Why did Galoob
stop making Baby Face dolls?

There is a lot of speculation as to why the Baby Face project did not last longer. Many prototype dolls were in the works when production stopped, and it appears that Galoob had planned to continue producing new dolls indefinitely. Then they stopped, and no official explanation has been provided to collectors.

The dolls sold for $20 to $30 when they were new. They say that Galoob was trying to compete with American girl or Cabbage Patch, so their prices were low to attract attention. The project was dropped after less than 2 years. Baby Facers guess that Galoob didn't make enough money on the dolls and there are various possible reasons for this if it is true.

• Some think it was because there was no cartoon show associated with the dolls which has helped promote many toys and dolls, as in the case of Rainbow Brite and the Jem dolls.


• Galoob may have gone overboard in producing the Baby Face line. They had a zillion BF items: sleeping bags, slippers, party cups, plates, glasses, favors, PVC figures, clothing, and on and on. They may have overextended in their efforts to blitz and attract attention.


• There is speculation that Galoob lost some big accounts when two Toy Store chains went out of business: Childrens Palace and Lionel Kiddie City. Apparently this happened about the time the Baby Faces were discontinued, so it may have been a genuine factor.


• The information has been provided that one retail chain sold the dolls at a loss in order to bring customers into the store. This meant that other stores could not unload their merchandise and of course did not reorder as a result, which seriously hurt Baby Face sales overall.


• The dolls are very good quality with much attention to detail. It has been said that the dolls were very expensive to produce and the retail price possibly didn't provide enough profit.


• Some people think the dolls didn't sell well because of the closed boxes that the dolls were packaged in: you couldn't see the actual doll or their appealing faces.


• Others say it's the clothing. A friend of mine said she saw the dolls and loved them when they first appeared at Toys R Us, but her daughter would have none of it. "Stupid clothes." was the girl's opinion, and some adults agree.


• One Galoob sales rep was heard to say that the dolls were very popular with adult collectors but not popular enough with kids.

All of these ideas are speculative, though. No one has officially said why they stopped making the dolls. Perhaps it was for all of the above reasons. For whatever reason, the fact that their production history was short has most likely helped to make them even more collectible.

Baby Face dolls were featured in a collectors magazine and many adults bought on speculation. One collector that I know of bought the dolls when they were new. She said that it's only been in the past few years or so that the values of these dolls went up. Until then, there was very little interest. Possibly not enough people were aware that they existed.

Baby Faces are selling better now than they ever have. So Silly Sally sold for $305 in September 1999 and black Sarah sold for $417. That is a lot more than $20. I wonder if Galoob knows about this?