Throwback Thursday review: Liddle Kiddles

Last week I introduced y'all (and myself) to the Soda Fizz Kids, which were an obvious knockoff of Mattel's Liddle Kiddles, so to misquote "Islands in the Stream" this is the week for the real thing.  Not that Cherry Fizz is a bad doll, of course!  Perhaps I should say the original ones rather than the real thing.  Anyway, here's the star of this review, since she has all her pieces and ties in directly with Cherry Fizz.  She's Kleo Kola, a Kola Kiddle.

Helping her along the way will be my other three Kiddles, Greta Griddle, Liddle Diddle, and Sizzly Friddle.

Also along for the ride is this cute little clone doll, whose name and maker I don't know.  She bears a passing resemblance to Lottie Locket, a Liddle Kiddle that resided in a piece of jewelry.

Kiddle clones were very common, common enough that I'm having trouble identifying which company made this little one.  There were Blue Box's Shrimpies, Tico Toys' Little People, Transogram's Karen the Career Kid, Storykins, which were apparently available from Post Cereal, these unmarked Dolly Littles, and...oh Lordy, I could go on forever!  Takara even got in on the action with...I think they're called Chibikko Chii-chan or something like that.  I think Chibikko was just the name of the line and "Chii" is the name of an individual character, as "Chibikko" translates as "little child," among other things.  My little clone is clearly not a Chibikko doll as they are very distinctive and apparently fairly tough to find (they're also super-cute).  Shillman, a company that apparently specialized in knockoffs, apparently made Kiddle clones as well.  Unfortunately I haven't been able to find any pictures of the Shillman knockoffs so I can't match my doll to them.  The closest match I could grub up were these dolls that reside in small wristwatches; they have simple clothes and painted shoes like my doll does.  Maddie Mod is also a possibility.  For now, since this little gal is the smallest of my dolls I'm going to call her "Liza Little" (not to be confused with the Littles, another line of small dolls made by Mattel).

The Liddle Kiddles were produced during the second half of the sixties (as opposed to the eighties for the Littles).  They saw a couple of revivals in 1994 (Tyco) and 1996 (Uneeda, who changed the name of the line to "Liddle Toodles"), but the Mattel dolls are the ones I associate with the name.  For those of y'all who might be familiar with Barbie's siblings Tutti and Todd, the Kiddles are very much like them but on a smaller scale.  Instead of being jointed like Barbie, the Kiddles had one-piece bodies (not terribly unlike Softina's) plus a vinyl head.  These bodies were made of very soft vinyl and had little wires inside, allowing for posing.  The Kiddles varied widely in size, ranging from the Jewelry Kiddles (seven-eighths of an inch) to the Skediddle Kiddles (four inches, like a Kelly doll).  Most of my girls fall between those two extremes, being bigger than two-inch Liza Little, but smaller than my Kelly-sized Sparkle Girlz doll.  The Sparkle Girl fits in surprisingly well with this pint-sized troupe due to her impish little eyes.

I apologize for not having a Skediddler to show y'all; they walked or rode some sort of vehicle and were very cute.  Unfortunately they were also fairly dangerous, as their legs popped off easily and made something good to choke on.  Cherry Blossom, my favorite Kiddle, is/was a Skediddler and would've been perfect for last week's review given her passing resemblance to Cherry Fizz, but she's unfortunately very expensive for such a small doll.  Kleo herself was fairly expensive for her size, but it was a price I could easily swing so I got her anyway.  Let's look at her a little more closely now.  Kleo's soda bottle works similarly to Cherry Fizz's, in that the bottom pops off and releases the doll.  The bottle is more detailed than Cherry's is, but we'll discuss that when we come to it.  Here's what Kleo looks like out of the bottle.

Here's how Kleo and Cherry Fizz compare visually when inside their bottles...

...and out.  Cherry is obviously quite a bit bigger than Kleo, even when she sits.

Getting to specifics, there were six Kola Kiddles, each with their own flavor and color.  Since they resided in soda bottles they had to be a little on the small side, and indeed Kleo is two inches in height.  She's close in size to Liza Little, and smaller than Liddle Diddle.

And to think that Liddle Kiddles could get even smaller than that!  For the more modern mindset, here's how Kleo compares to Li'l Miss Baby, the smaller of my two Li'l Outrageous Littles, and to my smallest Calico Critter...I think this one's name is Angelica? 

Nowadays a Kiddle-sized doll might have molded hair, but Kleo's is rooted and done up in a fairly elaborate style.  The base style is a simple ponytail, but the ends have been curled two different directions.  One curl goes up and the other goes down, like so.

The front has bangs and two dainty little spit curls.

The fibers are a lovely shade of dark auburn, perfect for a doll that's modeled after cola.

Actually this color looks more like root beer than the colas that I'm familiar with, but root beer is soda too.  Too bad this little gal couldn't have been Rita Root Beer or something like that.  This is not bad hair though, especially for such a small doll.  It can't be restyled or played with much, but it's nice enough.  I don't dare take the style down and look at the root job, so y'all are stuck with a picture of the hairline.  The hairline is tightly rooted, so hopefully that'll mean that the rest of the root job is alright.

On the other hand, my other Liddle Kiddles have pathetic root jobs (Sizzly's is shown here), so maybe Kleo's elaborate topknot is hiding a world of sins.

Kleo's face and head appear to be in better shape than those of my other Kiddles, in that her complexion is very pinkish.  I can only assume that that plastic bottle offered up a bit of protection from the elements, and that helped Kleo's complexion stay nice.

Despite being the smallest of my Kiddles, Kleo looks more mature.  Her facial features, especially her eyes, are of similar shape to those of Greta (due to her height I usually assume that Greta is the oldest child).

Kiddle eyes could be just about any color conceivable, but most of the ones I've encountered over the years have brown or blue eyes.  Kleo's eyes are an unusual shade of brown, similar to chocolate milk, with very heavy eyeliner and brown eyebrows that match her hair.  The white light clusters are painted unevenly, making Kleo's eyes look wonky.  That's the only paint screw-up I see though, aside from some little flecks here and there.

That eye makeup is a lot heavier than that of the other Kiddles, not unlike a style I wore during college.  Luckily Kleo is smarter than I am and went easy on the lipstick.  Her lips are watermelon-colored like Cherry Fizz's lips are, but the paint is more even.  Despite being a tiny doll Kleo has a little bit of definition molded into her face.  The corners of her mouth sport minuscule dimples, as does her chubby little chin.

Just for the heck of it, here's her profile.  She's got a cute profile, one that softens her grown-up visage a bit.

Now to the body.  Here is where Kleo departs from her larger counterparts, as her clothes are...not removable.  I can understand this, since removable clothes would've been quite a feat for a doll this size.  It's a teensy bit of a bummer, but I can still understand why Mattel did this and I'm not going to fault them or Kleo for it.  Anyway, Kleo's dress is made of satin and is a rich, pretty brown shade.  It looks like it's supposed to be a tent dress or maybe an A-line, both of which were popular during Kleo's day.  The bottom hem is trimmed with a couple of layers of gold cord.

Let's confirm that there is no opening in back, just a seam.

Underneath her dress Kleo wears some little drawers, made of the same fabric as the dress.  These don't come off either, and I suspect that they may be glued on.  If so Mattel did a good job with the gluing.

On her feet Kleo wears brown painted flats that don't match a stitch of what she's wearing.  I'm not a huge fan of painted or molded shoes, but in this case I can see no other feasible alternative.

Topping off the look is this fancy headdress.  It's made out of woven gold cord and is not removable that I know of.  Look how intricate it is, though!  It looks like a cobweb.

This headdress is bejeweled with three fake rubies, one by each ear and one on the crown of Kleo's head.  I understand that these jewels can fall off over time, but my particular doll lucked out.

I can't say much about Kleo's body since it's covered with unremovable clothes, but I can say that the body is made out of vinyl like the bodies of the other Kiddles.  And get this as well:  Kleo does not have a wire frame inside like my larger dolls do.  Her dinky little limbs will bend, but they can't hold a pose.

I was even more surprised to see that Kleo has five fingers on each hand, despite having such tiny arms.

Like Cherry Fizz, Kleo resides in a plastic soda bottle.  The plastic has yellowed a bit over the years (the eBay seller was honest about this), but otherwise the bottle is in good shape, with no cracks, chips, scuffs, or melt marks.  I think yellowing adds a nice soda-ish tint to the bottle, in fact.  The front is stamped with Kleo's full name and her maker, like so.

The back is embossed with the words "Kola Kiddles."

The bottom of the bottle pops off (sometimes a little too easily), just like the bottom of Cherry Fizz's bottle does.  But unlike Cherry Fizz's bottle, the bottom of Kleo's bottle doubles as a stand.  See?

It's an odd version of the X-stand that Mattel (and Mattel wannabes) used, with the addition of a small rubber band used to hold Kleo securely in the stand.

The bottle cap is also radically different from Cherry Fizz's bottle cap.  Remember that Cherry's cap was plain.  Kleo's is stamped with the Mattel logo, complete with Matty Mattel perched atop the M in the center. 

Matty still appears on Mattel products after all these years, believe it or not.  He's usually on the back of the box or in some other spot where he's not prominently visible, but he's there.  Matty also made an appearance as an actual doll during the 1960's, alongside friends Sister Belle and Casper the Friendly Ghost.  They were talkers like Chatty Cathy.

Let's look briefly now at my other Kiddles.  Needless to say my secondhand trio bears a lot of similarities to Kleo, but they have some crucial differences that are worth pointing out.  They can be redressed (unlike Kleo), and I'm going to point out right here that Greta and Diddle are in their original outfits...

...but Sizzly is not.  She is wearing Florence Niddle's dress, minus the cap, apron, and shoes.

Sizzly's original attire looked like this, with a little apron and a chef's hat.  Greta originally did not come in her original outfit either; she was wearing Sheila Skediddle's yellow dress, which I still have...somewhere.  But unlike Sizzly, Greta's original clothing was packaged in with her.  Sheila Skediddle's dress looked/looks nice on Greta, but I'm glad to have her original stuff too.  All of these little outfits are impeccably made, by the way.  Sizzly/Florence's dress is trimmed with white lace at the bottom...

...Greta's dress has a row of lace and a little flower...

...and Diddle's nightie has little buttons.

The tie on Diddle's nightie is in good shape too; sometimes this part will ravel as it ages.

This is all sewn on, with the exception of the flower on Greta's skirt.  The prints also go all the way around.  Diddle's nightie ties shut as I noted above, while Greta's dress and Sizzly's both have snaps.  Part of Sizzly's snap needs to be reattached.

Greta and Sizzly both wear underthings in the form of bloomers and in Greta's case, an underskirt.  These are also well-made; Sizzly/Florence's drawers are made of pink plaid, and Greta's bloomers are polka-dotted like her dress.  Her underskirt is also polka-dotted and has yellow ric-rac at the waist, even though this detail can't be seen when she's wearing her full outfit.

No way would Mattel go the extra mile for small dolls now.  Unfortunately these little clothes are showing signs of wear, par for the course when an item is closing in on half a century old.  All of the garments could do with a gentle wash, and Greta's pants bloomers insist on slipping down.

No matter, I'm fixing to undress these dolls anyway.  WANT THEM TO BE SMOOF!!!  LOL, notice that Greta, Sizzly, and Diddle all have different bodies.  Greta is tall and lean, Sizzly is short and plump, and Diddle is...well, just little all over!

Unlike Kleo, my girls are wired internally, which may be more of a curse than a blessing.  The internal wires were/are bad about wearing out and breaking, and that appears to be the case with my three.  Diddle can only bend one leg, like so...

...and Greta can't bend any of her limbs at all!  At the same time these wires also added a bit of stability to these dolls, so Greta can't stand up either.  This is often how my photo sessions ended when I'd try to group all these dolls together.

The vinyl is also prone to aging badly; with time it can turn green, develop holes, or both.  Greta has a hole on the inside of her left hip and a hole on her left shoulder...

...and Diddle's hips have green spots.

So Greta's skinny body doesn't bend much and is starting to deteriorate, and Diddle's slim body doesn't bend either.  Middle-child Sizzly does still bend and shows no signs of discoloration, so maybe that chunky little body of hers proved to be an advantageous attribute.  I've read that if these dolls' bodies get too beat-up they can wear old-style Kelly bodies, but I'd prefer to avoid a rebody in the case of these dolls since Kelly can't wear Liddle Kiddle clothes.

The paint jobs of these larger Liddles is about the same as Kleo's, with the exception that this trio doesn't have the heavy eyeliner that Kleo does.  Greta and Diddle both have cat-shaped blue eyes...

...while Sizzly's are round and brown.

Their mouths are all painted the same shade of pink but are different shapes.  Greta and Sizzly have the slightly sneaky little grin that Kleo has...

...while Diddle's mouth is more of a rosebud shape with a bigger upper lip.

The three girls have rooted blonde hair in widely varying styles...and here's where I've got a story.  When I first got these dolls Greta had...jeez, I don't know what that crap was, but she had SOMETHING in her hair.  Food or candy or glue...either way I had to scrape that s**t out of there.  Greta still has a greasy looking spot on her head from that whatever-it-was, in fact!

I doubt I'll be able to get that out of there without a good long soak in water, but these dolls' heads come off easily so a soak isn't out of the question.  I may do that in the future.  Except for that crap in Greta's hair these heads are in fair to good condition.  The hair is soft and easy to care for, and it's not falling out in clumps.  After that fiasco with my Little Apple Doll's hair I always make sure a doll's hair won't fall out with a simple tug, and the Liddle Kiddles pass that test.

Lastly, let's look at Liza.  Hey, alliteration!  Despite being a knockoff Liza has more in common with Kleo than Kleo's larger Kiddle sisters do.  They're the same size...

...they both have painted shoes...

...and they both lack internal wires.

Liza is so close to Kleo in size that she can fit on Kleo's stand AND inside the bottle.  I have to squash Liza's pigtails a little to get her to go in, though.

The most glaring difference between the two is the facepaint.  Liza's paint is not as expertly applied, and part of what she does have is scratched off.  See her right eye?

The good news is that Liza's eyes are not wonky.  Sometimes that's a problem with clone dolls.  Clothing can also be a problem with clones, with shortcuts and screw-ups galore, and unfortunately that is the case with Liza.  From the front her dress looks okay.  It's not hemmed, but the weave is so tight that the hem isn't a huge problem anyway.

Unfortunately an unfinished hem is the least of this dress's problems.  It was simply left hanging open in the back, with Liza's little butt cheeks shining.

I'm unsure how to remedy this, but I'm OCD about my dolls' appearance, even the smallest ones, so this will have to be dealt with.  I may just sew it shut like Kleo's dress is; that would be the easiest and quickest way to get the job done.

Now...good stuff/bad stuff time!

BAD
*Some of my girls are showing signs of wear.  That's par for the course but still worth mentioning.
*Hair is thin on some.
*Greta has some sort of gom in her hair that I can't get out.
*All of the bigger girls are missing parts of their clothing (shoes), and they can't be redressed easily.
*The clone doll's paint is rubbed off, and Kleo's eyes are a little wonky
*Can melt if exposed to certain other plastics, and can melt other plastics

GOOD
*Very cute.  I love these dolls' impish faces.
*Hair is thinly rooted, but looks natural.
*Good for dioramas; I've seen folks stock dollhouses with nothing but Liddle Kiddles.
*Reasonably good for child's play, but don't let them play unattended with these due to those internal wires being sharp.
*Mostly well-painted, though as I said the clone doll is missing some paint.
*Full of personality, not always easy with small dolls

I can see the appeal of Liddle Kiddles with their impish faces and small size.  They were perfect playmates for kiddos of the sixties...until the wires broke through the vinyl, that is!  If you have several of these and let your kids play with them, do not leave those children unattended.  We all know how rough children can be, and rough play with a toy with a wire skeleton can mean some serious injuries.  These are probably best suited for dollhouses or as cute small characters for photostories, for those of you who like that kind of thing.  These are worth the effort though as long as they're not melting or falling apart, like my poor Greta may eventually do.  As for Liza the clone...well, she doesn't have the quality or the personality that the real deal does, so for collectors I'd recommend searching out the brand-name Kiddles.  If like me you just end up with a random clone thrown into a Kiddle lot, embrace her as a potential prop for bigger dolls.

Cheers,
RagingMoon1987