Bobble-head Games

The artists at Alexander Global Promotions—the Bellevue, Wash., company responsible for most of the bobble-head dolls that have become the super-hot promotional giveaway for sports teams—have an unenviable task: creating tiny likenesses of well-known sports stars using only a few ounces of ceramic and a couple dabs of paint. After all, they're dealing with particularly touchy subjects: image-conscious jocks. Some athletes, unhappy with the resemblance, have been known to send their dolls back to be redone—maybe the skin tone isn't quite right, the eye color is off or the muscles aren't sufficiently cut. We assembled a few recent dolls for a little side-by-side test. You be the judge of how closely these bobble-heads mimic the real thing.