I happened across this forum as I was reading doll blogs, and thought I would like to be here.
I love many kinds of dolls--but Barbies (and other 6th-scale) are my passion. My very first Barbie was a brunette bubble-cut with straight legs (yes, it was back then). I was about four years old. My friends and I played Barbies whenever we got together.
My prime Barbie-playing days were during the Mod era, and Twist-n-Turn Barbie is "the face" of Barbie for me. I never really bonded with the Superstar face (it came out when I had stopped playing with dolls as a child and hadn't started again as an adult). But my favorite doll, my "avatar," was my brunette Malibu Francie. (I didn't know for years that she was a "Sun Sun" Francie.) I still have her.
A few years ago I learned how to remove and replace heads, and I'm gradually giving my favorite girls articulated bodies. Eventually I'll learn to reroot hair and try repainting. My favorite modern facemolds are Diva and Goddess. My current "avatar" is a Fashion Fever Gillian (on an articulated body). She has brown hair and freckles--like me!