http://mikeysdolls.blogspot.ca/p/mikeys-doll-wish-list.html
31. Maxx FX, 10 inch doll by Matchbox, 1989
This doll was made using the 10 inch Mego doll body, so I consider this to be a Mego. Unfortunately the Mego company went out of business in the early 1980s, so other toy companies began using Mego doll bodies. Matchbox is one of those companies. They released this 10 inch Freddy themed doll at the same time as their 18 inch talking doll of Freddy, which I don't have on my list 'cause I think it's ugly!
This Max FX pic is from this site:
32. The Lone Ranger, 10 and 8.5 inch doll series by Gabriel, 1973
Throughout the 1970's Gabriel produced an excellent series of 10 inch dolls based on the Lone Ranger that I've always admired, but to date the villain Butch Cavendish is the only doll from this series that I have managed to add to my collection. I especially like the dolls of Lone Ranger and Tonto. This series also has "kid sized" characters Little Bear, shown below, and Dan Reid which are both 8.5 inches. Gabriel made all the main characters their own horse to ride as well as additional accessories. It would be awesome to collect this entire series; it's easily one of the best collections of "boys dolls" to be produced in the 1970's.
The Lone Ranger 10 inch doll by Gabriel, 1973
Tonto 10 inch doll by Gabriel, 1973
Little Bear 8.5 inch doll by Gabriel, 1973
33. Battlestar Galactica, 8 and 6 inch dolls by Bif Bang Pow, 2012
I have the first four dolls in this series and would someday like to get the entire collection. Most of all I 'd like to get Boxey and Muffit which were released as a special collectors set with a retro tin lunchbox, and a doll of one of the aliens which I think is quite ugly (so I cropped it out). The set is still available on the Entertainment Earth website, so maybe someday soon? This is a really cool series and I find it's a shame they didn't continue it with the five remaining prototype dolls that were announced, including Lt. Boomer!
34. The Archies, 8 inch dolls by Marx Toys, 1975
This series is from the mid 70s when Mego's 8 inch dolls were dominating the toy industry. What's so interesting to me about this series is that it's by Marx Toys, which produced the very popular "Best of the West" large size action figure series from 1965 to 1976. This is one of their rare (if not their only) attempts at a Mego-style doll series, which I find is significant in regards to the history of "dolls for boys". In addition, this is a well done series based on the famous Archie comic book characters which were featured in the 1968 animated TV series "The Archies Show", about a music band made up of teenagers. The show was being broadcast in re-runs when this toy line was first marketed. According to Wikipedia, the show generated the popular song Sugar, Sugar which reached number one on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1969.
35. Doctor Doolittle, 6 inch doll and 22 inch talking doll by Mattel, 1967
This is a small 6 inch bendy doll based on the 1967 Doctor Doolittle movie. The hat and clothes are removable. Although I'm not usually interested in bendy dolls, Mattel did an excellent job on the costume and the head sculpt for this doll. Mattel also made a 22 inch talking doll of Doctor Doolittle which I'd also like to get some day in the original box.
Doctor Doolittle 6 inch bendy doll by Mattel.
The 6 inch doll in the original box came with a parrot, which is unfortunate as it's kinda huge and ugly which distracts from the excellent job done on the Doolittle doll itself.
This is the 22 inch talking Doctor Doolittle doll in the original box.
Here is the talking doll out of the box next to the 6 inch doll for size comparison. The 6 inch doll's hat was made out of plastic, but the talking doll's hat was fabric and not made to be very sturdy, as such it seems that it's quite easily damaged. This image was found at this site:
36. Bobby Orr, 12 inch doll by Regal Toy, 1975
This is perhaps the first ever celebrity doll to be based on a hockey player. Regal Toy was a very well known Canadian Toy company, so it's quite logical that they would have offered a Bobby Orr doll. There are two variations of the doll as it can be found with two very different dead sculpts. Regal Toy also made 12 different fashion sets for the Bobby Orr doll which were each sold separately in boxes. As this was issued in the mid 1970's, some of the outfits are quite unique.
I'm not certain which version of the doll was issued first, however I find the above doll head is quite generic and looks nothing like Bobby Orr, while the version shown below at least somewhat looks like him and is the one that I like best. It's also interesting that the above version does not seem to have been sold with gloves, while the below version did have gloves.
These photos were found at this site: http://www.bobbyorrcollector.com/?p=1490
37 The Boy, 8.5 inch doll by Gabriel, 1976
While Gabriel was still producing their awesome Lone Ranger series of dolls, they used the same doll body from their Dan Reid doll for "The Boy" in their Lassie series. Although the character's name is Timmy, for some reason Gabriel marketed the doll simply as "The Boy". I like how this doll looks, with his happy face and the overalls. I'm not especially interested in the Lassie figure, but it goes with the Boy doll, so I'd probably want to get Lassie too if ever I added the Boy doll to my collection.
The Boy doll is missing his white shoes in this photo.
Here's a closer look a the Boy doll's face.
Here's a bad photo of the original packaging for this set, which was called "Lassie and Her Friends".
The box shows the names of the two figures as Lassie and "The Boy", instead of Timmy.
The Lassie figure was also sold separately in a box with a wagon.
The puppy and blue basket also came with the "Lassie and Friends" set shown above.
Gabriel even made Lassie and the Boy a farm playset, which is actually quite impressive. It came with the wagon that was also sold with the boxed Lassie, as well as a non-articulated horse figure. I've found an image of the front of the box, shown below.
38. Terminator, 12 inch doll by Kenner (Hasbro), 1997
Back in the early 1990's I was a huge fan of the Terminator movies, especially Terminator 2: Judgment Day, which in addition to being an awesome movie had a new song from my favourite band, "You Could Be Mine" by Guns N' Roses. I hoped that a Terminator doll would be made but I never saw one. Just this year (2015) I came across pictures of Hasbro's 12 inch Terminator doll online, and was amazed to learn that such a doll has actually been produced. It was marketed in 1997, several years after the movie's 1991 release. As such, I suspect that this doll was originally sold at Universal Studios Theme Park at the "T2 3D: Battle Across Time" attraction which featured an all new 12 minute film starring the original cast of Judgment Day. This would explain the "3D" on the cover of the box. Therefore, the doll would have only been available in the United States in limited distribution, which is why I missed out on it back in the 1990's. (Update: I have since seen this doll on ebay with a Toys R Us price tag on the box, as such the doll wasn't exclusive to the theme park as I had thought!) Now that I know it exists, I want one!!! It could be mine!
To my knowledge it's rare that Mattel would purposefully issue a variation of a specific Ken doll, so this Ken is quite an anomaly. Not only is there a variation of the Hot Skatin' Ken doll, the same doll was also used in a different set as Winter Sports Ken, making for three distinct variations. I love collecting variations like this and someday would like to place all three side by side mint in the box. Additionally, I like Ken's one piece outfit as it is quite similar in style to Mego's printed superhero outfits. Essentially, if you took Ken's head off and replaced it with Spider-Man's you have the same product.
Here are the two packaging variations for Hot Skatin' Ken, as he was positioned in two different poses. Accessories include a pair of black skates, yellow rollerblades and an orange cycling style helmet.
Winter Sports Ken is the same doll and outfit as Hot Skatin' Ken with the same black skates, but the other accessories were different. They include a violet pair of ski boots, skis, ski poles, a snowboard, and a ski jacket. All three of these dolls were made in 1994. I like how the fabric for the top half of the outfit is a random pattern as no two outfits will be identical. The same is true for Rock Flower Doug's shirt, shown below.
40. James Dean, 9 inch doll by Exclusive Premiere, 1997
I have a small collection of James Dean memorabilia which includes two dolls, so this would be the third one I'd be adding to my collection. There are still several others that I don't have, but this is the only one to date that I'd be interested in acquiring. I find all of the Exclusive Premiere dolls are quite well made, and even though they are 9 inches, they were definitely made to invoke the 8 inch Mego doll style.
41. Rock Flowers Doug / Real Men Assortment, 6.5 inch dolls by Mattel, 1970 - 1974 and 1986
Rock Flowers Doug is a bendy style doll that Mattel first produced from 1970 to 1974 as the lone male in their Rock Flowers doll series marketed for girls. I like Doug's retro disco outfit and the sculpting for the face and bendy doll body. I've never actually seen one of these close up other than in photos, but it looks as though Doug is the original source for Mattel's Real Men series of finger puppet dolls, produced in 1986. I have the Real Men Soccer set and am hoping someday to add the rest of the Real Men series to my collection. This includes a Football set, a Skateboarder, a Boxer and a Cheerleader.
42. Scott, 10 inch doll by Mattel, 1980
I like male dolls that have rooted hair as most male dolls have sculpted hair. This one has curly permed hair which is unusual for a Ken style doll. But in truth what I like best about this doll is the artwork on the box. Even though this doll was released in 1980 the box has a very awesome 70s style to it. Scott certainly likes showing off his legs with those short shorts! Believe it or not, that was the usual style back then for men's shorts... how times have changed! This doll was made using the Jimmy Osmond doll body that Mattel first produced in 1978, which explains why Scott's left arm is bent (Jimmy came with a microphone). I have the Jimmy Osmond doll in my collection and posted a picture of it on this page of my blog: http://mikeysdolls.blogspot.ca/p/tv-character-dolls.html
Rock Flowers Doug is a bendy style doll that Mattel first produced from 1970 to 1974 as the lone male in their Rock Flowers doll series marketed for girls. I like Doug's retro disco outfit and the sculpting for the face and bendy doll body. I've never actually seen one of these close up other than in photos, but it looks as though Doug is the original source for Mattel's Real Men series of finger puppet dolls, produced in 1986. I have the Real Men Soccer set and am hoping someday to add the rest of the Real Men series to my collection. This includes a Football set, a Skateboarder, a Boxer and a Cheerleader.
Here is Rock Flowers Doug on a record shaped doll stand that came with one of the female Rock Flower dolls. Poor little Doug was sold loose in a baggie while the four female dolls in this series were sold in nicely designed and decorated window boxes. From this image one would conclude that Doug was packaged without shoes or a belt, but I've seen images of unpacked dolls online in which he has black shoes and a brown belt, so I'm not quite sure what's going on there?
Here's Doug with his shoes and belt. I found this image on this excellent website which details the history of Doug and his 6.5 inch doll ancestors: http://www.whos-that-doll.com/Manly_men.html
Here is Doug's bendy doll body which has moulded underwear.
This is the Real Men Football set from 1986, by Mattel
A closer look at the Real Men football player finger puppets.
Here is the Real Men Skateboarder finger puppet by Mattel
The Real Men Boxer finger puppet was also a wrestler. He came with boxing glove hands, regular hands, and a base with a punching bag. This puppet had kids use their fingers as the arms instead of the legs.
Lastly, the Real Men Cheerleader, which is an odd addition to the series. This one was marketed for girls instead of boys. Apparently in 1986 girls didn't play any sports so Mattel never bothered with a "Real Women" series, and only offered a stereotypical blond haired Cheerleader as part of the Real Men collection. The puppet came with roller skates as well as shoes. It would have been priceless if Mattel had pictured a boy playing with this toy on the packaging! Doubtful that even today in 2015 any toy company would dare do such a thing. It seems that the marketing of dolls is to be forever stuck in gender stereotypical roles for both boys and girls!
42. Scott, 10 inch doll by Mattel, 1980
I like male dolls that have rooted hair as most male dolls have sculpted hair. This one has curly permed hair which is unusual for a Ken style doll. But in truth what I like best about this doll is the artwork on the box. Even though this doll was released in 1980 the box has a very awesome 70s style to it. Scott certainly likes showing off his legs with those short shorts! Believe it or not, that was the usual style back then for men's shorts... how times have changed! This doll was made using the Jimmy Osmond doll body that Mattel first produced in 1978, which explains why Scott's left arm is bent (Jimmy came with a microphone). I have the Jimmy Osmond doll in my collection and posted a picture of it on this page of my blog: http://mikeysdolls.blogspot.ca/p/tv-character-dolls.html
43. Cowardly Lion Variations, 8 inch dolls by Mego, 1974
I find it interesting that Mego produced several versions of their 8 inch Cowardly Lion doll....
Here is the brown version of the Lion that I have in my collection. It has an orange painted face with light brown around the outside edge, and a brown costume. His legs are plush but not furry. I don't have any of the other four variations shown below. There may even be more than that!
Here is an orange version which has a solid orange face and orange costume with furry light brown legs. I've shown it in the box. There are several variations of the box too!
Two more variations: The one on the left has a light orange or light brown face (hard to tell from the photo) with a yellow costume, light brown chest fur and greenish brown furry legs. The one on the right has the same costume but with orange chest fur that seems to have a trim around it. This one also has a solid bright orange face.
This is the yellow version which has a solid yellow painted face and a yellow fabric costume with a thicker plush light brown fabric on the legs.
44. Jude Deveraux: The Raider, 12 inch doll by Mattel, 2003
This is a funny one... in the early 2000s Mattel used their Max Steel doll body with a new Ken style head to produce this romance novel themed Ken and Barbie set. I'm not interested in the Barbie, but the Ken doll is awesome, not to mention hilarious! Mattel gave "The Raider" long rooted hair, a white puffy sleeved open shirt to show off the buff chest from Max Steel, and some cool knee high boots.
Here's a promotional image that shows the prototype dolls. The Max Steel head sculpt was used for this photo, but the actual doll has a completely different head, shown below.
This is how the set came packaged in the box.
45. John Travolta, 12 inch doll by Chemtoy, 1977
Less than a year after Mattel produced their Welcome Back Kotter 9 inch doll series, which included John Travolta's character Vinnie Barbarino, the Chemtoy company produced their 12 inch John Travolta doll. Unfortunately, both dolls were made with very limited articulation. None the less, as a fan of both the Welcome Back Kotter TV show and the movie Grease, which Travolta would star in the following year in 1978, this doll is a must have for my collection along with the Mattel dolls, which I already have. However, this Chemtoy doll is less common than the Mattel dolls so it's a bit more of a challenge to find one in good condition with the original box. I love the 1970's look of this doll too!!!
46. Assorted Licensed Characters, 12 inch dolls by Mattel, 1990s to present
The Mattel toy company has produced hundreds of Ken style dolls as licensed characters and there are many that I'm interested in. Several of these have been included higher up on this list in different places. There are many others that I'm interested in but am not particular about the order in which I find them, so I've grouped them all together here.
The Hunger Games: Catching Fire, Peeta and Finnick 12 inch dolls, loose (above) and in original boxes (below), by Mattel 2013.
Divergent, Four doll in original package and loose (above) and showing the detail on the doll's back, below), by Mattel 2014.
Update! I'm quite happy to say that in April 2017 this Divergent, Four doll became a new addition to the collection! As such, it's now been added to the "Movie Character Dolls" page of this blog, here: http://mikeysdolls.blogspot.ca/p/movie-character-dolls.html
Speed Racer Ken doll, by Mattel 2008. Unfortunately Mattel packaged this doll with a Barbie, shown below. I wish they didn't do that. They'd likely sell more Ken dolls if they sold him on his own, especially for a doll like this one.
Wizard of Oz, Winkie Guard and Winged Monkey, by Mattel 2007
Pirates of the Caribbean, Captain Jack Sparrow
(complete with shrunken head on his belt!), by Mattel 2011
47. Lou Holtz, 12 inch doll, manufacturer unknown, made between 1977 - 1982
This doll is so cheesy that it's awesome! I saw a picture of this doll in a doll collecting book many years ago and have wanted one ever since. It's a funny doll and I like the 1970's style and design. This doll is based on Lou Holtz, the coach for the Arkansas Razorbacks from the University of Arkansas. It was originally packaged in a clear baggie and comes with a red plastic base to stand the doll on. The book "Hogs: A History, The Story of Razorbacks Football" by George Schroeder, published in 2005, states (on page 154) that Holtz became coach for the Razorbacks "following the 1976 season", and "was fired after six seasons", which would place this doll as having been made between 1977 and 1982. According to the doll collecting book that I mentioned (unfortunately I didn't make note of the title when I photocopied some pages in it), the only manufacturer's mark on the doll is "Hong Kong" on the back of the head, so we know where the doll was made but the identity of the company that marketed this doll is a mystery. It could be that this doll was produced "in house" by the University of Arkansas or Razorbacks management as a promotional item to be distributed on campus, or it could have been made by a commercial manufacturing company for broader public distribution.
This doll is based on the 1995 film Apollo 13 that was directed by Ron Howard. I had a few chances to by this doll over the years but for some reason unknown to me I keep passing it up, even though I think it's an awesome doll. Huston, I have a problem!
49. Big Bang Theory - Sheldon, 18 inch talking doll by Wonderland Toys, 2015
This is one of those cases in which I want a doll that's based on a TV show that I don't even watch. I tried getting into the show but unfortunately I just don't get it. Clearly It's just me though as the show is so popular. In any case, this doll is awesome so it would be an nice addition to my 18 inch talking doll collection.
Update! I'm quite happy to say that in May 2017 this doll became a new addition to the collection! As such, it's now been added to the "Talking Dolls" page of this blog, here:
http://mikeysdolls.blogspot.ca/p/talking-dolls.html
Update! I'm quite happy to say that in May 2017 this doll became a new addition to the collection! As such, it's now been added to the "Talking Dolls" page of this blog, here:
http://mikeysdolls.blogspot.ca/p/talking-dolls.html
This "Wish List" will never be finished! I'm sure there will be more dolls added here someday!!!!
Text © Mike Artelle, 2015
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