Introducing Living Fluff

It's a livin' thing!  LOL, okay, she's not really alive, but say hello to a doll I never dreamed I'd find, not in a million years.  To keep myself occupied on another solitary Valentine's Day, here's Living Fluff. 

Fluff???  Who names their kid Fluff???  Maybe it's a nickname, maybe something that matches those admittedly fluffy pigtails.  Anywho, I found Fluff on eBay for what I thought was a steal, though she does have some issues that justified the lower price.  She's got a crack on her left butt cheek and her feet are chewed (the eBay seller was honest about this).  I may review her fully at some later date and discuss these issues in detail.  She does have her original swimsuit though, and I love the colors.

Ball-jointed doll owners like to talk about the "new doll smell," the whiff of freshly-cast resin that wafts out of the box when it's opened.  I like the "new doll smell," but I also like the "old doll smell" in moderation.  Fluff has the "old doll smell," smelling lightly of aged rubber and plastic, with a bit of crayon thrown in.  I don't think it's the smartest idea to go around sniffing on old dolls given the chemicals that went into their plastic, but I still like the way Fluff smells.  All of Fluff's joints work except for her left elbow; the right one bends but the left one stays straight.

Par for the course with a doll this age.  One can't have that many joints and not expect something to break.  Fluff is a bit like my old Sindy in this case, though Sindy's bum joint is her ankle...and I did that to her.  These dolls photograph well together, by the way.

Hmm...perhaps a better comparison would've been Licca-chan, who also has a busted left elbow.

Y'all will never see Licca like that again, by the way; she's changed forever (in a good way, I promise).  Anyway, Fluff makes up for her bum elbow in having something that very few mod-era dolls had:  a head that swivels and tips.  From what I understand all the Living and Live Action dolls had necks like this.

A bit about Miss Fluff in general (not just my doll):  she's a late mod-era friend of Skipper's and was released in 1971, right around the time that Live Action Barbie and Living Barbie came out.  Joints were the thing back then, and both those lines could move all over.  The Living line consisted of...I think it was just Barbie, Skipper, and Fluff, while the Live Action series had Barbie, Ken, P.J., and a very unusual Christie that used the Midge head mold.  Both the Living and Live Action line are bad about getting frozen joints; their soft vinyl limbs melt and stick to their hard plastic torsos.  Some of y'all may remember that my little Southern belle Rosa Lee Linden had that problem, as did Sindy to a lesser extent.  According to the Doll Collector's Daughter, Fluff was the first new friends Skipper had since Ricky and Skooter were discontinued in 1967.  Poor Skipper, that must've been lonely!  Anywho, Mattel never said officially that Fluff and P.J. are related, but they sure do have a lot of similarities!

I even got them dresses that coordinate!

They won't be getting to wear these until springtime, though.  There's something about those stripes that just screams "spring."  Fluff is not pleased that she'll have to wait and I'm not either, but...well, tough titties for both of us!  As an aside, Fluff originally came with little ribbons in her hair (one for each pigtail), but as is often the case with these dolls mine are MIA.  I'm not sure if I want to replace those ribbons with other ribbons, or if I want to give a nod towards Fluff's (assumed) relationship with P.J. and cobble together some love beads.  Either one would be easy, but I'm not sure yet which I want to do.  Either way those rubber bands will not be staying bare.

Fluff was around for one, count 'em, ONE year before vanishing into Obscure Dolly Heaven.  I think that's a shame; I love her quirky, stylized face and her goofy little smile, and I think there could have been a place for her in the Barbie lineup if they'd just stuck with her.  With that curly blonde hair she would've made a fine Quick Curl friend, or maybe she could've joined the Growing Up crew...no, that wouldn't have been good.  Growing Up Skipper and her friend Ginger caught so much flack that poor Ginger was axed right then and there.  Anyway, Fluff was gone by 1972, replaced by a very similar friend named Tiff, a red-haired tomboy that became Pose 'n' Play Skipper's new comrade.  Tiff also saw a short life and she's EXPENSIVE on eBay!!!  Not that I need her, LOL!

As a last little note, I don't have a vintage Skipper (yet).  However, I do have a modern Skipper doll, and she has the same aesthetic as the original Skipper.  Let's see how she and Fluff look together.

Reunited and it feels so good!  The two still make a cute pair, even though Skipper is quite clearly now a preteen.  Probably after I've put the camera away she'll tell Fluff the exciting story of growing into a teenager and then regressing in age again.  That's a story I'd like to hear myself, quite frankly.

Happy Valentine's Day,
RagingMoon1987