Doll-A-Day 2019 #154: Bicycling Stacie and Happy Birthday Emma!

  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.
 

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!

Doll-A-Day 2019 #153: Kid Kore Doll

  Today's doll is for Amaruq.

**UPDATE. Thanks to a reader who knows their Kid Kore stuff. Please read their information about Kid Kore in the comments.**  

Actually, there are two of them. They are Kid Kore dolls...I think.

You may have seen this one before. I named her Vanessa.

I used her in a couple of photo stories. You can see those HERE and HERE.

I've had her for quite a while. She was a member of  a family I put together when the kids were younger and I was playing with them.

These dolls are 8 inches tall.

They look alike, but there slight differences between them.

My original doll has bangs.

The extra doll doesn't,but I wonder if she did when she was new. There seems to be remnants of bangs.

But they both have a part in the back,and double ponytails.

Their hair is thinly rooted,and not a very good quality.

The face paint is the same.

They both have twist waists.

 

The extra girl seems to have had the same melting problem as dolls like Dusty and Dawn. That is, her legs and body have reacted together and 'melted'. Looks like her clothes got stuck in the plastic too.
 

Their other weakness is that their legs pop off easily at the hips.
They have click bend knees.

The main difference between the two is that Vanessa's head is on a ball joint that allows it to swivel and tilt, but looks really weird in some poses.

 

The other doll has a similar neck joint, but the ball is smaller. That means her head can't tilt as far as Vanessa's,but she doesn't look weird.

Vanessa's head also has a tendency to pop off easily too. The other girl has a much more secure head.
They have arms made in a bent position.
.

They're a hard size to find clothes for. They are very thin,and a weird height.Vanessa is wearing Bratz clothes that fit pretty well.

Original size Stacie shirts are too baggy and too short,as are the pants. Some of the clothes for the smaller Mary-Kate and Ashley clothes fit. I think current Stacie clothes might come close.

This is a Barbie shirt and I'm not sure about the pants.

That's the doll for today.

See you again tomorrow.

Doll-A-Day 2019 #152: Takara Jeff

  I am pooped! Today I not only got up early,after about 3 and a half hours of sleep, and went to a huge church sale and a few yard sales, but when I came home I hung the laundry,chopped branches off some bushes,took a short nap,pulled weeds,swept outside,pulled more weeds,and then pulled more weeds. I'm catching up on all the yard work that got away from me while I was sick all Spring. Then I finally ate,and sorted through a bunch of stuff. I found a bunch of dolls that are on their way out,but before they go I'll photograph them for the blog, and share them with you all. So now I am totally exhausted and my feet hurt.
     Today's doll is this guy.

He's Jeff.

At least, I think he's Jeff.

He's made by Japanese company, Takara.

I'm pretty sure he's Jenny's boyfriend Jeff.

The first Jeff was sold in 1985.

Jenny was Takara's competition for Barbie. In fact,she started out as Takara Barbie.

 

She became Jenny when Takara's licensing with Mattel ran out in 1986. At that point 'Takara Ken' became Jeff. This guy is marked 1985 and 1986. So is he Jeff or Ken?

Jeff is supposed to be 18 years old, and from Los Angeles.

Jeff,or Takara Ken, whichever he is,stands 12 inches tall.

He's a skinny guy,but he does have some muscle to him.

His legs don't bend.

He has one leg that is made slightly bent.

And he has knee caps.

His eyes are brown, (mostly black,really.),with two reflection dots of different colours.

  

Those are some pale pink lips! They're painted very thinly too.

His rooted hair is cut in layers around the sides.
 

The back doesn't just lay flat, and looks realistic.

I was surprised to find this guy at a thrift store. He was naked though, so he's borrowed some vintage Ken pants and shoes, and a shirt from who knows where.

 The pants are a little big.

 I'll have to dig out Emma's Takara dolls so he has somebody to hang out with.
 

  That's it for today. Come back tomorrow for another doll.