More random dolls that I found interesting

I love Fridays and loathe August!  August is the hot-weather equivalent of January, with nothing but extreme temperatures and no holidays to look forward to for at least a month.  Hmmm...I think I gripe about August EVERY August, come to think of it.  On the other hand, it's Friday, and even though I don't get Saturdays off like I did when I was a kid, I still love Fridays.  On this particular day a Friday and a first day of August kinda cancel each other out.  Gee whiz, where have I been???  Obviously I meant this to go up back in August, and on a Friday...yeppers, August 1st was a Friday!  Thank you Treesa, for pointing out that lovely boo-boo.  It's a full moon tonight and I'm just a little crazy, just like my critters.  Anyway, I'm back with another list of obscure (or not-so-obscure) dolls that I found interesting, and I'm gonna just dive right in.

TIMEY TELL

COMPANY:  Mattel 

YEAR OF PRODUCTION:  1964

I've been told that the dolly world can be just as wibbly-wobbly, timey-wimey as the life of a time lord, and that appears to be the case with this young lady.  Timey Tell wears a large watch on her wrist, and...I actually don't know if it's tied to her ability to talk, but she can announce various activities to do at various hours.  She even has accessories for some of those activities, like a tea set for four-o'clock.  Hmmm...did Americans do teatime at four-o'clock in the sixties?  Did this doll turn off at night?  Jeez, I've had toys that woke up in the middle of the night, and it made long for a cinder block to hurl at said toy.  EDIT, 11/20/25:  I oughtta know better by now than to talk about a vintage doll without at least glancing at Tam's blog.  She talked about Timey Tell HERE.  The magazine ad she shows is to die for, and it even shows some other familiar faces.  Anyone for Baby Beans???

COOCHY COO BABY

COMPANY:  Ertl
YEAR OF PRODUCTION:  1996

I blame Eve Ensler for ruining my views on "coochy-coochy-coo."  Read "The Little Coochi Snorcher That Could" if you dare and you'll see what I mean (linked content is rated X for violence, rape, and underage sex).  Dumbest pudendal euphemism that I've ever heard, first and foremost, and then the subject matter of that monologue...ewww.  Adult content aside, from what I can gather Coochy-Coo Baby functions in a way similar to some of the dolls I own.  Squeeze her tummy, and she apparently makes baby noises.  She'll also suck on her bottle or her pacifier if her tummy is pressed, and I think that's pretty cool.  Bless You Baby Tender Love sure can't do that!  She's got a hole in her mouth for a bottle, but she sure as snot doesn't suck on it!

Coochy-Coo Baby and Bless You Baby Tender Love do have a few things in common, though.  Their gimmicks are both triggered by squeezing the doll's tummy, and they both appear to be all one piece, with no joints whatsoever.  Ooo, I bet that means that Coochy-Coo is soft!  Baby Tender Love certainly is.  I have to admit though that Coochy-Coo freaks me out a little, mainly because of her huge eyes and huge mouth.  She looks a little like a modern-day Cry Baby, but not as cute.  Still, this doll is kinda interesting, and I love how her gimmick is kid-friendly.  She comes in both white and Afro-American variants.

BABY COLOR AND SHAMPOO

COMPANY:  Kenner
YEARS OF PRODUCTION:  1993-1994

Oh, I can just here my mama:  "Don't make a mess in there, Moon!"  LOL, I loved to play in my bath when I was little, and if I had a doll or a toy to play with me I was in hog heaven.  Occasionally I did make a mess and I got a severe scolding or even a swat on the rear!  That said, Baby Color and Shampoo is exactly what she sounds like:  a doll with hair dye and shampoo.  You could streak her hair with the included dye, and the apparently you could wash it out and do it all over again.  In theory it sounds pretty good, though I do wonder how well it worked in real life.  My friends had Doodle Bears that never got completely clean despite what the advertisements said.  Anyway, in addition to the shampooing/hair-dying gimmicks, Baby Color and Shampoo could blow bubbles when one squeezed her tummy...but out the top of her head!  Not out of her mouth like babies normally would!  Nonetheless I'd have been all over this doll like white on rice had I liked dolls in 1993.  I was solidly a Jurassic Park girl by then.  Baby Color and Shampoo was not alone in the water-play-meets-hair-coloring category, by the way; Foam 'n' Color Barbie was there too.  Again, I have no idea how well Barbie's foam washed out, but either way it sounds like something I'd have loved.

BUBBLE SURPRISE SUZY

COMPANY:  Kenner
YEARS OF PRODUCTION:  1993-1994

Another doll named Suzy!  I guess one could say that Suzy here was Baby Color and Shampoo's companion or sister.  Worthpoint apparently thinks so.  A close look at the dolls' feet reveals that they both had the same body mold, so there's that much more in common.  Suzy is another water play doll, and one...basically dressed her in bubbles.  I could've sworn that there was a Barbie doll back in the day who wore bubbles too, but all I could find online was Foam 'n' Color Barbie, who definitely does NOT wear dresses made of bubbles...no, I found her!  Her name was Bathtime Fun Barbie, and she also wore soap bubble dresses.  Once again, both Barbie and Suzy are dolls I'd have enjoyed as a child, because I loved to play with soap.  Suzy appears to be kinda obscure; I was unable to find a commercial for her, and I only found images of a white doll, with lilac eyes, no less.  <glances up>  Oh, Baby Color and Shampoo has lilac eyes too.  Interestingly, in this video Suzy's molded earrings can clearly be seen.  I don't often see baby dolls with earrings.

CHLOE CHARMS

COMPANY:  Kenner

YEAR OF PRODUCTION:  1995-1996

One of the glitzy toddler dolls, Chloe Charms carries charms in that big silver necklace of hers, and they could be used to decorate her dress and hair.  I think little girls could wear 'em too.  <glances at the commercial>  No, the charms come out of Chloe's crown!  Now that, I love.  You turn the plastic dome on the crown, and out pops a charm.  Pretty cool!  As with Twist 'n' Style Tiffany, I prefer Chloe Charms's black self to her white one, because her smile looks genuinely happy rather than pageant-y, but they're both cute.

BABY DID IT

COMPANY:  Kenner

YEAR OF PRODUCTION:  1996

Oh mercy, baby did what???  LOL, the box says it all:  after being fed Baby Did It loads her pants and it's up to the owner to clean her up.  She comes with her powder and what I presume is a thing of wipes, and a baby bottle, so basically this doll is your classic drink 'n' wet doll.  I don't like this doll's face much; she looks a little like a space alien.  The name makes me laugh though, because it reminds me of my sister's hijinks during her potty training days!

KATIE KISS 'N' GIGGLES

COMPANY:  CapToys
YEAR OF PRODUCTION:  1994

CapToys!  Who do we know from CapToys???

So there was more to CapToys than Blooming Dolls!  Katie Kiss 'n' Giggles is Violet's "cousin," so to speak, and her gimmick is a simple one.  Squeeze her tummy and she kisses you.  She's even got her own lip gloss for the occasion.  In the kissing sense Katie is very much like the Cabbage Patch Kissin' Kids, in that they also kiss when squeezed.  I think Rowena Skylar runs on batteries, though...and maybe Katie does too.  I dunno.  Either way I don't think Katie has the cutest face, but I love her simple, kid-friendly gimmick.  

MY PRETTY BALLERINA 

COMPANY:  Tyco
YEAR OF PRODUCTION:  1989-1990

Now she's in me, always with me...ahem, I like ballerina dolls.  I think I've discussed that, LOL.  My Pretty Ballerina did what ballerinas do:  stretch at the barre and turn pirouettes.  This particular doll also has joints all over, which is...actually more than I can say for a lot of ballerina dolls that I've seen/owned.  You'd think that ballerina dolls would be more limber than the average doll, but a lot of 'em aren't, probably because of production costs.  I won't knock it, since even the stiffest ballerinas I own have a lot of grace.  But My Pretty Ballerina has the joints to get the job done, plus arms like a gibbon.  Seriously, this child has LOOOONG arms!  LOL, again, I can dig it.

CALIFORNIA ROLLER BABY

COMPANY:

YEARS OF PRODUCTION:  1991-1992 (Maybe????  I actually don't know how long she was produced, LOL.)

Yep, I'm finally including her!  Every time I discuss glitzy toddler dolls this one crops up at least once.  I guess she technically could be called glitzy herself since she's wearing jewelry and engaging in a hobby that few toddlers engage in.  Not that I know of, anyway; my friends didn't start gomming around with roller skates until they were about eight, and they didn't rollerblade until ten or eleven.  ANYWAY, like most of the dolls above, California Roller Baby runs on batteries, is ridiculously happy-looking, and has a gimmick that is fairly easy to operate.  She legit skates, without anyone holding her up like Barbie in her sparky rollerblading days.  Granted, Cali wouldn't win any races, but she IS skating on her own.

ROCKIN' BOPPERS

COMPANY:  Worlds of Wonder
YEAR OF PRODUCTION:  1990

From the company that brought us Julie, the Rockin' Boppers danced to their own music, or music that anyone else supplied.  Anything from "S.O.S." to "Gimme All Your Lovin'," or whatever you might prefer.  These aren't as technologically advanced as Julie, but they're cute and once again, they're kid-friendly.  I will say though (since I talked about My Pretty Ballerina's long arms), dig the Boppers' stubby little legs!  Good thing the clothes make them look a little more in proportion.

SWEET TREATS

COMPANY:  Matchbox
YEARS OF PRODUCTION:  1989

These fantasy-themed soft dolls hail from a land called Sweet Land where the girls are both attractive and good-natured.  Hmmm, sounds a little like Paradise City, where the grass is green and the girls are pretty.  More song references aside, I associate Matchbox more with the little cars that I collected than with dolls, but I won't knock it.  These remind me of Rainbow Brite a smidge, with their colors and their soft bodies and such.  They were also scented, like many dolls of the era, and...that's pretty much it!  They're cute, cuddly, and colorful, and I like these.  Blueberry Cheesecake is my favorite.

DIAL-A-DOCTOR BABY

COMPANY:  Hasbro

YEAR OF PRODUCTION:  1997

<steps out of the ether>  Hello, I'm the Doctor.  <big smile>  Basically...run!  LOL, I couldn't resist!  I can only remember Mama calling the doctor for me once, when I was sick with tonsillitis and running a 104-degree fever.  She probably did it a couple'a times when I was a baby too, since I was sick enuff for it on two occasions, but I remember the tonsillitis incident.  Mercy, that was a hellish week.  School had thankfully just let out for the summer, but that was the only positive thing about the ordeal.  I remember Mama reading my thermometer, saying "Oh dear God, a hundred and four," and grabbing the phone, while I was holding my throat thinking "Why can't that danged doctor come here like he does in my books???"  But that wasn't the way it went.  I had to cripple out of bed and get diagnosed that way.  Anyway, Dial-a-Doctor Baby can also suffer from four common childhood ailments, though thank God, tonsillitis isn't one of 'em.  She can develop sore gums, a fever, your classic head cold, and...well, a boo-boo!  The accompanying portable phone has buttons that correspond with whatever ailment you think Baby is sick with, and Dr. Johnson gives the needed advice.  In addition to her phone Baby is accompanied by a thermometer, cold meds, teething gel, and a bandage.  Baby herself appears to be your basic baby doll, with a soft body, vinyl head and limbs, and rooted hair.  She makes no sounds or movements, but she's got a sweet face.  Dial-a-Doctor Baby can be either blonde or Afro-American, and her black variant is adorable.

HOLLY HOBBIE AND FRIENDS

COMPANY:  Mattel
YEARS OF PRODUCTION:  2006

Ah, the perfect fusion of then-modern and retro!  Apparently this rendition of Holly Hobbie was based on a TV show that was airing on Nick Jr. in 2006, and if that's the case then Holly is a city slicker with two friends from the country, and is apparently the great-granddaughter of the original Holly.  Way to make boomers feel old, Mattel; the original Holly Hobbie only dates back to the sixties.  Holly herself looks very retro with the bell-bottom jeans and all those beads.  I also have learned from a VERY reputable source that these dolls had fashion packs to go along with the dolls, which is always a plus.  Unfortunately the outfits came with gimmicks, and the only one that really worked well was the bead gimmick.  But still this is a cute line overall, one I wouldn't have minded dabbling in if I'd been aware of it in 2006.

4-EVER BEST FRIENDS

COMPANY:  MGA Entertainment
YEARS OF PRODUCTION:  2003

Before the Moxie Girlz, there were these.  I can only presume that these were MGA's first attempt to counter parental complaints that the Bratz were too skanky, and if that's the case then MGA kinda failed a little bit.  These dolls are less vampy than the Bratz, but a few of 'em are still pretty scantily clad.  Some of these dolls are going for a swim though, and if you're swimming you get a little more of a pass.  So these dolls followed the concept of friendship and were sold in packs of two, not unlike the present-day Hey Bestie dolls.  This redditor says that the dolls have jointed wrists in addition to the usual five joints and have cute little tummies, but their vinyl is kinda off in coloration.  Their build and little girl theme makes me think of Riley, whom I love.  Ooo, ooo, I wonder if they can share clothes???  If I ever get either Riley or one of these dolls I'll find out and report back to y'all.

WEE 3 FRIENDS

COMPANY:  Mattel
YEARS OF PRODUCTION:  2004-2005

The main reason why I know about these is because they share a body mold with What's Her Face!, and thus the two lines can share clothes.  Other than that the two lines had NOTHING in common; WHF was heavily customizable, while Wee 3 Friends were just cute little dolls who hit the ol' friendship thing hard.  The characters' names were Janet (left), Stacie (center), and Lila, so basically they were resized versions of Barbie's sister Stacie and her two primary friends (redheaded Whitney got a rename).  I was fixin' to say these reminded me of Stacie and her friends!  LOL, Stacie never attained the popularity that Skipper did, but I've always found her adorable.  Fortunate me, I have a few, full little outfits and all!  Anyway, these dolls saw several waves, named stuff like Rain! Rain! Rain!, Snow! Snow! Snow!, and Party! Party! Party! as seen above.  Like 4-Ever Best Friends and Hey Besties these dolls were sold as a group, which would've killed my interest as a kid because the only one I'm interested in is Lila.  Red hair, y'know.

LISA FRANK FAB FRIENDS

COMPANY:  Play Along
YEARS OF PRODUCTION:  2000

I remember these very well, the Fab Friends.  I was once a live-strong, die-hard Lisa Frank fan, and I'm still a casual fan, so these dolls appealed to me greatly.  Cassie, Lisa, and Mara wore retro-themed, brightly colored outfits, had big, bold eyes, and garish hair to match.  These apparently came in two sizes, but I never saw the smaller size.  The local Wal-Mart had the big ones pictured above, but there was also a smaller size that was just as colorful but not quite as cute.  Anyway, it may surprise y'all, especially after what I said about Wee 3 Friends, that my favorite of these was...Mara.  Not Lisa, despite that beautiful red hair.  No, Mara had hair that made me thirst for grape juice, plus big green eyes.  I don't know why I never asked for one of these dolls, but I didn't.  With my fondness for Lisa Frank stuff, I know I'd have gotten one if I'd asked.

TEEN TRENDS

COMPANY:  Mattel

YEARS OF PRODUCTION:  2006-2007

I saw these in a "For Young Collectors" segment in Doll Reader, but I never saw 'em in stores.  Basically the Teen Trends were another Mattel line trying to keep up with the Bratz, and they had enuff cliches that they got an entry on TV Tropes.  LOL, I love that website!  Anyway, the Teen Trends were here and gone before one could cover a sneeze, though I've yet to uncover a reason why.  They probably didn't sell, and one Redditor noted that their marketing stunk, so that can't have helped.  Kianna (far left in the above image) was my favorite since she was the resident punky girl, but they all have cute (slightly grown up?) faces.  They were also highly jointed, which tickled my fancy even then, but...I think I've discussed why I went on a doll hiatus around 2006.  It lasted until 2011, when we moved the first time.  Anyway, I've vocalized a passing interest in the Teen Trends in the past, and I even have two of the outfits, which I tried on Hot Looks and on Delilah Noir.  Unfortunately I hear that these dolls are not aging well and develop sticky heads, but I still may bring a Kianna home.

Before I wrap this up, TV Tropes mentioned a fifth character, a Japanese girl named Rayna who never made it to production.  She even has her own Amazon page, so close was she to production.

SQUEEEE!!!  She'd have been my girl had she made it to production.  Rayna and Sachi would've made a great pair...oh yeah, and Nancy too.  Nancy with her black hair with red streaks, not Day of the Dead Nancy.

Another random post in the books, kiddies!  Did y'all ever own/know of any of these?

EDIT, 11/16/25:  Barb's response post is up!  You can see it HERE.

Cheers to all,
RagingMoon1987

Throwback Thursday review: Mattel Hot Looks Chelsea

I've lost count of the number of times I've pushed this one back, what with the hot summer and my complete lack of motivation (i.e. LAZINESS).  I think I've shown this doll a couple'a times in the past, but I've not discussed her in detail until now.  Her name is Chelsea, a rather common name for Mattel dolls.

Chelsea is a member of the long-defunct Hot Looks, which were first available around the time that I was a bun in the oven back in 1987.  They apparently weren't the most popular dolls on the planet because they only lasted about a year stateside.  There were five characters available here in the U.S. during that first year (Chelsea, Elkie, Mimi, Stacey, and Zizi), and Canada got four more in 1988 (Sachi, Shawna, Starr, and Steff).  The 1988 wave was apparently an attempt to test the waters before the line got the axe, and there subsequently aren't as many of the second wave dolls out there.  Online information about the Hot Looks is scanty, but there is some info out there if one digs enough.  According to this site all of the dolls are (sigh) fashion models, but (happy face) they have other interests as well.  Steff dreams of being a veterinarian, for example, and Elkie aspires to ski in the Olympics.  Shawna gets honorable mention for wanting to live in a castle in her home country of Scotland.  I've always wanted to live in a castle too, or at least SEE one, and I do know of one person who got rich enough to live in a castle (Enya owns Manderley Castle).  So Shawna's goal isn't as outlandish as one might sound, though I will point out that Enya is ridiculously rich, richer than anyone would ever get by modeling, I suspect.  Nevertheless, I like how these dolls encourage children to dream big without being in-your-face about it.  Chelsea's goals are not as lofty as Elkie's or Shawna's nor as practical as Steff's, but they're a lot more interesting than Mimi's dream of "falling in love with Prince Charming."  Yeah...pardon me while I go barf.  Romance sucks.  Anyway, Chelsea loves adventure, travel, warm colors, and possibly the Beach Boys ("Surfin' Safari" is her favorite song).  Instead of a dream she lists a favorite hobby, going on safari in the jungle.  Which jungle, I wonder???  All the continents have jungles except for Antarctica and they're all different, though given Chelsea's fondness for travel she's probably not picky about which jungle she visits.  I'll bet she'd like zip-lining too.  Some dolls just look like born zip-liners.

I wish I could overcome my fear of heights, because I'd love to try zip-lining myself.  Anyway, when my Chelsea is not climbing trees she can be found hanging out at my work station at the library, where she leans against one of the columns and silently observes the patrons' comings and goings.

Or she used to observe the patrons before Z Yang moved in.  I temporarily retired Chelsea from her duties at the library because she's not as easy to dress in cute outfits as Z and Denise are (I like to change them with the seasons).  But I fully intend to bring Chelsea back into the fray once I can draft a few sewing patterns for her.  I had feared that she would give some patrons the heebie-jeebies, but Chelsea and Denise and Z have all grown fairly popular, especially with the little girls who like to give the dolls hugs and hold them gently.  Some adults are also fond of Chelsea; one lady even pointed at her and said "I'll bet I can guess her name!  It's Stacey, innut?"  Y'all know the saying "Close, but no cigar"?  That guess was close enough that I would've given the young woman a cigar anyway, so delighted was I that she remembered names.  The patron went on to explain that her sister had had a full set of the first wave, plus clothes and accessories.  Occurrences like that are fairly rare at the library, but they do happen and they always make me grin broadly.

Right then, on to the review.  Since Chelsea IS an eighties doll she'll undoubtedly have a few crumbs of eighties cheese in tow, but I've learned that not all eighties cheese is bad, so we'll just take those crumbs as they come.  Chelsea clocks in at nineteen inches, meaning that she's taller than most but not all of my large dolls.  Rael and Kissy dwarf her, for example.

Regarding smaller dolls Chelsea is barely taller than Ana Ming and Xenia are...

...and she's also taller than Velvet and very close to Crissy in height.

She's even taller than Alistair and Johnny are, much to Johnny's horror.

"So, how long have you boys known each other???"

"I...uh, I..."

Okay, she's closer to Johnny in height than I initially thought, mainly because her head is huge.  I think once Johnny figures out that Chelsea is British like him they should get along fine.  All of these Hot Looks dolls have different nationalities, and by the luck of the draw I got the Londonite.  I'm a live-strong, die-hard Anglophile, so that suits me fine.  However, some of you more experienced Barbie fans may remember that one of the Generation Girls was also a British girl named Chelsie.  Granted, Chelsea and Chelsie were from two different lines ten years apart, so I doubt many people are aware of the coincidence.  It's kind of like Barbie's British Mod friend Stacey and her younger sister Stacie; few who play with Stacie remember Stacey.  Oh yes, I just mentioned a few minutes ago that one of the Hot Looks dolls was named Stacey too!  Heavens, Mattel's names for dolls certainly do get predictable!  Over the years there have been more dolls named some variation of "Stacey," "Chelsea," or "Kelly" than I can shake a stick at.

Right then, now to hair.  We are all probably familiar with the hairstyles of the eighties and early nineties.  Big hair was in, the styles at times bordered on ridiculous, and unsurprisingly the fashion dolls of the era were in on the trend.  Take a look back at my Jem and Maxie reviews if you don't believe me.  Chelsea falls on the tamer end of the big hair spectrum, though her hair is just as crimped and buoyant as Maxie's is.  Her hair looks blonde in pictures, but IRL it's got a nice reddish cast to it.  The catalog listing calls the color strawberry blonde, and I'd say that's a fitting description.

Some of the mayhem is controlled by this tie, made of sparkly blue lace.  The Etsy seller doubts this is Chelsea's original tie, but it matches her clothes so who cares if it's original?  It makes a big fat bow, perfect for eighties style AND for my hair ribbon-loving sensibilities, though publicity pics of the dolls do show that Stacey was the one with the big bow rather than Chelsea.

Oh well, big bows were fairly popular during Chelsea's time, and a little bit beyond as well, as Wild Hair Sindy will confirm.  Here lately I've taken to tying Chelsea's hair back in a ponytail, and the bow works well for that too.  That sure is a thick ponytail, though!

Chelsea has bangs, but they're not stupidly big like some bangs in the eighties were.  Indeed they're a bit feathered, like my old Jem doll's bangs are.  Some parts also have minds of their own.  I've yet to find a way to get those bits to lie flat.

The rooting is pretty good, though I could never part this hair for braids without the scalp showing, as widely spaced as the rows are.  Note that Chelsea's scalp has been painted a light brown to match her hair, and I wonder what the molded "5" is for?

Overall Chelsea's hair is in surprisingly good shape for her being 31/32 years old.  It's long enough to make a short braid or a ponytail, but not so long that the devil will catch on the end of it.  There are still some tangles and rogue hairs that need to be dealt with, but that's nothing that a good Downy Dunk won't cure.

This face definitely has the eighties Mattel look!

My mother fails to see the connection, but I think Chelsea looks quite a bit like the Midge dolls of the era, especially the ones with the Diva head mold.  Chelsea's eyes are an unusual color, something that I'm always on the lookout for in a doll.  Her advertising says she has green eyes, but these look more aqua blue than green.  They have little brown semicircles by the pupils, which I like as it suggests a light case of heterochromia.

Chelsea mercifully does not suffer from Johnny Winter Syndrome (super-pale eyebrows) like one of my Jem dolls does.  Instead she sports nicely painted sandy brown eyebrows that match her hair.  Her eyeshadow is a sickly greenish gray shade that makes her eyes look a little sunken, while her eyelashes are smoky gray rather than black.

I don't care for that eyeshadow at all, but I like the color of her eyelashes.  Black lashes probably would've looked very harsh, thus this was a wise move on Mattel's part to make them gray.  By the way, did anyone notice that Chelsea's pupils are NOT centered in her iris???  That's unnatural, though I do see plenty of dolls painted this way.  It gives them all a dreamy sort of expression, one that can make photography a pain in the butt.  But at the same time it makes the doll look a bit more relatable to a child; keep in mind that the child is usually looking down at her doll when she plays.  A doll with upturned eyes can thus look up back at her owner in an endearing way.  I think that may have been what Mattel was trying to do with Chelsea and if so, it works quite well.

Now to the lower face.  Chelsea has a sprinkle of freckles on her nose and cheeks, plus orange-pink lips painted into the aforementioned closed smile.  She's also got a light dusting of blush (enough to make her look a little sun-kissed), and a few specks of dirt.

At least she's not wearing yellow blush that makes her look ill, like my Roxy doll is.  I could do without those orange lips, though.  Orange looks good on a dark doll like my old Dee Dee, but on someone fairer it runs the gamut from "meh" to "blick."  It looked "blick" on me, for example (LOL).  I like Chelsea's unusual eyes though, and I'm happy to report that all this paint was applied with no problems, gaffes, or foibles.  She does need a bit of a wash, but I can do that with no trouble.  Overall Chelsea's paint is well-done, and it's without a ton of goofy little pixels like some dolls do!  We'll see one of those in about a month, and then y'all will see what I mean about pixels.  I do wish Chelsea had no eyeshadow at all, or shadow that was of a different color, but truthfully the shadow doesn't show at a normal distance.  Even when I look at Chelsea under the library's fluorescent lights I can't tell that she has any eyeshadow, and we all know how unforgiving fluorescent lights can be!  Ugh, I HATE having to spell "fluorescent"!!! I always get the "u" and the "o" switched, AND the "s" and the "c."  Can y'all tell that spelling was not my best subject in school?

Griping over, let's take a look at ears, since ear decorations varied among Hot Looks waves.  Chelsea's ears are simply molded and identifiable as an ear, but nothing super-special.  They have white disc-shaped studs that don't come out.

The way I understand it these studs had dangles that hung off and could be removed/mixed/matched among dolls.  Wave 1 and Wave 2 also had posts that differed for some strange reason, a point proven if one looks closely at this Sachi.  Sachi and her second-wave compadres wear rounded half-sphere studs instead of the flat disks that Chelsea has.  Due to the difference in these earrings the two waves could not share dangles.  Chelsea's dangles were blue triangles, but unsurprisingly my doll is missing those.  That's a bummer, but not a huge loss since I can make my own dangles and switch 'em around.  As an aside, I love the linked Flickr user's contagious enthusiasm at having found a Sachi doll.  Sachi would've been my choice too were she not so difficult to find, but being from the second wave she is indeed quite hard to score.  

Now this body...this body is where things are going to get fun.  If you're familiar already with the Hot Looks dolls, or if you got a good look at Chelsea's hands, y'all might be able to tell that despite having a vinyl head Chelsea is NOT an all-vinyl doll.  True, Mattel did make all-vinyl dolls in Chelsea's size, in the form of Supersize Barbie who towered over her smaller self (and the Moxie Teenz, whom I thought were taller than average), but Chelsea is very different from Supersize Barbie.  Her body is soft, made of shiny stockinette material, with the addition of a permanently attached sateen bra and panties set that doubles as a bikini.  All of the Hot Looks dolls had these and they came in different colors, with Chelsea's being peach-colored.

These bikini sets also came in lavender, yellow, and pink.  The back of the bra/bikini top ties, and I don't love that because it's always coming untied.  I may sew the knot together so it'll stop coming undone.  Why not?  The bikini is permanently attached anyway.

Obstinate knot or no, I'm glad Chelsea has something to wear for eternity so she won't have to go completely naked should she lose her clothes.  I don't predict that she WILL lose her clothes, but I'm still glad her undergarments are sewn in place.  It shows that permapanties do sometimes have their place in the doll world, though they never had any business on American Girls!

I think that brings us to extremities now.  We've discussed how earrings varied between Wave 1 and Wave 2, but another good way to tell the waves apart is the hands.  Chelsea and her first wave sisters have hands that vaguely resemble the "I love you" or "hang ten" signs, with a pinky finger and a thumb that stick out from the sides like so.

The second wave has hands that are more mitten-like, with four stitched fingers and a separate thumb.  Here's the picture of Steff that I linked earlier; it's possible to see how her hand is constructed.  Chelsea's hands are very well sewn, but I sort of wish she had mitten hands instead, as those extended pinkies and thumbs are very hard to push through a tight sleeve.

Chelsea's feet are sewn carefully, just as her hands are.  When's the last time y'all saw individual toes on a rag doll???

Okay, if you're a Cabbage Patch fan then stitched toes probably are no huge surprise, but I still admire this touch on Chelsea and her friends.  Overall this body is...oops, I forgot to discuss the material itself!  The material, as I said above, is tan-colored stockinette fabric, not terribly unlike the stuff that pantyhose are made out of but a lot thicker.  It also has this bizarre sheen that I'm not in love with, but such a sheen is unavoidable on mesh fabric like this.  It's tough stuff, a lot stronger than the pantyhose I used to wear, though holes and rips do occur with these dolls.  Chelsea's body is also VERY firmly stuffed.  Y'all might think that Chelsea's body would be squishy soft, and indeed it's soft enough to make posing somewhat easy, but it's not stuffed animal-caliber soft.

Oh right, posing!  I think I said this somewhere above, but Hot Looks dolls have a wire armature sewn into their bodies, enabling them to sit, stand, wave, cross their legs, do whatever.  That being said, I still have to fight with Chelsea a little to get her to do what I want her to.  I can get her into a sitting position and she can hold it, but she has to have something bracing her back. 

Remind y'all of anyone?  Could it be that other honorary member of the peanut gallery, Delilah Noir?  Remember how I had to fight with her to get her to sit???  She has to have both her back and her feet braced before she'll sit.

Truthfully Chelsea is the superior sitter, as she only has to have her back braced.  She also needs her feet braced when she's in her bikini (like in the picture above), but when she's wearing her shoes they help hold her in place.  Chelsea also has much better balance than Delilah does.  Remember that picture I showed y'all earlier, of her leaning against the column?  This one?

Most of Chelsea's weight is being supported by her right foot when she's in that position.  Furthermore, once I get Chelsea propped up she usually stays put unless someone or something knocks her over, which is more than I can say for Delilah.  Poor Delilah could not hold a pose like that (not without a stand, anyway), though admittedly Chelsea does weigh less than Delilah does and thus has less heft to support with her soft little legs.  I feel like that is significant though, that a stuffed doll like Chelsea has better balance and posing than a high-end vinyl ball-jointed doll like Delilah.  Chelsea's posing is not perfect, though; notice that her arms and legs look Gumby-ish when they're bent.

Can't really be avoided when you've got a wire frame.  Licca-chan and Jenny have the same problem and I don't complain about them looking like Gumby.  At least Chelsea doesn't have awkwardly long vinyl arms sewn to a too-short cloth part, like the larger My Twinn dolls do.

Having a cloth body often means having to take care when putting clothes on or taking them off, lest the Velcro catch on the fabric and snag, but Chelsea does not have this problem as we'll soon see.  Her outfit is done up in a nice balance of warm colors and sky blue, which surprises me since Chelsea claims to be strictly a warm-color type.  I thought blue was supposed to be a cool color, but when I compared Chelsea's color palate to those of "hot" dolls Zizi and Stacey and "cool" dolls Mimi and Elkie I realized that Chelsea's getup is indeed warm.  The "hot" girls wore neon and jewel-toned colors, while the "cool" girls wore soft pastels.  Chelsea does neither; her ensemble is done in shades of sky blue and sunshine yellow, with a bit of brick red and orange thrown in.  A lot of that jewelry is my addition; we'll talk about that shortly as well.

Jeez, how eighties can a doll get???  LOL, I guess this outfit was the height of fashion during Chelsea's day, so I really should stop making comments and just roll with it.  Chelsea's main piece of clothing, the one that covers the majority of her nudity...wait a minute, Chelsea CAN'T be nude with that bikini that's sewn on!  Anyway, her main article of clothing is this striped shirt-dress.

Oh, horizontal stripes...those can be horrendously unforgiving to certain body shapes (like mine), but Chelsea handles it pretty well.  I think it helps some that this fits her loosely...for the most part.  I call this dress a shirt-dress because it serves both purposes.  When I leave it loose it makes a great dress.  However, y'all see this loop, affixed to the right seam of the dress?

This is used to gather the bottom of the shirt-dress like so.  Pull the hem through this loop and it creates a faux-knot.

The tightness of this can be adjusted, as can the height, but I usually pull the hem as tight as I can.  This effect usually makes the front of the dress look messy, but that's unavoidable.

Ooopie, I forgot sleeves.  They're rolled up and sewn in that position, like so.

I do sort of wish these could be unrolled for some variation with the length, but they can't.  Small disappointment, but I can live with it.

Over her shirt-dress Chelsea wears this bright yellow vest.

The material looks and feels like pleather, but it's aged much better than pleather would have.  It's got a soft knitted collar, which I would've appreciated if this vest were mine.  I hate it when stiff collars rub my neck!

The very short sleeves on this vest are made of this same soft material.

I also love these deep pockets, which are large enough to accommodate Chelsea's hands or some small trinkets.

The vest had a sparkly patch on the left chest, but the patch fell off shortly after Chelsea arrived.  The sparkly glue is still visible around the edges of her Halloween badge.

I added that myself.  It glows in the dark.  The inside of the vest is lined...I think.  Maybe the back of this material is just fuzzy and it LOOKS like a lining.  Either way I like the effect.  Many human-sized vests are fuzzy on the inside like this one is.

Now...remember when I said that Chelsea's vest has aged well?  Her skirt IS pleather, and it HASN'T aged well!

The skirt is brick red and it would feel quite soft to the touch, but the finish on it is crumbling and cracking quite badly, and it feels sticky to the touch.

Even worse, some of the skirt's color has transferred onto the inside of the vest...

...and onto the hem of the shirt-dress

...and onto Chelsea's waist.

I don't know if that crap's gonna come off, either!  Overall the skirt is pretty plain for a clothing item, being knee-length with no major details.  Sometimes it's not visible at all, depending on how loosely I gather Chelsea's dress.  If I leave her dress completely undone the skirt is hidden.

Under everything else Chelsea wears sky blue tights.  They are...well, they're tights!  They're stretchy, they're hemmed at the waist and at the ankle, and they could do with a soak in some Woolite.

Lastly, footwear.  Chelsea wears white vinyl high-top sneakers over calf-length socks.

I love these socks.  They're mostly white with orange streaks and blue squiggles, and I think they're adorable.  They're even hemmed at the top!

They're also shaped on the bottoms.  See?

Now, kids:  what goes over socks?  Right, SHOES!!!  LOL, I love doll shoes, and Chelsea's shoes are particularly cute.  They're white vinyl high tops with a few molded details on the front and sides.

The soles have treads molded in.  Nothing va-va-va-voom, but better than the bottoms of other doll shoes (and some people shoes too, for that matter).

Three of these dolls (Chelsea, Elkie, and Shawna) sported white high-top shoes like this, but the pairs could be told apart by the color of their laces.  Elkie's shoes sported metallic pink laces, Shawna's laces were metallic blue, and Chelsea has these metallic orange laces.

I thought these were supposed to be elastic, but they don't appear to be.  I'm glad they're not, because elastic doesn't stay nice as it ages, even if it's wrapped in sparkly thread like these are.  These laces are a little stiff, stiff enough that they don't want to stay tied, but I manage.  If I had any gripes about these shoes besides those stubborn laces it would be the spots.  These shoes are not supposed to have spots (though that would've been cute), and yet mine do.  They have blue, pink, orange, and brown spots here and there.

Mattel vinyl was bad about discoloring back in the eighties.  The tan vinyl used for the legs of Barbie and her friends would get big pale spots, for example, and I'm thus unsure if the spots on these shoes are due to some sort of weird aging, or if they're mold spots (Lordy, I hope not), or if they're just stains.  The spots do make the shoes look a little more realistic, though; we all know what happens to white shoes when they're worn a lot!  Oh yes, these shoes are a little sticky to the touch like Chelsea's skirt is, but unlike the skirt I can go over these with a wet wipe.

Oops, I almost forgot jewelry!  Chelsea's stock jewelry consists of this sparkly blue plastic bangle.

It's beveled and looks a lot like the bracelets I wore back in high school.  Simple, plain, but versatile and better than nothing.  Also adorning Chelsea's wrists are these bracelets that I got off Etsy.

These were supposed to be sized for an MSD, but when I put them on one of my MSDs they all slid off and I had to dig through the grass to find them again.  Chelsea has thicker arms and bigger hands than my ball-jointed dolls, so she wears them now.  There are eight of 'em in various colors.  All of them are a mix of round beads and star beads except for the black and white one, which has all round beads.

Oh, and this necklace?  It's an Etsy find, one of those matching "best friends" necklaces.

The other half is worn by Isabelle, the doll that frequently visits the library.  Every time Isabelle comes in she's wearing that necklace, and Chelsea never takes hers off either.

Okay, where was I???  Oh yes...while dated, I have to say that I like Chelsea's outfit a lot.  It's colorful, it's conservative, and yet it's stylish for the time.  It can be added to with bits of jewelry, as I've done above, and I can also take pieces away to make a new look.  But nice as Chelsea's stock outfit is, it would be nice to change it up even more than I already can, and as it turns out that was the point of these dolls.  Mattel's intention with the Hot Looks (besides making a buck, of course) was allegedly to teach little girls what colors looked good with which skin and hair colors.  The first five dolls had labels attached to them (super-hot, super-warm, and super-cool), and the outfits had labels to match.  Chelsea was the only doll labeled super-warm and subsequently had several outfits tailor-made to match her and her alone, but do y'all seriously think I give a flying burrito what my doll wears???  All my dolls wear what will fit and look halfway decent!  Indeed, the concept of matching outfits to skin tones may have flown over the heads of eighties girls, which may have had something to do with the Hot Looks' short run.  With that, time to trot out the Teen Trends dresses, the ones I tried on Delilah Noir when I first got her.  I'd heard tell that their outfits could fit Hot Looks dolls, and that may or may not have factored into my pursuit of a Hot Looks doll.  LOL, of course it factored in, as I wanted to test the idea.  Here's how the test went.

Results???  C- for the pink and black outfit, F for the cream-colored dress, F for both pairs of shoes.  Indeed, I couldn't even get the cream colored dress fastened across Chelsea's broad little shoulders.  The pink top keeps causing "wardrobe malfunctions" and the black skirt is tight, although both pieces did fasten.  The shoes didn't have a prayer of fitting either, so there's that little hope shot to pieces.  Hmmm...now that I think of it, maybe I read that Teen Trends could wear Hot Looks clothes, not the other way around.  That's kind of a bummer though, since that pink and black outfit looks like something an eighties child like Chelsea might have worn, maybe to a dance or something like that.

Overall Chelsea doesn't have much in my dolly wardrobe to choose from.  American Girl clothes???  Forget it!  Denise and her AG cronies are way too big for that!  Ana Ming's stuff is also too big, and Crissy's long sleeves are too narrow, and most of my ball-jointed doll stuff is either too big OR too small.  Velvet's homemade dress looks okay, but it's also pretty short.

Yes, warm colors are definitely Chelsea's thing!  I just wish that dress had something to go underneath it.  Wait a minute...

Okay, it's not a perfect match, but I prefer Chelsea wearing her tights under that dress to Chelsea's permapantied hiney sticking out.  Now she just needs a cute pair of shoes to wear with all that!  Velvet's dress is a smidge tight across the chest, by the way, but not prohibitively so.  But by and large I have precious nothing for poor Chelsea at the moment except for Velvet's too-short dress and what she's already got.  I wouldn't be making such a big deal about clothes, except that I rotate Denise's and Z's outfits as the seasons change.  Soon I'll be trotting out her Halloween dress, for example (spoiler alert:  y'all have gotten a couple'a brief glimpses of it already), and soon after that it'll be time for Christmas (or Hanukkah in Denise's case).  I can't do that with Chelsea.  I don't have a cute Halloween costume for her to wear, and I don't have any Christmas clothes for her either (I think she'd make a good elf).  Thus it's either learn to sew better or...learn to sew better!  Etsy, my usual go-to, has nothing that's custom-made for the Hot Looks dolls, and as obscure as the line is I'd be surprised if they did.  Ravelry, my favorite site for knitting patterns, also had nothing.  So that's a bit of a spirit-breaker, but my broken spirits were mended when I found this young lady.  She won't really solve my clothing conundrum, but I was still pleased as punch to see her up for sale.

She's another Chelsea, but she's apparently a Canadian Chelsea.  How did I come to this conclusion?  The doll's seller resides in Ontario, and this second Chelsea is wearing items that one of the Canadian dolls wore.  Canadian Chelsea (whom I'll be calling C.C.) has her original dress, tights, shoes, bracelet, and the headband that my original doll is missing, but she's also wearing Sachi's jacket, skirt, socks, and bracelet.  Like my first Chelsea, this one is missing the dangly bits of her earrings, but as I said above that isn't a huge problem.  This doll's overall look is a bit of a hot mess, but eighties fashion could be a hot mess at times anyway, so I'd say C.C. is pretty well in step with her era.  I'm also pleased to have some of Sachi's items; as I mentioned above, Sachi is my favorite of the Hot Looks dolls.  I still hope to find a Sachi of my own, but until then I'll be quite happy with Chelsea and C.C.

I think I'll make them twinkies!  Mmmm, Twinkies...<drools like Homer Simpson>...ahem, as an aside, dig this adorable tape that the seller used to seal C.C.'s box.

And with that, I believe I've talked enough.  Time to sum it up.

BAD
*I have my concerns about the longevity of the fabric on this body.  My doll has no holes or rents or anything of the like, but I've seen Hot Looks dolls that did.  As with My Twinn and Cabbage Patch dolls, keep Velcro and sharp objects a mile away from Hot Looks dolls!
*Can't share clothes with many of my other dolls.
*Skirt is aging badly and STAINED CHELSEA'S BODY!!!!!!!!!!!
*Had small pieces that went MIA pretty quickly (earrings).  This is largely an issue for MIB dolls.
*Some characters are hard to find, especially with complete outfits.

GOOD
*I love this doll's face, and just about everyone else does too.  Patrons at the library talk about what a cute doll Chelsea is.
*Hair aged surprisingly well, though I suspect that that's because this doll was well-kept.
*Praise God, no snags, tears, or holes in the cloth body.  I'll take pains to keep it that way.
*Clothes are well-made and with the exception of the skirt the pieces are aging well.
*Chelsea can't ever go completely nekkid!  Permapanties were a pain in the neck for American Girls, but they look pretty nice on Hot Looks dolls.

Oh boy...these dolls aren't really all that different from the next two dolls that I'll be reviewing for Throwback Thursday, but (spoiler alert) my opinions on them differ greatly.  I really, really like these Hot Looks dolls.  They're big enough to not lose a ton of pieces like Barbie often does, and they're perfect for cuddling, but at the same time they have hair and clothes that can be played with.  I wouldn't recommend these for modern children due to the presence of small parts and the potential for snagged or torn fabric, but an older kid?  Well...maybe.  The lack of clothes for these dolls is a bit of a pain in the patootie.  Brand-name outfits can be found on eBay and Etsy, but they often cost what I paid for Chelsea herself!  These are cute dolls though, perfect for any fan of eighties stuff.  Regarding availability, Chelsea, Elkie, and Mimi appear to be the easiest to find, as the Hot Looks dolls I find on eBay and Etsy are usually them.  Zizi and Stacey are trickier but not impossible to find, and if you want one of the Canadian dolls...well, all I can say is best of luck to you.  Smaller accessories like earrings, bracelets, and shoes are often MIA on opened dolls, but these trinkets aren't too tough to find or replace.  Indeed, I have plans to replace my dolls' earrings with something I've cobbled together.

Now that that's out of the way, a quick little teaser of what's to come.

No, that's not Z!  Y'all may or may not recall that Z is my only American Girl doll with feathered eyebrows.  Nope, I've got a seventh (yes, seventh) American Girl, and this time I'm NOT going to give anything else away other than eye color!  That might be enough for some of y'all, LOL!  Anyway, I'll be doing a brief discussion of her and another doll that I've scored over the past couple'a weeks, so stay tuned.

Best wishes,
RagingMoon1987