AIBU to be thinking that a toy I owned in the 80s never actually existed??

[WhackusBonkus]

I know it must have… unless I’ve flipped realties or some such. It was my favourite toy for years and I spent hours whiling away the hours with it, on and off for a good few years.

But I can find no reference to it anywhere online. What’s that all about..?! The internet always throws a up some results…

It was called a Batty Bouncer. It was a hard plastic stick maybe ten inches long.. and it hard a hard bouncy bit like a ball (although not completely round) at each end. You threw it and it bounced, sometimes quite high.

I think the stick was yellow .. maybe.. and I think or was by Mattel or some other well known at the time toy brand.

Did anyone else have one?

I keep looking it up on and off because I can’t believe al lol mention of them has fallen off the face of the earth, less than 40 years later!

I had one. Broke my gran’s back window with it. It went in the bin and I got a row.

@WhackusBonkus

Because it wasnt Ebay or amazon and it didnt actually say the toy name in the description. It was just a twitter linked which a small mention of an advert from 1982. So I'm guessing when you were scrolling search results, you scrolled right past that one because it just said Twitter with no reference to your keywords.

It's the first result. Your google is the same as our google. So you got it, you just didn't click on it.

They were banned at my school 😂

Now if any of you can find me Rebecca, who was a large, hard plastic doll who cried mama when tipped I'd love you forever. This is compounded by the fact I called her Rebecca, never knew her maker and she was probably a hand me down when I had her in about 1978, but I loved her so much. She had the most beautiful rosebud lips.

I've looked for her for thirty years on and off.

I googled 'batty bouncer' and came up with a 1982 tv advert for one, on Twitter.

@MrPenguinsPoppers

They were banned at my school 😂

Now if any of you can find me Rebecca, who was a large, hard plastic doll who cried mama when tipped I'd love you forever. This is compounded by the fact I called her Rebecca, never knew her maker and she was probably a hand me down when I had her in about 1978, but I loved her so much. She had the most beautiful rosebud lips.

I've looked for her for thirty years on and off.

I had a doll that said "mamma" when you tipped her up. Did yours have a soft body? No idea what it was called though, sorry!

@MrPenguinsPoppers

They were banned at my school 😂

Now if any of you can find me Rebecca, who was a large, hard plastic doll who cried mama when tipped I'd love you forever. This is compounded by the fact I called her Rebecca, never knew her maker and she was probably a hand me down when I had her in about 1978, but I loved her so much. She had the most beautiful rosebud lips.

I've looked for her for thirty years on and off.

Was it a Palitoy doll?

They were very popular right before Tiny Tears went on sale.

Divebar2021

It wasn't just me thinking that, then....

@pancakesandsyrupplease no she was hard with moveable arms and legs. Like a shiny plastic but not especially thick iyswim. Bigger than tiny tears by some margin.
I still have my tiny tears. She's called Mimi and a bit bug eyed now 😂 but I think Rebecca was probably given away to a cousin.

I always scour vintage dolls on ebay and at antique fairs in the hope I'll find her again.

@NeverDropYourMooncup she was actually very similar to the Palitoy Patsy doll, in fact that one is the closest I've seen to her, gives me something else to look into, thank you!

If I had to guess she'd be a cheap doll I was given third hand so realistically finding her is impossible. But I do dream.

Glad it was solved. This is making me nostalgic for my Trick Stick though, I loved it but had not thought about it for decades!

It’s definitely not the case that two different people using Google have the “same” Google. Location makes a difference, and some searches run experimentally with different algorithms.

@MrPenguinsPoppers did she have short blonde hair?

@Footnote

Everyone else on here got the same thing.

[quote Ohmygodyesthatsit]@MrPenguinsPoppers did she have short blonde hair?[/quote]
No, her hair was kind of moulded in plastic ridges on her head and I think sprayed a gingery colour.
The Palitoy Patsy is incredibly close, I'm wondering if it was perhaps a market knock off.

Of course they did, you’re all training the algorithm to find that link. OP was the first person to look for it.
Even if we did all have the “same Google”, what a ridiculous thing people are choosing to be rude to the OP about.

That sounds like the older Palitoy dolls. My half sister was born in the 50s and I had one of hers that was hard plastic rather than the squishy, scented Tiny Tears (and Teeny Tiny Tears) I was bought round about 3 years old.

Have a look at this one www.worthpoint.com/worthopedia/vintage-palitoy-patsy-1940s-50s-doll-269141642

Red hair, said Mama, harder plastic - so would late 50s, early 60s make sense for the time of handmedowns? There wasn't as much in the way of market stall knockoffs that early.

Never had one of those but did have some clanger things that you held in one hand, it had two balls that you made hit top and bottom. Battered the hell out of your wrist. Great fun! But painful

@Footnote

3 or 4 people googling 2 words in the same of what was it, about 4 minutes, doesnt change the results like that.
The first poster who googled it had this come up as the first result. No outside influence. The OP would have had the same.

Here's a page that might have a doll similar?

dianesdollsbears.com/1950s-hard-plastic-dolls-2/

@NeverDropYourMooncup

That sounds like the older Palitoy dolls. My half sister was born in the 50s and I had one of hers that was hard plastic rather than the squishy, scented Tiny Tears (and Teeny Tiny Tears) I was bought round about 3 years old.

Have a look at this one www.worthpoint.com/worthopedia/vintage-palitoy-patsy-1940s-50s-doll-269141642

Red hair, said Mama, harder plastic - so would late 50s, early 60s make sense for the time of handmedowns? There wasn't as much in the way of market stall knockoffs that early.

She was VERY similar to that, but her mouth was sealed and her little speaker was flesh coloured and I think smaller than the Palitoy version, she is also listed as rubbery arms and mine was the same harder composite plastic all over, however, you've narrowed down a better time line for me to have a search so that's my plan for tomorrow now!

@Footnote

Of course they did, you’re all training the algorithm to find that link. OP was the first person to look for it. Even if we did all have the “same Google”, what a ridiculous thing people are choosing to be rude to the OP about.

Thanks Footnote. I was sitting here shaking my head at the unexpectedness of it but then this IS Mumsnet

[quote NeverDropYourMooncup]Here's a page that might have a doll similar?

dianesdollsbears.com/1950s-hard-plastic-dolls-2/[/quote]
I could bloody kiss you. Im 98% certain she was a pedigree delite! The size is right as well, she seemed to be more a toddler than a baby. Oh this is wonderful! I'm almost certain I'm looking at Rebecca after 40 years and I've got tears in my eyes. Thank you thank you thank you.

Whilst we're on the subject, can anyone remember the name of a toy which was two long nylon strings which passed through an orange rugby shaped ball. The strings had red and blue handles and when you pulled them apart the ball whizzed down the strings to the other set of handles.
Fun for literally minutes and we were so grateful for the invention of the internet!

@AgnesWaterhouse1566

Whilst we're on the subject, can anyone remember the name of a toy which was two long nylon strings which passed through an orange rugby shaped ball. The strings had red and blue handles and when you pulled them apart the ball whizzed down the strings to the other set of handles. Fun for literally minutes and we were so grateful for the invention of the internet!

DD had one of those, I seem to recall if you held it slightly wrong it smacked your fingers 😂 A zoom ball or some thing like that.

@RebornRebound

It wasn't called a Trick Stick was it? Or is that something else?

I had one of those and no one else remembers it!