Lady Gaga Dolls

There are some pretty awful looking Gaga dolls out there. I'll let you choose which of the following fit that description. These are all on eBay today.

This is a OOAK sculpted head with a piano dress.

OOAK Ficondoll "Gaga" inspired by "Versace Campaign"
Starting bid $800.

Lady Gaga "Grammy Awards 2010" OOAK Doll
Starting Bid $75.

Lady Gaga doll OOAK Custom Barbie #2
Buy It Now $39.99

Lady Gaga Fame Era OOAK Doll
Starting Bid $70.

Voodoo Doll, Lady Gaga, Lucky Charm Key Ring
Buy It Now $9.78

 

Lady Gaga Art Doll

Buy It Now $160.

Lady Gaga Doll aka Vaughn's Workshop
Buy It Now $600 or Make an Offer

None of these dolls compare to the adorable Gaga Barbies we've seen in the past.
Here's a link to the many Gaga dolls that have been produced over the course of the last few years.  

GAGA DOLLS

Of course you will need to waste time and care about this topic.  

First 2012 FR Club Exclusive Doll

W Club members are offered the opportunity to purchase "High End Envy" Erin for $115. This doll is a very pretty redhead with dark streaks wearing a youthful black mini-dress.

 The ordering period ends on April 30th at 10AM CST.  The doll won't be available until this summer - approximately. You know how it goes with club dolls. The edition size depends upon the pre-order quantity.
 
I am waiting for a truly unique and exclusive club doll that is not lottery bound...something that I have to have, not something I've seen before. 

__________________

The slight tweaking of Erin's sculpt sparked a heated debate over sculpt changes.  The biggest argument was between people feeling that their feelings were being either dismissed or put down. It always starts out about a doll and disintegrates into a he said, she said, you said type of thread. It's the same argument over and over touched off by different incidents.

Some people just can't let others' opinions alone. They have to tell the "opposition" that they are wrong - either for their point of view or for how they are expressing it or for expressing it at all. Then comes the fight about being told how to express ones self. It's just endless.

One statement I find amusing is the belief that those who create the dolls have feelings that will be hurt if you express negativity about the product. Of course the designers have feelings (and egos) but ultimately it's their paychecks that hang in the balance, not their feelings if the dolls are not popular.  If one visits a doll dealer's site that is trying to move dolls by bundling or by selling nudes and outfits separately you get the notion that the products are just not selling and that the dealer will do practically anything to get rid of them. Do you think the designers are going around hurt over this? Personally, I hope it does affect them so that they see what isn't working.

Soon we may be able to buy arms, legs and heads separately.

Another of Jason Wu's Sculpts Bites the Dust

It was recently announced that the sculpt of one of IT's flagship characters, Adele, is now retired and will be replaced in the giftset from the convention collection. The outgoing sculpt is the second incarnation of Adele and is quite a beauty.


The original sculpt.

Screening removed and lips repainted by me.

The outgoing sculpt.

Is Integrity being forced to change their most popular sculpts? Do the copyrights of these sculpts, Vanessa, Veronique and Adele belong to Jason Wu solely? Is he asking too much money for renewal of the license or is he just not permitting his sculpts to be used any longer? It's too much of a coincidence that three of the oldest sculpts would be replaced within months of each other at the ten year mark of the company.
Did Jason come equipped with the brilliant foresight to license his sculpts for a limited period of time when he was hired by Integrity Toys? Is Kyori next?  Who shot JR?

 In a little over one year there have been 6 new Fashion Royalty female sculpts: Kesenia, Vanessa, Korrine, Veronique, Rayna and Anja. The prior year saw Natalia turn white and Dania came on the scene. There have been several new characters introduced into the NuFace line as well including several males. Let's not forget the four new FR2 sculpts.  Who is actually creating the new sculpts and why do some of them look alike?

 

 The FR2 Faces:

Real Life Photo of Jason Wu's Fashion Night Out Doll #2

My friend Alejandro posted this lovely picture of his FNO doll with her hair down. What do you think?

I love the original open-mouth Vanessa and Avantguard sculpts but this doll's mouth borders a little on the Kesenia/Bucky Beaver side. I think it's the shape of the upper lip that creates the buck-toothed effect. The upper lip is too plump and rises up higher than a 'normal' lip. The two upper lip hills (I don't know what else to call them) are too close together creating the appearance that teeth are pushing it out and up.

I will not be keeping the head.

Introducing Fauxnessa

Like everyone else, I was shocked to learn that Vanessa's sculpt was to be retired. When this doll, the first of her replacements was introduced, I was in denial. I didn't believe they would really do it. I was secretly hoping that they'd acquiesce to collectors' cries of FOUL and back up. So I pre-ordered her.
They didn't.

Although IT is calling this doll Vanessa, I am not. She is not Vanessa.  Someone made up the moniker Fauxnessa and it works.

Fauxnessa's face is beautiful. She now looks like many of the other beautiful dolls in the FR line. Sadly for this one, the hair is ridiculously unattractive and unflattering. I am very tempted to keep her because I know she will be a beautiful doll with her hair restyled but when they replaced Vanessa's and Veronique's sculpts, they ended my collecting most of the Fashion Royalty line.

 Are those Poppy Parker lips?

 The simple dress needs to be slightly shorter. I have folded the hem up temporarily.

The navy strap around her ankle is separate from the rest of the shoe. Interesting construction and it works.

Everything Changes or Needs To

Our house went live on MLS earlier today. I'm numb. It's such a leap into the unknown to sell a house. I have to admit that dolls are not in the forefront of my mind right now but I am still here. The sum of my doll play in the last few days has been admiring those that still populate my showcases. I miss letting the world go and sitting down with a doll to redress her.
In order to remind myself of my pre-orders I created a chart on one piece of paper which has a little picture of the impending doll and how much I paid for it. I still have 8 on the way.  In addition, the exclusive Comicon Ghoulia is joining the tribe courtesy of Christina. EEK.
So...if I feel deprived I just have to look at my chart. Unfortunately I have no time to feel deprived right now. Less time to shop - although I managed to squeeze in a few separates from OOAK designers. LOL.

I never got around to giving a little review of two new dolls Integrity Toys surprised everyone with last week, "Follow the Line" Kesenia and "Current Pursuits" Vanessa.

"Follow the Line" Kesenia

Click on the images to see how they've been Photoshopped. Sadly, no amount of Photoshopping can change the true appearance of this doll's mouth. A snap-on face plate to change her looks would have been helpful. I haven't made a secret of my opinion of Kesenia's sculpt. It's too bad because the rest of the doll looks very nice. I'm not sure if the outfit is black but it's a nice pant suit.

Vanessa (aka Fauxnessa by many devotees) is absolutely a doll I do not need. I could almost not believe it myself. I am a Vanessa lover and have all of them - some multiples as well. I ordered "Dress Code" Vanessa in spite of the cold reception she received.  I ordered the W Club Vanessa, too, mainly because I think the fashion is beautiful.  But when I saw Current Pursuits, the spell was broken. She looks like so many other recently released IT dolls.

"Current Pursuits" Vanessa

She's pretty. The outfit is cute but how many shorts with little jackets or trench coats and white shirts does one  need? I understand themed lines but there's very little variety here.

The shorts (or in the case of the DG, mini skirts), little jacket, blouse trend crosses all of IT's lines this year.  It has yet to show up on the Monogram dolls but I wouldn't be surprised.

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

All they did was shut her mouth?

Word has come down from above that all the Integrity Toys designers did to the Vanessa sculpt was shut her mouth. It was also stated that bad photography was the cause of the puffiness and apparent lack of cheekbones. Hmmm...that's EXACTLY what I said on  2/27/11. 

And it's hilarious in light of the fact that the liaisons at the W Club forum have shut the Vanessa threads down, too.

 

Mulder and Sculley in shock at the new IT 2011 line.

Did you see the X-Files episodes with the aliens whose mouth and eyes were sewn shut? Shudder.

 What I saw was sabotage:  disruption, treachery...

Lt. Valeris: Four-hundred years ago, on the planet Earth, workers who felt their livelihood threatened by automation, flung their wooden shoes, called sabot, into the machines to stop them . . . hence the word: sabotage.

This image means nothing:

Ana from Portugal posted an interesting Vanessa vs Fauxnessa composite.