Warrnambool's Lillee-May and Billie-May Reason are Barbie collectors

The 18-year wait for her youngest Lillee-May was worth it, she said, as the pair revel in Barbie mania.

"I think when you have your first girl after having so many boys you spoil them rotten," she said.

"It was the whole, 'I can buy them a Barbie'."

Billie-May and Lillee-May, now 11, have collected 60 Barbies, including 20 in mint condition still in their boxes.

They also have vehicles, house carry cases and other merchandise.

Ms Reason said she joked with her daughter she could buy a house using the collection's value when she turned 30.

"(But) I just can't ever see her wanting to sell her Barbies," she said.

Among the collection was a 40^th anniversary first Black Barbie doll released in 2019, which she said could fetch $500 on eBay.

"That's the most expensive one but I think all our Barbies are as special as the next," she said.

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Ms Reason said her daughter was interested in the dolls from the 1960s and '70s while she loved the ones from the '80s and '90s.

The pair liked to buy Barbies from opportunity shops to add to their collection.

Ms Reason said she cried when she watched the Barbie movie with her daughter last week.

"The storyline behind it with the whole mother and daughter thing, how much of an icon she was for the '80s and '90s and that it's (playing with Barbies) dying out among our children," she said.

"Then there's this little excitement of what if she's going to make a huge comeback - and it's like with a vengeance.

"I think she'll be bigger now through the movie than back then."

Warrnambool's Capitol Cinema was a splash of pink on Thursday, July 20, on the film's opening night.

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