Yo Yo Fun Skipper and Friends

     The next line of Skipper dolls was the Yo Yo Fun dolls. This line included Skipper, Courtney and Nikki. It was also supposed to include a boyfriend for Skipper, who was to be named Zach, but he was never made, sad to say. If memory serves, this is the only version of Skipper to not have a boyfriend, or at least a male doll in the line, but I could be wrong.
     The Yo Yo Fun dolls were cute and they came with cute clothes and hairstyles. Each girl came with her "school" outfit and a sparkly dress with matching shoes for the evening, probably a school dance. They each had their yo yos as well as two other toys which could be hooked to the string on their hands. A special lever on their backs made the yo yo go up and down and their clothes had to have cutouts on the back to accommodate the lever. You could attach the two loose toys to their book bags and they came with brushes and mirrors to primp for the dance. 

Yo Yo Fun Skipper

Yo Yo Fun Courtney

Yo Yo Fun Nikki

The back of the box - as you can see, Nikki had a shorter skirt at one time

Skipper's boyfriend Zach, who was never produced. Such a shame!

Sparkly peach party dress and shoes

Skipper's accessories

Sparkly pink party dress and shoes

Courtney's accessories

Sparkly party dress and shoes

     Stay tuned for one of my favorites in the Teen Skipper line! Get the popcorn and movies ready....

Fashion Avenue for Teen Skipper

     In 1995, Mattel released some of the most detailed fashions since they first started making them. It was a line called Fashion Avenue and I was in love! I will be covering the Fashion Avenue line in future posts, but for now, I'm going to focus on the Teen Skipper line, which started in 1997.
     For the first release, six fashions were released, but two were extremely difficult to find. I bought the first four when they were released and found one of the remaining on eBay. I'm still looking for the last fashion, so the picture will not be mine, but from an invaluable resource for all things Fashion Avenue, http://www.fashionave.info/
     A quick note on Fashion Avenue: these clothes were the BEST! They had so much detail! The fabrics were top notch and the accessories were so cute! There fashions, for all of the dolls, were the cream of the crop and have been compared to the original fashions released for Barbie back in 1959 with the attention to detail. 

A shiny blue dress with thigh high fishnets

Purple velour top with pink satiny pants

One of my favorites

Neon dress

Very citrusy! - this is one of the hard to find fashions

This one is the other hard to find fashion

     Next up, Yo Yo Fun! Until then, enjoy your dolls!

New Fashions for a New Teen Skipper!

     With the release of a new body type for Skipper and her friends, new fashions were also released. The first set was a cross over of sorts between the old body type, which I call 13 year old Skipper (more to come on her later) and the new 16 year old Skipper, since they were released for both body types. While there were six fashions released, two of them, a bathing suit and a pajama set, I use for the younger Skipper and the remaining four for the older Skipper and friends. The rest of the sets were made for the older Skipper. I will be covering five sets in this post.
     The first set of fashions was called Teen Time. This was the cross over set and included six fashions. The bathing suit and pajama sets will not be featured. The quality of the fashions weren't the best, but they are still cute. Each fashion came with shoes. 

This reminds me of sailing

This is one of my favorites. 

A cute dress

Cute jumper and lace top

     Next came what I call the "deluxe" fashions. There were three and the line didn't have a name. I gave one outfit to each girl. 

Pink and green plaid 

This is one of my favorites

Skipper in fur (fake of course!)

     The next set was another Teen Time set, but this time it had only four outfits. The quality wasn't the greatest, but since they were the cheaper fashions, it's to be expected. The line had four fashions.  

Jelly shoes!

Work out gear

Another favorite of mine

Pink and white, looks so right. 

     The next line was called Cool Looks are weren't as cheap as the Teen Time fashions, but weren't as deluxe as the "Deluxe" fashions either. They were cute though and came with plastic key chains, which look like bags for the dolls, but I didn't include them in the pictures. Four fashions were included in this line. 

The vest reminds me of a raincoat

I can see this as a winter holiday dress

This is another of my favorites

Cute summer outfit

     The final set I'm showing this post is the Teen Scene fashions. Once again, they were cheaper to be more affordable, but they were still cute. There were four in this line. 

Camo and red really work for this outfit

Cute summery outfit

The first time this shoe mold was used

Sparkly!

     And so ends the first round of fashions. I will be introducing the Fashion Avenue fashions in the next post, so be on the lookout for that!

Teen Skipper

     As most people know, Barbie has a younger sister named Skipper. When she was first introduced in 1964, she looked like a little girl around 10 (in my opinion). She has gone through many different looks, aging to a teenager more than once and back again. One of my favorite versions of her though is the 1997 Teen Skipper. 
     Given a body similar to Francie, Barbie's mod cousin from the 60s, she was a 16 year old who hung out with her friends, Courtney and Nikki. She had a new face mold, which was adorable, long blonde hair and cute clothes! Courtney was an old friend of Skipper's who was introduced in 1989 (see Teen Time Skipper) and Nikki was a new friend. They could all share clothes and shoes with each other, but not with Barbie. 
     The girls were all dressed similarly with a cropped top which doubled as a bathing suit top, jeans and high tops. They came with a bathing suit bottom, sunglasses, plastic bag and paperboard accessories. 
     

Teen Skipper

Teen Skipper in her bathing suit

Skipper's accessories - she has car keys and a driver's license!

Teen Courtney

Teen Courtney in her bathing suit

Courtney's accessories - the charms on the keys match the ones in their hair

Teen Nikki

Teen Nikki in her bathing suit

Nikki's accessories - I love the package of Tic Tacs!

      Separate fashions were also produced for the dolls, but they will be covered in the next post. Til then, enjoy the dolls!
     

Tonner City Girls Doll Collection COMPLETE!

    For a long time now, I've been on the hunt for the final outfit to complete my City Girls collection, Gray Haze. I FINALLY FOUND IT!! After literally years of searching on eBay, I was finally able to purchase the outfit and now my collection is complete! Without further ado, I present my own Gray Haze!

The long sought after Gray Haze outfit - my favorite of the group

     Since the collection is complete, I have decided to unbox them and dress them in their outfits. I have matched Billy with Networking, Houston with Cape Town and Brook-Lyn with Gray Haze. Since Astor already has two outfits, she didn't get one of the fashion packs. I have discovered the high heeled shoes are a nightmare to get on the doll's feet! But I managed it. 

Color Block Astor unboxed

Golden Swirl Astor unboxed

Taxi! Billy unboxed

Billy in Networking

Basic Houston unboxed

What's under the robe for Basic Houston

Houston in Cape Town 

Cape Town without the cape

Basic Brook-Lyn unboxed

Brook-Lyn in her lacy basics

Brook-Lyn wearing Gray Haze

Gray Haze dress

     And so my Tonner City Girls collection is complete. I'd sent the company an email a couple of years ago asking if they were going to release more of these dolls, such as the ones featured at Toy Fair (see previous posts) and they said it was a possibility. I'm assuming with the closure of Tonner's business, that possibility is gone. Oh well, at least I have the whole collection now! Until next time folks!