Showing posts with label Replacement Bodies. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Replacement Bodies. Show all posts

5/08/2015

New Service: Replacement Resin Ball-Jointed Bodies

Dalila Meece posted about replacement body service she is offering to collectors on Prego. I was intrigued so I asked her to talk a bit about her doll background and work.

... he is my own design. About four years ago I was doing mostly repaints, outfits and shoes of all sorts for mostly Tonner size dolls.  I was thinking one day how cool it would be to design my own.  I had never tried it before and it looked like a good challenge.  So I set my mind to it and created my own doll. After a couple of tries along came my guy.

 I really wanted to create a doll that I thought others would enjoy. be more inter-changeable, and have more maneuverability than Tonner's  Matt.  Over the past year I have made some small adjustments to him, including a total of seven different facial sculpts.  I designed him so that a person could interchange his sculpt with ease depending on what they wanted to do with him and the mood.


When Maril asked me if my doll's body would fit a Tonner Matt or Sean head. I leaped at the chance to find out if it would work or not. Matching the skin tones was a little tedious but once I got it right I made sure to write down the recipe for it.
Tonner Head on Resin Body
My doll background came from my hubby's aunt. She loved dolls and when we would go visit her I would get lost in her world of dolls.  I never really collected dolls myself, but have always wanted to. Part of me loves the fact that when I create something, thank goodness I got my father's artistic genes, it will go to someone who loves it so much. What had started in 2005 as just a part-time venture to help supplement our family has turned out to be a larger and much more rewarding small business.

I have attached some pictures of my BJD, repaints and fashions.  Much more pics are here http://daliladolls.deviantart.com/gallery/

 Dalila on the replacement body:
It took me a while to figure out the coloring cocktail but when I did figure it out, I thought it matched well. I used my BJD's body for the project. One thing I did notice is that in natural daylight it matched perfectly, but sometimes under electric lighting it looked a different shade, but not off that much. I think it is just how the lighting reflected it.
The neck size is a perfect match for Matt heads and the body is made to wear Matt size clothes and shoes.
If anyone is interested in something like this please let me know. It is $300 plus shipping.

 There are so many female BJDs out there but the males are few and far between.  Some of Tonner's men would really benefit from one of Dalila's hunky bodies!

You can contact Dalila directly at daliladolls@hotmail.com.


7/16/2013

If Nothing Changes, Nothing Changes

Excuse the inane title of this post. I'm in the confused zone about Integrity Toy's announcement made yesterday.  Here is a brief synopsis of what was issued:
The last major update of the FR body happened in 2006 and after careful consideration, the entire Integrity Toys team felt that another upgrade was long overdue. With this said, we are excited to announce that starting with the 2013 Convention Collection, the regular articulated Fashion Royalty body will effectively start to be retired and will be replaced by a newly refined version of the FR: Squared (FR2) body!
Since we love to mix things up, also starting with the convention collection, the core Fashion Royalty brand and its spin off FR: Squared will be unified as one.
All characters from FR and FR2 will show up in the new FR line and Monogram dolls are going to be discontinued. In 2014 there will be refreshed Nu.Face and later, Homme bodies.
The renovated FR2 body will be compatible with all FR2 clothing manufactured so far and some of the older garments as well, although not all (the Classic Tall Body torso shape and the FR2 torso shape are a little different).*
*At the convention prior to the introduction of the tall FR body, Jason Wu was asked about compatibility of the new body with existing clothing and shoes. He said they would be compatible. I heard him say that myself. It turned out to be untrue. 

Does a "newly revamped, more unified visual image" mean that everything will look even more like everything else?

Like every other company, Integrity Toys is in business to make money. Their refusal to offer replacement bodies is detestable. They are well aware that bodies have yellowed due to some chemical defect in their makeup. It is their fault for not correcting the issue with the factory. Collectors are willing to shell out money for replacement bodies and they are forcing them to either live with the ruined bodies or spend more money buying dolls just to get bodies.
What is their big fear regarding offering bodies for replacement? Tonner has been doing it for years. They're not out of business. It's no big deal.  It doesn't require fancy packaging or marketing.  Refusing to comply with collectors' needs is downright stupid and greedy. Their cheerleaders are touting their innovation and thanking them for each and every doll that appears and yet, they are not trying to make collectors happy. They are just trying to make money which reminds us again why they are in business.

The FR2 body was innovative for a 12" vinyl doll. They certainly charged enough for their innovation. I'm guessing they have found a way to lower the manufacturing costs. The hip joint can definitely be eliminated. Something will change.

I don't care about the elimination of the FR tall body or the Monogram line. I have enough. I've been selling off my extras.

Finally, they have come up with a new logo. I usually applaud Alain's designs but this one is very ordinary. The backwards F inside the box...does it mean the company is backward and forward looking at the same time? I can understand that.
New Logo

I love the crown logo. It made a lot of sense with the brand. It carried meaning. But just like everything else, it's disposable.

Original Fashion Royalty Logo
Retired Brands:
Avantguard, Monogram, FR2, Basic Edition, Hollywood Royalty, Valia, Monsieur Z

What was your reaction to this announcement?

7/16/2010

The Beautiful Veronique Perrin Fashion Royalty Doll

I'm still adding Vero dolls to my collection. This "Close-Up" Veronique called Morning Frost was released in 2003. She was an edition of 1000 and originally sold for $29.99.



Recently I was lucky enough to pick up the head for $35. Fully dressed, a mint condition doll like this will go from $99-$125. After washing and restoring her hair to it's original beauty, I put the head on a tall FR body.


The replacement body I used was from one of my older dolls and was extremely wobbly at the waist and hips. While that can't actually be repaired, it can be controlled to a certain degree. I put pantyhose on the doll. That helps a great deal. A slim skirt is essential as it holds the legs together. 

The dress is a La Boutique as is the leather handbag. 

She's as good as new and as beautiful as any Fashion Royalty doll.

5/02/2010

Joe Tai's Doll 16 Inch Body

Joe Tai has created a body for 16" dolls that can be purchased as a replacement body for your dolls. I pre-ordered one from Manika and received it in January. I was so surprised at it's heft. It's at least 3 times as heavy as a Tonner or Gene body.

The other features of note are not hard to see. They're right out there - large breasts standing at attention. There is a great deal of body blushing all over including the palms of the hands. Joe doesn't design anything with an eye toward moderation. Joe may have gone overboard with the breasts but he got the articulation right. This body can pose like a dream.
I had such a good time posing her and taking pictures that I didn't even want to dress her. But here she is in a Tonner fashion created for Tyler's body. It fits perfectly. The ankle joints have a great range of movement and I'm guessing that Deva, Sybarite, Avantguard, Gene, Antoinette and pretty much any high heel shoe made for a 16" doll will fit.The skin tone matches the "Exceptional" Antoinette head perfectly.
The price of the body was high at $62 plus $10 for shipping. You probably won't be replacing all of your doll bodies at this price. Cherished Friends will be carrying them but I don't have a date or price.
Recommendation - get one just for the experience.

8/30/2008

Replacement Bodies - Fashion Royalty and Tiny Kitty


Yesterday members of the W Club received "confidential" notification of a top secret body replacement sale which will commence shortly.

Here is an excerpt from the email:
"These bodies will go up for sale next Tuesday (September 2nd). To accommodate members living in different time zones and with different work obligations, we are going to put up a portion of the allocation at 10:00 am CST (Chicago Time) and if that allocation sells out we will put up the remainder at 5:00 pm CST (Chicago Time). We understand these times might not accommodate every member, but we have done our best to try to accommodate the greater majority of members.

Should bodies remain, we will open up the offer to the public sometime on September 4th- we will keep you posted, but the information should remain confidential until that time (this means no pre-selling on eBay during this Club window or discussion on the boards)."
{I am trying to figure out if I am breaking confidentiality by posting this in my blog. I'm not pre-selling or discussing it on the boards as per the above caveat. So I guess I'm OK.}
When the Integrity Toys forum first opened I posted a poll which asked about the desire for replacement bodies. The response was enormous. This was quite a while ago. At that time I had already scraped together enough tall bodies to grow my first and second generation FRs to the latest size. The only dolls that needed replacement bodies were Adele, Vero (including Vanessa & Kyori), Natalia and Isha
. The other characters appeared on the scene after the bodies got tall. So all that was really needed were four different skin tones. There will be four skin tones and they are called White, Black, Latina and Japan. The "Japan" color makes no sense at all because all the dolls with that color came with tall bodies to begin with: Agnes, Luchia, True Royalty Vanessa, Mastermind Veronique and A Brighter Side Kyori. There will be no tall Isha body. The bodies will be a whopping $45. each plus shipping. That's a lot of moolah for a piece of vinyl. Each member will be allowed 3 of each color body.
But wait...here comes the funniest part of the email:
The replacement bodies will be marked on the buttocks to ensure that the bodies are authorized and authentic and separate them from the ones produced with the dolls, thus allowing future generations of collectors to distinguish whether a body has been replaced or is factory original.
As if it would make a difference to future generations. (Will the dolls last for future generations?) I have sold so many dolls that have been switched to tall bodies, I have lost count. Why would anyone care? What I care about is if the swinging hip syndrome has been cured. Picture holding your doll with your thumb and forefinger and gently rotating your wrist back an forth. Visualize the doll's legs swinging along. This means that your doll will not stand or hold a standing pose easily. Some just flop forward at the hips without the slightest provocation. If someone switches the head to a good, firm body, would you care if it is not the one that came with the doll? If I bought a doll that originally was a different body type, don't you think I would recognize that fact? Duh with a capital D.

Perhaps brand new Fashion Royalty collectors could be fooled into buying a modern head with an old body but the old body will not be labeled so that argument is worthless.

The bodies shouldn't have been priced higher than $30-$35. They probably cost less than $5. to manufacture anyway. Integrity has overpriced these.
...............................................

On the other side of the fence, Tonner has shipped articulated replacement bodies for Tiny Kitty. I picked up 7 bodies today at the Tonner store for $20. + tax each. They're not exactly the same color as my earlier TKs but they will do very well. They are priced correctly. They have been selling articulated (BW) 16" bodies for quite a while. I haven't purchased any but I think the price is $35. each.