My Buddy Doll – A Real Pal

The My Buddy doll was a line of toys made by Hasbro (and later Playskool) in 1985. It was made with the intention of making dolls appeal to boys while teaching them to care for friends. At the time of its release, My Buddy was deemed both controversial and innovative, as this kind of toy was traditionally associated with girls.

During its run, two versions of the doll existed. Hasbro also introduced a companion Kid Sister doll, however, this one was marketed towards girls. In 1989 they would go on to release a black My Buddy doll that was outfitted in the same way as the original doll, in red overalls.

The two versions of My Buddy were easily differentiated, the first one had the following characteristics:

Brown Hair
Red Overalls
Blue Shoes

The second version of the My Buddy Doll had several different characteristics:

Blond Hair
Blue Overalls
Red Shoes

The later dolls released by Playskool were made with unremovable clothing sewn directly onto the body. This was done to reduce the extra cost of having to produce clothes separately on a different assembly line.

The Theme Song

Those who remember the My Buddy doll will likely remember the official song that accompanied it. The song was used in all of the commercials, for those who don’t remember, you can listen to it here.

My Buddy Doll Vs Chucky

My Buddy was also one of the dolls said to be the inspiration for the evil ‘Chucky’ in the movie Child’s Play.

The first Child’s Play movie came out in 1988, three years after My Buddy, and was written and directed by Tom Holland. The movie tells the story of a mother who gives her son a doll that ends up being possessed by the soul of a serial killer.

The movie was a big hit back in 1988, opening at #1 and would end up grossing more than $44 million against a budget of just $9 million. It would also go on to have six sequels over the next thirty years, before finally being rebooted in 2019.

As you can see, the doll looks a lot like Chucky.

In the years after, Don Mancini and Tom Holland, both of whom worked on the original Child’s Play movie, confirmed that both the Cabbage Patch Kids and My Buddy served as the inspiration for Chucky.