Jian Yang is obsessed with Barbies

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0:21Here's a quote. Just because you've got a weird hobby doesn't mean you're a weird person. I love that. And the guy who said it, his name is Jian Yang. He lives in Singapore and he is known for, wait for it, having the second largest collection of Barbie dolls on earth. This obsession began when Jian was just a little boy. And the thing he said that I mentioned before, it really speaks to what we're learning about here on this show. David Green is obsessed. I mean, what I hear him saying is you are not your obsession. Your obsessions are part of you, and they can tell us a lot about you and your life experience.

1:04And that's what we're really digging at in this show. Don't judge a person by their obsession. That is Jian Yang's message, and we're going to hear from him in just a moment.

1:19All right, I am back with more David Green is Obsessed. My guest today is Jian Yang, who is a marketing and communications professional in Singapore, also a designer, and also has the second largest collection of Barbie dolls on the planet Earth. And Jian, I think I see some of your collection behind you right now. Is that a fair assumption? That is. That is a fair assumption. This is my living room, tiny, tiny part of the collection. Just a small. How many dolls do you have? Okay, so at last count, I had about 13 ,000, but I stopped counting, honestly. Okay. Who has the most? There's one person ahead of you?

2:02Yeah, there's a lady called Bettina Dorfman. She's in Germany. Do you two communicate? I mean, do you talk about a shared interest? We're friends on Instagram. I don't think she's entirely proficient in English. So we know of each other and we like each other's posts. But yeah, no big communications. Okay. And no resentment. You're not sitting there saying I need to go ahead of her. No, I've never thought that. The funny thing is that the world always thinks that you want to be number one. But I think that all of us are number ones in our own way. So she's got the Guinness Book of Records record.

2:40But I don't need to have a Guinness record because I've got the Asia Book of Records, for example. Got it. So I can say she's not number one in Asia. So what, can you give me a little description of what I'm seeing behind you? Like what section of your Barbie doll collection am I looking at? Loosely speaking, I think the one behind me is just the unboxed dolls. You know, I'm now an adult. I'm 45, turning 46 in November. So, you know, when you're an adult, you move out of your parents' house. And when you move out of your parents' house, you've got all your childhood toys, which were unboxed toys.

3:17You're not a collector, you're a boy with toys. So I built this area just so that I can have unboxed dolls to constantly rotate and play with and photograph, that kind of stuff. But I do have several rooms of boxed dolls, you know, the collector stuff. Gotcha. Is there one unboxed doll behind you that you would be proud to point out to us? None. I mean, look, you know, I think when it comes to the collecting sphere, right, a lot of people always ask, what's your favorite doll? And the truth is, I don't think I have a favorite doll. I think they're all favorites in their own way. So like the ones above the big scary eye ones, they're Blythe's dolls.

4:03I think it was Kenner back then In 1971, 72 in the States That created this doll And she was only available for one year But she was too scary for children Back in 71, 72 And that was it She died And then Sony in Japan in 2000 Discovered one of these dolls In a flea market And they used her for a Walkman campaign Remember Walkman? Yeah, of course. I use them. I'm old enough to use them. Exactly, right? So she's got this big head. So they put Walkman earphones on her and did an ad campaign around her. Oh, wow. Not realizing that her strange face would take the world by storm or take Japan by storm first.

4:50And then a Japanese company called Takara Tomi bought the rights to create this 1971 doll. And they now have a range of dolls. they start at about 200 US dollars and they sell out almost immediately. So the values immediately go to like 500 US each. So yeah, so that's my bank account right there. So these are the Barbies dressed in black that I'm seeing above your head? No, so those are the Blystals, the ones with the big heads. Oh, those are the ones that were, the big heads were too scary for kids in the 70s. Yeah. Gotcha. Yeah. Okay. They are different. I mean, the big heads are just a little, I don't know, I could see kids being a little scared if they're used to regular Barbie dolls.

5:34Exactly. Okay, so take me to the origin story, if you don't mind. I'm sure you've been asked this once or twice, but you were five years old when you got your first look at a Barbie doll? Yeah. What were the circumstances? What happened? I think when you're a five-year-old boy, nobody tells you what's a boy's toy, what's a girl's toy. So I had my He-Man and my Transformers and my Mask and my Centurions and Visionaries and Starcom. All of that stuff. I was big into He-Man. I was big into He-Man. Favorite cartoon. The transformation. Like the... Yeah. Oh, that was my... Yeah, that was an obsession.

6:10By the power of Greyskull. Yeah, yes. Yes. Love it. So you were into He-Man. I was into He-Man. I loved He-Man and I had all of them. I had the vehicles. I had Greyskull and Snake Mountain. I was one of those boys, you know, that had, you know, a lot of... things i guess um and then there was just never a girl version of boys toys like gi joe would have you know like what's her name like like this colored amber whatever her name was yeah um he man would have teela uh i was never big into shira because shira was like you know the the ugly barbie she was like chunky barbie i don't know so i was never into shira but then on tv you would see Barbie commercials and you're like, oh, she's pretty.

6:55She's pretty. And then one day under the Christmas tree there was just a wrapped present. And you know when you're four years old, all presents are yours. Yeah. Whichever one you want, just take your pick. Yeah, you don't care what the name says. It obviously had my sister's name on it, but all presents were mine. You saw your sister's name and you're just like, yeah, I'm taking that. Yeah. How old was she? She was one. Oh, oh, oh. Who the hell gives a one-year-old a Barbie doll, really? So, But this is 1984, right? So like, I guess no one knew what to buy a one-year-old girl So I unboxed all toys And Barbie was one of them And, you know, she was just one of the toys She was just one of the boys' toys And you don't see her as a girl's doll You see her as an action figure that lives in Castle Greyskull You see her as He-Man's girlfriend She'll ride Battle Cat with me so you know i never thought of her as a girl's toy so you know another doll comes out and by the way i had her here because i was prepared for your question so as you can see she wasn't a ball gown doll she was just like a a good old-fashioned 80s workout doll is this the this is the actual is this the very doll that you got when you were wow you've saved that since 84 84 yeah so like 40 40 years describe what she's wearing it looks so 80s uh exactly so in the 80s the workout the workout fad was around right so very jane fonda she was she's wearing a turquoise leotard with leg warmers and ballet shoes leg warmers remember when people were working out in ballet shoes instead of sneakers yeah yeah making me miss the 80s man you're really making me get nostalgic here okay so you so she she becomes he-man's girlfriend to you yeah yeah so you know i don't think anyone said it was weird because i had so many boys toys that one Barbie doll wasn't like a thing.

8:51And then when did the Barbie obsession start to grow? Like when were you getting more into Barbie dolls than other toys? So if you remember, right, Barbie never had a TV show. She never had a cartoon. But He-Man had a cartoon. Transformers had a cartoon. Transformers had a movie. So what happened is that as the cartoons stopped, you lost your interest in that narrative so i lost my interest in he-man because the cartoon stopped i lost my interest in transformers because the cartoon stopped barbie was just this this thing where like you had your own imagination and you created the world that was hers because in a regular barbie girl's world she'd have dates with ken she would live in a dream house she blah blah blah and in my world she was just he-man's girlfriend she was you know battle cat's owner um and then i guess you know i i think as all the all the toys disappeared there was this barbie on my shelf and then um it was 94 i think 94 where you know when you get your first pair of kelvin klein underwear it's like it's like a big deal yeah right yeah you're an adult you're wearing the shit that mom buys you as underwear and then you're like 14 years old and you're like oh yeah I have like$25 I'm gonna buy myself a pair of Calvin Klein underwear and then I bought my first pair I'm an adult and I bought my first pair of Calvin Klein underwear and in the toy section there was Calvin Klein Barbie and I was like meh that's nice maybe I'll buy this one she's got Calvin Klein underwear so like oh maybe I'll buy this one and then I bought a DKNY polo and then a DKNY polo shirt and I'm like DKNY Barbie's here I thought I'd buy that one too.

10:39And then I watched Gone with the Wind on TV. And then there was a Scarlet O 'Hara Barbie. And then I bought that one. So, you know, it was a very organic start. It wasn't a collection. It was just more toys that were representing my teenage years. I love that. So it became this almost vehicle to live out your interests going from one to the other. I mean, from Calvin Klein to DKNY, it was like, and just more toys. Yeah. And pop culture, like, you know, Star Trek and everything. thing i'm looking up here there's dc there's catwoman there's hunger games there's all of that so barbie is like this mirror into a world that that you know it well first of all you have to remember i'm in singapore right and singapore is is it's a very cosmopolitan asian country um very urban very connected to the world but it's also still asia like nyc is like this big dream it's like 12 hours flight away it's ten thousand dollars flight away it's it's a different place so there's there there are little like worldwide dreams that you have while sitting in asia um the good news is as an adult i started traveling and i did all of that but when you're a teenager this is your window into what the americans would live live like what the english would live like And, you know, to some extent There were Mexican exclusives There were Brazilian exclusives There were Filipino exclusives And you would actually see what the world looks like Through what she was wearing What the back of the box said Wow, so your world was expanding With each new doll, in a way Yes I mean, how many Asians How many Asians do you know Know the word kawanza Like a festival that's celebrated You know, by the black community very very few of them would um but i also learned a lot more about asians because like barbie would be seen in the regular uh chongsam the regular thing that the asians wear but then there's the hanfu the the all the other things that the rest of china was wearing even i wouldn't know about what the rest of china was wearing but barbie was wearing all of those so it wasn't just that skin tight you know chinese dress but the big fluffy one and then the chinese princess of the courts and stuff.

12:57So, you know, there's a lot of diversity that you yourself as a person would never be curious enough to research. But if this research is fed to you through a doll, I'm like, yeah, why not? So do you remember the first moment where you lost that sort of whimsical childhood where it was like every doll is considered the same? But was there a moment where you said like, Oh, Barbies are known in the world as a girl's doll, and I am a huge collector of this. So, as you know, I am in media, and I started in media in 1996, where I was a teen journalist for a newspaper in Singapore called The New Paper.

13:45Nice. You started your journalism career early. Yeah. So, I was a 17, 18-year-old. they had a panel of teens myself included who were all you know like star teens like we were we're doing well in school sports people that kind of stuff and they assembled a panel of five of us to to sort of answer the questions of teenagers that teenagers would have about relationships and this was like a dear like a dear Abby for for teenagers yeah okay Aunt Agony dear Abby yeah that kind of stuff yeah yeah so so I was on that panel because I was like one of those nerds in school, I guess. And then they had to introduce each of the five of us.

14:29So I had a Swatch collection, as everyone does in 1996. Swatch, like Swatch watches? Swatch. Oh, yeah. I had a Swatch collection. Yeah, I got into that a little bit. I only had like five or six. I had 200. Okay, but you're a collecting kind of guy. Yeah, I'm like the guy for your podcast. so I had a swatch collection and the journalist had already interviewed me over the phone about my swatch collection so she sent a photographer to my house to take a picture of me and my swatch collection for the newspaper and the guy comes into my room and he's like you share your room with your sister and I'm like no this is mine and he's like this is a dollhouse and I'm like it's a shelf but he's like they are like you know there's whatever Maybe 50, 60 dolls in a shelf that looked like a dollhouse.

15:22It had a staircase. And he was like, so these are yours? And I'm like, yeah. And he calls her. And this is before mobile phones and everything, right? So he calls her on a landline. And he's like, he fucking collects Barbie. And she's like, change the story. Oh, he was calling like an editor who was like, okay, forget swatch collection. Like this kid is like super interesting in another way. Yeah. So I think immediately the newspaper saw that strange skew where, you know, I would be able to give advice on things like bullying and being yourself, personalities, coming into your own, you know, yourself in adulthood, that kind of stuff, because I was so strange.

16:06Yeah, so the newspaper was the thing that actually painted me into a collector. That might actually have been the first time I saw the word collector used in association with my name. So they were interested in you to help people who experience bullying. What kind of bullying were you experiencing at that point? No, so, I mean, it's a really hard one because I myself have never been bullied. but because of this hobby, you would possibly be open to being bullied. So I think it was more about how you would stand up to someone if you were bullied. Interesting. So you've never experienced it yourself but you've believed that because of your interest, you could be a target.

16:54Yes. I think I was just very fortunate that I developed this personality. It's a very media PR trained personality, but I've developed it since my teenhood, I guess. So I was never that guy, that awkward, strange guy with a doll, you know, the creepy doll guy in the corner or whatever. I'd be the guy with the doll in school sports events, taking pictures of her with rugby players. You know, and it was never a strange, let's go home and have sex with my doll kind of weird. It was, he has toys. We all collect watchers. We collect records. We collect CDs. He collects toys. And Barbie was one of those toys.

17:42So was that coming from a place of insecurity where you were like, I need to build up defenses and just sort of own this in a strong way preemptively before anyone can come at me? I never thought about it that way because it was just really just who I was. I don't think that I was clever enough to even say that I needed to build defenses. Because there was no threat of being bullied. Because I never saw it as a strange thing. I know you've told a story about your parents when you were on like an ad campaign. Yeah. And they had someone come up to them and sort of say like, what, you're okay with this?

18:21You're okay with your son doing this? Tell me that story and kind of how your parents dealt with that. But, you know, I think when you've got a strange hobby like this, what happens is that you don't realize that the ecosystem of people around you could also be affected. Because I think I'm someone that's able to stand up for myself. I will fight with you. I will. I'm like that. But when you realize that your partner, your parents, your whatever, are not able to do that same thing that you do, then you realize that you have a responsibility. So what happened here was that I was on an ad campaign And holding a doll as usual on the train That kind of stuff And my parents are very active in church So on Sunday After the campaign breaks We go to church as usual And people are like Hey, your son on the MRT Yeah, yeah, yeah, this is my son And he's got a Barbie Yeah, yeah, he collects Barbie And then there's this guy that goes And looks at my father straight in the eye And says, and you're okay with that?

19:25And then, you know, my dad's like me, he's very like, ah, but when you see dad's face drop for a split second, right? Split second, it drops. And then in church, he says, ah, don't worry, don't worry, he fucks girls. And you're like, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, what just happened? He said that to someone in church, like to defend you almost? Yeah, so dad said it to another man with a finger action that he fucks girls. and you're like, okay, something's wrong. So dad suddenly got affected by someone who didn't say much, but he insinuated that. You know, all of the things that come with being a doll collector, which is, you know, gay, homosexual, trans, all of the stuff, like nobody said anything, but everything was implied in that one sentence.

20:17And when your dad, who has never said anything about your doll collection, because it was never a collection. It was just his toys. It's just always my toys. And when he reacts like that, you're like, oh shit, I've got a responsibility. I have to protect people. I've been protecting myself for so long, but protecting someone else, like my dad from the shame. I don't know if he considered it shame, but I considered it shame for him. I think there was a story that also caught my attention about a journalist from Reuters who I think tracked down one of your exes. What happened there? How did that play out?

20:58No, it's all right. Look, I'm very close. I'm still close to most of my exes. But this particular, we were literally just out. Like we were, you know, we don't date, but we're still friends. So I was just with her for a dinner, I don't know, two weeks, two weeks before the Reuters journalist came. and I don't remember this story but he asked me how did your exes feel because Barbie is this perfect being she's skinny, she's skinny, she's skinny, she's skinny she's perfect, she's got great hair, she's whatever and he was like how did your exes feel and the funny thing is I was just with my ex and she was like if you're always among these perfect forms how do you think I could live up to that?

21:52And, you know, it's not something as serious as it sounds because when you say it like this, it sounds like, oh, she became insecure and all that. She is the CEO of an international PR agency. She's fine. She's absolutely fine. So she was sort of joking. I mean, she was sort of... Yeah. But I said it that way to Reuters and the way that they published it was very much like, his girlfriends will never will never meet Bobby's standards in his eyes something like that and you're just kind of like no no no never mind never mind how did that did that do you feel like that was over the top or like crossed a line somehow again if I think if you put on your media lens because you're in mass media I'm in mass media and when you put on a media lens we have to sensationalize things so that people latch on to the story.

22:47So like the BBC, the BBC, the way that they wrote my article was, man spends$250 ,000 on collection. And I'm like, I never said that. I never said£250 ,000, by the way. It was you guesstimating that each doll was$50 and$50 multiplied by 13 ,000 equals whatever it is. You know, and I'm like, I don't think I spent, I don't have 250 ,000 pounds. No, it's so interesting, Gian, because I think that like, I'm trying to challenge myself because, you know, like I was able to research you. Like I watched your TED talk and was able to read some stories about you. So like I, any of the assumptions or misconceptions I would have had, I didn't have.

23:35But I'm trying to ask myself, like if I had come to this conversation completely cold and just been told, like, you're talking to, you know, a 40-something guy who has 13 ,000 Barbie dolls. Like, I actually am worried that I would have made some assumptions. It's really interesting to kind of do that self-exploration. Yeah, so exactly that, right? Because, like I said, I've never been bullied, but you can imagine the picture that everyone paints about you before they even meet you. so unfortunately or fortunately i guess i've become a bit of a i don't personality or something so i go to events in singapore and you know there's all these people very important people that come to you like they know you and you're just kind of like i'm sorry i do not know you but they come to you and they're like hey hey what's up how uh and i'm like i'm like uh hi and they're like so still collecting and you're like uh yes and so recently i mean somebody from Fendi.

24:37So I was at a Fendi fashion show. And you know, some big person from Fendi came to me and said like, it's really strange when your reputation precedes you, isn't it? And I'm like, who are you? But he was like, oh, I follow your Instagram and, you know, I think it's great what you're doing. And people come to you and tell you all of these things that you're like, I just collect dolls. I mean, not a role model, not whatever. Well, I know you've talked about that, like, your obsession brought out the sexist homophobes. Oh, yeah. Yeah, I mean, you've talked about that people like would label you as not brought up in the right way.

25:18If the bullying wasn't happening face-to-face, like where was that bullying taking place? So again, it's so strange, right? That in person, because I guess in the part of society that I grew up in, that I play in, everyone's very accepting, everyone's very encouraging. So, you know, I think I came from a good school. I came from a good family. I play in the right spaces in Singapore. So I think that's all good and nobody sees it as a weird thing. But once this media personality thing happened and you get onto mass media where like, you know, the newspaper has a Facebook page and things like that.

26:01The comments happen there. And this is from the general public, I guess. And so it would be in comments like in stories, which I feel like is a lot of where we see bullying in our society today, sadly. It's the bullying that people can bully because they don't have to talk to you face-to-face. It's just like a... Correct. So these are keyboard warriors, right? So they have this facade. You don't know what they look like, so they can say whatever they want to say based on assumptions. What advice or lesson is there for people maybe who are young who have some kind of obsession or like really serious interest that they might be insecure about, but they really, they don't want to let go of it, but they're worried about how people might judge them?

26:50So, I mean, I think there's a longer answer to that Because what I've done with this hobby that people think is strange Is that I've turned it into my unique selling point So that's number one, right? Personal branding about your own unique selling point So that people remember who you are So that when you walk into a room, you don't have to introduce yourself People introduce themselves to you And that starts conversations a lot easier It actually helps you to get your foot into a lot of conversations into a lot of places, into a lot of events. So there's that aspect of it, personal branding.

27:24But number two, you must also remember that with great power comes great responsibility. So if you're able to use that unique selling point to raise funds for charity or bring light to a cause, like bullying, like AIDS foundations at some point, I think the gay community was obviously very welcoming because all my dolls would be very well-dressed, right? So I would help charities, I would help events raise money. So for me, I can create doll dresses in 15 minutes. So I donate to a lot of auctions and they raise like, you know, four, five thousand US dollars at a time for causes. I would say my$20 doll raises$5 ,000.

28:12But if you're able to help in some way, that's how you turn that strangeness into the story that you will tell which is the fact that it's not about me I'm building this thing so that someone else can benefit I was also struck that you talked about success and how we should define success and what you've learned from this Barbie doll obsession what is the lesson about success? where do I go with this conversation? So in Asia, there is this humility that you're supposed to have as a person. You're not supposed to show off. You're not supposed to claim your success. So I find that in our society, there's this need to tend to be humble.

29:09It's really hard to explain because if I was talking to local media, if I was talking to a local friend, you would actually understand that. The fact that I'll step out of my Bentley, but I'll be wearing like flip-flops and a t-shirt. So there's this need to look humble and not show-offy. But that said, it also means that the Asians tend to not claim their success.

29:35I don't know if you know this, but I used to be the global head of media strategy for the Transformers brand. So I actually used to plan media touchpoints for Transformers brand movies, toys, animation and licensing across 47 markets And my head office was in New York and I reported into Rhode Island So I think when you put that international lens on it I've got like a 25-year-old account director that earns three times more than me That's able to say that his life is amazing He's lived in the Middle East He's lived in Asia and I'm like, I've lived in the Middle East, I've lived in Asia, I've worked in the US.

30:14His story is the same as mine, but I'm not saying it that way. And if I don't say it that way, no one's going to think that this guy's a great account director and this guy isn't. So I learned to tell my story. The ability to tell a story, to take that into a personal success anecdote is a skill that a lot of us don't have. And I realized that as I started telling those stories, use words like philanthropy instead of charity, for example. Everything seems bigger. Everything seems more storytellable. But that also brings a lot more importance to the causes that you do. So I'm very conscious not to turn it into a self thing, an ego thing.

31:01I always want to make sure that this strangeness translates into good for someone else. I was really struck when I watched you talk to Ted That when you started out by asking the question Am I a man? And you finished by talking about that Barbie This unlikely companion in your life Has made you more of a man Why do you describe it that way? I think the Ted was so long ago It was a great talk It was very powerful to go from Barbie dolls to thinking about just some really serious things about life. It was an unexpected journey. It was an unlikely journey. You became my unlikely companion in those 15 minutes.

31:53So, you know, I think, you know, I guess manhood is, or even the definition of manhood has changed since the 80s until today. So, you know, back then when you were Tom Selleck and that kind of man, machismo, probably some kind of MCP-ness versus a more sensitive, more holistic, in touch with himself kind of man of today. And I think the correct Definition of manhood Is somebody that's in touch Like It sounds wrong But like In touch with his own His own emotions Such that he has the confidence To be Who he was meant to be So I think that The world of Barbie Has actually opened me up To so much More than the average person Gets to see And With that comes Life lessons about Kindness About anti-bullying, about standing for causes, about fundraising, about interpersonal relationships, about, you know, so many things.

33:01The race conversation in the Barbie world is something that you don't see in Singapore. Because Singapore is a country where there's Indians, Chinese, Malays, and literally what we call others, CIMO. And they all live in harmony. So there's no like racial divide. There is only racial harmony in this country. But to understand what the Asians in the US feel, what the black people in the US feel, what Hispanics feel, you know, why do their passport get checked and not ours? Things like that is stuff that you don't ordinarily see. And the Barbie world shows you about diversity. It shows you about inclusion.

33:47It shows you about body diversity. It shows you about all of these things, which I suppose help you become a more empathetic person. I haven't even crossed the man bridge. It's just, it makes you into a more empathetic person. And that is important to being a better man. That's it. I wonder, I think back to the five-year-old version of you and this incredibly innocent kind of interest in this doll that you unwrapped at the holidays. And I now look at you today and you've accomplished so much and touched lives and learned a lot from this obsession. Like, has the obsession sort of overtaken you more than it's become an obsession that was coming from a pure place?

34:37Like it's become so much of your identity and, you know, you're in marketing and you're in media. Like, if you hold a Barbie doll, can you still kind of go back to that five-year-old who, like, was drawn to this brand when you were a kid? I mean, it's a two-part answer to that question. The first being the easy one is the fact that every time I hold a Barbie doll, I go back to that innocent place. Yeah, and I'm very happy with them. You know, like, some days you're watching TV, like a crazy person just brushing doll hair. And, you know, I think there's that innocence there that is great. But the other part to that question is the fact that if I put my professional hat on, you do realize Barbie is a global brand icon.

35:29She is a brand. Other brands want to be associated with her. Totally. She knows how to create news. When the sales are declining, what does she do? She breaks up with Ken. She finds another boyfriend, an Australian surfer. And then, you know. She's got a good instinct for mass marketing. She knows what to do. Yeah. And then again, as she declines, they release curvy Barbies so that the curvy girls can feel part of the Barbie world. And then they release 45 hair textures so that people with not straight hair can be part of the scene. and to me right she is she is a marketing case study she's an ongoing marketing case study the brands that she's associated with they literally just announced the moma uh metropolitan museum of art a moma tie-in uh when carl lagerfeld was on his last legs they created a carl lagerfeld doll um yeah like i think she is she's a global marketing powerhouse and it's almost like i became a great marketer because of barbie so you know even even the fact like like i said i i worked professionally on transformers and it was a global role it's not like some thaiese cell cell 15 transformers in singapore situation it was taking care of the transformers brand for the world.

36:58And that job was only because they knew I was sleeping with the enemy. Hasbro knew that this... I mean, who else would know your brand so well than someone that knows the competition intimately? Yeah, that's amazing. Yeah, and that's exactly why I got that job. What are you going to do with these 13 ,000 Barbie dolls when you... Die. When you die, yeah. Just say it, David. Just say the word, David. Just say it. Die. I was just at a Mexican place yesterday. We were talking about death all day. You've got time. I'm not, you know, I'm not rushing you. Death is fine. You know, a lot of people actually do ask me this question and they want an answer about me donating to a museum and all of that.

37:48Look, if you follow my Instagram, you will realize that every day I play with a doll. Every day. I bring dolls to events I bring dolls to lunch I play with the doll that excites me that day so like for example today where am I going? I've got ah I've got Cirque I've got a Cirque and it's themed Alice in Wonderland so I'm gonna dust off Alice in Wonderland doll and I'm gonna bring her for a Cirque a Cirque is like a like a Circus a Circus event yeah like a Circus yep so yeah she Alice in Wonderland's gonna come with me because it's an Alice in Wonderland themed circus. And, you know, every day I enjoy this collection.

38:31So when I die, I'm not sure that I care what happens to the collection because I've enjoyed every second of this collection. So the good thing about being, I guess, financially stable is the fact that if a doll's in a box and it's$10 ,000 and I feel that this doll needs to go to this event. I'm going to unbox this doll and bring it to the event. And I don't care if I lose her ring, I lose her shoe. I will find it. People try to tell me the collections all the time. So I will find the replacement. So I think, you know, when you speak to collectors, you'll realize that there are collectors that are very pedantic about box condition, about water damage, about melting rubber bands and things like that.

39:20I'm not like that. I'm someone that has a collection so that I can play with it. It's not about finance. It's not about reselling. It's not about legacy. It's about my toys. I just want to play with my damn toys. Gian, stay with me. We're going to take a quick break and I got a few more questions for you when we come out about some of your other obsessions. We'll be right back. Cool. All right.

39:50all right uh we're back with david green is obsessed uh my guest is jian yang um who has the second largest barbie doll collection on the planet earth um this is the part of the show i love to call uh jian yang is obsessed um i want to ask you about other obsessions what what else do you collect obsessively? So, I guess, you know, you don't think about much else when your whole doll personality When you have 13 ,000 Barbie dolls. Yeah, yeah. So, I've got 160 pairs of shoes. It's a lot of shoes. I mean, when it's up against 13 ,000 dolls, it doesn't seem that big. But yeah, it's a lot of shoes.

40:34So, yeah, my architect has actually built a shoe closet for exactly 160 pairs of shoes as a discipline because I would buy more if I had more space. Oh, so if you buy 161, you have to get rid of... Yeah, one out, one in. I hope my wife does not hear this because she would try to enforce that kind of rule on me in so many areas. Yeah, yeah. But I've also got five pairs that live in the car. Heard. So 165. Yeah. I've got 600 Transformers. I've got 300 dinosaurs. I've got six wardrobes of clothes Yeah That's a lot What is an obsession that scares you a little bit? Maybe the clothes Maybe the clothes, I think It's very easy to misconstrue this But I don't Just to be very clear about this I do not have body image issues I'm not anorexic, bulimic, that kind of stuff But I think in a very loose way you could say that I could be insecure about the way I look quite often because you always have to put on this perfect persona when people know who you are so I find that clothes very hard to explain but like you know some days when you put on a shirt that fit yesterday and it doesn't fit today and then you feel fat for the whole day that's it insecure, like lose your confidence.

42:06I'm totally with you on that. It makes a huge difference. Yeah. So I used to be one of Singapore's most eligible bachelors 2012. You know, I used to be like thin and good looking, I guess. And then now you've become this 45 year old guy that can barely go jogging. And, you know, I think when you go from when you go from jock to I don't even know what this categorization is anymore. But like, when you go from jock to old person, it is very, a lot of things become very clear. Like when you don't have the biceps anymore, when you wear the sleeveless shirt and you don't look the way you used to. So maybe it's an aging conversation.

42:47I'm not sure if it's a clothing situation, but like that cross past the 40s, the fact that, you know, I need, it's not like I need reading glasses, but like, it's just a bit harder to read. And you're catching me at this strange point in my life where I know this is the transition. And I don't know what to do with that. I don't know how to deal with it. I am, let me just say, unequivocally, I have full empathy. I'm 49 and everything you just described from the clothes to the lack of confidence when something doesn't fit to the reading glasses. Like I'm the same way. I'm not right. I haven't bought, I haven't bought a pair yet, but I look down at a book and I'm like, oh, oh, oh, that's a little, do I need some help here?

43:36Yeah. So instead of getting help, I don't read. Yeah. I'm kind of the same or I pretend like I'm reading even if I'm missing some of the words. I'm sort of like, this can't be happening. Exactly. A book is a great accessory on the train. Yes. Okay, last question. What's an obsession that you're willing to admit to us here right now for the first time you've never told anyone about? Hmm. That I haven't told anyone.

44:09Korean skincare? Korean skincare, okay. How the hell do you think I look like this at 45? I would love, A, thank you for admitting this and B, I would love your advice on Korean skincare. so offline I hope you can send me some recommendations because there's seven layers of stuff on my face right now and it's not makeup it's just skincare perfect oh I mean I'm all in I totally support this obsession and I want it myself Jian Yang thank you so much it's been a lot of fun talking to you I really appreciate it alright thanks

44:54David Green is Obsessed as a production of Campside Media. It is hosted by me, David Green. Our senior producer is Lane Rose. We are mixed by Ewan Leitrimuen. The executive producers of Campside Media are Vanessa Gregoriadis, Matt Scherr, and Josh Dean. Special thanks to our operations team, Ashley Warren and Sabina Mara. If you have an obsession you would like to share, hope you do, you can send us an email. The address is obsessed at campsidemedia.com. That's obsessed at campsidemedia.com. And hey, if you enjoyed the show, please rate and review the show wherever you get your podcasts. Really appreciate you listening.