Hollywood Dolls

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?

The Contessa arrived today, fangs and all. It's a shame I don't like fangs (on dolls, that is) because there is a lot to like about this doll!

But you can send me Eric -> or Bill -> with fangs, without fangs...any old, dead way.

The packaging is very nice with the window box showing the entire doll. Box has a magnetic closure.
Contessa's gown is a 4 layered affair - the lining, the underskirt, the wine-colored layer and an over-layer of black mesh. The trim is nicely applied around the edges of the skirt layers and there's a tiny trim of lacy edging at the bodice. The corset looks like a separate piece but is sewn on and has stitching that resembles boning. Overall the quality is excellent. Her shoes are faux leather with a decorative detail and ribbon ties. The fashion is completed with long black gloves, black stud earrings and a simple multi-strand chain choker.

The body is the surprise. She's got a full-sized Fashion Royalty bust with a slim waist and hips.The hip joints have more movement than do those of Fashion Royalty dolls and this doll can sit at a 45° angle. Nice. I am impressed with the total package in spite of the high retail price of $149.99. Many dealers are discounting the doll by $20 or more.
There is a Certificate of Authenticity but no edition size. All the CoA says is that once this edition is closed, no more will be made. That means it's an open edition. No surprise there.
See you at Fangtasia?

I like his sneakers and that's about it. The pretty boy face belies the raging wolf inside. He doesn't even look native American. But then again I didn't like the Edward or Bella dolls either.
Jacob Black has Tonner's athletic male body and is 17" tall.
The retail price is $149.99 and there are 3000 of them being produced.
My suggestion...wait 4 months for the first discount. In one year you will be able to get him for much less.
Mattel has a Barbie Twilight Jacob Doll. He's $29.95, 12" tall and looks even dorkier than Tonner's.

I had seen promo pictures of the the three Brides of Dracula dolls before seeing them in person and decided that I wouldn't be getting them. The last set of vampires that attracted me were from the pen and mind of Anne Rice. I have a vampire slayer in my collection and she's staying. I can't imagine the violence that would occur in my showcases should these 'ladies' arrive on the scene.
But...when I saw the dolls in person, I liked the fashions on two of them enough to consider purchasing them just for the clothing. They look better in person than in the photos.
I don't think these dolls go far enough toward representing vampires. They're just pretty dolls with fangs in gothy fashions. At a price of $149.99, one really needs to like fanged dolls with red or yellow eyes.
The dolls are manufactured by Integrity Toys and distributed by Ashton-Drake Galleries. However, some individual dealers are selling them. They have the 12" Fashion Royalty body. I will find out if these are limited editions.

The blurbs about each doll are very strange. Very, very strange. Some excerpts: "This is one lady that you will never see wearing a crucifix." "...the perfect fashion for feasting on human flesh." "...do we see some dried up blood in the creases of her lips?" Who wrote this garbage? By the way, vampires do not eat flesh.

Why can't a female vampire have several male vampires for husbands? Is this the vampire version of Big Love?

According to a W Club Update email sent out yesterday, Jason Wu has "taken on a consulting position for the coming year with Madame Alexander, to help guide and update the direction of a few of their doll lines, including Cissy."

Does this mean that Cissy will get a waist, thin legs and turquoise eye shadow?
Noooooooooo.
Will we get a Mini Cissy?
Wait a minute...there already is a Mini Cissy. She's called Cissette.
So what's he going to do?
Cissy the Vampire? Couture Noir already looks a little like a vampire.

The best thing that MA could do with Cissy would be to lower the price. And that dorky-looking male Cissy, aka Distinguished Gentleman. OMG. What were they thinking? A hot-looking Homme would have been better suited to the $449. price tag on this girly-boy.Maybe Jason will work on the Alex line.....smaller heads...nicer hands. I hope the clothing designer remains, though, because MA clothes are fabulous.

Here's a rumor you can start:
Madame Alexander will pick up the Gene line.
Don't forget, I made that up...if you spread it, it's not my fault.

I wanted to add that I am aware that Night Warrior is supposed to represent Anna Valerious, a vampire hunter from the movie Van Helsing.
Her cross was not a fashion statement but rather form of protection. According to Bob Bankard "the Christian cross - which represented the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ - was an anathema to those who have experienced demonic resurrection."
Sideshow Toys made a similarly sized 12" doll that sold for $40. Someone on Amazon is trying to sell it for $250. You can find different sized ones scattered about but this one is the best - that is until Vanessa came along.

Until recently Vampires were the stuff of horror novels and movies. Stories of the undead go way back in mythology and folklore but according to Wikipedia, the "charismatic and sophisticated vampire of modern fiction was born in 1819 with the publication of The Vampyre by John Polidori..." "However, it is Bram Stoker's 1897 novel Dracula that is remembered as the quintessential vampire novel and provided the basis of the modern vampire legend."

My Mom told me that when she was a teen she saw the original Dracula movie and was truly terrified. It was reported in newspapers that at the opening of this film, members of the audience actually fainted at seeing the horror. Bella Lugosi could scare the crap out of a door knob without saying a word.