Dolls – Page 3 – Jenjoy's All Dolled Up Page

Barbie (Second) Looks and Happy New Year

In a previous post I said that if the second wave of Looks dolls came to Australia, I probably couldn’t resist buying at least one of them (see my Wave one Looks here). Unfortunately – or perhaps that should be fortunately – they never hit our shop shelves. But two of wave three did, #10 Simone, the tall black girl and #11 Heide, the red head.

I know I’ve said I need to stop buying dolls because of space constraints and budget, but I think we all also know that’s not likely to happen. The theme ‘Red heads’ for a doll club meeting made me realise that I don’t have too many red heads in the cupboards, so I decided to buy #11 Heide. I rang my local Toyworld store to make sure they had them and was told there were several on the shelf, so I jumped in the car and headed off. However, once I got there I found the shelf completely empty of Looks girls. I asked at the counter, and the guy I’d spoken to on the phone checked with the manager. Someone had just been in and bought them all. I was really angry, surely they should have a limit on collectible dolls, as you can bet whoever bought them would be listing them on the secondary market. My heart still set on buying a doll, I had no option but to head off to the next nearest store. I rang first, and asked them to hold one for me though. The shop is quite a way off, but thankfully it’s off the freeway, so it doesn’t take too long to get there. And of course, once I had made effort to go so far it would have been rude to leave without #10 Simone too.

These dolls were slightly cheaper than the previous Looks dolls released here, selling at $41.99, where the others have generally been between $55-65. I’m so glad I splashed out on both dolls. #10 Simone is truly gorgeous. She has the tall Made to Move body, very dark brown skin, long, silky, easy-to-style black hair and the most beautiful face. #11 has a really interesting face and a mass of bright orange curls. I was a bit disappointed that where she had been fastened to the box, the curls are a bit frizzy. It’s at the back, so it’s not too noticeable, but one day I’ll have to sit down and try to de-frizz and re-curl them. Their fashions are a bit different to wave one, instead of being dressed in black and white, these girl’s outfits are black and silver. Simone has a black pleather skirt and silver crop top with square puffy shoulders and silver boots and Heide has a silver jumpsuit scrunched at the lower leg with black pleather belt and strappy high heels.

I was really happy to have these two in my collection, but there were two dolls from wave 2 I just couldn’t stop thinking about, #8 Andra and #9 Cam. I decided I really would like Cam, as there’s a deficit of boys in my collection. I tried winning him in a raffle at a doll club meeting with no luck (no surprise there) so started trawling the internet looking for a good deal. No luck with Cam, but I did find Andra for a really, really good price from an Australian seller, so I just couldn’t resist. Finally, I caved and bought Cam from overseas (at roughly the price I’d paid for other’s here in Australia), and I’m so glad I did, he arrived just in time for Christmas.

Like #10 and #11, these two also wear silver and black. I really love Andra’s face, she’s almost a cross between Kate Bush and Miley Cyrus. She has short upswept white blonde hair with flocked sides, and wears a runched silver skirt, nylon tank and the cutest little pixie boots that I just love. Cam has long dark brown hair, pulled back at the sides, silver pants, a black nylon singlet top, and again, fabulous boots. Just a note if you have these dolls, check them for that dreaded double sided tape, I’ve found it under the clothing of a few of my Looks dolls. Also, Cam’s knees were bound in cardboard as some male doll’s are.

While in a perfect world, I probably would buy at least two (if not all) of the four dolls I’m missing from these first three waves, I’m content with the eight I have. I’ll just hope they use the face moulds I’m missing in future (hopefully cheaper) doll lines. Pictures of the next Looks wave (4) is starting to make an appearance on the web and the first dolls have been found for sale in Europe. As happened with the Barbie Basics line – and thankfully for both my doll cupboard and budget – all but one of this wave seem to use existing face moulds and their fashions are very different from previous waves, colour blocked, 80s inspired outfits. The one guy in the range who appears to have a new head mould, I might like to add to my collection, but I’m not interested in the girls (she says defiantly). So, what’s the bet they all make here to Australia?

And another year over, another year older – quite literally for me, NYE is the second worst day of the year to have as a birthday – and it feels like it has just flown by. I was determined to get in one last post though. So, Happy New Year! I hope 2023 is a good one for all of us, and I’ll see you next year!

Don’t forget, I’m now on Instagram – @jenjoysworld(and a non-doll photo art account @jenniferbs_world). There’ll be some unique content and behind the scenes stuff, so head over and follow.

(C) Jennifer B – All content is subject to copyright and may not be re-published or reproduced without written permission.

Merry Christmas 2022

Well, another year has flown by, and what a year it has been. It feels as though there has been unrest everywhere, not least in Iran, Afghanistan, and of course Ukraine, where it will be a very bleak Christmas indeed. I have to admire the strength and resolve of the Ukrainians though, and pray that the violence against them will end soon. In fact, I hope that all men everywhere who think they have the right to control, repress and inflict violence and misery upon others are taught otherwise.

As a result of this violence, and the lingering Covid virus, most of us are experiencing rising prices on almost everything, making it very hard to make ends meet for some. Here in Australia, one of the driest places on the planet, we have had more water than we know what to do with. Many have been flooded multiple times, losing everything. Farm land has been inundated causing shortages and added price rises, and our waterways are still bursting their banks. As I type, the US is experiencing terrible snow storms and there has been a mass shooting in Paris. My heart goes out to those affected.

For me personally, it has been a bad year. It started with a reaction to the Covid booster, the effects of which I’m still dealing with, as well as a few other health issues, so this is a year I’ll be glad to see the back of.

I have managed to post here once a month though (I hope?), although I would have liked to have been able to do more, and sometimes it has only been the lovely interactions here and on social media that have brightened my day. So, thank you, to all of you who read my ramblings and to those who comment or message here or on Instagram. I love reading your posts too.

If you can, please don’t forget to give to those less fortunate, and I hope – no matter your faith or religion – all of you have the happiest of Christmas times.

This year, Daya is having to battle Prince for the Christmas wrapping, something I often had to do with my wee poodle.

Merry Christmas!

(C) Jennifer B – All content is subject to copyright and may not be re-published or reproduced without written permission.

Krissy and other Barbie Babies

Kelly/Chelsea isn’t the littlest kid in Barbie’s world. Over the years there have been several baby sized friends and family dolls, not the least of which is Barbie’s youngest sister, Krissy. Here are the ones in my collection, all shown with Grandma, to give you a sense of scale, and a size comparison to each other and Ryan, who has the first issue Kelly body.

Released around 1998/99, Krissy is Barbie’s youngest sibling (poor Mrs Roberts, how many is that now?) and is much smaller than Kelly/Chelsea. As Kelly seemed to be getting increasingly older than the toddler she was originally intended to be, I suppose there was a gap for nurturing baby play and Krissy definitely fills that gap. This little cutie is definitely a baby, there’s was no way she can be ‘aged’. First released as Krissy Baby Layette in both blonde and AA versions, Krissy is jointed at the neck, shoulders and hips. She has tiny bent arms and legs which also have looser joints, so can be posed in a laying or slight sitting position, if supported, pretty much like a real baby. Her layette provides everything a wee bairn needs including multiple clothing pieces – tiny nappies, tee shirts, overalls, a tutu and Christening gown – toys, feeding utensils, wrap and hanging nappy holder.

Krissy was issued in several sets on her own – Layette, Scrub a Dub, Swing n Play – as well as with big sister Barbie taking on babysitting duties. I know I bought my blonde Krissy Layette at a doll club meeting, so I have an inkling the initial, singular releases may not have been available here in Australia. If anyone can clarify this for me, I’d be grateful. Some of the Barbie and Krissy sets definitely made it here as I have found a few Krissies for customising at the op shop. I also saw the singular AA Krissy sets at the Mattel outlet in the US, but didn’t buy one due to my only-one-doll-per-face-mould rule, but really regretted it. Luckily, I picked up the doll and most of her layette accessories at another doll club meeting, so have five Krissy sized dolls in all. Krissy was only around for about five years which is a shame as she really is a cutie and all her little bits and bobs are so well thought out and made. Her clothing especially is so well designed – although sometimes hard to get on, they’re oh so tiny.

The very first baby in Barbie’s world is part of Barbie Baby Sits, first released in 1963. This set not only included a cute little soft plastic, blonde headed baby in its floral lined bassinet with baby bottle, but an apron, glasses, school books, a bottle of coke and box of pretzels, clock, phone and list of phone numbers for Barbie. I’m missing most of the accessories but I picked up the baby at a doll club meeting. Like Krissy, this baby is jointed at the neck, shoulders and hips and its limbs are similar in shape. The safety pin in its nappy is a wee bit big, Barbie would have been dangerous wrangling that on the poor kid’s change table, but it adds to the charm of the set. This set was available until 1965, which brought a couple of small changes to the accessories.

Barbie Baby Sits was updated in 1976. This time the baby included was one first used in The Sunshine Family dolls, also by Mattel. This little cutie has fixed limbs and a moveable head with big blue inset plastic eyes and blonde hair. There are a few variations in the colour of outfits, blankets and accessories, which include a nappy, jacket, blanket, christening gown, bib, soap, duck, bear bottles, dish, highchair, bath and cradle as well as an apron and list of phone numbers for Barbie. Some of the furniture and accessories are borrowed from The Sunshine family too. I’m not sure if this set was available in Australia, I don’t remember seeing it, if anyone knows, please let me know. I don’t have this set but I do have Sweets from The Sunshine Family, who you can tell saw a lot of play in my childhood.

The Rosebud/Heart Family-type baby dolls were used in the Barbie line, in 1995/96 they were included as young students for Teacher Barbie. These dolls are kind of cute in their own way, but they are way out of scale for Barbie, their heads are huge in comparison. They’re most definitely babies, their wee legs moulded as a lot of baby doll’s legs are with bent knees and little feet that cross. They’re fine laying or sitting down, but they can’t stand up. Each Teacher Barbie set included a boy and girl doll of varying ethnicity and hair colour, so collecting all the variations of these dolls is an exercise in itself. I find them a very strange inclusion for the Barbie line considering the scale, but I suppose they were the only small dolls Mattel had at the time. These dolls were also sold in Europe and Asia as Barbie Lil Friends.

A new tinier baby appeared in the Heart Family line as a ‘new arrival’ around 1986 and was soon co-opted into Barbie’s world in sets with both Barbie – including in a couple of Doctor Barbie issues – and Skipper. I think my doll is from Skipper Cool Sitter 1998, and was an op shop rescue. This little cutie has an unbending body very similar to that of Sunshine Family Sweets, but the head has been updated. There is a variation head mould that has a slightly different hairline, and occasionally these wee dolls were given a tuft of long rooted hair.

A new baby and toddler joined Midge and Alan’s Happy Family range from 2002/3. Hiding within Midge’s magnetic pregnant tummy was a tiny little Nikki doll. And this doll really is tiny. Perhaps a touch too tiny to be in scale for even a new born in Barbie’s world. I know it had to fit inside the detachable belly, but I think it is a touch too wee. It is jointed at the neck, shoulder and hips, with little bent limbs. My baby is another op shop rescue, and thankfully it was wearing its weeny clothes. They’re so well made and I doubt I would have been able to find or make anything that small. I thought Krissy’s clothes were hard to get on and off, these are next level difficult.

In the later Happy Family sets, Nikki had grown to toddler size – and got some same-size friends – while the baby became an unnamed third child in the Midge, Nikki and Baby set from 2004. These little toddler dolls are jointed at the neck, shoulders and hips, with straight legs and slightly bent arms. My Nikki is an op shop find and is from the 2004 set. She has slightly different arms, one has a moulded cookie in its hand, the other hand contains a small magnet so she can pick up some of the grocery items in the set. As I found both of these Happy Family kids at op shops these sets must have been sold here, as was the toddler sized Happy Family Neighbourhood Baby Friends set, which also included a little table and chairs.

Skipper Babysitters Inc from around 2017, introduced yet another range of babies. These littlies have a body shape similar to the Sweets body, but with joints at the shoulders and hips. There are several variations in vinyl colours and hair colours. There are also probably a few tiny dolls I’ve missed, there have been so many over the years. I’ll add them here, when and if I come across them.

(C) Jennifer B – All content is subject to copyright and may not be re-published or reproduced without written permission.

Holly Hobbie and her Gazebo

One morning a few weeks ago, I woke up with the immediate thought, ‘where’s my Holly Hobbie Gazebo?’ Which is weird, because it was never a favourite toy, and I hadn’t seen it or thought about it in years. But I had to get up and start searching, and luckily, it was where I thought it was, in storage.

I can’t say I was a particular fan of Holly Hobbie, but in the 70s you couldn’t turn around without seeing the aesthetic – either genuine Holly Hobbie, or a knock off version – everywhere, so of course lots of branded and clone items made their way into my possession (and a quick rootle in a cupboard or two revealed that I still have some of them). I also remember having a couple of long peasant-style patchwork dresses that I loved, and which were the height of fashion at the time. As a budding artist Holly Hobbie also impacted my artwork, making me realise that figures could be drawn without complicated facial features, or indeed, without faces at all, a lot of the Holly Hobbie et al figures have their faces hidden under big hats, drawn side on or even from the back. And when I started researching my gazebo I was really surprised to find that Holly Hobbie was a real person, the artist after whom the character was named.

I bought the gazebo at a church fete at a time when I was getting too old for dolls, but I just loved the idea of it. It was in excellent condition, especially considering it is largely cardboard, and it came with a Holly Hobbie doll. One pin that holds one of the sides closed is broken and Holly is missing one shoe and her picnic accessories, but these problems were happily overlooked. I can’t remember how much it was, but it can’t have been very cheap as I remember umming and ahhing for a while, and mum asking me if I really needed it, before deciding that I did. It was a slight disappointment that it was out of scale for Barbie, and even a little small for dolls such as Charlie’s Angels, but I found it fascinating nonetheless, even though I didn’t really play with it very much. I vaguely remember having a small Holly Hobbie or clone rag doll at the time, but I don’t really know why I didn’t have any of the other vinyl Holly Hobbie dolls. I remember seeing them when I was a kid, but I have an inkling they were quite expensive. They were also not really fashion dolls and smaller than the other dolls I owned, so there were probably other things I wanted more.

I still love the gazebo, and I still wish it were Barbie sized. The Holly Hobbie dolls were made by the Knickerbocker Toy Company around 1976, so the gazebo must have been a couple of years old by the time I got it. The main body of it is made from hard plastic, with six heavy, printed cardboard panels that extend the play area and then fold up to enclose the structure. One panel has a hard plastic swing attached to it, and another has an orange polka dot fabric hammock suspended between hard plastic supports. The others are printed with a vegie patch, stone path, picnic rug and barrel of apples. The outside of the panels is printed with pictures of the Holly Hobbie characters and the gazebo.

The Holly Hobbie doll is six inches tall. Her outfit of printed patchwork dress, blue floral bonnet and matching bloomers, white socks and blue shoes, is really well made and quite a good replica of the artwork fashion. I only wish she had little brown boots instead of the blue shoes. The doll itself is quite cute, the facial features are quite stylised – big round cheeks, a small mound for a nose and tiny printed eyes and mouth – and long strawberry blonde hair. I have a feeling I wasn’t a fan of the face as a child, but now I can appreciate its simplicity.

I was just thinking I must find a friend for Holly, now that I’d rediscovered the gazebo, when a visit to a friend saw me presented with a gift of Carrie and her cute wee cat (thanks heaps Jason). Carrie has short reddish hair and wears a little brown polka dot dress with attached calico apron, huge floral bonnet, white tights and brown shoes. Better still, her wee grey cat is pictured on the gazebo, so fits in perfectly. She also has her table, but is missing the stool, bowl, cup, spoon and ladle. There is a third doll in the series, Amy, with long blonde plaits, so perhaps she may cross my path at some time. Of course, these dolls were just the tip of the Holly Hobbie marketing iceberg, there were twelve inch dolls, rag dolls, dolls houses, doll’s clothes as well as all sorts of other toys, cards, gifts and homewares. And now, I’ll have to pull the place apart until I find my wee rag doll. I know she must be here somewhere, and although she doesn’t really work with the gazebo, I’d like all my Holly Hobbie toys together.

(C) Jennifer B – All content is subject to copyright and may not be re-published or reproduced without written permission.

Happy Halloween

Well, that’s come around quickly! I can’t believe it’s November tomorrow, and got quite a shock when my local council put a Christmas tree up in the mall last week, way too early for my liking. The year has just flown by and I’ve really missed my dolly play and weekly posts. Hopefully, I’ll be able to post more often again soon.

In the meantime, Sweet Treats Sindy is my muse for this spooky season pic, her hair is a perfect samhain colour. And despite the proofread, I still missed an apostrophe in the caption, d’oh! So, whether you celebrate or try to ignore it, I hope you have a Happy Halloween.

(C) Jennifer B – All content is subject to copyright and may not be re-published or reproduced without written permission.

Western Barbie

Just when we thought Barbie couldn’t look any stranger than Kissing Barbie, along came Western Barbie of 1980/1. Using a variation of the Terminator-like inner skull arrangement that Kissing Barbie has (see here), this doll’s gimmick is a winking eye. And like Kissing Barbie, this girl tends to polarise collectors, some love her, while others find her completely fugly. In fact, even some who love her still find her a wee bit fugly.

I’d pretty much stopped buying Barbie dolls by the time this doll hit the shelves, and I don’t even remember seeing her back then. Of course, once I began collecting I became aware of her but she was never on my dolly wish list, partly because of her bizarre appearance and partly because, back then, I didn’t really think many 80’s dolls were worthy of collecting. However, a Western Barbie was amongst a huge lot of dolls sent to me by my dad, and luckily, mine’s in fairly good condition. Once I owned her, I started to appreciate her, in all her strangeness.

Western Barbie’s face is more like the Superstar sculpt, with wide smile, than the Kissing doll with her puckered lips, but it’s the eyes with their heavy, bright blue shadowed lids that gives this girl her strange appearance. To be fair, these dolls generally do not age well and the moulded eyelids often melt and droop or fall off completely. But even looking at the dolls in promotional photos and videos they look a little sleepy, at best. Most these days look well and truly drunk at the very least, completely deformed at the worst.

Note: doll on the right is missing the stationary eyelid.

The inner skull mechanism is very similar to that of Kissing Barbie, but it’s minus the weird duck beak, and instead has the equally strange eyelids. The left eyelid is stationary while the right socket is cut out, allowing that eyelid to fold down, once the square panel in the doll’s back is pushed. The eyelids are made from a soft vinyl which is prone to breaking. Unfortunately, part of the winking lid looks to be missing on my doll, but perhaps that’s why my doll doesn’t look too strange. This doll’s vinyl face is, like Kissing Barbie’s, stitched at the back of the head, but this girls face has two slits above the eyes where the eyelids feed through from the skull, another reason perhaps why the lids tend to warp and break, the two vinyls impacting each other. There are also two moulded dots on the vinyl face, one on the forehead, one at the mouth, that slot into holes in the plastic skull, holding the face in place.

The inner mechanism with winking eye in unwinking and winking positions. Note, the stationary eyelid is missing.

This doll has had her hair and original face paint removed, ready for a makeover.

There seems to be a lot of variations in the hairstyles of these dolls. Mine looks to have had a lot of play, and I haven’t yet decided what to do with it, curl it or leave it as is, but the front still holds it’s original ‘Farrah flip’. Some dolls have a fringe (bangs) with long straight hair or shorter curls, others have long side parted hair. I’ve also seen dolls with both white and beige inner skull mechanisms.

Western Barbie’s box describes her as a ‘Gorgeous Western Star’ who ‘gives you her autograph and a wink’, so she wears a white jumpsuit with silver and black trim and white fringe, white boots and white cowboy hat with matching trim. Her accessories are a brush comb and mirror, perfume bottle, Barbie logo stamp and cardboard portraits for her to autograph with her stamp. Like a lot of the dolls in the lot from dad, my doll was without her original outfit and accessories, but with the exception of her cardboard photos, they weren’t hard to replace. In fact, I’ve come across several of her jumpsuits, most for under $1, so have been able to upgrade to one in fairly good condition.

Western Barbie didn’t hit shop shelves alone, Western Ken joined her in a matching black and white fashion, and there was also a Western Skipper in red and white fashion, although Skipper’s box is dated 1981, while Barbie and Ken’s are dated 1980, so I’m not sure if there was a bit of gap between their release (boxes are often dated the year before a doll is released, but not always). Two horses, a palomino called Dallas (after a popular TV show perhaps?) and a black stallion named Midnight were also released, with Western Barbie featuring in the their box art. Skipper also had a horse called Honey, but I can only find box art featuring the later Horse Lovin’ Skipper, so I’m not sure if it was released for Western Skipper too.

Just to confuse matters, the European version of Western Barbie is very different to the one from the US and Australia. This doll is a Superstar doll with busy arms and hands, wearing the same fashion, but without the accessories and the addition of a matching wrap skirt. There was also no mention of being a Western Star on the box.

A range of ‘Barbie and Ken Western Fashions’ were realeased, and one of these, #3578 ‘Westward Ho’ was included with my doll. It was missing the bag, belt, hat and boots, but I’ve managed to find a pair of boots and I was sure I’d replaced the hat too, but I can’t find it at the time of posting. It’s a rather nice fashion of long sleeved bodysuit and skirt in a dark blue floral fabric trimmed with tan suedette, with matching suedette vest. It’s sad that Mattel don’t seem to make fashions of this quality anymore, even in the collector ranges. I’ve seen a couple of the other Western Fashions pop up for sale occasionally, so I’m assuming these dolls and fashions must have been in wide release here in Australia. And love her or hate her, Western Barbie and her outfits certainly make collecting more interesting.

(C) Jennifer B – All content is subject to copyright and may not be re-published or reproduced without written permission.

Action Man

Seeing as I posted Action Man fiction last week, this week I thought I’d post some Action Man fact. And the fact is, I don’t know that much about Action Man. I’ve seen them in books and in photos – a friend has an amazing collection of vintage figures that I hope one day to see in person – and I’ve come across vintage dolls at fairs but haven’t wanted to pay the prices asked for them. And that’s about it for vintage issues. However, I do own a couple of the newer releases. I’d like to tell you that I found them both at an op shop and wouldn’t buy one new, but I did. I’m a doll nerd, he was cheap. I was curious, he was mine. And although I do quite like these newer guys, there are issues.

Action Man was released by the British company Palitoy in 1966, and was basically the British version of GI Joe – Hasbro, GI Joe’s parent company and Palitoy were both apparently owned by the General Mills Company. There are a couple of websites (see below) that have details of the older figures (yeah, they’re for boys, so they’re action figures, not dolls), and the book ‘British Teenage Dolls 1956-1984’ by Frances Baird has a brilliant chapter on them. These older dolls (oops!) look to have amazing poseability, some talk and some have the somewhat freaky, moving ‘Eagle Eyes’. Their military costuming and accessories are just mind blowing in their quality and detail.

And that brings me to my dolls. Not so mind blowing. Not at all really. Although both do have interesting faces with a lot of character. One of my dolls is marked 1993, but I found him at the op shop for a couple of dollars, so I’m not sure exactly what year he was issued. I’m assuming he’s wearing his original outfit, it all fits perfectly and the tee shirt has the Action Man logo on the sleeve. It’s actually a pretty nice fashion of jeans – fashionably ripped, but slightly Harry Highpants-ish – tee shirt, boots and a hard plastic flak jacket-looking thing with a police badge. If anyone knows more info on him, please let me know. He has flocked hair and a tilting head joint. I actually really like his face. He reminds me a bit of Hymie from Get Smart or the crazy intelligence officer in M.A.S.H, Colonel Flagg. I even like the scar on his face (perhaps because I spent most of my younger years with one too). He’s not terribly poseable, his legs are vinyl and bend at the knee, but not very far. His arms are also vinyl and bend at the elbow with a twist upper arm joint and Action Man logo ‘tattoo’. He has huge hands, shaped to hold accessories. His hip section is blue – resembling undies – and connects to a twisting, rotating waist joint. His torso is very muscular with very pronounced nipples (WT?), while his back looks like it’s about to burst with Gremlins. No way to get muscles like that without some serious steroid abuse. And they say Barbie creates an unreal body image. Hmmm.

Dolljunk’s amazing Action Man repaint – last photo.

My second doll I bought new. He was under $10 at a toy sale, so I couldn’t resist. He’s Action Man Street Patrol from 2001, and very different from the earlier guy. He came with a huge rocket launchy, gun thing, so Heaven only knows what streets he’s patrolling if he needs fire power like that. He has a new body, now made from hard plastic with jointed ankles, knees, hips, wrists, elbows, upper arms and shoulders, making him slightly more poseable than the earlier edition. His tee shirt is now moulded/painted on, complete with logo on one sleeve. He’s not as muscular as the earlier figure, his body shape is more realistically sculpted (but still pretty unrealistic). This version has moulded hair and a new face, still with scar but unfortunately he’s lost his tilting head joint. He now looks much younger, his face is longer and more angular. A friend has repainted one of these dolls, and I have to say, I fell in love with it as soon as I saw it. If ever I come across another of these, it’s going straight off to John for a makeover. You can see more of the repaint here. His fashion is now just a pair of cheap black shorts, complete with handcuffs, and huge black boots. They’re so huge, he looks like he’s stuck his feet into novelty plant pots. They’re really hard to get off too, almost as hard as removing a doll’s head. They seem to have a flange of plastic inside that the foot gets stuck on. I had to heat them with a hairdryer to remove them, and then cut some of the plastic away so hopefully next time they’ll be easier to get off.

I actually think these two look like father and son. Perhaps being Action Man is a bit like being The Phantom, it’s a mantle handed down through the generations. Maybe one day, I’ll find some of the older dolls, but I’m happy with the dolls I have. They make great bystanders in dioramas and add a little variation to my collection.

More on Action Man can be found at http://www.actionman.com/ and http://www.actionmanhq.co.uk/pages/history.html.

(C) Jennifer B – All content is subject to copyright and may not be re-published or reproduced without written permission.