Waitresses wear tutus and tiaras while their male counterparts try, mostly in vain, to look like Ken, Barbie's on-off squeeze.

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For children born after the first movie hit theaters in 1995 Woody and Buzz have become as iconic as Ken and Barbie who joined the duo in the latest film.

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She has no male companion (Barbie has Ken) and modest clothing that covers her knees and shoulders.

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No matter how many times a person has daydreamed, acted it out with Barbie and Ken, and emotionally bolstered for the exchange, or if it's come thudding from the sky like an errant chunk of satellite, a proposal carries an impact that must be absorbed.

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Each room is bathed in neon pink light, and pictures of Barbie and her boyfriend, Ken, hang on the walls.

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For older girls there's the now-single Barbie, whose 2004 breakup with Ken was overseen by Ben Affleck's publicist, Ken Sunshine.

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I'm convinced that the future of entertainment places us squarely in the middle of the action, just as much a part of the story as our children are today when they strap on a holster and play cops and robbers or pick up that Barbie and ask us to be Ken.

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