My Little Pony? Seriously?

Integrity Toys released some hard to believe information regarding a new fashion figure collection based on My Little Pony. There is a talented group of artists who do custom MLP figures which are fabulous. What I didn't know is that there is a cosplay movement of numerous characters from the show. There is a following of teens and adults who have a convention called BronyCon. Find out more about it here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BronyCon.
Here is another interesting article about followers and fans:
http://www.webcitation.org/63cE1QPev

Integrity says it will be a "high end collectible series inspired and made to honor the fans of the My Little Pony brand."  When I read this announcement I was speechless but I realize that it is a way to get new consumers.

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Let's see. What else does Hasbro make that IT could use as a basis for a line of fashion dolls?

 

Hasbro makes Play-Doh! I love everything about Play-Doh except that smell. What if Integrity made a great set based on that product? It would come with the doll head and you put the head in a Play-Doh 'machine' turn the crank and Play-Doh hair starts to grow. Then you can mold fashion clothes for the doll and voila, a high end fashion line which is recyclable, reusable and encourages active participation. I like it.

*Original photograph: from Waiting by Jana Romanova

So I'm just kidding around here but it was a surprise - bigger than the Jem doll cartoon dolls.

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While we don't have further information aside from the official press release above, we do have the following that hopefully will answer a few of your general queries about this brand. Please note that as soon as we have pictures of the official samples, all will be revealed!

• The male figures will have the current FR: Homme body and the female dolls will sport a new, yet to be unveiled body (more details about this in future announcements).

• Each figure will come beautifully displayed in a fantastic new package design, themed around each My Little Pony character associated with the doll or figure.

• Fans can expect lots of little "themed" accessories and especially designed clothing pieces that express each doll's love for his or her favorite My Little Pony character!

• This new collection may or may not be distributed via Integrity Toys' network of authorized dealers. Since we do not have final costing yet, we cannot make this announcement at this time. Exact pre-ordering information will be released when we are ready to unveil the collection approximately in the fourth quarter of 2015 (Winter 2015-2016).

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*http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/01/07/eleanor-macnair_n_6426476.html

As Dusk Falls: The Winning Doll of the 2014 Integrity Toys Design Competition

In October 2014, the Official Integrity Toys Advanced Design competition took place at the "GLOSS" Convention in Orlando, Florida and at long last, the W Club is honored to introduce the exquisite doll based on Ms. Julia Leroy's winning entry, "As Dusk Falls" Eugenia Perrin Frost™!

As per the rules of the competition, the winning design, personally picked by Jason Wu and other members of the Integrity Toys design team, has gone through various adjustments to make it production ready while preserving the spirit of Julia's original design. We could not be more excited to unveil the production version of the doll and give everyone a chance to add this fantastic lady to their collections!

 
W Club members can order as many as they want for the reduced price of $130. She will go on sale to the general public for $150.

Head Sculpt: Eugenia

Body Type: FR 2013

Skin Tone: FR White

Hair Colors: Golden Blond

Eyelashes: Yes, Hand Applied

She is very beautiful and if I were going to add more 12" dolls to my collection, I would order her.

 

Poppy Parker "The Camera Loves Her"

In spite of the fact that I do not collect Poppy Parker, I ordered "The Camera Loves Her." I am not disappointed. She is beautiful and unique. I will keep her!

Poppy wears a full bodysuit of lemon yellow with silver sequins in a random pattern. Her yellow chiffon floaty thing is attached to a halter of sequins which is also attached to the bodysuit. It's all one piece.

Her long dangling disco earrings are the icing on the cake. I love them, the big blue ring and the silver bangle. It all works so well together.

Her stunning hairstyle arrived in very good condition, fully fixed in place with gel or whatever it is they use. Her eyes are gorgeous. I would like a softer look to the eyebrows but these seem to be the default style on all IT's dolls.

I had a few moments of doubt about the shoes.

I thought they sent the wrong ones because this was as far as I could bend the ankles. Then I took a chance and used more force to bend the ankles forward and it worked. She can stand flat on these shoes. I still detest Poppy's ankles and flat feet but they are mostly hidden under these pants.

Several dealers still have her available at the SRP of $120. That surprises me. I think she will sell out as soon as people start to see IRL photos.

Kinsman Doll Information

The following information was sent out today about the Kinsman dolls.

KD

presents

The Kinsman

We anticipate launching the first edition of the Kinsman at the end of October. This first release will be for 70 dolls in total: 35 of the blue-eyed Booth and 35 of the brown-eyed Garrick. Once the first release has been sold out, a pre-order period will be opened for both Booth and Garrick in the New Year. The Kinsman will be sold in two formats. The first will be the open edition of the brothers featuring our exclusive Roman Bronze resin. They will be dressed in swimming trunks and come with a hard cap wig and an adjustable stand. The second will be limited edition, fully conceptualized dressed dolls in different resin tones and sold via our Store when ready.

Here are some "fresh photos" from the Kinsman website:

Surprise Announcement! New Tulabelle Collection

They weren't going to say the reason Tullabelle got a new sculpt was because she had ridiculous duck lips.

Before

After

So they said she needed to age a bit as it would give them more fashion options and choices.

The face lift was not as much of a surprise as was the entire announcement. I'm somewhat out of the loop and rarely read the W Club stuff. However, I did notice that there was a teaser post recently.  It was posted the day after an entire thread concerning Veronique's polka dot gown was deleted by the W Club police. Good diversion. Did it work?

  If not, perhaps this will work:  

Starting with this totally radical collection, Tulabelle is ready to face the world like never before with a new, more mature look, created especially for you!

That's really nice of them. Makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside.

The new sculpt is a huge improvement and the entire collection is interesting, varied and contains unusual accessories.

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There are four different dressed dolls each sporting a $150. price tag.

Idol Thoughts

Love the shoes!
This version would have been cool as a basic doll for a lower price...no jacket, no ill-fitting pants...
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Fashion Saga

Very interesting fabric treatment on jacket and skirt. Again, I love the shoes! She's got a Katy Keene hairstyle.

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Sweet Tartan

When I first saw this outfit I wanted it. It's very cute. The veil and the silver envelope clutch, meh. But the boots, the sweater and the navy top are definitely keepers. I'd have to see the tights in person before deciding.
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Mod*ern Love

This outfit leaves me cold except for the shoes (again) and the wonderful purse. I love them! 
The rest is Barbie-Poppy Parker super-sized.
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Wicked & Divine

Fun! Her hair is delightful. It's the same hair style that a Jamieshow doll sported a few years ago. I like seeing these unusual non-hair-bump styles especially when they're done properly. It remains to be seen as to whether the workers will be able to reproduce this look correctly. 
A problem I see is the ill-fitting shorts. This same bad fit is seen above on the Idol Thoughts doll. Someone has to redraft the pattern for a proper fit.

Didn't Tulabelle have her own body previously or was she on the teen Poppy body all along?

Reminder:
*Please note that the dolls unveiled today are prototypes and the final production dolls, colors and fabrics may vary slightly. Note that these are all 16-inch tall fashion dolls and are not in 1/6 scale.

Visit to the Tonner Store

When I lived in Woodstock, NY, it was a 15 minute drive to the Tonner store. Now, it takes about 3 hours and doesn't happen very often. This past Saturday was the first time I've seen the store since it moved to Wall St. in Kingston.
It's always fun to spend time chatting with Dr. Noreen. We could talk for hours and cure all the world's ills.
For those that don't know my story with Noreen, here it is. It was 14 or 15 years ago when I went to my first Tonner trunk sale. It was held out-of-doors at the old building on Lucas Avenue. I was really just beginning my collecting as I had accumulated a few Tiny Kitty dolls prior to then. I saw 16" Tylers, Emmes and a few others for the first time that day and met Noreen. She predicted what was to come as far as my collecting would go. Who knew? It's a very fond memory.

These are iPhone pictures. Please remember that you can click to enlarge them.
Enjoy!

You can see all of the current lines Tonner Doll Company offers here:
http://www.tonnerdoll.com/shop-collections

Tonner Archive:  http://www.tonnerdoll.com/archive