If you spend a lot of time on Chinese shopping sites (I don’t know anybody like that), you’ll inevitably run across the “confused keychain doll”. There is no standard name, but they are often sold as either confused and/or keychain dolls, and they appear to be inspired by a South Korean keychain doll named Ddung (I know, doesn’t carry into English very well). These typically have an elastic loop or metal chain anchored in the head (for adding to a keychain apparently), and clothes are typically glued on, not made to be removed. Similar dolls without the loop are sold as cake decorations, party favors, and the like.
I’ve been collecting them for awhile now (mostly the fakies), and here’s my outline of different varieties sold. I’m including some other random dolls that may not be exactly keychain dolls, but I think they fit in this niche.
The following pictures are just a small sampling of the varieties out there! I will be adding more pictures from my collection in the future. (Or bypass the pictures and jump to Shopping Links!)
2.5″ Minis:
3″ Little Girls:
4.5″ Kelly-size:
Light-up skirts:
Feather body:
Shuttlecock body:
7″ Teens:
7″ Mermaids:
11.5″ Adults:
SHOPPING LINKS!
My favorite place to shop for these is Aliexpress. It’s part of the Alibaba family of companies, but this marketplace is for individuals buying single units (not pallets of merchandise). I know we tend to culturally be a bit snobby about buying from China, but there’s really interesting (and decent quality) stuff out there. You really have to embrace “you get what you pay for” – temper your expectations. If you don’t pay much, you’re not going to get much. Some people, like me, are charmed by the imperfect and sometimes weird world of fakies; if you’re not in that mindset, this field is probably not for you. That all being said, I’ve had lots of good experiences on Aliexpress, and there are buyer protections in place in case something does go wrong. There is also good ol’ eBay, but they don’t have as wide a variety.
These are some searches that have yielded good results for these dolls, but you can fiddle around on search terms and filters.
ALIEXPRESS LINKS:
EBAY LINKS: