Toys / Polly Pocket

Polly with some of the Cutants.

Polly Pocket is the central character in a line of pocket-sized dolls sold by Mattel. The toys were later adapted to a series of direct-to-video animated movies and a TV series in 2018.

The doll line consists of Polly herself, and her closest friends Lila, Shani, Lea, Rick, Steven, and Ana. Later releases replace Ana with Crissy and Steven with Todd, who was replaced with a new girl, Kerstie, for the 2010s reboot. Most versions of the doll line include miniature latex clothing for the dolls to wear, among miniature packs focusing on different themes. There were also compacts which open to reveal a playset inside, which had holes to insert the doll's feet into in the toyline's early days.

In the early 2000s specials, Polly is a rich girl who is loved by her friends and most of her school classmates, except for her Arch-Nemesis Beth, who is jealous of Polly because she's the most popular student in the whole school. Beth is always coming up with ways to outshine Polly, which are always thwarted by the girls' teamwork. The girls also form a rock band, Polly and the Pockets, which perform at the end of every special.

The toy line was rebooted for 2010, redesigning the characters to be more Chibi-like, and featuring a new storyline where Polly is well-off like her friends and get in their own everyday situations. They are often accompanied by ridiculously cute animals called the "Cutants".

The toyline was discontinued by 2015, but brought back and rebooted for 2018 among with a new TV series. For this reboot, Polly inherits a magical locket from her grandmother which allows the wearer to shrink to pocket-size, and she has wild journeys while trying to protect the locket from Griselle Grande, but must keep the locket's powers a secret from everyone to avoid having someone use its power for anything bad. This incarnation only keeps Lila and Shani, and introduces a new boy friend, Nicholas, as well as a full family.

Media:

• Polly Pocket: Lunar Eclipse (2003)
• Polly Pocket: 2 Cool at the Pocket Plaza (2005)
• PollyWorld (2006)
• 2010 Web Series
• 2018 TV Series

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Polly Pocket contains examples of:

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Multiple incarnations

• Adaptational Location Change: Polly's hometown received the name of Pollyville for the 2010 web series; when the franchise was rebooted for 2018, the town was changed to Littleton.
• Adapted Out: Every character from the 2000s specials except Polly and her friends in the 2010 reboot, then every character except Polly, Lila, and Shani in the 2018 cartoon.
• Artifact Title: The original playsets were about the size of a makeup compact, literally small enough to fit in your pocket, hence the name. In 1998, Polly was redesigned and made bigger, to the point where the playsets could no longer be carried around easily. However, the 2018 reboot reversed this, and playsets are once again small enough to be easily portable.
• Birds of a Feather:
  • Rick and Polly.
  • Crissy and Lila, who are best friends and are both described as being girly Fashionistas.
• Blonde Brunettes Redhead: See Five-Token Band below.
• Canon Foreigner:
  • The three pre-Cutant era movies give us Samuel, Polly's fun-loving butler, her school teacher Miss Marklin, her jealous rival Beth and her cohorts Evie and Tori, and her single father John Pocket.
  • The 2011 web series introduces Kerstie, a new friend to Polly’s friendship circle.
  • The 2018 reboot has Polly's grandmother Penelope Pocket, her brothers Paxton and Pierce Pocket, the Big Bad Griselle Grande and her dimwitted granddaughter Gwen, and her new friend Nicholas.
• Class Princess: In the 2000s incarnation, Polly is rich and the most popular girl in her whole school, and is liked upon by all the students and kind to them in return. Her status is the reason why Beth is jealous of her, and goes to great lengths to try and supplant her.
• Chuck Cunningham Syndrome: One of the installments of the 2000s incarnation had Polly with a sister named Katie, who has not appeared in any of the specials.
• Cloudcuckoolander: Lila to an extent, seeing as in the webisodes, she believes in superstition.
• Distaff Counterpart: To Mighty Max
• Drama Queen: Lila, according to the webisodes.
• Expy: Mattel's Diva Starz dolls have an uncanny resemblance to the Polly Pocket characters personality-wise, with Tia as the Token Black and computer-savvy Gadgeteer Genius like Shani, Summer as the animal-loving redhead comparable to Leah, Miranda as the outspoken, alternative Fashionista, similar to Crissy, and Alexa as the blonde-haired heroine with a strong resemblance to Polly Pocket herself.
• The Fashionistas: Crissy, the group's outspoken, artsy fashion designer, and Lila, the prissy Girly Girl..
• Five-Token Band: Polly is blonde, Crissy is Hispanic, Lila and Kerstie are fair-skinned with dark brown hair, Shani is Ambiguously Brown, and Leah is the group's redhead.
• Friend to All Living Things: Lea, the group's athletic Tomboy.
• Hair of Gold, Heart of Gold: Polly has blonde hair and is the central character of the franchise. Lila also gets blonde hair as part of her eventual redesign.
• Hidden Depths: According to the line, Lila is said to be a very good dancer.
• The Hyena: Lea, described as being athletic but giggly.
• Named by the Adaptation: Polly's friends, aside from Polly herself, receive surnames in different adaptations:
  • In the very first pre-2000s special, Ana was given the surname Leeth.
  • In the 2010s web series, Lea's surname was Torney, Crissy's was Maxwell, and Shani's was Mayne, but was changed to Smith for the reboot TV series.
  • In the reboot series itself, Lila receives the surname Draper.
• The One Guy: Rick in the movie. He's the only boy among the several friends who hang around with Polly.
• Only One Name: Any character except Polly herself. Her friends do receive surnames in eventual reboots, though.
• Passionate Sports Girl: Leah.
• Pink Means Feminine/Pink Product Ploy
• Poorly Disguised Pilot: The first two specials come off this way, being formatted like tv episodes.
• Sassy Black Girl: Shani.
• Significant Green-Eyed Redhead: Lea. Lila becomes this as of 2018.
• Technicolor Eyes: The main crew. Leah has green eyes before her eye color changes to blue. Lila has green eyes after her second eye color change. Polly, Rick, Anna and Kerstie (both discontinued), Lila, and Leah after the latter two's eye color change have bright blue eyes. Lila used to have purple eyes before her eye color changes to blue then green.
• The Leader/Team Mom: Polly Pocket.
• Those Two Guys: Rick and Todd, the only boys that have ever been added into the line. Later Nicholas in the 2018 incarnation.
• Youthful Freckles: Lea.

Early 2000s toyline

• Accidental Public Confession: Lorelei in "Pollyworld". The rant was a result of Beth threatening to expose her to Mr. Pocket if she didn't help Beth to sabotage Polly's team during a contest and because they didn't notice the microphone was turned on.
• Adaptation Dye-Job:
  • In the Pollyworld movie, Beth's team mates Karl and Lark have blonde hair. Their book counterparts have black hair.
  • When he first appeared in 2 Cool at the Pocket Plaza, Polly's dog Ollie had white fur, but in the storybooks preceding [PollyWorld, his fur was changed to blue-black.
• Alliterative Name: Not only Polly Pocket herself but also her quasi-identical cousin Pia Pocket. Pocket Plaza also counts if this is not restrained to people's names.
• Alpha Bitch: Beth, who is jealous of Polly and all the attention she gets and demands some of her own.
• Always Second Best: Beth is this to Polly, only coming out as the second most popular behind her. The first special even points out her parents demand she deserves to come out in first and yet, always places second.
• Always Someone Better: Polly is this to Beth, being the most popular girl in school and getting a lot of awesome opportunities while Beth herself is the second most popular girl and rarely gets to show off her mad skills to someone outside of school. She did try to show off her mad cheerleading skills on Roll Like That after Lorelei's plot to send Polly to boarding school was exposed, but she wound up getting tangled in wires, making everyone laugh at her.
• Amusement Park: PollyWorld is set at the titular amusement park, where Polly's class gets to be on the reality show Roll Like That which films there.
• Ask a Stupid Question...: Beth is so jealous of Polly that she can't see the reason she can't get what Polly has. She'll just ask a ridiculous question with either Tori or Evie giving the answer.
  Beth: How come Polly gets her own world? Why can't Roll Like That film at Beth World?
  Evie: Um, because there is no Beth World?
• Batman Gambit: In "2 Cool at the Pocket Plaza", Beth's scheme to ruin the hotel's opening ceremony is almost completely planned out. She knew right ahead Ms. Throckmorton mistook Polly for Pia and vice versa, and Pia would take her place, but since she doesn't know Polly's speech (Polly had to give it over the phone until Ms. Throckmorton caught her), this would embarrass her on live TV in front of the whole world. However, the only thing Beth didn't count on was Pia coming up with her own speech, which saves the day and shows Ms. Throckmorton the error of her ways.
• Didn't Think This Through: Beth usually comes up with plans to humiliate Polly or to get what she wants, but she doesn't realize until it's too late that there's a flaw.
  • In "Polly Pocket: 2 Cool a the Pocket Plaza", when she came up with a way to ruin the party at Pocket Plaza, she didn't expect Pia to improvise a speech while still pretending to be Polly.
  • In "PollyWorld", she threatened to tell John about Lorelei's plot to send Polly to boarding school only to realize at the last minute that doing so would've saved Polly.
• The Ditz: Tori is the least mean of Beth's gang, coming off as airheaded and carefree.
  Tori: What was wrong with "Team Fuzzy Little Bunnies"?
• The Dragon: Beth gets demoted to this in PollyWorld, serving as a lackey to Polly's would-be stepmother Lorelei who secretly wants her out of the way.
• Dumbass Has a Point: Tori may be ditzy and Evie is somewhat smarter, but they're both better at seeing reason than Beth, who's jealous of Polly to the point where she asks why she can't have any opportunities that Polly gets, and Tori or Evie has to give the answer why.
• Empathy Pet: Polly has a dog named Ollie, who often dresses up and acts fancy similar to her. Beth has a dog named Snarls, who is always mad and grumpy. Polly's cousin Pia has a cat named Mrs. Wigglebottom, who is a British Calico like her.
• Expository Hairstyle Change: Shani's twin buns with tendrils was changed to two low buns from PollyWorld on. Done more obviously with Beth's friend Tori, who originally had a bob with pigtails, but keeps the pigtails without the bob, as if she got her hair cut shorter.
• Evil Aunt: Miss Throckmorton from 2 Cool at the Pocket Plaza. Subverted in that she's not really evil, she's against anything American and insists Pia stick to her British activities, prompting Pia and Polly to pull a Twin Switch to prove her wrong.
• Evil-Detecting Dog: In the book "Polly's Fabulous Pet Palace", Polly's dog Ollie begins barking and charging in anger once he senses presence of Beth's dog Snarls.
• Garage Band: Polly and the Pockets, the band Polly forms with her friends.
• Girl Posse: Evie and Tori.
• The Ghost: Polly's dad John Pocket was only mentioned in the first two specials before finally making an onscreen appearance in PollyWorld.
• Glad You Thought of It: In "Pollyworld", Lorelei tries to have Polly sent to a boarding school by convincing Polly's Dad it's his idea.
• Green-Eyed Monster: The whole reason Beth hates Polly and is always trying to ruin things for her is because she’s jealous of Polly for being the most popular girl in school, and hopes that through her actions she can destroy Polly’s life and/or reputation and replace her as the School Idol. She also literally has green eyes.
• Identical Twin ID Tag: Polly's British cousin Pia looks just like her, except she has straighter hair and is a brunette. She gets dyed blonde like Polly's to fool her aunt into thinking she's her.
• I Want My Beloved to Be Happy: In Pollyworld, Shani captures footage of Lorelei and Beth explaining their plot to send Polly to boarding school, which Polly can use as proof for her father that she’s not what she seems. However, she cannot bring herself to show him the footage when she sees him happy with her on one of their dates, so she willingly accepts her fate and deserves to let him be happy. With that, she destroys the DVD. Fortunately, her dad finds out in the end.
• Karma Houdini: Beth’s schemes are always thwarted, but she and her cohorts never receive any punishment of sort and are let off scot-free. She does get a Karma Houdini Warranty in PollyWorld, where she tries to show off her mad cheerleading skills only to trip and get tangled in cables, which causes the audience to laugh at her.
• Missing Mom: Polly's mother. It played special relevance in Pollyworld, where Polly's father, John Pocket, would get married to a woman named Lorelei. There was also a story where Polly and her friends go at an adventure based on clues left behind by Polly's mother.
• Near-Villain Victory: Beth in all three movies from the pre-Cutant era:
  • In Lunar Eclipse, she gives Lila a new camera which unknown to her, has a roll of film that’s already been used, resulting in the pictures of the eclipse coming out double-exposed. Fortunately, Polly and her friends come up with their own pictures just in time, allowing them to get an A+ on their project.
  • In 2 Cool at the Pocket Plaza, Beth has Pia’s teacher Miss Throckmorton lock Polly (mistaking her for Pia) in her hotel room, leaving Pia to recite Polly’s grand opening speech for her with her cousin’s help over the phone. When Miss Throckmorton catches Polly and ends the call, Pia is nervous at first, but then she decides to improvise last minute with a Rousing Speech based on what she discovered during her visit, saving the grand opening.
  • In Pollyworld, Polly cannot bring herself to expose footage of Lorelei and Beth’s scheme in front of her father because she makes him happy, and willingly accepts going to a boarding school. However, as Beth and Lorelei argue backstage, Beth accidentally turns on the room’s sound system causing their scheme and Lorelei’s true colors to be seen by everyone. As a result, Mr. Pocket ends the engagement and cancels Polly’s boarding school plans.
• Nice Job Fixing It, Villain:
  • In the 2000's media, usually any scheme Beth plots to outsmart Polly only result in Polly or one of her friends coming up with an alternate solution which saves everything last minute, resulting in Polly becoming even more popular than ever.
  • In one story, Beth opts to make her dog Snarls the most special out of the others by sabotaging the talent show which celebrates the grand opening of Polly's new pet shop. However, her sabotage attempt only results in making the pets' performances a bigger hit, turning it into a comedy act and rescue mission which makes all of Polly's friends' pets TV stars, and Snarls is sent packing.
• Nice, Mean, and In-Between: The Terrible Trio of Beth and her cohorts Tori and Evie. Tori is ditzy and naive; Beth is mean and jealous; and Evie is also dimwitted but more assertive than Tori.
• Off to Boarding School: Polly's would-be stepmother tried to do this to Polly.
• Pyrrhic Victory: Beth doesn't know it yet, but her attempts to usurp Polly as the most popular student has a huge flaw in it — trying to destroy a popular student's reputation won't make you popular in their place, it'll only make everyone hate you even more.
• Save the Villain: In the climax of the story "Polly-tastic Adventure", Polly and her friends are forced to save Beth when both she and the map go missing.
• School Idol: Polly is the most popular girl in school, much to the envy of her arch rival Beth, who is constantly creating problems for Polly so she usurp her at the top of the Popularity Food Chain.
• Sitcom Arch-Nemesis: Beth from the 2003-6 specials, who is jealous of Polly being the most popular student and spends her time trying to outsmart her.
• Sdrawkcab Name: Karl and Lark, the exchange students from "Pollyworld", are this to each other.
• Show Within a Show: Roll Like That from Pollyworld.
• Spanner in the Works:
  • Pia in "2 Cool at Pocket Plaza". After Polly is locked in Miss Throckmorton's hotel room and Pia delivers the speech for her only to be stopped partway through, she improvises with a speech of her own, thus ruining Beth's plan and the grand opening goes on without a problem.
  • Surprisingly Beth herself in Pollyworld, as she inadvertently activates the camera and sound system to the camera room which causes both herself and Lorelei to accidentally reveal the plan to send Polly to boarding school to the whole crowd. John also hears this and in return, cancels the engagement and the boarding school plans.
• Spoiled Sweet: Polly and her friends in the 2003-6 incarnation. Her father allows her to travel to a private island with her friends in the opposite hemisphere just so they could film an eclipse for a school project. He even named a hotel and a whole amusement park after her. It's a surprise Polly doesn't fit the Alpha Bitch stereotype better than her rival, Beth, does. Or at least a Lovable Alpha Bitch.
• Strictly Formula: The first two specials seemed to follow this format. Polly and her friends get something big to do, they have a Good-Times Montage at some point, they find themselves challenged at whatever they get, their fun is nearly sabotaged by Beth, they find a way to save the day, and it ends with a Polly and the Pockets performance.
• Suspiciously Similar Substitute: Ana is replaced with Crissy in PollyWorld and the preceding storybooks.
• Take Our Word for It: In Lunar Eclipse, the double-exposed photos of the eclipse Lila took with thanks to the used film in the camera Beth gave her are not actually shown, we only see the girls’ shocked reactions to such.
• Toyless Toyline Character: Beth, her friends Evie and Tori, Miss Marklin, Samuel, and John Pocket.
• Treasure Hunt Episode: One storybook follows Polly and the gang following clues sent by Polly's late mother to find a family treasure, while Beth tries to beat them to it.
• Twin Switch: Polly and her cousin Pia pulled this in "2 Cool at Pocket Plaza".
• Unknown Rival: Certain plots have Polly and her friends completely unaware of Beth's plan to sabotage them, with only the Sixth Ranger or Team Pet smart enough to make a witty observation.
• Unresolved Sexual Tension: Rick and Polly.
• We Will Meet Again: At the end of the direct-to-video movies from 2003-2006, Beth says this after her scheme is thwarted and vows to get revenge on Polly again soon.
• Wicked Stepmother: Averted in Pollyworld. John Pocket would remarry, but called the engagement off once he found out Lorelei had no intention of being a mother figure to Polly.

2010s toyline

• Adaptation Decay: In-universe. In the Cutant era, Polly and her friends went to the movies to watch a film adaptation of a book all of them liked. Contrary to their expectations, they hated the movie.
• Genki Girl: Kerstie, who is described as being humorous and enthusiastic.
• It's the Best Whatever, Ever!: One story features Polly and her friends about to watch what they expect to be the best movie ever because it's an adaptation of what they consider the best book ever. They end up hating the movie so much they consider it the worst movie ever.
• Supreme Chef/Team Chef: Kerstie.

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