Posts
I should also mention here, seriously I was so tired on my last post......spent 12 hours at a horse show!!! I forgot to mention that even though Susie has been taking a holiday from travelling around the world and modelling, she has continued to produce fabulous designs for her adoring fans. Susie has a RTW wardrobe that meets all her needs. Here is a list of Susie's designs:
Spring Bouquet in lilac or green or mauve pink
Summer Crisp
Fall Fashion - a Burberry type coat, with jeans and matching top
Winter Fashion - knit mini dress, brown solid top with brown/white striped skirt
Denim Blues
Fur Finishings - black/white or brown/black
Midnight Sparkle
Sparkling White
Ying Yang Mei Mei - black or white
Berry Lolita Red
Berry Lolita Pink
Detroit Mod
Gray Matters
Austrian Tea Blue
Austrian Tea Red
A Touch of Pink
Spring Fleur - pale blue or dark blue or pink or purple
Sunday, August 31, 2008
Saturday, August 30, 2008
If You Knew Susie...
Somewhere in the Madness of Momoko, sometime in 2003 another lovely doll became available to collectors...Susie!!!
I remember my Mom singing a song that went: If you knew Susie like I know Susie, oh, oh, oh what a gal. There's none so classy as this fair lassie oh, oh, oh my goodness what a chassis. It was catchy, but I remember thinking what the heck was a chassie. Well turns out a chassis is a body. Well our Susie fit that song to a "T" and that is why my site devoted to her is called If you knew Susie... http://www.barbigirl.com/susie.htm
Well if you knew Susie like I know Susie, you would LOVE her too. She has a sophisticated innocence. She is lovely to look at, delightful to pose and her wardrobe is immpecable. Rudi and David, her creators made us a dream when they brought Susie into our world.
Susie came into being in 2003 and her first incarnation was China Girl Blonde, followed by China Girl Redhead and the very HTF China Girl Raven.
I knew Susie would be a doll I would want to add to my collection. I love the premise of this doll:
Susie is a 21-year old aspiring fashion designer who attends classes at the San Francisco School of Design and works as a fashion model in her spare time. In the current tradition of single name supermodels, Susie, divides her time between designing clothes and modeling them on the high style runways of New York, Paris, London, and Tokyo. Susie is a truly a multicultural girl. A San Francisco native, Susie is the daughter of a Spanish-American mother and a Chinese-American father, and has visited her parents’ homelands on several occasions.
Each Susie doll is made as if she were doing some special occasion or a photo shoot from fabulous locations round the world. To date Susie has visited: London, Paris, Milan, The Riviera, Provence, Ibiza, Madrid, Seville, Siberia, China, Beijing, Shanghai, Taipei, Hong Kong, Hanoi, Seoul, Tokyo, Kyoto, Sydney, San Francisco, Chicago, Los Angeles and New York. She has many more destinations listed on her to do map http://www.rnddolls.com/site/susie.htm but she seems to be taking a bit of a well deserved holiday right now and letting her other siblings, S Deluxe and the Angels take the limelight for a while. In each of the cities listed above Susie came with a fabulous, meticulously made outfit specific to the style of that city. Her clothing is amazing and I wish R&D made them in human size!!!
Special Susies were also available, such as the Legend of Thai series and the Egyptian Queen Susie, as well as the Fantasy Susies. There have also been a number of collaborations with repaint artists and one particularly gorgeous Susie done with Randal Craig for IFDC 2007.
I was fortunate enough to win a OOAK Susie repaint by Park. She is sensational.
Susie is a wonderful doll and hopefully she will soon come out of her semi-retirement and set the world of collecting on it's collective ear again with her knock out looks and her fabulous sense of style.
I remember my Mom singing a song that went: If you knew Susie like I know Susie, oh, oh, oh what a gal. There's none so classy as this fair lassie oh, oh, oh my goodness what a chassis. It was catchy, but I remember thinking what the heck was a chassie. Well turns out a chassis is a body. Well our Susie fit that song to a "T" and that is why my site devoted to her is called If you knew Susie... http://www.barbigirl.com/susie.htm
Well if you knew Susie like I know Susie, you would LOVE her too. She has a sophisticated innocence. She is lovely to look at, delightful to pose and her wardrobe is immpecable. Rudi and David, her creators made us a dream when they brought Susie into our world.
Susie came into being in 2003 and her first incarnation was China Girl Blonde, followed by China Girl Redhead and the very HTF China Girl Raven.
I knew Susie would be a doll I would want to add to my collection. I love the premise of this doll:
Susie is a 21-year old aspiring fashion designer who attends classes at the San Francisco School of Design and works as a fashion model in her spare time. In the current tradition of single name supermodels, Susie, divides her time between designing clothes and modeling them on the high style runways of New York, Paris, London, and Tokyo. Susie is a truly a multicultural girl. A San Francisco native, Susie is the daughter of a Spanish-American mother and a Chinese-American father, and has visited her parents’ homelands on several occasions.
Each Susie doll is made as if she were doing some special occasion or a photo shoot from fabulous locations round the world. To date Susie has visited: London, Paris, Milan, The Riviera, Provence, Ibiza, Madrid, Seville, Siberia, China, Beijing, Shanghai, Taipei, Hong Kong, Hanoi, Seoul, Tokyo, Kyoto, Sydney, San Francisco, Chicago, Los Angeles and New York. She has many more destinations listed on her to do map http://www.rnddolls.com/site/susie.htm but she seems to be taking a bit of a well deserved holiday right now and letting her other siblings, S Deluxe and the Angels take the limelight for a while. In each of the cities listed above Susie came with a fabulous, meticulously made outfit specific to the style of that city. Her clothing is amazing and I wish R&D made them in human size!!!
Special Susies were also available, such as the Legend of Thai series and the Egyptian Queen Susie, as well as the Fantasy Susies. There have also been a number of collaborations with repaint artists and one particularly gorgeous Susie done with Randal Craig for IFDC 2007.
I was fortunate enough to win a OOAK Susie repaint by Park. She is sensational.
Susie is a wonderful doll and hopefully she will soon come out of her semi-retirement and set the world of collecting on it's collective ear again with her knock out looks and her fabulous sense of style.
At the Horse Show
We have been back and forth to the horse show and I really haven't had much time to continue the saga of doll collecting a la me!!!
Wednesday, August 27, 2008
More Momokos
As production of the Sekiguchi Momokos got into full swing by the Fall of 2005, Petworks made another announcement. They were going to issue a new line of clothing for Momoko called Close Clipped Sheep. Then yet another even more astounding announcement, they were also going to do a Collaboration Momoko with the Sekiguchi company. Oh original Momoko collector's delight, a PW Momoko!!! This doll would have the original PW head on a Sekiguchi body. The first offering was 2005AW Victorian Nature, with either blonde or red hair. How cool we all thought......I wonder if Seki thought that too. For lo and behold in the Spring of 2006, PW announced two more dolls, 2006SS Hazy Wind with orange or platinum hair. When Autumn of 2006 rolled around and collectors were presented with two more dolls by PW, we began to see a trend forming here. This offering was 2006AW Odd Girl Out, brunette or redhead...I wonder if Sekuguchi saw this coming. Now we have Sekiguchi in competition with PW, but not in competition because they are collaborating, oh my, it was getting really confusing. Well if the Seki company was being taken for a ride by PW, I began to feel the same way. Once we had PW giving us Momokos two maybe three times a year. Now Seki and PW seemed to be in some kind of a contest to see who could throw the most Momokos at us. Into the bargain, PW Momokos started around $150.00. So on it went, one company or the next bringing out specials, collaborations, Doll Show dolls...Sekiguchi acting like the owners of Momoko and PW looking like they never sold her. Just for fun, PW rounded out 2006 with two kimono Momokos.
In January of 2007 PW announced Bonus Truck sets, I think I heard cheers from Momoko fans and collective groans from their pocketbooks!!!
During 2007(not counting specials)PW produced 13 Momokos and Sekiguchi produced 10. So far in 2008 PW has produced 18 Momokos and Sekiguchi 3...what's up???
Is this a trend, is PW taking back the production of Momoko? At any rate, there are far too many Momokos being produced and they are becoming far too expensive. Also what is the point of these variations. For example, the 2008 Yukatas, Rose Chocolate came in a variation and the only difference was the colour of her shoes, same with Petit Macarron. Oh and Petit Macarron came in a special variation haircolour for the Momoko 7 event. So why is PW putting on a Momoko 7 event, shouldn't Sekiguchi, the owners of Momoko be celebrating that. Oh boy I'm confused.
My take, I think Manabe Watanabe wants Momoko back and is slowly taking her back, with a Sekiguchi body(evil laugh), can SAJ bodies be in Momoko's future???
In January of 2007 PW announced Bonus Truck sets, I think I heard cheers from Momoko fans and collective groans from their pocketbooks!!!
During 2007(not counting specials)PW produced 13 Momokos and Sekiguchi produced 10. So far in 2008 PW has produced 18 Momokos and Sekiguchi 3...what's up???
Is this a trend, is PW taking back the production of Momoko? At any rate, there are far too many Momokos being produced and they are becoming far too expensive. Also what is the point of these variations. For example, the 2008 Yukatas, Rose Chocolate came in a variation and the only difference was the colour of her shoes, same with Petit Macarron. Oh and Petit Macarron came in a special variation haircolour for the Momoko 7 event. So why is PW putting on a Momoko 7 event, shouldn't Sekiguchi, the owners of Momoko be celebrating that. Oh boy I'm confused.
My take, I think Manabe Watanabe wants Momoko back and is slowly taking her back, with a Sekiguchi body(evil laugh), can SAJ bodies be in Momoko's future???
Tuesday, August 26, 2008
Momoko: A New Era
So began the new Sekiguchi era of Momoko: http://www.barbigirl.com/sekiguchi.htm
At first I was very disappointed in the Seki Momoko. I didn't feel the quality that PW had put into the dolls was there anymore. Her face was not as cute and impish as it had been. But being a die-hard Momoko fan, I decided to continue. I perservered through Glitter Night and asked myself, why did I buy Go 4 Victory??? My interest in Momoko was flagging as each season the Sekiguchi company would flood us with more mediocre dolls. Oh yes there were really sweet ones like Snow White, Dash After School and Mama Told Me. But for the most part the dolls were not PW dolls. I didn't like the new body either. The joints seemed narrow and made Momoko look awkward. Momoko's complexion was often "off". She seemed gray or over-blushed. Then Seki began bringing out Specials and Collaborations. The Collaborations were usually OOAK and virtually impossible to get. The Specials were the same doll with perhaps a variation in colour of her hair or outfit. Also the price of the dolls began to climb higher and higher and what was supposed to be a more affordable doll began to be as expensive as the original Momoko had been. Momokoville was becoming a confusing and expensive venture!!!
At first I was very disappointed in the Seki Momoko. I didn't feel the quality that PW had put into the dolls was there anymore. Her face was not as cute and impish as it had been. But being a die-hard Momoko fan, I decided to continue. I perservered through Glitter Night and asked myself, why did I buy Go 4 Victory??? My interest in Momoko was flagging as each season the Sekiguchi company would flood us with more mediocre dolls. Oh yes there were really sweet ones like Snow White, Dash After School and Mama Told Me. But for the most part the dolls were not PW dolls. I didn't like the new body either. The joints seemed narrow and made Momoko look awkward. Momoko's complexion was often "off". She seemed gray or over-blushed. Then Seki began bringing out Specials and Collaborations. The Collaborations were usually OOAK and virtually impossible to get. The Specials were the same doll with perhaps a variation in colour of her hair or outfit. Also the price of the dolls began to climb higher and higher and what was supposed to be a more affordable doll began to be as expensive as the original Momoko had been. Momokoville was becoming a confusing and expensive venture!!!
A Momoko Footnote
Momoko not only brought the joy of collecting a fabulous doll, she also brought a connection to two people that would eventually become two of the very best friends a person could ever hope for. Somehow, and it escapes me now, but in my quest for Momoko I was magically lead to R&D Fashion Dolls. http://www.rnddolls.com/ There I "met" through the internet, Rudi and David, two of the nicest people I have ever had the pleasure to know. We corresponded and Rudi did his utmost to help me track down many of the very hardest to find Momokos. It is because of Rudi that my collection is so complete. I had the opportunity to meet Rudi and David when I first attended IFDC in 2006. We had so much fun with them and Rudi has continued to be my Momoko Man.......hmmm not to mention a few other dolls, LOL, but that is another post!!!
Monday, August 25, 2008
Momoko
Momoko was first produced by the Petworks company. The first two Momokos produced in 2000 were the DHEXl and DHEXs. I didn't discover Momoko until 2002 and it took me some time to catch up on the "older" dolls. But I have achieved my goal and today have all the Momokos produced by Petworks before they sold the rights to Momoko to the Sekiguchi company. My website at: http://www.barbigirl.com/momoko.htm will show you why I have earned the title: The Momoko Queen.
The first PW(read PetWorks) Momokos were truly delightful. Their faces were very appealing...cute, impish, innocent...Momo had it all. The body used was the Takara SAJ body and while not as flexible as the newer bodies, was far more appealing to me. Momoko's skin colour was always a pleasant natural colour and she was very well dressed in the latest Japan fashion.
Momoko soon became my passion and I eagerly awaited each new season of Momokos. Anywhere from 2 to 5 dolls were produced for Spring/Summer(SS) or Autumn/Winter(AW). At first the dolls were numbered as year and name so 02DD was a Daisy D made in 2002. Momoko became hugely popular and it was a challenge, because of small issue numbers to track down quite a few of the dolls. One edition 04RXb, http://www.barbigirl.com/momoko.htm#rxb was made in an edition of 10 dolls worldwide!!! Dolls introduced at Doll Shows were even more difficult to acquire. Yahoo Japan became my second home!!!
PW also produced a number of OOAK dolls in conjunction with various design studios. Then there were the Bonus Truck dolls and it is possible that even PW doesn't know the edition size of those dolls.
As Momoko collecting became a frantic search for the elusive dolls, PW made an astounding announcement:
On October 12, 2004, the Petworks company announced that their wildly popular Momoko doll would be made by the Sekiguchi company. It was the end of an era for Momoko collectors. Here is was Manabe Watanabe(Momoko's inventor) had to say:
Thank you everyone for your support after the end of Momoko production at the end of August 2004. Thank you also for your many ideas and opinions on how to “improve” Momoko. After many meetings with both doll companies we announce that Momoko will be sold again in the Spring of 2005. We will make a doll that will make all of our customers happy. We hope you will continue to give us your opinions and we can keep building together to make a most fortunate Momoko doll. Wishing you good luck in everything you do, Manabe.
News of the 1/6 scale real fashion doll Momoko. Petworks is very grateful to everyone for their patronage. We announce that Momoko will be selling in the Spring of 2005 and will be produced by the Sekiguchi Doll Company. Momoko will have new style but her name will still be 1/6 scale real fashion doll Momoko doll. She will by approximately 27 cm tall, will have a resin, jointed body. The estimated value of each doll will be 8,190 Yen including tax. Momoko will be dressed in up to date fashions.
The Momoko that will debut in Spring 2005 will appeal to a wider age range of customers. We hope that many new fans will come to Momoko, but we hope that her “old” fans will continue to support her.
The first PW(read PetWorks) Momokos were truly delightful. Their faces were very appealing...cute, impish, innocent...Momo had it all. The body used was the Takara SAJ body and while not as flexible as the newer bodies, was far more appealing to me. Momoko's skin colour was always a pleasant natural colour and she was very well dressed in the latest Japan fashion.
Momoko soon became my passion and I eagerly awaited each new season of Momokos. Anywhere from 2 to 5 dolls were produced for Spring/Summer(SS) or Autumn/Winter(AW). At first the dolls were numbered as year and name so 02DD was a Daisy D made in 2002. Momoko became hugely popular and it was a challenge, because of small issue numbers to track down quite a few of the dolls. One edition 04RXb, http://www.barbigirl.com/momoko.htm#rxb was made in an edition of 10 dolls worldwide!!! Dolls introduced at Doll Shows were even more difficult to acquire. Yahoo Japan became my second home!!!
PW also produced a number of OOAK dolls in conjunction with various design studios. Then there were the Bonus Truck dolls and it is possible that even PW doesn't know the edition size of those dolls.
As Momoko collecting became a frantic search for the elusive dolls, PW made an astounding announcement:
On October 12, 2004, the Petworks company announced that their wildly popular Momoko doll would be made by the Sekiguchi company. It was the end of an era for Momoko collectors. Here is was Manabe Watanabe(Momoko's inventor) had to say:
Thank you everyone for your support after the end of Momoko production at the end of August 2004. Thank you also for your many ideas and opinions on how to “improve” Momoko. After many meetings with both doll companies we announce that Momoko will be sold again in the Spring of 2005. We will make a doll that will make all of our customers happy. We hope you will continue to give us your opinions and we can keep building together to make a most fortunate Momoko doll. Wishing you good luck in everything you do, Manabe.
News of the 1/6 scale real fashion doll Momoko. Petworks is very grateful to everyone for their patronage. We announce that Momoko will be selling in the Spring of 2005 and will be produced by the Sekiguchi Doll Company. Momoko will have new style but her name will still be 1/6 scale real fashion doll Momoko doll. She will by approximately 27 cm tall, will have a resin, jointed body. The estimated value of each doll will be 8,190 Yen including tax. Momoko will be dressed in up to date fashions.
The Momoko that will debut in Spring 2005 will appeal to a wider age range of customers. We hope that many new fans will come to Momoko, but we hope that her “old” fans will continue to support her.
Sunday, August 24, 2008
So then I found...
Well along with the plethora of items on eBay, I also found Yahoo groups. I looked for groups about dolls and there was Biscuitsclub, a group about Jenny the Japanese answer to Barbie. Jenny was more anime looking than Barbie, but she was adorable. She had a cool boyfriend too called Jeff and dozens of friends. So began the Jenny section of my now huge Barbie/Dollhouse collection. http://www.barbigirl.com/jennyhome.htm
Well then I discovered Jenny had what I thought at first was a little sister Licca. Well it turns out that Licca is a different character all together and has a huge family and friend base herself. http://www.larraine.ca/index.htm
I collected both Jenny and Licca quite fervently in the nineties. I also added another couple of Japanese dolls. First I found the adorable BG You dolls. Wonderful renditions of Japanese school children. http://www.mallaby.ca/bgyou.htm I have the whole group but for one outfit. These dolls are extremely hard to find and even Yahoo Japan has had none listed for some time now.
Then in 2000, Biscuitsclub introduced me to a new gal on the market...Momoko. Wow, she took me by storm. I had to have her. Momoko is still my favourite doll...however Misaki is catching up.
Well then I discovered Jenny had what I thought at first was a little sister Licca. Well it turns out that Licca is a different character all together and has a huge family and friend base herself. http://www.larraine.ca/index.htm
I collected both Jenny and Licca quite fervently in the nineties. I also added another couple of Japanese dolls. First I found the adorable BG You dolls. Wonderful renditions of Japanese school children. http://www.mallaby.ca/bgyou.htm I have the whole group but for one outfit. These dolls are extremely hard to find and even Yahoo Japan has had none listed for some time now.
Then in 2000, Biscuitsclub introduced me to a new gal on the market...Momoko. Wow, she took me by storm. I had to have her. Momoko is still my favourite doll...however Misaki is catching up.
It's raining...again
So here it is still supposed to be summer. It's cold and it's raining and my kitty is not feeling well. Make that two of my kitties.
Saturday, August 23, 2008
When collector meets eBay
Yeah there it was.....eBay. It looked very interesting so I typed in Barbie......wow!!! There were two whole pages of Barbie dolls. So I tried another word.......dollhouse. Three dollhouses appeared and lo and behold one of them was my childhood house. OK that was it, I bid and I got it. So eBay started me off on another passion. As time went by, eBay became a collector's way of life. In the beginning there were no snipers, no scammers. It was just good old, buy it and sell it. The first things I ever bought on eBay was a Barbie called Soda Fountain Sweetheart. Now several thousand dolls and numerous dollhouses later, I still go to eBay to look for rarities, but I don't buy as much as I did in those beginning years. eBay has become a bit of a nightmare with all their rules and regulations and then there's the snipers and the scammers to contend with now. I'll admit it, I've had to become a sniper. If you really want something you have to snipe these days. I've even resorted to eSnipe as you can't snipe fast enough it seems and still I get outbid on a lot of items that I really, really want!!!
Recently I set up a site for people wanting to buy and sell dolls and doll related items without the eBay hassle. We are taking a break for the summer. Check it out, you might like it. http://www.dolls4sale.net/
Recently I set up a site for people wanting to buy and sell dolls and doll related items without the eBay hassle. We are taking a break for the summer. Check it out, you might like it. http://www.dolls4sale.net/
All Dolled Up
All Dolled Up is the name of my site at http://www.barbigirl.com
Ever since I received my first Barbie way back in the Dark Ages, I have been a doll collector. At first it was OK to collect dolls because I was a kid. However when I turned thirteen my mother told me there would be no more dolls for Christmas or birthdays...I was too old for dolls. So I packed all of my dolls, Barbie included away in boxes and hid them in the basement. During my teens I tried to forget about dolls, but I still loved to see them in the toy store, when we shopped for younger siblings and relatives. After I was married and my girls were old enough for dolls, I thought I would give them my dolls. This however brought a resurgence of my repressed "doll collector" fever and I decided to buy the girls some Barbies of their own.
So my dolls made their way to a small closet in my study...I had become a closet collector. My family thought I was slightly crazy...an adult with dolls. About a week after I set up my dolls, my neighbour Anita came over for coffee. The cupboard door was open and she saw them. Anita literally screamed....OMG you have your Barbies......I have mine too. I'm taking them out and putting them on the shelf. And thus began Anita and my excellent adventure into doll collecting for real.
We managed to find a publication called Collectors' United, because we were still in the infancy of the Internet and eBay hadn't been born yet. Through snail mail we gathered together more Barbies and other fashion dolls. My dolls made their way out of the closet and into the rec room.
It was a slow process, but then one day something called eBay appeared on my computer screen.
Ever since I received my first Barbie way back in the Dark Ages, I have been a doll collector. At first it was OK to collect dolls because I was a kid. However when I turned thirteen my mother told me there would be no more dolls for Christmas or birthdays...I was too old for dolls. So I packed all of my dolls, Barbie included away in boxes and hid them in the basement. During my teens I tried to forget about dolls, but I still loved to see them in the toy store, when we shopped for younger siblings and relatives. After I was married and my girls were old enough for dolls, I thought I would give them my dolls. This however brought a resurgence of my repressed "doll collector" fever and I decided to buy the girls some Barbies of their own.
So my dolls made their way to a small closet in my study...I had become a closet collector. My family thought I was slightly crazy...an adult with dolls. About a week after I set up my dolls, my neighbour Anita came over for coffee. The cupboard door was open and she saw them. Anita literally screamed....OMG you have your Barbies......I have mine too. I'm taking them out and putting them on the shelf. And thus began Anita and my excellent adventure into doll collecting for real.
We managed to find a publication called Collectors' United, because we were still in the infancy of the Internet and eBay hadn't been born yet. Through snail mail we gathered together more Barbies and other fashion dolls. My dolls made their way out of the closet and into the rec room.
It was a slow process, but then one day something called eBay appeared on my computer screen.
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