Doll-A-Day 2019 #105: Red Fraggle

  Today I,like a lot of you, I'm sure, spent  part of the day watching Notre Dame burn. Apart from it's religious significance,it is a piece of historical architecture and a work of art, with many other works of art within. I think what happened today is a tragedy. It brought me to tears, and I've never even been there.
   Returning to my happy place,we're moving on to today's doll. Today we're looking at Red.

 

Red is a Fraggle,as in "Fraggle Rock",the TV series by Jim Henson,creator of The Muppets. 

 
"Fraggle Rock"  originally aired between 1983 and 1987. As you may know from reading the blog, I have loved the Muppets since I was a kid, in the 60's. Fraggle Rock came a little late for me. Since it was a kid's show,and I was grown by then, I never got that into it. But when my kids came along, they watched it and enjoyed it.(And I got to watch it with them.)
 

There were original era Fraggle dolls made by Tomy, and later, Hasbro. This doll was made by Manhattan Toy in 2009. I have a couple of the original Fraggles too,but Red is my only newer one.

She's about 18 inches tall.

She's a pretty good likeness of the TV character. For those of you who think it's not that hard to make a doll who looks like a puppet character,it's harder than you think.

  Tomorrow we'll look at another doll.

Doll-A-Day 2017 #132: Jewel Sparkles and Tippy Tumbelina

  More of the never ending Goodwill haul! Today's doll is two:these two Lalaoopsey plush dolls.

The larger one,who is winking is Jewel Sparkles from the Sew Silly Chatters series.

Being part of the Sew Silly Chatters series means she's a talking doll.

Maybe that's why her mouth is open.

She has a handle pull string in her back that activates her voice.

I love her printed and embroidered hair. She's not much of a stander. Her legs can't hold her up.Her little printed shoes are actually printed with soles too.

Her slightly smaller friend is Tippy Tumbelina.
 

Tippy has  the same printed and embroidered hair, but she doesn't talk.

Her fishnet tights and ballerina slippers are printed on,as is the tulle underskirt.

The outer tulle is real. In case anybody forgets, or she gets lost,she has a heart on her bottom on which to write the name of her owner.

These are my first lalaoopsey plush dolls. While I like them, and it's nice to have them, I don't feel the need to have any more. These will do.
Tomorrow is Shrunken Saturday, and we'll see some small dolls from the haul. See you then.

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.