Polly Pocket

I don't know if you know this, but allow me to let you in on a little secret about girls, ok? We love tiny shit. The smaller it is, the cuter it is, and thus the more we love it. Tiny dogs? Adorable. Cell phone charms? Love 'em. Earrings, rings, charm bracelets, all perfection in peak tininess. So is it any real surprise that when an entire brand of toys decided their whole niche would be "make it small as shit" that girls went fucking crazy for it? Should come as no surprise, really. Sadly, Polly Pocket is one of those I just completely missed out on that I now look back on with regret of having missed out on it, since it was a real work of art.

To sculpt all those details into such tiny sets, that's true mastery of the whole "miniature" style, and I for one could not be more impressed by the level of artistry that went into crafting these tiny homes and playsets. Think of those tiny towns old men make in their basements for their train sets, but on an even smaller scale, and you'll begin to realize just how amazing it is that someone actually had not only the skill but also the patience to sculpt things at such a miniaturized level. Originally designed by Chris Wiggs in 1983, primarily for his daughter, Kate, he used a makeup powder compact and fashioned a small house for a tiny doll.

Then licensed under Bluebird, a toy company in Swindon, England, the toys remained popular there, first appearing in stores in 1989. Mattel held distribution arrangements with Bluebird for the franchise in the early 90s, until production lulled in 98 and, after multiple hostile takeover attempts, Mattel finally bought out Bluebird later that same year, therefore making the Bluebird sets now collectible items. Then, in their infinite wisdom, Mattel decided to make the dolls bigger, including dolls that rivaled those of Barbie in a fashion line, and in 2002 finally stopped producing the smaller toys but continued to produce the bigger dolls, thusly making the name of the franchise an oxymoron because she could no longer fit in your goddamned pocket.

I think Polly Pocket is a great example of art masquerading as a toy, and damn well too, since it is so easily playable. And just, overall, a really neat concept. I mean, it's a toy you can literally fit in your pocket (hence the name, obviously) and thusly can take everywhere all the time. As a small child, back before every five year old had a cell phone, this was the most excellent way to guarantee day long entertainment. But it's one of the few toys I appreciate far more for its artistic sensibility than for its entertainment value, that's for darn sure. Not only was it portable, not only was it finely crafted, but it didn't take the easy road by simply rehashing the same design in the shell casing. They had hundreds of variants! Oh sure, you could talk all day about the impressive sculpturing that went into making tiny windows and staircases and couches, you could discuss it until the cows came home, but really what impresses me, even more than the level of pure sculpting expertise, what the cherry on top was if you will, was that they continued to innovate and make new shells for her to live in. That's unheard of. Once you find a design, you stick with it, but not Polly Pocket.

And as a result, we got a thousand different looking Polly Pocket toys! Say you didn't want just a plain ol home styled one, well there's a beach styled one housed in a clamshell, or the neat star design that I included just above beside the text. And sure, not every single design was a smash hit, some were fairly lazy. Some simply took place inside the plastic equivalent of a shoebox, but hey, it's still cooler than nothing, right? Maybe one day Polly Pocket can be the old lady who lived in a shoe! My point is that, even at the top of their game, even with the market cornered (not hard to do when you're such a niche concept and you have virtually no competition) they continued to switch things up and try different designs and I just always appreciate never ending innovators. People who were already on top and yet they don't get lazy.

Despite a soft 2010 relaunch, by 2012 the franchise was discontinued in the US, but remained available in Europe and South America for a while longer until the brand dwindled, eventually only being sold in Brazil and finally being put out to pasture in 2015 when the entire line was discontinued by Mattel. Thankfully, however, in 2018, Polly Pocket made a comeback! These new sets are those that mimic the original toysets, and frankly, I think deviating from that concept was what led to the disinterest and death of the toy as a whole to begin with, so it's nice to see it going back to its roots, and it's nice to see someone recognize that that's what it should be doing. It's in the goddamned name for petes sake! To accompany the new line, a cartoon TV series was produced, and is still being produced today I'm happy to say. Frankly, I'm super happy to see Polly Pocket not only continue, but continue in a way that pays respect to what made her famous in the first place.

When it comes down to it, Polly Pocket is different from most toys, in fairly obvious ways, but aside from its accessibility, and aside from its overall original concept that, surprisingly, nobody ever seemed to not copy but not even attempt to (at least not successfully) I reiterate once more that its a toy that also serves as a piece of art. I mean, let's take a look at one more set before we wrap this post up, shall we? Look at this fucking thing. You've got a typical girly set here, a castle, but they've got a gazebo, a garden, stars in the background, a bedroom, a throne room, a set of armor, a staircase AND LIGHTS. This thing had lights in it! That actually lit up! That's absolutely wild.

This set is a perfect example of why I think Polly Pockets are works of art, because to take something so complex, a castle set, and then sculpt it into something so tiny yet so amazingly still comprehensible visually is a true skill, honestly. The castle even opens up to the interior where the rooms are and it's just....god is it gorgeous to look at. Whether it was a toy or not, this is art. And this is exactly why I started this blog, was because, okay sure some of it was based in nostalgia (and also once I had the name, how could I not use it, really) I really wanted to talk about how toys are art. Same reason I do most of the blogs in this blogosphere, whether it's my mask blog or my board game blog, it's because these things are art, whether they were intended to be or not, and the hard work that went into them deserves to be recognized. People worked hard on these, skilled people, and their work is sort of being forgotten solely because the medium itself is somewhat dying out. People don't wear original halloween masks anymore, they simply don their favorite popular IP, and families don't gather around regularly to play board games anymore, they simply play video games. Neither of these are bad, inherently, but it does mean that all these things are slowly going the way of the dinosaur, and I think someone has to be there to catalogue and recognize the hard work that went into crafting these pieces of art.

And if that someone has to be, then so be it, I'll do it, because they deserve it.

Polly Pocket was unique, and the fact that it's not only died but come back is a real show of its staying power. Anything from the 80s or 90s that still manages to have relevancy in the modern day and age while contending with so much other content from various mediums is downright deserved to be recognized. Good on Polly Pocket. I hope she's happy in her tiny moon shaped home, realizing that she shot for the stars, and now lives among them, high above the rest.