Juku Couture Dolls from Jaks Pacific

Jaks Pacific has released a new line of dolls. I heard about the excellent articulation and saw pictures and knew I must have her. There are four different dolls and several separately packaged outfits. Jaks Pacific has attributed certain personality characteristics to all four of these dolls. The character in my pictures is Jun. Jun is 9 inches tall. Her reddish/brown hair is rooted and the pink and white curls are attached to clip-on barettes which are easily removed. The hair has a lot of product to hold it's style. She has inset eyes which make her look a little cross-eyed because their placement is a bit off but her features are delicate and pretty.


Jun has 14 points of articulation including wrists and ankles and she can stand on her own.

I'm not a fan of the frilly, lacy, multi-layered baby-doll look but the clothes are cute, they fit well and are made fairly well. Fasteners are velcro. Boots are open in the back and go on and off easily. She comes with a poster which I have not removed from the box.

About the box...I always wonder why dolls in this price range have to be secured to the box with so many wires.
It took a good 10 minutes to un-twirl the wires and pull them out.

I think Jaks Pacific did an amazing job with this doll. I don't know how they managed to keep the price so low. Retail Price $19.95.

Replacement Bodies - Fashion Royalty and Tiny Kitty

Yesterday members of the W Club received "confidential" notification of a top secret body replacement sale which will commence shortly.

Here is an excerpt from the email:
"These bodies will go up for sale next Tuesday (September 2nd). To accommodate members living in different time zones and with different work obligations, we are going to put up a portion of the allocation at 10:00 am CST (Chicago Time) and if that allocation sells out we will put up the remainder at 5:00 pm CST (Chicago Time). We understand these times might not accommodate every member, but we have done our best to try to accommodate the greater majority of members.

Should bodies remain, we will open up the offer to the public sometime on September 4th- we will keep you posted, but the information should remain confidential until that time (this means no pre-selling on eBay during this Club window or discussion on the boards)."
{I am trying to figure out if I am breaking confidentiality by posting this in my blog. I'm not pre-selling or discussing it on the boards as per the above caveat. So I guess I'm OK.}
When the Integrity Toys forum first opened I posted a poll which asked about the desire for replacement bodies. The response was enormous. This was quite a while ago. At that time I had already scraped together enough tall bodies to grow my first and second generation FRs to the latest size. The only dolls that needed replacement bodies were Adele, Vero (including Vanessa & Kyori), Natalia and Isha. The other characters appeared on the scene after the bodies got tall. So all that was really needed were four different skin tones. There will be four skin tones and they are called White, Black, Latina and Japan. The "Japan" color makes no sense at all because all the dolls with that color came with tall bodies to begin with: Agnes, Luchia, True Royalty Vanessa, Mastermind Veronique and A Brighter Side Kyori. There will be no tall Isha body. The bodies will be a whopping $45. each plus shipping. That's a lot of moolah for a piece of vinyl. Each member will be allowed 3 of each color body.
But wait...here comes the funniest part of the email:
The replacement bodies will be marked on the buttocks to ensure that the bodies are authorized and authentic and separate them from the ones produced with the dolls, thus allowing future generations of collectors to distinguish whether a body has been replaced or is factory original.
As if it would make a difference to future generations. (Will the dolls last for future generations?) I have sold so many dolls that have been switched to tall bodies, I have lost count. Why would anyone care? What I care about is if the swinging hip syndrome has been cured. Picture holding your doll with your thumb and forefinger and gently rotating your wrist back an forth. Visualize the doll's legs swinging along. This means that your doll will not stand or hold a standing pose easily. Some just flop forward at the hips without the slightest provocation. If someone switches the head to a good, firm body, would you care if it is not the one that came with the doll? If I bought a doll that originally was a different body type, don't you think I would recognize that fact? Duh with a capital D.

Perhaps brand new Fashion Royalty collectors could be fooled into buying a modern head with an old body but the old body will not be labeled so that argument is worthless.

The bodies shouldn't have been priced higher than $30-$35. They probably cost less than $5. to manufacture anyway. Integrity has overpriced these.
...............................................

On the other side of the fence, Tonner has shipped articulated replacement bodies for Tiny Kitty. I picked up 7 bodies today at the Tonner store for $20. + tax each. They're not exactly the same color as my earlier TKs but they will do very well. They are priced correctly. They have been selling articulated (BW) 16" bodies for quite a while. I haven't purchased any but I think the price is $35. each.

Sister Agnes Dreary - Tonner Doll Company

I think I'm in love. Yesterday Sister Agnes Dreary arrived in all her gorgeous blackness. Upon seeing her, Hubby asked if she was going to a funeral. Tonner hit the mark because if the DH gets it, it's got to be verrrry clear.

Here is the description from the Tonner website:

Sister Dreary is approximately 16” tall, and she is a vinyl and hard plastic doll with rooted saran hair and hand-detailed, painted eyes. With 15 points of articulated movement, Sister can assume even drearier poses than her younger siblings. Sister Dreary is a NEW head sculpt on a smaller bustline 'Geisha' torso, featuring the SUPERGIRL flat-feet with jointed ankles...

She is absolutely beautiful. Her sculpt is the most sophisticated of all the Tonner modern dolls yet. Her cheekbones do it for her. I had to trim her hair because the bangs were cut in an odd way.

When the prices of her outfits go down, they're mine! List price ranges from about $80. to $95. That's a lot of green for a lot of black. I love Covered in Darkness (top below) with that crazy hat and the long coat. I think the Tea at the Morgue (2nd photo below) would look better with different shoes. Dying to Meet You (last below) is beautiful. Imagine an entire wardrobe of black and navy blue! Wonderful!

Below are pictures from the Tonner site. (No, I don't have permission to use them but I hope to get it.)

Covered in Darkness

Tea At The Morgue

Dying to Meet You

Tonner's Louise Devereaux

She is not a classically pretty doll. Her face is unattractive and the dark makeup under her eyes contributes to the gaunt look. Not being able to decide to keep her or not, I attempted to re-dress Louise last night. Unfortunately that did not work out for me or Louise and she's gotta go. I will keep one of the two I purchased just because it's the first of the new line.

I did photograph her a few days ago and those pictures are posted here.

Juicy Couture Beverly Hills G&P Barbie® Dolls by Mattel

Why do I even try? Again and again I am reminded that Mattel's products are inferior yet they look so cute in the pictures. Now I know why so many Barbie collectors keep everything in the boxes. Once you take it out, the stuff looks like crap.

This episode of "Nightmare on Mattel Street" stars the Juicy Couture Beverly Hills G&P Barbie doll set.
The dolls are tiny replicas of Pamela Skaist-Levy and Gela Nash-Taylor, the designers and co-founders of the Juicy Couture fashion empire. List price is $110. I used one of my coupons and got free shipping so I thought I did OK because it was less expensive than I could find anywhere else. I wanted the dresses for my Fashion Royalty or Model Behavior dolls. I knew in advance that they were sewn on.
I pre-ordered and approximately 2 months later a crushed UPS box arrives. I am not exaggerating when I say that every single side - that's 6 sides - was bashed and/or punctured to a degree. The box actually looked as if it had been put in a compressor. The tape had begun to pop and the contents were visible!

There was no protective padding around the doll box and so it echoed the damage.

Upon writing to customer service I received a RA from Mattel with a return shipping label. Then several weeks went by and I didn't get my new dolls. I wrote to Mattel and as if they had been waiting for my letter, I was told that they received my return and would ship out the new dolls to me.
The new set arrived in a pristine box and it still looked really pretty.

The first doll I undressed was the blonde. There was cello-wrap around her body to keep the black dress from contacting the vinyl. Unfortunately they didn't wrap her arms and they are seriously stained. I was going to sell the dolls but instead she has Oxy 10 all over her arms right now. Her hair has so much product on it that it looks like chunky straw. The brunette, who is much prettier, had no staining at all.

One improvement to note is that all the jewelry was removable and replaceable. The rings and earrings popped right out. The bracelets had hook fasteners as did the necklaces. The shoes are very cute. The packaging is very attractive and the set comes with a miniature perfume bottle. As usual, one needs a hacksaw to get the dolls out of the packaging. I'd love to watch the assembly of these items for sale.

I do not recommend this set unless you intend to keep the dolls in the box.

What's up with the low prices in the Fashion Royalty secondary market?

When I got in to collecting Fashion Royalty dolls, secondary market prices were always at least 50% higher than retail. Now many dolls are selling for less than retail. Even Vanessa, one of the most sought after characters, is dropping in price! There were three issued in less than a year. Certain so-called holy grail dolls are still holding steady at many times retail.

I posted a question on one of the doll boards concerning the drop in secondary market prices and here are some of the responses.

—Just supply and demand. So many dolls, I'm just making room. Still love the girls and will enjoy what I keep. Just be more selective in the future.

—I agree with you, I paid $169.99 + tax & sh. for MD Eugenia and there is one on ebay for $150.

— I think it is just plain FR doll overload. Integrity are releasing way way too many dolls now and people are feeling overwhelmed. Plus the quality has dropped from what it used to be and the economy is not so great right now thus people are not quite as prepared to pay such high prices for dolls.

—Too high editions? Too much competition? Bad economy ?

—Too many dolls in few time, too many exclusives, the change of the bodies that even if more poseable they seems cheaper ( and maybe they are! ), higher prices, ebay scalpers, FAO exclusives almost impossible for Europeans. I do believe that all these reasons annoyed collectors. (Well, these are the reasons that annoyed me! And I was a great FR collectors!)

—The market is glutted with too many dolls from all the manufacturers...sad 'cause there are so many fantastic dollies and it seems we just get to be in awe of one for about 10 minutes and the next NEW best thing is coming out and pushing that last one aside...
We need a bit more of a break in between exclusives/collections and everything!

—I think Greed is the reason. Too many people buy to resell only... and that drives the numbers up. Higher numbers.. = gluttony.
Look at the uber "limited" WClub dolls.. they have to cover all memberships.. that includes multi-membership households.
Greed has killed these dolls.. it also gave IT the ideas that we are willing to pay anything.
And.. with that in mind.. "let's make a few more dolls, and make more money"
I am not willing to pay more.
These are only dolls.

—I'm glad! It means.... That I should no longer have to panic and buy a doll the minute she's released. I can wait to see what comes out and then pick and choose!

—For me it's just too many dolls. I am out of space and I really don't like selling the dolls I have. I love the older ones especially. Every time I think about clearing some out, I just can't find anyone I want to let go. Soooo...I am not buying too many new ones. I think IT has just released too much at the same time for the past couple of years. PLUS, I think the retail prices have just gotten way out of line. I didn't even order either one of the club dolls...I just didn't get that "must have" feeling. And I have always gotten the club doll in the past.