Monday, July 25, 2011

High School Musical Zeke

Zeke!


If you read my post on Mattel Black Male Dolls, you
would know that one doll missing for my collection of
Black male dolls and on my wish list was High School
Musical 3 Prom Date Zeke. As a fugal doll purchaser, the
Zeke doll never really went down in price in retail stores.
That may be because he only showed up as part of a set.



Sales version of the doll set

Still the set never went down in price. I don't think that
many were produced either. It was one of the first times
that I saw a young blond female Caucasian doll (Sharpay)
paired with a young black male doll (Zeke) in a toy series.
(I may be wrong, so let me know). It was the first and only
set that contained Zeke. I found him on EBay recently
for a great price. The clothing was in bad condition but
the doll was not.

A little about HSM AA male dolls
One of the great things about the High School Musical series
is that the series produced two AA characters and three AA dolls.


Chad #1Side Note--This shirt was too short even for a smaller doll.
I use it for the girl dolls. I am calling him Jay!

This is the first version of Chad Mattel uses the
Jamal/Steven head mold for this doll. The gave him rooted
two tone curly hair and the complexion was lighter many
of the Jamal/Steven dolls.



Chad #2The second version of the chad doll received it own face.
I am not sure it looked much like the actor either but very
few celebrity dolls do. The hair didn't have as much of the
two toned look but hair color does differ from doll to doll.

Now that chad had a new look Mattel was free to use the
Steven/Jamal head again for another doll in the the series.

Zeke-

For the Zeke character who appeared in all three movies they
gave the Jamal Steven doll a darker complexion than Chad
in keeping with the character of Zeke in the movies
and he was darker than the Zeke from the promotion shots.


This version of the doll looks lighter and more neutral than
the actual sales doll. the one thing that can be said is these
three dolls, Chad 1, Chad 2 and Zeke were the first time that
Mattel did a doll this size (Kevin size) in an African American
doll. Poor AA teen Skipper. Both AA Teen Skipper
(Prom teen and Pizza Party AA dolls) and AA teen Nikki
never had a male counterpart. There were some promo
pictures of an AA doll (on the box of school desks) but he
never made it to production. They are the only AA Todd
size dolls. The HSM dolls also gave us more Kevin size
fashions.

10 comments:

Black Doll Enthusiast said...

Congratulations on finding Zeke.

It took me forever to find Taylor.

dbg

Dollz4Moi said...

Love the Zeke and wish I had picked up this set when they sat on the shelves at TRU. I did buy the Taylor and Chad dolls on sale.

Glad you found him :O)

limbe dolls said...

Thanks for reviewing the history of these dolls. I would also count the new Clawd Wolf/ Draculara gift set as an interracial couple.

D7ana said...

I had bought Chad before getting Zeke. Was glad when I got the Zeke-Sharpay set back in 2008. He reminds me of my nephew.

I'm glad that you found him and in good condition. I recall you mentioned wanting him.

Vanessa said...

I have Chad #1 and I am very happy with him. I haven't done much with him and he is still in his original outfit. Glad you found Zeke. I have yet to see HSM, so I don't really feel a connection to these dolls. I keep saying that I am going to watch it, but haven't gotten around to it.

Ms. Leo said...

Thanks Dollz4Moi. I'm feeling complete now with them. I may look for clothes later.

Thanks dbg of BDE. I found Chad and Taylor fairly easily. Zeke was the hard one for me.

You are welcome limbe dolls. I will have to check out Clawd Wolf/ Draculara. I haven't paid much attention to the MH dolls.

Unknown said...

I had Chad first and looking forward to get Zeke soon. It might take a while, im gonna complete my collection.

Private School Sydney

Ms. Leo said...

Good for you LeD'z! I like a completed collection.

Male Doll World said...

I have the 2 Chad dolls and like the 2nd one better because of the different face mold. I did purchase the Zeke and Sharpay doll set at full price even though I waited to see if the price would be discounted.

Ms. Leo said...

Male Doll World, Hey,I sorry I didn't see your comment sooner. Thank you for commenting. I don't think they were ever discounted they just went off the market.