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Hot Toys: Avengers: Age of Ultron Vision Sixth Scale Figure Is Up!

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The quite exquisite Avengers: Age of Ultron Vision Sixth Scale Figure by Hot Toys is now available to pre-order. Priced at $219.99 and featuring a stunning likeness of Paul Bettany, Vision is scheduled to ship between December 2015 and February 2016.

UGLYDOLL Gacha by Takara Tomy

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Are you ready for UGLYDOLL gashapons/gachapon from Takara Tomy? 5 x characters to collect - time to bug your fav retailers for availability of these dangly cuties! And because it is also "BVandai", Ima gonna go check my neighborhood Toys'R'Us to see if they exist here in Singapore (I am so "naive" sometimes, it hurts hurhur :p). (Source: @davidzhorvath)

Mattel Disney Pixar CARS: Oi, Oi Oi Paul Oilkley

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Thanks for the early preview pics, “Brian R.” Paul Oilkley looks pretty great. SOLID metal diecast. Everything is all metal except for the obvious gray attachment pieces. So, even though he has a lines that could’ve been some plastic insert, it is NOT. Unibody metal. We are all gonna want a fleet of these … […]

"Pokket Vampire" by J*RYU

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Here's a look at a painted version of an upcoming new figure from J*RYU dubbed a "POKKET VAMPIRE"- playing on the "jiabng1 shi1" AKA "Chinese vampire" donned period tunics and a paper talisman on their forehead (used by taoist priests to keep them immobile) … aaahhh but this lil'cutie is not out for "blood"… "I brought some DIY POKKET VAMPIRE pieces with me to Shanghai and was painting them live

American Girl Unveils Truly Me™ Doll Line and Helps Girls Explore and Discover Who They Truly Are

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[Business Wire] - Starting today, girls will have the opportunity to explore and discover their own unique styles and interests with Truly Me, American Girl’s newly-rebranded line of contemporary 18-inch dolls and accessories, girls’ clothing, and exclusive play-based content.

"DEKU the Buster" by Uky DayDreamer Available at Toy Art Gallery, including TAG-Exclusive Green Edition

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Toy Art Gallery shares with us availability of "DEKU the Buster" figure from Uky DayDreamer, with the 5-inches tall vinyl figure featuring 3 points of Articulation with removeable helmet - there's the TAG-exclusive Green (seen above), Black/Red and Orange colorway editions - all priced at US$40 per piece.

Detroit Golden Age of Auto Design – American Dreaming

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Preview of new book & documentary with lots of amazing concept car illustrations … You can read more at the American Dreaming Film Project here. Tweet This Post

DC Collectibles New 52 Justice League Dark - Swamp Thing Figure


Sea-Borgs Claw & Clamp by MonsterPants Drops May 21

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Introducing Sea-Borg Claw (above) and Sea-Borg Clamp (below) from MonsterPants Toys! Both figures go on sale this Thursday, May 21st at Noon EST at the MonsterPants Shop for US$24 each plus shipping."These two hard-headed guys are the powerhouses of the Sea-Borgs' world, both sporting a massive left appendage built for crushing the skulls of their Invader enemies! Sea-Borg Claw is 100%

worth 1000 words: not your regular candleholder

Roald Dahl

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Life is more fun if you play games.

For more stories behind some of your favorite toys visit Toy Tales.

Pac-Man Turns 35!

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Pac-Man Turns 35!

Pac-Man is turning 35. Here are 7 fun facts about the video game.

For more stories behind some of your favorite toys visit Toy Tales.

There's Something Very Endearing About Wishbone Dolls

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Before doing my research for faceless dolls I would never have thought about making a doll from a turkey or chicken wishbone.  However, knowing the history of the colonial period and the pioneers and using materials on hand I shouldn't be surprised as to wishbones being used to make playthings.

Some of these dolls were faceless, but most had faces.  Even though they didn't fit the criteria for my "faceless" dolls research I was intriqued and had to know more.  Here's what I found:

They were also known as pen wiper dolls that were used about 150 years ago.  In Colonial times people kept them on their desks to wipe away extra ink from their pens.

The wishbone doll shown in the picture above is for sale on Ebay by abclovell and can be found here.


Page 205 of The Doll Book written in 1908 by Laura B. Starr under the Homemade Dolls chapter talks about the merry-thought doll which is made out of wishbones from turkeys, chickens, ducks, and birds - with all the different sizes being perfect for different family members.

According to the chapter, "The merry-thought doll affords no end of pleasure and amusement.  The wishbones from turkeys, chickens, ducks and birds offer various sizes for a large family of these dolls.  The head may be molded of ceiling wax, black, white or colored; here is a chance to show skill and artistic ability.  Again a head may be penciled on the flat surface of a cork and each end of the wishbone thrust into or glued on to the other pieces to give the manikin necessary stability, and make it flat-footed enough to let it stand alone unaided."

"Doll pen wipers are made from a wishbone and dewssed like a ballet dancer.  They usually wear a card around the neck upon which is printed the following epitaph:  

One I was a wishbone and grew upon a hen,
Now I am a little slave amd made to wipe your pen."

From my research I discovered that most wishbone dolls had cork heads, walnut heads, cloth heads, or wax heads.  Most had faces, but there were some that didn't so I gave some thought to including them in my History of Faceless Dolls but decided not to.  

So I decided to write this blog post about them - mainly because I find the wishbone dolls so charming.

If you would like to see a picture of fourteen folk art wishbone dolls please click here.


The pen wiper "I'm So Fancy" doll pictured above is from the National Museum of Toys & Miniatures website. According to their website, "We’ve got to hand it to the Victorians: they were recycling and reusing a century before the country had heard of Al Gore or Earth Day! Everyday objects like wishbones, spools and nut shells were all given a new life as fanciful, yet functional art objects. All the rage in the 19th century, this crafty trend of turning trash into tiny treasures resulted in Victorian fancies."

"While T/m’s  Victorian fancy doll isn’t exactly winning the beauty contest amongst the dolls in our collection, she certainly gets high marks for functionality and being “green.” Her body consists of a wishbone wrapped in muslin and plaid fabric scraps; and her head is painted cork. Her dress is actually intended to be used as a pen wipe, a desktop necessity in the days of the dip or nib ink pens. The tag pinned to her reads, “Once I was a wishbone, And grew upon a hen. Now I am a ‘Spinster,’ Made to wipe your pen."


According to The Information Please Girls' Almanac By Alice Siegel - Page 148, "Wishbone Dolls - In the late 1800's adults saved the wishbones from turkeys and chickens and made dolls out of them using a piece of cork for the head and sealing wax for the feet. The dolls were dressed in the fashions of the times."

If you would like to see or read more of this article please click here.


I found the wishbone doll that is shown in the picture above on the Liveauctioneers website.

The description says the doll is a black faced doll, circa 1850 with a "ditty" sewn dress.

If you would like to see this doll please click here.

If you want to know how wishbone dolls are made the WikiHow website has a How to Make a Wishbone Doll article. According to the WikiHow website, "Wishbone dolls were made "in the olden days" before folks had all the material things they have today." If you want to read the how-to please click here.


There is a charming parable in The Churchman, Volume 46 from November 1882 - page 528-530 entitled, The Unhappy Wishbone,  about a wishbone "pen wiper" and learning the art of contentment.  It's a charming little story about a wishbone with a cloth face, an old lady and a little girl.  If you would like to read the story please click here.

In the story mentioned above the wishbone is described as a pen-wiper. Of course, I was intrigued by this as I had never heard of a pen-wiper before. Turns out it is a cloth or other material for wiping off or cleaning ink from a pen. Sometimes pen wipes were wishbone dolls - some with cloth heads, some faceless.


The doll shown in the picture above is a pen wiper wishbone doll from the Gathering The Jewels - Welsh Cultural History website please click here.  According to the website, "This pen wiper was made from a wishbone in Montgomery, c. 1900. The jingle on it reads: 'Once I was a merry thought growing on a hen / Now I am a little slave made to wipe a pen'. 'Merry thought' is an old English name for a wishbone."


I found the antique wishbone doll pen wipe, shown in the picture above on the Antiques Navigator website. If you would like to see a larger image of this pen wipe please click here.

I ran across a LeRoy Pennysaver & News from November 2013.PDF that had an article entitled, "Save The Wishbone by Lynne Belluscio" that is about wishbones dolls and contains pictures of three of her wishbone dolls with faces.While these wishbone dolls have cloth faces the article is very interesting.  If you would like to read the Save The Wishboneby Lynne Belluscio article please click here.

I also ran across an article in the Philly.com website entitled, A Little History In Black Dolls that was written by Lini S. Kadaba in  January, 1988.  It is a very interesting article about Barbara A. Whiteman who was giving a presentation  at Lincoln High about the history of black dolls. Two of the dolls that she showed were two tiny little dolls with chicken wishbone legs.  If you would like to read the A Little History In Black Dolls  please click here.


The picture above is from the Historic New England website.  According to their website this is a pen wipe from 1900 - 1920.

Description - Black cloth doll with print dress and apron. Red cloth bandana tied on her head. Wearing a printed cotton dress; white cotton apron. Doll has no lower body. 

If you would like to read more about this pen wiper please click here.


In Chapter VI Dolls and Doll-Houses of the Home Occupations For Boys and Girls book By Bertha Johnston, Fanny Chapin - Published 1908 we learn how the wishbone dolls were made:

3. Wishbone Doll (Wishbone, sealing-wax, material for trousers)

Clothe the two limbs in trousers and ink in the features upon the flat joining bone. Feet may be made of sealing wax melted, pressed into shape and attached while still warm.


The wishbone doll pictured above is from the National Trust Collections - UK website.  According to their website she is circa 1900 made of wishbone and from the Collection National Trust of Childhood.


On the Horman Museum & Gardens website I found the wishbone doll pictured above.  Here's what they had to say about her:  Tales of the Unexpected: Dolly Mixture

Here is another bone doll, this time made from a bird. This amazing little doll is from Surrey, England and is made from a wish bone - the perfect shape for legs! The clothes are made from a scrap of leather decorated with beads and the head is made from an acorn. The acorn cup makes the perfect topknot hairstyle, or perhaps a hat.

There is something so endearing about these dolls. Wouldn't you agree?

Sea-Borg Claw and Sea-Borg Clamp

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MonsterPants Toys has announced the Sea-Borg Claw and Sea-Borg Clamp. These two hard-headed guys are the powerhouses of the Sea-Borgs' world, both sporting a massive left appendage built for crushing the skulls of their Invader enemies. The Sea-Borg Claw is 100% translucent orange resin, while the Sea-Borg Clamp is filled to the gills with green glitter.Each […]

HUMOR VIDEO: Hell Yeah #Batman!


1966 TV #BATMAN Cosplay - Benjy Does the PENGUIN SHUFFLE, LIVE!

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Benjy Greenberg performs "The Penguin Shuffle" for  the 2015 Rye's Got Talent Show! Enjoy!

Awesome #BATMAN TATTOO ART Spotted in the Czech Republic!

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A friend of ours on the BAT-BLOG FACEBOOK Page was kind enough to share some wonderful photos showing his new Batman Tattoo Art he just got. It's the "Dark Knight Trilogy" version of the character and the artwork came out really good.

His name is Roman and he said he plans on adding a few more characters with a background of Gotham City. Sounds Awesome! We can't wait to see the finished product, but it's looking great so far!


(Thanks Roman).

Chatty Cathy from Mattel

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Chatty Cathy was a pull-string, "talking" doll produced by Mattel from 1959 to 1965.

For more stories behind some of your favorite toys visit Toy Tales.

TIA Launches My TIA, a New Members-Only Online Resource Center

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The Toy Industry Association (TIA) recently unveiled My TIA, a new web portal that makes it easier for members to manage their TIA profiles and unlock member benefits. My TIA connects members with on-demand resources that help toy professionals get information, stay connected, and grow their businesses. By logging into My TIA, located on the [...]

Hasbro Announces Quarterly Cash Dividend on Common Shares

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[Business Wire] - Hasbro, Inc. today announced that its Board of Directors has declared a quarterly cash dividend of $0.46 per common share. The dividend will be payable on August 17, 2015 to shareholders of record at the close of business on August 3, 2015.
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