Collecting 2016: The Best and the Rest

This has been a very interesting year in my collecting. I've cut way back on my 12" doll purchases and forged full steam ahead with my 16" BJD collection.
Most of my dolly funds went for Superdoll, designer fashions, wigs and Kingdom Doll. Other purchases were scattered amongst Integrity Toys, Mattel and Tonner.

___________________________________________

Mattel wins the award for a good idea but failed execution with regards to its articulated Silkstone. The first release, Classic Black Dress Barbie® Doll, was a huge disappointment. The finish of the Silkstone seams and joints was poor. The dress was seriously cheap-looking. There was no quality at all.

I did buy two other Silkstone dolls this year but I think I'm going to stop. Glam Gown has a pretty face, a nice hairstyle and in the promotional photo, her gown looks lovely. Unfortunately, IRL,  the fabric is stiff and doesn't drape well. Too bad.

Stiff As A Board Barbie

  

In my not so humble opinion, the best doll Mattel produced in 2016 was The Barbie Look™ Barbie® Doll – Party Perfect. 
She has an articulated body, a cute hairdo, a decent face and an adorable outfit. AND...she actually looks like the promo picture! Shocking. Compared to my other dolls she cost near to nothing and she's just a delight so it didn't matter that the "accessories" were garbage. 
I have a very eclectic collection which contains dolls costing less than $20 up to $1000. I buy what I like.

Each of the Barbie dolls shows Mattel's promotional photo alongside or underneath.

The best Barbie outfit came on Hudson's Bay Barbie although I did change the boots and the body, got rid of the crummy handbag and somehow lost the hat while I was holding it. I can't explain that phenomenon. She was originally on the boring Model Muse body which I can't abide. 

This outfit is so cutesy and matchy with it's dress, coat, doll coat, coffee cup and cell phone all clad in the signature Hudson Bay stripe. The fact that they included a poodle didn't hurt either.

___________________________________________

Integrity Toys wins the award for abandoned doll lines and dolls which are indistinguishable from toys. However, there were some that appealed to me from the very small Fashion Royalty line.

I purchased only three dressed dolls and one fashion from Integrity in 2016. I did buy quite a few designer fashions from individuals not connected with IT.

Anika Luxotika uses the Dasha sculpt and I loved everything about her such as the interchangeable robotic body parts and the strange, far away look on her face. 

Culte de Paris made the edgy fashion she is wearing in the third photo. She'll be wearing it for a very long time.

Fashionista Eugenia was my one bow to the 2016 Integrity convention. The designer dress and the beautiful Eugenia with her red/orange chalcedony color hair and full red lips are very attractive to me.

The third IT doll is Marie Laveau from the television series American Horror Story. She is played by Angela Bassett and there is a decent resemblance to her. Basically, I just really liked her hair and the outfit is cute and well constructed. Below, on the right, is an older Mini Avantguard doll whose body is quite slim. The bodysuit fits her, too.

While I'm sure Integrity has an audience with it's Jem and My Little Pony lines, the grown-ups are not going to be around for long, hungering for the scraps they feed us. I joined the W Club at its inception and the exclusives were all Fashion Royalty dolls. I may not have loved every one of them but at least I had choices from dolls I actually collected. Someone posted the number of dolls produced this year for all the lines and Fashion Royalty totaled only about 10%.

Below are two dolls I'd expect to find in an 8-year-old's room, manufactured by Mattel and priced very low.

I don't want to have to wear sunglasses to look at my dolls. 

But everything changes and all companies do what it takes to stay in business and stay relevant. I still love the 100 or so FR dolls I've kept and updated (and keep updating).

Sadly, many of the bodies, even the newer FR2 bodies, have deteriorating joints. Lots of them are now sitting down. 

_________________________________________________

Rudi Teruel has been selling limited edition designer fashions. They're mostly for 12" dolls.

Here are some of my favorites of this past year.

When you stop buying doll after doll, it's appealing to freshen up your collection with new fashions.

From left to right, my models are Dasha, Elise, Elise and Marie.

And my dear friend, Antonio Realli, keeps them coming

These are two of his fashions for 12" dolls. Several more will be shown on 16" dolls further on in this post. 

Superdoll is putting out a lot of product. There are no shortage of GENX dolls and any collector who logs into their site at about 11 AM EST, on the date previously announced, can find the doll. They don't disappear in very short periods of time like the popular resin dolls used to. Some are even available for 24  hours or more! 

My absolute favorite Superdoll item from 2016 was an outfit called Blue Duke. The styling is trendy. There are lots of pieces - blouse, sweater, pants and jacket, handbag, boots and two bracelets. I love it. 

Miss Chief modeling Blue Duke:

Two other fashions from 2016 which are charming are Glitter Tit and Moon Mood.  

Forest modeling Mood Mood:

Star modeling Glitter Tit:

It's very useful that Kingdom Doll can wear so many outfits made for dolls from other manufacturers. 

__________________________________________

Kingdom Doll

I added eight dolls to my collection of Kingdom Dolls this past year. Morgana was a surprise as she was the centerpiece at my table during the convention. I was stunned that I won the chance to purchase her. She has become my favorite with Guinevere and Draig following closely behind. 

Morgana in her original fashion. 

Here Morgana is wearing a confection of a gown by Nigel Chia.

Guinevere in her original fashion.

Draig wearing her original fashion.

I mentioned above that several designer fashions have found their way into my collection.

Liberty wearing another Nigel Chia.

Here are Star and Viola modeling Antonio Realli fashions. 

One of my favorite photos I shot this year was this Halloween picture of Viola wearing a Tonner witch ensemble.

A big challenge for me was not to completely rely on my iPhone camera as it is my lazy way to go. Every now and then the phone did quite well and produced a worthy image. But the opposite is way more common. I had an excuse for several months but, thank goodness, that's over and now we'll be getting down to business. I hope.

Big news this year was Tonner's announcement that all of his proprietary lines (i.e. Tyler, Ellowyne, Marley, Cami, Antoinette, Deja Vu) are being discontinued as is the Tonner Doll Company and Wilde Imagination. He is forming a new company and will call it Phyn & Aero. (See my post dated 12/22/16.) They will be continuing with the licensed dolls and we'll see Outlander. Yay. You better believe I want Jamie in a kilt. Tonner can do excellent reproductions of costumes and hopefully we'll get a Scottish one as shown in this photo of Jamie below. This is what he wore in the wedding episode in the television series. 

The bad news this year was the discovery that decal eyes were being used on several of Integrity's dolls. The controversy and invective on the W Club board was like a typhoon. Many threads were ultimately deleted. Come to think of it, that's the regular practice of the Admins now. They delete any thread that has major criticism about the dolls. 

Collectors PAY to be there. I don't think deleting controversial threads is right. Some individual abusive posts ought to be deleted but not entire threads. That is just downright disrespectful of their clients, especially when they are paying to be part of a community. 

If it were free I'd say that it's visiting their living room and they can do whatever they want as it's their 'home.'  

But that's just my opinion. Collectors can speak with their wallets. Money is what companies understand - the bottom line is what they pay attention to. 

The other news is Haute Doll Magazine has folded. 

I wish all my readers the best New Year ever. May we all be abundant with good health, happiness and love. May we have the pleasure of beautiful dolls and fashions. May we enjoy each other's success.

Happy 2017!!

Sincerely,

Paul Pham's New Numina

Here's a beautiful new doll from Paul Pham. A 1/2 deposit up front is required. Delivery is tentatively end of August. You can place an order on-line or by phone. Visit the site for more information.

Inamorata Mirrorball by Emlia Nieminen

Today's email from Haute Doll stated:

"The long wait is finally over: the INAMORATA doll line was revealed in an exclusive article by Jill Jackson on the Haute Doll January 2013 issue. Get your HD issue on stores now or order eletronically!"

That was very intriguing news as Emilia has been sending out teasers for a while. Well, the dolls look like they are going to be quite wonderful. No information on pricing was available. They are 16" polyurethane resin BJDs with 20 points of articulation. Emilia states that they were designed to look as good undressed as dressed.

Here are pictures of the OOAK that Emilia shows on her Flickr Site that will be auctioned off at IDEX in a few months.

In my opinion, Emilia is one of the most talented persons in the doll world. She says that these dolls are the realization of her life-long dream. I think it's a supreme, creative achievement and I am looking forward to seeing these dolls in the hands of collectors.
 
 If you wish to see more images and read Emilia's artist statement you will need to get the Haute Doll digital edition.

Doll Reader/Haute Doll Exclusive Produced by Angelic Dreamz

In cooperation with Angelic Dreamz, the Canandaigua, N.Y.-based manufacturer and retailer of the popular JAMIEShow fashion ball-jointed dolls, Doll Reader/Haute Doll introduces an exclusive resin fashion BJD, Eshe. This 16-inch (41-cm) articulated doll wears a form-fitting gold dress with puff sleeves, reminiscent of the Egyptian queen herself, gold metal filigree earrings and necklace, and an Egyptian queen's hat. Eshe comes with a head cap, and she has another wig that collectors can swap in to change her look completely. She comes with a certificate of authenticity that identifies her as a Haute Doll exclusive. Eshe is a limited edition of 50 worldwide. 

 Photos by George Gonzalez, Angelic Dreamz

 Eshe will be available for sale exclusively through Doll Reader/Haute Doll for a limited number of readers. One of the best things about her, for those who like to play with their dolls (and who doesn't!), is that she will fit perfectly into clothing designed for other 16-inch fashion dolls, offering the potential for a whole range of new looks. Still, no matter how you dress her, Eshe's essence won't change.

She has a Middle Eastern look. She wears a stunning form-fitting gold dress with puff sleeves, gold metal filigree earrings and necklace, and an Egyptian queen's hat. She also carries a staff, giving her an even more regal bearing. Her platform shoes elevate her to an imposing presence suitable for Egyptian nobility. The resin doll comes with a head cap, and she has another wig that collectors can swap in to change her look completely. 

Eshe, dressed doll. LE 50. $425. LE 50. Free shipping for US orders only. An additional shipping charge will be applied to all international orders. Please note, dolls are subject to a 6.25% sales tax when shipped to Massachusetts' residents/businesses. Click here to order.

Until June 1 you will need a password to access the Doll Reader store. Do I have one?

Rumor: The Magazine "Haute Doll" May Be Closing Down Production

If you go to the Haute Doll site and try to order a subscription or renew an existing one you will get the message "no products found."
Yesterday the unconfirmed statement that they were shutting down erupted on one of the doll boards and spread like wild fire. Later in the day, HD sent the message that they would be issuing a statement. They did not say when.
I'm rather surprised as I thought the last issue of Haute Doll was one of their best!
I know something went wrong recently with their ordering system during a big event and shortly after that they went on leave for a while.
In spite of the fact that I write for FDQ, I enjoyed most of what HD had to offer. The main focus of each publication is different.

Perhaps they were overextended with the amount of exclusives they took on. We may never know the underlying problem. Right now, we're just waiting for some explanation.

Some of their recent exclusives have been Sybarite: The Cross; Dolci Bambola Giftset and Peak's Woods Goldie.

 While I'm sure The Cross (LE 150) sold out even with it's $820. price tag, I don't know about the  LE60 Bambola for $510.  That's quite a specialized type of doll and I know of just one person who purchased one. The Peak's Wood doll (LE 40 @ $760-$810) is the latest and part of an entire collection of exclusives which included many fashions. When the ordering for those items opened up, that was when their system went haywire.

Previously they offered an exclusive Traveler Innoquii. This doll had to be practically given away she was so disliked. Ditto for the Valia Pivoine whose initial price point was ridiculous, was put on sale and then the W Club wound up having a 2 for 1 lottery on their leftover Valias. 

I always thought those two dolls resembled eachother. In a prior blog post, I parodied a Haute Doll cover which featured Innoqui with my version of Valia whom I named Innoquous.

Now she needs a cover.

Must be the new Abused Woman style.