9/11/2015

Surprise Announcement! New Tulabelle Collection



They weren't going to say the reason Tullabelle got a new sculpt was because she had ridiculous duck lips.

Before
After

So they said she needed to age a bit as it would give them more fashion options and choices.

The face lift was not as much of a surprise as was the entire announcement. I'm somewhat out of the loop and rarely read the W Club stuff. However, I did notice that there was a teaser post recently.  It was posted the day after an entire thread concerning Veronique's polka dot gown was deleted by the W Club police. Good diversion. Did it work?
  If not, perhaps this will work:  
Starting with this totally radical collection, Tulabelle is ready to face the world like never before with a new, more mature look, created especially for you!
That's really nice of them. Makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside.


The new sculpt is a huge improvement and the entire collection is interesting, varied and contains unusual accessories.

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There are four different dressed dolls each sporting a $150. price tag.

Idol Thoughts

Love the shoes!
This version would have been cool as a basic doll for a lower price...no jacket, no ill-fitting pants...
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Fashion Saga
Very interesting fabric treatment on jacket and skirt. Again, I love the shoes! She's got a Katy Keene hairstyle.
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Sweet Tartan
When I first saw this outfit I wanted it. It's very cute. The veil and the silver envelope clutch, meh. But the boots, the sweater and the navy top are definitely keepers. I'd have to see the tights in person before deciding.
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Mod*ern Love

This outfit leaves me cold except for the shoes (again) and the wonderful purse. I love them! 
The rest is Barbie-Poppy Parker super-sized.
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Wicked & Divine

Fun! Her hair is delightful. It's the same hair style that a Jamieshow doll sported a few years ago. I like seeing these unusual non-hair-bump styles especially when they're done properly. It remains to be seen as to whether the workers will be able to reproduce this look correctly. 
A problem I see is the ill-fitting shorts. This same bad fit is seen above on the Idol Thoughts doll. Someone has to redraft the pattern for a proper fit.

Didn't Tulabelle have her own body previously or was she on the teen Poppy body all along?

Reminder:
*Please note that the dolls unveiled today are prototypes and the final production dolls, colors and fabrics may vary slightly. Note that these are all 16-inch tall fashion dolls and are not in 1/6 scale.


20 comments:

  1. I really like "Wicked and Divine" and thought her hair was fun too. I also like the extra set of gloved hands with this look. I ordered her in hopes that they can get the hair right. If not, it looks like she could be restyled into a high ponytail. I think she'll look good posing alongside another doll I ordered from the last collection, "Exuberance Hanna Erickson". I've never been fast enough to buy a Superdoll so these two girls will be my version of them. I think they are a bit more high fashion with their hairstyles.

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    1. They've added a warning about restyling her hair so I'd be really careful about that.

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  2. Yeah- her face was "sweet" but so ridiculous with those lips, really. It's about time they modernized that poor doll. I think Tula was on the teen body- the clothing from either fits Kingdom Doll perfectly :D (as do the shoes)

    I LOVE pieces from each doll and will try to get them to dress my lovely Kingdom Dolls in- Favorites: Idol: Fluffy jacket and orange shoes
    Tartan: bug pin, sweater, boots, and navy top
    Modern Love: PURSE
    Wicked: Jacket and camisole top

    The prettiest dolls are Fashion Saga (which is a shame as I don't love her outfit except maybe the shoes) and Wicked, but since I am not in the market for more 16" vinyl dolls, I will not collect them.

    I forced myself to choose one (Idol) and will sell the doll and bits I don't like. Hopefully I can find the other pieces at some point if others decide to split the dolls up... (especially the bug pin, I like it an unreasonable amount)


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    1. I would split Fashion Saga with you. I get the outfit.

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  3. Yeah, actually the new sculpt is VERY reminiscent to me of Venus- (but less severe of course, this is Integrity not Superdoll). I have to think the designers are looking at what is exciting in the doll world right now and trying to get in on some of that action...

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  4. I find the fashions interesting, and agree with you on the duck lips Terri, but the eyes look mean and dead to me on the resculpted version. There was a sweetness to the earlier Tulabelle that I feel is missing now. She must've met up with Tonner's grown-up Marley Wentworth for a meal and the only thing on the menu was bitterness. Now Tulabelle looks just like so many other angry bitchy fashion dolls in the current market, her spark of fun has been snuffed out.

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  5. They could have done a better job with her face, isn't FR16 covering the "mature" aspect of the 1/6 dolls? She just doesn't look like a young fashion blogger to me, honestly now she looks like a granddaughter of loni lawrence, who is not, and beg your pardon, the most attractive character in the PP universe, the fashions and styling are excellent, though.
    Luiz

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  6. Like the change of sculpt, and the use of separates!!

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  7. When I saw the W email I immediately thought Terri will have fun with this one!
    I thought the first sculpt (the basketball head) and the "picked it off the floor" fashions were just an attempt to capture some of Tonner's Ellowyne market. It never worked for me.
    I like some parts of the outfits but I agree that several things do not appear to fit. They also look recycled (with a few tweaks) from old AG outfits. Wicked and Divine's hot pants seem very familiar (Eclectic and Aphrodisia) and Idol Thoughts pants remind me of No Exaggeration's, only slimmed down.
    I actually like Modern Love, but I think the doll looks a little to jaded and sophisticated for the outfit. It is exactly what I wanted for big Poppy.
    All the current W Club drama and they can't even get us some good exclusives.......just cryptic email teasers and early ordering opportunities.
    As always love the blog.
    Will C.

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    1. There certainly is no theme to this collection unless the theme is 'collecting.' It's confusing. Is Tulabelle the big Poppy? Who is the FR16? What's the difference besides the sculpt?

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    2. It's my recollection that Tulabelle & Teen Poppy have, or had until now at least, the same body. If any collection feels like it was "picked up off the floor" it looks to me as if this one was. Much more so than the initial Tulabelle's...well at least Yeti to Wear and Pomp & Circumstance anyway.

      Long before the TV series "Two Broke Girls", I envisioned Yeti & Pomp as the Grand nieces of Madra Lord & Gene Marshall who meet while attending FIT and decide to room together. They shop the street vendors, and weekend flea market near Canal St., blog about their cool fashion finds. The girls found a third fashion Musketeer, when fire redhead Grace, (a cousin of Trent Osborn) showed up from the UK, channeling Diana Rigg's Mrs Peal from "The Avengers". Anyway, that's MY backstory, and I'm sticking to it! ;)

      Sadly for me these new Tulabelle's just look too severe. It's the mean, squinty eyes that turn me off the most. But not every doll appeals to everyone, and I'm sure there are others that are absolutely thrilled with this revamp.

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  8. I really like the new Tulabelle, but I was never a fan of the old Tula. It had nothing to do with her head size or lips, which I thought were fine. The face as a whole just didn't appeal to me. I LOVE this new collection, though.

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  9. I think it's ridiculous that they are clearly using the Hanne FR16 sculpt and have the audacity to call it Tulabelle. They should have either said this is Hanne or not called the collection Tulabelle then. I actually did like the fresh-faced, innocent original Tulabelle sculpt and think that these fashions would have actually better suited her face than this here Hanne sculpt that just looks too mature. I doubt this line is going to sell any better than the other 16 inch lines by IT, which is a shame because I think they are all gorgeous and deserve to be as popular.

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    1. So it's not a new sculpt? Wow. This is not the first time they've re-used a sculpt and renamed it.
      T

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  10. This is a wonderful news. I really love the face, but she needs a new body (FR16 body with small bust would be ideal for her, like a NU Face body). I dont like the poppy fashion teen body. The breast area is a disaster, looks like a porn actress in miniature. Naked or scantily dressed doesn't look good. If the company changes this defect, I'll probably buy three dolls of this collection. This doll is almost perfect, but I dislike her tits. Sorry for my poor english

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    1. Thanks for your comment. You expressed yourself quite well in English!
      Terri

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  11. After staring at pictures of both for a bit, I don't think Tulabelle 2.0 is the same mold as Hanne. They do look rather similar, especially in the small, half-lidded eyes, but Hanne actually seems a bit more duck-lipped than new Tulabelle, and Hanne's face seems more tapered towards her chin while Tula has a somewhat squarish jawline. I think their noses are different as well, but it's harder to compare with the different camera angles.

    I like the new sculpt, though! I think the only girl in this group I'd be interested in is Sweet Tartan, mostly for the doll herself. The outfit is cute, but a little too casual for me (I just don't dress my dolls that way, I guess!).

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  12. Still on the fence about this line and have held off on placing any orders.

    I see why people appreciated the sweetness of the original Tulabelle, but IT decided to update her. I'm curious as to whether IT and Tonner came up with this SORASing (a concept those of us who watch soap operas are all too familiar with) independently, or whether word leaked from one. It seems interesting that both companies did this around the same time.

    As others have pointed out, she now seems like a different person rather than an aged (I'm guessing around 20-22) representation of the earlier sculpt. Had they done the latter, they could potentially have kept people happy who liked 1.0 and enticed people like me who wasn't crazy about it (those lips, which also is a problem for some of the 12" Poppy dolls). My problem is that now she is pretty much indistinguishable from many other fashion dolls, and so there is no compelling reason to get her.

    As mentioned above, there are pieces from each doll that I really like, but there is no one "perfect" doll that I feel I can't live without. And that is coming from someone who has trouble saying "no" to new releases. It doesn't help that the 16" Poppy body isn't my favorite to start with, which is why I only have one; I also only have one 1.0 Tula.

    Right now, I'm waiting to see what the IRL pictures look like before making any decisions. Of course, that assumes dealers will still have them, or the eBay prices aren't outrageous. ;-)

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    1. It would be so cool if we could pick and choose the separate fashion items we love and leave the rest.

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