REPOSTED FROM MYFIGURECOLLECTION
(Please note that most of my research is gathered from Google Translated versions of Korean and Japanese blog posts, so there may be some discrepancies in the information as far as specific details go, but timeline wise I believe I have everything pieced together.)
Hello friends and thank you so much for joining me!
I fell down this rabbit hole last November after doing some quick research about the Mimi doll line and have been sitting on a Google doc full of unorganized information for 6 months. I actually have a lot of stuff to get done right now, so it probably wasn’t the /best/ use of my time to write a 3 page article about foreign doll history… but in any case, I did and I hope that it makes for a helpful or at the very least, interesting read!
DAESUNG LALA/MIMI
MimiWorld (Mimi World Co., LTD) is a major toy company based in South Korea that produces everything from dolls to electronic toys to craft kits to Beyblade style top battle toys but there’s a car gimmick for some reason…?
Established in 1973 under the name Daesung Toys, MimiWorld began as a small toy retailer in Busan started by the current* CEO Lee Jong-yeul’s mother, Kim Young-hee, as a way to bring in more money for their family. They had such great success with their business that they decided to expand into producing toys themself, creating furniture for Korean/Japanese fashion dolls referred to as “Maron” dolls*.
*The article stating he was the “current” CEO was from 2012. He may have been preceded at this point.
*I’m not certain as to what exactly “maron” dolls are. A lot of early dolls on Korean blogs, including Lala/Mimi, seem to be referred to as “Maron” dolls so it may be a term used generally for vintage dolls. They’ve also been described as cheaper quality dolls that pre-dated Mimi created by a Japan/Korean company based in Korea. I’ve chosen to go with this interpretation because it is used by the CEO in the article.
Following worker demonstrations in the Korean branch of the Korean/Japanese company that produced “maron” dolls*, there emerged a gap in the Korean fashion doll market and an opportunity for Daesung Toys to create a new doll to accompany their furniture.
*I’m unable to find any information about this event outside of its mention in the aforementioned article so I’m not sure if it was a factory strike or what the demonstrations were in response to. There’s also no specification of what the name of this company was.
It was in 1981 that the Daesung company released their first doll, “Lala” who would later be renamed to “Mimi” after running into issues with the name Lala being trademarked (Perhaps Fancy Lala…?) These dolls were a big hit with young girls and in 1994 Daesung rebranded as MimiWorld Co., LTD.
Daesung 1980’s Mimi commercial screenshot
Source: www.youtube.com…
Modern day Mimi (MimiWorld)
Photo source: Ebay Listing
BANDAI’S CHARMYTWIN ANNA & NOZOMI
Now that we’re familiar with the Mimi doll and its history here’s where things get interesting. It was 1981 when Bandai released their first original fashion dolls “Anna” and “Nozomi”, known as CharmyTwin, in an attempt to compete with Takara’s popular Licca-Chan. Other characters were later added to the line including Anna’s mother Emiko and Nozomi’s older sister Hiromi but this article will mostly be focusing on Anna.
Photo Source:
shoujodolls.com…
DAESUNG AND BANDAI’S CONNECTION
The production of Bandai’s fashion dolls was subcontracted to the previously mentioned Daesung Toys in Korea (in 1980 or 1981 presumably). CharmyTwin dolls were short-lived and discontinued around 1990, losing against their rival’s Takara who were dominating the market with both Licca-Chan and the recently acquired “Barbie” licensed doll turned Jenny after ending their license agreement with Mattel in 1982.*
*Just a little fun fact: Mattel partnered up with Bandai to produce Barbies in Japan right after Takara failed to renew their licensing agreement. These Mattel/Bandai dolls are known as “MaBa Barbie”.
You may recall that the first Lala/Mimi dolls were also released in 1981 and that’s apparently no coincidence because when you take a look at the dolls side by side then you’ll start to notice the unmistakable similarity between Anna and Mimi…
That’s because the Mimi dolls were actually a direct copy of the Anna doll right down to the mold itself. It’s never been stated whether or not Daesung was permitted to use the molds and style of Anna for their own doll line, but my guess is “No” considering there’s no indication Bandai took any percentage of the Mimi doll sales.
LICCA-CLONES…?
Both Mimi and CharmyTwin dolls are often referred to as being Licca-chan copycats. It would make sense to assume this considering the Licca-Chan doll has been long established as the fashion doll icon of Japan, but when I compared them to the early Licca-Chan and friends (1st and 2nd Gen.) that pre-date 1981 I can’t seem to find any close matches. You can take a look at the chart below for reference.
Though these dolls do have some shared characteristics with Anna and Nozomi, the large sparkly eyes and soft features were a staple feature of the shoujo style that was popular at the time and it’s likely this shared influence is what connects them as opposed to one copying the other.
To conclude:
The incredible success of Takara’s doll line without a doubt inspired the creation of the CharmyTwin dolls which then in turn led to the creation of Korea’s current most popular fashion doll Mimi! However, I personally think that using the term “Licca-clone” to describe either of these dolls is completely inaccurate when Mimi is really a clone of Anna and Anna, from what I can tell, is not a clone at all.
I hope that this was as fun for you to read as it was for me to research! If you have any additional information I can add or any corrections that should be made, please feel free to comment or reach out. I’m by no means an expert on Korean and Japanese dolls in General and as mentioned, the info I found generally came 2nd hand through other doll collector’s blogs and was roughly translated into English from Korean and Japanese via Google Translate. I’ll be leaving links to the sources I used below in case anyone wants to take a look!
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English Sites:
•Photos of the dolls in the CharmyTwin line:
www.flickr.com/…
•2012 Article about MimiWorld’s Success and an Interview with CEO Lee Jong-yeul:
koreajoongangda…
•Shoujo doll’s blog post about the CharmyTwin mold:
shoujodolls.com…
•JenJoy’s blog posts about the Mimi Doll:
jenjoysalldolle…
•JenJoy’s blog post “Livin’ La Vida Licca”:
jenjoysalldolle…
•I have no clue what this website is but There’s a few paragraphs at the bottom of the page that talk about Daesung’s history:
www.buykorea21….
•Licca-Chan Friends List:
www.barbigirl.c…
Korean Sites:
•MimiWorld official webpage:
www.mimiworld.c…
•Blog post with Mimi/Anna/Licca comparisons:
m.blog.naver.co…
•Blog post about Mimi’s relation to Anna:
brunch.co.kr/@y…
•Another blog post about Mimi’s relation to Anna:
m.blog.naver.co…
•Photos from the Mimi Exhibition:
m.blog.naver.co…
•Blog post with comparison photos of Anna and Licca:
blog.daum.net/p…
•Mimi Photo Compilation:
theqoo.net/squa…
Japanese Sites:
•A Japanese doll blogger’s search for a mysterious doll nicknamed “sepia-chan” which includes some information about both Mimi and CharmyTwin dolls in passing:
mars.bellstek.n…
Nice post… nerd
Nice! I had no idea that the Mimi line went back over 40 years.
Loved this! It’s so hard to find info in English on Mimi and other Korean dolls in general so I super appreciate this.
very interesting and informative post! great write-up
this is so cool and interesting!!! thank you for sharing!!
I love Mimi so much so it’s exciting to have people talk about her!! Thank you for making this post you’re doing the lords work ?
I’ve never heard of Mimi before this, but this was a really interesting read.
Thank you for sharing your research! 😀