Original Ken                                            Ken @2006                                             "Sugar Daddy Ken"

 

  Okay, so where did Mattel get the name for this Ken doll? Mattel says that Ken's pet (seen with the doll) is a West Highland terrier, Sugar, hence the name "Sugar's Daddy Ken". Naturally there would be some mishandling of the name and the inadvertently suggestive nickname. It doesn't seem to be of much concern to Mattel because the somewhat pricey doll ($69.99) is geared towards the adult collectors' market. If so, couldn't they have given Ken a buffer bod, like he's been to South Beach? That slight build and tiny, fru-fru dog doesn't do much for Ken's image.

  
               GI Joe                                                       hmm..big in which way?                                        Gay Bob & his "friend"

 Then again, Ken has had to suffer decades of indignities. He's got a stacked girlfriend but has had to bear the shame of a genital-free existence. Barbie has gotten all kinds of make-overs & lots of career changes over the years and Ken seems to be in some career that's so dull he doesn't talk about it. For a time he did get some real hair and a tan as "Malibu Ken" but his semi-androgynous pretty boy looks haven't really changed. In the meantime more macho types have come along to really make him look like a wuss. GI Joe, Major Matt Mason, and Captain Action had cool rugged outfits and rugged he-man adventures. There was even a muscle-flexing stud called Big Jim (marketed to boys naturally) and a wrestler named Stretch Armstrong.  Even when much smaller action figures came along poor Ken couldn't measure up to the hyper-studliness of shorter guys like He-Man.

   
                     Billy                                                                             Tom of Finland                                                       Beach Ken       

Oh sure Ken could take solace in the fact that as masculine as all his competitors were they all shared that same anatomical deficiency--even the Gay Bob doll from the 70s. But all that changed when the Billy doll was introduced in 1997. Not only was he muscular & gay but he was anatomically correct--BIG TIME! He had all kinds of outfits, interesting careers, and several equally endowed & diverse friends. More recently there was the Tom of Finland "rebel" doll---just as muscular & outrageously hung as the legendary artist's drawings. 

  You might have heard a few years ago that Barbie & Ken broke up a few years ago -- or at least that was the story started by Mattel as a little publicity stunt.  Whatever the reason Ken got a chance to lay low for awhile before Mattel brought him back trying to win back Barbie. He was redesigned with a supposedly buffer bod and a boyband-esque look. The hair was a little touseled, he was given a edgier set of clothes and things looked up for Ken Carson (yep, that's his name) Sure, his Beach Ken look that followed was a little too pretty but who knew it would lead to this new look. 

  Ah well, maybe Ken will get lucky again and they'll base a new design after some hunky movie character like a Spartan from 300 instead of looking like someone out of La Cage Aux Folles.