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1970's

Debbie Teen Manufacturer Unknown

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Debbie Teen dolls are one of the many "clone" or "knock-off" dolls made during the height of Topper Dawn's popularity in the early 1970's. Unfortunately, as there were so many lesser-known manufacturers at that time, and because the box and the doll have no distinguishing markings, it's impossible to say for certain which company made her. Debbie Teen is arguably one of the fugliest mini fashion dolls I've ever come across. Her square, baby-face is jarringly out of place on the mature, fashion doll body. The doll mint-in-the-box at left is not mine, but you can see a close-up of one of my Debbie Teen dolls at right. Yep...pretty fugly. The surprising thing is, Debbie Teen had a complete line of fashions sold under both the "Debbie Teen" name as well as "Tiny Teen Fashions"---which should not be confused with the "Tiny Teen" dolls made by Uneeda. They are smaller than Dawn, standing only 5-1/2" tall, and cannot exchange clothing with her.

Tiny Teen by Uneeda

As with most "clone" dolls, Debbie Teen was mass-produced using the cheapest materials possible. Her body is hollow plastic construction with vinyl head and arms. She has a twist-n-turn waist slanted in the opposite direction from Dawn, and the joints don't line up very well at the waist, shoulders and hips. Legs are hollow and do not bend. She is marked simply "Made in Hong Kong" on her back. The worst thing for poor Debbie (well, besides her face) is her bad case of "thunder-thighs". The hips seem disproportionately large to the rest of the body. Her head sits on a standard neck post with only horizontal movement. She is sparsely rooted only in the crown area, and has rooted eyelashes. Facial details are painted on, and she has dimples in her cheeks.

As previously mentioned, Debbie Teen had a line of fashions in her name, sold separately. Most of these are after-market Topper fashions.