Totsy "Teen Fun Lacey" joins the fam

Meet the new-to-me Skipper-equivalent from circa 1994, Totsy's "Teen Fun Lacey." I bought her on eBay unboxed, so figuring out her identity involved lucking into finding a listing for a similar doll on its card (and priced at $40! -- but I don't buy vintage dolls NRFB or MIB because I don't like boxes. Leave them for people who do!

 

It was the 1990s, curling irons were a gal's most important accessory.

I love her face. She even has dimples at the side of her mouth. She spent two weeks basking in a baggie of baking soda because she arrived reeking of cigarette smoke. The seller had a rant in her listings about how buyers are ridiculous over smoke scent and she has no control over lingering scents from estate sales where she buys... but I think she herself is a chain smoker, because this scent was not lingering. It was racing ahead to announce itself. (I left her positive feedback anyway, because the rant was a red flag I chose to ignore due to wanting the doll a lot.)

To you, it's a dollar-store small size. To me, it's a lifetime supply.

Lacey has also had a full day of soaking her hair in fabric softener, which seems to work better on 1990s hair than conditioner. This came out well enough that I didn't boil wash her, and I'm thinking of running all the 1990s gals through intense fabric softener treatment.

Lacey is 9.5" tall and has the reached puberty, but not blossomed to Barbie degrees yet. The 1990s were the era of aging up Skipper, so Lacey is probably intended to be in her mid-teens, while the main Totsy fashion doll slides into adulthood along with Barbie.

Her feet are flat. Her legs are a different, softer material than her arms, and they look a little wiggly for a reason.

She has the wired, bendy legs that Kid Kore was known for in this period! (She's definitely Totsy, though -- the marking is on her back.)

Here's an awkward size comparison parade, made more so by my not having a standard-sized Skipper of any era.

L:R Kid Kore Kelsey, Petite Barbie, Lacey, Teen Skipper

Lacey is shorter than Petite Barbie and much shorter than Kelsey or Teen Skipper. (This moment was when I decided Petite Barbie was ready to leave for a new home. I was so excited about the new Barbie body types when they were released, as well as the more visible ethnic variety, but the face-ups have not aged well with me, except on Kens, which we'll talk about later. I find myself preferring 1990s dolls, even though that wasn't my childhood and I have no specific nostalgia for the era.)

I'm so cute!

Lacey can wear some Sparkle Girlz clothing, like the dress above. The day before she emerged from her fabric softener adventures, I'd been at Dollar Tree and found a sparkly green dress, in the standard Barbie-esque clothes, that I was pretty sure would be a good fit.

Ready for prom!

It fits perfectly! The heeled shoes do fine on her little flat feet because her ankles are flexible.

Here, she's settling in with Skipper and Kelsey, looking a little younger than both. When I eventually find a Kid Kore Piper that hits right, she'll get a same-sized friend.