Pinkie cooper: Gone too soon.
Dolls, Action figures, figurines, whatever you call them, Everyone has had some kind of encounter with them. Maybe you owned them as a kid, maybe you see them in the store or see the odd commercial for them here and there.
But what I doubt you HAVE seen is a little doll line called "Pinkie Cooper and the jet set pets"
My first encounter with these dolls was through this image

initially I assumed that this was just a simple shitpost, some fucked up relative of a certain rainbow dash jar pic we dare not speak about. Only to discover that this image is in fact just a small part of a much larger work called "Pinky and pepper forever"
This comic, by Eddie Atoms, marks my, and many other people's first encounter with Pinkie cooper. the comic is a dark comedy exploring a tumultuous lesbian relationship between pinky and pepper, and exploring themes of love, loss, ambition, artistic frustration, and death. and despite the disturbing nature I honestly think it's a blast to read. (Link if interested VERY NSFW: https://www.silversprocket.net/2020/05/02/pinky-and-pepper-forever-by-eddy-atoms-part-1-of-2)
However, I was under the impression that the titular Pinky and pepper were OC's Eddy Atoms came up with when she was creating the comic, turns out? no. They were in fact pre-existing characters from a line of short lived fashion dolls. Called Pinkie cooper and the jet set pets.
These dolls fascinated me since I first saw them, which I found surprising because I am FAR from the type of person to have an interest in dolls, even as a kid I never had an interest in them aside from GI Joes(action figures, totally different) but the pinkie cooper dolls were an exception, Probably because these are the only anthropomorphic animal dolls I've ever seen.
the pinkie cooper dolls were created by Carter Bryant, Best known as the original creator of Bratz. They were, to my knowledge well received by critics. and picked up by The Bridge Direct, (now Basic Fun) the creators of the littlest pet shop toys, and Nelvana, (the producers of kids shows such as max and ruby and apparently the fairly odd parents) to be made and sold as a toy line in the summer of 2013. Even having a now defunct website with short cartoon episodes and having games and such on it as well.
(thank god for the wayback machine)
the Pinkie Cooper line was a commercial flop due to some a combination of factors finding them too bizarre, and many complaining about the lack of articulation but most of all is that their introduction was at the peak of monster highs popularity. all that coupled with the poor distribution ultimately made them all but dead on arrival. They were pulled from shelves in fall 2014, just a year after release and even when they WERE available they were reportedly hard to come upon, Some stores only getting certain fashion sets or dolls. and now, in 2025 the doll has mostly faded into the realm of obscurity.
is it possible for these dolls to make a comeback? unlikely. but not impossible! the trademarks for the Pinkie cooper dolls has been abandoned, though the IP has not yet entered the public domain and as far as I can tell it's unknown who owns the IP, I'd imagine the original designer Carter Bryant does, after all he still seems to hold a certain affection for the Pinkie cooper doll line, his Instagram page saying he's the creator.
Seeing that I can only assume he still holds the IP, but it could be he just sold leftover stock and that either Corus(Parent of Nelvana) or basic fun still own the IP despite abandoning the line.
And the unintended side effect of this research of mine? is that I now REALLY want to get one. which is easier said than done because in the surprisingly cutthroat world of doll collecting the pinkie cooper dolls are pretty highly sought after.
The result of their short run and relative scarcity the dolls are decently hard to come by in good condition in the modern day, A decent quality one can set you back a hundred dollars on ebay and ones fresh in the box can be even more.
Anyway, the moral of the story? The pinkie cooper dolls were an interesting concept that I honestly think deserved greater success. but perhaps it's only BECAUSE of their scarcity that I'm so fixated them, and in another universe the dolls were a smash hit and I was writing a blog post about monster high saying all the same crap.
RIP Pinkie Cooper: 2013-2014.
sources:
https://www.silversprocket.net/2020/05/02/pinky-and-pepper-forever-by-eddy-atoms-part-1-of-2
https://web.archive.org/web/20160306112413/http://www.pinkiecooper.com/meet-the-jet-set
https://www.instagram.com/chb.carterbryant/?hl=en
https://www.etsy.com/shop/DollDudeByCarter
https://tmsearch.uspto.gov
https://ised-isde.canada.ca/site/canadian-intellectual-property-office/en
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Nelvana_programs#2000s
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