Ken, who actually seems to realize that he's Adorkable and is disappointed that he can't seem to be more traditionally macho. Averted some in "The Ken Den" where he converts one of the waiting rooms of Barbie's Boutique into a room for guys, and produces a hangout for men that even Al Bundy would be proud of (except that the sport on the television is soccer).
Midge proves so adorkable that the official website uses the word in reference to her.
Aluminum Christmas Trees: Chelsea owns a dollhouse even smaller than the Dreamhouse, inhabited by inanimate dolls even smaller than herself and the other leads. Even though this sounds like a Mind Screw, Mattel really does make dollhouses and dolls small enough for Barbies (and American Girls) to play with.
Ensemble Dark Horse: The Schlond Poofa. Mattel took notice, and now has it cameo in various episodes. They also introduced such offshoot products as the Shnoggin Wrench and the Gold Schlond Poofa.
Harsher in Hindsight: Grace's first episode, "New Girl in Town", ends with Barbie telling the viewers, "You can never have too many friends! It's science!" The writers must have realized otherwise, or else Grace would have had more than two episodes.
You're fully articulated? I can only do this. ExplanationA line directly taken from Midge during her first stay at the Dreamhouse in "A Smidge of Midge", showcasing how stiff she is compared to Barbie. As of late 2023, the line has started to become used in the animation meme community to showcase their artistic journey, usually involving a character's past animations being impressed by their current counterpart's fluidity. The latter part of the meme is typically paired up with the original bopping their head to "Opinions" by CG5, showing how limited the animator was at the time.
No Yay: A few Dreamhousers object to Midge and Ryan becoming a couple, since Happy Family Midge had a son named Ryan.
Periphery Demographic: Due to its somewhat self-aware nature and good jokes, this show has managed to get an audience outside of little girls. "The Ken Den" was Mattel practically admitting that they're aware men are watching this series.
Tough Act to Follow: Barbie: Life in the Dreamhouse was so well received when it first came out, that when Barbie Dreamhouse Adventures came out on Netflixthree years after Life in the Dreamhouse ended, it was still unfairly compared to it.
