I have mentioned many times that my oldest daughter,Emma, was a mad Stacie collector as a kid and teenager. Today is her 28th birthday,so to celebrate,today's doll is Bicycling Stacie.
The first doll I bought for Emma that was about Stacie sized was a Kid Kore Katie doll. I had gotten a Le Fleur display from our local KMart store. It was made to look like it had windows on the sides,so I thought it would make a good doll house. It was short though,so Barbie dolls didn't fit, but it was too big for dollhouse sized things. So I bought her a Katie to live in her house. That was when she was really small. When she was about to to turn six I made her her 'Emma the Doll'. Emma the Doll was made out of the Bicycling Whitney, Stacie's friend. There were three dolls in the series,and each doll in the series came with a different coloured bicycle and matching outifit. I picked Whitney because Whitney's were purple,Emma's favourite colour at the time.
There was also a Bicycling Janet, who came with a blue bicycle and a blue flowered outfit. The outfits all had the same print, just in different colours.
The outfits are one piece,and close in the back with one snap and Velcro.
The Bicycling dolls had a gimmick. They were extra articulated. While most Barbie and friends were only jointed at the neck,hips,and shoulders, ( Gymnast Barbie was the first super articulated Barbie, in 1993.),the Bicycling dolls were jointed at the neck,shoulders,elbows, waist,hips,and knees.
Those knee joints were notoriously weak though I don't remember how many times Emma the doll broke her leg. She had to go see Doctor Ken,who was from the Doctor Ken and Little Patient Tommy set that I owned. She would get a cast out on her leg, and after a few weeks Doctor Ken would remove the cast and her knee would be miraculously 'healed'. Who knows how it happened that plastic healed. I just know I have a lot of cheap jointed dolls in my closet that are missing a leg. I think Emma still has at least one of those casts somewhere. We always signed them. One of them got immortalized on tape when I made a movie for Emma and Fuzzy using their Emma and Fuzzy the Dolls. Part of it was made during filming, and my cameraman,who was Ken that day and not myself,got the cast in the shot. Emma the Doll's knee got broken so many times that it became a joke when she went to see Doctor Ken for
anything. He would pull out his chart and say,"So your name is Emma the Doll and you have a broken leg..." I even used it on any other dolls the kids sent to Doctor Ken. No matter who it was, or what they were there for, he would bring out the clip board and say,"So your name is Emma the Doll and you have a broken leg." The kids would have their doll insist that their name was not Emma the Doll. Then I would aggravate them for a while,turning everything they said into Doctor Ken's guess at their name,and never getting it right.
Their legs could also had a special joint that allowed them to move out to the sides.
The legs were floppy,so they could move with the pedals when the bike was rolled, to look like they were pedaling. They got even more floppy after lots of play.Those loose legs were a little spooky when Emma took Emma the Doll into the bathtub with her. Emma the Doll would be floating around in the tub,and any movement Emma the kid made in the water would make waves,bouying Emma the Doll into motion,and those floppy legs would look like they were kicking. Emma the Doll appeared to swim all by herself. Emma loved that she seemed alive.
But the knees can lock in place for stiffer legs, allowing Stacie to stand unaided. That is,if you can get her balanced correctly.
That's not easy to do,with all that hair.
Her arms can also move out to the sides,so she can,for example,do this.
Since she has a jointed waist, so she can twist and turn to the side,or lean.
Her head can tilt as well as turn.
Bicycling Stacie was made in 1996,and as I remember, was the first Stacie doll with extra articulation.I swear Gymnast Stacie came later. She had joined ankles too.
This Stacie has a very unrealistic lip colour,and earrings to match!
The other two dolls in the series had earrings too, but theirs only matched their outfits, and not their lips!
The bikes had accents that were a different colour from the bike itself.
This bike had purple pedals, which are missing. The purple bike had green pedals, and the blue bike had pink pedals.
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| The bike 'chain' is rubber, but it actually moves the pedals when the back wheel is turned. The doll's feet snapped into the pedals so the doll's legs moved and the doll appeared to actually be pedaling the bike when it was pushed. |
That seems to be one of the things that is missing from these bikes when they show up. This bike also had a white bike basket and a tan puppy that sat in it. Whitney came with a a gray and white cat. That was perfect for Emma at the time, because we had a gray and white cat then. Her name was Maria,(Emma named her after Maria in "The Sound of Music".),and she was Emma's favourite.
That's today's doll. See you again tomorrow for another one!
