Behold: Sweet Talking Ken. This new fella from Mattel will repeat back anything someone says into his wee little recorder, which is puzzling to me considering that if you can get a guy to say exactly what you want into Ken’s wee little recorder, WHY DO YOU NEED KEN? Oh! Maybe that is why you can play the voice back at three different pitches, ranging from Darth Vader to normal to that adorable pre-pubescent kid who sang Dock of the Bay. So like, in hetero-normative toyland, if a gal records her voice saying, “You’re the only girl for me,” or “Nancy Pelosi: Best speaker ever!” and then sets playback to low-pitched, it might kinda sorta sound like a guy? Okay. I’m still puzzled, but I guess ULTIMATE BOYFRIENDS (see his shirt) are just a little mysterious like that.

Mad! Men! Barbies!

Collect all four! Totally buying a Joan (and then padding her dress).*

While we’re on the subject, what do we think of the new Code Monkey Barbie?

Either way, this is a really interesting and thorough take. (H/T Joy Engel.)

* Or, put another way by a later tipster: “You know how you like Joan Holloway because she’s not a Barbie doll? Oops!”