Integrity Toys 2017 Convention Coverage Part 1 THE CONVENTION COLLECTION

2017 CONVENTION COLLECTION: FASHION ROYALTY 

Wicked Behavior

Natalia Fatalé™ Dressed Doll

Edition Size: 600 Dolls

Spell of Kindness

Vanessa Perrin™ Dressed Doll

Edition Size: 600 Dolls

Sea-Devil

Véronique Perrin™ Dressed Doll

Edition Size: 600 Dolls

Fashionably Ruthless

Tatyana Alexandrova™  Dressed Doll Gift Set

2017 Fashion Fairytale Upgrade

Final Edition Size: TBA

2017 CONVENTION COLLECTION: NU.FACE

Rarest of All

Ayumi Nakamura™ Dressed Doll

The NU. FACE Collection

Edition Size: 600 Dolls

Changing Winds

Eden Blair™ Dressed Doll

The NU. FACE Collection

Edition Size: 600 Dolls

2017 CONVENTION COLLECTION: POPPY PARKER

Rainbow Connection

Edition Size: 600 Dolls

Shining in the Starlight

Edition Size: 600 Dolls

SALESROOM EXCLUSIVES

24K

Erin Salston™ Dressed Doll

The NU. FACE Collection

Edition Size: 600 Dolls

Believe in Me

Poppy Parker™ Dressed Doll

Edition Size: 600 Dolls 

Drawn to You

Misaki™ & Amelie™ Two-Doll Gift Set

The FR Nippon™ Collection

Edition Size: 500 Dolls

That is a whole lot of dolls for a convention collection. I'm almost speechless. This IT convention has got to be the most expensive one yet. Gone are the days of the 6—7 convention dolls that you could take home in your suitcase...with a table doll or two and some swag stuffed in there. This is incredible!

If I were going to try to get anything from this list, here it is:

-Vanessa's (outfit only) - pink and frothy. I love it.
-Veronique (without outfit) is intriguing. I like the 40's glam aura.
-Eden Blair (dressed doll) is very pretty and her outfit is adorable. Love her hair, the boots, the 'turquoise' jewelry and the western hat. Unique combination. She is IMO the winner of all the dolls on this page.
-Erin's sheer embroidered top only. Nice piece. Interesting styling of her hair.

I don't remember Amelie and Misaki ever showing up at a convention. Misaki is cute. I used to have a good sized collection of her. Now I have just one. Their bodies did not hold up well.

Final W Club Doll of 2016 - Thank Goodness!

This has been a bad year in so many ways and the final W Club doll fits right in.
She is Veronique 2.0 with a FR2013 body. Her title is "Reception A Versailles." Sadly, there is nothing Versailles about her.

Take a look for yourself.

The dress is an embarrassment with it's serged edges and cheap-looking design and fabric. There is nothing about her fashion that even hints at good design and/or quality construction. 

What's up with that hairline? It reminds me of many Silkstone dolls who have straight across, unnatural hairlines.

I don't dress my dolls in lingerie and if I did, I'd find something much sexier than the gray and black item shown above with thigh highs.

Her price is $130. and so not worth it. Very disappointing.

For $100. I'd rather get the Glam Gown Barbie Silkstone whose gown does not have serged hems and looks like a bit of work went into it. She is on a posable body. 

As a matter of fact, you can get $20 off with free shipping today through the 16th. I ordered one. 

Integrity Toys Supermodel Convention 2016

FASHION ROYALTY

The core characters of Fashion Royalty channel everyone's favorite Supermodels of the early 90s! Each of four dolls (above) comes with two complete outfits and is exclusive to the 2016 Integrity Toys Convention!
Cover Girl
Véronique Perrin® Dressed Doll
Convention Collection Exclusive
Head Sculpt: Véronique Perrin 2.0
Body Type: FR2013 
Skin Tone: FR White

Glamazon

Adèle Makéda® Dressed Doll
Convention Collection Exclusive
Head Sculpt: Adèle Makéda 2.0
Body Type: FR2013
Skin Tone: FR Black

Chameleon

Vanessa Perrin™ Dressed Doll
Convention Collection Exclusive
Head Sculpt: Vanessa Perrin 1.0
Body Type: FR2013

Fashionista

Eugenia Perrin-Frost™ Dressed Doll
Convention Collection Exclusive
Head Sculpt: Eugenia Perrin-Frost
Body Type: FR2013
Skin Tone: FR White

Kiss You in Paris

Mademoiselle Jolie™ Dressed Doll Gift Set

Sales Room Exclusive

Head Sculpt: Isha / Mademoiselle Jolie
Body Type: FR2013
Skin Tone: Cream

Editorial Edge
Lilith™ / NU. Face Dressed Doll
Convention Collection Exclusive
Head Sculpt: Lilith / Eden
Body Type: NU. Face 2.0
Skin Tone: Japan

Fashion Force
Imogen™ / NU. Face Dressed Doll
Convention Collection Exclusive
Head Sculpt: Imogen
Body Type: NU. Face 2.0
Skin Tone: FR White

Model Living

Poppy Parker™ Dressed Doll

Convention Collection Exclusive

Head Sculpt: Poppy Parker

Body Type: Poppy Parker

Skin Tone: FR White

Just My Style

Poppy Parker™ Dressed Doll

IT Direct Salesroom Exclusive

Head Sculpt: Poppy Parker

Body Type: Poppy Parker

Skin Tone: FR Black

 

My favorites:
Eugenia's Black Gown.  I want this gown.
Imogen's Outfit. Very cute.

Least favorite:

Lilith looks like a pinata. 

 

 
 

  

Integrity Toys Summer 2016 Reveal

This past Saturday, IT held a webinar for members of the W Club during which Fashion Royalty, ITBE-16 and <3MLP dolls were revealed.

Fashion Royalty 

"Contrasting Proposition"  Natalia Fatalé™ Dressed Doll
Body Type: FR2013
Head Sculpt: Natalia Fatalé 2.0
Limited Edition Size: 700
Suggested Retail Price: $135.00

Emerging Rebel Kyori Sato™ Dressed Doll 
This doll features our new hybrid eye screening method.
Limited Edition Size: 700
Suggested Retail Price: $135.00
Body Type: FR2013
Head Sculpt: Kyori Sato™ 2.0
Suggested Retail Price: $135.00

Daytime Impact Dasha™ Dressed Doll
This doll features our new hybrid eye screening method.
Limited Edition Size: 700
Suggested Retail Price: $135.00
Body Type: FR2013
Head Sculpt: Dasha™

Fresh and Delightful: Véronique Perrin® Dressed Close-Up Doll
This doll features our new hybrid eye screening method.
Limited Edition Size: 700
Suggested Retail Price: $89.00 + Shipping and Handling
IMPORTANT! THIS DOLL WILL BE OFFERED DIRECTLY FROM IT DIRECT VIA A RIGHT-TO-BUY LOTTERY. NOTE: THIS DOLL WILL NOT BE OFFERED VIA DEALERS.
Body Type: FR2013
Head Sculpt: Veronique 2.0 

Fabulous Fields   Luchia Z.™ Dressed Doll
This doll features our new hybrid eye screening method. 
Limited Edition Size: 600
Suggested Retail Price: $135.00
Body Type: FR2013
Head Sculpt: Luchia Z.™ 2.0

Ruffles and Blooms: Eugenia Perrin-Frost™ Dressed Doll
Limited Edition Size: 800
Suggested Retail Price: $150.00
Body Type: FR2013
Head Sculpt: Eugenia Perrin-Frost™

Key Pieces:  Elyse Jolie™ Dressed Doll Gift Set
Limited Edition Size: 800
Suggested Retail Price: $199.00
Body Type: FR2013
Head Sculpt: Elyse Jolie™ 

My thoughts on the FR collection.
My favorite is Natalia because of the fashion. If you noticed, several dolls have a 2.0 after their sculpt names.  When the company "updated" these sculpts (along with Vanessa and a few others,) they watered down and de-ethnicized the faces. Everyone got pouty lips and narrow noses. Adele, whose very popular 2.0 sculpt was changed drastically became less popular. Natalia was originally a Latina character. She didn't need a new face or white skin.
Many collectors are displeased at the lack of skin color diversity in this release.  They're surprised that a company whose goal was to produce dolls of ethnic diversity has come to this.
The year isn't over yet. We'll see what is to come.
As to the Elyse Jolie gift set...Elyse is my favorite sculpt but this one does nothing for me. Her palette makes her mouth disappear. The outfits are not calling me either.
I think Eugenia is a beautiful doll but that yellow gown is blinding. With all that's going on with the color and the (lovely) embroidery, the sculptural details and the frills above the bustline are distractions rather than attractive elements. This could have been a beautiful strapless ball gown.  Perhaps that upper part can be removed without damaging the gown. Unfortunately, the points would be difficult to remove. It's a shame.
I thought about ordering Kyori because I like the embroidered sheath but then I read further and it's vinyl. I don't like the way the shoes or the bag look with the dress either.
If Dasha were being sold as a nude doll or in a different fashion, I'd consider her. I love the neck piece.
Veronique...meh for the dress. The shoes and necklace are pieces I'd want.
Luchia is OK. I don't like the way the lower part of the dress drapes.

_______________________________________________

Integrity Toys + My Little Pony = <3 MLP

This is IT's new line designed by Jessy Ayala. Although they are not dolls I will collect I think he did a wonderful job. They are very cute and supremely colorful and fun. 

Each doll is a LE of 500 with a retail price of $130.
The boys use the Homme Body and the girls use the new Industry body type. They all have applied lashes and rooted hair.

...not be sold through dealers, but will be available exclusively via IT Direct!
...will be released later this fall, in waves of 2.
Each doll will have a portion set aside for W Club members only via a first-come, first-served sale opportunity in the IT Direct shopping cart.
Priority pre-ordering details for W Club members for the first two dolls in the line, sonic_rainboom_92 and sparkling_stargazer, will be sent to all W Club members prior to the W Club first-come, first-served sale date of September 12th, 2016.
Once the W Club portion is sold out, you are welcome to purchase the dolls on the public release day of September 13th, 2016, while quantities last.
An email notice containing the full purchase details for the first two dolls will be sent to W Club members ahead of time, closer to their sale date.
The other dolls in the line will be released later this fall in a similar manner.

My favorite is rare_form_21 Rarity™ Inspired Dressed Fashion Figure
I like everything about him! 

IT designs the best male dolls and has been producing winners for years IMO.

This guy is pretty cool, too. The outfit rocks but the hat is too small. It should sit further down on his hair.

appleofmyeye: Applejack™ Inspired Dressed Fashion Figure

The issue for me as a collector of fashion dolls is that these <3MLP have an aura of Hello Kitty-ness if that's a thing.
I think these dolls will appeal to a rather slim portion of the population - like the Jem collection; however,  I hope it succeeds because these dolls are interesting to look at.

_________________________________________

ITBE 16 (Integrity Toys Boring Edition)

Two  16" dolls were offered, each @ $99.,  produced as an LE of 200.

Left :
"Higher"  Head Sculpt: AvantGuard (Closed Mouth)

Right:
"Glitterazi "   Head Sculpt: Anais 1.0
What a horrid, trashy looking dress. Ugh.

_______________________________________

The Event Doll 

"Love, Life and Lace" Agnes Von Weiss™ Dressed Doll
Special W Club Price: $140.00
Head Sculpt: Agnes Von Weiss™
Body Type: FR2013 

Agnes seems to have been tamed. Her face doesn't look like she's angry anymore. What happened? 

She's a nice doll. Nothing exciting here. 

 __________________________________________

Did you order something? 
Were you closed out of any particular doll? 
What is your opinion overall of the release?
Favorite, least favorite? 

Integrity Toys' Response to Questions Regarding the Use of Decals

W Club members received a carefully worded statement about the use of decals in an email yesterday. It is more notable for the information that has been left out than for what has been included. 
All I had to do was Google "water slide decal" and the information was right there. The following is from Wikipedia:

 Water slide decals (or slip decals) are water-mounted decals generally printed face up and rely on the dextrose corn sugar residue from the decal paper to bond the decal transfer to a surface. A water-based adhesive layer can be added to the decal to create a stronger bond or may be placed between layers of lacquer to create a durable decal transfer. The paper also has a layer of glucose film added prior to the dextrose layer which give it the adhesion properties, the Dextrose layer give the decal (lubricity) the ability to slide off the paper and onto the substrate.

Water slide decals are thinner than many other decorative techniques (such as vinyl stickers) and as they are printed, they can be produced to a very high level of detail. As such, they are popular in craft areas such as scale modeling, as well as for labeling DIY electronics devices, such as guitar pedals.
Until recently, water slide decals were professionally printed and only available in supplied designs, but with the advent of printable decal paper for colour inkjet and laser printers, custom decals can now be produced by the hobbyist or small business.

 Source: Wikipedia Water slide Decal.

There are plenty of instructional videos on Youtube for making and applying your own.
 
I also found out that I can print my own water slide decals on paper readily available for home printers. So all this language  "the test was sent to a new partner we have overseas who recreated the shapes for us in vector format and from that, tiny waterslide decals are generated. " just means it's made in China.

Here is the text from the IT email. 

Many of our astute fans have commented online that there was something different about the eyes of two of IT's recent dolls; Anika Luxottica and the W Club Upgrade Vanessa Perrin.  We can confirm that those observations are correct; we are using a new technique to improve eye consistency.

Based on the ongoing feedback that the team has received expressing concerns about sometimes subtle or pronounced balance issues with the screening on various dolls, IT is currently testing a new water slide application method for their doll eyes that will eventually eradicate this issue completely.

This relatively new method has been around for a little while now and is being used by more and more companies in the industry. The W Club Liaisons sat down with Alain Tremblay to ask about this new, promising method to address some of the concerns that we read online... read on!

W Club Liaisons: Alain, thank you for taking the time to get back to us. The Anika Luxottica doll that was unveiled at IFDC is a huge hit with fans and everyone was impressed with her, especially her edgy facial screening. Can you please elaborate a little more about the technique that was used to create this screening?

Alain T.: Thank you, I'm glad everyone loved this girl; I had a blast designing her! The new technique is actually really interesting! We decided to test it out on her first and then, Vanessa since Anika's eyes are so detailed and different than the other dolls that we've done in the last few years. To achieve this new look, Jessy Ayala and I collaborated to create her initial makeup look, then the test was sent to a new partner we have overseas who recreated the shapes for us in vector format and from that, tiny waterslide decals are generated.

WCL: Is the entire makeup on Anika and Vanessa applied using this technique?

AT: The technique we are developing could basically be called a "hybrid application method" if you'd like. Only the eyes (outline, white, iris, pupils and "catch light" dots") themselves are applied this way, since those are the most complicated/multi layered segments that are on any doll's face. The rest, i.e., the lips, eyebrows and eye-shadow layers are sprayed using the traditional mask and airbrush technique first, before the eyes and eyelashes are applied on top. This way, the eyes will be balanced, since generating these shapes in vector art is more precise than spraying the entire screening in multiple-layers the traditional way.

WCL: Is this new method durable? Will the eyes come off easily? Many are concerned about this.

AT: Once applied, the water slides are sealed with a topcoat, so yes, it is perfectly secured and should not be any different from the traditional mask layer doll eyes. Of course, it goes without saying that using alcohol, acetone or heavy scrubbing will damage the paint on any doll. Common sense applies.

...

WCL: What other IT dolls sport this new method?

AT: At the moment, only Anika Luxottica and the Upgrade Vanessa have it, but a few of the upcoming dolls in the 2016 FR Collection will also be created using this new, cutting-edge method.

WCL: Alain, thank you for taking the time to explain this to us and we look forward to what new exciting things the team will be able to create using this method!

Let's be clear, waterslide decals have been around for a very, very long time. It is not a "relatively new method." Decals are used in many other industries and are extremely durable.  I'm fairly certain that the tattoos used on a series of Sybarite Dolls are waterslide decals. (Gothica (not shown), Neurotica and Toxica.)

Tonner's Zombie Boy  - this had to be mostly applied decals. In this Tonner photo below, left, one can see the edge of the applied decal on the forehead.

Water slide decals are different from ordinary decals and stickers:

Different variations of decals include: water-slide or water-dip; and vinyl peel-and-stick. A water-slide (or water-dip) decal is screen-printed on a layer of water-soluble adhesive on a water-resistant paper, that must first be dipped in water prior to its application.
Upon contact with water, the glue is loosened and the decal can be removed from its backing; overlong exposure, however, dissolves the glue completely causing the decal to fail to adhere. A peel-and-stick decal is actually not a decal as described above, but a vinyl sticker with adhesive backing, that can be transferred by peeling off its base. The sign industry calls these peel-and-stick vinyl stickers vinyl-cut-decals.

Source: Wikipedia "Decal"

Source: eBay Auction

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IMO (as always) the bottom line is that decals, used appropriately and according to need on dolls, can result in excellent effects.  If used just to make it easier for a factory to get things right...well, that's another story.
Those of us who were Fashion Royalty collectors from the beginning know the difference. 
Here are a few early Adeles and Veroniques. No decals, no lashes, just nicely painted faces. Everything changes. Most of us hope that things will get better along the way. This is an expensive hobby. It's a luxury and the dolls must match up to the high standards collectors are paying for.

Click to enlarge.