Friday, March 3, 2017

Doll-A-Day 2017 #62: Cherry Merry Muffin

  Today's doll is one that is just passing through.She's Cherry Merry Muffin.

I will show you dolls I love, dolls I have sought for a long time, recently discovered dolls I had to have, dolls from my childhood. And then there are dolls like this. Cherry Merry Muffin is one of those dolls I picked up because she was there. I never wanted her, and always figured she'd be moving along when I got the chance to work on that.I just haven't gotten around to getting rid of her.

It's not that I hate her. I don't. She's kind of cute. But I never warmed to 80's dolls much. The reasons for that are most likely that:
1. I was in my 20's at that point and trying to think I was too old for toys.(HA!)
2. 80's dolls had a lot of the same excesses as 80's people: Big hair,bright, colourful clothing,and excessive personality.

Ok, you're thinking, as a young woman in her 20's, didn't I take part in all that 80's fashion excess, neon clothes, and bangs that added an extra 10" to your height? Well, no.I had perms to give my limp hair some curl,but my wardrobe was decidedly UNcolourful.
  "I am a young lady in her 20's with big hair, but I do not buy toys." This dress was pale pink, which was verging on colourful for me,especially considering I usually dressed more like this:

"I do not buy toys, however I do buy goofy footwear." That was a lie anyway,because I distinctly remember a bright yellow nylon dinosaur wearing a diaper.Nowdays of course, I buy toys and goofy footwear.

Cherry's goofy footwear includes molded and painted on shoes.
Cherry Merry Muffin dolls were pretty tame compared to competitors like Strawberry Shortcake and Rainbow Brite.Their clothes weren't dayglo, and their hair colours were all natural colours. Maybe this was because they came about in 1988, and the calmer 90's were on their way.
There were three series of dolls, produced in 1988,'89,and '90.
There was one influence of Strawberry and friends though, and that's the scented gimmick. The Cherry Merry Muffin dolls were all scented like foods. Cherry was cherry scented of course. Other dolls included in the first series were Chocolottie,Betty Berry,Banancy,Apple Amy.Second series dolls were Penny Peppermint, ,Greta Grape,Bubblegum Becky,and Lily Vanilly.(Unfortunately poor Lily Vanilly had her scent taken away from her when it was discovered that it was really somebody else doing the smelling...That's a Milli Vanilli joke...) Third series dolls were Cookies and Cream,Grape Ice, and Peach Perfection.Of course, each series had a Cherry Merry Muffin,although there were small differences.

The dolls are about 6" tall to the top of their actual heads, and not to the top of that big hair.
She has a face very similar to Mattel's older Baby Beans dolls.

Cherry has a little plastic muffin, that comes off more as a cupcake, on the front of her dress.

The first series dolls came with a 'Flavor Friend' that looked like a food item with a face, a tray of muffins in a muffin pan,and a comb. Cherry had an iridescent bow in her hair and an apron. Second  series dolls came with  hats that looked like a cake, etc.,that could also be worn as a bracelet by the child,and a scratch and smell recipe card. The final series had an ice cream theme and came with a comb, and Flavor fFriend that was shaped like an ice cream bowl, a packet of sprinkles and a spoon.
   You can watch a Cherry Merry Muffin commercial HERE.
  Well, this was like pulling teeth.my internet wouldn't stay on long enough to even load a picture for ages.I may or may not post tomorrow. I'm trying my best to keep my daily post promise!

6 comments:

  1. LOL, talk about coincidences; I've been wanting to review this doll myself! She may not be everyone's cuppa but she certainly is cute!

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    1. Go ahead and review her. You'll do a whole different side of her.And you may reach people I don't.

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    2. I'll include a link to your post; these pictures are excellent and your doll is different from mine.

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    3. That will be fine. Let me know when you get it up, and I'll put a link to your post on here. By the way,my Cherry Merry Muffin is going to be going bye-bye, if you're interested.

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  2. We're not that far apart in age (I was born in 1968) but I didn't hit my twenties until July of 88. I love 80s dolls! For some reason, my mother wasn't big on giving us anything but baby dolls, so it wasn't until we were older that we could speak up more for what we wanted. I "played" with dolls a lot longer than I think even kids back then did, too. When I visited Germany in 89-90 with the future Mr. BTEG, we visited every toy store we could find, and I bought a bunch of furniture for my Lundby dollhouse.

    I love bright colors! Back in high school in the mid 80s, I had a hot pink leather tie, and a neon yellow leather tie and knit vest.

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    1. I'm six years older than you (born in 1962.),and I guess I played with toys for a long time too. I think of the 80's as my nieces era.She was born in 1977. I bought toys I liked for her instead of for myself.I did the same thing with Emma until I decided it was ok to collect them myself!But the 80's toys I bought for my niece were things like My Friend Mikey and cute little Richard Scarry mice.I was never into the bright neon colours.My 80's wardrobe consisted of mainly black and white, with some grey and a little dark green thrown in.My kids keep telling me I was 'a goth hipster'!

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Thanks in advance for your comments.