Ken's original backstory was that he met Barbie in 1961 on the set of their first television commercial together. The couple fell in love and started dating. Barbie broke up with Ken on Valentine's Day in 2004.
And while the two are boyfriend and girlfriend in the movie, Barbie doesn't seem to feel the same way for Ken as he does for her. Warner Bros. This could be explained by the fact that Barbie and Ken are dolls, and they don't really have a "sexual" attraction to each other.
Ken has been shown to be frenemies with Ryan, the twin brother of Raquelle. Raquelle has a crush on him, but Ken obviously doesn't reciprocate these feelings, since he is in love with Barbie. He fights with Ryan over Barbie's affections.
This original Ken doll from 1961 was supposed to be so handsome and magnetic that Barbie fell instantly in love. Hmm. Ken (short for Kenneth Carson) hit the toy aisle as Barbie's buyable boyfriend two years after her 1959 debut.
Kenneth Sean "Ken" Carson (1961–1967, 1969–present): Barbie's male counterpart and former boyfriend as well as the second character added to the line. Mattel announced a split between him and Barbie in 2004 and a reunion on Valentine's Day in 2011.
The most perfect plastic pair had been together for 43 years when the surprising split was announced. Mattel said that it was just time for the two dolls to spend some time apart, with some hints pointing to Ken's avoidance of the marriage subject.
Barbie and Ken felt it was “time to spend some quality time apart” with Arons hinting that Ken's reluctance to put a ring on it may have played a part in their breakup. Still, the two swore the breakup was amicable and they would remain friends.
1961: First introduced at the American International Toy Fair as Barbie doll's boyfriend on March 11, 1961 Ken doll was 12 inches tall, had “molded” plastic hair (blond and brunette) and came dressed in red bathing suit trunks with a yellow towel and sandals.
“Pregnant Barbie” is actually Margaret Hadley Sherwood, or Midge, as her friends call her. Midge was created to be a less glam, more relatable Barbie, per Buzzfeed News. The doll was launched in 1963 as Barbie's bestie. She had freckles and red hair, and she wore less makeup than Barbie did.
Before Barbie came out, Robbie explained to Vogue that she played Barbie as if she didn't feel sexual desire, which also may have contributed to her lack of feelings for Ken.
Created by Barbie's inventor Ruth Handler, Ken was a boyfriend designed by women for girls. Just as Barbie was named after Handler's daughter, so Ken was named after her son. And so the safe, boyfriend-friend dynamic of Barbie and Ken's relationship was established.
Summary. Margot Robbie's friends were surprised that she and Ryan Gosling's Ken don't kiss in the Barbie film, questioning her role as a producer. Barbie and Ken have a close bond but do not share a romantic relationship in the movie, with Barbie explicitly stating that she isn't interested in Ken that way.
But after the Barbies reveal their victory and Ken goes off crying, it's Barbie who apologizes to Ken, not the other way around. Some viewers have wondered: why does Barbie apologize to Ken when he's the one who brainwashed all her friends and took over Barbie Land?
In the Barbie mythos, Ken met Barbie on the set of a TV commercial and is her boyfriend, per promotional box inscriptions from his debut until 2018. As of September 2022, he is perceived as one of Barbie's main friends.
He works as a lifeguard along with his friends at Oceans Extreme. He likes surfing and has taught Skipper how to surf. He had a crush on Harriet and wanted to ask her out for school dance, but was too afraid to ask. He has a crush on Barbie but doesn't have the nerves to tell her.
While Barbie is a great situational communicator, she fails to tell Ken her overarching boundary: she does not want a relationship. This is why he keeps trying. If she were to set that boundary with him, he might stop pestering her. Even if he didn't stop, there would be total clarity on her stance.
Technically, Ken has no official age (he is a doll, after all) although he was first introduced as Barbie's boyfriend on March 11, 1961, which means he has been around for 62 years.
Mattel released a statement in 2004 that Barbie and Ken had broken up, but they were reunited in 2011. Barbie and Ken aren't officially engaged or married, though wedding clothing and gift boxes have been released so that children could play that they were marrying.
Barbie was childfree. She was invented to be that way. Her creator, Ruth Handler, way back in 1959, was disheartened to find that the only dolls her own daughter could play with were baby dolls.
Barbie, formally known as “Barbara Millicent Roberts,” was born in 1959, which would technically make her 65 years old — except for the small fact that she was born as a 19-year-old. Yep, that's right: The first ever Barbie was officially 19 years old, which would make her age closer to 84 years old.
Ryan is the twin brother of Raquelle, one of the main characters and the secondary antagonist in Barbie: Life in the Dreamhouse. He lives in The Ryan Mansion. He is constantly trying to woo Ken with one of his songs, much to the anger of Ken. He has a crush on Barbie and is Midge's crush.
The best boyfriend in the world, Ken wants to be the perfect guy to the perfect gal, but hasn't quite got the perfection thing down the way Barbie does. He loves creating new crazy gadgets to make her life easier, but sometimes they do the opposite.
Did you know that Ken wasn't Barbie's only boyfriend? A day before Valentine's Day in 2,004, manufacturer Mattel issued a press release. stating that Barbie and Ken were parting ways. Soon after this shocking announcement, they introduced the world to Blaine, a boogie boarding Australian surfer.
