Babies, Preemies, & Toddlers – A Li’l Bit O’ Info
Babies
('86-'90)
Introduced in 1986, these 12" Babies have a bean-filled butt, hence the nickname “Bean Butt Baby” (BBB for short). The first editions were bald and came wearing knit outfits and a blanket, in head molds #1, #3, #4 and #6. Their pacifiers were a lot softer than regular ‘Kids’. Later editions, in 1987 and 1988, the knit outfit change to cotton prints. Head molds #18, #20 and #21 were also added. Some of the transitional Babies (half Coleco/half Hasbro), had tuffs of cream, tan, or rusty red hair.
Factories that made Babies are: WS and SS.
Preemies
Introduced in 1984, Preemies were 14 inches tall and came in head moulds 1, 3, and 4 from 1984-87. There were strict eye/head mould combos:
#1 blue eyes, #3 green eyes, and #4 brown eyes, with lemon or tan tuffs, or bald. AA preemies had dark brown tufts. Then in 1988-89, head moulds 2, 8, 9, 18, 20 and 21 were added, as well as red and cream tufts. Also in ‘88, they were sized down, as explained below.
Factories that made Preemies are: WS, SS, OK, P
('86-'90)
Introduced in 1986, these 12" Babies have a bean-filled butt, hence the nickname “Bean Butt Baby” (BBB for short). The first editions were bald and came wearing knit outfits and a blanket, in head molds #1, #3, #4 and #6. Their pacifiers were a lot softer than regular ‘Kids’. Later editions, in 1987 and 1988, the knit outfit change to cotton prints. Head molds #18, #20 and #21 were also added. Some of the transitional Babies (half Coleco/half Hasbro), had tuffs of cream, tan, or rusty red hair.
Factories that made Babies are: WS and SS.
Preemies
Introduced in 1984, Preemies were 14 inches tall and came in head moulds 1, 3, and 4 from 1984-87. There were strict eye/head mould combos:
#1 blue eyes, #3 green eyes, and #4 brown eyes, with lemon or tan tuffs, or bald. AA preemies had dark brown tufts. Then in 1988-89, head moulds 2, 8, 9, 18, 20 and 21 were added, as well as red and cream tufts. Also in ‘88, they were sized down, as explained below.
Factories that made Preemies are: WS, SS, OK, P
Left: Hasbro Preemie; Right: Coleco Baby (BBB)
Introduced in 1988, the 13-inch Toddlers were the "Kids in the Middle" -- between the 16-inch regular Kids and the 12-inch Bean Butt Babies. Since Preemies were normally 14 inches tall, they downsized the preemies to 12-13 inches. Toddlers are the same size as the ‘88-90 preemies. You can tell them apart by the hairstyles. Toddlers were later replaced by 12-13" Pre-School Kids by Hasbro in 1991.
Toddlers came in smaller yellow and lavender boxes with lavender liners. In 1988 the head moulds included 1-4, 9, 15, 18 and the new 20 and 21 moulds. The #4 pacifier mould was only used for a short time. In 1990, the new head mould used was #36.
Hairstyles that were used were red loops on boys, cut bangs on girls, beige hair / brown eyes, brown hair/green eyes. Boys only had loops. Girls had single pony, double pony/braids. Hair colors - lemon, tan, red, butterscotch, brown, dark brown, black hair (only on Asian/AA).
Eye colors - green, brown, blue, violet, dark brown (only on Asian/AA)
Combos - lemon/green, lemon/blue, dark brown/violet, black/dark brown ASIAN/AA only, brown/green, tan/green, tan/brown, tan/violet, butterscotch/green, red/blue, red/green.
Helpful links:
http://opencabbage.com
http://pollutedsnow.tripod.com/