Doll-A-Day 2017 #2 Hugga Bunch Impkins

  I recently came across a Hugga Bunch doll.

  Now Hugga Bunch dolls have never really impressed me one way or another. That's kind of unusual, because most people either love or hate them. They either find them adorable, or are creeped out by their furry faces and weird little pin point eyes.

  Originally created as characters for Hallmark greeting cards, Hugga Bunch were licensed by Kenner and were produced as dolls, starting in 1985. That makes them Unsentimental Niece's era. In fact, I think I bought her one.

All the Hugga Bunch dolls had names.This one, as you can see from her 'bracelet' is Impkins.

  The dolls all had different colour hair,eyes, and outfits. There were also a couple of African American Hugga Bunch dolls.

The dolls came in large boxes with clear plastic fronts, alot like Cabbage Patch doll boxes.

  The large Hugga Bunch dolls all came with a tiny one, which was called a 'Hugglet'. Impkins' Hugglet was called Nuzzler.

Unfortunately I can't show you Nuzzler, because he's AWOL.
  Hugga Bunch dolls were about 18" tall. They are all plush and very soft and huggable,which is fitting I guess.

  After the dolls became popular there were tons of other Hugga Bunch products produced, including  small vinyl dolls, Viewmaster reels, and lunch boxes. (There's one of those around here somewhere, as well as a Christmas stocking. I really need to get rid of those.) Taco Bell gave out Hugglet sized dolls with their kid's meals.

This is a Taco bell doll named Gigglet

Much better than some of the junk you get now.A toy like this would cost quite a bit in stores.

  There was even a movie in 1985,which at a cost of $1.4 million was the most expensive  TV special ever produced at the time, and won an Emmy award for Outstanding Visual Effects. (Which seems a little surprising when you look at the movie now, but it was the 80's. Visual effects have advanced a lot since then. But even for the 80's,well, let's just say they weren't the Muppets.)You can watch the movie on Youtube HERE.
The dolls eventually lost popularity, as everything does, and were discontinued. They still have quite a following however, and are sought after by Hugga fans.

More Thrift Store Finds: Kenner Strawberry Shortcake, Friends, and Enemies

  As I mentioned last time, I made quite a few good finds at thrift stores last week. Today I'm showing you this lot of vintage Strawberry Shortcake dolls.

 I got these at Salvation Army. The bag included 8 dolls and was $7.99. Not bad.They all had shoes and hats too, (Except the boy, who is missing one shoe.),which is not usually the case when I find them. All but Strawberry still had their hats attached to their heads with those plastic things.
   Strawberry Shortcake was originally a character created in 1977 for greeting cards made by American Greetings. She was created by Murial Fahrion, who was an illustrator in the Juvenile and Humorous card department.She designed 33 characters in all. Later characters were designed by others. The first doll was a rag doll designed by Murial Fahrion, and created by her sister Susan Trentel. Unless you've been living in a hole you'll know that there has been a massive amount of Strawberry Shortcake stuff produced over the years. The licensing  has traded hands many times, and all sorts of products, including many different sized dolls, have been made by Kenner, Hasbro, Playmates,and Bandai.The dolls I'm showing you today are 5" tall,and were made by Kenner starting in 1979. They came scented with a scent that matched their character name. The dolls have usually lost their scents over the years.These are all super clean and still have their scent.
  I'm not up on my characters. I know Strawberry herself...

She has the original flat hands. The rest of the dolls have the curved hands

...and the Purple Pieman, (with his pet. I've seen it called Berry Bird and Cackle. Which is right?) and Sour Grapes, (and her snake Dregs), are the villains...

He even has his spoon.

...and the boy is Huckleberry Pie.

The others I had to do a little research on. From left to right: Lime Chiffon, Raspberry Tart,
Lemon Meringue, and Angel Cake. Raspberry Tart and Angel Cake are wearing each others shoes.

There were even three combs. I have never come across the combs, even though I find dolls now and then.

And some extras. The cape came in a carded fashion set.

 The blue hat belongs to Blueberry Muffin.

And don't worry about the little socks. The other one was hiding under Huckleberry Pie.I think they belong to Lem n' Ada or Apple Dumplin'. But where does the nightgown (?) come from, and what is the yellow thing? A sock?
I like the newer regular size Strawberry Shortcake dolls from Playmates and the mini dolls by Hasbro. I have several of each of those lines.I found one of the mini dolls with 'real' hair at Goodwill last week too.

Luckily I have some spare dresses for the mini dolls that I got at a yard sale a couple of years ago, because these dolls are always naked when I find them.
  I was never interested in the original generation Strawberry Shortcake dolls though. Maybe it's at least partially because they came out when I was going through the "I'm a grown up and no longer interested in toys" phase. (That didn't last!) But like most collectors I don't leave something of value behind when I find it. (I'm not stupid, after all!) So these dolls will be heading out when I get around to listing them.

Latest Thrift Store Finds: Fisher Price Woodseys

  To begin with, I have to say welcome to my two newest followers, Mommy and Me Dolls and Jenkypoo. Thanks for joining us!   
  Last week I made several good finds at thrift stores here in town. Since there were so many good things, I'll be showing them to you over the next week. First up is this Fisher Price Woodseys playset and family.

Their house is a log. It's a padded nylon type fabric with hard rubber ends and handle.

A closer look at the furniture.

The Woodseys came out in the late 70's and early 80's.

That would have been Unsentimental Niece's childhood. I bought her a lot of toys, and would definitely have bought these if I had seen them. I love this stuff! It's so cute. And I did always buy her stuff I liked!  (Fortunately we had a very similar taste in toys!)

  The playsets came with Woodsey books too. I'm not sure if they were sold separately.

 

Borrowed from the internet. I'll be glad to remove it if asked.

  The books were illustrated by Cindy Szekeres, who has written and  illustrated many popular children's books. She's well known for her illustrations of anthropomorphic animals,(Animals with human characteristics.), especially mice.

On the left is the little boy, on the right is the Dad. One end of their log house has a window.

And the other side has the door and a small window. The Mom is in red and has a molded plastic mob cap. The guy in green is Uncle Filbert. (A 'filbert' is a hazel nut, for those of you who don't know. Now you get the joke. He's a squirrel see, and...oh, you know.)Uncle Filbert runs the airport.

Or maybe he's just a pilot.

The door is supposed to close tight, but this one's fit is a little off and the door won't stay shut.

This is the outside of the fold down side. I love the artwork.

The inside is printed to look like a room.

Velcro keeps the front flap closed so the house can be used as a carry case with storage for the whole family and their furniture.

The handle on top is made to look like part of the log, complete with a cut off branch.

  The triangular thingy is the airport.

It has one of those airport windsock things on top.

The side.

Inside tools and a workbench are printed on the fabric.

The Woodsey logo on the bottom of the airport.

A closer look at the windsock.

  There was also a plane made of the same squishy padded fabric.
  The Blue Bird is V. B. (For 'Very Blue'.) Bird.

He's the mailman apparently.

 

This is from the internet. I'll remove it if asked.

  I would have wanted this set when I was a kid. I totally love the little log house. I always had a soft spot for books about mice and other tiny animals wearing clothes and making tiny miniature houses and furniture.
  There was also a Woodsey store playset and some other characters.
  Later this week we'll see some more thrift store finds I made recently.

Doll-A-Day 277: Cool Cuts Kara and Fashions By Me, Formerly: Mystery Girls: This one's for you Night Owl!

   UPDATE: Thanks to our readers Aubrey Silver and Night Owl for the information! The first doll featured is Cool Cuts Kara, and the second is Fashions By Me. For details, please see their comments below.

  I recently mentioned a doll I was trying to identify, and promised one of our followers, Night Owl, that I would post some pictures. I decided to use the mystery doll as the doll for today. Night Owl, if you recognize her, let me know. Anybody else is welcome to give us some information too, of course! I have also thrown in another mystery doll I've had laying around. She's another that I don't recognize, and maybe someone else will know who she is. Here they are.

Here's the first girl. She's Kool Kuts Kara.

She has non bending arms and legs, and she's about 13" tall.

She was made by Kenner in 1990.

She has empty plug holes in her head.

BIG holes.
 

 I have an extra head from the exact same doll, so we can see what the actual plugs looks like.

Once the plugs are in place the hair looks very full, in spite of  them being so far apart.

It's doing that sideways thing again.

  The plugs are removable, because you're supposed to be able to put new ones in when you've cut the  hair and want to have a fresh head of hair. So I could switch the plugs from bodyless girl to girl with a body. They are really tight in her head though, and don't seem like they will pull out.

Maybe I could just switch the heads?

 She has painted on shoes with a molded in detail. The same molded in design is on her undies.

I don't really want this doll, but I hate to just throw her away. I have a really hard time doing that. I always feel like someone somewhere would want anything if it's still usable at all, and I hate to be wasteful. If I could switch the hair, there would at least be one doll who could find a new home.

  You can watch a commercial for Kool Kuts Kara HERE.

 Here's the other girl.

She was made by Hasbro in 1982.

She reminds me of Morgan Fairchild.

Ahh! Big 80's hair!

She has weird slits in her torso, arms, and legs that seem to be for tucking fabric into so you can design outfits for her with fabric bits.

+

  

Her body has slits down the sides and that pink fabric is tucked into them.

What the heck?! Now we're doing UP SIDE DOWN TOO?!

Poor girl has a broken arm.And I think her dress is on backwards. Maybe she tried to put it on BY COMPUTER!!

She's slightly taller than the first girl, and she's kind of curved. I don't want her either, and she's broken, but I'm curious. Also, it would be good to know for future reference.
  Tomorrow's another doll. See you then.