When I first started collecting toys as an adult, I found myself combing over toy database websites and imagining what direction my fledgling hobby would take. A lot of the female-centric sites naturally focused on dolls. I knew early on that soft goods costumes and rooted hair were too much for my OCD brain, but a few properties still managed to intrigue me. One of my favorites was Celestra: Queen of the Transforming Dolls. This is quite possibly the most earnest attempt I've ever seen to merge the "boy" and "girl" aisles that were so hopelessly separated back in the 80s. This line is literally tiny dolls that "transform" into robots, cars, and spaceships. The execution isn't perfect; the faces and hairlines are a tad frightening, and they are essentially simple shellformers. But I love the effort and the unique snapshot of mid-80s toy politics. Bionic Six, She-Ra, Golden Girl, Robotech, etc were all working to blur those gender lines and it was terrific. Let's check out Celestra below!
