Forget Blaine -- It's all about Barbie at collectors' convention

Blaine who?

For attendees of the National Barbie Doll Collectors Convention onSaturday in Rosemont, Barbie's new surfer boyfriend barely registereda blip of interest.

"I don't know anything about him," said Barb Priske, 48, who ownsa doll shop in Geneva.

Blaine, you see, is part of Mattel's "play line," in collectorspeak.

In other words, he's not rare. He's not a collectible. He's just aboy-toy. And die-hard collectors like Dwane Adle could not care less.

Blaine is "specific to that play line group marketed toward littlegirls, not collectors," sniffed Adle, 36, a Detroit architect andmember of a "Fan of the Man Club" devoted to Ken, Barbie's formerbeau.

Adle collects vintage Ken dolls and outfits, and as far as he andother fans were concerned, Ken will forever be Barbie's true love.

Mattel Inc. announced earlier this year that Barbie and Ken, herbeau of 43 years, were splitsville and that Barbie was now romancingBlaine, an Australian beach bum with highlights.

Collectors chalked it all up to a bunch of marketing hoopla byMattel to invigorate the Barbie brand, which is up against decliningsales and competition from the likes of the Bratz dolls.

"It was a publicity stunt that worked well," shrugged MarlDavidson, a Bradenton, Fla., dealer of vintage Barbies andaccessories. "[Barbie and Ken] still love each other."

The four-day convention was all about Barbie, anyway, in all herincarnations dating to 1959, when the leggy doll made her debut.About 1,000 collectors came from across the United States, Europe andas far away as South Africa, convention co-chairwoman Julie Bronskisaid.

The event was open to the public Saturday so dealers could hawktheir wares, both vintage and new. There were Barbies in modminiskirts, Barbies in oh-so-'80s hot pink, black Barbies, Barbiebrides. There was even a '70s-era Ken with interchangeable facialhair.

Mattel's focus now is on partnering with high-end designers, saidElizabeth Grampp, Mattel's senior marketing manager for BarbieCollector. Indeed, Barbies in the works or already released this yearwere designed by Kate Spade, Versace, Juicy Couture and BadgleyMischka.

But give Chicago collector Joey Atwell, 34, the old-school Barbie.

Atwell, who teaches in the fashion department at the School of theArt Institute of Chicago and works for a nonprofit AIDS group, was onthe lookout for Barbies from 1959 through 1986 that he said trulyreflect American culture and fashion.

"They're historical time capsules," he said.