History Toys / CabbagePatchKids

In 1978, Xavier Roberts started marketing a set of cloth dolls with exaggerated features of a baby under the name of Little People. Initially sold at craft shows, the dolls took off and in 1982, he rebranded them as "Cabbage Patch Kids" and created a backstory involving a young boy named [[AuthorAvatar Xavier Roberts]] following a [=BunnyBee=] and discovering the world of the eponymous kids. The dolls became a big hit, inspiring books and an animated Christmas special, but the craze peaked and fell around 1988. The line continued in a smaller vein, going through a series of companies, from Colēco to Hasbro to Mattel, but have largely become a historical footnote. Despite this, the toys eventually saw a revival and maintain a devoted following to this day.

A video game, ''VideoGame/CabbagePatchKidsAdventuresInThePark,'' was developed by Creator/{{Konami}} and released for the UsefulNotes/{{ColecoVision}} and the UsefulNotes/{{MSX}}.

* AuthorAvatar: Xavier Roberts

* WickedWeasel: Lavender's other henchman, Beau Weasel, is a smooth-talking, slippery swamp weasel who helps her kidnap the kids.

The dolls had a number of interesting gimmicks. All Cabbage Patch Kids are "born" in [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Babyland_General_Hospital Babyland General Hospital]], a converted medical clinic located in Xavier Roberts' hometown of Cleveland, Georgia[[note]]located about 80 miles (130 km) northeast of UsefulNotes/{{Atlanta}}[[/note]], and are ostensibly "adopted" by new owners, not bought (they came with birth certificates). Another is that each doll was slightly different, having been manufactured through a process that would change a variable each time. This helped keep up the "real baby, not a doll" illusion. Additional lines of the dolls were added, including twins and "preemies" (baby dolls).

* BaldBlackLeaderGuy: Otis Lee

* LimitedSocialCircle[=/=]: The stop motion specials normally consist of a single group of friends: Barry, Mary Beth, Travis, Vernon, Myles, Norma Jean, Melanie, Nick, Sheerena and Billy.

* BoysVsGirlsPlot: "The Clubhouse" has the boys being pitted against the girls to see who can build the best clubhouse.

In 1978, Xavier Roberts started marketing a set of cloth dolls with exaggerated features of a baby under the name of Little People. Initially sold at craft shows, the dolls took off and in 1982, he rebranded them as "Cabbage Patch Kids" and created a backstory involving a young boy named [[AuthorAvatar Xavier Roberts]] following a [=BunnyBee=] and discovering the world of the eponymous kids. The dolls became a big hit, inspiring books and an animated Christmas special, but the craze peaked and fell around 1988. The line continued in a smaller vein, going through a series of companies, from Colēco to Hasbro to Mattel, but have largely become a historical footnote. Despite this, the toys eventually saw a revival and maintains a devoted following to this day.

* SimilarSquad: The Christmas special started with the kids escaping the evil Lavender [=McDade=], Cabbage Jack, and Beau Weasel on their way to the big city, where they run into a trio of gangsters that fill the same basic roles and share the other villains' voice actors. It's lampshaded when one of the kids comments how much they remind them of their usual villains.

* VillanousGlutton: Cabbage Jack eats cabbages constantly and hates the Cabbage Patch Kids because more kids means less cabbage to eat.

The dolls had a number of interesting gimmicks. All Cabbage Patch Kids are "born" in [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Babyland_General_Hospital Babyland General Hospital]], a converted medical clinic located in Xavier Roberts' hometown of Cleveland, Georgia[[note]]located about 75 miles (120 km) northeast of UsefulNotes/{{Atlanta}}[[/note]], and are ostensibly "adopted" by new owners, not bought (they came with birth certificates). Another is that each doll was slightly different, having been manufactured through a process that would change a variable each time. This helped keep up the "real baby, not a doll" illusion. Additional lines of the dolls were added, including twins and "preemies" (baby dolls).

The dolls had a number of interesting gimmicks. All Cabbage Patch Kids are "born" in [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Babyland_General_Hospital Babyland General Hosipital]], a converted medical clinic located in Xavier Roberts' hometown of Cleveland, Georgia[[note]]located about 75 miles (120 km) northeast of UsefulNotes/{{Atlanta}}[[/note]], and were ostensibly "adopted" by new owners, not bought (they came with birth certificates). Another is that each doll was slightly different, having been manufactured through a process that would change a variable each time. This helped keep up the "real baby, not a doll" illusion.

Perhaps because of the general cuteness of it all (and the doll's wild popularity), two disturbing {{Urban Legend}}s sprang up concerning them. One is that dolls returned to the factory for repairs would be returned in coffin-shaped boxes -- or not returned at all -- with a Death Certificate for the bereaved owner. The other is that the dolls' features (close-set eyes and a somewhat pinched face) was all part of a campaign to acclimatize kids to a world in which those features would be common: as a mutation caused by nuclear war. Needless to say, ''{{WebSite/Snopes}}'' found no substance in either of these rumors.

A videogame, ''VideoGame/CabbagePatchKidsAdventuresInThePark'' was developed by Creator/{{Konami}} and released for the UsefulNotes/{{ColecoVision}} and the UsefulNotes/{{MSX}}.

* AnimatedAdaptation - There was a cartoon series and a ChristmasSpecial.
* AuthorAvatar - Xavier Roberts
* BaldBlackLeaderGuy - Otis Lee
* DeliveryStork - Colonel Casey of the AnimatedAdaptation.
* HairRaisingHare - Cabbage Jack is an anthropomorphic jackrabbit who helps Lavendar kidnap the kids.

* MixAndMatchCritters - The [=BunnyBees=] have the striped body of a bee and the head of a bunny. They fly by flapping their ears.
* WouldHurtAChild - Lavendar [=McDade=] constantly seeks to enslave the Cabbage Patch Kids to work in her gold mine.

The dolls had a number of interesting gimmicks. All Cabbage Patch Kids are "born" in [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Babyland_General_Hospital Babyland General Hosipital]], a converted medical clinic located in Xavier Roberts' hometown of Cleveland, Georgia[[note]]located about 75 miles north of UsefulNotes/{{Atlanta}}[[/note]], and were ostensibly "adopted" by new owners, not bought (they came with birth certificates). Another is that each doll was slightly different, having been manufactured through a process that would change a variable each time. This helped keep up the "real baby, not a doll" illusion.

[[redirect:Franchise/CabbagePatchKids]]