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Original poster

To think Sindy was better than Barbie

248 replies

JenniferBooth · 22/07/2023 14:34

The Barbie film has brought back memories of my Sindy doll and accessories i had in the early 80s. I loved this Sindy evening dress and i wanted it in a full size version. https://www.pinterest.co.uk/pin/678214025122537700/

I love pink but there was/is so much of it with Barbie whereas Sindy accessories were all different colours and quite tasteful. I had the four poster bed and the writing bureau. And the gig and horse.

Gala Night. | Sindy doll, Dresses, Gala

Jan 22, 2017 - This Pin was discovered by Karren Ralph. Discover (and save!) your own Pins on Pinterest

https://www.pinterest.co.uk/pin/678214025122537700

OP posts:
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28
nancy75 · 22/07/2023 14:55

I had Sindy & Barbie, I loved Sindy better because she had brown hair like me!
I used to go to the toy shop in Lewisham with my Nan, once a month, to get Sindy a new outfit with my pocket money.
I do remember Sundays head was quite big for her body & liable to fall off

khakitrousers · 22/07/2023 14:56

I had Sindy as my Mum was snobby about Barbie and thought Sindy was better as she was British.

My cousins got to have Barbie and I was always so jealous!

commonground · 22/07/2023 14:57

Also Barbie's friends were more interesting and Barbie had a friendlier smily face. Sindy's face looks a bit like this 🙄

#teambarbie

CaptainMyCaptain · 22/07/2023 14:57

I totally get the BBC/ITV thing. Did anyone have a Tressy? My friend did - her hair could grow from a hole in the top of her head and then go back in ... until the mechanism broke.

NeverDropYourMooncup · 22/07/2023 14:57

travailtotravel · 22/07/2023 14:40

I had a Sindy but really wanted a Barbie. Was Sindy cheaper? I mean, I'm surprised I had one at all but I'm also wondering if its a bit like I wasn't allowed to watch anything on ITV - was Sindy more BBC? Anyway, I'll see the film even though I'm 50!

I had a mother like that. Barbie was unacceptable because she was - gasp - American. Scorn was also poured upon ITV (except Coronation Street, Crossroads and anything else she wanted to watch), Hallowe'en, food that Fanny Craddock hadn't said was acceptable or had any texture beyond shoe leather, creole earrings and socks with lace or broderie anglaise on them. All unspeakably common in her eyes.

Lorrymum · 22/07/2023 14:57

I loved Sindy! I also had her little sister Patch and Patch's pony. My Mum made little outfits for her but I was deeply envious of friends who had the real deal!

MrsBennetsPoorNerves · 22/07/2023 14:58

Yep, Sindy all the way with me. I loved her!

I also had the house and the writing bureau. OMG, I loved that bloody bureau!!

I had the kitchen with a washing machine and a hostess trolley with tiny vegetables! A red setter dog and a baby in a pram.

Happy days!!!

I looked down on Barbie because I didn't like her face!Grin

NowItsSpring · 22/07/2023 14:58

I had a Tressy doll which I believe was the first to have growing hair.

2chocolateoranges · 22/07/2023 14:58

I loved my Sindy dolls, the outfit, the cars, the horse and the house.

Barbie seemed too ‘perfect’ with her body, blonde hair and perfect slim face. Sindy was more an every day girl rather than “fake” barbie.

Cocolapew · 22/07/2023 14:59

I had a Sindy and 3 Pippas, including a dancing one. You moved her arm up and down and her head went round 😄

MrsBennetsPoorNerves · 22/07/2023 14:59

Lamelie · 22/07/2023 14:54

Ah brilliant! Sindy was definitely superior. Definitely BBC to Barbie /ITV

Show quote history
Grin
EachandEveryone · 22/07/2023 15:00

I was a look so a Sindy girl and I am now wondering if she was cheaper as we weren’t well off. God, how I longed for her house. I don’t actually know anyone who was rich enough to have the house in the 70’s so at least none of us felt left out. I did have a black Sindy and I’d like to know when they came out as I totally was the only one who had one. I loved her. We definitely weren’t allowed “teenage dolls” until we were at least 8 and could look after them. Of course we never did but my bloody cousins still have there’s the boxes and every from the 70’s. I mean, that’s not right is it?😀

Icandothis1970 · 22/07/2023 15:00

I had Sindy too. Loved her.

I'm showing my age here but does anyone remember another doll called 'Havoc Super Agent'? She was amazing...kind of a female James Bond. I had a motorbike and speed boat for her and hiking gear. Played with her for hours!!

choppolata · 22/07/2023 15:01

I had a Tressy as well, she had a blue puff sleeve blouse and a gingham skirt, and a pair of skinny red trousers that were really hard to put on.

SunsetOverParadise · 22/07/2023 15:01

Definitely liked Sindy more. It made my Christmas when I got her horse and my Sindy had a riding outfit. Very sophisticated. Barbie was a hussy, but Sindy had class. You just knew she didn’t throw herself about at the whim of men.

MistyGreenAndBlue · 22/07/2023 15:02

I had both. My Sindys were friends with my Barbies and I had accessories for both.
Sindys furniture was better- no question, but I liked both dolls.
Sindy was fresh and trendy, Barbie was more glamorous.

BeverlyBrook · 22/07/2023 15:02

Allthegoodnamesarechosen · 22/07/2023 14:42

Oh OP, I used to work on Sindy development in the dim and distant past. We took a lot of trouble to try and give her interesting and non stereotypical clothes and props. We used to rather look down on Barbie, we thought she was a sexualised air head!

I’m so glad someone liked her.

No way! What a cool job!
Tell us more please?

I loved Sindy and Pippa. Barbie seemed a bit far feched and impossibly glamorous to me.

I love the diversity now in the Barbie range.

ConsuelaHammock · 22/07/2023 15:03

I had two Sindy dolls growing up. One in a yellow and orange checked outfit and a ballerina one. My mum knitted clothes for them until I was old enough to knit them myself. I longed for the bedroom furniture and horse but never got them as they were so expensive compared to toys and dolls today. I can never understand little girls with a huge number of dolls tbh. How do they get to know all their different personalities ?😂

StColumbofNavron · 22/07/2023 15:04

I just associated Barbie with blonde girls/women and when I was growing up there was a lot of blonde is the most beautiful around and my Sindy had dark brown hair, or maybe it was a random doll because I only ever had one Barbie bought by a friend for a birthday because they were expensive. Any way, I don't have particularly strong memories of either (my post office and my typewriter on the other hand...). But simply because Sindy looked more like me I liked her.

CatsSnore · 22/07/2023 15:06

My sindy car was waaay better than my friends rubbish barbie car.

Yetisrus29 · 22/07/2023 15:07

My Mum wouldn't let me have Barbie, she thought Sindy was much more respectable.

Butchyrestingface · 22/07/2023 15:08

My 7th birthday present. 😍😍😍

I remember being incredibly concerned by the fact that there was no internal bathroom facilities.

#SindyDoesSkegness

To think Sindy was better than Barbie
Toucanfusingforme · 22/07/2023 15:11

Sindy, Tressy and Lady Penelope in our house!

MissFancyDay · 22/07/2023 15:13

I had this one with the "weekender" outfit in the sixties, I had short brown hair as well and I loved her so much. The very best part was going in to the toy shop and looking at all the rows and rows of outfits, spending my pocket money and cramming them into the wardrobe.

Im my day, early to mid sixties, the rivalry was between Sindy and Tressy, you were either one or the other. I don't know whether it was before Barbie had really become popular in the U.K. Barbie was seen as very American and loud. As all American things were in those days 😄

To think Sindy was better than Barbie
Wibbleswombats · 22/07/2023 15:13

Allthegoodnamesarechosen · 22/07/2023 14:42

Oh OP, I used to work on Sindy development in the dim and distant past. We took a lot of trouble to try and give her interesting and non stereotypical clothes and props. We used to rather look down on Barbie, we thought she was a sexualised air head!

I’m so glad someone liked her.

And I remember thinking that as a little kid. I had Sindy dolls and thought they were far more realistic than Barbie with her huge boobs.

I was a bit of an odd child!

Thank you for actually confirming what I thought. It was appreciated by me as a wee little feminist who noticed stuff.