Riviera Drama Agnes Von Weiss W Club upgrade doll revealed!

Back in January, when the W Club announced its registration opening and upgrade dolls, we had to preorder one of them, Riviera Drama Agnes, based on a sketch. That was because members had gone through a voting process to decide the basic doll features. Now the first photos of the prototype doll are available, and she is a stunner! I'm happy to have taken the plunge and preordered her. Plus she's wearing green, which is rare in fashion dolls, and is the colour of the year according to Pantone. The doll will ship mid to late July 2017 and there is a waiting list for the members who did not preorder her.

Riviera Drama

Agnes Von Weiss™ Dressed Doll
The Fashion Royalty® Collection
2017 W Club Upgrade Doll
Approximate Ship Date: Mid to late July 2017
Edition Size: TBA (Determined by the total amount of orders received)

Doll Tech Specs:

Head Sculpt: Agnes Von Weiss
Hair Color: Raven (Black)
Eyelashes: Yes, Hand-Applied
Body Type: FR 6.0
Foot Sculpt: High-heeled / Traditional
Quick Switch Feature: No
Skin Tone: Cream

Agnes Von Weiss is a 12.5-inch fully articulated doll with full rooted hair and hand-applied lashes. Her raven hair is styled in a controlled curl hairstyle. Agnes comes dressed in a one-piece outfit. Doll includes purse, jewelry, high-heeled shoes and accessories. For adult collectors ages 15 and up only. A doll stand and a certificate of authenticity are included.

The doll in the photos is a prototype. Final colors and textures may vary slightly. All photos and information contained herein is copyrighted Integrity Toys, Inc. and Intercap Merchant Partners, LLC 2017 and may not be reprinted or disseminated without express written permission. Fashion Royalty and all other trademarks followed by ™ or ® are registered trademarks of Integrity Toys, Inc. Chesapeake City MD USA 21915. All rights reserved.

The W Club is a trademark of Intercap Merchant Partners, LLC. All rights reserved.

Doll Photography by Jayme Thornton and/or Alain Tremblay.

One Of A Kind RuPaul dolls come out for Drag Con!

Twelve years ago, Integrity Toys released their RuPaul doll. And no one could predict back then what a household name RuPaul would become with his successful tv show RuPaul's Drag Race. Such an iconic person would of course be involved in the biggest drag queen convention in the world, Drag Con. Oh Mannequin, the team responsible for creating all of RuPaul's booths and merchandising at the convention, asked their friend, the multi-talented doll creator and designer Andrew Yang, who for the past year has transitioned into commercial doll making, collaborating with Phyn & Aero and other doll artists and sculptors, to customise 12 Ru Paul dolls into one of a kind Ru looks, in a very short amount of time.

As with any celebrity who makes product, the RuPaul team are guaranteed a certain amount of goods-- and there was one style of doll, the black haired version of The Glamazon doll, that Rupaul's merchandise team had a little extra stock. RuPaul rarely wears black hair, so this particular version didn't have the same magic as some of the others-- not to mention her slightly dated bell bottoms and black bustier.

Already used to working under tight deadlines, Andrew started working on the dolls right away: the dolls didn't need to be fitted for redressing and creating them as "art dolls" would shave some time off the construction end of things. He also was anxious to create a fun project that would be fast and shareable, and at the same time a fun exercise in putting out some new and exciting work-- to say nothing of the fact that RuPaul is one of his few idols. Talk about a dream project! One of the most exciting things about the project was that RuPaul selected each of the looks himself. Many of them were based on looks from the show designed by Zaldy, and other iconic moments from his long career, like a Bob Mackie and "Wonder Woman" number. 

So how did Andrew tackle the assignment? First of all, the hair had to go. After heating the dolls in his oven on the "warm" setting and shearing off all the locks, the material had softened enough to remove all of the heads safely without damaging the (relatively old) plastic. Then came the scraping and the tweezing of all the leftover hairs. After that was done, He painted all of the scalps-- all of these girls would definitely be blonde!

Andrew knew that he would be a candidate for an early onset of arthritis if he tried re-rooting the hair himself, despite getting tips from the always amazing Integrity doll community  re-routers like Salvador Arriaga. So he called up one of his Los Angeles dolly friends, Denisa Medrano. A hair designer at Mattel for six years in the late nineties and early 2000s, Denisa now works independently, acting as the go to girl for anyone developing a doll, rooting and designing hair for dolls for almost every major player in the toy industry. Going to her studio in Torrence is always an experience: its a magical wonderland filled with dolls and hair of every colour, texture, and curl. Andrew firmly believes that hair makes the doll, so it was important to work with the best.

Denisa's right hand man is the phenomenal stylist and doll photographer Randy LaCroix, so between the two of them, the dolls would be in good hands. The doll heads had to be kept pliable in the oven as the hair rooting machines always work best on soft plastic, so the process of rooting and rotating out and styling took almost three days.

The next step was fabrics and trims-- luckily Los Angeles has a phenomenal garment district, so between that and Mood, Andrew was able to source everything in a relatively short amount of time. He went to work sewing the clothes, and making the accessories. For his bigger fabric dolls, Andrew is used to working on many things at once, so everything is done in stages, pattern making, cutting, and sewing for each doll. And the un-articulated bodies made for great dress forms, even though sewing in such tiny scale was a fun exercise in and of itself.

Andrew used the same design philosophy when making the small Ru outfits as when re-interpreting a look from Chanel for a client like Barneys New York or someone custom in one of his larger fabric dolls. He did not set out to recreate the look in miniature (he said there are vastly more talented people at doing that job), but rather, treated the doll like a fashion illustration and tried to capture the feeling and mood of the original look. Sometimes that can be done with just the hair and makeup, and you can get away with taking more creative liberties on the clothes, other times, there are certain things you have to get right on the outfit.

Third step: painting the face. The makeup was more about being organized. At this point, all of the hair was roughly styled, so when he covered up the nylon locks to keep them from getting painted with matte acrylic spray, Andrew made sure to label all of their paper towel coverings with dress nicknames. His nightmare scenario was doing a faceup for one look on the wrong hair. For most of the looks, he only partially repainted, as the original screening was beautiful and he wanted to make sure the dolls maintained a level of consistency and looked in line with the original dolls and Ru's brand.

After the heads went in for a last round in the oven, and back on the dolls, each of them went through the styling comb again. Randy and Denisa's styling was beautiful, but they are used to delivering something commercial and prototype perfect, and Andrew wanted to find that perfect balance between messy and glamour for a lot of the hairstyles.

It was a big stroke of luck that right around the time Andrew was finishing the dolls he crossed paths with André Armenante, a West Hollywood based filmmaker, inventor, and theatrical designer. He migrated from a career in special effects/robotics to the toy industry with his cutting edge interactive hologram playset HolograFX, which launched with Toys R Us worldwide and was the most awarded toy of 2014. Recently, Armenante was a lead special effects designer for ‘Magic To Do’ - a new musical from Stephen Schwartz the Oscar, Grammy and Tony Award winning composer of Wicked, Godspell and Pippin and has worked with the likes of David Copperfield, Mattel, and Hasbro.

Usually, on these short turnaround projects, the artist doesn't get a lot of time to document the work in a great way, so when André wanted to collaborate, Andrew jumped at the chance, and in the days before the dolls were delivered to Ru's people, they shot and edited a fun showcase video-- which couldn't have been done if they weren't pushed to do it all in time by Andrew's partner Daniel Randell!

Andrew believes that if the doll world is to survive, and not become a hyper expensive collector hobby, it is important to market and create a buzz around dolls in a way that reaches beyond just the community, so in many ways this was a perfect project to create some excitement around dolls, and it worked! Hours after the ribbon was cut for Drag Con 2017, most of the dolls had been sold, and by the time the convention doors closed, it was a sell-out ! Congratulations Ru!

Andrew had a lot of fun working in this scale, and on such fabulous dresses, so you can expect to see his new doll, Kadira, in some more flashy fun evening wear-- and commercials for her too! Now back to making all of her samples!....

Wonder Woman Barbie Collector dolls available to order!

Mattel is pushing ahead with their Wonder Woman releases, right before the premiere of the film next week. After the playline releases, the collector dolls are now available to order - but on backorder till June 1st. That either proves that the available ones are already snapped up or that the company will be late in releasing them but did not want to lose the momentum that the film will create. I really like them and will try to order them all. Let's see them all - description from the Barbie Collector website. The dolls are all Silver Label, i.e. 25,000 or less dolls.

Barbie® Wonder Woman™ Doll

Designer: Bill Greening
Release Date: 4/27/2017
Inspired by the first-ever live-action Wonder Woman™ feature film, this doll is sculpted and costumed just like the movie character. This Amazon warrior is armed for battle wearing her iconic Super Hero costume with headdress, boots, armored bracelets, iconic “magic”; lasso, sword, shield and black cape.  Doll also features a fully articulated body—perfect for high-action poses.

$44,95

Body Type: Articulated
Facial sculpt: Wonder Woman
Fashion Sewn On: Yes
Fashion: Super Hero costume with headdress, boots, armored bracelets
Accessories: Sword, shield, lasso
Doll Stand: Yes
Package Dimensions (H/D/W): 13“ x 3.3“x 7“

Barbie® Antiope™ Doll

Designer: Bill Greening
Release Date: 4/27/2017

Inspired by the first-ever live-action Wonder Woman™ feature film, this Antiope doll is sculpted and costumed like the movie character. Doll also features a fully articulated body—perfect for high-action poses.

$44,95

Body Type: Articulated
Facial sculpt: Antiope
Fashion Sewn On: Yes
Fashion: Super Hero costume with headdress, boots, armored bracelets
Accessories: Bow, arrows
Doll Stand: Yes
Package Dimensions (H/D/W): 13“ x 3.3“x 7“

Barbie® Hippolyta™ Doll

Designer: Bill Greening
Release Date: 4/27/2017

Inspired by the first-ever live-action Wonder Woman™ feature film, this Queen Hippolyta doll is sculpted and costumed just like the movie character. Doll also features a fully articulated body—perfect for high-action poses.

$44,95

Body Type: Articulated
Facial sculpt: Queen Hippolyta
Fashion Sewn On: Yes
Fashion: Super Hero costume with headdress, boots, armored bracelets
Accessories: Sword, shield,
Doll Stand: Yes
Package Dimensions (H/D/W): 13“ x 3.3“x 7“

Barbie® Wonder Woman™ Paradise Island Gift Set

Designer: Bill Greening
Release Date: 4/27/2017

This Barbie® Wonder Woman™ Paradise Island Gift Set commemorates the iconic scene on Paradise Island when Diana (Wonder Woman™), portrayed by actress Gal Gadot, first meets Steve Trevor™, portrayed by actor Chris Pine. Both dolls are sculpted and costumed like the movie characters and feature fully articulated bodies—perfect for high-action poses.

$125,00

Body Type: Articulated Wonder Woman, Articulated Ken
Facial sculpt: Gal Gadot Face sculpt, Chris Pine face sculpt
Fashion Sewn On: No
Fashion:Costumed like the movie characters
Doll Stands: Yes
Package Dimensions (H/D/W): 13“ x 6“x 19“

WONDER WOMAN and all related characters and elements © & ™ DC Comics and Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. (s17). Photos courtesy of Mattel Inc.

Largest collection of black dolls on display at Museum of African American History

The Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History in Detroit, is organising a temporary exhibition of the largest collection of black dolls, "I See Me: Reflections in Black Dolls". It features a large number of black dolls, starting from the 19th century and up to our time. It includes both dolls that come from the museum's own collection as well as dolls from private collectors and other establishments.

One of the most interesting parts of the exhibition is the largest number of Leo Moss dolls ever displayed. Leo Moss was a black handyman who made dolls out of papier-maché derived from wallpaper scraps and painted with shoot. His wife made the clothes they wear. He even made dolls with a child's likeness on commission, even painting tears on the face of the doll if the child cried while he was making it.

The Misty Copeland doll by Mattel

The exhibition will feature 112 female and 30 male dolls. Among them will be the Misty Copeland doll by Mattel, a Serena Williams doll and the Barack and Michelle Obama inauguration dolls.

Michelle Obama Franklin Mint Vinyl Portrait Doll

According to the museum, through educational and public programs, it will revisit the 1947 Kenneth and Mammie Clarke experiment. The set up had black children being presented with two dolls, one black and one white, and then asked to choose which one they preferred. What was the result? A majority of the children chose the white doll to be the prettiest and the nicest, based on colour. Topics of discussion on this pervasive question about race and identity will range from where we are today, and what, if anything, should be done in the future?

Here comes the bride: A Jem And The Holograms bride!

The final countdown for the last Jem And The Holograms Integrity Toys dolls moves one step closer to the end with the new doll just announced to W Club members! And it is Kimber Benton as a bride! The bride was featured in the HOLLYWOOD JEM story arc. 2017 W Club members get a priority opportunity to purchase the doll before the general public. Each W Club member will be allowed to purchase this doll (one (1) doll per membership on a first-come, first-served basis), starting MONDAY, APRIL 24th, 2017 AT 6:00 PM EASTERN TIME, a day ahead of the general public. There are two more releases for this line to end, and they will be coming later this year.

Item # 14093
Tomorrow Is My Wedding Day
KIMBER BENTON™ Dressed Doll
The JEM AND THE HOLOGRAMS™ COLLECTION
Adult Collectible
Approximate Ship Date: Now In-Stock (Shipping shortly after payment is received)

Limited Edition Size: 400 Dolls Only

Public Price: $140 + Shipping, Handling and Tax Per Doll

Special W Club Price: $130.00 + Shipping, Handling and Tax Per Doll

***IT DIRECT EXCLUSIVE*** THIS DOLL WILL NOT BE SOLD THROUGH IT DEALERS!

Doll Tech Specs

Head Sculpt: KIMBER BENTON

Body Type: JEM / Color Infusion 1.0

Skintone: Japan

Hair Color: Bright Red

Eyelashes: Yes, Hand-Applied

Quickswitch: No

Seen here wearing the dress that she wore on that faithful day when she almost got married (much to her sister and friends' dismay) in the JEM AND THE HOLOGRAMS™ episode titled "And The Winner Is?", KIMBER BENTON™ looks ravishing as a rock 'n roll bride!
This version of the youngest BENTON sister is a 12.5-inch fully articulated fashion doll with fully rooted hair and hand-applied eyelashes. KIMBER comes dressed in her wedding gown. A doll stand and a certificate of authenticity is also included. For adult collectors ages 15 and up only.

GENERAL PUBLIC ORDERING INFORMATION

Should these dolls not sell out within the W Club priority window, they will be made available in the JEM AND THE HOLOGRAMS™ category in the IT Direct Shopping cart starting on 

Tuesday, April 25th, 2017 at 6:00 PM Eastern time.

If you do not see this doll appear on Tuesday, then it means that she is completely sold out.

DIRECT LINK TO THE JEM AND THE HOLOGRAMS CATEGORY FOR THE GENERAL PUBLIC:

http://www.integritytoys.com/shop20/Jem-And-The-Holograms/

THE CLUB ONLY LINKS WILL NOT GO LIVE UNTIL MONDAY, APRIL 24TH AT 6:00 PM EASTERN AND IF ANY QUANTITIES REMAIN, THE PUBLIC LINKS WILL NOT GO LIVE UNTIL APRIL 25TH AT NOON EASTERN.

NOTE: The doll shown in the following product pictures are prototypes. Final production colors and textures may vary slightly. All photos and information contained herein is copyrighted Integrity Toys, Inc. and Intercap Merchant Partners, LLC 2017 and may not be reprinted or disseminated without express written permission. 

The W Club is a trademark of Intercap Merchant Partners, LLC. All rights reserved.
JEM AND THE HOLOGRAMS and all related ©2017 HASBRO Inc. All Rights Reserved. License used under permission.
Doll Photography by Jayme Thornton. Layouts, Graphics and 3D rendering by Alain Tremblay, Marketing.