2020 W Club Year In Review

2020 Recap From the W Club

Here's a listing of the amazing offers and opportunities that the W Club brought its members during the 2020 membership year, extending way beyond what was guaranteed at registration... and, this doesn't even include all the "first to know" information that members received throughout the year, allowing you to get in on the action before members of the general public! Being a W Club member truly has its perks and as you can see, the list is really long! It's non-stop excitement you definitely won't want to miss out on in 2021!

2020 Recap...

 

• Kicked off with 3 made-to-order upgrade dolls- "Le Tuxedo" Eugenia Perrin-Frost, "Mademoiselle Lilith" Lilith Blair and "Pretty Bird" Poppy Parker
• Monthly forum contests with free prizes
• Meteor launch reveal and chat with Vaughn Sawyers
• "Afterglow" Keeki Adaeze W Club lottery
• Quarantine bonus content, videos and/or contests from a variety of IT designers and collectors
• Poppy Parker Model Traveler Collection reveal and chat with David Buttry
• "Sizzling in Paris" Poppy Parker W Club lottery
• Priority Convention registration
• Jason Wu "Velvet Rouge" Véronique Perrin W Club lottery
• The Monarchs Homme "Most Influential" Perry Marino W Club lottery
• W Club only Integrity Toys Convention Upgrade Dolls Package, including made-to-order pre-orders for "Petite Robe Classique (Jour)" Adèle Makéda and "Petite Robe Classique (Nuit)" Véronique Perrin
• W Club only Integrity Toys Convention W Club Event Package including the souvenir "Charmed Child" Ayumi and guaranteed made-to-order pre-order of "Wicked Narcissism" Eugenia Perrin-Frost centerpiece doll
• "Up & Rockin’" Jerrica Benton/JEM Flip-side Gift Set W Club lottery and special W Club pricing
• "Perfect Match" Rio Pacheco, JEM and Riot Llewelyn Gift Set W Club only first-come, first-served opportunity and special W Club pricing
• Club doll one – made-to-order "Undercover Angel" Poppy Parker mini gift set
• Jason Wu "Fall 2018" Iselin W Club lottery
• Lotteries for the W Club allotment of the IFDC "Lady Luck", "Masquerade Magic", "Kiss in the Shadows" and "Viva Poppy!" Poppy Parker dolls
• W Club Fall 2020 Online IT Micro-Capsule Collection Reveal Event
• NU. Face Essentials Collection: Wave 2 "My Allure" Karolin Stone and "In My Skin" Colette Duranger W Club lotteries
• "Such a Gem" Dania Zarr design competition winner W Club only made-to-order doll
• Club doll two – made-to-order "Enamorada" Natalia Fatale mini gift set
• Jason Wu "Anniversary Kiss" Blond and Brunette color variation Poppy Parker W Club only lotteries
• "I Am A Giant" Pizzazz and Roxy gift set W Club lottery and special W Club pricing
• Official 25^th Anniversary "Legendary Status" Agnes Von Weiss W Club only made-to-order doll with special no order limit
• Dolly-Days "Ginger & Cinnamon: Holiday At Home" W Club only made-to-order gift set
• "Beat This!" Aja and Shana gift set W Club lottery and special W Club pricing
• The Jason Wu Collection "The Originals" Adèle Makeda and Véronique Perrin W Club only lotteries
• Club doll three – made-to-order "Wild Feeling" Rayna Ahmadi mini gift set
• Dolly-Days East 59^th and Poppy Parker reveal
• Club doll four – made-to-order "Sugar and Spice" Poppy Parker duo-doll gift set
• Club doll five – made-to-order "A Fashionable Legacy" Violaine Perrin doll
• W Club only lottery for remaining 2020 Legendary Convention items

For those of you who love made-to-order pre-orders, that is 15 different offerings (16 dolls, as "Sugar and Spice" Poppy was a two-doll gift set) between the 3 upgrade dolls, 5 club exclusive dolls, 2 convention upgrade Adèle and Véronique dolls, 2 W Club Event Convention Package Ayumi and Eugenia dolls, Design Competition Dania doll, 25th Anniversary Agnes doll and Dolly-Days Ginger doll you were guaranteed access to just for being a W Club member!

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Especially during a world-wide pandemic, we are so grateful for all of you and are beyond thrilled that we were still able to pack so much dolly goodness into just one membership year!

We really hope that you enjoyed your experience and that you'll join us again for even more fashion, friendship and fun once the W Club registration opens for 2021!

All 2020 W Club members will automatically receive 2021 W Club registration information once we are ready to launch. You do not need to contact us to inquire.

And, if you know other collectors who are not part of the W Club yet, don't forget to spread the word; we've got some amazing things in the works for 2021!

We can't wait to "see" you again for another exciting doll-filled year in the W Club!

The W Club Liaisons

Lam Loves Robert Tonner's Tyle-Body-Size Fashions.

The original Tyler body is a fair match to Lam with these differences: Lam has a slimmer waist and hips. Her bust is a bit smaller as well. Lam's extra 1/2" of height doesn't make a discernable difference. I like my dolls in shorter skirts anyway. 

Lam is modeling Robert Tonner's outfit from Carol Barrie called "Hollywood Treasure." Her Harrod's tote with teddy bear and silk scarf are from the Purse of the Month Club. Wig by Ilaria.

Mothership Dania Zarr™ Dressed Doll The Fashion Royalty® Collection: RETROFUTURE

 Mothership was a W Club exclusive doll offered in December, 2019. Those who pre-ordered experienced the longest delay ever of more than a year before she was actually delivered in January of 2021.

She does not disappoint!

Here are  two of IT's promotional photos:

Gorgeous, right?

Everything is exactly as it looks. 

The bodysuit is a weighty metal as is her neckpiece. I have not removed her arm coverings so I'm not sure what they're made of. Her eye shield is a flexible, thin metal item. It's cool for the alien look. if you're going for that, but otherwise it messes up her hair.

Everything is constructed beautifully except the boots. They are a nightmare. 

Mine had a part of the surface eaten away by excess glue. Not only that, when I put them on, keeping ALL THE STRAPS OPENED UP, one strap near the front of her foot broke. They do not stand flat on a surface. 

I have written to customer service for a replacement. They've contacted their factory in China. I suppose I'll be waiting for another year. 

It took nearly 40 minutes to close the straps on the boots. (There are five straps with buckles on each plus a zipper.) Then I found another defect. One of the buckles was not attached properly so it couldn't be closed at all.  I have the loose straps taped to her leg and/or boot for now.  Sad!

I like the black coat. The belt that is supposed to fit around the waist of the coat is not large enough. There is a lot of fabric that gets gathered when the belt is on and it just doesn't make it. Of course, if you were to attempt to use that belt, you'd have to remove her bodysuit.

Both the bodysuit and the neckpiece are two parts that snap together via magnets. They are beautifully polished. The bodysuit is embellished with inset rhinestones front and back. 

Another design touch I really like is that the earrings are facing forward. So often one has to look at the side of a doll's head to see what the earrings look like. 

I recommend adding this doll to your collection if you have not done so already. The current average eBay price is just south of $300. It has dropped from about $400 in December.

Her original price was $175.

Introducing "Lam, Dalat Holiday" by Aquatalis

 I've posted many photos of my 16" BJDs dressed in fashions by Aquatalis and now, there is a doll from them. 

Lam is a 16-1/2" resin BJD gift set in a limited edition of 15.  In her first iteration, introduced in October 2020, she is on holiday in Vietnam at a place called Dalat. The gift set consists of three distinct fashions and accessories as you can see below.

Photo by Aquatalis

This is her back story:

Dalat is one of the most beautiful destinations of Vietnam, which is located 4,900ft above sea level, known as a gift of nature since it has four seasons in a day, yes in a day! You can have the spring in the morning, summer in the noon, autumn in the afternoon and winter at night. Doesn't it sound wonderful? Dalat is also where Lam was born, so she decided to go back to her hometown with fashions and excited to transfer her feelings to you all. The first place that Lam visited is the King Palace of Dalat, she chose the classic brocade suit set to reappear the image of Nam Phuong - the last and the most beautiful, fashionable Empress Consort of Nguyen Dynasty - Vietnam back in the 40s. This set was made by our very talented best friend, Hoàng Anh Khôi, who is also well known for making classic style garments for fashion dolls, he used the blue shade brocade with golden thread flower to create the royal feeling for Lam, comes together with golden tone accessories to complete the look, that also matches perfectly to the context of King Palace and the cold weather of Dalat. Lam is deeply in love with that place and she's played the Queen role very well with power in the eyes but still remains the elegance.

Pham Anh Quan's photographs show her visiting three places dressed in one of the fashions each time.

The cost of the gift set was $1230  ($1080 + $150.) including EMS shipping from Viet Nam to the United States. It arrived several days after sending the payment which was really nice. I don't like having to pay for doll weeks (or longer) in advance. IMO, sellers should not get the total payment until the doll is actually ready to ship. 

I have dressed her in each outfit and wig (and several other wigs) and photographed her in everything and here is my opinion. 

Lam has a very pretty face. Her makeup is perfect. Her applied lashes are even. I loved the fact that her earring holes were large enough for most of my doll earrings. 

The clothes fit very well. There was no struggle to close any item and there were no awkward hems or clumps of fabric. Her shoes stayed on when I moved her.

Her necklace closes by tying ribbons. I do prefer a hook closure but this was fine. 

The wigs were carefully made, hard-cap type. I had trouble with the long wig as far as placing it on her head properly. I have to work on that. It's the reason that I don't have a photo of her wearing it.

The wigs shown below were made for Kingdom Dolls (except the last one.) Not all KD wigs fit properly. It depends on the wig itself. Lam's head is a bit smaller. I have an IT AvantGuard wig that fits her. 

Her lingerie:

Her suit:

Lam comes with two sets of hands and changing paddles. Hooks were not attached to the hands and should have beeen. I took the hooks off the paddles and put them on one pair of hands and used the extra pair of hooks for the other set of hands. Unfortunately, they fall off when the hands are not on the doll. It's kind of a balancing act to change the hands. I'm sure that is something that will be fixed in future dolls. 

Her hand-on-hip pose is easy to do and her holding hand works as you can see above. I pinned her hat on as I wanted it to tilt and the wig had a lot of height itself so the hat could not sit the way I wanted it to sit. 

Comparison to two other resin BJDs in my collection:

 

Size:

Lam is taller by a full half inch than Kingdom Doll. She is the same 16-1/2" tall as the Superdoll Sybarite.

For this photo, I made sure that each doll's foot surface was even with the others.

Note the differences in shoulder height, length from knee to hip, length of neck and the shape of the calf and the ankle. 

Kingdom Doll's body is beautifully refined and proportional. They have improved and made changes often. The finish is matte. The blushing is appropriate. Their joints work well. Occasionally, the arms are snappy and do not hold position. Nothing is perfect.

The Sybarite body is a joke. It is possibly the most unattractive resin body currently on the market. The blushing is ridiculous - look at the knee joints and around the breasts. Seriously? However, they have sold tons of dolls probably because of the fabulous clothes, makeup and hair. 

Lam's body needs some refinement and I'm sure they will be working on the body as time goes by. One change I'd like to see is to make the calf and ankle more shapely. 

The joints work very well except for one area - the knees. When bending the knees, I had to manipulate the center joint by hand. It will probably loosen up with a bit of time. 

The rest of her body is very shapely and slim.  It's an excellent doll for the first.

Her feet are wider than KD's but the soft, as opposed to the resin hi-arch KD shoes, will fit her. I haven't tried the Superdoll shoes but there may be some that fit. All three of my comparison dolls have a very high arch.

I think there's a great market for Lam amongst those who tend to prefer a more conservative-looking resin doll. Think of the first 10 years of Tyler Wentworth and friends...toned-down make-up, classic clothing, no see-through fabrics - a girl you'd take home to Mother. 

I recommend trying to purchase one of Aquatalis' dolls if you can. The reception for Lam was excellent. She was sold out very quickly. The second iteration is already sold out. Keep an eye out for their announcements on Facebook. 

Phạm Anh Quân 

https://www.facebook.com/groups/363616768415708/user/100000214926326

Kingdom Doll's Siddal Arrives

During this pandemic, many dolls and fashions have been added to my collection. The most recent doll is Siddal.

Siddal wears a Kimono inspired gown of imperial silk satin in a richly vibrant indigo hue, lined in berry silk habotai with an open wrap neckline edged in silver lame. A waist-cinching belt adds further silver lame accents. The dramatic kimono sleeves are embellished with unique silver Celtic dragon embroidery, a first for Kingdom Doll. The resin shoes are created with a sparkly silver to mimic the lame texture of her belt and neckline. Finally, her jewelry is a sterling silver necklace featuring sterling silver tassel details and a clear Swarovski crystal butterfly charm. 

Siddal's wig is of blended silver/grey tones. In addition to applied upper lashes, she has bottom lashes as well. Her eyes are pale sapphire blue and are framed with cool-toned smokey shadows of charcoal and taupe with pale lilac under her brow.

She is an edition of 50 dolls.

The mirror is a Wilde Imagination product made for Evangeline dolls.

Last week, a fashion order I've been awaiting from Viet Nam, was delivered. 

Avarice models "Perle Noire"

Destiny models "The Signature"

Liberty models "Forgetmenot"

Pandemic shopping can be very dangerous. I list below the dolls and related doll stuff purchased since 5/1/2020.

Wigs by Ilaria (TBR)

Assorted Studio Props

Assorted Doll Props

Beaded Outfit for Kingdom Doll by Kha

Rococo Shoes for Kingdom doll by Eikollander

Tonner Tyler 16" "Carol Barrie Hollywood Treasure" Outfit

"Lady Penelope’s" Outfit

Tonner Tyler "Checker Bold" Boutique Coat

Wigs and a fashion from Chewin

Tonner Tyler Boutique "Winter White Coat"

Robert Tonner Hollywood Glamour "Dancing on a Cloud" NRFB Outfit

Valet/stand chair, Bar Stool, Shell Chair,  Doll Lounge Sofa  (From Russia) (TBR)

"The Best Look" Doll & Gift Set Silkstone

Outfit from "Poppy Sizzling in Paris" Doll

"Afterglow" Keeki Adaeze (FR)

Ruth Bader Ginsburg Action Figure

"Dressing Barbie: A Celebration of the Clothes That Made America's Favorite Doll and the Incredible Woman Behind Them"   Book

Barbie Signature Jean-Michel Basquiat x Barbie Collector Doll

Superdoll Outfit "Picollo"

Filip of Filmideco 3-piece display furniture

"Let's Sew: Wardrobe for A Wood Doll"  E Files

29cm (11.41") Grödner Tal Wood Doll with curls (TBR)

16" doll shopper from La Boutique

Traded "Taeus" for "Evan"

Kingdom Doll "Siddal"

"Le Flamant Rose" Gown by Kha Hoang (TBR)

BFMC "The Gala's Best"

Couture Fashion by Taras Kozak (TBR)

Looking at the list like this can be disturbing.

It Sounds Like a Menu Item...Tofu in Piccolo

Superdoll Tofu is the doll. Piccolo is the doll whose ensemble she is wearing.