Myron: Nah-ah-ah, that's "action figure"!
Dolls, be they dress-up fashion dolls or Creepy Dolls, are generally seen in fiction, and often in real life, as being distinctly a toy for girls. There are multifold reasons for this, and it would require a lengthy treatise on the subject to explore it fully.note Suffice it to say, boys do not like to have their human shaped toys referred to as "dolls". They play with "action figures" (which, until the 2010s, were distinct by their usually smaller size and more points of articulation).
In the world of fiction, however, it's not young boys who will insist their coveted toys are referred to as "action figures", but grown men who are either nerds or Otakus. They may also insist that they're not for playing with, but are, in fact, collectibles. This may also be the reaction of a Tomboy who doesn't like to associate herself with girly things. Men who aren't worried about how they're perceived by others may not make the same insistence.
A sub-trope of Insistent Terminology, as well as of Less Embarrassing Term. However, it's worth noting that some characters in fiction seem less embarrassed and more offended that the term "doll" was used for their "action figures", which, with some "nerd" characters, will legitimately be part of a collection. Indeed, there are male doll collectors who cross genres and will simply insist on the correct terms for the correct toy lines. To them, mixing up the terms is as irritating as mixing up Star Trek and Star Wars is to sci-fi fans.
In the United States of America, it's important to note that for purposes of taxes and tariffs, the law defines a doll as a "toy figure which clearly represents a human being", which, for a time, meant that many action figures were considered "dolls" in the eyes of the law, and actually led to a court case where Toy Biz, Inc and Marvel Comics argued that their characters were "non-human creatures", including The X-Men.note
The lines are further blurred with the collector's market for anime-based PVC figures, which were typically non-posable and molded entirely of poly-vinyl, and invert the number of female characters vs. male characters that is typical of action figures. These are neither traditional dolls nor action figures, but might be referred to as dolls by someone not familiar with the terminology used by collectors. In addition, there are several sub-categories that further muddy the waters. The term "figure" can be used to describe immobile PVC figures that have little to no articulation and would be closer to statues. However, it's also used to describe toys that are often highly articulated and come with accessories and/or effect parts that allow people to duplicate famous scenes, poses, or moves.note
The term "doll" (or sometimes "fashion doll") is used for toys that include things like exchangeable clothes, brushable hair, and various accessories. Examples of this would include Barbie, My Little Pony, and Licca-chan, as well as more high-end offerings like the custom-built VOLKS dolls.
The primary difference between the two appears to be intent: "figures" are meant to be displayed in dioramas (an assertion backed up by the fact that several companies in Japan specialise in diorama background sets like "city streets" or "ruined buildings"), while "dolls" are toys actually meant to be played or interacted with.
That's not to say there isn't overlap: Many retailers, like Amazon Japan, list Transformers under both "figures" and "dolls". Some toys, like certain G.I. Joe characters, are actually listed as "collector dolls" in addition to "figures" and "dolls."note
Compare Unmanly Secret.
Examples:
- The Simpsons Futurama Crossover Crisis: When the Planet Express ship is approaching Nerdanus XII, the Living Planet, it flies past the Action Figure Moon, which has a sign that reads "Action Figure (Don't Call Them Dolls) Moon".
- Referenced in Shinji And Warhammer 40 K: Rei uses this line as an Insult Backfire when Asuka calls her a "doll".
"I am not a doll," said Rei. ... "I am, at the very least, an action figure."
- In The Strength in Weakness, when Junko says Stork has toy airships, the latter (from down a corridor) claims that their models.
- Kung Fu Panda 3: When Po's dad Mr. Ping is worried about his son, he starts with, "I come home to find you taking a bath with your dolls..." Po grumbles, "They're action figures!"
- A variant in The LEGO Movie, when the Man Upstairs tells his son not to touch his model Lego city, saying it's not a toy.
Son: Um...it kind of is.
Father: No, actually it's a highly sophisticated inter-locking brick system.
Son: But we bought it at the toy store.
Father: We did, but the way I'm using it makes it an adult thing.
Son: The box for this one said "Ages 8 to 14"!
Father: That's a suggestion. They have to put that on there.
- In Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Rodrick Rules, Greg Heffley's dad is a huge war buff, and he sets up elaborate Civil War dioramas with toy soldiers. So when he finds his figure of Ulysses S. Grant on the thermostat, he flips out on Greg and Rodrick — though not before reminding the boys that "these are not toys, they're figurines!"
- Spaceballs: Averted. Dark Helmet is so mortified that he was caught by Col. Sanders play-acting a fantasy of him and Princess Vespa using his toys that he doesn't balk when Sanders denies seeing him "playing with (his) dolls, again."
- The "dolls versus action figures" variant appears in the children's adventure novel The Dragons of Ordinary Farm. The sister of a boy named Steve comments that he only won a game because she stepped on one of his dolls and almost broke her leg.
"It's not a doll," Steve replied with dignity. "It's a collectible action figure of Helldiver from Deep End."
- In the My Weird School book Mrs. Kormel is Not Normal, AJ is bringing his Striker Smith toy to show-and-tell. Andrea derisively calls the toy a doll, and AJ insists that it's an action figure. Andrea says that action figures are dolls for boys.
- Inverted in the picture book "William's Doll", in which William specifically wants, and eventually gets, a baby doll.
- The Big Bang Theory: After an effort to order custom action figures of themselves delivers disappointing results, Raj and Howard buy a 3-D printer to custom make the toys themselves. Howard shows off the results to his wife, Bernadette, who is less than pleased that Howard dropped that kind of money without consulting her. She furiously asks him if he thinks $5000 for a couple of "dolls" was worth it. Howard wisely doesn't choose to correct her terminology, even though he'd been calling them "action figures" before, as Bernadette is quite frightening when enraged.
- The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air: In "Soul Train", Carlton is trying to practice to audition to be on the show, but Will wants him to stay away, because he's hoping to land the hosting job, and is afraid Carlton will embarrass him.
Carlton: And they're going to give you the co-host job based on what? Your love of Don Cornelius dolls?
Will: It's not a doll, man, it's an action figure. And you got no business even being on the Soul Hyundai let alone the Soul Train. - Galavant: Galavant, finally taking a level in kindness toward his squire Sid, appreciates Sid's honesty about being "a late sleeper and a lover of dolls."
Sid: Figurines. Detailed figurines.
Galavant: Right, so, fancy dolls. - Kung Fu (2021): In "Reunion", Althea catches her husband indulging in his hobby of painting Dungeons & Dragons mini figures, something he usually only does if he's prepping for a game or if he's down about something.
Althea: Ooh. Your orcs are looking good.
Dennis: Those are goblins.
Althea: Is there a difference?
Dennis: Tolkien didn't really draw a huge distinction, but later fantasy—
Althea: Polite question. Real question: Why are you working on your dolls?
Dennis: Minis.
Althea: (indulging him) Minis. Minis. - Leverage: Eliot refers to the fact that Hardison has a "Green Hornet" doll.
Hardison: First of all, it's an action figure. And second of all, it's Green Lantern. Educate yourself.
- In the docuseries Menudo: Forever Young, former Menudo member Johnny Lozada pulls out the two dolls issued in his likeness. Or, as he clarifies (complete with Gratuitous English for emphasis), despite the copy on the boxes: "No son dolls, son action figures!"
- ¿Qué Pasa, U.S.A.?: Juana and Pepe wonder if their teenaged son Joe is gay when they find textbooks on the subject. They argue, with him claiming that if Joe is gay (he is not), it's her fault for buying the boy dolls as Christmas presents. Juana points out that they were G.I. Joes.
- Rizzoli & Isles: Jane insists on referring to the Captain Chogokin toy that Frost bought at the garage sale held by Angela Rizzoli as a "doll". Both Frost and Frankie (the original owner) will state, in unison that it's an Action Figure.
- Supergirl (2015): In the episode "How Does She Do It?", Winn claims not to be very good with kids, but Kara points out that he has a lot of childish interests himself, like decorating his desk with toys. Winn protests that "They are not toys, they are adult collectibles!" Justified when it's later revealed his father was a villain called The Toyman, and Winn likely wanted to psychologically distance himself from any similarities to the man.
- That '70s Show: This is a running joke; practically everyone makes fun of Eric for collecting his G.I. Joe "dolls". At one point, Eric and Donna are arguing, when Kitty comes into the kitchen and asks her son if he was playing "with his little dolls in the tub again." Eric exasperatedly says, "It's an ACTION FIGURE!"
Hyde: In the tub, Eric? It's getting really hard to be your friend.
- Actually invoked by Mattel when they made the toys for the DC Super Hero Girls. In the hopes of having a crossover audience, there were two toylines released simultaneously. There were a set of 11.5" Fashion Dolls, with combable hair and cloth outfits, and then a set of 6" Action Figures of molded plastic. The series was retooled in 2019, and the smaller action figures were dropped in favor of heavily stylized and redesigned fashion dolls.
- There were also cloth dolls of Batgirl, Supergirl and Wonder Woman, which were slightly more chibi versions of the pre-2019 designs, and had no pretensions to be action figures.
- G.I. Joe: G.I. Joe is actually the originator of the term "action figure". In 1964, Hasbro created a line of soldier toys with articulation and accessories such as weapons, naming the line "G.I. Joe" after a popular nickname for US troops in World War II. Recognising that the term "doll" implied they were playthings for girls, Hasbro coined the term "action figure" to differentiate. In 1967, G.I. Joe introduced their first female character, a Vietnam-era nurse, which prompted some difficulty determining whether or not to market it as part of the G.I. Joe line, or as a doll.
- She-Ra: Princess of Power: She-Ra's toyline was a hybrid of action figures and more traditional dolls compared to the previous toyline He-Man and the Masters of the Universe. Female characters such as She-Ra, Glimmer, and the like came with accessories such as weapons, but also famously had brushable hair. In comparison, female characters in the He-Man toyline were completely plastic molded (though the fact that the likes of Teela and Evil-Lyn kept their hair up in sensible buns makes this a Justified Trope).
- Transformers: As befitting a toyline where change is a key focus, in Japan the Transformers are listed under multiple categories including "figures", "dolls" and "robot toys". In fact, the "figures" definition mentioned in the trope description (i.e. primarily used for dioramas and display) is one of the big focuses of the Masterpiece line that's explicitly aimed at high-end collectors. Designed primarily for the Japanese market, each release contains multiple accessories and alternate parts for people to set up displays, including obscure ones like tools or devices that only appeared once or twice in The Transformers. The line began in 2003 with Convoy/Optimus Prime, but was rebooted in 2011 with a new version of Convoy in order to introduce a more consistent scale (the original version of Convoy towered over subsequent releases, including characters who are explicitly taller like Grimlock).
- Even mainline Transformers toys meant for older children (e.g. the Transformers Siege, Earthrise and Kingdom toylines) include features meant to help with display. Most notably, many modern Transformers toys as of 2010 come with a small hole somewhere on the back or lower torso meant for usage with flight stands
for display purposes.
- Even mainline Transformers toys meant for older children (e.g. the Transformers Siege, Earthrise and Kingdom toylines) include features meant to help with display. Most notably, many modern Transformers toys as of 2010 come with a small hole somewhere on the back or lower torso meant for usage with flight stands
- Referenced in Dead Rising 2 with one side mission, where Chuck has to convince an old lady in a toy store to follow him to the safe house. When he mentions the zombies, she says that she's looking for toys for her granddaughter, who is too young for zombie toys. Chuck replies, "They're not toys," and the lady gives an annoyed, "Fine, action figures." Chuck then explains that he's talking about the real zombies that are infesting the city.
- Referenced in the Fallout 4 achievement, "They're Not Dolls...", for collecting Vault-Tec bobbleheads, though in this case, they're not action figures either.
- Nodwick: One strip had the heroes discover a group of dwarves who were making Dungeons & Dragons (2000) tie-in merchandise. Nodwick made the mistake of calling them dolls. The dwarves promptly shouted that they were ACTION FIGURES so hard that he was knocked off his feet.
- Sheen Estevez from The Adventures of Jimmy Neutron, Boy Genius does not like when someone calls his Ultra Lord action figures dolls. A good example of this is in this exchange in "The Junkman Cometh", when Jimmy, Carl, and Sheen visit Brobot on the moon.
Carl: I think Brobot's kind of cute.
Sheen: You think everything's cute!
Carl: Well, you think Ultra Lord is cute!
Sheen: I do not!
Carl: Yes you do, you told me!
Sheen: No, let me clarify; I said Baby Ultra Lord is cute.
Carl: Yeah, he is. Hey, can I borrow your Baby Ultra Lord doll when we get home?
Sheen: He's an action figure! And just for that, you can't borrow him! - Daria: After Jake has a mild heart attack, his mother comes to visit, and discuss his abusive late father. Jake talks about a toy he wanted (something similar to the original G.I. Joe) but his father wouldn't have his son play with dolls. His mother says she wanted him to have that doll, to which Jake angrily replies, "It was an action figure, Damnit!"
- Legion of Super Heroes (2006) has a moment were Kell-El has to bond with a young boy and taunts the kid over his 'dolls', he comes around at the end of the episode, correcting Phantom Girl when she refers to them in a similar manner.
- At the end of the episode "You Doo!" on The Fairly OddParents!, Timmy learns a lesson where it's not nice to control people, as demonstrated by the character-shaped voodoo dolls, and that boys like Timmy shouldn't play with dolls, and that they should play action figures!
- In the Ben 10: Alien Force, episode "Voided", Gwen finds a Sumo Slammers playset in Ben's closet, and she calls it a dollhouse, Ben corrects her by saying it's a Sumo Slammers Battle Ring, to which Gwen responds "with dolls inside", Ben then corrects her by saying "action figures".
- Kim Possible: When Señor Senior, Senior shows Junior some mockups of potential doomsday devices so that he can select a birthday gift, Junior scoffs at him for playing with dolls. Then he sees that Senior planned on demonstrating them on one of his dolls, which he defends as different because it's an action figure (the "action" being hula dancing).
- Toy Biz, Inc v. United States was initiated due to a difference in tariff rates for "dolls" vs. "toys". The law codified "dolls" as any toy that represented a human being. To keep prices low on their imports, Toy Biz, along with Marvel Comics, argued that characters like the X-Men were not human, but humanoid. Indeed, they argued that as mutants, the X-Men weren't human beings, and other characters were aliens or robots. The courts agreed with this argument, thus nearly halving the tariff on imports of "action figures" that represented non-human characters. The distinction was short-lived, though, as the government merely rewrote the law to raise the tariff on "toys other than dolls" to be equal to the tariff on dolls.
