Michael Jackson (Street Life)

Michael Jackson
Street Life
1995

There's good Michael Jackson dolls, and then there are these. We're really surprised that Michael Jackson would give the thumbs up for these with such a horrible likeness. Even with all the plastic surgery he had, these look nothing like the man.

It appears that this is the only line Street Life produced, and little information can be found on the company as a whole. Looks like they flew in overnight, invested all their money in one product, and lost it all in the process. While we never wish ill will on anyone, it is no surprise that this particular line tanked.

For starters, as we said above, the doll is awful. It just looks bad. More importantly, by 1995 Michael Jackson was well under fire for allegations of sexually abusing children (which began in 1993). Needless to say, he'd lost a lot of luster as a household name to many people for this - Despite being found innocent of all charges. So essentially it came down to poor quality, and awful timing on Street Life's part.

Though the dolls were the same, Street Life produced two different boxed versions. Additionally, they released a change of clothing - Jackson's famous Beat It jacket.

Because they're relatively in scale with the original LJN line of dolls, the bright side to this is that you can at least use the clothing from this line on those (should you like to). Granted that line already has a Beat It jacket, but now you can also have a Black or White outfit. Hooray!

Now, bad sculpting aside, there is a really neat aspect to this doll. On the back is a slot, and in this slot you insert little tapes that match the skin tone of the doll. On the tape that comes with the doll is a non rap version of Black or White, and with the Beat It jacket you get a tape with that respective song. When inserted and activated, it plays out of a little speaker on its back. It's not the best of quality in terms of sound, but dang that's a neat concept. Having more outfits for this doll would have been a bonus for the simple aspect of getting more mini tapes, and mind you, they played the whole song from start to finish.

Both the individual outfit and either version of the dolls can easily be found on secondary markets, and obtained for around $20.00. If you're a fan of Michael Jackson, it's worth checking out - If for nothing else those awesome mini tapes.

For what it's worth, Michael Jackson will always be the King of Pop here at The Toy Box. There will probably never be anyone like him again - At least not in our life time. That is of course unless one of his children inherited a lot of special talents that they have yet to show. Sadly, we doubt it though.

Click "HERE" to go back to the home page. For more posts related to this one, please click the labels below.