Integrity Toys Design Competition: "Edge", By Lisa Ramsammy

In October 2013, the Official Integrity Toys Advanced Design competition took place at the "Premiere" Convention in Los Angeles, California and, at long last, the W Club is honored to introduce the exquisite doll based on Ms. Lisa Ramsammy's winning entry, "Edge" Vanessa Perrin!

The winning design, personally picked by Jason Wu and other members of the Integrity Toys design team, has been translated into a production doll. The fashion is not intricate and the accessories are minimal. I hope Lisa gets a cut of every doll purchased. That could be the reason this doll is priced as she is.

The price for W Club members is $135. The public will pay $150.

The total edition size will be based upon the number of pre-orders and there is no limit at all. That's a first. There could be thousands.

It will be interesting to see how many show up on eBay immediately and at what price. 
I was going to order one until I compared a close up of Poesie with Edge. I do not like the lips on the new Vanessa at all. They are pinched and phony-looking.

Here they are side by side:

Several W Club members commented that she reminded them of Poesie Sans Couleur. No way. Her lips are awful.

So...I will not be ordering this Vanessa. It feels good to say no to Vanessa.

Collecting Guy Dolls and Clothing Them

I've mentioned before that I'm now more into having male dolls in my collection than I was previously. Some of Tonner's recent males are either super heroes, too young-looking or just plain weird and they don't fill my needs.

However, Tonner Doll has created the best looking and largest variety of vinyl male dolls of any other company in history.

For example, Aragorn.

In his new Chewin fashion - looking hot.

Chewin sells on eBay. The quality and fit of his garments are superior to most other male doll clothing out there. Just look at how this plaid shirt fits my doll. It's amazing. His placement of closures is such that barely any bulk is created. Every detail is thought out and executed well.
This particular ensemble included the chinos, belt, shirt and fabulous sport jacket and was well under $100. For this type of work, that's a great price.

My 12" gals needed one more man and I kept looking at Riot Llewellyn from Integrity Toys' Jem collection.

However, not being a fan or even familiar with the Jem series, the big hair and the costume did nothing for me. I saw him nude with his hair tamed and changed my mind. I was able to get a nude on eBay from the PA seller who probably has 100 of him and is selling splits.
In real life he arrives with a rubber band controlling his mane. It is a huge mess of hair similar to the back of the hair of most Barbies with big hair. He is on the pale side but pretty decent looking.
In my photo of him, he's dressed in Rio Pacheco's outfit which is beautifully made. Look at that cute pocket on the arm of his faux leather bomber jacket. It actually has a tiny zipper on it!
I still want to tame his hair but for now, this is how he looks.

NuFantasy Beauty and the Beast

Integrity Toys' incarnation of this famous fairy tale casts Beauty as the male doll and Beast as the female.
Beauty is an edgy, great-looking doll with a well-made, detailed fashion. His long coat is made from a fabric that feels like a high quality fine wool. Under his vest is a striped shirt. His pants are belted.
I could not get his boots on over his socks, even with fully unlacing them. I tried it without socks and succeeded with one but didn't try the other as I didn't want to damage them by pulling too hard. I just substituted a different pair of Homme ankle boots which work very well with the outfit.

He will definitely be staying.

On the other hand, the Beast was disappointing in two ways. Her hair is a frizzy mess. My doll's hair is in better shape than most!

Some people have taken to defending this mess as indicative of how a Beast's hair should be. Seriously? This result is from untrained doll hair stylists and not from design intentions.

I thought I'd love the boots but, once again, we've returned to getting shoes with heels that are too high for the rest of the sole. In order to stand with straight legs, the doll has to be placed on her heels with the front of the shoe not touching the base. Unacceptable.

She's been voted off the island after being here for a whole 48 hours.

I am going to keep her earrings (which are cool) and her faux fur vest which could be useful with other fashions.

BTW I put her next to Devil Damon (Dynamite Boy) and they make a good couple for displaying...if you have both and are keeping them.

Jem and The Holograms

Jem, also called Jem and the Holograms, is an American animated television series that ran from 1985 to 1988 in U.S. first-run syndication. The show is about music company owner Jerrica Benton, her singer alter-ego Jem, her band the Holograms, and their adventures. 
The series was a joint collaboration by Hasbro, Marvel Productions and Sunbow Productions, the same team responsible for G.I. Joe and Transformers.  The creator of the series, Christy Marx, had also been a staff writer for the aforementioned programs. The animation for most of the episodes was provided by the Japanese animation studio Toei Doga (now Toei Animation). -Wikipedia

Presented below is the "First Wave" of Integrity Toy's new Jem and the Holograms doll line.
The editions of all the dolls is 1000 except for Rio whose production size is 850.

Classic Jem

Jerrica Benton

Synergy This doll appears to use the Elise Jolie sculpt.

Rio Pacheco

Each retails for $119. The girls are 12" and Rio is 12.5" 

Photo Credits
Promotional Poster - Hasbro
Four Dolls - Integrity Toys

http://www.integritytoys.com/jemandtheholograms/about.php

Skin Tone Database

There is an excellent resource for skin (vinyl) tones of Integrity Toys dolls maintained by Mandy aka Amanda. The number of vinyl colors keeps growing so keep watching for updates.
Here is a sample image from the blog:

Skin Tone Database

Wrapped In Decadence ~ W Club Exclusive Fashion

A Fashionable Life Vanessa is my model for the latest W Club exclusive fashion. Wrapped in Decadence is a winner in most every way. The look is beautiful and the fit is very good. It's easy to put on and the construction is excellent. I adore the coat which is completely covered in fabric 'rosettes.' Just take a look.
The only problems I encountered in construction is on the inside of the skirt part of the dress. It may be seen in the photo on the right hip, the seam bulges out in a triangular shape. I don't plan to open up the dress to fix it as she will be wearing the coat most of the time. Someone messed up the sizing on the shoes as they are way too long.
I recommend this fashion and I just happen to have an extra for sale.

Integrity Toys W Club Fifth Year Registration Opens

It was a cold snowy day on February 14, 2006 when we left Woodstock in the late afternoon headed for Manhattan and FAO Schwarz where the first W Club event was to be held. We actually made very good time into the city and had plenty of time to eat and traipse around on Fifth Avenue. By the time we headed over to the store, the line outside was already around the block. Flurries were in the frosty air but so were the sounds of expectant W Club members. We stayed warm by huddling together, yakking and laughing. When the uniformed doormen finally allowed us entry, the going was slow as all our entry cards were checked against a guest list. But we were finally inside.
I had not been in FAO in a million years, certainly not since it was renovated. I liked it better before the renovation but it was still amazing with masses of huge stuffed animals alongside the escalator accompanying us as we ascended to the next level. It was a mob scene up there; the noise level was astonishing. I greeted many people I had met in Canada four months earlier. My poor husband was surrounded by wide-eyed collectors everywhere; nevertheless, he survived to attend many more events after that one.
An Isha gift set called Final Cut Cannes was the event doll. It was in a free standing showcase and rather difficult to see and photograph. I don't think we got to take them home that night. Many procedures were changed as the event went forward and that is a good thing because that night we had to stand on lines to buy the doll and it took forever. All the Integrity staff was there and although the event lasted only two hours officially, it felt like much more. Did I forget to mention that what did accompany us home was the de rigueur New York blizzard?
Meeting other collectors changes the entire landscape of the game. Even if one is in contact regularly on-line with other collectors, face to face encounters are so very different. I was saddened to learn that there will not be a February event this year other than a virtual meeting. For some people, the New York event was the only one they ever attended or could afford to attend. It is definitely a loss. From a business point of view, it's the right move for Integrity as it saves a huge amount of money. In that respect, I don't blame them for cutting out the event. The members of the W Club are a built-in market at this point. No further promotion is necessary. I don't know if Integrity ever did participate in the actual Toy Fair event anyway.
That being said, promotion may not be necessary but quality is. I'm in a quandry. One of the upgrade dolls is an AvantGuard called Freeze Frame. I love her look but they are so difficult to pose standing up and are so, the best word I can think of is wiggly, that I don't know if I want another one. But she is very cute - especially the wig and I want that wig. The dress, meh. The boots are cute. What will I do with the stuff in the middle? When will we get an AG in a gown? I plan to cut that wig Lady GaGa length and get some big sparkly sunglasses. I want a Lady GaGa doll!!!!

Base membership in the W Club for 2010 is $50. The AvantGuard Freeze Frame is $160. plus shipping.
The other optional or upgrade doll is "Spring Forward" Eugenia Perrin. There is nothing about this doll I like except the blouse and shoes. I find her to look very much like the original Natalia. See the inset of Natalia "Behind Velvet Ropes." Eugenia appears way too stern-bordering on severe and that doesn't go along with the bright, happy colors used on her.

The price for Eugenia is $75 above the membership.
There is also an option to purchase both upgrade dolls. The total for that with the base membership comes to $285.
The prices are quite fair in light of what we've been paying for AG and FR. Both dolls are scheduled for a May delivery.

Many Integrity dealers are offering W Club members a one-time free shipping per member for the coming year until December 1, 2010. And....members will be offered the opportunity to purchase two other Fashion Royalty Club dolls and one AvantGuard doll in addition to the upgrade dolls. That's what I mean about a built-in market. We sign up; we buy.

Payment must be made by January 22, 2010.

Since there is no contest this year to award the person who signs up the most new members, you can tell them my poodle, Rudy, sent you.

Mini Genes: Blue Caprice and Red Desire

Blue Caprice is as close to perfect as any Integrity doll I've ever purchased. In these pictures she is standing without support. I snipped a few stray hairs and threads and that's it. Whatever they told the workers to do should be reinforced. The quality is excellent. It's very difficult to serge chiffon but it was done successfully without the edge being excessively perforated. Her hair could have been a gelled nightmare like we've seen for the past year but it's curled carefully and there's barely any visible fixative. What happened? Did she come out of a different factory? Hello! Is anyone at Integrity reading this? Please keep it up. OK...there's one thing - the earrings are overscaled. But I'll take that any day. I love this doll.

Red Desire is another well executed doll. Luckily the design of the original gown was made into a comprehensible whole as opposed to the odd styling of the original. Red has a sad look on her face that didn't show up in the promotional photos. She seems to be pleading for something. Her beautiful mahogany colored hair was done very well. The gown is made nicely except for the closure as you can see in the third picture below. I do not like papery flowers on my doll clothes but they're on the original so there was a reason for them to be there. The feather boa wrap doesn't shed as much as it might. Just shake it out after removing it from the box. The earrings are the same over-sized ones only these have red rhinestones.

I adore her tiny red shoes. I've been told that she has the Misaki size body with fashion feet (as opposed to articulated ankles.)

Isn't the photo of the comparison scary? Gene looks like an Amazon. The shoes shown on the Gene body did not come with the original dress but the scrunchy thing around her shoulders did.
I can't wait to get the third Mini Gene, Midnight Lace. I hope she's as well made as these two gals.
Attention to detail is one of the most important things in my evaluation of a doll. These two score very, very high in that department.

Poppy Parker Giftset "Holiday in the Hamptons"

This is the soon-to-be released Poppy Parker Giftset called Holiday in the Hamptons. One lovely red-head Poppy doll and three fashions for day, play and evening wear make up the contents of the set. Only one pair of shoes is included for all three outfits! There could have been a pair of sandals thrown in there instead of the roses. I really like the black dress and the polka-dotted playsuit.

Price of the set is $150. which seems about right.

Date of availability: TBA

 

Integrity to Compete in the Supernatural Themed Doll Market

Along with Ashton-Drake, Integrity Toys is working on a project to produce characters in 1/6 scale from the Dark Hunters' series by Sherrilyn Kenyon. I have to admit that I never even heard of this series until I read the announcement. With my tail between my legs I slunk off to Wikipedia and Amazon to look. Apparently Ms. Kenyon is a book writing machine, pumping out book after book filled with stories of paranormal romance. Since her first book, Fantasy Lover, which was published in 2002, seventeen (!!!) more books in that series have been published. In addition there have been thirteen short stories and novelettes published in the same period. I wonder if that's a record.

It's fairly widely known that Ashton-Drake quality control is far from reliable. If Delilah Noir is any indication of future quality then this new project may be doomed from the get-go. In any event, it won't be boring.

There are two more Integrity projects in the works with Ashton-Drake as well. One is Disney related and the other is vampire related. Both will be under a new Couture Fantasy label. I cannot wait to see this.

I just hope that the convention does not become about dolls other than Fashion Royalty. It's already happening with the introduction of Poppy Parker as a table centerpiece. It's not new as Dynamite Girls and Hollywood Royalty were also introduced as centerpieces. But if it's a Wu convention, I want WU not WHO.

Next they'll be collaborating with Mattel.

Just kidding, people. Don't spread any rumors.

W Club Exclusive Fashion Royalty Fashion Announced

To the delight of many collectors in the W Club, we have been offered a new fashion for the Fashion Royalty body. It's called Wrapped in Decadence. Apparently they had to call it something. I don't see decadence anywhere. I want this outfit in off white, too.

The outfit consists of a strapless dress, coat, jewelry and shoes. I love it. The dress is taffeta with a beaded bodice and an organza overlay on the skirt. The high waist and gathered bodice front are very attractive. The coat is covered in ribbon rosettes. It is to die for. The feathers on the shoes have to go bye-bye. But maybe that will look better in person. The jewelry is big and heavy which is a trend with Jason this season. I like it but perhaps not with this fashion.

The marketing ploy used in the announcement of the fashion irks me. It says that "the fashion retails for $80." Where is the fashion retailing? Nowhere. It's us. That's it.

They're giving us a "special $15 fashion coupon" bringing the price down to $65. They should have said, "We'd really like to charge you $85. but we don't think you will buy it at that price so we're lowering the price to $65."

That would have been funny.

It's a good price. Look at what Dressmaker Details charges for their stuff and compare. This is a bargain! It's right in line with the quality and quantity of product given to attendees at the recent convention. More bang for the buck. I hope it keeps up this way.

What's up with the awkward looking poses on this doll? Are the shoes weird again with the heels too high? In each picture one of the doll's knees is bent. This is not a good sign. And the center photo with arms akimbo and toes pointed in....hmmmm....not great looking IMO. I wonder how the coat will look without it being either held open or held shut. I do think we're in for some surprises!