Have you seen her?

No Throwback Thursday review this week.  I got lazy and airheaded and forgot what day it was, and thus the review is not ready.  Oh well, something for next week!  Instead I'll share a random post about a doll that I had once, then lost, and am trying to reconnect with.  When I was...oh, I'll say about seven...yeah, it was during my sister's thieving days so I had to have been pretty young.  Anyway, when I was about seven one of my father's sisters came for a visit, and for each of us she had a small toy.  She always brought some sort of toy for us, but this time she bestowed upon me a Barbie-sized doll.  I was NOT a doll fan at the time, but I liked this doll with her jet black hair and her wide smile.  The doll was clearly intended to be Native American, and of course her name was Pocahontas, though she didn't look a thing like the character from the movie that I was familiar with at the time.  She was a cute doll though, with a brightly colored dress and little vinyl moccasins that I loved.  The back of the box included a blurb of information about the real Pocahontas's life, and I was saddened to learn that she died young.  The box claimed that smallpox was her killer, though truthfully no one really knows what felled the young Native lady that spawned so many legends.  But anyway, I was quite fond of this doll and gave her a place of honor on my bookshelf.  I didn't play with her much, but I did like to look at her and occasionally remove a shoe for a closer look.  My mother was also smitten with the doll, often commenting on what a pretty smile she had, and my sister even liked her, to the point that she once absconded with her.

Given my fondness for "Pocahontas" I'm surprised that I lost track of her...but I did.  I guess I just assumed that I'd never want her again and gave her away at some point.  It took twenty years and some change before I even identified her.  This is a rough idea of what she looked like.

This is NOT the doll I owned, as my doll wore yellow and thankfully didn't come with a child.  But this will give y'all some glimpse of what she was like.  It'll also give y'all an idea of how "woo" these dolls were, as there's no attempt to create more than just a generic Indian doll.  Fortunately for me, it's possible to see (barely) the company that made these dolls down at the bottom of that box:  Totsy.  Totsy made their fair share of Barbie clones over the years, dolls like Flair, Twistee, and Sandi that maybe weren't quite as nice as Barbie but still were good enough of a plaything to last...unlike other certain little clone dolls that I know.  My doll certainly was not made of hollow plastic like Katya was, though I can't remember where on the clone continuum she would've fallen.  Definitely higher than Katya though, maybe close to Kari Mitchell and Savannah, though I'd have to examine this doll in person to make sure.

eBay and Etsy both have a handful of these dolls available, but none of them are the "Pocahontas" doll that I'm looking for.  I'm keeping my eyes peeled for a doll like the one above, but with a tribal-printed top and headband, plus a solid yellow skirt.  Not what I'd call accurate attire for a Native, but then again the name "Pocahontas" isn't really accurate either, not for every Native doll produced anyway.  If I ever find her again I'll probably rename her and tweak her backstory a bit so she won't be so "woo."

Regards,

RagingMoon1987