Terrifying Toys

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Toys can sometimes be horrifying. Maybe it’s the uncanny valley, where the toys are just human enough for their inhuman parts to raise our hackles with their sheer wrongness. Maybe they stir up memories of our childhoods, with all the terror of being small and helpless and believing that inanimate objects may just be animate after all. Or maybe sometimes toy companies just make creepy-ass toys. I mean, come on! Look at that thing! Little Miss No-Name? The doll with a tear? Who even comes up with such things?!? No wonder it was only available for one year. Guilt tripping kids into buying a doll that looks like its head just might start slowly spinning around? Shame on them!

Hat tip Vintage Everyday. For more terrifying toys like Little Miss No-Name here, take a gander at his post.

Loved to Death

I had a friend Rachel in college who had a doll, named Dolly, that her mother made from a pattern printed on the fabric. Her mom bought four copies , and every time Rachel wore one out, her mother would make the next incarnation. The doll my friend had at college was Dolly number three, and she was beat up, worn out, and one mistaken ride in the washing machine from just falling apart completely. Rachel said that once Dolly III fell apart, her mom would make Dolly IV, which Rachel would then have with her for the rest of her life.

Sometimes I wish there were other brand new Eileen patterns in a drawer somewhere, ready to be sewn up, all good and new, when I fall apart.