A couple of years ago, two of my friends inexplicably decided that they would start liking *NSYNC as a joke. They thought that the music, the outfits, the dancing, and the screaming 12-year-old girls were silly and hilarious. Plus, they decided that the whole boyband was a homoerotic dream when they discovered X-rated "fan fiction" about *NSYNC on the internet.

As is the case in most fake crushes, it seems that there is an element of truth to their fascination with *NSYNC. My friend Michelle owns the entire set of these marionettes plus the miniature ones and the bobble head dolls. If she spends so much time and money researching *NSYNC and buying their toys, then she must actually like them.

Somewhere along the line, someone bought me the Joey Fatone marionette. I guess I must have mentioned that I thought Joey was hilarious in his unattractiveness, and my *NSYNC obsessed friends took this as a clue that I wanted the Joey doll as a gift.

In case you are unfamiliar with the illustrious career of this boyband, the *NSYNC marionettes were marketed along with *NSYNC's album No Strings Attached in the year 2000. In the video for "Bye Bye Bye," the guys start out as marionettes on a stage, but later break free from their strings and frolic freely.

This doll epitomizes novelty gifts as I haven't played with it since I got it for my birthday more than two years ago. It is sitting on a shelf and literally gathering dust. When I first got Joey, I tried to make him dance, but was fairly unsuccessful. I don't think that even Craig Schwartz in his portal on the 7 1/2 floor would be able to manipulate this puppet. One handle attaches to two strings, one on each knee, and the other handle attaches to strings for his elbows, shoulders, and back. The only way I found to make him dance was to shake the whole doll.

For storage, the two handles clip together, and the doll is hung on its stand. The stand has a fake wooden base with a "Y" on it. If you have all the dolls, the bases can fit together and spell out (shock of all shocks) "NSYNC." The metal pole that the doll hangs from comes apart into two pieces so the toy can fit easily into a box. The pole also unscrews from the base. I found that it is difficult to get the Joey doll to hang straight from its stand. He's either leaning forward or backwards, so he looks kind of awkward.

It wouldn't surprise me if the makers of this doll had never seen Joey Fatone because the doll looks nothing like him (not that that's a bad thing). His face is much too angular and tall, and his nose is too pointy. Also, he has visible abdominal muscles and huge pecs. That would be like giving six-pack abs to the Rosey O'Donnell doll. You cannot take off his clothes, but you can sneak a peak at his unanatomically correct goods made of black plastic. It's less realistic than a Ken doll. Rolling up Joey's trouser legs, we also see calf and thigh muscles. As far as dolls go, his hands are very realistic looking. Joey's hair is made of dark brown plastic with some red highlights.

When these dolls first hit the stores, they cost around $20, but, these days, you could buy one for less than a fiver.

Bye Bye Bye.








Recommended: Yes

Amount Paid (US$): gift
Type of Toy: Puppet
Age Range of Child: Kids to Teens