House of Zenith "Avenue" New 12" Resin Doll

On March 11, Superdoll released this photo of Avenue for whom I had already pre-paid. I was looking forward to getting one of the first dolls in their new 12" line, House of Zenith.  I based my decision on the success of Solitaire, the first GenX doll who was pretty and had an adorable outfit and vibe. My thinking was very wrong.

  

I hesitated writing a review for much longer than I normally would as the creators of this doll will not like what I say here but I have to tell the truth and it's my opinion anyway. I know some out there like Avenue and I'm sincerely happy for them. Personally, I will never buy a doll sight unseen from Superdoll again. 

I don't know why I cannot find any photos I took of her in her original state. That's very odd. I'm pretty sure I shot a few, at least. Did I delete them? I'll have to hunt the internet as it's entirely possible that I posted and then deleted the images from my camera.

I am not sure that this is my own photo. 

When the doll arrived, I disliked her look in many ways. Her wig had the texture of straw. The black throw around her shoulders shed all over her yellow dress. I did not like the way the skirt hung on her body. The 'drape' was bad. The pleats were crooked, uneven and did not appear to be sewn properly.

Not shown are the shoes, the handbag, and the head-piece.

I tried to sell her for exactly what it cost me and there wasn't a single taker.

With the wig removed it made a major improvement. She does have a nice face and I like the eye make-up. 

Superdoll skimped on the joints and the details. Look at this photo which compares, side by side, a Dominion Doll, a House of Zenith Doll and a Monarch Doll. Monarch is 12" tall. 

I chose not to have my Dominion doll (left) strongly body blushed and the Monarch Doll (right) has natural-looking blushing. Avenue's blushing is exaggerated.  She has no underbust joint and her knees have only one joint. There is no thigh or ankle joint. She does not have a matte finish and she didn't come with a stand. They should have just made her from vinyl. She looks it.

Avenue (left) vs. Fashion Royalty body.

One has to wonder if this doll was rushed through to make some sort of deadline. 

What she does have going for her is that her feet fit into FR shoes. No doll is perfect but Avenue made me regret my purchase and she was not an inexpensive mistake. She also made me appreciate more the quality, artistry, and attention to detail of the Monarch and Dominion dolls. Vinyl Fashion Royalty dolls are made better. 

I will make the best of it by dressing her in pretty clothes and wigs and never buying another one.

OLE!

I purchased a separate Superdoll boxed fashion for Avenue and I think it is lovely.

Below is a Rimdoll fashion. Wigs above and below by Culte de Paris. 

 

La Scala Georgiana Reviewed

This week, the first release of Monarch Dolls was sent out to collectors. The response has been tremendously positive judging by what I've seen on the boards and on Facebook.
There were two versions, each in an edition of 50 pieces. I picked La Scala. The other one is called Covent Garden Georgiana.

It's only four days from when people began to receive their dolls and I've already seen five people with both versions. (We were supposed to choose one or the other.) That's five who are either posting photos or just talking about getting both. There's nothing wrong with that but I wonder about the people who made such a fast decision and turn-around to sell theirs. Some of them are saying that they didn't bond or that the doll is too small for them. There are some who bought the doll to trade it for something else. OK, whatever.

I used to wonder about the same thing on the W Club board. There were always two or three people who posted a brand new doll for sale immediately at a jacked-up price. There's something missing with the thought process of someone who has the balls to do that. The potential buyer, willing to pay a premium for a doll, may be happy, but the one that dearly wanted a chance to have one is not and becomes resentful. I feel bad for a long time doll friend who has never been able, in five years, to get a 16" Kingdom Doll and now was also not able to get a Monarch Doll either.

That's the doll world and I suppose it goes on in every collectible milieu.

Back to La Scala. She is 12" tall and has a size 4 head. If you put a 4-5 on her, it will be too full. I have a dozen or more 4/5 wigs that look ridiculous on La Scala. Wigs made for Integrity's Monogram dolls fit quite well. Barbie has a size 4 head but I have no wigs made for her to test.
Her joints are perfectly strung and her posing ability is excellent. The resin feels like velvet and has a matte finish. It is recommended that the doll is handled only with gloves to avoid transferring natural body oils to the resin which will eventually cause the matte to go shiny.

The red silk dress with its gold insert is reminiscent of a 16" Kingdom Doll gown.

Her purse is a faux gold metal envelope with a rhinestone letter M and dangles on a long gold chain. It opens.

Her right hand is a "pocketbook holding" hand. Monarchs do not have extra hands. 

Her shoes were cast in resin to fit their ultra-arched shape.

I have them shown below with tiny rubber bands as one kept falling off while I was dressing and photographing her. I didn't want them to disappear as no other shoes in my huge collection of 1/6 scale dolls shoes will fit. They are a clear resin with shiny red sparkles.

You can also see the lovely new stand with the Monarch symbol in gold on a white acrylic base. 

Another alteration I made was to the saddle of the stand. I cut a strip of moleskin and adhered it to the surface of the saddle. It's protection against thigh rub marks and also provides a bit of resistance to the doll slipping.

My comparison photo shows (left to right) La Scala, a frankendollied articulated Barbie body, an original Silkstone body, the newer articulated Silkstone body, an FR2 body and a Dominion Doll body. The four in the middle are not resin dolls, of course. 

La Scala has a beautifully sculpted, proportioned body. 

She makes a lovely addition to my collection.

Georgiana Devonshire cost $650 plus postage.

The Kingdom Doll Monarchs' Debut

The long-awaited release of The Monarchs is scheduled for January 31, 2019. I posted previously about these gems as I saw them in Scotland at the Kingdom Doll convention last October.
https://terrigoldphoto.blogspot.com/search?q=Monarch

This 12" resin beauty called Georgiana Devonshire has been created in two versions. La Scala Georgiana has raven hair and a beautiful red gown that is a miniature version of the Kingdom Doll Elgin's.

Kingdom Doll Elgin 16"

La Scala

The other Monarch, Covent Garden, will have blonde hair and a black gown with a golden insert. The gowns' fabric is silk satin. Their shoes have been hand carved and cast in resin. Each carries a golden evening bag and wears dangling beaded earrings.

Covent Garden

The edition size of each version is 50 dolls.
The price is $650. plus shipping.

1. In order to submit a request to purchase one of the Monarchs, send ONE email to info@kingdomdoll.co.uk
2. In the email subject line write either La Scala or Covent Garden. You must pick one or the other.
3. Only one email is to be submitted per person.
4. Time to send emails is 6:00 PM UK Time (18:00 hours.) Check your time zone and make sure it corresponds to London Time. https://www.worldtimeserver.com/current_time_in_GB.aspx
5. Only winners will be notified.

More information about KD Monarchs: https://kdmonarchs.com/

Superdoll's Halloween "Monarch"

All photos and text are directly from Superdoll Collectable's website.

MONARCH DD_116

The Howling wolves could not keep her contained as Venus slipped from the darkness into the midnight forest.

It's a very eerie night tonight, and this glamour hybrid is off Trick & Treat. (mostly tricking we're sure!) in a foggy forest of London.

GENX.2 body!
Cosmetique skintone!
Venus platinum nape bun, bangs and pappilon bunches hair gives her a silhouette for flight, while her red and black eyebrows and her spiral eyes highlighted in white and shaded in grey give a hypnotic stare. Lips of scarlet outlined in black.
Her silk satin gown of black and red bears overlay of fine tulle printed in latex as are her attached 'wings' which drag or flutter. Her gown silhouette is of sharp jagged neckline and boufant peplum in black with a slinky sinuous red evolving train.

Red jagged edge gloss shoes complete her haunting look.
TRICK OR TREAT?!?

Clone: 1000 Venus d'Royce

Of course she comes with the following standard accessories:
-manic_cure hands (see booklet for hand change instructions)
-booklet
-stand

ACTUAL PRODUCTION SHOWN
In stock and ready to be delivered

Price: £318.94 (Excluding VAT at 20%)

She looks pretty amazing. I like the unusual Sybs (unless they have black rings around their eyes.) The wig is delightful.

£318.94 British Pound equals $389.36 US Dollar. Postage to the US is usually about $60.

Kingdom Doll 2018 MONARCHY Convention, Edinburgh, Scotland

Edinburgh, Scotland was the site of Kingdom Doll's "Monarchy" Convention. From October 12 through October 14, 2018, seventy-five doll lovers met at the DoubleTree by Hilton, most of us from other countries, to celebrate with each other.
My husband and I made a 10-day vacation around this event, many pictures of which are on my regular FaceBook page.  https://www.facebook.com/terri.gold.3?ref=bookmarks.  (Beware, you will have to wade through many political and other posts to find these photos.)
Photos from the actual convention events are posted on my Fans of Kingdom Doll FB page and the Monarchy page. You would have to be a member to see them.

Friday:
The first event took place from 10:30 AM - 4:00 PM during which time we were treated to a talk by Patricia Henry on photography. I can listen to her 'lectures' over and over again. She is so informative and funny. Everyone in the audience, no matter their photographic skill level, was able to take away hints to improve their photos.

We got to see the companion dolls and take the one we ordered.

Ravenna (left) and Raphaella

We had a buffet lunch in the hotel restaurant and returned to the convention space for more fun.
We voted on the competition entries which were amazing and very numerous.

During the mid-day break, the competition entries were set up. They were extremely impressive as you can see in this video:

We viewed the silent auction dolls and bids were taken.

Tribal Belgae OOAK 

Artemesia OOAK

We were introduced to the new 12" Monarchs. These little beauties are fully jointed 12" resin dolls. They will be sold dressed in copies of 16" Elgin's gown. They have their own website: www.kdmonarchs.com.

Kingdom Doll Photo 

The first Monarch to be released this December is La Scala Georgiana dressed in red silk. The second Monarch will be released sometime in 2019.

Finally, the shopping began.

Saturday 7:00 PM — Late:

Attendees arrived at the ballroom laden with gifts for other attendees and ran about distributing them. We oohed and aahed over the centerpiece hoping to be one of the ones lucky enough to have the opportunity to purchase her.  After dinner, we received our convention souvenir, Rosalind of Durham which some are calling The Red Queen. She has a new sculpt, complete with dimples, called Canti. I don't know who took the first photo but it does show Rosalind in her original wig with her crown. I took the second photo of her wearing a different wig.

The centerpiece doll LE 12 is called Raven. She has the Dumnonii sculpt.

The evening went on into the wee hours with dancing and partying.


Sunday 1:00 to 4:00

Afternoon tea was served and then a presentation with a whisky tasting took place. Since half of the collectors at our table are non-drinkers, we had a good time trying to get the others to drink more. The Scottish presenter was delightful and funny. I learned one little fact and it is that only true Scot's whisky can be spelled without the e.

The centerpiece is called Reign of Durham LE 8 .

Reign of Durham photographed by Machelle Dubriel

Her sculpt is the same as Rosalind's. Her gown is a black version of the Red Queen's while her fur epaulets are a pink version.

A big surprise of the event was our gift from Kingdom Doll which was a doll. She is called Realm. She came nude. Here are some photos I took of her when we got home. She's dressed in one of the optional purchase dresses which is part of a larger outfit.

More shopping opportunities finished off the afternoon with goodbyes and hugs and kisses.

Random photos I took once I arrived back home.

VanBrugh got to wear a British flag pin and carry a bagpipe when we came home.

Optional fashions available. Defense of the Realm was available for pre-order.

Blue Safari (Above) Defense of the Realm (below)

The Hamish Bag Set and There's A Snake in Your Sporran

Slay Another Day 

Holyrood Sapphire and Garnet Outfits