I Vant to 'Vestigate a Vintage Vamp: Traveler Trading Co. Collectible Count Dracula Doll

I'd seen this item while trawling the backwaters of Target.com listings with a Christmas gift card previously, but hadn't jumped onto it--it was a third-party seller distributing a vintage horror collectible doll of Count Dracula, from 1985!

Online big-box retail typically isn't the place for unique finds, but sometimes third-party stuff shows up with something out-there and you have to check it out.

This was the incredibly intriguing listing I saw. I was glad to find it still available when my birthday landed me more Target gift credit.

I'd for sure be drawn to this if I saw it at an antique store or thrift shop, but to be completely frank (or would that be "Drac"?), a huge part of the allure for me was seeing it in this form, with a single obtuse photograph online. I'd learn a lot more about the doll before buying if I saw it in-person, and that lack of knowledge with the online listing here was a major draw for me.

I hadn't been sure about it before, but this time, I had the gift money. Another reason the doll felt a lot more intriguing to me this time was that I now collect Living Dead Dolls and there were some superficial but striking similarities in production going on. This Dracula's box had a coffin visual and advertised a death certificate--two gimmicks that clearly pre-date LDD by over ten years. The death certificate in particular really grabbed me, because anybody can invoke coffins but I'd really thought no toy but LDD had done death certificates. I was dying (pun intended) to see the content of the Traveler's certificate and what it was used for. There were no guarantees that this doll was either never opened and/or still complete, so I crossed my fingers the certificate would be there.

And the mystery around the doll was so fun, with so little to glean from the listing. How big are we talking here? Is he all plastic or soft-bodied?  If the former, are there any more joints than the basic five? Is the doll horribly decayed? (A "no" for that last one would be greatly appreciated.)

I've also never unboxed a retro toy like this, so I was so excited to look at the packaging and presentation of the thing in detail, for as much survived (though again, fingers crossed it's complete). I also just love classic horror (as if previous readers seriously couldn't already tell) and the pop culture inspired by it, and this would be a great one-off horror collectible. It's fun to have unusual items.

And again, gift cards help. I would be less comfortable taking a leap on this with money I could spend elsewhere. It's a super fun risk, but still a risk, and gift cards alleviate a lot of disappointment from a risk gone wrong because it's not money I could be using in any department of my life.

...you know, a one-off old doll popping up on a retailer sounds like the start of a haunted-doll story, and I'm that dumb sucker that doesn't see anything wrong with the scary doll and blatantly ignores the supernatural warning signs. I don't actually believe in ghosts even though I get spooked by the prospect sometimes, but maybe something for me to keep in mind. If the Count is haunted, I'll certainly have to figure some things out!

I've never heard of the Traveler Trading Company before, but I declined to dive in and research them or this doll before I received it, despite really wanting to know. I wanted to see what I could learn just from the toy before getting wider context. Just to put down some guesses, I'm assuming the company is over a decade defunct now, and that there was a Frankenstein's Monster and Wolf Man in a collection alongside Dracula because those are the easiest Universal Horror cohorts to depict in dolls with clothes, though a Mummy would have been cool if they could figure out his wrappings, and I'd love if there was a Bride of Frankenstein too. I'll find out in time. 

The Gill-man (Creature from the Black Lagoon) would be difficult to make. I know Mego figures did him with a dodgy cloth bodysuit to depict his amphibian plating, and Living Dead Dolls molded an entirely new plastic unclothed body for their take.

Right after I ordered, I remembered that I may have possibly had a bit more context on these dolls after all. A few months ago, my YouTube algorithm fed me a video from a collector discussing collectible horror dolls that might have been the same brand...but checking and relocating that video made me realize those dolls were Spencer's Gifts items tackling more modern horror properties, so there may be zero relation even if the Traveler's dolls appear to be a comparable toy "genre". Diving deeper and figuring that out later!

Then the doll arrived. 

This is the first review here of a doll that's older than I am. (Move over, original Sadie. Now you've been dethroned as my oldest doll acquisition!)

The first thing I got confirmed for me was the size--this is an 18-inch doll. 

The box is extremely simple. The shape is very form-fitting and the front is 98% coffin window, leaving no room for fancy graphics, though the box itself is black with no extra printing of texture, gradient, pattern, or imagery, making for a fairly dull look. I suppose it does feel true to time in some sense, since 1970s and 1980s products liked a lot of black boxes and minimal imagery. 

However, the surprise was the panel off to the side, with painted artwork of a bat-winged Dracula head and the phrase "DRAC BAT". 

The text and art combo feel like the kind of thing you see on cheap unofficial Chinese-made products with flawed English grammar, but the rest of the text here lacks this semantic quality. This art panel is very charming in its oddness.

This panel is fully external and projects from the back of the box. It doesn't fold flat in either direction and isn't a separate piece, making it very awkward. It had to be bent around the doll box for this to be packed in the shipping box.

It's not the back of the box that came undone. It's just a side thing that would make displaying these dolls a pain on store shelves.

It won't even cover the back if you try.

The sides of the box have gold coffin handles to match the coffin in the painted artwork, though the box itself isn't contoured in a coffin shape like Living Dead Dolls or various MH boxes from Skulltimate Secrets and collector releases.

The printed side handles remind me a lot of LDD's series that included them on the boxes.

LDD Series 8 Faith's coffin.

The box has surprisingly little other printing on it, with no bar code, no typical legal jargon about copyright, safety, or licensing on it...the only text on this box is what you see on the front, and the "DRAC BAT" in the artwork. You couldn't release a product that way today. I have to wonder what the scope of the Traveler company was. Was this an order-in product exclusively? I won't believe the eighties lacked legal information and UPCs on most product packaging.

The presence of tape on top told me this doll has been sealed for 39 years!!!!

Inside, the doll had a cardboard backdrop that slides out. Taking Drac out from behind an intensely age-yellowed window did wonders for his complexion!

Dracula's death certificate is a large piece of glossy paper folded into four. The details are comical but pretty accurate to the Dracula mythos, including the death date being the exact day of his destruction as recorded in the epistolary structure of Bram Stoker's original novel!

 

Vlad Dracula was never established as the vampire's full name in the foundational Dracula stories, but it was a name of Vlad the Impaler, the brutal historical figure who influenced the Dracula story and gave the monster his name, and who some adaptations imply is the same man as the vampire.

Here, the coroner is listed as Abraham Van Helsing, the vampire expert in the Dracula mythos, while the toy creator certifies it-- Gary M. Spiegler is the one here. For Living Dead Dolls, the creators Ed Long and Damien Glonek are listed as morticians.

LDD Faith's death certificate. 

While the concept of the death certificate reminded me instantly of the later LDD brand, the function of the Traveler's certificate is more like a profile as seen in Monster High, with listed categories and amusing spooky answers. Living Dead Dolls uses poems to relay information about its characters instead, functioning like epitaphs in lieu of the dolls having tombstones.

Dracula is affixed to the backdrop by two flat twist ties--the kind you'd see on bread bags. He's tied around his neck and both feet in one.

Here he is detached. All of the teal parts of his outfit photograph bluer than they look in reality, so I've edited the pictures a bit to get them to match.

Dracula's head is all vinyl and has a realistic sculpt with a more kitschy flat, colorful paint job, making it feel very charmingly pop-horror. 

He's looking down and has a harsh brow and a snarl to show off his teeth and make him look ready to attack. His face does feel evocative of Bela Lugosi's defining portrayal, though nothing on the box indicated this doll went through any licensing. I really like the bold rings of teal around his eyes and the red lid lines, and the sculpt has a lot of depth and care that makes him interact with lighting very well.

His profile is also fantastic.

The paint is a little cheesy, but in the most appealing way, and it's precise. This head looks great. 

Dracula's cape is made of a cheap swishy tablecloth/windsock plastic fabric, and is red inside with a pointy collar. It ties around his neck with two ribbons, but they really need a double knot or a bow to stay tight around his neck.

The cape is also sewn around a rounded shoulder shape that means his arms can't be held to spread the cape upward like wings. 

The corners of the cape opening are sewn down to the front with thread. 

That's stuck there.

I chose to pull this small sewing out to let the cape wrap more around his front if I so choose. 

This is what Dracula looks like without the cape. He has a teal double-breasted waistcoat over a white dress shirt with a white bow tie, and he wears black pants over socks and black Victorian shoes with teal accents. The shirt has no simulated buttons and the tie is satin and sewn on. Dracula's body below the head is entirely plush, which didn't surprise me.

The teal fabric of his outfit is a touch greener than the paint on his head.

I was very surprised to find that all of his clothing is separate from his body!

His waistcoat attaches in front with two metal snaps. The two snaps feel a bit disconnected from the rows of three fake buttons on the outside!

The waistcoat pockets are functional.

The pants have a small snap in the front. I've never seen a doll with pants that close in front like real, though I'm guessing the scale of Dracula makes that more viable. Fashion dolls are so small that the closure would look awkward on the front.

While the pants and vest work like real, the shirt opens down the back with two separate velcro closures.

The wrists feature snaps on the cuffs, which I didn't expect.

The shoes are faux-leather pieces and are sewn through the socks to the feet of the doll.

I pulled this stitching out too, to let everything fully separate. Here's a shoe on its own.

And here's every piece removed. I had not at all expected this doll to be fully undressable.

Dracula's body fabric is smooth and dense, almost like a stuffed stocking fabric, and has a short torso, legs, and arms for the size of his head. It's stylized, but the head sculpt is so realistic! The body fabric is a bit lighter than the head, and the hands are sewn rag-doll style with the addition of lines of thread to suggest fingers.

The arms are pinched at the shoulders, letting them swing up and down, but the legs are not separated from the body, so they do not swing. This lets Drac stand up pretty well, but to sit him, it's a little bit of a struggle and he needs to be propped up.

Redressing him wasn't a challenge, though the shoes now like to fall off if you're not careful and the wrist cuffs are tight to refasten.

Dracula's about the size I like for a soft doll to hug, but I didn't find his torso quite squishy enough to feel cuddly, and the plastic head also makes him suboptimal for a cozy companion. Not that I would expect Count Dracula to be a cozy companion under any circumstance. 

I got a few fun photos of him.

And then I assembled my cohort of vampire toys together. It's not my first time doing this kind of display, but I really love making "3D collages" of items. This was so fun to put together.

That's Agatha's coffin being used here, and the Playmobil vampires have all been seen here before during my Playmobil series starting here. I'd love to do a big discussion of LEGO horror this October, where the minifigs will have their day, though the Minifigures Series 25 Vampire Knight has already been discussed here, and restyled refresh Draculaura was discussed first here and got her skirt here. The Mego vampire on top of the coffin has been broken and his outfit was wrecked, but he still displays acceptably when kneeling and covered by his cape, so I let him participate. Here's a few more details.

The Traveler's Dracula was hung by his feet bound with strong wire hooked over the shelf.

And this is not an absolutely comprehensive collage, because I'm kicking myself realizing now that I forgot my Count Chocula figure!

It's really not worth re-staging all of that just to try to squeeze Choc in somehow, though. If I ever get a Living Dead Dolls vampire, maybe that'll be reason to do an updated photoshoot where Chocula can be included too. 

So, time to figure out what this brand was, and what else they offered.

Most links typing in "traveler's trading company vintage" just led, frustratingly, back to various listings for this very Dracula doll. That was informative in its own right, I suppose. Seeing everybody and their grandmother selling this thing, and pictures of large groups of Dracs, indicates that supply did not exactly meet demand here, no matter how much some venues seemed to talk it up as a priceless collectible. (In-hand, this is a perfectly good doll, but it's not high-end, I'll tell you that.) 

The most I found was a blog post from Secret Fun Blog compiling some scans of a 1978 Traveler's catalog. This reveals the company was a novelties dealer making little toys, practical joke items, and party favors and the like, though the catalog shown pre-dates the Dracula doll. Gary Spiegler was the owner of the company. Learning this makes me doubt he had anything to do with the artistic process of this doll, though. I like old catalogs like the Traveler one which feel designed specifically to make kids enchanted by worthless junk (it worked on me with Oriental Trading in my childhood), but this didn't give me any more leads, and it didn't look like there were really any to be had.

Disappointingly, though fortunately for my wallet, I have to conclude that Dracula was not part of a series at all. He seems to be the only doll of his kind to have been produced through Traveler's. So those aforementioned Spencer's dolls would be the way to satisfy any desire for more dolls in this fashion...but I just don't really care for any of them beyond Frank N. Furter, and he doesn't come cheap. Unlike LDD which has me wrapped around its rotten finger, those Spencer's dolls don't at all make me willing to abandon practicality in their pursuit. 

So I have to basically end it here because that was a big fat anticlimax. 

This doll is the beginning and end of its own story.

I was so excited to go on a big research journey and learn more context, but the end of the story really seems to be "this guy was a one-off from a hokey fun novelty company". What a shame. I'm still happy to have stumbled onto this guy in the least likely place. He's a great piece of horror kitsch to keep around, and he had some elements that feel oddly prescient for other horror toys. Sometimes, a standalone item is really great to have. Not everything needs to be from a collection.