On the penultimate night, the Barbie’s Best Friend award was handed out. Photograph: Héctor Mata/AFP/Getty Images

Play as you build the garden, barn and stables that include roleplay accessories like a carrot, ribbons, brush and more Little horse lovers can spend a day at the Horse Stables with 3 Barbie® micro-dolls and 9 animals. Kids can play as they build the barn to care for animals. They can feed and groom the 2 horses, 2 bunnies, 2 birds, a pony, lamb and puppy with accessories like carrots, a brush, water bowl and more. Then, Barbie® and her horse can get ready to ride when kids build the stables. Kids can build the garden to plant flowers and give the animals a place to play and rest. Designed for beginners, this building set is easy to build and provides storytelling play with every step. Wonder Builders building toys are designed for ages 4+ Set off on camping adventures with the Barbie camper van, create your own fantasy world with Barbie Dreamtopia and discover what you could be with Barbie careers dolls. Kids can play out all kinds of open-ended dreams with Barbie and Ken, Stacie, Chelsea and Skipper. Migrating between rooms at the convention amounts to a crash course in collector argot, with terms like ‘NRFB’ for ‘Never Removed From Box’. Photograph: Mel Melcon/Los Angeles Times/Getty ImagesYoung horse lovers will go wild for the Barbie Hugs 'n Horses playset that comes with 2 dolls, 2 horses, a puppy and 15+ accessories You’re right,” Yarbrough sighed. “I talked to a chemical engineer about that and you see it a lot in dolls from 1970 to 71. What happens is – this is going to get complicated, I’m sorry …”

Barbie doll and Chelsea doll are ready to ride wearing casual outfits and riding boots -- a cactus on Barbie doll's t-shirt is a perfect statement Spencer handed out trophies to two longtime volunteers, including one of the Barbaras. As she introduced the last honoree, her voice became garbled. “I’m presenting two awards to these partners, both in life and somewhere beyond all this,” she choked. A man took the stage and embraced her; the speech became still harder to hear. Eyes watered around the ballroom, including my own, though I had no idea what she was saying. “That’s a famous dealer,” Dale whispered. “His partner passed last year.” This was the true attraction of BarbieCon: collectors are aware their obsession attracts sneers. The external disregard has made them secretive, but still more devoted to one another. Players can interact with Barbie’s friends and other characters in the dreamhouse in this game which emphasizes the value of friendship. Players can deepen their friendships and gain access to exclusive rewards by conversing and completing tasks together. Players can also connect with actual friends and family members to visit each other’s dream homes, enhancing the gameplay experience overall by introducing a social component. This year, it took place in Orlando from 4 to 8 July, overlapping with the film’s global cast tour to six different cities, and ending on the eve of its Hollywood premiere.These options range from chic hairstyles to trendy dresses. Barbie Dreamhouse Adventures offers a variety of thrilling challenges and adventures in addition to fashion and design. Players can go on adventures with Barbie and her friends, take enticing vacations, and take part in enjoyable activities like baking, dancing, and caring for cute animals. The game offers countless opportunities for entertainment and imagination thanks to the abundance of adventures available. The 10-person arrangement included a “Table Host”, assigned to steer the activities among each group, who sat beside her “travel Barbie” – a common accessory among conventioneers. (“I bring her with me everywhere,” she said. “Last year, we went to Paris.”) Eight, 10 and 11-year veterans sat alongside a young mother who, like me, had arrived alone and for the first time. Another tablemate, who tagged along with her niece, did not own a single doll. At least until that day. “I have three now,” she said.

Imagine the possibilities with Barbie! There’s a wide range of Barbie dolls, playsets and fashions to explore, from the beautiful Barbie Dreamhouse to the latest Fashionistas.While trying to find the convention, I took the elevator with a pink-clad woman whose Barbie lanyard suggested she knew where to go. A Barbie tote bag dangled from her walker. The 30-year collector had played with dolls as a child, but gave them away in her teens. “A woman I knew told me she didn’t have money to get her kids anything for Christmas, so I gave them to her,” she explained, as the elevator dropped. “I felt good about that, but as soon as I handed them off, I started to cry.”

Mattel had been “in financial difficulty, so they were trying to pinch pennies”, Yarbrough concluded. The discoloration “is just low-quality vinyl that they were trying to maximize and kept re-melting”.In the 90s, restoration was quasi-taboo. ‘People were scared because they could be passed off as fakes.’ Photograph: Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images Our most gregarious companion was Arnaldo, a landscape architect and natural storyteller whose hobby of refurbishing damaged dolls has made him into one of the highest-regarded doll doctors (Arnaldo asked me not to use his last name as, like many conventioneers, he prefers to keep his Barbie and professional lives separate). When he started in the 90s, Arnaldo told the table, restoration was quasi-taboo. “People were scared,” he said, “because they could be passed off as fakes.” Everyone has their own reasons for being at BarbieCon: parents inheriting kids’ inventory, investors building retirement funds, nostalgics recapturing their childhood, being named Barbie or Ken and just rolling with it. But as the questions in the seminar made clear, the panelists were not the only experts. Here, everyone seemed an autodidact archivist at the small museums they stored in their homes.