I'm not a Yes Woman.

January 23, 2007 8:37 AM

I want a bobblehead doll that says 'no.'

Those bobbleheads, they're such an agreeable bunch. However, I would like one that shakes its head no rather than the usual yes. Search engines have turned up nada for me.

posted by CwgrlUp to Grab Bag (7 answers total)

That would probably be hard to make, since most of those toys work with gravity. They could probably make one that moved its head from side to side, but the twisting motion of a "no" would be very hard to duplicate without a motor.
posted by fvox13 at 8:48 AM on January 23, 2007

Hmmm...lateral movement harder to produce than vertical movement? I'm Googling but I'm seeing nothing either...
posted by agregoli at 8:50 AM on January 23, 2007

You could probably make one by using a flat coil, no idea if anyone ever has though
posted by zeoslap at 8:51 AM on January 23, 2007

I have one. Somewhere.

It's a Donald Duck that I believe was a cereal toy of some kind. It's rather crudely made, but it definitely shakes its head no.

I'll look around. If I can find it or find any info about it, I'll post pictures.
posted by roll truck roll at 9:07 AM on January 23, 2007

I wonder if you could do it with a ball bearing and a slightly off-center weight. It sounds like a ripe marketing opportunity. Like the pet rock.
posted by JMOZ at 9:07 AM on January 23, 2007

It would be harder to do than a regular bobblehead, but still fairly easy. Think pendulum in the body at right angles to a gear to turn the head. I doubt a bearing would be worth it, just use a bushing.
posted by hackwolf at 10:06 AM on January 23, 2007

Without using gears or anything, couldn't you just neutrally balance the head, restrict the up and down movement, and add in a small piece of elastic material to cause it to bounce back?

I'm thinking something like a wheel on an axle with a elastic connection to keep it from spinning and instead causing it to shake back and forth.

I think the key would be to keep the weight as far from the connection (the axle) as possible to ensure you have the necessary inertia to get the thing to shake a couple of times upon being wiggled.
posted by quin at 11:50 AM on January 23, 2007