ITBE Wave 2: a W Club exclusive by Integrity Toys

After the success of the three ITBE dolls released early this year (but presented to W Club members in late 2013), the experiment of releasing older sculpts in different bodies and skintones goes on. Integrity Toys informed the W Club members that four new dolls are to be available exclusively to them through a lottery for the right to buy. These will not be available to non club members in contrast to the previous release. Each doll is a 300 pieces edition. Let's see them all:

Item # 15023
Second Skin
Basic Edition Dressed Doll
IT Direct Exclusive
Limited Edition of 300 Dolls
Suggested Retail Price: $75.00 USD
Estimated Ship Date: in-stock March 2014

Doll Tech Specs:
Body Type: Old FR Body with Larger Bust
Head Sculpt: Vanessa 1.0
Quick Switch Feature: No
Skin Tone: A-Tone
Hair Color: Deep Brunette
Eyelashes: Yes, Hand-Applied
Package Dimensions: 13.5" X 4" X 2.25"

"Second Skin" comes dressed in a faux snake skin sheath belted dress, red shoes and a doll stand. Fully articulated doll with rooted hair and hand applied eyelashes. For adult collectors ages 14 and up.This is again a surefire hit with the collectors: an AA original sculpt Vanessa. I bet she will be the most coveted of the bunch, like Isha was in the first wave. The dress has the same cut as Adele's from before but in a different fabric. I want her very much!

Item # 15025
Morning Dove
Basic Edition Dressed Doll
IT Direct Exclusive
Limited Edition of 300 Dolls
Suggested Retail Price: $75.00 USD
Estimated Ship Date: in-stock March 2014

Doll Tech Specs:
Body Type: Old FR Body with Larger Bust Head
Sculpt: Kyori 1.0
Quick Switch Feature: No
Skin Tone: FR Black
Hair Color: Raven
Eyelashes: Yes, Hand-Applied
Package Dimensions: 13.5" X 4" X 2.25"

This AA Kyori comes dressed in a jacquard belted cocktail dress, with matching shoes and a doll stand. Fully articulated doll with rooted hair and hand applied eyelashes. For adult collectors ages 14 and up.She lis the original Kyori sculpt so I am falling for this one hard. Plus she's never had this skin-tone before (only Latina releases untl now). The dress is of course the Isha one in a different fabric. I like the fact that the shoes all these dolls wear are not the same as the previous release. And they look great too.

Item # 15026
Red Strike
Basic Edition Dressed Doll
IT Direct Exclusive
Limited Edition of 300 Dolls
Suggested Retail Price: $75.00 USD
Estimated Ship Date: in-stock March 2014

Doll Tech Specs:
Body Type: FR Monogram
Head Sculpt: Janay
Quick Switch Feature: No
Skin Tone: Miami
Hair Color: Shimmering Blond
Eyelashes: Yes, Hand-Applied
Package Dimensions: 13.5" X 4" X 2.25"

Janay is the very first Integrity sculpt, long before Fashion Royalty dolls were even a concept. So there is some sentimental value added to this particular release. She is dressed in a sassy red and black version of the pleated cocktail dress that Natalia was wearing the previous time in B&W. It includes belt, shoes and a doll stand. Fully articulated doll with rooted hair and hand applied eyelashes. For adult collectors ages 14 and up. If one of the two previous dolls were not part of this wave, I might have tried my luck with this one even though I already have the dress too. The shoes look like they might be like wave 1 Adele's in red.

Item # 15027
Night Strike
Basic Edition Dressed Doll
IT Direct Exclusive
Limited Edition of 300 Dolls
Suggested Retail Price: $75.00 USD
Estimated Ship Date: in-stock March 2014

Doll Tech Specs:
Body Type: FR Monogram
Head Sculpt: FR Monogram
Quick Switch Feature: No
Skin Tone: FR White
Hair Color: Silver
Eyelashes: Yes
Package Dimensions: 13.5" X 4" X 2.25"

Night Strike comes dressed in the pleated cocktail dress we have seen before (third strike out?) in new colours, that comes with belt, shoes and a doll stand. Fully articulated doll with rooted hair and hand applied eyelashes. For adult collectors ages 14 and up.A pure Monogram doll, I am passing on this one too as I already have a platinum haired Monogram. Looks great though.

**All photos and information contained herein is copyrighted Integrity Toys, Inc. and Intercap Merchant Partners, LLC 2014 and may not be reprinted or disseminated without express written permission.**

Celebrating Barbie's 55th birthday: Hervé Léger Barbie

March 9th is the official Barbie birthday. This year it is her 55th anniversary. So what better way to take part into the celebrations than photographing one of the best Barbie dolls Mattel has released: the Hervé Léger Barbie. I had written all about the doll and the release in this post, so here I am just going to post a selection of photos I took of her and comment on the actual doll.

The quality of the doll dresses is incredible. Of course having them made by a fashion house instead of Mattel played a major part and it shows. Top notch craftsmanship, flawless outfits, amazing standards of quality of fabric and stitching. The brand said they used their original yarns and machines to make theme and I do believe them after having seen them with my own eyes.

  

The "leather" corset that is worn over the dress has a nice functioning mini zip at the back so that one can take it off without problem. It is an almost faithful reproduction of the ones the brand showed in their fashion show.

The boots are made of plastic but they have nice detail and are made very well. They slide of the feet without too much effort but one has to be careful to not tear them apart.

The clutch that comes with this outfit is a hard-edged, "metal and leather" design, edgy and modern. It is not functioning and has no way to be fastened to the doll's hands. The stiff Model Muse body without joints does not help either. 

Here is the dress without the corset. The doll is wearing the second pair of boots that comes in the gift-set, ribbed ankle boots.

 

Both dresses have the brand's label sewn in on the inside. Great detail and very realistic too.

The second dress is a black and white short one, with wide shoulder to chest bands that stop right under the breasts. It is as well made as the other one and looks amazing too.

The one big flaw of this gift set is of course the doll's body. Without joints, it quickly becomes really boring as it has a very limited ability for posing. It may show off the dress nicely in the box but there are many people, like me, who like to pose and display their dolls outside of the box. I am probably going to rebody this one.

 

The doll's face is perfection. She looks gorgeous and reminds me a lot of the supermodel Angela Lindvall. Her hair is intricately braided and has highlights woven in. It messes up easily but it also can be tamed without any problems. She definitely deserves a better, articulated body.

The bag for this outfit is a large, "crocodile leather" concoction, a bit cumbersome to hold, definitely not suited for un-articulated dolls. Wonder how a real human would carry such a bag. Below you can see all the accessories of the gift-set.

For me, this is the direction that the collectors-only Barbie dolls should take. Modern, edgy fashions and doll design, without the cutesy and frothy stuff that is associated with the brand. But I am sure I am a minority in voicing this. Happy 55th birthday Barbie!

Think Pink - Sunny Harnet ready for the red carpet

One of the most memorable musical numbers in the Funny Face film is "Think Pink". If you remember, a year ago, Integrity Toys release a series of seven dolls inspired from the film and its costumes, as part of their Paramount license. So it was only natural that one outfit at least from the Think Pink sequence would be selected. Well, actually there are two, a pink suit and an evening gown. Here, as a tribute to the Oscar cermony that takes place tonight, we focus on the latter, in a recen photo shoot I did.

The doll is evoking the model Sunny Harnett who appears in the film along more famous models Suzy Parker and Dovima (who has a speaking role). Sunny appears with many outfits in the sequence but most notably the outfit shown here. This look is composed of a pink satin two-piece gown with a transformable pink faux fur peplum that turns into a cape, as shown in the film. Pink opera length gloves (the usual oven mitt variety), bright pink satin shoes and a jewellery set (clear bauble necklace and rhinestone stud earrings) complete the outfit. 

The 12" fully articulated vinyl doll has rooted hair and hand-applied eyelashes and sports the FR: Monogram body (with Victoire Roux legs) and the Imogen head sculpt.She does reming me of Sunny Harnett a lot and the gown is a faithful representation of the one shown in the film. She looks ready to pick up an Oscar! The last close-up of her shows her necklace backwards, it was a mistake but I liked the photo so here it goes.

 

 

 

Barbie poses for the 50th Anniversary Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue

Throughout her illustrious career as the world's most famous doll, Mattel's Barbie doll has been through a fair share of different and challenging career opportunities, ranging from air stewardess to doctor to architect and even presidential candidate for the USA. Barbie's latest gig though, as a Sports Illustrated swimsuit model has attracted an unusual number of comments, articles and posts, in an equally wide number of reactions. 

Mattel and Sports Illustrated collaborated this year for the magazine's annual Swimsuit Issue that includes a special editorial spread shot by legendary sports photographer Walter Iooss Jr. featuring 22 Barbie dolls. It also includes photos of Barbies dressed like former SI Swimsuit models of years past and a cover wrap that will appear on 1,000 copies of the issue, declaring Barbie to be “The Doll That Started It All”. So why this and why now? The Sports Illustrated feature is part of Barbie's "Unapologetic" campaign, an effort on behalf of Mattel to counter criticism that the doll's unrealistic figure gives young girls the wrong image about how their bodies should look. Sports Illustrated supposedly presents Barbie as an empowered woman who is unashamed of her appearance or actions. Mattel also released a Swimsuit Issue Barbie, now available for purchase exclusively on Target.com.

It is very ironic that these two powerhouses, targets of complaints about their depictions of women, are joining forces to become “unapologetic” about who they are. Barbie as a doll-size version of the magazine’s supermodels like Tyra Banks and Christie Brinkley, is not something new - she was always centred on fashion and even has a body type (there are multiple body types for the different Barbies out there) called Model Muse.  Mattel said in a statement that posing in the issue “gives Barbie and her fellow legends an opportunity to own who they are, celebrate what they have done and be #unapologetic.” There's an op-ed from Barbie herself too.

Mattel has been trying hard for a while by connecting Barbie to other brands to help its efforts aimed at redefining the doll's image, making it more appealing to contemporary consumers while also fighting back concerns about the unrealistic attitudes about the female body that Barbie promotes. “We’re always challenging ourselves to think differently about Barbie and how we can continue to keep her relevant,” said Lisa McKnight, senior vice president of marketing for North America at Mattel. Of course it all comes down to business. Mattel's reshaping of Barbie’s image tries to counter bad sales results during the past holiday season, falling short of expectations among investors and corporate management. “The reality is, we just didn't sell enough Barbie dolls,” Bryan G. Stockton, chief executive, said in a conference call with analysts on Jan. 31. Barbie sales fell 13 percent in the fourth quarter of 2013, compared with the same period in 2012. 

John Joannides, associate publisher at Sports Illustrated in New York, published by the Time Inc. division of Time Warner, said: that this event was “a very exciting creative collaboration, one icon to another.” A section of the Sports Illustrated website will feature related content as well as a blog, Swim Daily. Mattel paid for the opportunity to integrate Barbie into the commemoration of the magazine's 50th anniversary but no amount has been disclosed so far. Below are a couple of videos with the doll from SI

Integrity Toys February 2014 reveal: W Club exclusive Evening In Montreal Victoire Roux

This gorgeous doll was first hinted at during the annual W Club luncheon at the 2013 Integrity Toys convention in Los Angeles. Club members have been anticipating her actual unveil ever since and speculating about the way she would be made available to them.  At the 12th of February reveal, this exquisite Victoire Roux™ doll was announced as the first official "product launch day" event doll of 2014, through a lottery for the right to buy. And yes, I entered the lottery. Fingers crossed. Also note that the next release will be through an exclusive W Club webinar in April 2014.

Item # 76009
Evening in Montreal Victoire Roux™
Dressed Doll 
IT Direct Exclusive
Limited Edition of 600 Dolls
Estimate Ship Date: Approximately the Third Week of February 2014
Suggest Retail Price: US $99.00 + Shipping and Handling* *(+ applicable sales tax for Maryland residents only).

Doll Tech Specs:
Body Type: IT/Victoire 
Head Sculpt: Victoire Roux™ 
Quick Switch Feature: No 
Skin Tone: FR White 
Hair Color: Platinum 
Eyelashes: Yes, Hand-applied

"Evening in Montreal" Victoire Roux™ is a fully articulated 12-inch vinyl doll with a bright platinum rooted updo hairstyle, topped with a newly designed gilded hair bow ornament covered in faux-diamonds. This edition of the ever so chic retro fashionista is dressed in a sassy tulle overlayed cocoa cocktail dress, jazzed up by little fur bolero and matching elbow length chocolate pleather gloves. Miss Victoire's look is completed by intricate gold earrings and matching gold patent open-toe pumps. A doll stand is also included. Recommended for adult collectors ages 14 and up only.

**Please note that the photos are of prototype dolls and subject to changes and modifications. All photos and information contained herein is copyrighted Integrity Toys, Inc. and Intercap Merchant Partners, LLC 2014 and may not be reprinted or disseminated without express written permission.**