IDEX

Of course Leo's laptop died while we were in Orlando, so I couldn't write anything while we were there. Leo also lost his cell phone on one of the rides at Universal Studios so I guess you could say we were "technologically challenged" while there. Sheesh.

What I noticed at IDEX: baby dolls of all colors, shapes and materials are apparently taking over the world. Reborn or not, they were EVERYWHERE. I've never seen so many, especially of the realistic sort, in one place. It was a little disturbing. To be honest, some of them looked like ugly little fetuses. I have to wonder how many people actually BUY them. They sure didn't sell well for us the last few years we were in business.

The other thing I noticed: Linda Rick, dba The Dollmaker, is taking over the rest of the world. She had many, many booths, with mostly vinyl dolls of all ages plus a few porcelain ones thrown in for good measure. Big dolls, little dolls, ugly dolls, cute dolls, they were all to be found in one of her booths.

There was actually very little BJD related stuff, unfortunately. I saw Kimberly Lasher's new dolls and they were pretty cute. Kim designed the body she is using on her dolls too; good for her! The new body can fit DT clothes as well as some other MSD clothes.She will also do custom faceups for her dolls as requested so the opportunity is there for much customization for the buyer. You can see her dolls here: www.KimberlyLasherdolls.com

Pullip (JUN Planning) had tons of dolls on display. I liked the dolls that were collaborations with Disney best of all. Too bad the Pullip people were so awful to deal with when we tried to sell their dolls. Communication was non-existent despite my many emails and phone calls. I hope other retailers have better luck with them than we did.

Wilde Imagination had a beautiful display set up of Ellowyne and also Evangeline Ghastly. I love Ellowyne's clothes and accessories; I just wish her head weren't so disproportionately large. Same goes for the resin version of Evangeline; her head is just too honking big, as are her hands. But her clothes are spectacular. Evangeline will be coming out in a vinyl version in late spring or early summer. The vinyl version's head is smaller. I admit to pre-ordering her and several of the outfits and shoes sets, dang it. Her hands are still too big, but I can deal with that. I just couldn't resist the clothes any longer. Her pet skunk is coming out in a new version with fangs; I couldn't resist her either. The dressed version will sell for less than $160. A couple of the versions will have rooted hair and the other will have wigs. She can wear the same clothes as the resin Evangeline, but her shoes will be slightly smaller. Guess I'd better start making room on my doll shelves now.  Wilde Imagination will also be introducing several dolls from the Oz stories. Their eyes are painted and I just didn't think them that attractive, but that's only my opinion.

Also at IDEX was Ruby Red Galleria, which specializes in clothes and shoes for Riley Kish and the Bleuette doll, as well as doing wigs for some BJD sizes. Their merchandise was well made and the prices not out of line with other high quality lines. I may have to order a couple of items for my own Riley (not that she is in any way, in actual NEED of more clothes, you understand...) Some of their Riley items are downright adorable. You can take a look at: www.rubyredgalleria.com and just try to resist!

More on IDEX tomorrow!