Saturday, October 31, 2020

Play Sets: Barbie Wizard of Oz Emerald City Playset

  Happy Halloween! Our state said no trick or treating because of the virus, but our town did it anyway. I chose to go along with the state and not hand out candy.
  Last month I totally missed the end of the month and didn't do a playset. I have had a post ready for ages, but Ivy came home and forbid any digging in her newly straightened closet because it gives her anxiety. That meant I haven't been able to get in her closet and get out the playset I had the post ready for, to photograph it. Well, I give up. I'm doing the post this month with stock photos, and some photos of the playset I used before to show you some of Ivy's Oz dolls. I should have photographed the whole playset then, but I was trying to get Ivy's room done before she came home, so I didn't take the time.
  So, this month's play set is this one. It's the Barbie Wizard of Oz Emerald City Playset.(Now that's a mouthful!)


It was sold in 2000. Ivy wanted this set, and she had the Barbie as Dorothy talking doll to go with it. No dolls came with the set. The set did come with a plastic Emerald City facade, which you may have seen in my post on the Wizard of Oz Kelly and Tommy dolls I came across while redoing Ivy's room last Fall. You can see that post HERE.


The doors really open. The "Bell out of order. Please knock." sign is a separate piece which hangs on a hook in the facade plastic.



It also came with a cardboard yellow brick road, which you might have seen in that post, and the posts I did on the Oz Munchkin Tommy dolls HERE, and HERE.


The 'road' was printed. along with some poppies and grass at the edges.





  Some small pieces came with the set, which was based on the "In the Merry Old Land of Oz" portion of the movie. (You can see that part of the movie HERE.) These included a hair brush, fake scissors, a perfume bottle, and an oil can. And of course Dorothy needs her salon chair to get her makeover. The chair comes in pieces and you have to put it together. In the movie the chair was actually a lighter, mint green. They did a pretty good job on the design though.
  The other big piece to the set is the Wizard's balloon. Included is a plastic balloon basket, with plastic 'ropes', and a real mylar balloon you can blow up.  


  The balloon basket can hold one doll. The irony here is, Dorothy never made the trip back to Kansas in the balloon, since Toto jumped out of her arms to chase a cat, and she jumped out of the balloon to follow him. The other irony of including the balloon is, the only major Oz character Mattel never made a doll of is The Wizard, who is the only character to actually ride in the balloon..
  There was a 1/6 scale Wizard doll to go with the other Oz dolls made by Multi Toys. He was hard to find though. I'm not sure he wasn't a Canada only release. I know he was excluded from the boxed set of Oz toys that Multitoys made. (That set included Dorothy and friends, and both witches.) I think I still have a Multitoys Wizard somewhere in my attic in our old doll show stuff. There was also a Wizard made by Hamilton Presents, for it's Oz line.
  Well, that's the playset for this month. Hopefully next month we'll see an actual in hand playset! See you tomorrow for the Doll Book of the Month Club.

10 comments:

  1. What a cute play set. I had not seen it before. The little Dorothy is adorable.

    I always thought that the title, The Wizard of Oz, is misleading. The Wizard really only has a minor role and doesn't solve any problems at all.

    I think the title should be, The Dorothy Story! I wonder if I am being a bit biased (laugh).

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    1. None of the dolls came with the set. You should get one of those Dorothy dolls at least, because you mentioned how much you liked her the last time too. What do you think of the Barbie Dorothy the set was made for? I'm disappointed she has the same old Barbie face, especially when the Mackie face could have made a good Judy Garland. You're right about the Wizard! Why wasn't it Dorothy's Adventures in Oz? You know. Like Alice.

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  2. Lovely set to have, the Mego dolls and kids meal toys would look well with it as well as smaller plastic figure sets which might give it a grander scale..My mixed/random Oz dolls would look better,so I must see if it is feasible to find. Thanks for sharing,I love everything OZ, especially the various books, even one in spanish.

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    1. I wish I had thought about someone wanting it,because I saw the whole set,unboxed, for only $10 at the toy show I went to recently. The set is sized for Barbie sized dolls, so the chair and balloon basket, for example,would be way too big for the Megos. Have you seen the playset for the Megos? I haven't seen it in person, but it looks cool in photos.

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  3. I remember this cute set of little dolls. Thank you to share with us these wonderful pictures.

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  4. Very cute playset and dolls. I have a Tin man, but he had no pants and shoes. I made pants of felt. But I am not very fond of dolls that can not look "normal" when I want them to.

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    1. I know what you mean. They are always stuck as the same thing.

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  5. Its a cute set. I don't have any Oz toys so it wouldn't really do me much good but I can see it being perfect if you do!

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    1. I would have loved it when I was a kid. All my kids were very into The Wizard of Oz at some point. Emma has the Multitoys Dorothy, and the Hamilton Presents ones.

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Thanks in advance for your comments.