In this final 2012 post, I look back over the last 12 months to
find
what I've actually kept out of the hordes of dolls and doll items that I purchased.
My doll collecting has changed dramatically over the course of the last
two years. I started adding Sybarites and other 16" resin BJDs to my
collection and continued thinning my 12" doll army. I've focused more on
adding more clothing for all my dolls and filled in a few Tonner dolls,
outfits and props that I've wanted. I scored 7 Cholo Ayuyao gowns and dresses. I've switched many of my favorite 'older' dolls to new FR2 bodies.
The biggest mistake purchases were impulse buys consisting of mostly
Mattel products, not including Silkstones, although I was disappointed with many of the 2012 Silkies. The Monster Highs and several
dressed vinyl Barbies were momentary goodies which added nothing of substance to my
collection. I wasted a little money on outfits made by other collectors
which did not live up to my expectations. Ultimately, I was surprised at how many
dolls I purchased and didn't keep or traded for something else.
Moving was time consuming and very disorienting and I'm just now starting
to see a tiny crack of light at the end of a long tunnel.
Instead of posting 'normal' photos of my favorites, I have made Instagram pictures of some of them. Why? Because they're cool, it's fun and I'm bored with normal pictures.
Sybarites and their fashions played a large part in my collection this year.
Vapore:
Domina:
Neurotica: (Redressed/Rewigged) Actually, she's not dressed at all. She is holding the shrug from a gorgeous SybMonde exclusive fashion, Rosa Gloriosa. Wig by Cheryl Wood. I added several of her wigs this year.
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| Domina modeling Rosa Gloriosa |
Fidele's Fashion. No doll :-( just the outfit-for now.
Venetian modeled by Toxica.
Speed modeled by Talc. It's an older fashion but new for me.
JamieShow
JamieShow Alejandro and the Jamieshow outfit from the Prohibition Event in Canandaigua. He is my first and only male resin BJD and definitely a keeper.
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| Image by George Gonzalez |
Tonner
Tonner's new Precarious sculpt and fashions designed for her were big hits IMO. I purchased two of the dolls and several of the outfits.
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| Swing Time Fashion (This is not Precarious modeling. It is a TDLM doll) |
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| Precarious "Party Girl" |
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| Neo Tokyo from the Freedom For Fashion line |
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| Simplicity Antoinette |
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| Ghost of Christmas Past an older Tonner Re-Imagination doll. |
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Ficon
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| "Leonie" (Redressed) |
That's it for the big dolls. It feels like there should be more because all of my Tonner's were the first dolls to be packed along with my Gene Marshall dolls. They were packed for almost one year by the time I was able to get them back out of their boxes and into showcases. Many seem new to me all over again. I can stare at the dolls and love each and every one of them. Unloved dolls find new homes.
Integrity Toys' Fashion Royalty, FR2
This is a little more complicated to show as I added very few complete dolls this year from IT's lineups. I kept more fashions than dolls. I even purchased an older Vanessa NRFB so I could have an unaltered version.
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| Pale Fire Vanessa |
I may have mentioned previously that there seems to be a disconnect in
the design team. By that I mean that someone in there is a really bad
designer and that would be the person that designed most of the recent
convention's outfits. That was the worst collection I've ever seen.
However, during the year there were some gorgeous fashions worthy of the
name Fashion Royalty.
I liked both of the convention's FR2 dolls but Dasha's outfit was less than stellar. Elise was totally gorgeous.
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| Escapism Elise |
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| Infallible Dasha redressed in VJohn | |
Of the other three FR2 dolls released in 2012, it was mainly the fashions that interested me.
Tatyana's red dress.
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| Nouveau Regime Tatyana |
I finally broke down (like that's difficult) and purchased Opium Ayumi. Her outfit looks better in person than in pictures.
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| Opium Ayumi |
My favorite fashions all year were
Main Attitude Adele Makeda's suit
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| Integrity Toys' Photo |
Your Kind of Model Kesenia's outfit
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| Modeled by re-rooted True Royalty |
Monogram Admiration's suit
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| Integrity Toys' Photo |
My favorite dressed Monogram was
Allure
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| Integrity Toys' Photo |
From the Victoire Roux line, I kept only the outfit from Place Vendome. Vanesssa looks stunning in it.
These outfits are keepers. Now if I could find the perfect male doll to wear them. These four photos are all Integrity Toys' images.
Silkstone "Walking Suit" was my favorite new Silkie.
Favorite new prop is Byers' Choice Caroler Display Accessory.
There is more but you are probably snoring already.
Companies have to stop going backwards with the quality and appearance of their products. When this happens, the perceived value drops and collectors will search out other items.
