Showing posts with label 2011. Show all posts
Showing posts with label 2011. Show all posts

7/10/2011

Go Home, Go North, Go West, Go Green - Updated

IT released official photographs of the dolls and the fashion they provided for the IFDC event which just took place in Las Vegas, Nevada this past week. All registered guests received the convention souvenir and the table fashion. The other dolls were optional purchases.

Convention Souvenir, Go Home LE300.  New Rayna sculpt. Misaki torso with Vampire Bride legs.

Companion Doll, Go North. LE300. Isha sculpt. Fashion Royalty body.
Salesroom Doll, Go West. LE300. Original Natalia Fatale sculpt. Fashion Royalty body.
Table Gift - Fashion Only.  Go Green LE300
My take on this collection: a lot of thought went into the design and the dolls definitely fit the theme of the event.
The convention doll herself is very Misaki-ish as far as styling. The outfit is cute and girly and I would definitely dress my Misaki dolls in this. She needs a little dog, though. The makeup competes with the outfit for attention.
Go North as the Good Witch is lovely in every way and I would give her a wand.
Go West as the Evil Witch is perfect. Up close her face is hard and harsh. Her fashion is definitely sexy and complex. Very nice.
The fashion looks like it belongs in a St. Patrick's Day parade. Just hand this girl a beer. Who is that prototype anyway? I can't tell the difference between some the dolls anymore. It's like a game of mix and match.


For those who do not know, these are vinyl dolls, 12" tall with rooted hair and painted faces. They have applied lashes and 12 points of articulation.

2/27/2011

IT 2011 New Dolls ~ Part I ~ Vanessa and Fashion Royalty

Where do I begin? This was a massive amount of dolls in an impressive collection which spanned almost every current single line produced except for Avant Guard. I think I was lucky that I could not be on-line during the reveal as I was not affected by any emotional overtones or pitches. It wasn't until I began to get emails from fellow collectors who know my attachment to the Vanessa Fashion Royalty doll that I actually began to look at the new dolls on the small screen on my iPhone.  Now, almost 24 hours later, I have been digesting the dolls and I am ready to write.

Apparently the biggest storm is over the perceived change in Vanessa's sculpt. Even before I read the pages and pages of troubled and unhappy comments I had her on my pre-order list.  At first I thought, oh good, now my addiction to that sculpt is over and I don't HAVE to have every one anymore. And then as I looked at her more, I realized that it was only her hair that I didn't like. It was in the style of Shirred Not Shaken. Remember her?
Shirred Not Shaken
 I have pulled several images of recently produced Vanessa dolls for comparison in order to show that there is really very little difference in the new sculpt, if any at all.
 What has changed is the painting of the lips and the drama. That started already with the last Vanessa shown in the lower left of the composite and the shape of the jaw - see it in the lower right and the upper left. If you think her cheekbone structure is gone - it's the lighting of the photograph. It's very easy to flatten an image if you light it equally from all angles or light it too much.
Most of us have multiples of particular sculpts - all painted differently with differently colored and differently styled hair. Many collectors re-root brand new dolls; others tweak their looks slightly with paint or just by restyling the hair.  If no one had told me that this version of Vanessa was redone "in order to keep the family resemblance" (with Veronique) going, I wouldn't have known the difference. I would have thought that they chose to paint her lips without the teeth showing. She's got the same huge eyebrows, the same nose, the same everything. I don't think she looks like Vero II. I didn't think the original looked like Vanessa either.

And if I am wrong (!?%#*!?* ) then the designers are shooting themselves in the collective foot by messing with the most popular character ever since the beginning of Fashion Royalty and one has to wonder what the thought process is or if anyone is even thinking.


Last year when I was still carrying on a one-woman protest about the retiring of Veronique's sculpt, I sarcastically posted that they should just go ahead and retire Vanessa at the same time. Whoa!!! There was a small uprising from the rank and file...no, don't change Vanessa, blah, blah. It was obvious that no one wanted to see her change.

Let's look at the rest of the new Fashion Royalty line which will have applied eyelashes although not for the purposes of photography. There are 12 dressed dolls and two separate fashions.
Three female and two male  dolls are new characters! Someone has definitely been working overtime.

Quiet Storm Annik™  London Mist Imogen™  Easy Elegance Korinne™
Nothing here is exciting even if it is new. Tights, shorts, short coats. Whatever.  Each doll retails for $110.

Silent Partner Romain Perrin™ &  Fast Track Victor James™ $125. each.
Romain is very interesting and if I collected male figures, I'd definitely be interested. I would like a more mature looking male but I love what he's wearing and the look is very cool. Victor looks like Clark Kent, mild-mannered reporter for a major metropolitan newspaper.  Any minute now he'll step into into a phone booth (if he can find one) whip open his trench and fly out as Superman-With-A-Tan. (SWAT) His coat looks very ill-fitting unless the guy has the most amazing pecs.

It was fun looking for this picture.
In The Trenches and True Blues Luxury Wear™ Fashion $75. each.
Cute in a little girl, Nu-Face and Dynamite Girl way. 
Pencil Me In Eugenia Perrin Frost™   Scene Stealer Isha™    Porcelain Beauty Kesenia™    High Brow Adèle Makéda®
Eugenia still retains her gorgeous face (for now)but the hairstyle is supremely unattractive. Isha doesn't look like Isha anymore. Kesenia is frightening-looking with that mouth, but I love the outfit and I ordered her. I'm on the fence about Adele. She looks like the classic beauty Adele that I love and I do like the outfit. I just can't make up my mind. I have a feeling that Korrine's jacket matches Adele's pants but I'm not buying Korinne just for the jacket. These dolls are $110. each.

Leading Man Lukas Maverick™   Dress Code Vanessa Perrin®     Breaking The Mold Véronique Perrin®
Lukas ($125.) comes in colors. Vanessa ($110.) has been discussed already. Veronique isn't Veronique ($110.) She will always be an impostor to me.

Estimated delivery of all dolls appears to be the Second Quarter of 2011. (April, May, June)

1/01/2011

Happy New Year

Wishing you all a wonderful year.

May we all be healthy, prosperous and loved.
May our earth be on the mend even if it is getting warmer.
May our dolls not have wonky eyes or uneven hairlines.
May our doll stands support even the wobbliest of bodies.
May our ball jointed dolls hold their poses.
May our photographs be sharp and properly lit.
And may that money tree find it's way onto my property.

 


Feel free to use any of these free vintage graphic clip-art items found on the web.