It started with a painful childhood memory. You see, the first ever Sindy I got, as a present at the tender age of three, was the Superstar Sindy. Sindyyy, Superstar Sindy, you're everything I want to be! Superstar Sindy, dance with me! You're everything I want to be! Superstar SINDY! And she had this cool silver microphone. And for some reason, my mum let me take the doll with me to school, complete with all accessories. In hindsight, she may well have tried to convince me to leave them at home, but that's not important.

What's important is that I did take them. And one day, the nursery teacher — we shall call her Mrs A — didn't like that I was playing with the microphone while she was talking to the class about something or other, and she said to give the microphone to her and she'd look after it. I didn't want to, because I knew, even at the age of three, that grown-ups rarely keep their word. But she pressured me and in the end she took it from me and put it in a box and I never saw it again.

So you see, I was right to never trust a grown-up at their word.

In any case, it had a lasting effect on me. I still feel the pang of loss. Even when my little sister, three years later started nursery, I asked her to keep an eye out for it, being so upset I deluded myself into thinking it must still be there. More years later, when other girls I knew started nursery, I plaintively made the same request of them.

I don't know why I didn't just tell my mum at hometime the same day. I really don't. Perhaps the stress of it made me mute. I wouldn't be surprised. I still react that way to upsetting things today.

My mum also threw away the original packaging for my Superstar Sindy. I used to keep it under my pillow and look at it every night before I went to sleep. There were photos of the other dolls in the range, and they had such cool 80s fashion. I think one had glass-style boots. I totally wanted that one.

There is currently one listed on eBay, in much better condition than mine, with the microphone, but I have to tell myself, it's just a bit of plastic, don't spend that much money. If you are still affected by it over XX years later, it'll take more than a new microphone to cure you. Huh.

Anyway. I digress.

So it started with seeing that eBay listing. And then last Tuesday we all went to the Museum of Childhood, Bethnal Green, so I could relive my childhood traumas. No Superstar Sindys, but there were a lot of other cool stuff there! So I'm going to post the doll-related things here, and the rest on another post, if I can be bothered.

We will start with Sindy, of course. For the record, I never had any of the Sindys shown in the museum.

My First Sindy, 1986
Every part of a doll, like Sindy, is designed and tested to make sure it works perfectly. This is one of the last Sindy dolls to be made by Pedigree. It has a new smiling face.

Sindy, 1963-2004
This collection of dolls shows how Sindy has changed since her launch in 1963. She has had many jobs and lifestyles with lots of accessories. Made by Pedigree in England.

That's strange, because that last one looks definitely like a Hasbro.

Hmm, it seems rights were returned to Pedigree as long ago as 2003. However, that face is definitely a Hasbro-style face, whoever made it.

I really like the look of the Tammy-clone Sindy! Sindy was originally a clone of a US doll called Tammy. She was simply renamed for the UK market as a condition of the licensing deal.

Creepy!

Daisy doll face designs, 1977
The British fashion designer, Mary Quant, designed the Daisy doll for Palitoy. Here are the prototype faces from which Daisy's final face was chosen. Which face would you choose?

Freakin' hell, none of them. That's the stuff of nightmares. It's the way they stare at you, with their mouths slightly agape. *shiver*

The Small Stories dollhouse exhibition was on, but it wasn't as good as I hoped. Doll houses are less fun when they are locked behind glass.

*drumroll*

And now it's time for my own museum exhibits! In order of obtaining them, to the best of my memory...

Superstar Sindy

The cause of so much childhood heartbreak. Here she is...

She had silver hoop earrings, which are long lost. Also another bracelet or two in silver, and of course, the microphone *sniff*

Her outfit was originally this shiny gold. What can I say — she was played with an awful lot.

Her knees snapped pretty quickly, although, because I never took the trousers off, all I could tell was that something was wrong with her legs, and my mum insisted they were fine. Eventually they got so that she had to concede they were broken — I believe they are sellotaped together now, they certainly don't bend anymore — and I was so upset, I used to keep asking my mum if they had places where they could mend dolls. I remember being upset about those snapped knees for a long time. I'm telling you, that doll was nothing but grief for me.

Here she is in a really nice dress. My cousin had one of those dresses first and I was super jealous. Then my parents were able to get one for me as well — I think it as a freebie from a Weetabix offer. My sister got the actual Sindy doll from the offer — which annoyed me as I felt I had a monopoly on Sindys in my family. Did anyone say "princess"?

City Girl Sindy

My last Sindy with the cute pre-Barbified face. She is my favourite of all of them, although in the worst condition. Her arms detached pretty quickly, although I am glad to say her legs are in the best shape of any Sindy doll. She had a polo neck sweater, which I can't find. Apart from that, the rest of her is present, although pretty worn down. There are a few buttons and beads missing.

Party Girl Sindy

I think she was the third Sindy I got, though she could have been the second. In any case, this is the Barbified face. I had no problem with it as a kid, but I certainly do not think much of it now. And freakin' hell, that tan. She's darker than I am, damn, although I never thought of her as being the same race as me. Oh well 😀

Anyway, she had a cute strawberry-print dress, and a gift box. I don't think anything was actually in that gift box. There's not really much to say about this doll, except every Sindy I've owned from this mould on ended up with the legs broken off, as shown above.

Freewheelin' Sindy

So it seems I've lost the most important part of Freewheelin' Sindy — her wheels. She had pink boots with blue and yellow skate attachments and I can't find them for anything. She had a belt as well for the walkman.

She broke her legs as well. Also, her hair was crimped, I believe, and it was definitely longer.

Just to show you I wasn't imagining the Sindy advert jingles, I've found this on youtube (Freewheelin' Sindy is at 0.29):

Hehehe, I remember that cycling one!

Now I'm starting to vaguely remember those sunglasses. Did I have them?

That Sindy girl was damn lucky, getting to do so much Sindy cosplay. I wonder if she got to keep the outfits?

Wedding Day Sindy

My last ever Sindy. She had a bouquet, which I've lost. Not much else to say really, except that that veil is in shocking condition. And her hair is even more shocking. Her hair wasn't originally that short, by the way. Neither was Freewheelin' Sindy's. That happened when I was about 11-14 years old. I was probably rebelling against my mother's refusing to let me cut my own hair. And also, that pink fringe is coloured with felt-tip.

I totally wanted that Snack 'n' Chat

The ticked ones are the ones I wanted 🙂 I still quite want Beach Party Sindy.

This is the last of the Sindys.

Candie

Does anyone else remember Candie? She was the poor girl's Sindy.

Yep, definitely the poor girl's Sindy.

My cousin had a Candie doll before I did. This one was bought by an aunt and uncle in those big market clearance stands, anyone remember them? They'd have stacks of stuff, and they'd keep going lower on the price until someone took up the offer. A sort of reverse auction. I haven't seen one of those since, oohh, the early 90s. I wonder do they still exist?

Well, that's it, except to say that Candie had twinkle toes.

Actually, now that I think about it, that's a pretty good representation of my feet (City Girl Sindy) vs my sister's feet (Candie).

Well that's it. A very long blog post from me. My computer is crying from this (seriously, it's lagging about 15 seconds and this window is all I have open). Byeeeeeee!