OK...So I Drank the Kool Aid

If you are a member of the Barbie Collector Club your last quarter $20. coupon is effective beginning today. Gala Gown, the beautiful-looking (in the promo) Silkstone, is also now available for ordering. How convenient is it that BC.Com is also offering free shipping? Anyway, I ordered one. I swear if this doll is anything less than perfect, it will be my last EVER Silkstone.

Update on my wonky-eyed, non-violet eyed, Violet Eyes Elizabeth Taylor Silkstone. In response to my letter outlining the defective doll I received I was offered a return or an exchange. I asked for a shipping label and received a pre-paid label. Yay. Here's hoping the replacement will be better.

A New Favorite Website - Not About Dolls

I love Photojojo! Today's post on How to Make Photo Lollipops just pushed me over the edge to blog about it.

Haven't you always wanted to eat your photographs? I've wanted to do a lot of things with mine; eating them wasn't on the list.  This tutorial might have just changed my mind.
Think of the possibilities: table gifts at conventions, stocking stuffers, business cards...X-rated suckers. Oh, I have endless ideas.

Link to this tutorial

They carry a multitude of products that I'd love to have. One is called Photo-opoly. If all you ever think about it dolls, you can personalize it with images of your gals and guys easily. You might even force yourself to use pictures of your family or pets.

Click here to check out the rest of the fun products you can use with your cameras.

FDQ Digital Winter 2012 Now Available On-Line

For those who prefer to view their magazines on-line, you can now download the Winter 2012 FDQ issue. On the same page there are many other digital issues available.

Winter 2012 has shipped out.
New subscriptions begin with Spring 2013. Order single copies of this issue from our retailers.
Print copies are sold via subscription, or single issues here.!
You can now download the digital copy, too! Click here.
Our latest issue, FRIENDS & RIVALS features Ellowyne Wilde, PuddleCon, CDDC4, Volks Dolpas, Fashion Royalty and more!

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

Unpacking the Masses

I've finally begun to unpack my dolls in earnest. Although I'm still waiting for more Ikea showcases, I can begin to fill up the ones I already have.

Mainly I started with my Fashion Royalty Vanessas. I have a very long road ahead of me as I did not pack all of them with their outfits on. They will need to be redressed and for that to happen I have to have all their clothes, jewelry and shoes organized so I can find it. Not easy.

What is it with us doll collectors? Is there never enough? I keep looking at this Tonner doll, Marvel's Black Cat, and I want her. I think she is just beautiful.

I wonder if her outfit stains - especially the mask. If you have one, please let me know.

Review of the Tropicalia Dolls

I wanted to review the dolls and fashions coming out of the Tropicalia convention earlier but I hesitated because the fashions are mostly so bad that it's confusing. Out of the 8-doll Convention collection, the worst are the outfits worn by Veronique and Kyori with close runners-up Adele, Natalia and Colette.

What is this outfit?

The color combinations, style mismatching, poor fit and generally cheap-looking appearance is mystifying. While the dolls themselves are not unattractive, the clothes are. I keep hearing "Who Let the Dogs Out?"
Dasha's dress looks flimsy and poorly constructed. What a waste.

The neat little fashions on the Poppy Parkers are fine. Victoire Roux' fashions are well conceived and presented. Although I'm not sure about the roses (?) on the gown. Anja's dress is so not weird that I wonder what happened. Even the two most beautiful of dolls, Vanessa and Eugenia, had dresses that were uncomfortable looking and without any high style.
The clear winner of the event is Escapism Elise Jolie. Although her dress is a little tortured it looks interesting and I think she is stunning. The FR2 shoe pack is very nicely designed.
The Imogen gift set is so crappy I don't even want to go there. Three skimpy dresses? Red and black?
Good grief.
This had to be the lamest bunch of convention fashions ever.  Look back only a few years at the beautiful fashions and compare what came out of Orlando to what existed previously. 

 The names on the Saturday night dolls have been changed. Vanessa is now being called the give away doll and Imogen is the official convention doll.

Sigh.