8 Nov 2013

Insane toy review - Sindy hat

1996.. it was a different time.. a time of neon... a time of terrible fashion choices.. a time... of the Sindy hat.

Now, for those who have no clue what i'm on about, Sindy was a British doll, born back in 1963 (Happy 50th Sindy!) as an attempt to capture some of this newfangled fashion doll market.
She was a sweet faced English Rose, designed to appeal to the attitudes of the time and she was very very popular.

Pedigree continued to produce Sindy well into the 80s, but they never could compete with Barbie who's American glam and glitter attitude seemed to really resonate with the kids more than that girl next door ever could. In the late 80s Pedigree closed up shop and sold the license to Hasbro, who were busy buying up all the doll lines they could it seems.

Hasbro set about revamping Sindy's image, finally settling on a look so close to Barbie that Mattel sued them and WON. Changes were made, but even well into the 90s, Sindy was always looked at as being "the poor man's Barbie".
She was cheaper, she was more athletic and unlike Barbie who was busy attending premiers and being a pop star, Sindy spent most of her time going hiking or skating or whatever else them "cool kids" were doing with their time.

At some point during the mid 90s someone at Hasbro pitched to the board a new idea for a doll. "We'll make her have a plush body! And she'll be like..a cuddly Sindy for kids! Sleepover sindy! It's genius!"
And someone else agreed, and thus plushie Sindys appeared. They had hard plastic heads, hands and feet, so really weren't that cuddly, but evidently Hasbro had more left and soon started to go mad thinking about what they could do with the leftovers.
At some point someone thought "I know, let's stick her on a hat!"
And the Sindy hat was born.


A admit... i became a little obsessed with the Sindy hat when I first discovered it. A neon pink cap... with a full sized doll on top? What the hell is this insanity!? I wanted one... I wanted it bad.
And last Christmas husband dutifully purchased for me, my very own Sindy hat.

And here she is, in all her glory:


The 90sness... it's blinding!

So what IS the Sindy hat? Let's look at this thing in detail shall we?

Put simply, it's a neon pink cap with the Sindy logo on the front, and an 11 inch plush bodied Sindy doll sitting on top of it.


Sindy wears a... leisure suit? In neon green and orange. Orange hiking boots and her very own neon green cap. She even has cute pigtails, d'aaw. Sindy here is ready for hat related adventure!


The outfit is just a single piece, but she can be redressed. You know, so your dolly can match your outfit. The Sindy hat is truely customisable! Perfect for weddings, christenings, funerals...


Her plush body is floppy as anything, there's not a lot of stuffing in there. She's so squishy.


The hat itself is a pretty standard cap, with additional elastic bits on it for the doll.


More customising options! You can wear Sindy on the front OR back of your hat! For those super cool kids who like to wear their cap backwards, Hasbro accomidates your Sindy hat needs.



There's elastic leg straps, and tiny hand holds for Sindy to cling to as you go about your daily activities, oblivious to all those people staring saying "has that person got a doll on her head?". What do they know, true happiness is a doll on the head!


Sindy's legs slip through the leg straps and her hands through the hand loops, keeping her pretty sturdily on the hat, flopping about all bonelessly.

Of course, what you REALLY want to see are action shots right?

Well i'm here to please.

BEHOLD! THE GLORY!

Go go action time!



Kickin' it old school with the backward cap look.


Traditional cap wearing action right here.


Even Barbie can hitch a ride! (Jules was not impressed by this)



Ronan screams "What in the seven seas are you doing! Get me down from here you insane giant!"

In summary:

The Sindy hat is amazing and everyone needs one. We're bringing sexy back, and sexy is a neon pink hat with a doll on it!

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