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Packaging - ***1/2
The doll on the show came in a very plain, large box - nothing exciting
there. Instead of going the screen accurate route, Bif Bang Pow wisely
gave us a
spiffed up box that shows the doll off well, including plenty of
marketing info. It's collector friendly too, as you'd expect with
something like this, and you can take Tina out for display and put her
back later, no damage. The cardboard is very, very heavy high quality
stuff as well, sure to stand up to shelf or storage wear.
Sculpting - ****
There's plenty of source material for them to base this doll upon - she
was clearly seen through the entire episode, and there's even some very
good stills of her right on the box. Putting the actual character or
prop right on the box is always a gamble for the company, because it
allows you to directly compare their final product.
It
was a good move here, because the comparison is very favorable. The
sculpted head of the doll, including the truly creepy smile and dimpled
cheeks, is dead on accurate. The arms and legs are solid pieces, just
as they were on the show, and the elbows have just the right bend to
them. Even the hand poses are a good approximation of the screen
version.
She sports rooted hair of
course, and it is very well
done, tight to the head and thick, properly styled with two pig tails
and
ribbons.
The large eyes look great, and
the moving eyelids have long, high quality eyelashes.
She's
a full sized 18" doll too - this isn't Barbie, this is more American
Girl. The underlying body is stuffed, not sculpted, but has about the
right amount of stuffing.
Paint - ****
Keep in mind that this was a
black and white episode, of course, which means that exact colors can
be a bit tricky to discern. In some stills Tina's
hair looks dark, almost black, while in others it looks
closer to brown
or even red. I went back and watched the episode again, and
it looks like the hair should be very dark brown.
Bif
Bang Pow decided to avoid any issue around what the actual color was of
the hair, eyes or dress - they did everything in grayscale to match the
appearance on your black and white television at home. None of my
photos of the doll are done in black and white - that's the actual
colors you're seeing.
It's a little weird seeing the
gray hair on
a doll where you expect brown, but once I understood the look they
were going for, I appreciated it a lot more.
What little actual
paint work that's here is done very well, including the arched
eyebrows, extra painted eyelashes, and even the small freckles.
Articulation - ***
For a true doll, she has more articulation than I was expecting. The
neck has a cut joint at the top, where the head attaches, and both arms
can turn at the sleeves. She also has the cool moving eyes, activated
by gravity. Just like the other dolls of
the 60's and 70's, Tina's eyes open and close as you lay her down or
pick her up. The function works pretty well, and adds to the
creep-factor. And if she winks at you...
Something that the doll
did do on the show that this one does not is move her head and arms on
her own.
There are two keys on the back, as there were on the prop. When you
wound the one key up, she talked AND her head turned side to side while
her arms moved up and down. Obviously, having that feature would have
made this doll perfect, but at the price point I'm not too surprised
that they didn't include it.
A
big surprise to me is that she can actually stand on her own, even with
the soft body. What she doesn't do well is sit - the stuffing is so
stiff that it's difficult to keep her bent at the waist.
Accessories - Bupkis
I won't be deducting from my overall due to the lack of accessories - I
didn't expect any, since this is a prop replica and not a toy. But I
thought it was worth noting in case your expectations were different.
Outfit - ***
For the most part, Tina's dress is a screen accurate duplicate. The
lacy white collar, the checker patterned dress, the socks and shoes,
and
the various bows are matches for the original.
There's
no lacy underwear though, which is actually something we see pretty
clearly in the show on a couple occasions, most notable when Eric first
throws her against the wall.
The back of the dress where the
two
keys are is slightly different as well - they didn't have velcro
closures on doll clothes back then, so they had to design around the
keys a bit differently.
These are pretty minor nits
though, and when it comes to prop replicas, this is about as close as
they normally get.
Sound Feature - ***1/2
Tina says five classic lines from her appearance on the show:
"My name is Talky Tina, and I
love you very much"
"My name is Talky Tina, and I don't think I like you"
"My name is Talky Tina, and you better be nice to me"
"My name is Talky Tina, and you'll be sorry"
"My name is Talky Tina, and I'm going to kill you"
As
I mentioned earlier, there are two keys on her back - one black, one
silver. These are also clearly present on the doll in the show,
although what the black key was for is never made clear. They turned
the
silver key to wind her up, but with all our fancy e-lec-tronics these
days, turning the silver key to the side switches her on. Then you
simple press her belly and she repeats one of the five sayings randomly.
She
said far more than 5 things on the show, having a couple conversations
with the poor Eric. These are the best single lines though, and make
the most sense out of context of other conversations. There's one more
line that might have been good - "I can take it if you can" - but even
that doesn't have the same spine tingling effect when heard by itself.
These
lines are all clearly right from the show's recording. You can even
hear some of the other background noises on a couple of them, but it
doesn't detract from their quality. They are clear and sharp, and the
volume is appropriate.
Fun Factor - **
No, this isn't a toy. In fact, it creeps my wife out just to be in the
same room with it. Then again, that's what it's supposed to do!
Value - **1/2
Any decent prop replica is going to run you
north of $100, and Tina is no exception. Her current retail is $140,
but considering that she is a full 18" doll with all the trimmings and
a voice mechanism, that seems to be about right to me.
Things to Watch Out For -
Not a thing.
Overall - ***1/2
I'm really digging this doll - it's one of the coolest prop replicas
I've seen this year, and Bif Bang Pow captured the general look appeal
of the original about as well as you could expect. Sure, you could have
had a couple more lines from the show, and had they gone all out (and
greatly increased the price tag), you could have had moving arms and
legs. But I'm very, very pleased with where they decided to draw the
line.
And have no fear - I have the
Mystic Seer pre-ordered as well, and I'll be reviewing that bad boy
once he hits!
Score Recap:
Packaging - ***1/2
Sculpting - ****
Paint - ****
Articulation - ***
Accessories - Bupkis
Outfit - ***
Sound Feature - ***1/2
Fun Factor - **
Value - **1/2
Overall - ***1/2
Where to Buy -
Entertainment
Earth
is the place to pick her up right now (she's an exclusive), where she
is $140. And don't forget to order your Mystic Seer working replica
while you're at it! You can search
ebay looking for a bargain as well.
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