MBTI Type: ESFJ
Ken is desperate for the love and attention of Barbie, and lives for her to validate him by paying him a compliment or making room for him in her life (she never does). He has no life outside of craving her approval, and is very sensitive, easily rejected, and competitive. But he also is quite competent when it comes to influencing people and their feelings, and bringing the other Kens into a collective point of view—that they deserve to be more than side-pieces, and to run things! He adopts all the traits he saw in the real world into Barbieland, and gets everyone behind it and involved, then is upset when the Barbies show no interest, and HIS Barbie still does not care about him. This is Fe run amuck; talented at bringing everyone to a consensus and motivating them to get things done together, but also failing to develop self-awareness separate from the object of his desire. His Si thinks that what works in the real world will also work in Barbie-land (it does); he loads up on books about what he wants from the library and takes them back into his world, then implements everything he learned without changing any of it. It also plays into his longevity; he has never once found a different Barbie to impress, even though this one has rejected him a thousand times, for however long they have been around (decades). It has become so familiar to him, he sees no reason to disrupt it with change; he becomes more innovative, excited about newness, and creative once he reaches the real world, and tries to combine his knowledge to make a new society – it’s a jumbled up version of the old one, with a few creative flourishes (a lot of horses, cowboy hats, and Patriarchy!). Ken becomes depressed when this is taken away from him, and has to be encouraged by Barbie to go out and find himself and what HE likes and cares about, as separate from trying to pursue her. He shows no real ability to think creatively.
Enneagram: 9w8
Ken has no identity separate from Barbie; as he repeatedly says, he was created just to be her fashion accessory. He has merged into someone who does not even want him, and keeps trying desperately to attract her love and attention by impressing her with his feats of daring. Even though he is shot down every time he suggests something romantic, Ken remains attached to her and trying to get her to care about him. 9s who are unbalanced can easily get sucked into other types’ wakes and drawn along behind them, riding off their success while failing to exert the effort of their own self-individuation. Ken doesn’t realize he has any ‘right’ to expect respect or be considered valuable until he goes to the real world and sees men running everything, then he gloms onto that and carries to back to Barbie-land, where he uses his 8 wing to become more assertive. He kicks Barbie out of her house, he takes over the female government, and he subjugates all the brain-washable Barbies into doing whatever he wants. But deep down, Ken did not really care about any of it; once he found out the patriarchy did not involve “horses,” he no longer had any interest in it.
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