Alyrenee's Copious Spare Time

I finally caved on a Monarch doll. I entered in the lottery and won the opportunity to buy the new Paolo Marino. His sculpt is clearly a variation (or the exact same sculpt) as Zipper from Jem. I sold my original Zipper because his hair was totally not doing it for me.  I am loving this guy and the price was right for what looks like an amazing fashion with great accessories (glasses, watch, umbrella, adorbs loafers, and glove hands). So for the club price of $150...I took the bait.  Item #21005 Most Influential Paolo Marino™ Fashion Figure The Monarchs™ Homme Collection Edition Size: 700 Expected Ship Date: In-stock, will ship after winners' payments are received MSRP: $175.00 Special Members-Only Price (During Lottery Only): $150.00 + Shipping *W Club Exclusive Right-to-buy Lottery Offer* Head Sculpt: Paolo Body Type: Monarchs 1.0 Skin Tone: Hungarian Hair Color: Salt and Pepper Eyelashes: No Quickswitch: No The Story: Introducing Paolo Marino, silver fox, fashionable fi...

So we got our first peak of what might be in store for the upcoming Legendary virtual doll Convention from Integrity Toys this fall.  These two upgrade dolls, as imagined in sketches by designer Jessy Ayala, feature Adele 2.0 and Vero 2.0 in updos and a little white and black dresses, respectively.  These are callbacks to similarly named old school Jason Wu designs from the early years and feature the two characters that started it all. So this is leading many to hypothesize that much of the convention offerings will also be new takes on some classic looks from years past. I am guessing that will be the case and I am here for it. I wonder if that will also be true for the Poppy offerings too? We shall see. I would kill to get some redos of the first Poppy mod collection.  I talked myself down off ordering both of the upgrades for now.  I am tempted by Adele...but I don't really love or need either of these fashions. I suspect that they won't be too tricky to acquire...

Well, it's been a minute.  (Deep breathe). In the midst of a world filled political chaos, a pandemic, the righteous Black Lives Matters protests and the urgent need for all to thoughtfully consider our role in the systemic racism and social injustice all around us....it feels a little silly to get all dramatic about dolls. Yet, doll people, in general, love some drama.  This time only some of it was our own making. Sidenote: If you want to see some SERIOUS drama...go do some snooping on the Barbie 2020 Convention Thread  because that was/is some NUTTINESS.  Good luck and God Speed and NOPE! So lucky for us (IMHO), Integrity opted to cancel their in-person convention (originally taking place in Texas in October) because they would prefer their customers, family, and staff to actually...I don't know...STAY ALIVE. Shocking. It is now a virtual convention but with the original limited number of 575 attendees.  This meant that while it was still happening, the fact ...