Den of Geek wishlist: Barbie: The Birds edition

To say that Alfred Hitchcock had a thing for blondes is an understatement. It is well known that he was obsessed (no, OBSESSED with capital letters for emphasis) with finding the perfect movie blonde. To him, blondes were the ultimate signature of a movie heroine. Just look at the blonde actresses from his films: Anny Ondra, Madeleine Carroll, Joan Fontaine, Ingrid Bergman, Grace Kelly, Eva Marie Saint, Kim Novak, Vera Miles, Janet Leigh and Tippi Hedren.

Is there any blonde more famous than Barbie? None that I can think of. She’s a model, surgeon, lawyer, princess, and every other career under the sun. There’s been a Princess Di Barbie, a Lindsay Lohan Barbie, Star Trek Barbies, Munsters Barbies, and who knows how many other Barbies? Now, there’s the ultimate Barbie: the Tippi Hedren-inspired Birds edition Barbie!

I’m surprised it took them this long to come out with a crossover between the world’s most beloved blonde and the world’s foremost lover of blondes. Clad in Hedren’s iconic green suit, with posh upswept hair and realistic birds, even a Barbie-hating movie memorabilia fan like myself has to feel a pull towards the awesomeness that is this doll. They even managed to change Barbie’s normal blank stare into something almost similar to a facial expression akin to fear!

While I’m not a serious doll collector, I do have a decent collection of movie monsters, maniacs, and madmen in packages throughout my home. While The Birds Barbie is fairly steep at $44.99 dollars compared to the blood-spattered McFarlane Movie Maniacs I tend to go for, she’d fit in well right alongside Leatherface, Michael Myers, King Kong, and Misters Orange and White from Reservoir Dogs on my toy display shelf. When it is released, of course.

The toy is slated to come out right in time for Halloween, with an October 2008 release date. Preorders are available from Entertainment Earth here. Will this lead to a Barbie line of Hitchcock blondes? One can only hope the next special-edition Barbie is a naked, bloody Psycho Barbie (or a cross-dressing Norman Bates Barbie!).