Skip to main content

Barbie trades in her pink convertible for a hoverboard drone

Barbie trades in her pink convertible for a hoverboard drone

Share this story

Amelia Krales

After fifty years of pink convertibles and dream homes, Barbie is modernizing rapidly. First the iconic doll got three new body shapes to more realistically represent the proportions of actual human women, and now she's getting that most important of contemporary status symbols — a hoverboard. But unlike the "hoverboards" marketed at real people, Barbie's board actually hovers, carrying the doll aloft on a quadrotor drone that can be flown with a pink-and-blue wireless controller.

Toymaker Mattel showed off Barbie's new board at New York's annual Toy Fair, confirming that the lightweight drone would cost $60 when the retail version arrives this fall. The device has been tweaked to support the extra weight of a doll rider — in this case, clad in 80s-inspired vest, skirt, and leggings ensemble — but there's no word yet on its flight ceiling. Hopefully kids won't be able to take Barbie too far into the sky, or the FAA might have to hurry out legislation to stop falling dolls as well as drones.

akrales_160213_0934_0457_A