Review: Bert from Mary Poppins Ken doll

Review: Mary Poppins 'Bert' Ken doll

Posted by Lindsay

Often, when I'm wandering the doll aisles, I see items that I'm not immediately drawn to, but place somewhere on the scale of “If/When this gets down to X amount of money, based on my interest, maybe I'll pick it up.”

Some dolls vanish from stores before hitting that price threshold, some of which I wish I had picked up (like the Alvin Ailey Ballerina), and some I don't notice when they go.

Some dolls hit the threshold, yet continue to languish on shelves.

This is one of those dolls.

This is Dick Van Dyke as Bert from Disney's Mary Poppins.

There was a set of these when they were released in 2008, a Mary Poppins Barbie which I liked because she looks vaguely uneasy, and a pair of smaller dolls as the kids.

They all wore the costumes from the bit in the movie where they jump into a chalk drawing and everything turns into animation, and they ride a carousel and sing Supercali...etc.... I think there were animated penguin waiters.

It's been a while.

In any case, this is the one that hit clearance.

Appearance and Construction: 8/10

This isn't a terrible doll, but it also isn't one that caught my interest at first glance. I am often intrigued by Barbie versions of actors, though, because they usually don't look like the actual people, but they also don't look like 'normal' Barbies.

Bert has a decent resemblance to Dick Van Dyke, and the costume is an accurate replication of the animation-hybrid scene from the movie. The stripes on the jacket are bright and clear, the tiny buttons are in scale, the face paint is clean.

Really, the biggest sin here is that I'm not all that interested in the character, or particularly this version of the character.

Also, he looks a bit too blankly happy to really look like the mutable Dick Van Dyke.

Packaging and Accessories: -2

Part of the minus here is actually for the package. I don't think I've given out a minus for packaging before. But you'll see why in a bit...

Before you open it, the box looks pretty standard for a collector doll, and it evokes the carousel scene which the outfit is from. This one's a little dusty and banged up from being on the shelf so long.

And then you slowly extricate him from his plastic prison, and you think, gee, maybe this once I should have displayed him in the package.

He had a thick plastic belt holding him around the waist, and his jacket is completely warped from being held in that position for so long. After taking these pictures, I was able to get the tails to lie flat with some careful ironing, but ironing doll clothes is chancy and difficult.

A second problem arose when I went to remove his costume to check all the pieces. To hold his shoe onto the raised foot, they have employed double-stick tape inside his shoe. By the time I got him, this had oozed into the sock pretty firmly. I was able to remove it with some careful work, but the fabric of the sock is still sticky. I can only imagine one of these being removed from the package in another few years, and the damage to the fabric by that point.

Also I need to say more about the costume itself. Mattel cut corners in some weird places this time. After taking his bow tie off once, I felt like it was going to come apart in my hands.

The crotch strap holding the shirt flat is fine, but there are no snaps on the shirt, meaning that the bow tie is the only thing holding it closed. The gloves look about as fine as 1/6 scale gloves ever do, but there is a weird fabric bunch on one of them.

The shoes look good, but only sort of fit his feet. The pants are accurate to the character design, although it's slightly odd that they would bother to put pocket flaps, but not bother to close the bottom into a real pocket, they're just open to the legs.

The little straw hat looks okay, although he looks more like Dick Van Dyke without it on. Unfortunately, removing the hat from his head is dangerous for both the hat and his head, and once done, the band is no longer affixed to the hat.

He also comes with a cane, which he can precariously balance, and a decent stand, but that's certainly not enough to bring him back from the land of demerits.

Play and Display: -1

Bert uses the 1975/1999 Ken jointed body.

That means cut neck, ball joints at shoulder and hip, hinged knees, a crunch/cut thing that feels elastic inside the waist, and post/hinges at the elbows.

Unfortunately, the articulation is really hampered by the costume. This body would really benefit from cuts or hinges at wrists and ankles, and although I don't always mind a low articulation on a Barbie doll, for this character in particular I really feel the lack. I mean, Bert spends the whole movie in one dance number after another.

Also, on the Display side, I need to say a few more words about the hat. I disliked how low it looked the way it was attached, it shadowed his face too much, so I carefully clipped it off.

He looks better this way, except for one thing: three small holes in his head that the plastic tabs ran through, the most noticeable of which is in the center front of his head. Oh dear.

Special Section: Discussion of Custom Potential:

The reasons I picked this guy up are three-fold.

1) I don't pass up cheap-ish jointed Kens. They're not always easy to come by, and they look good in scale on the shelf next to Barbies.
See: Gambit and Rogue.

2) As I said above, I like that dolls of actors don't necessarily look like the actors, but still have an interesting face that I might be able to find a use for.

3) Although I don't actually need another 13” Joker. Yet.

Price Tag and Final Analysis: 5/10

I spotted this guy on the shelves of Toys'R'Us marked down to around 13 dollars. I think he started around 30, but it was a few years ago and I don't remember the exact price.

In any case, 8-10 is usually my limit for a doll that might end up in the custom parts bin, but I'll go up to 15 for jointed dolls that come with nice outfits.

As it is, I got a decent deal, even for a doll with this many issues. I wouldn't pay full price, but if you've got a soft spot for Mary Poppins or Dick van Dyke, you could do a lot worse for a display item.

Just, ah, consider keeping him in the box unless you are comfortable doing some costume repair.

Also, it can be expensive tracking down doll scale buttons...