I will start off by addressing the elephant in the room. Yesterday, I was making notes about this post on my phone. I’m not sure how, but the post published when I saved it in the mobile app. This also happened as I was making notes for a second post (one about the sewn Ood jacket – more on that at the end), but for some reason did not affect the other two posts I was editing that morning. As soon as I realized the error, I pulled them back to drafts. Now that this one is fully written, it is being posted for real! Sorry for any confusion that this has caused. I don’t usually have this problem when I am using the mobile editor, and hopefully it won’t happen again. Now that we have that out of the way, here is the finished blog post!
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In another installment of the series lovingly called ‘stuff we found at Grandma’s house’, we have stuff that turned up in the garage. These dolls were found in a box hidden in the garage. They came from a box of random generic toys mainly left over from when I was a kid that my mom had assembled for when children were visiting their house. While she does remember why she put all of these toys together, she has no idea how they got in the garage. My dad doesn’t seem to recall, either. This is a true mystery for the ages, but one that I am decidedly happy about.
I acquired these three dolls at various times of my childhood. The Scotty doll is undoubtedly the oldest. I think we got it in the mid 90’s because he was my favorite character on Star Trek. My mom bought a complete set for herself, and she surprised me with the Chekov doll from the set as a surprise because I could never remember his name. I would ask her ‘Which one has the nuclear wessels’ every time we watched Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home (as my favorite Trek movie, we watched it frequently). Later that year, for my birthday, my mom gifted me Scotty because he was my favorite character from Star Trek. I think that Chekov may be in the storage unit with other boxed dolls because I don’t remember taking him out of the box and playing with him as a child, but Scotty got a lot of play throughout the years.
I had a surprisingly hard time identifying this doll. Since Star Trek has such rabid fans, I thought it would be easy to find information about this guy. I found a few blogs about Trek toys, but none of them seemed to have entries for this series of dolls. Luckily, I did find a listing for it on Amazon that identifies it as a 9″ action figure wearing clothes from the Star Trek pilot episode. I wasn’t able to find a production year, but if memory serves it was the mid 1990’s.
Scotty is in great shape! His clothes are completely intact and he even has his tricorder His body doesn’t have any problems; his articulated body moves like it should and the paint on is face is in great shape. In addition to Scotty being in great shape for his age, I also found a Klingon Bird of Prey in the box with him. At the bottom of the box, I also found other small doll-sized accessories.
I know that it is hard to see scale with this picture, but I believe all of these were accessories for much smaller action figures. I believe the insignia is the stand for a Captain Picard figuring, and the tricorders, computer, and phaser are all accessories that go with him, too. I wasn’t able to find the smaller doll, but I am going to hang onto these. The car is the perfect proportion for a Kelly/Shelly doll to play with, so if I ever make a child from Doctor Who, this may be repurposed to be their toy. It never hurts to hold onto things that are the proper scale, after all.
Next up is a doll that holds a special place in my heart. He is my G.I. Joe doll. Not a Ken, not an off-brand dollar store military guy doll. He is a real G.I. Joe from the early to mid 2000’s.
I tried my best to identify this guy. I know he is an authentic Joe, but all of my searches brought up vintage dolls. From what I remember, he came with archery accessories, but I could only find his helmet and armor at the time I took this picture (his dog tags are floating around somewhere, and I suspect the toddler has something to do with their disappearance). Anyways, I received this handsome guy from my mom and/or sister for my birthday when I was in high school. He was meant to be a gag gift, but I adored him. I remember that I used him for various presentations and speeches, and he may have spent a several month stint in my locker. He was quite the popular guy during homeroom.
Finally, we have this handsome fellow. While I don’t remember exactly when I received him, I do remember that he came from the local dollar store. If memory serves, he dated many of my dolls growing up.
This guy came out long before the U.S. Navy came out with their blueberry uniform, but I like to think that whomever designed those uniforms played with this doll as a child. My weird speculation aside, my mom bought this guy for me as another gag gift. I always thought he looked like Tuvok from Star Trek Voyager. I believe I got him before the regular Joe, and he is the most worn of the three dolls. His knee pops out of the joint and a seam for his lower calf is coming apart, but it is looks to be something easily fixed with a bit of epoxy glue. My nephews enjoyed playing with him and a few other dollar store dolls like him, and all of them were broken. I have no idea why my mom threw away the other damaged dolls but kept him, but I am not complaining.
As you can see in the first picture, there is quite the height difference between the three dolls. Scotty is 9″ tall, Joe is 12″ tall, and Tuvok is around 13.5″ tall. I find it funny, and I blame microgravity for Scotty being so much smaller than the military guys. In addition to height differences, each of them has different articulation. Scotty has the least articulation of the three; he only has movement in his elbow, shoulders, and knees. Joe has articulation in his elbow, shoulder, knee, and hands. His index finger moves separately from his thumb and the other three fingers, which made it easier for him to hold his bow and arrows. He does not have a kung-fu grip like his more vintage peers. Tuvok has very nice articulation in his arms. He is articulated at the shoulder, elbow, and wrist. Also, there is a spot between the shoulder and elbow that twists around, so you can more easily position his arms and hands to hold things. He also has knee articulation that I will have to fix at some point in the future.
There you have it! Three cool guy dolls that have been added to the collection. I am open to using them for the blog, but they don’t remind me of any Doctor Who characters. I may have to grab some popcorn and watch classic Who until I find some inspiration. I am currently crocheting some stuff for Halloween, so I will try to indulge that whim as I continue that work. If they strike you as any specific character, please comment. I think that I am biased because I played with them as a child, so it isn’t as easy for me to see them in the Whoniverse. I would love to hear your ideas!
Beyond that, I’ll wrap this post up by circling back to the first paragraph. I am currently working on 4 posts for the blog. Two are for the Ood gloves, another is for a sewn Ood jacket I just finished up, and the last is the final installment for this series of stuff we found at grandma’s house. I also have a few other things in my mind that I haven’t put on paper yet, such as another post or two about the Ood mask and an eventual pattern for it. Hopefully I can get posts out in a timely manner, but between the toddler, foster kitten, and Halloween I am stretched thin. Lucky for me, foster kitten is able to go a longer between feedings (4 hours at night), so I am getting more sleep. More sleep means that I feel sharp enough to write, which means I can get these pictured, written, and published. Thank you for your patience and I hope you have a fantastic day.
Barbie Who? 