My Three Toms or the Cosmic Tom in Vinyl - Link Added

Will the REAL Tom, please stand?

Please note, all three young men remain standing. They are all TOM.

From left to right, we have the Original Tom from 1992. He is the first Tom. In the middle, we have Totoco - Chinese Tom also from 1992. At the end, on our right, we have Licca Club 67 Tom again from 1992. One character, three different complexions. How can this be?

1992. Takara issued a new, handsome boyfriend for Jenny, and they named him Tom. Tom is from Los Angeles. He break dances and gets into trouble. On the back of his box, he is shown pushing Jeff, Jenny's "Ken," back. Ooohh Tom the Bad Boy. Eh, but he's cute and how many Black males would I find produced in Takara's Jenny line. So I bought the original Tom.

Then I found out about Chinese Tom from a Japanese store called Totoco. Oh, how did that happen now? In the United States, we don't "change" races. Sure, Barbies are sold in various complexions and various races. But ... well, everyone KNOWS that ethnic Barbies are for marketing purposes. Sell Black Barbies to the African American market. Sell Latina Barbies to the Latino market. During the occasional "Blue Moon," Asian Barbies are produced. For whom? Oh, yes, for the Asian market.

Tom differs though because he is Tom for the same market - Asian children who play with dolls and possibly for collectors. The "Black" Tom and the "White" Tom are NOT described as such. They are just Tom. How?

My understanding is that, his eye print defines him. You shall know Tom by his eye print. And if you look at the three Toms, look at their eyes, they are all the same. Different colors, but basically the same eyes.

I brought Tom or the Toms forth today because his/their race(s) seem(s) so ... fluid? They remind me of Zorah Neale Hurson's "I belong to no race nor time" from How It Feels to Be Colored Me. Perhaps he is a Cosmic Tom?

Note: the description I wrote about Tom is from memory from Barbie Bazaar and Doll Reader magazine articles and from messages in Yahoo Jenny Groups (Casual Jenny and Biscuit's Club). If anyone thinks that my description in the paragraph that starts "1992" borders on plagiarism, please send a comment or e-mail me so that I can alter the text.

Paucity of Asian American Dolls

While checking online sources about Kayla, Barbie's multi-ethnic friend, I came across an interesting statement regarding the paucity of Asian American ethnic dolls on page 163 from Visible Differences by Dominic J. Pulera.

I have put that book on hold at my free library. The good people at the library will find and set aside the book for me to pick up. (Ah the joys of urban living - grin.) If there are additional points of interest regarding collecting, I will mention them after I have read the book.

Oh, and what about my Kayla research?

A BBC Newsround 2002 article briefly discusses the introduces of Kayla to the Barbie friends group.

A Boston Globe article from 2003 describes Kayla's place in the doll market. (Link 404'd)


And I found a web page showing the Kayla/Lea Facemold by European doll collector, Katti who shows the incredible flexibility of this facemold. Therese, take note: the Sophisticated Wedding Barbie 2002 AA might be that dark complexioned Kayla mold doll of your dreams.