Asher Of New England presents their male BJD doll: Kent

Asher Of New England is Leigh Slaughter's company, specializing in fashion doll jewellery for 1/4 scale dolls. Today Leigh officially presents his first ever BJD doll, a male called Kent. Asher of New England Homme (as the line is named) will consist of urethane resin male fashion Ball Jointed Dolls created by R.L. Slaughter. These dolls are hand sculpted and produced in limited runs by the artist, made to compliment current female fashion BJDs. Let's meet Kent.

Kent is a fusion of popular modern male fashion models, and actors. These dolls stand 17.5" tall and are made of urethane resin. With hand painted faces, full body blushing, and applied eyelashes. Kent has 21 points of articulation (one of which is his penis!), and comes in hand made fashions. Kent is cast in pale urethane, and is hand blushed, and strung, with hand painted blue eyes, dark brows, and has hand applied eyelashes. Included is a black pompadour wig by Ilaria of timeofdoll.it. Kent's outfit consists of dark fitted denim jeans, a hand knitted black merino funnel neck cardigan sweater jacket, with hand applied leather patches, and a working zip, Turquoise geometric cut work scarf, white undergarments by Karen Kolkman of Kolkman Kreations and harness boots by Dalila Meece of DalilaDolls. Kent will arrive in a custom padded box with stand. Kent Fall/Winter 2014/2015 is a limited edition of 5 dolls in stock and ready to ship. Order him here.

Kent is indeed a handsome doll: I love his sculpt and he poses so well - even stands by himself! Wish I could afford him! Cannot wait to see photos from people who will buy this lovely male doll.

Barbie Collector's convention doll images released for the first time prior to the events!

It is a common know fact to doll convention attendees that the dolls they are getting as the best perk of participating at such events are kept secret up until the moment they are given to them, mostly at the last dinner/gala/party of said event. Nothing beats the ooooohs and aaaaahs of happy conventioneers unpacking their dolls and marvelling at their beauty and style. Well, it seems that Mattel just took away the very pleasure. As from this year, they took over designing and making the dolls for all official Barbie conventions in the world. And just a few days before the Japanese event, they released on Facebook photos of the convention dolls - the ones that will be given to ALL conventions this year (I understand that the Spanish and Italian ones will be slightly different). I see no rationale behind this - it is not even making them any favours on social media. I'm not a Barbie collector (I do buy some dolls from Mattel but I'm not a regular collector of them) so it does not bother me at all, but I guess it does bother the actual collectors.

The doll (in its variety of hair and skin colours) clearly is inspired by Marlene Dietrich and her tuxedo from the film Morocco:

The problems that the dolls are still non-articulated. Having done the pivotal Jazz Barbie dolls some years back, I think they could have done the convention dolls like them too. So instead of looking like elderly ladies with their canes, they'd have the jazzy, crazy style in all their glory. Alas. It would be nice to secure the outfit in the future - let's hope the top hats are not plastic.

ITBE 2015: new dolls announced from Integrity Toys

ITBE is the Integrity Toys Basic Edition line, their bottom price line of fashion dolls. They used to be totally different dolls than their mainline counterparts but, these last few years, they have developed in dolls usually created by mixing older sculpts and bodies of various IT lines. This year the line is made up of six basic lingerie dolls, all priced at $99 - a mark up from the $75 from last year. There's even one new sculpt among them, Finley Prince, who could either be one for the American Horror Story line (satanic smile) or the CI line (that name!). Each style has a limited edition of less then 500 dolls - a bit vague. Will they be 350 or 450? All are fully articulated vinyl dolls on the older FR tall body, with long,rooted hair and hand-applied eyelashes. They are wearing detailed lingerie, stockings, high heeled shoes and they come with a doll stand. Remember these are for adult collectors ages 15 and up. They are only available to W Club members via a lottery for the right to buy. I did not like any one of these so much as to enter the lottery (their make up is mostly garish), so wallet is safe this time. Let's see the new ladies.

Item #15030
Love Roulette
The ITBE Collection
IT Direct Exclusive
Ship Date: Approximately the Week of March 23rd, 2015
Limited edition of less than 500 dolls per style

Doll Tech Specs:
Body Type: FR (Older Tall Body Version)
Head Sculpt: Vanessa Perrin 2.0
Quick Switch Feature: No
Skin Tone: Light Honey
Hair Color: Sandy Blond
Eyelashes: Yes, Hand Applied

Item #15031
Audacious
The ITBE Collection
IT Direct Exclusive
Ship Date: Approximately the Week of March 23rd, 2015
Limited edition of less than 500 dolls per style

Doll Tech Specs:
Body Type: FR (Older Tall Body Version)
Head Sculpt: Finley Prince (New Sculpt!)
Quick Switch Feature: No
Skin Tone: FR Black
Hair Color: Walnut
Eyelashes: Yes, Hand Applied

Item #15035
Dark Side
The ITBE Collection
IT Direct Exclusive
Ship Date: Approximately the Week of March 23rd, 2015
Limited edition of less than 500 dolls per style

Doll Tech Specs:
Body Type: FR (Older Tall Body Version)
Head Sculpt: Anja
Quick Switch Feature: No
Skin Tone: Porcelain
Hair Color: Platinum
Eyelashes: Yes, Hand Applied

Item #15036
My Desire
The ITBE Collection
IT Direct Exclusive
Ship Date: Approximately the Week of March 23rd, 2015
Limited edition of less than 500 dolls per style

Doll Tech Specs:
Body Type: FR (Older Tall Body Version)
Head Sculpt: Isha
Quick Switch Feature: No
Skin Tone: A-Tone
Hair Color: Caramel
Eyelashes: Yes, Hand Applied

Item #15037
Entice
The ITBE Collection
IT Direct Exclusive
Ship Date: Approximately the Week of March 23rd, 2015
Limited edition of less than 500 dolls per style

Doll Tech Specs:
Body Type: FR (Older Tall Body Version)
Head Sculpt: Kesenia
Quick Switch Feature: No
Skin Tone: A-Tone
Hair Color: Brunette
Eyelashes: Yes, Hand Applied

Item #15039
Buxom
The ITBE Collection
IT Direct Exclusive
Ship Date: Approximately the Week of March 23rd, 2015
Limited edition of less than 500 dolls per style

Doll Tech Specs:
Body Type: FR (Older Tall Body Version)
Head Sculpt: Véronique Perrin 1.0
Quick Switch Feature: No
Skin Tone: A-Tone
Hair Color: Raven
Eyelashes: Yes, Hand Applied

Prototypes shown, final production dolls may vary slightly. All photos and information contained herein is copyrighted Integrity Toys, Inc. and Intercap Merchant Partners, LLC 2015 and may not be reprinted or disseminated without express written permission.

DOFDAs 2015 - 4th Annual DollObservers.com Fashion Doll Awards announced!

Today was the day that the Fashion Doll Awards winners were announced by Doll Observers, after a public vote was held until a few days ago. This blog was nominated in the relative category but we did not win - proud to be included in with the rest of the amazing nominees! Congratulations to all winners and nominees as well. And of course a big tank you to Doll Observers and Simon Farnsworth who organized the whole thing. Let's see who the winners are:

Winner layouts courtesy of Doll Observers.

Sybarite Solitaire - the first vinyl Syb - sold out in minutes!

As we mentioned in a previous post, the first vinyl Sybarite doll, Solitaire, went on sale on the 12th of February and sold out in minutes. The edition was 75 dolls, too small, and the price was £274.00. That, along with the desirability of the doll, can explain the vanishing act. I was mistaken to think she was an edition of 1000 - that was simply the clone number. Many collectors failed to get the doll, either trying to complete the purchase or finding out they had not bought the doll as they had completed a purchase after she had sold out. 

All photos courtesy of Superdoll London.

The price, $423, is a bit high for a vinyl doll - except if you think that most Tonner vinyl dolls of the same size (but much lower quality and detail overall) sell for at least $200. I could not afford her at the moment so I did not even log on to see her when she came on sale. I am wondering why the low edition - it surely would help the price if they made more dolls. Maybe with future one. It seems that the vinyl Sybarites will be as rare and sought after as their resin sisters.

The description on the website was the following:

After years in development we are delighted to present our ALL NEW Vinyl formula. version T-5 sample, the DEBUT Generation_X Clone: 1000 Venus d'Royce
Ginger and marshmallow coloured eyes, brows in rust and charcoal with shadow of deep red and muted blacks. Lids in icy translucent white. Lips the colour of blood. Blonde wig bearing hand rooted centre parting, in a 'bedhead' state with backstage Queen of Hearts playing card set.
2 piece 'shrunken' suit consists amazing miniature tailoring with concealed shoulder pads and pocket kerchief. Pocket flap detail and functioning centre front buttons. 3 button detail to jacket cuffs. Trousers have belt loops, working front slash pockets and bum welts on back.

Further accessories include 'patent' belt, 'patent' B*TCH elongated purse with gold foil interior and the cutest hugest hot pink 'fur' pompom ever!
The piece de resistance of course is her huge double baguette pillow cut ring that gleams like a solitaire rock in the midnight sky or is it the slither of velvet spot netting she has in her purse?
'Patent' strappy stiletto sandals with the highest heels ever on a Sybarite (sans platform)

Necklace and cuff set in silver 'leather' and chained bead detail.
and of course she comes with the following standard:
-manic_cure hands (see booklet for hand change instructions)
-booklet
-stand

The doll looks amazing, even though I'd prefer a more thin layer of lipstick on her lips. The body and articulation look better than the resin dolls. Considering that Desmond and Charles were researching the quality and type of vinyl for quite some time, I think it will look and feel even more fabulous in real life. And the outfit and accessories rock of course.
Below is the video with stop motion animation of Solitaire that Superdolls released. Amazing.