After months of anticipation, the hotly awaited Barbie movie finally hits cinema later this week.

Shaping up to be the film of the year – with the hype around Barbie only exacerbated with the much discussed battle against Christopher Nolan’s more serious Oppenheimer, released on the same day – Barbie has already completely engulfed the world of commerce, culture and fashion.

But while the rest of the world comes down with a dose of Barbiemania, there are some superfans who worship the 64-year-old doll all year round, spending thousands of pounds in dedication to Mattel’s biggest seller.

Here, Metro.co.uk met three fans who are more Barbie-obsessed than Ken…

Barbie is the biggest part of my life

Azusa Sakamoto, better known as Azusa Barbie, 41, has been collecting merch for 26 years. She lives in a Barbie-themed studio apartment in Hollywood, Los Angeles.

Asuza moved to LA 10 years ago to chase her Barbie obsession (Picture: Instagram – @asuzabarbie)

‘I was born and raised in Japan, so I didn’t grow up with Barbie as a kid. It wasn’t until I was an exchange student in junior high that I became hooked on her.

The first Barbie-themed thing I bought was a lunchbox. It was hard to buy the dolls when I was back in Japan, but I would save my money to buy the cheapest ones.

I always say I’m not the biggest Barbie doll collector – I have some I’m really close friends with and they have way more. However, I am Barbie’s biggest fan because I buy all her accessories – all the merch, shoes, purses, bags.

I’m not a poser and I’m not faking – my entire studio apartment is decorated ceiling to floor with merch. I even have a Barbie themed kitchen and oven, where I cook pink food.

I’ve never really counted how much money I’ve spent on Barbie, but it must be in the tens of thousands of US dollars. I do have some very valuable things – Mattel sometimes sends me limited edition dolls or merch. I think the most valuable one I own is one of these rarer dolls, which is around $3,000-$4,000. I would never try to sell any of it though.

Asuza believes she’s spent tens of thousands of dollars on all her Barbie merch (Picture: Instagram – @asuzabarbie)

Asuza now considers herself a Barbie influencer (Picture:Instagram – @asuzabarbie)

I’m not trying to be Barbie, but she is the biggest part of my life. She’s literally one of the main reasons why I chose to leave Japan and live in the States, so I could feel closer to her. When I told people I was moving country for Barbie, lots of them were surprised. I explained I wanted to be a Barbie blogger and walk on the pink carpets. I didn’t expect everyone to understand. But now I am a Barbie influencer – she’s my whole life.

I am also the Chair of the Japanese Barbie convention and I go to the US Barbie convention every year. The toy doll community is huge, there’s about 1000 of us. I love meeting new people and we’re all united for our love for Barbie.

She’s even landed her own Ken (Picture:Instagram – @asuzabarbie)

I do actually have a Ken of my own too – he’s called Yushi and we met in 2022. It’s great because he likes me because I am such a Barbie super fan – I actually custom made a Ken doll just for him.

I love him but I’m still independent. A Barbie needs to be happy by herself, without a Ken.

I know Barbie is a doll, but I feel like we have some things in common on the inside. She gives off such happy girl vibes and I feel like I’m the same way. She makes my life a trillion times better.’

It is like an addiction

Aaron Bevan, 29, lives in Croydon and started his Barbie collection in lockdown. He now designs clothes for all 400 of his dolls.

Aaron Bevan got more interested in Barbie dolls during lockdown (Picture: Supplied)

‘I was about six when I got my first Barbie – a hand-me-down from my cousin. I had a special scuba diving Barbie, which was my favourite. I loved animals as a kid and they came with small sea creatures, while Barbie had flippers and an oxygen tank.

My mum wasn’t really keen on me having Barbies when I was a kid, but it was my dad who said: ‘If you want that, then that’s fine.’ Mum felt she couldn’t really stop me after that!

As a kid, I loved all the colours and clothes and materials that Barbie had. They looked so much better than the boys toys – or rather, what people say are boys toys.

When I was studying for my Masters degree in 2019, I moved back home to Kent. My MA in Printed Textiles was all about looking at nostalgia; I got a job at a charity shop at the time and I started getting out some of the old dolls that I used to have. I began photographing and drawing from them, as well as making prints out of the toys.

Aaron displays his rarer Barbie dolls at home (Picture: Supplied)

Others in Aaron’s collection are in cabinets, which he takes out for photoshoots (Picture: Supplied)

‘It was during the pandemic that I started to ramp up my doll collecting, especially I started watching Barbie: Life in the Dreamhouse – the animated Barbie mini-series – as it was something to watch on Netflix. We couldn’t go out, or buy clothes, but we could stay home and play with toys. A lot of other Barbie collectors I know felt like lockdown was a turning point for them – nothing really mattered, so we all started buying dolls.

‘I’ve spent around £4000 on building up my collection of around 400 dolls. I get my dolls from everywhere – toy shops, departments stores, but Gumtree and Amazon too.

I keep them all in my house – some are in cabinets, quite a lot are in storage boxes, and then I take them out if I want to look at them. I go through phases that there are dolls I want to look at and use or take photos with, and then rotate them. The vintage ones from the rarer lines, I have I tend to have on display, and the newer, contemporary ones are the ones I take out and about. They’re easier to replace if they get damaged.

I’ve got some Barbies from the late 1960s early 70s that are still in their boxes and they’re quite rare to find in the UK as lots of people just got rid of them. My favourite thing about them is the clothes they wear – they’re almost like artforms than toys.

I also design clothes for my Barbies when I can. I base my patterns on things I see online. Sometimes I go into Zara and I’m like, I’d love that, but in a miniature version. I document everything I do on my Instagram.

Aaron enjoys taking his Barbie dolls for photoshoots (Picture: Supplied)

I’ve made some great friends from the doll community. One of them organised a picnic when Covid finished and it was really nice because we all understood why we were passionate about Barbie and it didn’t feel like it this weird thing.

Some of us also met up in London and went on toy trips together. Whenever a new doll comes out, they’re always the people I turn to, to chat about it. You know they’re going to be excited by it. I’ve met them a good few times. They’re great to chat with and have a bit of banter. 

My friends are supportive of my Barbie obsession – though they think it’s hilarious and always ask if I need any more. It is like an addiction. My mum made a comment about me going backwards by getting back into dolls again, but now even she looks for rare dolls for me.

My partner is supportive too, and that does really help a lot. I’ve met some collectors who have loved ones that say: ‘I don’t really know why you’re doing that’, or their partner has left them because they don’t understand. My partner gets I have a love of fashion and toy play.

Barbie is part of my identity now. In the beginning, I used to be afraid of people judging me. But now I go out in public and take photos. If people look at me, I know I’m happy with what I’m doing. If they have a problem with it, that’s their business.’

Every birthday and Christmas, I ask for a Barbie

London-based Emily Wilson, 22, got into Barbie as she got older. Her collection, which she thinks is upwards of £5000, is continuing to grow.

Emily started collecting Barbie dolls as she got older (Picture: Supplied)

I actually had no interest in Barbie when I was a little kid – it wasn’t until I got older that I got hooked.

When I was about nine or 10, I really got into fashion. I loved looking at all the different collections and discovering the rarity of some lines, which made those dolls really special.

I loved seeing Barbie in her big ball gowns and losing myself in the fantasy of the amazing fashion. Some of the world’s biggest designers – Balmain, Vera Wang – have collaborated with Barbie and I just found it so fascinating.

I got my first doll when I was nine – she was a silkstone collectors doll. Now I’m about to turn 23, and I have around 200 dolls, which is a fair amount – although the biggest doll collectors amass around 2000.

I would say my collection is worth £5000 upwards. I haven’t bought them all myself. I’ve been lucky, a lot have been gifts from people. Every birthday and Christmas, I ask for a Barbie. A lot of my dolls are quite special to me because they’ve been given to me from treasured people in my life. But there’s different dolls that a lot of mainstream shoppers wouldn’t know about, such as the one-of-a-kind dolls you can only get in conventions, and they can start from about £1000 upwards.

Asking me to choose a favourite doll is like asking me to choose a favourite child – it changes every week! I like my Queen Elizabeth II Barbie doll, that shot up in price after she passed away last year. Some are selling online for around £1000 now.

Emily’s fascination with Barbie stems from her love of fashion (Picture: Supplied)

I think a lot of my friends think my doll collection is cool, and I’ve met some of the most loving, wonderful people through the Barbie community – but there is a lot of politics in there too.

It’s funny to see people fighting over dolls. It’s not what you expect as people take doll collecting incredibly seriously. I’ve never been so involved as I only tend to collect the ones I like.

I think the movie has made it cool to love Barbie again. Initially when I was collecting, I didn’t tell anyone about it because I felt embarrased as I was in my late teens.But as I’ve got older, I worry less about what people think, as I feel people understand and see the beauty in it.

I plan to keep collecting for the rest of my life but I wouldn’t say I’m as excessive as some people, who need to have two of everything – a boxed version and one unboxed version.

Barbie, like humans and life, is always evolving. There is a lot more diversity in the collection now, her style adapts as it changes with the times. It doesn’t feel like there’s anyone who can compete in the doll market. There’s a lot who have tried, but there’s nothing that takes away the iconic name that Barbie has become.’

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These people are truly dedicated to the doll