MARI

Showing posts with label Luchia. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Luchia. Show all posts

Tuesday, February 24, 2009

Fashion Royalty Future.Perfect Collection

The Close-up Doll Collection is neither more or nor less than expected. Two dolls are wearing the same black fashion and two are wearing white. The boots are in different colors and are very cool.

The images in this post with the exception of Ginza Kyori are courtesy of Integrity Toys.

One of the new characters makes her appearance as Bionica Jordan. Could she be related to Michael? He's pretty bionic himself.

Heat Seeker Natalia is also in white:


Future Bound Luchia is dressed in black:

Vanessa is also in black....including her lips. Actually her lips have a blackish blue appearance. I think she might have fallen in spite of the fact that she is called Aerodynamic. Must have been an experiment gone awry.

The close-up dolls come with three sets of removable hands, one of which is painted to resemble the wearing of fingerless gloves. They are a limited edition of 1200 each and retail for $79.00.
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The Premium Dressed Doll Collection is tiny. There are only three dolls, two of which are the same new character who uses the second Lana Turner sculpt Her name is Dania Zarr.
In this IT image she looks more like Kyori and reminds me of Ginza.
Retail Price $135.00 LE 1000

Picture above is not part of this line. It is a picture of Ginza Kyori.

The other Dania is called Exclusive Interview Dania Zarr:
Retail Price $99.00 LE 1000

The third doll is called Flight Pattern Kyori Sato:
Price $99.00 LE 1000

Apparently the Fashion Royalty collection has taken a big hit in favor of less sophisticated "concept" dolls. Perhaps the sad state of the worldwide economy is partly to blame. People are buying less expensive items and budgeting their money more carefully.

Collectors are saying that they don't see Jason Wu in this collection. I don't really know what the answer is but what's missing from these concept dolls is made up, for me, by the fabulous AvantGuard and the Gene Collection Dolls.

I have many beloved Fashion Royalty dolls to play with. It's time to savor these dolls instead of crowding them out with more just because there are more to be had.

In these reviews of the new dolls, I've made many critical remarks but I recognize the fact that Integrity Toys is providing dolls to a very broad range of tastes and pocketbooks. For the last two years, Fashion Royalty collectors have been complaining about too many dolls coming at us too quickly. We got exactly what we asked for.

Monday, February 23, 2009

Fourth Annual Integrity Toys W Club "Toy Fair" Event

We arrived at the W Hotel in Manhattan shortly before the scheduled opening of the Integrity Toy's traveling store. I was expecting lots of deals and goodies however we were presented with very little in the way of variety or bargains. A few items from the Gene Marshall line were reduced. There were dolls that didn't sell well in the retail market for sale at retail. Phase I of the AvantGuard dolls were available in limited quantities. Eclectic sold out fast. I wanted her fashion so I purchased one and sold the nude doll to another collector. I also picked up the Josephine Baker event doll called "La Joie de Paris." This is a Limited Edition of 350 dolls. At $120. this gal was no bargain but she looked beautiful in her futuristic blue and silver gown with the silver gauntlets and I couldn't resist. I really like the packaging of the Hollywood Royalty dolls with their window boxes and the featured doll's signature on the front of the box.

Josephine Baker photo courtesy of Integrity Toys

We sat and chatted and greeted eachother in the lovely seating area outside of the main event room until it was time to go in to dinner. The space was very large with tables set for the meal on one side of the room and the displays featuring the new lines on the other side.


On each table there were two dolls dressed similarly with the same color hair. One was a Luchia and the other was a Zita. At each place setting there was a placecard and a gift of an AvantGuard wig and a pair of shoes.


The food was very good. We had the steak. The service was excellent. Everyone I asked said they'd love to have a convention right there in Manhattan.

Brief remarks were made by Carol Roth,


Mel Odom,Jason Wu and Percy Newsome. Jason began his greeting by saying, "A few things have happened since we last met." We all laughed.

We browsed the collections during dinner. My comments on the dolls will be in posts to follow.

Prior to dessert, those who had won the opportunity to purchase the centerpiece dolls were notified and asked to go to the salesroom to pay for and pick up their dolls.

From 9:00PM to 10:00 PM a free cocktail party was held in the same room as the displays. The area of the dining room was partially partitioned off so that those who lingered over coffee could hang out. There were many areas outside of the main room to gather, chat and sit comfortably.

Overall, it was a fun mini-convention. The atmosphere was 100% superior to that of the FAO events of the previous two years. And it did not snow!

Some of our tablemates:




Marg of MFD and Luanne: