the doll games
shelley and pamela jackson

FLATSIES

S. Okay Pamela, one thing we need to discuss is the preponderance of same-sex sibling pairs in our doll games. Can you comment on this? I’m referring specifically to Harvey and Willy, Phyllis and Anne the Flatsies, Mara and Melanie, and—are there any others? Sets of virtual twins, although they all have one identifying feature, their hair, to separate them. Comments? May I point out that we are also same-sex siblings?

P: With different hair.

S: Ha ha ha. Returning to Shelley, for the laugh.

P: I’m not ready to think about that yet.

S: That is something I only just thought of, but is true. An interesting reflection of our real-life situation in the dolls.

P: Well, it was partly because we each had one, we always each got matching dolls.

S: But we should analyze their roles, because like with Harvey and Willy, there’s a distinct difference between the two of them. Harvey is the standout and Willy is a pale copy*. Although not exactly a copy, as we were saying. And between Phyllis and Anne—

P: I don’t have a sense of different personalities for Phyllis and Anne.

S: I do, but it might just be a sense of the difference between blue and pink.

P: Was the blue one mine?

S: Yeah. Anne was mine, the pink one. To my mind Phyllis seemed to have a more central role.

P: I don’t have a sense of what their personalities were, other than willowiness.

S: Yeah, it was key that they were willowy, and frivolous and gentle and ethereal. Which I think was largely to do with the fact that they were about quarter of an inch thick.

P: And completely bendy.

S: Bendy in every part of their body, rather than having joints. Also they had no fingers; they had mitts, like that lobster boy*.

P: They were always the most completely feminine. But not in the awful way like Dawn.

S: That’s true, because they didn’t have big breasts! They were like nymphs*.

P: They had long hair and they were delicate and pliant.

S: And sappy, they were sappy, too. We didn’t respect them completely.

P: Did they ever have central roles?

S: They had subplots. Like Phyllis was once beloved by—Theodore? Ted? The Sunshine family guy. They were like the nice friend subplot.

P: What about—didn’t Alonzo like Phyllis once too? And we were able to make her short enough to match him by bending her ankles*?

S: No! That’s a horrible idea! Are you serious?

P: Yeah, just discreetly giving her more foot and less leg.

S: A precursor of the Unnamable’s amputation!

P: Ha!

S. Their flatness, by the way, didn’t seem to be any kind of a barrier to their viability as a romantic partner.

P: No, that was fine. And they did actually have little breasts, right? Little gentle mounds?

S: That’s one of the weird things about them, that they were completely flat* except they had breasts and they had a little flattened face.

P: Suitable breasts.

S: Nice little dainty breasts.

S: Flat dolls but not flat-chested. That’s the distinction that we need to make. And I’m thinking they had a small pubic mound* as well, though that seems a bit odd.

P: That seems impossible.

S: Not an actual projection, but just a slight sloping.

P: I remember they were especially easy to draw pubic hair on because they were made out of softer plastic than the other dolls.