The Barbie Pantheon.
Feb. 13th, 2007 03:49 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
valis2I have not hidden the fact that I was a strange child. One need only look at the floating cats I drew at age 11 (part one and part two) or read their further adventures I wrote at age 14 (all tagged entries) to comprehend just how strange I was.
Just in case you weren't convinced, I offer you more proof.
In this entry I mentioned the Barbie Pantheon, and some poor souls mentioned that they would be interested in hearing more about this unusual obsession, so I have now attempted to put together an entry. If you click on the cut below you can read the entire background of the pantheon, which was put together when I was around age 9 or so and progressed until I was about 11. You can also see pictures of all of the Barbies, found in my closet...encased as they were against the ravages of time in their protective chest, I found that they were still attired in their goddess vestments, which was lovely. I'd hate to have had to recreate it.
BTW, a friend saw them, posed for pictures on my couch, and exclaimed, "Cool! They're so much more creative than any children's show from the time." To me, they look odd, but he was quite taken with them...and that's without hearing their backstory, even. So now I present to you the Barbie Pantheon, the product of my strange childhood imagination.
Just to warn you, there are several pictures under the cut, as well as awful teenage girl writing and a fair bit of slavery. Dial-up users (and everyone else, now that I think about it), beware!
Here is the Barbie Chest, which holds a veritable smorgasbord of Barbie Goddesses. Convenient, eh? It was actually my sister's, but somehow I ended up with it.
And this is the famous carpet. I grew up on this carpet, honestly. Legos, cars, plastic dinosaurs, Barbies, marbles...this poor bit of rug had to contend with all of my many phases of childhood.
I had a huge set of plastic animals, dinosaurs, and Barbies, as well as rubber sharks, and I loved playing "caravan" with them, forcing the animals and dinosaurs to go on long exodus treks across the Sea (which was the strip of wood floor visible between the rug and the fireplace) to their new home in the rug. At first they would wander about the edge of the carpet, getting to know the dark jungle of their new home, but eventually a particularly adventurous animal would make its way to the Inner Sea (the blank beige portion of the carpet). Eventually, they would find the Flower Bridge or the Mechanical Bridge, which would gain them entry to the Island, with its mysterious flowers and its inner walled garden.
The Sea was the domain of the sharks, who would do terrible things to any hapless animal who happened to linger too long. Honestly, now that I remember it, it couldn't have been that traumatic for the animals, as the sharks were made of rubber, even their teeth, so they weren't really viciously attacked so much as exuberantly gummed.
Sometimes they would all make a trek to the fireplace, which was an altar of some sorts, and they'd do some sort of strange ceremony, and then brave the Sea again, hoping that the sharks wouldn't notice.
To use the Flower Bridge, animals had to stand on the flower, and it would drift to the other side. The Mechanical Bridge was a gear-driven contraption, and would cross the gap by extending across it.
I was really obsessed with the Inner Sanctum. I would set a single white marble in the center of each flower, and at twilight, they would appear to glow. I would sit there and contemplate the jeweled flowers, and sometimes a particularly lucky animal would discover the marbles, and be awestruck, and attempt to steal the marbles, which was always disastrous.
I guess this doesn't have much to do with the Barbies, but it does establish the world, in a way, because the Barbies were almost a part of it. They lived on the carpet, too, though at a different time, or perhaps a different plane of existence.
Also, my mom had a cool ceramic frog planter that often served as refuge for the smaller animals.
The few brave animal souls who were looking for a homeland would always be adventuring forth, and sometimes it would rain, and they would huddle underneath the luminous frog for shelter.
Okay, on to the Barbies.
Ken
Just because I feel sorry for him, I have included Ken in this montage.
Ken never really participated, though. I could never think of anything for him to do. He would show up and annoy people, and then I would get bored with him. He usually just sat in the Barbie Case and fumed.
You have to hand it to him, though. Any man wearing a pink flower shirt and brown felt pants has to be pretty secure in his masculinity.
Eldest Goddess/Maria
Okay, so here's where the fun starts.
This is the Eldest of the pantheon. (Well, there was one who was older, but she was kicked out, so this Barbie was next in line.) Very refined, haughty, rather aloof...this Barbie was not really involved with almost any of the day-to-day activities of the others. She was extremely consumed with mirrors and her reflection, and often was quite disdainful of the other goddesses. She would only dress in the most elaborate outfits, especially faux fur, her favorite. She was tremendously vain and did not like to be involved with the others.
I believe I called her Maria, at some point. She would occasionally have a lonely moment and come out and talk to the other Barbies, but it never went well, as the main topic of conversation was always herself, and the others were never very interested. She did kind of like the Fashion Goddesses, up to a point, and they sometimes would band together and insist that certain things needed to happen. They were the closest thing to a tribunal that the goddesses had.
Fashion Goddesses
I liked this pair quite a bit. The Barbie in the striped dress is the daughter of the Barbie in the blue dress. (The striped dress, by the way, is a halter dress which I have pulled up much higher and then stuck an elastic hair band around in order to keep it in place. Also, the shiny "necklace" around the mother's neck is actually a cheap bracelet.) I don't think I actually had roles for them, per se.
They were always involved in the action somehow. I think they were...fashion goddesses, honestly. They were extremely into their looks, and they were quite devoted to each other, though they had their disagreements as well. Woe betide the Barbie who crossed either one...they would both come after her.
Often they talked about clothes and accessories. Mother Barbie was quite elegant and refined, while Daughter Barbie was energetic and a bit sporty.
So then I got briefly obsessed with this duo as Desert Goddesses. The Desert Goddesses really got stuck in my head, and eventually I wrote them into a story. Yeah, the floating cats story.
Here's the bit, skip if it bores you:
The tent opened briefly. "Highness Shakar, Lord of the Ilswitch dunes, an audience is requested by two figures heavily cloaked in visha robes," the Hannil guard said worriedly.
The Desert lord Vya'Shakar frowned. Visha robes were only worn by the traditional tribes of the Vakkari, and now with the introduction of white cloth the visha robes were worn only on special occasions. His frown deepened. "Send them in," he commanded. The guard looked flabbergasted. "Well, go on, send them in!" he snapped. The Hannil hesitated a second longer and then disappeared into the dark night.
He came in leading two figures. The guard had been right; they were heavily cloaked. Not a single inch of clothing underneath showed, only a small slit where the duo could look thorugh. The burgundy robes seemed to be wrapped endlessly around the figures.
The taller one made a single move and the robes fell off into a heap. With a single graceful movement the desert dweller moved aside from the visha outer robe. Shakar almost dropped his teeth.
The parched blond hair was gathered into a single, tight braid. The gold-trimmed dress was held at the waist by a short yellow sash. The dress itself was striped vertically in three bright colors, red, yellow, and blue, and it reached to just above mid-thigh. She smiled, her strange white eyes oddly disconcerting.
Her companion also shed her robes. She was slightly shorter, and her blonde hair was tucked into a looser braid. She wore an ankle-length tight blue sleeveless dress, also trimmed in gold. She turned around to rid herself of the visha robes and Shakar noticed a slit that reached to just above mid-thigh also.
"Desert Lord Vya'Shakar?" said the taller one in a thick accent.
"Yes, I am. And who might you be?" he said.
"I am Vinrell Sha'Bri. This is my sister Vinrell Ka'Ro. We have come to make a treaty with you."
"Who do you represent?" he said, the beginnings of fear gripping his heart.
The shorter one smiled, showing shockingly white teeth. She seemed to be more refined than her sister, who was more muscularly built. "We represent the tribes you have ignored."
It was then that he recognized her accent.
"The Kazshini," said Vinrell Sha'Bri.
"Treaty?" he said, feeling extremely faint. His fingers felt clammy.
"Yes," said Vinrell Ka'Ro, her pure white eyes staring blankly at him...
Shakar wrote with trembling hands. "Are you certain that you wish an alliance with the Ilswitch Dunes?" he asked, hoping that the Kazshini women would refuse at the last moment.
"Quite certain, Desert Lord," said Ka'Ro. She enunciated Lord with a trace of humor. Shakar looked up, but seeing nothing except for those blank eyes, looked down again.
He finished writing. The treaty was standard; they would come to each other's aid if necessary. He held it up to the taller woman. She read quietly... "Shakar, you are now Second Lord of the Ilswitch Dunes. My Lord Saniya Ve'itara is Lord now."
"What?" he gasped.
"The Desert Lord Saniya Ve'itara of the Desert Moon Albrij'myi is now Lord of the Ilswitch Dunes," said Sha'Bri emotionlessly.
"You now serve Saniya," smiled Ka'Ro.
"Serve him?" he almost shouted.
"Yes, Second Lord Shakar. No one but you and the Kazshini know of this interesting turn of events. And, lest you be thought a raving lunatic, I suggest you continue to keep it a secret," said Sha'Bri. The two began to dress in the visha robes.
"Wait," he said. "Who are you?...I mean, are you warriors? Or perhaps Siada?"
"Siada!" laughed Ka'Ro.
"Oh no, Second Lord. I am a leader of the Jivron, a small tribe wouth of the main tribe. Ka'Ro is the leader of the Myahinel, a small company of warriors within the main tribe. We are not even close to the fabled Siada. They are mythic warriors of the Omhil, a different desert tribe." [Blah blah blah, they leave.]
Hearth Goddess
Here is the Hearth Goddess.
Always sticking up for the feral children, always cleaning and helping out, the Hearth Goddess was a sweetheart, kind to everyone, though also gullible. Note her blue and white apron, fashioned by my grandmother, who is totally into blue and white. Hearth Goddess sometimes made prophecies, her blank eyes piercing the future, but usually she just good-naturedly scrubbed the floor.
I remember her being majorly domestic, but other than that, she didn't really contribute to solving any of the larger problems because she was just too nice and trusting. Crazy Barbie had a field day with her, stealing the girls away right from under her nose.
Crazy Goddess
Here is Crazy Barbie. She was the oldest of the Barbie Pantheon, but she was totally crazy, so she was kicked out, making the black-haired Barbie the eldest instead.
This is what she looks like:
Here she is in her crazy pose:
Her crazy pose, in reality, was a little more exaggerated, but at some point towards the end of my Barbie career, her head finally snapped off, so I can only approximate her crazy gesticulations in this photo.
How was she crazy? Well, she was just...annoying. Really annoying. And she would enslave the feral children occasionally. She was guttural and quick, totally uncaring of others, and she existed only to torment the others by stealing away the children. She was always resentful at having been kicked out and having the Eldest take her place. That made her crazy. She sometimes walked on all fours. She laughed maniacally, she threatened any who came too close, and she was terribly aggressive and nasty. She also liked to play tennis.
Don't be fooled by the innocent panda skirt or the cute yellow flower on her blouse. She was evil.
Wild Child
Here is the first of the two feral girls:
Note her spiffy rag outfit, which I made myself from, well, rags.
Also note the ring around her neck, denoting her place as a slave. She was well and truly feral, too. She always walked on all fours, and she couldn't talk. She was slave of the Crazy Goddess most of the time, excepting the few times that Hearth Goddess tried to rescue her or when she lived with the Wolf Goddess. She had a pure, innocent soul, and her wild heart longed to be domesticated, but hadn't the first inkling of how to go about it.
Almost Feral Girl
This was the Not So Wild Child. Note the turquoise slave ring. She was much more extroverted, had been enslaved at a much later age than the Wild Child, and was often the companion of the Hearth Goddess, excepting the times when she was stolen away from the Crazy Goddess. She wanted to be rid of the slave ring, but no one could remove it. She often wore a pink checkered apron, but she was restless in her role as the Hearth Goddess Assistant, and often chafed at it, wanting more from life. She secretly envied the Fashion Goddesses, but had no talent with fashion herself, and only ever wore the outfit shown. She often was angry at the goddesses and her lot in life, and occasionally would lash out at those closest.
Crystal Goddess
One of my favorite goddesses. Crystal Goddess was Crystal Barbie, but valis-style, of course.
She looks beautiful, right? But of course she has a tragic story. She was rather high and mighty, you see, until a very dangerous man saw her and wanted her for his own. Her story was reminiscent of the Persephone/Hades story, in that even though she walked about as if she was free, she was still possessed...she was his slave, and always would be.
Note the serpent ring, which was his mark of slavery:
Also note that she uses a chain to hold back her hair, and that she is wearing a very fashionable wooden macramé bead as an accessory. She was one of the few Barbies to retain her original clothing.
She was very open and strong-willed, except for that whole slave business. She'd return to him for a month of every year, to his dark lair, and emerge again later, shaken but still strong.
She was rather elegant and refined, but possessed a dark core of misery and grief, knowing that she was another's property. No one could remove the serpent ring, though they all tried; it was permanent. She attempted to sustain a rather casual air about wearing it, but it was heavy and it weighed her down.
Wolf Goddess
My favorite of all the Barbies, the Wolf Goddess.
Misunderstood, solitary, and very quiet, the Wolf Goddess lived in a cave, and only rarely emerged. She eventually took quite a shine to the feral girls, and often would bring them into her cave, where they would live for a time, happy and free, until Crazy Goddess would kidnap one or the other or both, and then Wolf Goddess would be bereft for a time.
Note her rag attire, designed by myself. heh. Also note the bracelet, artfully arranged as a belt. And the ear cuff which served as an arm band.
She was Crystal's sister, I believe. They both had "diamond" rings, but while Crystal retained her diamond, Wolf's fell out. It was part of the process that made her an outsider. She would not take off the empty ring setting, either. It served as a reminder of all she had left behind.
Wolf was very moody and introverted, and was often tricked by the other goddesses into doing something she would not normally have done. She was also very protective of the feral girls. She wrote poetry and drew paintings on her cave walls, and was quite obsessed with finding warm fabric.
Wolf in her wrap, which was handy for that drafty cave:
Yeah, it's the visha robe for the Desert Goddesses, as well.
The Feral Trio in all their glory, looking like some sort of crazed alternative universe Charlie's Angel photo:
And that's it for the Barbie Pantheon. Hope you enjoyed! Don't forget to put a few cents into the Therapy Jar.
Just in case you weren't convinced, I offer you more proof.
In this entry I mentioned the Barbie Pantheon, and some poor souls mentioned that they would be interested in hearing more about this unusual obsession, so I have now attempted to put together an entry. If you click on the cut below you can read the entire background of the pantheon, which was put together when I was around age 9 or so and progressed until I was about 11. You can also see pictures of all of the Barbies, found in my closet...encased as they were against the ravages of time in their protective chest, I found that they were still attired in their goddess vestments, which was lovely. I'd hate to have had to recreate it.
BTW, a friend saw them, posed for pictures on my couch, and exclaimed, "Cool! They're so much more creative than any children's show from the time." To me, they look odd, but he was quite taken with them...and that's without hearing their backstory, even. So now I present to you the Barbie Pantheon, the product of my strange childhood imagination.
Just to warn you, there are several pictures under the cut, as well as awful teenage girl writing and a fair bit of slavery. Dial-up users (and everyone else, now that I think about it), beware!
Here is the Barbie Chest, which holds a veritable smorgasbord of Barbie Goddesses. Convenient, eh? It was actually my sister's, but somehow I ended up with it.
And this is the famous carpet. I grew up on this carpet, honestly. Legos, cars, plastic dinosaurs, Barbies, marbles...this poor bit of rug had to contend with all of my many phases of childhood.
I had a huge set of plastic animals, dinosaurs, and Barbies, as well as rubber sharks, and I loved playing "caravan" with them, forcing the animals and dinosaurs to go on long exodus treks across the Sea (which was the strip of wood floor visible between the rug and the fireplace) to their new home in the rug. At first they would wander about the edge of the carpet, getting to know the dark jungle of their new home, but eventually a particularly adventurous animal would make its way to the Inner Sea (the blank beige portion of the carpet). Eventually, they would find the Flower Bridge or the Mechanical Bridge, which would gain them entry to the Island, with its mysterious flowers and its inner walled garden.
The Sea was the domain of the sharks, who would do terrible things to any hapless animal who happened to linger too long. Honestly, now that I remember it, it couldn't have been that traumatic for the animals, as the sharks were made of rubber, even their teeth, so they weren't really viciously attacked so much as exuberantly gummed.
Sometimes they would all make a trek to the fireplace, which was an altar of some sorts, and they'd do some sort of strange ceremony, and then brave the Sea again, hoping that the sharks wouldn't notice.
To use the Flower Bridge, animals had to stand on the flower, and it would drift to the other side. The Mechanical Bridge was a gear-driven contraption, and would cross the gap by extending across it.
I was really obsessed with the Inner Sanctum. I would set a single white marble in the center of each flower, and at twilight, they would appear to glow. I would sit there and contemplate the jeweled flowers, and sometimes a particularly lucky animal would discover the marbles, and be awestruck, and attempt to steal the marbles, which was always disastrous.
I guess this doesn't have much to do with the Barbies, but it does establish the world, in a way, because the Barbies were almost a part of it. They lived on the carpet, too, though at a different time, or perhaps a different plane of existence.
Also, my mom had a cool ceramic frog planter that often served as refuge for the smaller animals.
The few brave animal souls who were looking for a homeland would always be adventuring forth, and sometimes it would rain, and they would huddle underneath the luminous frog for shelter.
Okay, on to the Barbies.
Ken
Just because I feel sorry for him, I have included Ken in this montage.
Ken never really participated, though. I could never think of anything for him to do. He would show up and annoy people, and then I would get bored with him. He usually just sat in the Barbie Case and fumed.
You have to hand it to him, though. Any man wearing a pink flower shirt and brown felt pants has to be pretty secure in his masculinity.
Eldest Goddess/Maria
Okay, so here's where the fun starts.
This is the Eldest of the pantheon. (Well, there was one who was older, but she was kicked out, so this Barbie was next in line.) Very refined, haughty, rather aloof...this Barbie was not really involved with almost any of the day-to-day activities of the others. She was extremely consumed with mirrors and her reflection, and often was quite disdainful of the other goddesses. She would only dress in the most elaborate outfits, especially faux fur, her favorite. She was tremendously vain and did not like to be involved with the others.
I believe I called her Maria, at some point. She would occasionally have a lonely moment and come out and talk to the other Barbies, but it never went well, as the main topic of conversation was always herself, and the others were never very interested. She did kind of like the Fashion Goddesses, up to a point, and they sometimes would band together and insist that certain things needed to happen. They were the closest thing to a tribunal that the goddesses had.
Fashion Goddesses
I liked this pair quite a bit. The Barbie in the striped dress is the daughter of the Barbie in the blue dress. (The striped dress, by the way, is a halter dress which I have pulled up much higher and then stuck an elastic hair band around in order to keep it in place. Also, the shiny "necklace" around the mother's neck is actually a cheap bracelet.) I don't think I actually had roles for them, per se.
They were always involved in the action somehow. I think they were...fashion goddesses, honestly. They were extremely into their looks, and they were quite devoted to each other, though they had their disagreements as well. Woe betide the Barbie who crossed either one...they would both come after her.
Often they talked about clothes and accessories. Mother Barbie was quite elegant and refined, while Daughter Barbie was energetic and a bit sporty.
So then I got briefly obsessed with this duo as Desert Goddesses. The Desert Goddesses really got stuck in my head, and eventually I wrote them into a story. Yeah, the floating cats story.
Here's the bit, skip if it bores you:
The tent opened briefly. "Highness Shakar, Lord of the Ilswitch dunes, an audience is requested by two figures heavily cloaked in visha robes," the Hannil guard said worriedly.
The Desert lord Vya'Shakar frowned. Visha robes were only worn by the traditional tribes of the Vakkari, and now with the introduction of white cloth the visha robes were worn only on special occasions. His frown deepened. "Send them in," he commanded. The guard looked flabbergasted. "Well, go on, send them in!" he snapped. The Hannil hesitated a second longer and then disappeared into the dark night.
He came in leading two figures. The guard had been right; they were heavily cloaked. Not a single inch of clothing underneath showed, only a small slit where the duo could look thorugh. The burgundy robes seemed to be wrapped endlessly around the figures.
The taller one made a single move and the robes fell off into a heap. With a single graceful movement the desert dweller moved aside from the visha outer robe. Shakar almost dropped his teeth.
The parched blond hair was gathered into a single, tight braid. The gold-trimmed dress was held at the waist by a short yellow sash. The dress itself was striped vertically in three bright colors, red, yellow, and blue, and it reached to just above mid-thigh. She smiled, her strange white eyes oddly disconcerting.
Her companion also shed her robes. She was slightly shorter, and her blonde hair was tucked into a looser braid. She wore an ankle-length tight blue sleeveless dress, also trimmed in gold. She turned around to rid herself of the visha robes and Shakar noticed a slit that reached to just above mid-thigh also.
"Desert Lord Vya'Shakar?" said the taller one in a thick accent.
"Yes, I am. And who might you be?" he said.
"I am Vinrell Sha'Bri. This is my sister Vinrell Ka'Ro. We have come to make a treaty with you."
"Who do you represent?" he said, the beginnings of fear gripping his heart.
The shorter one smiled, showing shockingly white teeth. She seemed to be more refined than her sister, who was more muscularly built. "We represent the tribes you have ignored."
It was then that he recognized her accent.
"The Kazshini," said Vinrell Sha'Bri.
"Treaty?" he said, feeling extremely faint. His fingers felt clammy.
"Yes," said Vinrell Ka'Ro, her pure white eyes staring blankly at him...
Shakar wrote with trembling hands. "Are you certain that you wish an alliance with the Ilswitch Dunes?" he asked, hoping that the Kazshini women would refuse at the last moment.
"Quite certain, Desert Lord," said Ka'Ro. She enunciated Lord with a trace of humor. Shakar looked up, but seeing nothing except for those blank eyes, looked down again.
He finished writing. The treaty was standard; they would come to each other's aid if necessary. He held it up to the taller woman. She read quietly... "Shakar, you are now Second Lord of the Ilswitch Dunes. My Lord Saniya Ve'itara is Lord now."
"What?" he gasped.
"The Desert Lord Saniya Ve'itara of the Desert Moon Albrij'myi is now Lord of the Ilswitch Dunes," said Sha'Bri emotionlessly.
"You now serve Saniya," smiled Ka'Ro.
"Serve him?" he almost shouted.
"Yes, Second Lord Shakar. No one but you and the Kazshini know of this interesting turn of events. And, lest you be thought a raving lunatic, I suggest you continue to keep it a secret," said Sha'Bri. The two began to dress in the visha robes.
"Wait," he said. "Who are you?...I mean, are you warriors? Or perhaps Siada?"
"Siada!" laughed Ka'Ro.
"Oh no, Second Lord. I am a leader of the Jivron, a small tribe wouth of the main tribe. Ka'Ro is the leader of the Myahinel, a small company of warriors within the main tribe. We are not even close to the fabled Siada. They are mythic warriors of the Omhil, a different desert tribe." [Blah blah blah, they leave.]
Hearth Goddess
Here is the Hearth Goddess.
Always sticking up for the feral children, always cleaning and helping out, the Hearth Goddess was a sweetheart, kind to everyone, though also gullible. Note her blue and white apron, fashioned by my grandmother, who is totally into blue and white. Hearth Goddess sometimes made prophecies, her blank eyes piercing the future, but usually she just good-naturedly scrubbed the floor.
I remember her being majorly domestic, but other than that, she didn't really contribute to solving any of the larger problems because she was just too nice and trusting. Crazy Barbie had a field day with her, stealing the girls away right from under her nose.
Crazy Goddess
Here is Crazy Barbie. She was the oldest of the Barbie Pantheon, but she was totally crazy, so she was kicked out, making the black-haired Barbie the eldest instead.
This is what she looks like:
Here she is in her crazy pose:
Her crazy pose, in reality, was a little more exaggerated, but at some point towards the end of my Barbie career, her head finally snapped off, so I can only approximate her crazy gesticulations in this photo.
How was she crazy? Well, she was just...annoying. Really annoying. And she would enslave the feral children occasionally. She was guttural and quick, totally uncaring of others, and she existed only to torment the others by stealing away the children. She was always resentful at having been kicked out and having the Eldest take her place. That made her crazy. She sometimes walked on all fours. She laughed maniacally, she threatened any who came too close, and she was terribly aggressive and nasty. She also liked to play tennis.
Don't be fooled by the innocent panda skirt or the cute yellow flower on her blouse. She was evil.
Wild Child
Here is the first of the two feral girls:
Note her spiffy rag outfit, which I made myself from, well, rags.
Also note the ring around her neck, denoting her place as a slave. She was well and truly feral, too. She always walked on all fours, and she couldn't talk. She was slave of the Crazy Goddess most of the time, excepting the few times that Hearth Goddess tried to rescue her or when she lived with the Wolf Goddess. She had a pure, innocent soul, and her wild heart longed to be domesticated, but hadn't the first inkling of how to go about it.
Almost Feral Girl
This was the Not So Wild Child. Note the turquoise slave ring. She was much more extroverted, had been enslaved at a much later age than the Wild Child, and was often the companion of the Hearth Goddess, excepting the times when she was stolen away from the Crazy Goddess. She wanted to be rid of the slave ring, but no one could remove it. She often wore a pink checkered apron, but she was restless in her role as the Hearth Goddess Assistant, and often chafed at it, wanting more from life. She secretly envied the Fashion Goddesses, but had no talent with fashion herself, and only ever wore the outfit shown. She often was angry at the goddesses and her lot in life, and occasionally would lash out at those closest.
Crystal Goddess
One of my favorite goddesses. Crystal Goddess was Crystal Barbie, but valis-style, of course.
She looks beautiful, right? But of course she has a tragic story. She was rather high and mighty, you see, until a very dangerous man saw her and wanted her for his own. Her story was reminiscent of the Persephone/Hades story, in that even though she walked about as if she was free, she was still possessed...she was his slave, and always would be.
Note the serpent ring, which was his mark of slavery:
Also note that she uses a chain to hold back her hair, and that she is wearing a very fashionable wooden macramé bead as an accessory. She was one of the few Barbies to retain her original clothing.
She was very open and strong-willed, except for that whole slave business. She'd return to him for a month of every year, to his dark lair, and emerge again later, shaken but still strong.
She was rather elegant and refined, but possessed a dark core of misery and grief, knowing that she was another's property. No one could remove the serpent ring, though they all tried; it was permanent. She attempted to sustain a rather casual air about wearing it, but it was heavy and it weighed her down.
Wolf Goddess
My favorite of all the Barbies, the Wolf Goddess.
Misunderstood, solitary, and very quiet, the Wolf Goddess lived in a cave, and only rarely emerged. She eventually took quite a shine to the feral girls, and often would bring them into her cave, where they would live for a time, happy and free, until Crazy Goddess would kidnap one or the other or both, and then Wolf Goddess would be bereft for a time.
Note her rag attire, designed by myself. heh. Also note the bracelet, artfully arranged as a belt. And the ear cuff which served as an arm band.
She was Crystal's sister, I believe. They both had "diamond" rings, but while Crystal retained her diamond, Wolf's fell out. It was part of the process that made her an outsider. She would not take off the empty ring setting, either. It served as a reminder of all she had left behind.
Wolf was very moody and introverted, and was often tricked by the other goddesses into doing something she would not normally have done. She was also very protective of the feral girls. She wrote poetry and drew paintings on her cave walls, and was quite obsessed with finding warm fabric.
Wolf in her wrap, which was handy for that drafty cave:
Yeah, it's the visha robe for the Desert Goddesses, as well.
The Feral Trio in all their glory, looking like some sort of crazed alternative universe Charlie's Angel photo:
And that's it for the Barbie Pantheon. Hope you enjoyed! Don't forget to put a few cents into the Therapy Jar.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
(no subject)
Date: 2007-02-14 04:07 am (UTC)Then again, it makes me easy to spot. ;)
(no subject)
Date: 2007-02-14 04:12 am (UTC)It does! I tend to recognize people by their icons first, so I like when people tend to use the same one. I still use my mouse for posting, since I want people to recognize me too. On the other hand, of course, there are just so many pretty icons around...