Doll Week

The Queer Doll Hall of Fame

By Henry Giardina

July 18, 2023 · Updated on May 15, 2024

Doll week is about celebrating all kinds of dolls, from Barbies to Cabbage Patch Kids to American Girl Dolls and everything in between. But wait a minute…aren’t some dolls like, extra iconic? I’m talking about the baddies who live to topple the heteropatriarchy, the girls who will do anything and everything to stay on top, the plastic playmates that love nothing more than being gay and doing crime.

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The phrase “queer-coded dolls” might seem redundant, but hear us out: when it comes to making life hell for heteros, these dolls continue to inspire us.

Talky Tina

A certain 1963 episode of “The Twilight Zone” remains memorable for its chilling plot, revolving around a young girl’s acquisition of a doll called “Talky Tina.” Tina is the perfect toy: she keeps her owner company during lonely moments, and always knows the right thing to say. But Tina is helpful in other ways, too. When Tina catches onto the fact that her owner’s stepfather is an abusive jerk, she quickly comes up with a plan to get him out of their lives for good. That’s what I call gay solidarity!

Eve Doll

Who could forget the iconic Tyra Banks in Life-Size? Before she taught us how to smize, she was helping Lindsay Lohan become a self-confident young woman after the death of her mother two years earlier. Life-Size was iconic the instant it hit (small) screens, and it remains a heartwarming story about the pressures of being a “real” enough woman by society’s standards. And who among us didn’t crush super hard on Tyra Banks as Eve?

Bratz

Serving c*nt? They invented it. If you weren’t personally victimized by the appearance of Bratz Dolls in the late 90s, you were literally the only one. These dolls were all about self-expression, and if you owned one, you could never shake the feeling that they were personally judging you.

Gabby Gabby from Toy Story 4

The villain of the fourth (final?) Toy Story film is an old-fashioned talking doll called Gabby Gabby who longs to be relevant again. Sadly, in this modern age of high-tech toys, Gabby is fated to be left in the dust. Or is she? After getting a classic villain redemption arc, Gabby realizes that she can be something more than a broken doll: she can still be someone’s friend.

Chucky

No list of gay-coded dolls would be complete without Chucky, the swearing, possessed-by-Brad-Douriff doll that lives to torment and terrorize heterosexuals. And now, he’s even the proud, accepting dad of a trans boy! Never change, Chucky.

Ken from Toy Story 4

Michael Keaton’s take on Ken is confusing, if only because they probably technically didn’t want to write an out-gay character into the Toy Story universe. Thanks to Keaton, however, we get a wink and a nod to Ken’s true sexuality through a collage of unsubtle, but still subtextual, hints.

M3GAN

We would be utterly remiss if we didn’t throw the ultimate queer doll in the mix. M3GAN stunned audiences earlier this year with her fierceness, her commitment to a perfect coif, her iconic murder dance, and an evil genius attitude to rival Lydia Tár herself. She continues to be the mood, the moment, the picture of gay doll perfection.

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