Where do I begin? This was a massive amount of dolls in an impressive collection which spanned almost every current single line produced except for Avant Guard. I think I was lucky that I could not be on-line during the reveal as I was not affected by any emotional overtones or pitches. It wasn't until I began to get emails from fellow collectors who know my attachment to the Vanessa Fashion Royalty doll that I actually began to look at the new dolls on the small screen on my iPhone.  Now, almost 24 hours later, I have been digesting the dolls and I am ready to write.

Apparently the biggest storm is over the perceived change in Vanessa's sculpt. Even before I read the pages and pages of troubled and unhappy comments I had her on my pre-order list.  At first I thought, oh good, now my addiction to that sculpt is over and I don't HAVE to have every one anymore. And then as I looked at her more, I realized that it was only her hair that I didn't like. It was in the style of Shirred Not Shaken. Remember her?

Shirred Not Shaken

 I have pulled several images of recently produced Vanessa dolls for comparison in order to show that there is really very little difference in the new sculpt, if any at all.
 What has changed is the painting of the lips and the drama. That started already with the last Vanessa shown in the lower left of the composite and the shape of the jaw - see it in the lower right and the upper left. If you think her cheekbone structure is gone - it's the lighting of the photograph. It's very easy to flatten an image if you light it equally from all angles or light it too much.
Most of us have multiples of particular sculpts - all painted differently with differently colored and differently styled hair. Many collectors re-root brand new dolls; others tweak their looks slightly with paint or just by restyling the hair.  If no one had told me that this version of Vanessa was redone "in order to keep the family resemblance" (with Veronique) going, I wouldn't have known the difference. I would have thought that they chose to paint her lips without the teeth showing. She's got the same huge eyebrows, the same nose, the same everything. I don't think she looks like Vero II. I didn't think the original looked like Vanessa either.

And if I am wrong (!?%#*!?* ) then the designers are shooting themselves in the collective foot by messing with the most popular character ever since the beginning of Fashion Royalty and one has to wonder what the thought process is or if anyone is even thinking.


Last year when I was still carrying on a one-woman protest about the retiring of Veronique's sculpt, I sarcastically posted that they should just go ahead and retire Vanessa at the same time. Whoa!!! There was a small uprising from the rank and file...no, don't change Vanessa, blah, blah. It was obvious that no one wanted to see her change.

Let's look at the rest of the new Fashion Royalty line which will have applied eyelashes although not for the purposes of photography. There are 12 dressed dolls and two separate fashions.
Three female and two male  dolls are new characters! Someone has definitely been working overtime.

Quiet Storm Annik™  London Mist Imogen™  Easy Elegance Korinne™

Nothing here is exciting even if it is new. Tights, shorts, short coats. Whatever.  Each doll retails for $110.

Silent Partner Romain Perrin™ &  Fast Track Victor James™ $125. each.

Romain is very interesting and if I collected male figures, I'd definitely be interested. I would like a more mature looking male but I love what he's wearing and the look is very cool. Victor looks like Clark Kent, mild-mannered reporter for a major metropolitan newspaper.  Any minute now he'll step into into a phone booth (if he can find one) whip open his trench and fly out as Superman-With-A-Tan. (SWAT) His coat looks very ill-fitting unless the guy has the most amazing pecs.

It was fun looking for this picture.

In The Trenches and True Blues Luxury Wear™ Fashion $75. each.

Cute in a little girl, Nu-Face and Dynamite Girl way. 

Pencil Me In Eugenia Perrin Frost™   Scene Stealer Isha™    Porcelain Beauty Kesenia™    High Brow Adèle Makéda®

Eugenia still retains her gorgeous face (for now)but the hairstyle is supremely unattractive. Isha doesn't look like Isha anymore. Kesenia is frightening-looking with that mouth, but I love the outfit and I ordered her. I'm on the fence about Adele. She looks like the classic beauty Adele that I love and I do like the outfit. I just can't make up my mind. I have a feeling that Korrine's jacket matches Adele's pants but I'm not buying Korinne just for the jacket. These dolls are $110. each.

Leading Man Lukas Maverick™   Dress Code Vanessa Perrin®     Breaking The Mold Véronique Perrin®

Lukas ($125.) comes in colors. Vanessa ($110.) has been discussed already. Veronique isn't Veronique ($110.) She will always be an impostor to me.

Estimated delivery of all dolls appears to be the Second Quarter of 2011. (April, May, June)

W Club members were just sent this photo by David Buttry of the Integrity booth at IDEX. I hope we get some better pics later.
For Integrity to make an appearance at IDEX is a good public relations move.

Integrity Toys is continuing the vampire collection but this time the line is not affiliated with Ashton-Drake. It's called Dracula and His Brides: The Eternal Love Collection. Each doll is a LE500 and is priced at $125. Contact your favorite doll dealer to preorder.

The Count

The Contessa

Lucy

Mina

The photography is excellent for this series.
They fashions are very cute. I really like the Count. It's too bad that there isn't the option for NO FANGS.

The red chairs are the same chairs we received at the convention in black, honoring the Sherrilyn Kenyon Dark Hunter series of books. These do not have the DH logo, of course. They are available in unlimited quantities to members of the W Club through the IT store.

I don't know what I will be ordering. What about you?

Members of the W Club received notification of the following Monogram dolls and an accessory pack:

This doll is called Discreet. Integrity says that is is based upon last year's doll, Disclosure. They are calling this one a companion doll.  $99.

Discreet on Left; Disclosure on Right (Integrity Toys Images)

Magnificent is a Dressed Doll who is wearing the same gown as the 2010 convention Smoldering centerpiece. The colors are different. This doll retails for $160.
If you don't have this gown, I recommend it. It's quite beautiful the construction is wonderful.

"Magnificent" (Integrity Toys Images)

"Smoldering"

The Accessory Pack includes the resin bust, wig, hat, handbag, shoes and jewelry. Retail price $75. (!)

(Integrity Toys Images)

An interesting addition to the W Club email was the announcement that Integrity would have a booth at IDEX. Sounds like they are joining the world of doll manufacturers. Will there be surprises? Will the W Club get all the information before anyone attending IDEX?  This is going to be very interesting.

Are you going to pre-order any of the above offerings?  I made a decision two months ago that my Monogram collection was complete and unless something amazing came along, I wouldn't be adding new Monograms. I'm going to try to stick to that! I'll let you know how that goes. LOL.

I did treat myself to a new Cissy. It was an impulsive act and I blame it on my friend Ana whose shipping buddy I am. She had me order a bunch of stuff for her last week from Two Daydreamers which I did. I also browsed their excellent sales and unfortunately I did not escape unscathed. I ordered the 21" Vice Cissy. She had been residing on my wish list for almost one year. I know I will love her when she gets here but she needs a poodle instead of that whatever that dog is.

Vice Cissy ~ Madame Alexander / Jason Wu

Wow! This week has been spectacular for 16" dolls in my collection.
Bijou is the latest Avantguard doll from Integrity Toys. She's been on pre-order for what seems like an eternity. When I saw her at the convention I was very happy because she looked great. Now that she's here, I can confirm that she is the best looking Avantguard since Goldmine. I'm basing that not only on her face but on her fashion as well. In fact, this may be the most beautiful AG fashion yet.


The fabric feels like silk chiffon. It varies in color from hot pink to hot orange and somewhere in between. I should have steamed the gown but I was too lazy. It fits her like a dream. When I post a picture of the back of a gown, you have to know how beautiful it truly is.

The black embroidery is in scale and nicely applied. Her shoes aren't my taste but they are different and well made. You will have to use the adjustable toe foot to fit into these shoes.

The metal rose jewelry has shown up on enough dolls already. Time for a change.

The single misstep is the cut of the wig. I get the idea; it's supposed to be shorter in the back and gradually lengthen towards the front. In the picture above you can see the background color showing through the wig around her neck. Normally I'd Photoshop that in to match the hair. I would prefer to have the cut of the wig be more even at the sides as it gradually gets to the back. But I do have other wigs.

If you're on the fence about this doll - jump now. She's a keeper.

I do have an extra one for sale. Email me.

W Club members were sent an email announcing a new website featuring Misaki and Amelie´. It is Integrity Toys Japan (which is not affiliated with the club.)  Most of it is in Japanese but the pictures of the dolls are wonderful. You can also see prices in Japanese Yen which can easily be converted to your own currency at Yahoo Finance or any of a number of sites offering conversion tables.

Integrity Toys Japan

The year was 2005 - a year of amazing Fashion Royalty dolls including:
 Born to Gamble Kyori
 Flirtatious Veronique
Bodacious  Adele
Age of Opulence Isha


Amazing gift sets including:
Poesie Sans Couleur Vanessa

Ginza Blond and Redhead Kyori

A Fashionable Life Raven and Platinum.
It was also the year for furniture including the chaise, coffee table, liquor cabinet and bed.

I started collecting FR in earnest that year as well. I got the platinum AFL right away but it took several years to get her sister. This week, they were both redressed in Talking Drama Adele's gown. I dyed the steel blue version.
I love these dolls. There is something about handling the 'older' Fashion Royalty dolls and redressing them that is very satisfying and comfortable.



 I think I'll do Poesie next.

I searched couture images everywhere this afternoon looking for a style that could have been the inspiration for Anja's gown. There are plenty of hem lines that are shorter in the front. The photo below shows last season's Avantguard "Hot to Trot" in profile compared to "Regal Solstice."

Hot to Trot and Regal Solstice

Another collector sent me this image of a Balenciaga design which certainly inspired "Hot to Trot."
The Dior below has many design similarities and may be the closest couture item that could be identified as inspiration for Regal.
I could not find the shape of the bodice which resembles opened petals that stand away from the body. I'm starting to think that the factory may not have interpreted the look properly. I believe the images we were presented with are prototypes.
The Valentino dresses below show a wrapped style that could be related to Anja's gown as far as the gathered, ruffly upper part. But these dresses have a closer fitted bodice that is very flattering to the female body and works with the rest of the fashion. Hopefully, there will be an adjustment in the bodice on the finished product for Anja.


If I could sew really well, I'd fit the bodice to the body more closely. Then I would add many more layers of tulle under the chartreuse as can be seen in the black/yellow Dior above. I'd get rid of the black straps that look like a bra and pick up one of the brighter colors.

I give the designer/s an A for effort. Now if only the factory could interpret the designers' wishes to provide us with an edgy as opposed to messy fashion.

Some Armani and Dior eye candy for your enjoyment follows:

I have received a swell of support not only on yesterday's post but on Facebook and to my personal email address. I have been called fearless and open in these messages but let me tell you the truth, I am full of fear and for the most part, there's good reason. I walk through the fear when the perceived consequences don't seem so bad. It's a very interesting experience to have said that a doll is ugly and then to be attacked personally. Today I was accused of "voicing an adverse opinion on almost every doll that's produced and taking it to such a gross and personal level." My statement was taken personally by others and was being grandstanded on the board. I stayed away from the W Board for months. I forgot why until now.
At least some admit they are IT cheerleaders. That's a great attitude.  They don't take themselves so seriously. They're not holier than thou. Take what you need and leave the rest. You like a doll, buy it. The rest of the collectors don't have to like it.

I'm that way when it comes to poodles as a breed of dogs. I think they're wonderful. You can say what you want or mix up a poodle with some other dog and you won't get me down or make me insult you or tell you how to behave. I will tell you that mixing a poodle with another dog will get you a mutt. Likewise if you wish to re-root your doll or repaint it, I don't get insulted because you didn't like the original. You thought you could make it better. Maybe you did. But it's not what the designer produced. Do you think they care? You paid for the doll. In the end, the manufacturer looks at the bottom line.

(Note: I am not saying that repaints are mutts. I'm talking about poodles. Mutts are great dogs anyway.)

If you look through my blog and my Flickr, would you think that I have adverse opinions on almost every doll that's produced? Why do I post my gorgeous photos all over the place?

Exaggeration is a backhanded form of dishonesty. There are a few people who are in a snit over my blog. Go away and don't read it. You can always write your own opinion of a doll and/or post a response to my posts. I won't attack you or tell you how to express yourself. 

When I write my reviews, I don't bounce them off the opinions of others. I take credit and responsibility for my opinions. I don't preface them with "I don't agree with what so-and-so said." I don't have to. So-and-so can say what they want to say and so can I. If you like the doll, write about it. Don't waste your time writing about me. I've wasted enough time on this topic for all of us.

Posted by Permission of Petra

Every so often some goody two shoes will criticize my style of expression and tell me how I should express myself or that I shouldn't express myself at all because I am hurting the feelings of a doll designer.
In a recent episode, I posted a simple statement that I thought a doll was ugly. It wasn't someone's doll that they had posted a picture of; it was a specific doll from a manufacturer. I could have said that I didn't like her sculpt and I thought it was ugly. I could have said that I didn't like the extreme paleness of her vinyl or that I thought the dress looked cheap and that's what made her ugly. I definitely could have expressed it differently and explained why I thought she was ugly. But I just came out and said it simply. She is ugly.  I happen to like the performer that she is said to represent but I don't see the resemblance.

Others in the thread like the doll and some did not. There was a mix of opinion. I'm lucky in that I don't need to tell others how to express themselves and I certainly don't need to protect the manufacturer or the designers from the opinions of others. If they were being attacked personally, that would be a different story but this was about a product being offered for sale.

In this particular case, the critic wanted me to be positive in my criticism and constructive.  Well I positively think that this doll should not be constructed again. 

She said:
"There's another colloquialism that comes to mind here. Something to the effect that opinions aren't special and everyone has them. To say that you think something is ugly doesn't provide any insight. Also it's not very nice or constructive to the designers who have spent countless hours creating the doll. They've worked hard to bring the doll into existence and I think it's only fair that we should have to substantiate our opinions with arguments and evidence that we've actually given the matter some thought. " (The red highlight is mine.)

Is she talking about assholes on a doll board? If you don't know it, the actual expression is "Opinions are like assholes; everyone has one. "  Or "Opinions are like assholes; they all stink." So all of her thoughts aren't angelic. She's pretty snide if you ask me and definitely baiting the hook. I substantiate my opinion about a doll with my pocketbook. I bought the doll; she didn't.

However, the truth behind her criticism lay elsewhere. Apparently I jumped her on the line at the Integrity store! OMG I'm so ashamed of myself. Seriously, if that happened, it was not intentional. Many people got in front of where we were waiting.

I'm am ashamed to admit that at about 10 AM I sat down in the hall with my friend Dante and a few others near the store to wait on line for a few hours (!) until the store opened. There were very few people already seated near the door and there were some people sitting on couches around the corner from the door. Later on I was told that those people on couches were on line. Well, when we stood up and the door opened we stood aside and those people went in first.  

Well I certainly apologize if I bought the doll she wanted. Oh wait, there were a few hundred of each doll. And no, I didn't run right up to the register like some to buy the grab bags. I didn't even know there were grab bags.
 My critic wrote:
"I know that you write for FDQ. As a writer I expect more from you. And I also know that you love the Integrity dolls as I do. I know that because I saw you while I was waiting in line with my husband to get into the souvenir shop at the convention (first you were behind us then you were ahead of us). My point is, doll collecting should be fun. Bring more of the love and less of the negativity. If you must be critical, please at least make an effort to be kind and constructive about it."

I have to be a little snide here myself and say that her grammar is not all that good. The construction of that sentence means that she is a writer and expects more of me. There should be a comma after the word writer.  Maybe she is a writer but I don't think that's what she meant. She wants to hold me to a higher standard.

When I read the part about being ahead of her on line, I realized that she was not really talking about a doll at all. This was her personal resentment at me for being jumped (if I actually did that) or an attempt to raise herself to the heavenly level of collectors (aka sycophants) who are always lovely and loving.  I swear, I'm not making this up. I hope she takes me up on my invitation to discuss this issue via personal email.

Let me just say this about brown nosing: it works with at least one of the employees of that company.  

"I took a few shortcuts on the foundation. No one will ever notice." Cartoon: by Larry Hehn on August 4, 2010

So what is FR2?

If only I could stop calling it FR two and start calling it FR Squared. The problem is that the numeral 2 is in the numeric form and not the squared form and I hated algebra anyway.
Fashion Royalty times itself. Hmmm...twice as good? Twice as expensive? Twice as hard to get?

I have played with Dasha the FR2 doll from the convention collection and I am very impressed with her body. First of all it's a very pretty body. She's got a lovely chest and graceful limbs. The range of movement is excellent. I don't like her hands. They're a little rubbery and the fingers are spread out.  That's useful for putting rings on her fingers but the other hands held things better.
My overall impression is that this body rocks! Congratulations to Integrity Toys for introducing a terrific body for 12 inch dolls. Now let's see the same on the Avantguards.



 Dasha's feet are a bit longer which makes many shoes from prior outfits unwearable. What I would do is carve a bit off the back of her heel. If done carefully and sanded smooth, it won't show. Or we could petition IT to tweak the mold and bring the feet back to the prior size. That won't work. On the other hand...all the shoes I have that were too big will now fit. Still, many of our older shoes will fit. The fit of the clothes remains to be seen.

I'm sensing that FR2 is the demarcation between the end of Fashion Royalty as we know it and a reorganization of their lines. And in a way it's an invitation to those of us whose collections are out of hand to back away from continuing to accumulate more and more and just concentrate on the finest dolls (and less of them.) In the last two years since the disappearance of Veronique, we have seen a big change in the FR line besides the introduction of the Monogram dolls. Many of the fashions have been less than what we had come to expect. Jason's absence was palpable in the Fashion Royalty line except in the dolls from the 2009 convention and some exclusives. But the FR2 line seems to be his work. Except for the styling of the centerpiece "Dark Swan" Elyse Jolie FR2 doll, they're all classy and beautifully designed.

These dolls come with an adjustable height stand that supports dolls under their arms. These stands are OK if the fashion is not heavy or doesn't  have a large skirt because the vertical support bar is up against the body and pushes the fashion forward from the rear. I'm glad I have dozens of left over stands from earlier dolls. 

What do you think of the longer eyelashes, larger feet, flat, spread-fingered hands and the new line in general?

They are not available for purchase yet and we were not told the date upon which they would be released.  I don't know how much they will be but I'm quite sure they won't be cheap.