Doll Update
A few new guests have entered the celebrity doll party over the last few months, including some Oscar winning and nominated actors. Let’s jump right in!
In September I thrifted this Brie Larsen as Captain America action figure. I believe that originally she came with interchangeable hands and a jacket. I made her a new, Cyndi Lauper-ish outfit (see the top photo), which made the fingerless gloves make sense.
Another long term search for me was this Ryan Gosling as Ken from Barbie the Movie. There were two versions of Ken in this outfit, one that looked like plastic Ken and one with a Ryan Gosling face sculpt. As I have noted before, most of the celebrity dolls I find don’t bear that much of a resemblance to the talents they are meant to portray. If I see a figure at the thrift that looks like a weird Barbie (especially if they are lacking clothing cues), I assume it’s probably supposed to be a celebrity.
I think this doll has a good resemblance to Gosling. I found a bunch of doll fashion pattern online so I made the baby goose some new shorts and gave him a chore jacket I had laying around (sourcing second hand doll clothes is another new thrifting habit).
As my checklist becomes more niche, I’ve been finding that Facebook Marketplace is a better space to score celebrities. Yard sale season is over and while there is still plenty to find at the thrifts, they tend to be dolls I already have (there are so many Spice Girls out there).
I’ve been searching for a complete Charlie’s Angels set, for example, and I found Drew Barrymore and Cameron Diaz still in their original boxes (I will find you, Lucy Liu)! When I took them out of their cardboard and cellophane cages I discovered two things: they have strange rubbery fingers and that whatever material their original outfits were made of was disintegrating. No matter, I made them new clothes as well.
Last but not least is this boy doll that I found at the Value Village. I originally thought he was a no name clone and I bought him for his clothes. He has a stamp on his back that reads “CREATA 1984.” Creata made a series of trendy fashion dolls including new wave rockstars meant to rival Jem and the Holograms or Barbie and the Rockers. And while Creata made male companions, I couldn’t find any with rooted hair or this particular outfit. I have no name for him but he kind of looks like a Blaine.
Through my obsession with celebrity dolls, I have also discovered that there is a whole community of people who will repaint the faces so that they will look more like the artists they are meant to represent. Maybe I can touch up Blaine to look like a real life actor. Who do you think he looks like?