Polly Pocket (1989)

When I look back to my childhood and try to remember the toys that I played with before school age, one of the toys that comes to mind instantly is Polly Pocket. To my readers outside Finland, by saying before my school age, I mean before the age of seven. That will place us to the very early years of the 1990s in our toy timeline.

I could continue by saying (what I honestly feel) that the Polly Pocket toys represent something essentially 1990s to me – made of plastic, vibrant colours, all cute and girly, not very practical to play with. But did you know that the Polly Pocket toys are still being produced today? Well, you probably knew it, if you know anything about toys, but I had managed to miss the later life of Pollies completely (after I had stopped playing with them myself). The looks and material of the toys seem to be a bit different today, but the brand has retained some of its original elements, such as the small size of the dolls and their accessories.

In my blog post, I will tell you a little bit about the Polly Pocket playsets that I have here in my home. I have only four of them, but they are all from the first year of production (1989) so I personally find them quite interesting.

The first generation of Polly Pocket dolls were made of hard plastic and had circular bases which slotted into holes in the case interior. All the top row dolls in this picture represent Polly. Bottom row dolls starting from the left are Buttons, Midge, Wee Willie, a baby, and a child riding a pony.

Let’s take a brief history tour first – but I promise to keep it very short. Polly Pocket was first designed by Chris Wiggs in 1983 for his daughter Kate. He built a tiny house for a tiny doll who lives inside a makeup powder compact – indeed, the earliest commercial Polly Pocket playsets did resemble a powder compact that you could carry with you in your handbag. Bluebird Toys of Swindon, England, licensed the concept and the first Polly Pocket toys appeared in stores in 1989. Almost a decade later, in 1998, the story of Bluebird Toys ended as it was purchased by an USA based toy company Mattel together with the Polly Pocket brand. Polly Pocket continued her existence, but the outer appearance of the toy went through some major changes as Mattel redesigned it.

A seashell, a heart and a square are some of the classical shapes of Polly Pocket compacts.

All of my Polly Pocket playset cases have the same text: Bluebird, Bluebird Toys PLC. Swindon, England ©1989. This text can be found from the bottom of the compact. The dolls have markings on their base: BBT©89 as well as a number that changes between 1-4 depending on the doll. That number can be found from the doll’s back, too.

The basic Polly Pocket doll is roughly 2 cm tall. My playsets also include a sitting baby and a child who is riding a pony – these additional figures are even smaller than the adult dolls. Both the dolls and their compacts are made of hard plastic, but I wouldn’t advise you to clean your old toy with water because the compacts include paper details. I don’t know if this changed at some point and the paper was no longer used, but at least in the pieces that I have, the “back wall” of the houses with details such as windows and so on is made of printed paper. All the yard areas have paper elements, too.

Polly’s Pony Club -playset is shaped like a heart and its outer shell is light green. There are two dolls there, a riding instructor Polly and a pony with a child on back. I haven’t found a name for the child (or the pony).

I have a feeling that Polly’s Pony Club was probably my first Polly Pocket -toy. The playset case contains a stable yard and a house as shown in the picture. Polly has two round slots on the yard where she can stand securely and there’s another, bigger slot for the pony inside the other stall. The rider and her pony don’t have to stand inside the stall all the time, though, as there is enough room for their base on the track as well.

The joint (or the hinge, or what should I call it) in the middle of the Polly doll is a bit of an issue in this playset, because it is very loose. My riding instructor Polly is most of the time bowing rather than standing up straight. I remember that she was like this even when my toy was brand new (and now, 30 years later, her back isn’t obviously getting any younger). Luckily my other Pollies seem to be doing a bit better.

Just look at that style, Polly’s kitchen was definitely built in 1989. There are a lot of cabinets and cupboards there, though, and she has a cooker hood!

There’s a living room on the 2nd floor with a huge sofa and TV. Around the time when this toy was made, my family had a TV that looked a bit like that, too, by the way. (But it was brown.)

Well, this bedroom is extremely small. Polly’s head almost touches the ceiling when she is lying down on her bed! That must be a record of some sort for a low ceiling. There is something on that bedside table – is it a book? I wonder what Polly likes to read.

As a fun fact, all my Polly Pocket playsets have some everyday life detail – in this set, the kitchen – that the other playsets don’t have at all. Thus some of my dolls have to live their lives without a kitchen in the house, others without a toilet, and so on. Maybe they have solved this problem by visiting each other for whatever their house was lacking. (The Polly’s Cafe playset has a kitchen in it, too, but it is a part of the cafe and not inside the house).

I wonder why that grass has to be bubble gum pink. Even so, when the outer colour of the compact is green. They could have switched the two colours and made it much better!

Polly’s Beach House -playset is shaped like a seashell and its outer colour is light blue. This playset includes two dolls called Polly and Wee Willie.

Polly’s Beach House sits inside a seashell. The yard area consists of a sandy beach and the house has three floors, with a dining area on the first floor and bedrooms for the residents on the second and third floor.

The dominant feature in this set is that puddle of seawater – what is it actually called? A sea bay? Or maybe a tidal pool? Hah, I am not very familiar with this phenomenon. There are a lot of little details to be found on the beach, and one of them I just figured out this morning. Yes, can you imagine, even though I have had this toy for about 30 years, I didn’t notice until today that there is bottle mail there. What is even funnier, I love mail and letters a lot. How didn’t I see it before? The bottle is in the water next to the blue gate. I don’t have a close-up of it, but you can see it in the photo above.

Polly’s Beach House has a shower. That window looks like there’s snow on it. I wonder why, as there is definitely summer outside the house. A bit of a mystery there. Maybe those white puffy things are clouds?

Polly’s Beach House doesn’t have a kitchen, as the Pony Club did, but this house does have a shower. The shower enclosure is really detailed, with a decoration that looks like ceramic tiles on the back, and there’s even a tiny shelf there with a teeny weeny shampoo bottle.

I can’t help wondering what that white, round thing over the hand basin is. It could be a mirror, obviously, but it is a bit too high for the dolls. Could it be a ventilation valve instead? I would love that interpretation – just think of the meticulous toy designer trying to solve the problem of the doll’s bathroom getting too moist after a shower. The dollhouse bathroom needs a ventilation valve, problem solved! How incredibly cute. (It is probably just a mirror though.)

I can’t quite figure out if Polly and Wee Willie are supposed to lead a luxurious life, or are they just average people who are a bit lazy to fix stuff. The story could go either way! An own house with a private beach sounds really posh. On the other hand, their dock is broken with pieces floating here and there.

In this playset, the special award of a quirky detail goes to that broken dock. At first appearance, it looks like someone has smashed the toy, but that is not the case. The dock is supposed to look like that, and the runaway piece of wood is firmly stuck there where it is.

I remember that when I was a child, I didn’t appreciate this specific detail and it looked quite stupid in my opinion. Now thinking about it, it is quite a fun detail. There is something on that seawater, though, that wasn’t there when this toy was first bought. I mean those blue ballpoint pen marks. They were doodled by me, unfortunately.

Polly’s Cafe -playset is shaped like a seashell, too, and its outer colour is purple. This playset has two dolls. The other doll is – of course – Polly herself and the other one is a waitress called Buttons.

The lower section of the Polly’s Cafe playset case contains the coffeehouse, and the upper part of the compact is the owner’s house. I have assumed that Polly is the cafe owner, but maybe not – it could well be that the owner is that other doll called Buttons.

The cafe area has two slots for the dolls to stand on. In my opinion, the placement of these holes is a bit strange, as the other one is in front of the desk (where the customer would stand, I guess) and the other is by the front door. Whoever stands by the door seems to be always getting in or leaving, the other one just stands waiting, and there is nobody (no slot) behind the counter to actually prepare any food or sell anything.

I remember that it did feel a bit silly to play with this cafe set due to the placement of the two slots. First you put the customer by the door, then the cafe owner / waitress near the desk and there they were. I would have liked one more slot near the tables as well, so that the doll could at least stand and eat something. (Using the chairs wasn’t really an option, as the shape of the chairs didn’t seem to like the shape of the dolls.)

This cafe could be a nice meeting place for all my Pollies – but they can not sit down here, unfortunately. Any attempt to place any of the dolls on those chairs and benches ends up with a pile of dolls on the cafe floor. Perhaps some Blu Tack on the chair could help?

Oh, take a look at those ant sized foods! It is difficult to distinguish details at first glance as everything is covered in white paint, but a closer look reveals that there are two coffee cups, a slice of cake and a set of spice shakers on this table.

The house section of Polly’s Cafe doesn’t have any particular element that would make it different or special compared to my other Polly houses. This house does have a wardrobe, and my other houses don’t have wardrobes… but that is not the most interesting thing to have, I guess. The house of Polly’s Cafe seems a bit smaller, too, compared to my other three compacts because it has only two floors. If I was to mention one detail that is especially nice in this house, I’d say that the living room area looks very cosy in this one. I could sit by that table myself, sipping a soft drink and chatting with a friend.

The house area has a lovely living room with a dining table, a big sofa and TV. There is a menu on the wall, so, it is possible that this room could be a part of the cafe as well, but it looks more like a private space to me.

Midge’s Play School -playset is square shaped and its outer shell is yellow. The set includes a doll called Midge (yep, this set has no Polly at all!) and a sitting baby who doesn’t have a name, as far as I know. There’s also a third piece there, a red toy truck for the baby.

My fourth playset case, Midge’s Play School, is the only one of my sets that doesn’t have Polly in it. The main character called Midge lives in a house that is almost completely turned into a nursery school. Midge is taking care of a baby, who has a red toy truck to play with. Besides this toy truck, my sets don’t have any loose parts, other than the actual dolls. Midge and the baby can be placed in the yard area where there are kids’ activities: a slide and a sandpit. There are also some toys there but the only one that can be picked up and moved around is that red car.

When it comes to the house, the first and second floor are obviously reserved for the nursery school. The first floor has something that looks like a school classroom, though this baby is way too young to use it, I think. The second floor has something that the baby would probably find more interesting: a colourful playroom with toys, a playpen and the possibility to do drawings. The third floor looks like it could be Midge’s personal space – there is her bed and some kind of a cabinet there. This house doesn’t have a kitchen, a dining area, or even a living room at all, poor Midge, but at least there is a proper toilet!

The playroom and classroom have joyful bright colours. Little baby figure fits inside the playpen.

The backseat child has forgotten something under the classroom desk. Midge has left her notes and handbag waiting for the next lesson. Just looking at that choice of lamps in the classroom and playroom – those fluorescent lamps – gives me the 1990’s school vibes.

Among all my Polly Pocket houses, this is the house that got the toilet.

Finally, I have one separate Polly Pocket doll – the only one that didn’t arrive to me enclosed in a compact. This toy is called Polly’s Bedtime Ring, and it happens to be from the year 1989, too. Polly’s Bedtime Ring was originally constructed of three pieces: the doll, doll’s bed, and a yellow plastic ring where all the above mentioned items were attached to. Unfortunately I have misplaced the ring piece at some point but, most importantly, I have the doll and her bed left. The doll doesn’t have any markings in it, the bed (reverse side) has this text: BBT©1989.

Polly’s Bedtime Ring had this bed + doll combination on top of it (this picture is lacking the plastic ring because I have lost it). There were other items like this, too, with different dolls and accessories attached to a ring.

Taken out of the bed, this doll is so similar to my other Pollies that it is difficult to remember which doll goes with which playset. When you look at them closer, though, bedtime Polly’s face looks slightly sleepier than the others!

When I was a child, what did I think of Polly Pocket then? I remember that I liked these toys, but they were a bit difficult to actually play with. The dolls were not balanced enough to stand securely without their round slots on the ground – and there were only two slots in each compact, none at all inside the houses. The dolls couldn’t sit down, either, without falling on the floor and dropping out of the house sooner or later. (Usually sooner. I experienced the same again when taking pictures for this blog post – aargh!) My guess is that these problems were solved later on, when the brand evolved, but my own memories are based on these early sets only.

Despite these problems, vintage Polly Pockets are cute and I have nostalgic memories about them. The playset cases have a myriad of everyday life details. They are interesting to look at and discover. I suppose that these miniature details, together with the possibility to take this dollhouse with you everywhere, were the main reasons why Polly Pocket got so popular back in the days.