He-Man and Fairy Wings

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Childhood toys that I miss

This month’s NaBloPoMo is all about examining the past, present and future, and I like the idea. I’ve been doing a lot of self-reflection over the last six months and I find it useful to reminisce occasionally – it often serves as a reminder as to how far I have come.

Yesterday’s post about my stuffed toy elephant, while it wasn’t planned, seems to tie in with today’s theme of childhood toys.

As an adult I’m a sucker for all things cute and fluffy – cuddly toys being no exception. However, as a child of the 80’s I was obsessed with cartoons and the action figures that came with it. It was predominantly a female household – my father being completely outnumbered by mum, my two sisters and I, but toys were never gender specific for us. He-Man, She-Ra and Thundercat figures adorned my bedroom, along with the She-Ra ‘Princess of Power’ Palace and Lion’O’s large plastic ‘Sword of Omens,’ complete with a central circle that lit up when you pressed a button on the handle. Combined with my epic fairy wings and an Inspector Gadget watch that I got as part of a McDonalds Happy Meal (I always wanted to be Penny and was regularly disappointed that our Beagle, Patch, didn’t possess the skills that Brains had), I was an unstoppable force of awesomeness that saved the world regularly. Indeed, my mother still reminds me of the times she walked past my room to find me saying ‘And then Skeletor had an idea…’ I’m not entirely sure what his idea was – I have no recollection of it – but he was certainly a crafty so-and-so.

However, despite being thoroughly spoilt throughout my childhood, there was one toy that I always wanted: a porcelain doll. I had plenty of dolls already – ones that talked, wet themselves, others that came with makeup so I could paint their face – but porcelain dolls were in a different league. I thought they were pretty, with beautiful delicate faces and curly hair. I loved their little dresses and matching hats. My friend has several, and I always remember the jealousy that ensued whenever I went to her house, particularly as I wasn’t allowed to touch them.

In preparation for this post, I googled ‘porcelain doll’ to remind myself of what it was that appealed to me. I now know why my mother never bought me one..

They’re bloody terrifying.

Dont believe me?

A porcelain doll

 

See! Terrifying!

With their soulless eyes, deathly pale skin and blank expressions, I can imagine that deep in their little petticoats they are hiding weapons of mass destruction to use when they take over the world. I can only imagine the nightmares that would have followed should I have had little Pollyanna staring at me from the top of my bookcase.

I think I’ll stick with He-man and my fairy wings…

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40 thoughts on “He-Man and Fairy Wings”

  1. Your mom was a wise woman. She is a bit scary and I can not imagine you playing with it. There were so many things we wanted as children that we now just laugh at it…lol. we are suckers for cute and cuddly though!

  2. It’s sweet to see our childhoods through our adult lenses, don’t you think? I had very traditional toys and not many, but never, not even as a very little girl, had a baby doll. So of course, it’s the toy I longed for, forever.

      • Getting something as an adult that you wanted so badly as a kid doesn’t fill the vacancy in your longing. The thing you want is attached to the person you want to give it to you, and if they are unwilling to fulfill your dreams, you really can’t fulfill your own. I wanted a baby doll, (I also find porcelain dolls frightening, as they aren’t meant to be played with but put on a shelf and stared at) but I wanted my mom to understand how much I needed one.
        I have granddaughters, one who’s 7 and one who’s a month old. I’ve given baby dolls to each.
        No one has ever suggested the “solution,” Suzie. It was sweet of you to consider it.

  4. Yeah, porcelain dolls can be pretty creepy – he-man is by far cooler.

    He-man was my primary childhood toy. I much preferred the medieval world of swords and magic to things like guns, so He-man was perfect. A few years I saw a Skeletor halloween costume, and I was all set to get it. Sadly, most costumes are only made for people up to about 6′ tall, and although I’m not much taller at 6’2″ I found that it didn’t fit well enough to justify the cost. Too bad (not to be mistaken for Two-bad), it would have been awesome.

  5. I went through a collecting stage, a few years back: fashion dolls. One of my friends said that dolls gave her the creeps. Now, I know why. LOL!

  6. I tell you what, you were lucky! Inhad a whole shelf of them that my grandmothers kept buying for me. They scared the bejeebers out of me. I swore they were plotting up there, probably because GI Joe and Barbie were more played with. I’d kiss them all each night and cover them up so they wouldn’t get cold (or so I couldn’t see them in the night), in the hopes they wouldn’t kill me in my sleep. So consider yourself lucky! đŸ™‚ My Mom once asked me if I wanted them back when I had kids of my own because she had kept them boxed up in her garage. No!

  7. My daughter collects vintage porcelain dolls and some of them just creep me out. They were probably creepy when they were new, but now they are tattered and old and all I can think when I see them is that they appear to be plotting to carry out some evil deed.

  8. I almost stopped reading why I saw the doll. See yesterday’s post from me for why. Here’s a strange (or not so much now we know you are me and I am you) thing. I did a doll post yesterday and an 80s themed post. Are we teleblogpathic or what? Lol

      • I made the mistake of admiring them but I have to say it was an odd present to receive and it is tucked away in a box now and no comment has been made about its disappearance. (Hope my daughter isn’t into your blogs but Ellie is a very popular name so should be safe)

  12. Hahaha! You’re right! I think that’s why at least one has been in a horror movie. And yet, I also wanted one and never got it. Now you’ve brought healing to that little ouch in my heart. đŸ™‚

  14. My aunt collects those dolls and even has a whole room for them. You visit, and on one hand you say, wow, what a unique and well-preserved snippet of history. Just look at the artistry and detail that went into each and every doll. On the other hand you want to never set foot in that room again.

  15. I got one as a gift and was told I couldn’t play with it. I remember thinking it was the most pointless gift ever. Then I noticed how creepy her eyes looked and I hated her cold skin. Don’t understand the allure but my mom made me keep it. I think she has it somewhere.

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