Nostalgia Nook: Polly Pocket (1990)

Bigger than a fingernail, smaller than a paperclip, the blonde curly-haired cutie named Polly Pocket exploded onto the scene in the early 90s, proving that bigger isn’t necessarily better.

The beauty of Polly Pocket wasn’t just her bite-sized stature, but also that she seemed to come packed with fun and surprises. While some of her fun sets were actual toy houses and cars, some of the more classic Polly fun sets were disguised as either makeup compacts or a small lockets which made toting your favorite toy to show and tell so much easier.

When opened, they would expose all types of wonder from a playground that included a merry-go-round you could actually twist around to a mall that had a working elevator. You could also set up a scene by sticking Polly and her friends into their holding places so they could stand (or sit) and enjoy all the fun that imagination had to offer. But the thrills didn’t stop there.

‘Pockets of fun’ with secret rooms and toys were also hidden inside. In her underwater mermaid world there was a treasure chest filled with gold. And who could forget ‘Pollyville?’ Which had spinning clothing racks and the boat that magically (or in this case, magnetically) moved down the river.

Polly was so easy to have fun with; she was also easy to choke on, easy to lose and easy to break in half. Despite setbacks, her size made it easy to play with her in your lap when second grade math got too boring.

kaoutram@syr.edu

Published on September 6, 2008 at 12:00 pm