Retro review - Adventures of Vicky

Well I haven't done one of these for a while, but my ebay parcel arrived so here we go heh.

Back in the early 90s a company called Fabbri produced a part work series titled "the adventures of vicky". Basically, the idea was that in the first issue you would get a 1/6 scale doll and then each subsequent issue would feature an outfit and the magazine would be themed around that outfit.
A similar idea was used for the Felicity Wishes part works, though those used a plush doll. Vicky was a plastic Barbie scale doll and her fashions were designed in such a way they fitted other dolls of that scale just as well.



Now, on the second hand market finding the clothes isn't actually that hard. In fact, most huge bundles of clothing from that era are bound to include a few bits of Vicky stuff. The dolls however, aren't nearly as common.
Either they were lost, broken or people flat out didn't buy them but bought the outfit sets, I don't really know but i've been looking for Vicky doll for a long while hoping to grab one for a price I was actually willing to pay (I'm cheap ok? anything over a tenner is waaaay too much for an old doll to me hahah)

sadly I have no magazines to show you, but I understand they had a story/comic in them and a bunch of games and puzzles.
The magazines retailed for £3:50, which I suppose isn't bad for a whole fashion pack.

If you'd like to see the magazines, this Flickr user actually has the whole collection!  Jadestoys

Vicky came with a diverse range of outfits from the safari outfit she came in, to scuba gear and medieval princess garb. The fews bits i've handled over the years have felt ok, maybe a little cheaper made than Sindy or Barbie of that era and some odd fabric choices here and there (a lot of use of plasticky bits kinda glued on a bit loosely) but on the whole decent little outfits.

Anyway, enough of my babbling.

My Vickys (yes, plural) came nude sadly. I shall have to track down the safari outfit for one of them. But they weren't hugely expensive so i'll forgive them their nakedness.

Now the reason I always wanted a Vicky was because their cute little faces reminded me of the earliest Hasbro Sindys, it helps they have similarly styled hair.

Side by side however, the similarity is less pronounced. But there's definitely something about them that reminds me of my beloved Sindy.

Or perhaps the sweet baby face of Petra.

Either way, my two girls actually look slightly different due to differently printed eyes.
Pink top has lower, closer spaced eyes while brown top has wider spaced higher eyes.
pink top also has darker lips.

The dolls are cute, and for what are effectively cheap clone dolls they aren't too light. They're certainly lighter than the Hasbro dolls i've been comparing them too, but older clones always were made so much better than modern ones.

Their hair is presumably nylon or something similar. It's not hugely thickly rooted but there's no obvious bald patches. Texture-wise it's fairly soft but kinda frizzy in places. Though I can't say i'm surprised, these dolls ARE  24 years old.
They have a thinly rooted fringe very much like the early Hasbro Sindy dolls, it only goes to the edges of their eyebrows then stops.

They have a cute little snub nose, small slightly smiling lips and big blue eyes with bold black outlines. the freckles are very symmetrical. 5 on each cheek and then three on the nose.

Their faces are quite flat, very much like Hasbro Sindy.

The head has no markings, nor does the body so i've no idea who actually produced these for Fabbri. but this body looks familiar...

She has straight rigid arms with detailed hands (finger nails and creases on the palm even!), a teeny pinched waist with an angled swivel joint and narrow hips and standard click joint barbie legs.
Her body is similar in shape to older Barbie dolls, large shoulders, narrow waist etc. She even has the heeled hoof-like feet but this body isn't a barbie body.

Her butt is teeny! and there's a strange V definition to her buttocks.

Her head is on a ball joint which gives her a nice range of motion in her head.

Her body was bothering me because it was SO familiar. So I grabbed down Petra and some later Hasbro Sindy dolls.

It's a little hard to tell from the picture but while Sindy has no waist joint at all, both Petra and Vicky have the same angled line. They also have the same strange V defined butt cheeks.

And very very similar hands.

could it be? Fabbri were an Italian company, and Petra was German (I think) but sold throughout Europe...
Bicky's neck is wider than Petra's, but her ball neck?

 

Perfect fit. They can totally swap bodies.

Because of her teeeeny waist and giant chest, Vicky fits barbie stuff fairly nicely.

And Petra stuff of course. She can even wear Barbie shoes, so presumably Vicky shoes will also fit Barbie dolls.

so at least I finally have dolls I can actually give all my extra teeny shoes to yay!







Now, eagle eyed readers might have spotted there's something odd going on with one of these dolls in this picture.

Allow me to explain. This pair were listed for cheap because the one in pink has some layering to her hair (probably a kid snipping it, but it looks ok) and the other has a factory fault. A factory fault that had me laughing my butt off for hours. (i'm easily amused ok?).

You see, the poor girl has two left legs. Meaning one of her feet points backwards!

She has to be a friday night doll, a "screw this, nobody will notice" doll. And it's just fail on such an epic level that it actually delights me. It puts in perspective wonky eyes and missewn outfits, heck, even Pedigree who's QC seemed non existent at points managed not to do this, oh they'd put mismatched legs, but usually a left one and a right one, just not from the same uh.. doll. hahaha.
This though, how did a worker look at that and think "yep, seems about right" ? How did she pass inspection and get onto shelves!
poor misfit dolly, her gumbiness makes me smile.

EEEK!

Perhaps mercifully, if you stick her feet in larger shoes you can mostly hide the problem.

can you tell which one is gumby?

My scene shoes actually work quite well because they balance out the larger heads. The fact the two dolls are slightly different appeals to me. Means they're not just duplicates of one another, they're more like twin sisters.
I decided to name the one in pink Emma because for some reason with her hair pulled back she reminds me of Emma Bunton from the Spice Girls hahah (god i'm old)
The other I suppose will remain as Vicky.

Overall, they are sweet little dolls. Ignoring gumby Emma's leg (yes, it was Emma with the backward leg lol) they're not badly made. Their hair isn't great but then neither are a lot of dolls that were far more expensive originally. Their faces are simple but sweet, sorta like a Steffie Love but with a fraction more personality. Their bodies aren't heavy, but they certainly aren't super light either and don't feel particularly fragile. Their waist joints have loosened a bit over the years leaving them a tad "swingy" but then so have most of my Sindy dolls. That's just general wear and tear and age.

I actually like their faces, they're very simply done but the big eyes and no makeup gives them a cute innocent look that I find so appealing in vintage dolls. They look sweet and friendly, ready to go on adventures. And in several pictures they still look SO MUCH like early hasbro Sindy dolls to me.

Now i'm wishing I had a few of the magazines to read heh. If they're anything like the sindy annuals, they should be a riot.

So that's the Adventures of Vicky dolls, a cute part works idea from the early 90s that totally needs to make a comeback.