Dreaming About Dolls + Fan Fictions

Mighty Real Problem-Solving & Creative Storytelling Done Right Overnight

THE "POOL BOY" BEN

(NOTE: As a child of the late-70s and early-80s, I only got to play with Barbie and Ken when I visited my “girl” cousins. I’d bring my GI Joe and Luke Skywalker “figures” to these playtime parties. Cuz I was a “boy” and boys weren’t supposed to play with dolls like Barbie and Ken. But I loved dolls. So this was one of my first acts of defiance. Though far from my last.)

Once upon a time, Barbie and Ken met in 1961 on a photo shoot.

Barbie and Ken were together until 2004, when Mattel announced they were breaking up.

I’m foggy on their reunion tour but dreamed a little dreams about a possible explanation last night: Their pool boy Ben.

In my own private Barbieland, they’ve all been in throuple for 20 years.

Fan fiction dreams explain so much…
And they lived happily ever after.
The End? Maybe. Maybe not.

I made the image above and wrote the short-short story right after I woke up from a dream. For the pixels, I started the process with an ai-generator. Then I took it to Procreate, where I repainted and retouched to my groggy eyes were awake. Lastly, I added some color and texture to make it a mighty-real, pixel-perfect version of the doll/man of my dreams.

Ben is nearly perfect. Except he isn’t real. Or is he?

The blurry lines between dreams and reality fascinate me.
Especially before sunrise, when the world is full of possibility and wonder.

Can a character from a dream become real through the strokes of a digital brush? Long story short: Yes. See the image above.

Ben is “real” in the sense his image exists. Many will debate and disagree about that image’s “realness” but I’ve given up debating disagreeables. In my oionion, debates may be popular, but their pracitiioners remind me too much of high school:

Been there, done that, don’t need another award, diploma, or trophy.
Or another bully pulpit bully. (Get off the cross…we need the wood!)

In the waking world, Ben may be nothing more than a figment of my subconscious, a creation born from the recesses of my mind. Yet, in the realm of dreams, he's as tangible as any childhood toy or iconic couple.

The power of fan fiction and imagination becomes a bridge between the fantastical and the real.

As I reflect on my pixel-fueled dream journalling, I can't help but marvel at the ability of dreams to inspire creativity and storytelling. And digital tools to help us realize those dreams. Together they help me share a wacky dream with the world.

So, as the morning light spills into my studio, I find myself wondering: How else can dreams, art, and technology collide to create mighty real realities?

In the realm of my dream, Barbie, Ken, and Ben live happily ever after as a throuple.

In the full light of day, the lines between what's real and what's imagined remain delightfully blurred. So I continue to embrace the whimsical nature of my dream-inspired creations and smile at the magical, mighty-real possibilities of these kind of pixel-perfect dreams,

Thanks for reading!
Clint

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