Sunday, November 30, 2014

Doll-A-Day 306: Trini Yellow Ranger Doll

  Today's doll is Trini, the Yellow Ranger from The Power Rangers.

She was made by Bandai in the mid 90's.
She actually has bangs, but this girl's seem to have gotten used to laying up on her forehead.



She's about 8 3/4" tall.


She has a twist waist and bendable knees, but her arms are only jointed at the shoulders. That makes it impossible to put her in true Power Rangers fighting poses. That's a shame, as that would have added considerably to her playability for little Power Rangers fans.


Emma was a BIG Power Rangers fan when she was little. She had two Power Rangers,Kimberly, the Pink Ranger, and Aisha, the second Yellow Ranger. I think she got a Trini later, when she was a little older.
Both Yellow Rangers had the same symbol. The image represented their 'power' and their 'zord'. The zord was their transformery type vehicle/robot thingy. Who understands this stuff?!
You've got kind of a Lego situation here. These dolls were marketed as 'Power Rangers for Girls'. Why couldn't the girls have played with any Power Ranger?! (I'll tell you why: because the action figures couldn't be found anywhere!)
She's pretty, which is more than I can say for the doll they made of the poor second Yellow Ranger. That girl should have sued.


The 'girls' Power Rangers were just the female characters. They were sold with their Power Ranger uniform, helmet,(Actually more of a mask, since there was no back in it, to make it easier to get on and off.),holster belt with  a 'ray gun' looking weapon, and a spare outfit for when they were just being themselves, (as opposed to Power Rangers.)
Her boots are supposed to have yellow diamond shapes around the tops.I know she came that way, so maybe this is just a factory flaw.They don't look like the diamonds wore off.

Trini's 'civilian' outfit was a 'denim' shorts outfit with a shirt and floral vest.

These dolls were pretty good quality, other than their waists getting loose and wanting to turn around without them. This Trini must not have been played with much, (I got her at Goodwill, so who knows.), because she stays where you put her.


She's a bit taller than the 90's Barbie sister Stacie, and close to the size of the current Stacie, so she fits in that world pretty well.
  Tomorrow is another doll.

Saturday, November 29, 2014

Doll-A-Day 305: Skipper Saturday: Blonde Twist and Turn Skipper

  It seems that almost every blonde Twist and Turn Skipper I have come across has had a haircut. Today's doll is no exception.

Her previous owner has given her a cute bob, and done a pretty good job of it. 

So instead of her original long hair, she has chin length locks.


She has pretty dark rose coloured lips.


She does need some lashes rerooted on her left eye. One of these days I'll have time to sit down and do that...



She's wearing Wooly Winner from 1970.
I need to find the right colour thread and sew the button back on that goes to that button hole flap. It's a blue plastic button that matches the vinyl trim.

I always think it should be Wooly Winter.



I was 8 years old in 1970, and I can remember girls wearing dresses very much like this one, with it's 'double knit' skirt and 'three quarter length sleeves'.


 In fact, it reminds me of this outfit I got when I was starting first grade in 1968.

Same gold shirt with three quarter length sleeves, but the jumper is corduroy, not double knit.

I always hated three quarter length sleeves.They always felt like you had outgrown your clothes.




Wooly Winner consists of the dress...


...coat with matching hat...





blue knee socks, (Which I am missing.), blue booties...

...and a red vinyl purse, which I also don't have.

  Tomorrow we'll check out another doll.

Friday, November 28, 2014

Doll-A-Day 304: Wedding Day Piggy

  I hope you all had a great Thanksgiving. It was a family day around here, as usual. Unfortunately my son had to work.Since he works nights, that meant he slept through the day,so we didn't see him then.Then he had to go to work early, so we still didn't get him.Those of you who have been with the blog for a while will know that my dad passed away in May. As I was eating my pumpkin pie I thought of Dad, who loved pumpkin pie, and how I don't get to share it with him this year.I'm sure Christmas this year will be pretty hard too. I think of Dad all the time, but almost always I can enjoy the memory and go on with the day. The holidays may make it harder, maybe just because they mark a passage of time and stir memories of particular days. My dad was not a holiday person, so holidays don't specifically remind me of Dad. But I remember taking Dad pie in the nursing home, or holidays spent with him, and then I have to realize that's all over. I won't be looking for the perfect Dad gift anymore. But, as with my mom, I know there will be times I'll see something and think how Dad would have liked that, and I can't give it to him.
  Emma and I did some Christmas shopping today. I was thinking I didn't know what to get for anybody, and it's just that I haven't been shopping! I saw all sorts of things I wanted to get for somebody.  Unfortunately, I also saw several things I want! I have been living in a hole the last few months and had no idea Hallmark has done a Planet of the Apes ornament this year! I'm hoping it's the first in a series!
   Anyway...
  Today's doll is this Wedding Day Piggy.

I was going to use her for my anniversary post in September, but I had misplaced her. Ken bought her for me at an auction right before our 25th wedding anniversary this year.(When I couldn't find her in time I instead posted the story of how I accidentally copied Kermit and Piggy's wedding cake topper from The Muppets Take Manhattan.)

She was made by Direct Connect in 1989.

She was one of three in a series of Miss Piggy Fantasy Dress Up dolls, sculpted by Cynthia Woodie.

The other two dolls in the series were High Fashion Piggy and Princess Piggy.

Piggy's full name was mentioned one time on The Muppet Show: It's Pigathius.(Of course, she may have been joking/lying...)
Piggy is about 11" tall.

She has six points of articulation: neck, shoulders, hips, and waist.


She wears her wedding dress and veil, white undies,painted on shoes and her trademark lavender gloves are also painted on.
  See you tomorrow for Skipper Saturday.

Wednesday, November 26, 2014

Doll-A-Day 303: Sears.Swedlin Mini Martians Bonnie and Mini

    First things first: Welcome to our two new followers, Oberons Wood and Mistress Laudanum. Thanks for joining us! They both have lovely blogs that you might want to check out.
  Today's doll is two: these Mini Martians.


They were made by Gund/J Swedlin, and sold exclusively by Sears in 1967.





They are around 4 1/2" tall. 


The red head is 'Bonnie'. She's wearing one of the "Stellar Shifts" fashions,which were sold separately.




Besides the Stellar Shifts there were Biys Galaxy Garb,Girls Lunar Leisure Wear,Boys Jet Jumpers,Girls Star Time Togs,and Girls Zoom Suits.


Stellar Shifts was a set of two outfits.

The blonde is 'Mini' or 'Teenie'.








She has her original outfit, but the wrong shoes.They were $1.49!
These dolls are fairly rare, having been sold only at Sears, and only for one year.


For such short lived toys they had  a nice bunch of thing sold to go with them: a house, a space ship, and the extra fashions.


 I happened across these two at a church sale a couple of years ago.I had no idea what they were at the time, but I thought they were pretty neat. I would have loved these when I was a kid!


Look at their ears. They're three dimensional swirls!


Their shoes are soft rubber and are actually removeable. 



The dolls are also soft rubber and have a moveable head and arms.
  Tomorrow's Thanksgiving, so I may be back, or I may not be back until Friday.Just in case, Happy Thanksgiving!