ok this is “earring magic ken” who was introduced in 1992 (and discontinued shortly thereafter)
basically mattel had done a survey and discovered that girls didn’t think ken was “cool” enough
SO someone had the bright idea to research coolness by sending people to raves which, at the time, were mostly hosted & attended by gay men. so they went to these raves and took notes on what the fashions were and finally landed on this outfit, mesh shirt & all
this doll became the best selling ken doll in history, mostly because gay men bought it in droves. (many of them said his necklace was supposed to be a cockring) but mattel and a number of parents weren’t very amused and discontinued the doll
I wasn’t sure if this was real or not, so I looked it up and, yep, it’s real. There’s also a postcard of Earring Magic Ken on a date with his dapper boyfriend, Secret Hearts Ken.
you learn something new from tumblr everyday
someone gifted me this ken doll for my 7th or 8th birthday and truly what a gift he was.
