In-between a Rock and a Hard Place

"The polka dots are completely mismatched around top, middle and bottom of the dress. The dots are misaligned, droop far too low on the left side and it's only accentuated by the black trim."

Browsing a doll forum today I came across the above comment by a very disappointed collector who had received doll dress in a giftset for which he paid $225.
He rightly believes that the dress should have been "impeccably" made for that price. I get the feeling he hasn't been around that long because of this expectation but he is, nevertheless, correct.

The dress in question is seen above.

Royal Treatment Véronique Perrin™ Dressed Doll Gift Set The Fashion Royalty® Collection 2015 Online Event Exclusive Limited Edition Size: TBA (Edition Size Based on Orders Received) Estimated Ship Date: Approximately Fall 2015

The set came with this dress as well:

Apparently the belt was made too small because many collectors are having difficulty fitting it onto the doll.


All of it:

 Wouldn't it be better to have one high quality item rather than two poor quality items?

Blogger "Desperately Seeking Dolls" states:

"I believe IT missed an opportunity here.  It wouldn't have been a major cost to include another pair of shoes, some hose, better jewelry (including a pin for the coat), and a hat.  That would've tipped the scale.  I believe the Royal Treatment is a lovely doll, but they overcharged for a gift set that wasn't executed well.  It's left a bad taste in the mouths of their loyal collectors."

But that's not the point of this post.

My question is what is a proper return policy? If the manufacturer cannot provide a properly made item, should you get your money back? Can they tell you that all the polka dot dresses are made that way and there are no replacements and no refunds? Should they give you a token credit to use towards a future product?

This was a direct-from-Integrity-Toys-item-not available-through-dealers,  although some dealers have some for sale. The issue a collector could face if this were a dealer product would be that the dealer could get annoyed. We don't want to mess with our dealers, do we? Ahem.

So are we between a rock and a hard place or is there another way to demand appropriate quality for money spent?

From Kingdom Doll: Two Outfits with Accessories

These two adorable, casual outfits will go on sale on Friday, September 4, 2015 at 6PM Britain Time.
That's 1:00 PM here on the East Coast of the US.
The blue "Bobby" comes with sweater, jeans, boots, handbag and water bottle, compact and lipstick replicas. $185. US
The red "The Guard" comes with another cute sweater, denim short skirt, boots, handbag and the same accessories as Bobby. $175. US

I'm going to get Bobby as I will have more use for the jeans than the short skirt. I'd like both pairs of boots but a girl can't have everything.

Link to Kingdom Doll store

Introducing the Second 2015 W Club Exclusive Doll

Yesterday W Club members received a preview and opportunity to order the second W Club doll.
Her sculpt is that of Vanessa 1.0 which was verified today as yesterday they told us she was 3.0.
Her price is $130 plus s&h. Members can use their $20. coupon only towards the final payment, not the deposit.

She's called "Black-Tie Ball" and the edition number will be equal to the amount of club members ordering her which means it will probably be somewhere over 1,000. There are 1,978 memberships. Not particularly exclusive, but I get it.

Here is the text describing her:

Vanessa Perrin has been invited to be the official Master of Ceremonies of one of Europe's most talked about events and she's absolutely thrilled about it! Ready to be the perfect stage host, Vanessa will surely steal the spotlight from the firmament of stars in attendance!
Vanessa is a 12.5-inch fully articulated vinyl fashion doll with beautiful platinum hair that is gorgeously styled, yet perfect if you wish to create your own looks! Her gown is intricately detailed with elaborate corset detailing and shows just enough leg to drive Vanessa's admirers wild! Complete with shoes, a lovely jewelry set and a doll stand. For adult collectors ages 15 and up.

While I'm a lover of the original Vanessa sculpt, this gal does nothing for me. I do not like her makeup and the dress looks pedestrian and ill-fitting in the bodice and bust area. I do not see "elaborate corset detailing" as they say exists. The horizontal seam looks like it goes right across the fullest part of the bust. Something is off.

These earlier Fashion Royalty items do have elaborate corset detail:

This new dress does not have it.
I detest phony hype from any company. Collectors are not blind. However, many are driven by the collective crowd mentality and the belief that a W Club exclusive is special.

She's pretty and there is nothing special about her which is sad because club members should be offered the best of the best.


I must add that these Integrity Toys photographs are of the prototype and "final production colors and textures may vary slightly."

Review: "Hot Shot" Nigel North

Nigel North arrived today. He is the second 2015 male doll I ordered this year. The other one was Vice Effect Ollie Lawson. I'm not disappointed with Nigel but he does need some work on his coiffure and the pants have to go.

I'm not a fan of faux velvet on 12" dolls. The fabric is too bulky and just doesn't lay correctly. I think I'd like white pants with this outfit. There is so much color that between the gorgeous jacket and the shirt a neutral or no-color slack would look better. Destroyed jeans would look good, too.

On the topic of faux velvet, I don't like it on any doll because it shows every piece of dust and lint in a photograph.

Nigel's shirt is very form fitting and I was surprised to find that the sleeves are sewn shut at the cuff! I wanted to press the shirt when I pressed the jacket and slacks but I wasn't going to open the stitching when I was just going to redress him right away. I've never come across that on any IT doll. Of course it makes for less bulk but still...

I planned to show him with his jacket closed but it's too tight and the fabric bunches and pulls a bit. The hooks can be moved, of course, to make it fit better. 

In the promo, above, the jacket looks perfectly fitted. His hair is shoulder length. Below is how it arrived...very weird. I'm sure that in order to drop that flipped up part, I'm going to have to dunk it into boiled water. His hair is the biggest disappointment with this doll.

 I love the sculpt. He would look good with straight hair in a pony tail. Looks like I have a little work to do.

I wonder if adding eyelashes, painted or applied, to the guy dolls would improve their somewhat bland faces.

Nigel comes with a little metal SLR that can be attached to his clutching hand with a clear rubberband. His ring has a purple stone and his sunglasses have purple lenses - no surprise there.

The bottom line: Nigel was $120. which is the same price as the rest of the Poppy Parker line. It's rapidly creeping upward.
He's a LE of 600.

Anyone wanna buy a pair of purple velvet pants?