Eric Morton
RPG Superstar 2009 Top 16, 2012 Top 32
,
Marathon Voter Season 6, Marathon Voter Season 7, Marathon Voter Season 8, Marathon Voter Season 9 aka Epic Meepo
BARBIE DOLL(Auto-reject #9, #12, #16, and #25. All-caps item name. Ignores Sean's last bit of R1 advice by mentioning item name in only one place, not both in the thread and in the thread title.)
Description
This eight-inch doll resembles a female barbarian. It is crafted from a magical flesh-colored substance called "plastic" (auto-reject #17). In the absence of advanced knowledge of chemistry, this substance can be produced from an admixture of angel vomit (auto-reject #19) and dead baby parts (auto-reject #14).
History:
Ruth Handler watched her daughter Barbara at play with paper dolls, and noticed that she often enjoyed giving them adult roles. At the time, most children's toy dolls were representations of infants. Realizing that there could be a gap in the market, Handler suggested the idea of an adult-bodied doll to her husband Elliot, a co-founder of the Mattel toy company. He was unenthusiastic about the idea, as were Mattel's directors.
During a trip to Europe in 1956 with her children Barbara and Kenneth, Ruth Handler came across a German toy doll called Bild Lilli. The adult-figured doll was exactly what Handler had in mind, so she purchased three of them. She gave one to her daughter and took the others back to Mattel. The Lilli doll was based on a popular character appearing in a comic strip drawn by Reinhard Beuthin for the newspaper Die Bild-Zeitung. Lilli was a working girl who knew what she wanted and was not above using men to get it. The Lilli doll was first sold in Germany in 1955, and although it was initially sold to adults, it became popular with children who enjoyed dressing her up in outfits that were available separately.
Upon her return to the United States, Handler reworked the design of the doll (with help from engineer Jack Ryan) and the doll was given a new name, Barbie, after Handler's daughter Barbara. The doll made its debut at the American International Toy Fair in New York on March 9, 1959. This date is also used as Barbie's official birthday.
Mattel acquired the rights to the Bild Lilli doll in 1964 and production of Lilli was stopped. The first Barbie doll wore a black and white zebra striped swimsuit and signature topknot ponytail, and was available as either a blonde or brunette. The doll was marketed as a "Teen-age Fashion Model," with her clothes created by Mattel fashion designer Charlotte Johnson. The first Barbie dolls were manufactured in Japan, with their clothes hand-stitched by Japanese homeworkers. Around 350,000 Barbie dolls were sold during the first year of production.
Ruth Handler believed that it was important for Barbie to have an adult appearance, and early market research showed that some parents were unhappy about the doll's chest, which had distinct breasts. Barbie's appearance has been changed many times, most notably in 1971 when the doll's eyes were adjusted to look forwards rather than having the demure sideways glance of the original model.
Barbie was one of the first toys to have a marketing strategy based extensively on television advertising, which has been copied widely by other toys. It is estimated that over a billion Barbie dolls have been sold worldwide in over 150 countries, with Mattel claiming that three Barbie dolls are sold every second.
The standard range of Barbie dolls and related accessories are manufactured to approximately 1/6th scale, which is also known as playscale. Barbie products include not only the range of dolls with their clothes and accessories, but also a large range of Barbie branded goods such as books, apparel, cosmetics and video games. Barbie has appeared in a series of animated films and is a supporting character in Toy Story 2 and Toy Story 3.
Barbie has become a cultural icon and has been given honors that are rare in the toy world. In 1974 a section of Times Square in New York City was renamed Barbie Boulevard for a week. In 1985 the artist Andy Warhol created a painting of Barbie.
In 2009, Barbie celebrated her 50th birthday. The celebrations included a runway show in New York for the Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week. The event showcased fashions contributed by fifty well-known haute couturiers including Diane von Fürstenberg, Vera Wang, Calvin Klein, Bob Mackie, and Christian Louboutin.
(Auto-reject #3. Text lifted verbatim from Wikipedia.)
A Barbie Doll is a figurine of wondrous power(auto-reject #6). Each figurine of wondrous power appears to be a miniature statuette of a creature. When the figurine is tossed down and the correct command word spoken, it becomes a living creature of normal size. The creature obeys and serves its owner. (Auto-reject #24.)
If a figurine of wondrous power is broken or destroyed in its statuette form, it is forever ruined. All magic is lost, its power departed. If slain in creature form, the figurine simply reverts to a statuette that can be used again at a later time. (Auto-reject #24, continued.)
When animated (auto-reject #15), a Barbie Doll has the statistics of a 4th-level orc barbarian (auto-reject #4) and appears wearing a robe of useful items as a fashion accessory (auto-reject #8). In addition, she always succeeds on Survival checks to avoid becoming lost, and can find the path to any location (auto-reject #18). She also has the following spell-like abilities, each usable once per day, thanks to her extensive training in numerous professions, such as doctor, lawyer, and businesswoman: cure light wounds, daylight, phantom steed, and secure shelter(auto-reject #1, #2, and #22).
A Barbie Doll speaks and understands Common. She intuitively knows her every owner's race, class, and level (auto-rehect #26 (auto-reject #10) ) as a result of an inherent ability to see that information as floating text above each owner's head (unoriginal MMO-style mechanics). She remembers all of her previous owners, and freely divulges all that she knows about them upon her current owner's request (auto-reject #20, and #26, continued). She may also know numerous secrets about events from ancient times, at the DM's discretion (uses DM instead of GM, and fits the so-called "home campaign item" criteria that are to be avoided).
When not animated, a creature carrying a Barbie Doll gains the rage ability as if she had four barbarian levels in addition to any actual barbarian levels she may have (auto-reject #21). When raging, she gains a +2 bonus to AC and can perform actions that require concentration (auto-reject #13). When she chooses to end her rage, it continues for three additional rounds, whether she wants it to or not, but these rounds do not count against her number of rounds per day (auto-reject #23).
(Item is not awesome enough to apply wondrous advice #27. No construction requirements listed.)
Designer Notes, by Eric Morton, a.k.a. Epic Meepo(Violates anonymity.)
As you can see, this item was designed to violate all of Sean's auto-reject rules. Violations of these and other Superstar rules, implied and explicit, are noted parenthetically. For example: (Includes unnecessary designer notes.) and (Posted as a new thread when an existing thread for this topic already exists and/or not submitted using the proper contest submission tool.) Also: (Could have hyper-linked all of those references to auto-reject advice so the reader could follow along more easily, but was ultimately too lazy to do so.)
