Doll-A-Day 2023 #287: Fashionistas #192

   I saw this guy at Five Below yesterday. He was tempting.

Officially he's Fashionistas #192.

Unofficially he's probably known as the guy with vitiligo.

Vitiligo is an autoimmune disorder that causes the loss of pigment in patches of skin anywhere on the body.

  There have been two other Fashionistas with vitiligo, but they were both female. You might have seen Emma's #135 HERE.

  Note that in the first picture, to the left you see that they also carry The World's Smallest toys, and at the moment ours has the 1977 Barbie case. Just a few comments about it. For one thing, I love the case. It's slightly big for 1/6 scale, but I can live with that. Second thing: the doll that comes with it is WAY too small for the case! What?! As if that weren't enough, #3, she's totally the wrong doll for the case, and even the wrong decade! She's a 90's Barbie, with long crimped hair. You can see her on the right of the case in the package. I can't remember the name right now, but I know that doll came out when Emma was little, and Emma was born in 1991. So I'd take the case, and the doll, but not together. As for #192, I like him. I think if you want him you should snap him up while Five Below has him for $5.

  And I still haven't seen The Barbie Movie! I saw it for sale on DVD yesterday. For sale already?! Things move fast these days! It used to take at least a year for something to make it t video. I'm old.

  That's today's doll. We're going to the house to work tomorrow, and we should be getting windows put in soon. (Yay!) See you tomorrow for some other doll, even if I haven't decided which one yet!

  

Doll-A-Day 2023 #268: Cool Times Ken

   I had another doll planned for today, but I'm still having trouble with that new lens, and my pictures came out blurry. I don't want to have to use a flash because of reflection from the flash so we're stuck with this. I did take another lazy day today, and, in fact, took a nap! Maybe tomorrow I'll be awake enough to take some more interesting pictures.

  Today's doll is Cool Times Ken. For some reason my computer isn't letting me copy pictures, and I wanted to keep the full picture because these guys are all for sale. So I am stuck with the full photo. Cool Times Ken is third from left.

  Cool Times Ken was made in 1988, and that kind of shows. He has a very 80's outfit, including a yellow shirt with orange sleeves and a pizza decal, black stretch pants with white stripes down the sides of the legs, and black and white checked suspenders.

Now that's an outfit.

  He doesn't have a very 80's hairstyle though. The hair looks more 70's to me.

  The Cool Times series of dolls included Cool Times Barbie, Ken, Christie, Midge, and Teresa. The outfits were full of checks and polka dots. Once again Ken was the lone guy. 

  I still haven't seen the Barbie movie. I intended to go, but the opportunity has never arisen. 

  See you tomorrow for another doll.

Doll-A-Day 2019 #164: 40th Annivesary Ken

  Today's doll is this fascinating guy.

He's 40th Anniversary Ken.

He was released in 2001,to commemorate,well, the 40th anniversary of the Ken doll.Duh. He came in a tuxedo,and included a miniature version of the original Ken doll and his box.

I found mine at Salvation Army. he was loose, and naked. That means I don't have the tiny Ken. I really want that too.

He has rooted hair. I think they did a pretty good job. It at least lays down, even if he does look a little nerdy.

You'll notice he has rooted hair, but painted on sideburns.

And yes, he is wearing an Ohio State football jersey. I have no idea where I got it.

 

He's pretty nicely articulated. His head only turns side to side, but he has jointed elbows and knees,and a waist joint that allows him to twist and lean.

He has some whopper rivets in his elbows.

He can do the Crazy Hand Jive. (Or as Emma called it when she was a kid, the Crazy Hand Drive.)

He's a killer basketball player.

And he can look smooth.

He also has some heavy duty eyebrows...and Spock's bangs.

I really like him though. He' one of my favourite grown up male dolls that I own.

  There was also a 40th Anniversary Barbie, who also came with a miniature version of the original.
  That's today's doll. See you tomorrow for another one.

My Birthday Report

    The weather is warmish and most of the snow has melted. My daffodils are poking out of the mud, and the iris's are showing signs of life. I have baby tomato plants starting to grow. It might actually be starting to look like Spring.
  As you may have noticed, I had a birthday the other day. In spite of being sick with the whatever-this-thing-is, I managed to enjoy myself.We went to Columbus and shopped and ate, and, in my case, wanted to lay down and close my eyes.
  The Indian food was a bit disappointing. It wasn't nearly as good as it was last time. It was nice to have a buffet that we, as vegetarians, could eat anything from, but it wasn't the best Indian food we could have gotten. The paneer Makhani  was too salty, the samosas were too bland, and the saag paneer was just ok.
  It seemed that everything I went shopping for was not available. I had considered getting an Our Generation mini doll, but when we got to Target they only had two different OG mini dolls, and they were more expensive than I remembered them being. I decided to think about it.Then I forgot instead.
  The movies I needed to replace my broken Planet of the Apes Blu Rays weren't in stock at Barnes and Noble or Best Buy, both of which had had plenty around Christmas time. The books I wanted were either still in hard back, (Ken wanted to buy it for me anyway, but I said I'd wait.), or not in stock. I did order the one that was just out of stock.
   Ken and Emma got me something I wanted desperately and was afraid they hadn't gotten: tickets to see The Who this May!Whoo hoo! I told them the tickets were for sale before Christmas, and they already had them by then! They didn't give them to me for Christmas though. They tortured me by making me think I wasn't getting any tickets and having to wait until my birthday. We went to see The Who last year, and they were great. It was the first time I had ever gotten to see them, since I missed out getting to see them in the early 80's. (I was supposed to go with a friend and her mom,but I apparently insulted Elvis Presley and her mom wouldn't take me. I was traded in for a different friend who didn't even like The Who. The injustice of it all. I believe anybody has the right to not like Elvis without fear of losing their Who ticket, and I still stand by that.) Like last time, Ken and Emma are both going with me. Last tour was all Quadrophenia, and this tour is all hits. Emma hopes that this time she'll know more of the songs... 
  Ivy gave me this cool miniature glass jug.

I am going to have to get around to building that 1/6 scale antique store to display all my goodies in.
  Fuzz got me the complete 'Wings' series on DVD.

Ivy and I have been enjoying Wings recently on Netflix, but they don't have all the episodes.
  I got a few other things, as well as something that came in the mail a few days later. I'll share that another day, in more detail...
   
   In response to a comment I said I didn't get any toys on my birthday. That wasn't strictly true. I forgot I stopped at my favourite Goodwill on the way in to town and found all these goodies:
A mint condition Loopy Hair Spot Splatter Splash Lalaloopsy, and she has her complete outfit with shoes.

 She was only $1.50, so I didn't turn her down, even though I prefer the minis.Our local Salvation Army has been charging $7.99 and up lately for Lalaloopsy dolls, even without shoes.

The articulated dolls are Fashionistas I think...

...plus one Liv.

This guy isn't jointed, but he's brand new and complete.

I love the Tinkerbelle dolls. I was afraid this one had had a haircut, but no. Her hair is always like this.

The little Chelsie friend is so cute.

And this tiny football helmet will look great in a dollhouse kid's room. It's even detailed inside, and has a tiny chin strap!

I'm not sure what I'll do with this 1/6 scale wooden table and chairs set, but it was worth $1.50.

Ken says there is something else coming in the mail. Hmm...? A body for Michael Caine perhaps? That would be cool.

 That lone head is freaking people out.

Doll-A-Day 213: Talkin' 'Bout Boys Week: Allan

  As  the Shirelles, (and, curiously, The Beatles.) sang, this week we're "talkin' 'bout boys". It'll be a week  of boy dolls, including a few you may never have heard of. But today's doll will be familiar to collectors of vintage Barbie and friends,and, in character at least, to fans of modern Midge. It's Allan.

This is Straight leg Allan, the first Allan, in his original outfit.

Allan was introduced as Ken's best friend and Midge's boyfriend in 1964. (That was the same year Skipper was introduced, so Allan is also turning 50 this year.)

And he's got the bags under his eyes to prove it.

Like with Barbie and her friend Midge, Ken and his friend Allan shared a body mold, so they could also share clothes. No clothes were produced specifically for Allan except his original swim jacket and trunks outfits. His sandals were blue strap versions of Ken's red strap cork sandals.

I don't know how Ken or Allan ever got into the military with these flat feet.

Plus this Allan at least seems to have webbed toes. Strange that this foot seems to be so badly molded, because it's toes are sharper than the other foot's toes. Looks like he actually has molded toenails.

Oddly enough, I have two original straight leg Allan striped jackets, and one has an Allan label and one doesn't.

This one didn't. Apparently it's a rare variation. I learned this when I found my photo had been stolen by someone for their own webpage to illustrate the variation. The person left a comment on another post trying to push their own page, but not even bothering to tell me I had a rarity or ask for permission to use my photo. Thanks a lot.

He has the same 'manly physique' (Ahem.) as Ken.(The doll, that is.Not my husband. He's a bit, uh, beefier...)

 He did, however, have his own car. "Hey Ken, I want to go for a drive...Can I have some clothes?"

Skipper rides with you in Allan's new roadster.It's a two seater, so I guess it's just 'You' and Skipper. Allan's walking.

 Unfortunately for Allan, it's remembered as Skipper's car,in spite of the fact that she was way too young to drive, due to the fact that most of the packaging and advertising pictures pushed it as a car for Skipper to ride in.

Poor Allan doesn't even get his picture on the box.

 Worse yet, the shipping boxes actually said "Skipper sports car'.

Allan was named after Allan Segal, the husband of  Barbie originator Ruth Handler's daughter Barbara. So, in real life, Allan married Barbie. Allan's last name is Sherwood. He is the only Ken friend to be given a last name.

In his second year Allan was produced as a bend leg doll, in a short red jacket to match bend leg Ken's Blue one, and blue swim trunks.

He was also discontinued the same year. In spite of his short run, straight leg Allan is fairly plentiful and can be had for a reasonable price. Bend leg Allan is harder to find and more expensive.

Allan's of this era all had red hair and brown eyes, (making he and Skooter the ONLY brown eyed members of the Barbie crowd until Francie came along in 1966.

I bet Allan got the same comment I often used to get: "Your eyes are the same colour as your hair." I always hated that.

Allan resurfaced in 1991, with a new head mold and the spelling of his name curiously changed to 'Alan', as part of the Wedding Day Midge and Alan Gift Set, making him the only guy in the Barbie world to ever get married.(With Midge, of course, the only married woman.) He still had brown eyes and reddish brown hair.

Vintage Allan has molded wavy red hair.

After that Allan, or as he was now called, Alan, disappeared again for another 11 years, until the Happy Family line of dolls. This time around he had another head mold, and the red hair was a thing of the past, as were the brown eyes.

Just the other day I was in Meijer and noticed that Alan has been introduced into the line of Barbie: Life in the Dreamhouse dolls. (And, I suppose, into the animated series.) He's a brunette with very dark hair this time.
  Join me again tomorrow for another 'boy'.