IT 2021 Obsession Convention W Club Event Designer Chat
Carol's "eating workshop" began with the usual sharing of the rules and a new request for people to not yuck each other's yum. I appreciated that as, in general, I turn off the comments for any presentation so I don't have to see that nonsense and tend to block W Club users that just trash what other like. It is fine to disagree and voice that opinion...but some people just have no class.
Here is a run down of the information shared:
Mark is going back to Misaki. Excited to see it.
Vaughn's obligatory 'pipeline supply chain issue' explanations.
David-Future of Poppy Parker...she will time travel back and forth...modern twist on vintage.
Jessy-Working on new characters (in response to a question about more Asian representation)
Chris- Victoire's husband...not in the plans right now. Black Ice-inspired by Mugler 95 collection and always wanted to do something with it. Hyper 50s on speed.
Vaughn- each designer designs their own jewelry and it is sourced from different places. They send specs and images to China and then they just do it. Not a lot of back and forth on the jewelry.
Mark- Nu Fantasy has two more dolls. He said that no one has guessed it yet. There is another doll of color coming out. Sparkle drama and details.
David- Early poppy screenings? Limited by production and need to use a handful of recent screenings, earlier ones on hold for now where they might need to be recreated (or found). New screenings take time and add to production time significantly.
Jessy-There is really only one guy that makes the face paint masks...so that is why you see repeats. But they try to mix and match to get something new.
Alain- Environmental impact of packaging...balance of specialness and making some better choices. Looking for things to replace the single use plastics (i.e. the things behind the ties). The cost of the doll is all in the outfit. The box does not change anything.
David- Big projects mentioned earlier this year: Trixie obviously and another vintage inspired project that is coming soon.
Chris- wants to keep pushing himself with silhouettes and colors he's not done before. More things out of the box. A diverse line too...so more editions coming [hope its an Asian doll!!!]
Vaughn- Boys are coming. Maybe next year there will be a man in the Meteor line. Favorite older sculpts like Francisco and Pierre...wanting to bring them back.
Alain- More Rupaul is not currently in the plans. Trixie project was an 18 month long project. The bottleneck is really not anywhere near back to normal. Hard to meet the 'timer' that exists with licenses.
Alain- New basics are in the works and a replenish coming in for Malibu Agnes. Chris has new East 59th coming. Maybe some boys coming too.
Carol-Basics go into production when they have downtime in the regular production schedule.
David- More color variations? He loves it and his husband collects variations. Like he would love to do another showgirl...in lime or yellow. What about Industry? Refresh in 2022 and ramping up to have them come back. Mark and David working together. There will be a new instagram too.
Jessy- Real royalty inspired...might be better suited to Nu Fantasy. Twins in deeper tones? Possible and maybe sooner than you think.
Mark- Working on the refresh of the Industry and working on a special thing...and Misaki. There is another one in the Beast Girl and Retro Girl series. And more Misakis in 2022.
Alain- Dark goth themed con again? If the mood strikes the designers. They have a retreat to decided the themes. Live convention next year? We are waiting to see...
Mark- Brand swap? Everyone is so invested in their characters that it would be hard...also in terms of the timing cycle it would be very difficult.
Fav Color? Jessy-purple, David-blue, Mark-pink, Vaughn-blue and black, Alain-all shades of black, Chris-green.
Sculpt? Chris-Victoire as Della, Alain-Agnes and Riot/Ace, Vaughn-Nadja 2.0 & Declan, Mark-Poppy & Tulabelle, David-Ginger & Bellamy, Jessy-Rayna, Nadja, Alejandra, Violane.
What do you wish collectors knew?
David-hair fibers should us the Saran book that was 4 pages...and then 2 pages... and now it is one page with only natural colors. Hence the switch to nylon so we have more options (and he shows like a 5 page huge range of colors).
Jessy-our vision is filtered through so many people to make it come to life. There are so many moving parts.
Mark-fabrics are really difficult to find and you have to adapt and change.
Chris-frustrating to get the silhouette just right and there is so much that goes into making a little dress. Mark-we are always designing something with the hope that you will love it. We hope everybody likes something. We are never trying to make an ugly doll.
Alain-you might not like something, but maybe you will like the next thing.
Carol- not everything is going to appeal to every collector.
Mark- someone's grail is someone's repaint doll.
Alain-I wish they understood the whole dynamic of the facepaint and that this is all done by hand.
Jessy- showed a series of facepaint plates that are done by hand.
Carol- we tried to use technology and collectors did not like it.
Vaughn- tried computer generated face paint results in super pixelated results.
Alain- the tech is evolving though. Hair rooting is also done by hand as well.
Vaughn-showed a printed face paint test.
Alain- reading and comprehension. IT is very unique. Other companies copy our methods and don't get it. We provide all this information and people aren't reading it and not following the rules.
Carol- everything that we do has been done with some much thought. Sometimes there is a business reason...but there is always strategic planning and decision-making and debated to near comic levels.
Final words?
Vaughn-Hoping to be able to go to China in Spring 2022 to get things back on track.
Alain- I love everyone and hope the company will keep growing.
Jessy- Miss you guys and hope to see you soon.
Chris- We have the most dedicated collectors. miss you all. big hugs.
Mark- Thank you to everybody. The messages I've gotten are really meaningful.
David-Thank you and looking forward to tomorrow.
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