Karbie

Karbie is the het ship between Ken Carson and Barbie Roberts from the Barbie and Toy Story fandoms.

Canon
Ken was first introduced on March 11, 1961 as Barbie's boyfriend. Since Barbie was introduced on March 9, 1959, that means Barbie spend exactly two years and two days without a man. Ken was not designed to appeal to male audiences, rather he was supposed to be an "ideal husband" to young girls and was used as a fashion doll. In the doll-line, Barbie and Ken's relationship was fairly harmonious, until Mattel had the idea to break them up in 2004 as a publicity stunt, introducing Barbie's new boyfriend Blaine. Blaine dolls didn't sell nearly as well, so the break-up didn't last. Tie-in media generally had Barbie playing a different character with a different love interest each time and rarely focused on her relationship with Ken, that is until 2012, where they released two movies that focus on their relationship extensively back-to-back. Direct-to-DVD Movies= {|width="100%"

Original Continuity
In "Barbie in a Fashion Fairytale", just as Barbie was fired from her adaptation of "The Princess and the Pea", she gets a call from "Ken". Though she's initially happy, until she hears that he wants to break up with her and told her that over the phone. After losing her job and her reputation and her boyfriend all in the same day, Barbie realizes that there's nothing holding her in the United States and decides to visit her aunt Millicent in France to take a break. When Barbie's friends see Ken with Raquelle on the next day, they confront him about breaking up with Barbie over the phone. Ken is utterly confused, only when he hears the words he supposedly used does he realize that Raquelle took the audio recording from the "script" she asked him to read for her and used that to sabotage his relationship with Barbie. Upon finding out that Barbie is in France, Ken wastes no time and tries to make his way there all on his own. After a lot of misfortune, including ripping his pants, Ken finally makes his way to Millicent's and approaches Barbie on the catwalk. Barbie is happy to see him and he tells her the truth about what happened, she apologizes about how rash her decision was. Ken forgives her and joins her, her aunt and her new friend Alice on their way to a gala.

In "Barbie: A Fairy Secret", just as Barbie and Ken enjoy the success of Barbie's new movie, Ken gets kidnapped by the love-crazed fairy princess Graciella. Barbie's stylist friends then reveal that they are also fairies and offer to take Barbie and Raquelle to Gloss Angeles. Meanwhile, Ken has to prove himself to be Graciella's husband while competing with her lover Zane, simultaneously having to avoid getting killed or seriously hurt by Zane and having to try and avoid Graciella's advances towards him. Upon learning that when a human marries a fairy, the human will not be able to leave Gloss Angeles, Barbie and Raquelle gain more motivation to crash Graciella's wedding and save Ken. But when they finally reach him, Graciella freezes all of them, including Ken, in place and imprisons Barbie and her friends, while trying to go on with the wedding by putting Ken in chains. When Barbie and Raquelle escape their imprisonment after assuring their friendship with one another, they finally reach Ken and find out that Graciella never loved Ken in the first place, she was under a love potion. Coming back to her senses, Graciella allows Barbie, Ken and Raquelle to return to the human world, but also has their memories erased. Regardless, Raquelle and Barbie are still friends and she finally respects Ken being Barbie's boyfriend, refusing to persue him anymore.

Reboot Continuity
From "Dolphin Magic" onward, Mattel decided to change their relationship from them dating to Ken being Barbie's neighbor and childhood friend with a secret crush on her to keep things fresh.

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Barbie: Life in a Dreamhouse
Ken is the first person that Barbie introduces in the first episode "Welcome to the Dreamhouse." We learn that in this timeline, Barbie and Ken have been best friends since they were 8 years old and have been neighbors ever since. When they were little, according to Barbie's blog, "Draw my life: Prom Edition," they would use flashlights to communicate with each other through each other's windows and would often seek out to meet by a tree in between their houses. It is also known that they started a Detective Agency around this age as stated in "Time Will Tell" (and the Netflix original Barbie movie, The Epic Road Trip). According to them, there was no crime they wouldn't be able to solve together.

Throughout the series, it is known how much Ken cares for Barbie and her sisters; always giving a helping hand whenever they ask, and even as going as far as dressing in a Roof Fairy costume without question at night, "The Roof Fairy." "Okay. How good of a friend is Ken. Before I could explain, he said there were only two things he needed to know. Where did I want him to be? And how soon?" Just like Ken, Barbie is willing to drop her activities in order to help Ken whenever he needs it. This is shown in "Getaway Got Away" when Barbie helps Ken deal with Grayson, the owner's grandson, in order for him to get the lifeguard job he so desperately wants. When Ken begins to doubt himself, Barbie tells Ken, "You are the best lifeguard I know. You're responsible and brave and kind and always right there when you're needed." This just goes to show how highly Barbie thinks of Ken, which in return Ken can be seen be filled with gratitude.

It is unknown whether or not Barbie and Ken harbor any feelings towards each other in the first episodes of the series considering the moments they shared were mostly platonic. It isn't until "Time Will Tell" where their conversations start changing into what can be considered a bit "flirty," despite Barbie's constant reminder towards the audience that they're just friends. In the episode, both Ken and Barbie say remarks that can describe their relationship status. Barbie says how "somethings just take time." Their friends comment on how close the two of them are stating how "they practically read each other's minds." Ken reassures Barbie when she begins to show uncertainty about completing the escape room in time, "There must be more, a piece of the puzzle that they are missing." [B: "But we are running out of time, we are never going to win this game now."] K: "That's not the Barbie Roberts I know and love... appreciate?" When Barbie begins to show praise to Ken for his mentality, he replies with, "I learned it from you. Positive attitude changes everything. P-A-C-E, PACE, right?" It can be seen multiple times how Ken and Barbie get lost in each other's eyes for periods of time, hold hands for different occasions, make jokes about their past experiences when they were kids, and constantly tease each other, which then the audience can interpret as "romantic." It ends with Dr. Morton Rise [owner of the escape room] telling them they make a good team to which they respond, K: "Always have," B: "Always will." In "The Cure of the Miner's Ghost" Ken and Barbie try and discover the mysterious ghost that is haunting Barbies aunt's business in the Windy Willows. They go into this whole adventure that puts them in a dangerous life threatening situation, in which Ken says, "Barbie, if we don't make it, I have to tell you something." At the end, they both survived and embrace. Barbie asks him about it, and Ken clearly lies and tells her that the secret was about her blueberry pancakes, to which Barbie doesn't believe him.

Although we get a glimpse of what Barbie and Ken's feelings are for each other, Barbie's true feelings start to become more obvious when Ken displays an interest in another girl, Harriet, in "Barbie's Dance Dilemma." As the episode starts, Ken reveals he wants to ask someone to the school dance. Barbie, thinking it's her, tells Ken to go for it when Ken says he would be crushed if that certain someone were to say no, "Ken, c'mon. Whoever this mystery girl crush is, she would say yes for sure. Who wouldn't? You're so awesome and funny and kind." As the episode progresses, Barbie discovers that it's indeed not her who Ken wants to ask to the dance and gets upset. She soon pushes her personal feelings aside when Ken asks for her help with his school dance proposal to Harriet, "I didn't know what to think... but Ken's my best friend. If he wanted my help asking out another girl, [sighs] who was I to say no." Throughout the episode, Ken tries to find the courage to ask Harriet with help of the Roberts' sisters. In one of Ken's fail attempts, he trips over some bicycles, and says, "She saw that. I'm such a klutz." Barbie helps him up as she tries to comfort him, "... some girls think klutzes are adorable. Don't give up," to which Ken replies, "What's the point? No girl will ever like me." Barbie makes an expression to which the audience can confirm that she indeed has feelings for her childhood best friend. Ken later decides to wear an earphone piece, and have Barbie tell him what to say since he is too scared of saying the wrong thing. Through some miscommunications between the two, Ken ends up insulting Harriet, and Barbie and Ken have a small fallout. At the end, they both apologize to each other and have an endearing conversation. K: "It's okay, I never should have asked for you to speak for me in the first place, what kind of dork does that?" B: "Any girl who doesn't like dorks is missing out." K: "You really are the best friend a guy could ask for. In fact, you're more than that... way more," and they both end up dancing with each other as the music plays.

During a Christmas episode, Dreamhouse Holidays, Barbie and Ken are looking for the best present to give each other. They both find it quite hard to find the perfect present and put a lot of pressure on themselves to find them. Skipper helps Ken pick out a present for Barbie at the mall, which they end up running into each other at the same store and both pretended they were shopping for other people. Ken wanted to give Barbie a "rare spice" since she likes to cook so much, and Barbie wanted to give Ken a waterproof earbuds since he likes surfing so much. Both oblivious that the presents were for them, they ended up revealing that they already have those things, which causes them to keep looking for the perfect gift for each other. Ken finds the perfect gift in the ski jacket Barbie was interested in, and Barbie finds the perfect gift in a surfing lesson with Ken's all time surf hero. Ironically, Ken sold his surfboard to get the money to buy Barbie's jacket, and Barbie sold her new ski-board to get the money to win the bid for Ken's present. So when they found out what they did for each other, ironically, that ended up being the best Christmas present for either of them. Chelsea then shows up with a fishing rod with a mistletoe attached at the bottom and hangs it over Barbie and Ken. The both blush as the look into each other.

It is constantly shown how Skipper, Stacy and Chelsea ship "Karbie" [especially during Barbie's vlogs]. It makes sense, considering they view Ken as an older brother and is considered part of the family. During "20 Questions with Skipper," Barbie ends up discovering that Skipper was sent by the other Roberts' sisters to figure out if Ken and Barbie were an item. Skipper is shown to be disappointed when Barbie tells Skipper that Ken and her are just really good friends, and that their current status is complicated. Skipper reassures the viewers that she "is not giving up on this," hinting that it won't be the last time the Roberts' sisters are going to pressure Barbie into spilling her true feelings. In "Valentine's Day Make-up Tutorial," Skipper takes Barbie's phone and calls Ken to which Barbie gets confused and nervous about it. Barbie pretty soon figures out what happened and gives Skipper a friendly glare. Skipper informs Ken how they are doing "some Valentine's Day stuff," hinting of how much she ships them and forming a shaped-heart with her hands. Barbie chimes in and restates twice how they are only doing a "make-up tutorial," as well as inviting him to join them. Skipper tries to call Ken again, but Barbie intercepts and grabs her phone from Skipper before she can do anything. At the end of the video, Barbie seemed to have forgotten to end her call with Ken, because he signs off to the viewers as well and makes everyone laugh. In "Who Gave Barbie the Flowers," Chelsea (the youngest of the Roberts' sisters) hinted twice that Ken gave Barbie said flowers that were on the vlog. B: "I love flowers. I love them growing wild outside of the road, I love them growing in the gardens-" C: "Or in a bouquet from a special someone?" to which Barbie blushes, and embarrassed she looks down and gives a timid "Yes." At the end, Chelsea asks Barbie, "So, who did you write your thank you card to?" B: "Oh, it's just for the person who gave me the bouquet of flowers," indicating as if it was no big deal. Chelsea grabbed the card out of Barbie's hand, and even went as far as reading out loud to the viewers the card Barbie wrote to Ken as a thank you for the roses. "Dear Ken, I've been looking for a way to tell you-" to which Barbie laughs it off, and ends the video before her sister can finish reading the whole thing. In "Christmas Cookies," Ken makes Barbie's favorite type of cookie using her grandmother's recipe. Ken reveals that he asked Barbie's mom for it prior to the making of this video. Chelsea then appears with a fishing rod that holds a mistletoe at the end and puts it right above Ken and Barbie, just like she had done in a previous video. It causes the environment to become tense, but Chelsea is soon distracted with the cookies that are displayed in the table and lowers the mistletoe. The video ends with Barbie and Ken awkwardly signing off.

Barbie: Dreamhouse Adventures
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Toy Story 3
Barbie was one of Molly Davis' toys, she donated her to Sunnyside after growing bored with her. There, she met Ken and was instantly attracted to him, with Ken claiming that toys who are love interests in supplementary material have natural attraction to one another. Barbie was initially happy with Ken and enjoyed seeing his wardrobe, but then found out about the shadier side of him after hearing about Buzz Lightyear being turned against his friends and decided to interrogate Ken to find out what Lotso and his gang did to Buzz. "Torturing" Ken via destroying his wardrobe, she gets a clue out of him. So she uses his space suit, one of the only outfits she didn't destroy, to disguise herself as him and then uses her newfound information to help Woody and the rest of Andy's toys to try and turn Buzz back to normal. Before confronting the evil Lotso, Ken was humbled by Barbie's actions and actually saves her from falling into a dumpster along with Andy's toys. In the credits, Barbie and Ken work alongside the other toys at Sunnyside to try and improve the situation there after Lotso's defeat.

Fanon
Karbie is an iconic couple, no doubt about it. However, Ken had the reputation of being somewhat bland, not that any of the Barbie characters were masterpieces of character writing, mind you. The Direct-to-DVD movies helped getting a lovable, dorkier side out of the character, and many often refer to Barbie and Ken as a "girlboss" and "malewife" respectively. Many point out that, while Barbie had many, many different professions over the years, Ken's usual role in the commercials was mainly to stand there and look hot, leading to many thinking that Ken is just Barbie's trophy husband. Additionally, the new continuity initially making Barbie and Ken merely friends (with feelings on Ken's side) had many actually rooting for the relationship. While Barbie fans will always prefer the femslash ships, most laymen will think of Karbie first when it comes to the "most beloved couple in the franchise".

Fandom
FAN FICTION

TUMBLR

Variations

 * Karquelle refers to the ship between the two and Raquelle.