom of the water bottle is hollow:

Good luck staying hydrated, Ken.

The water bottle can be held in either of Ken's hands, though:

I like Ken's pink ice cream cone:

It makes me hungry.

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

Mmm.  Strawberry.

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

I assumed this was meant to be SPF 61 sunscreen, but who's ever heard of that?  Instead I think it's mimicking the m-61 brand (which is only SPF 50):

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

Not a cloud was in the sky.

Ken can hold the phone case in his left hand:

Which is good because his right hand is occupied.

Ken's last two accessories came attached to him.  The first is a pair of sunglasses:

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.  It'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.  It's not a significant improvement over the unflattering fanny packs of the 80s.

Ken looks better without the sling bag, but I'm still not crazy about his sweatsuit.  It's way too much peach:

Beach peach.

There's a full-looking hood on the sweatshirt:

And a crooked velcro seam in back:

Ken's hairstyle is similar to the Signature Looks Model #5, but without the flocking or facial hair.

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.  He 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.  His brown eyebrows are thick and dark, with some hair line detail.  I especially like his broad mouth, with its engaging smile:

My doll has some shiny spots on his face from stray hair gel.  This is particularly noticeable under Ken's nose, where it looks like he's catching a cold.  Like everyone else in New Jersey right now.

Interestingly, though, Ken's eyes appear to be painted, not printed.  There's no pixelation:

Let's take a closer look to be sure:

Yep.  Those eyes have no pixelation.  The colors are solid and clear.  But 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.  That's interesting!  I think in my last review, because Teresa's eye paint had so many scuffs in the iris, I assumed it was pixelated.  Glad 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.  Here's a GIF:

It's like two completely different doll lines.  I find it almost offensive.  I mean, there's not this much difference between men and women's faces in real life.  And there's not this much difference between regular Barbie and Ken dolls.  Daisy 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.  That would have been more interesting than yet another iteration of a big-headed fashion doll.

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

The sweatshirt is nice.  It has a working front pocket and a full hood 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 hole at the base of the hood:

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 photograph Ken's pale mint green (blue?) shoes separately, because they're so unremarkable.  They don't match the rest of his outfit at all:

However, they have nice molded details.  If only those details were painted something other than mint green.

Underneath his clothing, Ken has a body that I've never seen before!  It's rare to get a new male body:

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

The body 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 shoulders are rotating hinges that allow the arms to lift up and away from the body to about an eighty degree angle:

The arms can also spin around:

Ken's elbows and wrists are rotating hinges.  The 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 embarrassing.

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

Not my best pose.

He can sit flat on the ground, though:

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, though:

Or kicking a soccer ball.

And he can sit in a chair reasonably well:

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

Ken's body is shorter than both a Made to Move and standard Ken body, with a less muscular, more teenage-looking body mold.  His head is also extremely large by comparison:

From left: Made to Move Ken, Dream Besties Ken, Zombies 2 Zed doll (with Ken body)

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

But the pants don't close in back:

Made to Move Ken's outfit fits really well, though--again, including the shoes:

In fact, the orange shorts from that outfit go really well with Ken's sweatshirt:

Now we're talking.

I like how this looks much better than the original outfit, so I left Ken in the orange shorts 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 photos 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.  The 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 should have done that sooner!  Oops.

Next, I took down the buns and braids in Daisy's hair:

Should definitely not 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.  

This worked like a charm

So much better!

The hair is now beautifully smooth, and it's easier to appreciate how silky it is in certain areas.  The ends are still dry and coarse, though.

I had a fun time photographing Daisy with her new hairdo:

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

And accessories like the headphones are easier to position as well:

Bottom line?  Most of my in-depth thoughts about the Dream Besties are in my original review, and a lot of those observations hold true for Daisy and Ken.

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

Something that's different about Daisy that I wish wasn't different is her hair fiber.  Unlike the other girls, Daisy has synthetic-feeling hair that I suspect is polypropylene.  Her hair is sleek and glossy near the scalp, but the ends are coarse and frizzy.  Also, the slight wave in the texture and little details in the style make Daisy's hair hard to control.  Luckily, a boil wash made everything easier to manage.  I really like the color of Daisy's hair, but don't understand why there would be a change in the type of fiber.  Perhaps it's hard to get saran in Daisy's particular shade of pink?

Something that's different about Ken is that he doesn't have any eye makeup, so his eye area is free of pixelation.  He's also the one who prompted me to investigate and realize that all of these dolls have un-pixelated eyes.  It'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.  I love the fabric of Daisy's dress, and think her white blouse is an interesting, versatile piece.  But the low v-neck in the dress is problematic.  I feel like it disrupts the balance and exposes too much of the white blouse.  The unfinished scalloped hem also detracts from the quality of the piece.  However, I really love some of Daisy's accessories, particularly her letter bead necklace and phone case.  I only wish the phone didn't fall out of the case so easily.  Ken's outfit also has some nice parts, like the working hood and pocket of the cozy-looking sweatshirt.  However, having sweatpants with the exact same peach pattern feels like too much of a good thing to me.  All I can think about is pajamas.  Ken looks much better when he's wearing Made to Move shorts.  Ken's standout accessory is his skateboard, which is a nice size and has wheels that actually move.  I could do without his sling bag and strangely-colored shoes, though.

Despite an assortment of little complaints that might lead you to believe otherwise, these two are among my very favorites of the Dream Besties.  Having 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 shorts).  It's a shame about those parentheticals, but nobody's perfect.