Gypsies, Tramps and Mego
You know here and in my other life at the MegoMuseum, I’ve often ignored the Cher toy line which is odd because a) She was huge in the 1970s and b)Cher was a huge freaking deal for Mego. It’s a glaring oversight seeing as I’ve never known a world without Cher and I promise to give her (and girl’s toys in general) a little more exposure in the future.
Good idea. For the big size dolls and action figures of the Cher/Captain and Tennille/Farrah/Diana Ross/Donny & Marie/GI Joe/Six Million Dollar Man/Bionic Woman variety, they actually had a much larger amount of clothes/outfits and accessories than the Mego (except for the Captain, I think he only had the one suit of clothes, including his one accessory, that hat…LOL). Cher would make a good target for some Joes to capture or to bodyguard for a diorama. Also, you could make a really cool USO show with these dolls and figures.
You'll probably want to also explore some of the cooler Barbie stuff, like the airplane United Friendship set, which would look really cool with Cher and Farrah, or stage a troop flight with Joes. Might have been a cruise ship, too (or maybe that came later). My sister had the Townhouse and a car, and wanted to get the camper, too.
Another big interest from the 70s was the mini-fashion doll, led by the 6.5 inch Dawn from Topper Toys (who made Johnny Lightning cars, a rival to Hot Wheels and Matchbox). Dawn was so huge, she had many clone imitators, and at one point was supposedly outselling Barbie, so Mattel created their own line in that size and eventually all the competition killed Topper Toys once and for all and the leftover Dawn line stuff appeared across a lot of knockoff lines. Dawn's main boyfriend, Gary, even became the new boyfriend Pete for Pippa, the main doll from Britain from Palitoy, who of course was responsible for some cool US toys making the British market. My wife is a big fan of Dawn dolls and the other 6.5 inch lines.
Overall, a great idea! You'll get new fans among women, I daresay! 🙂
PS right now is about 20% girls toys, which isn't fair in the grand scheme of things…
Absolute power corrupts absolutely, Brian 😉