We all remember Polly Pockets. Or at least, many of the girls do. A miniature dollhouse that could fit in your pocket? That may have been the best idea ever. At least for a few years.
As a kid, I probably had about four Polly Pocket sets. I was obsessed. Every vacation I went on I had to take them with me. My favorite one had to be the star bright dinner party set, which had a moon and stars in the background. If you wanted to make it night time in the Polly Pocket house, you just had to flick a little switch, and the moon would light up! Such simple yet magical technology.
While searching for all things Polly Pocket, I squealed with delight when I came across a website that has pictures and descriptions of all the Polly Pocket sets up to 2002. For your entertainment, here's a 1994 commercial for a few of the sets (I had the middle one shown at the end):
In 1989, British toy company Bluebird Toys manufactured the first Polly Pockets, whose figurines couldn't have been more than one inch high. The dolls had little dots for eyes and a barely noticeable curve for mouths. I remember taking one of them when I was about 6 years old and absentmindedly sucking on its head, and then getting confused and upset when most of its facial features disappeared almost completely.
However, once toy bigwig Mattel bought Bluebird Toys in 1998, it redesigned Polly Pocket dolls (to my dismay) to be larger and more lifelike. These new dolls had little magnets inside them that allowed children to attach different hair, clothing and accessories to the bodies. However, this turned out not to be the best idea, since many kids began swallowing the tiny magnets, and as a result, Mattel recalled 4.4 million Polly Pocket sets in November 2006.
Wow. And I thought we all would have swallowed the original, tinier dolls.
Now, Polly Pocket has its own line of VHS tapes, books and even a movie called "PollyWorld." Although watching an animated feature based on the tiny playsets does sound tempting, I don't think I'll be rushing to instant-stream that baby anytime soon. In addition, the dolls on the official Polly Pocket website are CGI-ed and actually have real faces.
Photo courtesy of Amazon
Weird. Nothing like my childhood memories.
Conclusion: Our Polly Pocket nostalgia cannot be marred by these new alien dolls. However, if you ever did have a childhood experience where you almost did swallow either an original doll or a magnetic piece, you may want to block that from your memory.
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A few Polly Pocket dolls from the 1994 sets.
