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Original poster

Sindy was far superior to Barbie

213 replies

LittlePotteryBird · 05/01/2026 09:44

I feel sorry for girls today who don’t know the pleasure of playing with a doll whose arms and legs bent (sometimes resulting in a nasty open fracture but never mind). I loved my Sindys and the outfits and accessories were so much better and more conducive to imaginary play than the Barbie stuff I see around. Barbie outfits in particular look shite to me.

Does anyone know of a poseable doll like Sindy that comes with good accessories? I know my granddaughter would love a ballerina, or a police officer, or a doll that wore normal clothes.

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user2848502016 · 05/01/2026 17:27

Sindy was definitely better- I still have some sindy clothes and accessories from the 80s and they’re so much better quality than the rubbish they make for Barbie these days.

Sindy also had way better shoes!

MrsMoastyToasty · 05/01/2026 17:27

I had a Sindy. DM would make clothes for her and if they were any good she would replicate them for the toy stall at my school's Christmas fête. DF would make furniture for them.
I also had a Pippa doll with dark "skin" and blonde hair. She was very striking. My parents made her a kitchen and a bedroom "a la Blue Peter".

Zoopet · 05/01/2026 17:26

Just bought a Lottie for my granddaughter but as she is not yet 2 , I will play with her first!
I never had a Sindy or a Barbie so I'm making up for lost time!

BethBynnag86 · 05/01/2026 17:21

Sindy was the best!

I also had a Tressy doll - anyone on here remember her? 'Her hair grows'!

MigGirl · 05/01/2026 17:12

Me and my sister had the house with stables and extension. Just like this one, we had horses and pets as well. Dogs and a cat, along with the cooker that made very convincing cooking sounds when you put different pans one it. I loved our Sindy house.

Sindy was far superior to Barbie
Pericombobulations · 05/01/2026 17:08

I'm team Sindy too! Happy days playing with her and Pippa (who I also modelled as her younger sister). As a horse fan I got both the brown and grey horses plus carriage and stables (and pippas horse too so they could all ride together). Didnt want the house as the stables were more important.

I loved those dolls. Am gutted now as gave them all away to my god-daughter when I stopped playing with them. Now looking to restock via ebay.

There are facebook group fandoms now I have joined, who talk about rehairing amongst many other delights.

Purplebunnie · 05/01/2026 17:03

I had Barbie, Sindy, Tressie, Skipper, Penny Bright - they are in a box somewhere. I kept my DD's Barbies, Skippers, Chelsea's and Kellys (I don't remember Sindy being around) and gave them to DGC the other day. She is way to young but she likes taking the clothes off them. I've seen the Lottie doll upthread and I think if she really gets into dolls that's what I will be buying her. Skipper and Penny Bright were a bit more like Lottie

sleepwouldbenice · 05/01/2026 16:56

AndStand · 05/01/2026 16:34

Pippa dolls were the best I'm afraid. Sindy and Barbie....pfft

I was looking for a Pippa comment! I had a Sindy but preferred Pippa!

Shufflebumnessie · 05/01/2026 16:54

LittlePotteryBird · 05/01/2026 11:06

Can you imagine if the Barbie movie was about Sindy instead? Instead of the explosion of pink you would have this aesthetic. God I would love that movie!

Also note how her limbs actually bend and she can sit in a chair.

Oh goodness! That photo sums up my childhood. I'd forgotten about the inflatable tent (& how much I loved it) but seeing that photo I can actually smell the plastic again 😅

Ohpleeeease · 05/01/2026 16:52

Christwosheds · 05/01/2026 16:34

Paul. He also had a sports car, and a fabulous wardrobe.

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Are we thinking Paul might not have been that kind of boyfriend…?

Shufflebumnessie · 05/01/2026 16:52

KimberleyClark · 05/01/2026 11:48

The Barbies I had in the late 60s/early 70s did have bendable legs.

A lot of mine from the 80s had bendable legs too. The knees had at least 2, possibly 3, "bends" and they had a flexible metal rod running through each leg (one of mine split at the foot so I investigated 😅).

AndStand · 05/01/2026 16:50

I've also still got my Anna and Happytime!

Sindy was far superior to Barbie
LibertyLily · 05/01/2026 16:34

CointreauVersial · 05/01/2026 16:12

See my earlier post.... I made a mint selling my collection a few years ago. There are some fanatical completist Pippa collectors out there.

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Yeah, me too @CointreauVersial. £816 for one doll was the highest I achieved back in about 2006.

I had Pippas (and the cheaper Dawns) too and one of those - her Japanese friend Jasmine - went for quite a lot, iirc.

Christwosheds · 05/01/2026 16:34

Ohpleeeease · 05/01/2026 10:35

Sindy all the way. She had a pony and a boyfriend with hair.

Paul. He also had a sports car, and a fabulous wardrobe.

AndStand · 05/01/2026 16:34

Pippa dolls were the best I'm afraid. Sindy and Barbie....pfft

Christwosheds · 05/01/2026 16:31

KimberleyClark · 05/01/2026 10:24

Does anyone remember Tressy? The one with growable hair? Or Daisy, the Mary Quant one?

I had both of these. I loved Daisy so much, mine had red platform clogs. I sadly pulled out Tressy’s long ponytail and could never get it back in .

Highlighta · 05/01/2026 16:22

LittlePotteryBird · 05/01/2026 16:07

Oh God new memory unlocked! I remember the velour material! She really was the best.

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How am I only noticing now that she had a really big forehead. 😂

Off the back of this, I was thinking of the doll that drank the bottle of milk. When you turned the bottle upside down, the milk disappeared. My brother (the pyrotechnician I mentioned upthread) kept saying it was fake and she wasn't drinking it. I would have none of it and can still remember crying when he kept saying my doll wasn't really drinking the milk. I was convinced she had, as it was gone after all.

Such a nice memory as my db has passed on now. But he wasn't convinced. At all 😂

CointreauVersial · 05/01/2026 16:12

unsync · 05/01/2026 15:28

We had Pippa dolls, which were about half the size of Sindy. I saved all my pocket money and bought my one and only Sindy when I was about 11. Pippa is now apparently quite sought after and expensive. Of course, I don't know what happened to mine. 🙄

See my earlier post.... I made a mint selling my collection a few years ago. There are some fanatical completist Pippa collectors out there.

Soonenough · 05/01/2026 16:12

Going to get flamed for this but I always thought of Barbie as an all American glamorous girl . And Sindy was her nerdy dowdy English counterpart. Hated the big baby head she had . My sister and I are two years apart so my parents were able to buy us separate sets and we had a huge Barbie compound . Also instead of Action Man my brother had GI Joe who whisked Barbie and Skipper off in his Chinook helicopter.

Original poster
LittlePotteryBird · 05/01/2026 16:07

DeftGoldHedgehog · 05/01/2026 14:01

This was my first Sindy (not the actual one, though who knows, it could be?)

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/317210401622

Practically Kill Bill. She had yellow trainers too which I loved.

Oh God new memory unlocked! I remember the velour material! She really was the best.

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HRTQueen · 05/01/2026 16:06

Oh absolutely

I had a brown haired Sindy she was the hight of sophistication. My mum made her clothes (they were amazing) one was a copy of a blue ball gown Princess Di wore I thought it was silk but apparently old coat lining 😊

still haven’t got over my Sindy not having the town house and had the house that she had to jump from room to room rather than travel in the lift

still her clothing was always on style

Ohpleeeease · 05/01/2026 16:06

LittlePotteryBird · 05/01/2026 16:00

Because otherwise she wouldn’t fit in her beach buggy or Sindy house.

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[snort]

ExquisiteSocialSkills · 05/01/2026 16:05

Ballerina Sindy with red/chestnut hair was my favourite. Also a few Pippas with different hair and complexions. I was always losing their tiny shoes.

Original poster
LittlePotteryBird · 05/01/2026 16:02

TeaRoseTallulah · 05/01/2026 12:43

Sindy had eyelashes too,didn't she?

She did! Another thing that made her superior! I used to like to run my fingers along them.

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Original poster
LittlePotteryBird · 05/01/2026 16:00

ChikinLikin · 05/01/2026 12:42

What is Sindy short for?

Because otherwise she wouldn’t fit in her beach buggy or Sindy house.

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