At the time, Fisher Price
"inside" was redesigning
the Little People line to
become more sculptural
rather than the standard
ball for head look they had
had in the past. And, Peter saw the Mop
tops as somehow related.
To him these were the
"Little People"
transformed into Dolls. He
envisioned them posed in
folksy Norman
Rockwell-like settings and
situations, in an open box,
with two figures, children,
babies or pets, interacting
with each other along with,
perhaps, a prop or an
accessory.
Click on any picture on this
page to see a larger photo.
And thus I began designing
and making a whole series
of mock up packages. They
were in full dimension with
flat cut outs representing
the dolls with Backgrounds
that related to the
characters and what they
were "doing".
They were a TON of work!
Here is All that remains of
all that work: a hand-full of
not so great photos of the
various packages, as well as
a group shot of all of them
together with my three
original dolls posed in front.
Unfortunately, these
appealing dolls posing here,
so innocently, posed a Big
Political Problem for Fisher
Price: Mattel, who had just
bought Tyco [and killed
Cuddles], had also recently
acquired Fisher Price.
And Jill Barad, the Queen
of Mattel, who reigned over
the company and all its
satellites, with an iron fist,
had dictated that: "No
Company in Mattel's
Empire, other than Mattel,
itself, would be permitted
to produce a Doll". She
didn't want to see Any
Competition vying against
her, hoped for, doll
Monopoly, last and least of
all, one of "her own"
companies!
Thus, Peter came up with a
"concept", that depended
on semantics to circumvent
this dictate. Our dolls would
not be "dolls" at all,
although they were
changed in Name Only.
Henceforth, they were
called "Soft Play Figures",
sort of a soft action figure
for girls. Every time we
slipped up and called them
"dolls" [which we did a lot],
we bit out tongues!
| | |