BARBIE DOLL COLLECTION SERIES

The problem is that the rest of the stuff isnвЂ™t as scandalous or fascinating as a story about a man possessed by his desire to acquire plastic dolls originally manufactured and marketed towards little girls. I like stuff.вЂќДЄnd here's where our discussion gets meta The Transformers live at my parentвЂ™s house I have 300 Transformers. But you forget that I like shoes, I like ducks. вЂњI get that the Barbie story is a great story. Walking into his bathroom brings me face-to-face with his rubber duck collection. While he gives me a tour of his house - which is purpose-built to store and showcase his Barbie collection - it becomes apparent that Yang isnвЂ™t so much a Barbie doll collector as he is a toy collector in general.

What I was met with was a relatively normal-looking guy, who вЂњlives in Muji shirtsвЂќ, has a penchant for swearing, and is (notwithstanding his huge doll collection) вЂњas f*cking average as average getsвЂќ.

In YangвЂ™s mind, reporters turn up wanting to see a flamboyant homosexual - вЂњwhat you think of as a male doll collectorвЂќ.ДЄnd while I canвЂ™t speak for what goes through the mind of other writers who venture out to meet Yang, he wasnвЂ™t far off the mark in describing what had drawn me to interview him in the first place.

And IвЂ™m like вЂwhy do you look so disappointed, is it because IвЂ™m not wearing a dress?вЂ™вЂќ вЂњEvery time a journalist comes to me - and this has been going on for a while now - everyone looks a bit disappointed. However, as he recounts his experiences with the media, I begin to get the sense (rather awkwardly for me) that the novelty of being in the spotlight has worn off. And it was like вЂholy sh*tвЂ™!вЂќД«y 2013, Yang - who by this point was in possession of more than 6,000 Barbies - received international attention when his вЂњcrazy obsessionвЂќ was covered by Reuters.ДЄ steady stream of media features have followed since, piling up in tandem with the ballooning of YangвЂ™s doll collection, which today stands at some figure (heвЂ™s given up counting) above 12,000. вЂњAnd then suddenly the whole thing, like 1990-whatever it was - there was a picture of me holding a f*cking doll and going like вЂWho says all boys play with boyвЂ™s toysвЂ™. The first was in 1997, when a 17-year-old Yang was a вЂњteen journalistвЂќ for an Aunt-Agony styled column in The New Paper called the Attitude Page - вЂњbecause we were so cool in the 90вЂ™sвЂќ.Д©0вЂ™s cringe aside, the Attitude Page involved teenagers seeking advice on their complications writing into the column to get a reply from another teenager.ДЄ profile of each of the five responders would be published in the paper so that readers would be more familiar with who was dishing out the sagely advice.ДЄ journalist had come to YangвЂ™s house with the intention of profiling him and his Swatch collection but changed the angle of the article once he discovered that the teenager had a collection of 250 Barbie dolls.

BARBIE DOLL COLLECTION SERIES

Slowly but surely, Yang started to amass a collection of Barbies - first by saving up his own pocket money to purchase the dolls, before later being turbo-boosted by his increased spending power upon his entry to the working world.ДЄs alluded to, eventually the media caught wind of the male Barbie doll collector, and just like his dolls, Yang started to additionally amass a series of media features. Barbie somehow always maintained relevance for me.вЂќ Lego, ugh, how much more city can you make? So forget about that sh*t. вЂњBut as I grew older, what happened was that slowly Transformers - I got bored of them. It was Great Shape Barbie.вЂќДЄt the age of five, still ignorant to the social norms of childrenвЂ™s playthings, Yang tells me that the doll simply lived amongst his other toys. вЂњYou know I had Transformers, all that kinda stuff - all the boys' toys - but then there was this one toy that somehow caught my attention. Our interview today is being conducted amongst a collection that started when Yang was just five years old, after he mistakenly ripped open a Christmas present - вЂњas a child doesвЂќ - meant for his younger sister. Its darkish-pink shade is Pantone 219 C, otherwise known as Barbie pink. The floor, of course, is on theme, as Yang promptly informs me.

Barbie doll collection