Princess What's-Her-Name

Princess What's-Her-Name is her name, and Earthworm Jim is her (video) game!

What's buzzin', cousin?

In 1995 Playmates Toys released a line of action figures based on the Earthworm Jim video game series and subsequent animated television show.

Confession: I have never played the Earthworm Jim video game nor have I ever, to my failing memory, seen the television show.

But I did own an Earthworm Jim action figure back then. He was pretty cool. Unfortunately he has been lost to time (I'm usually pretty good at remembering if I gave away or otherwise intentionally got rid of a toy, so his lack of existence in my collection is a mystery to me.)

A figure I did not own is this Princess What's-Her-Name. This one was just gifted to me by Jboy of Clawful Punch. Thanks Jboy!
 

Distress? No, dis leotard.

Princess What's-Her-Name started out in the Earthworm Jim video game as a one-joke parody of all the distressed damsels of video game fame. Her character was later fleshed out for her cartoon appearance.

I just love the design of this figure. I honestly don't think I appreciated this stuff as much when it was originally released, (if I did, I'd surely own the whole EWJ line!) but the older I get the more I love Playmates Toys' figure designs from the late eighties and nineties. They all had an undeniably 'toy' quality, but also a cartoony cuteness that made them seem to have popped right off the drawing board and in to life! Everyone from Raphael to Dick Tracy to Princess What's-Her-Name and even Geordi LaForge all meld together into a sort of end of century uber-toyline, with their squatty poses and cartoonish likenesses and kind-of-similar scale.

As someone who grew up combining all their toys into team-up adventures, I can really appreciate the inherent sameness in Playmates designs of the time.

And speaking of team-ups, I really wanted Princess What's-Her-Name to meet up with my TMNT Killer Bee:

He's so FLUFFY!

Playmates Toys' action figures of today have their good points, but there's definitely a level of je ne sais quoi that the old school figures had that is simply missing from the toys of today.

Killer Bee makes a good minion for Princess What's-Her-Name. Even though they come from different properties, they look like they were always meant to be together.

OW! You're sitting on my hair! Oh wait, no...I'm sitting on my hair. Carry on.

I had hoped he would make a good ride for her too, but Princess What's-Her-Name's hair is pretty bulky, so she doesn't sit on him all that well.

I suppose I'll be on the lookout for an Earthworm Jim now. Princess What's-Her-Name need someone to rescue!