Natural Beauty Tooka - Dynamite Girl in the house

I'm afraid it may be some time before I can use my big (heavy) camera, so I'm sorry you'll have to suffer through these iPhone photos. I just couldn't wait to share Natural Beauty Tooka.

I haven't purchased any Dynamite Girls for a while--at least not for my own collection. However, Sooki is my favorite face sculpt, and to see her in this lovely A-tone skin really was a must-have for me. Honestly, though, I have to confess it was her tiny owl print dress that first grabbed my attention. It's so cute!

Integrity Toys promo photo

They have a new box style--a more recycled-looking box with a new logo--since the last time I've had any DGs go through my hands. The inner box top looks like this:

Whether it's actually recycled is another question. And a good one! I wonder if I can find out.

Tooka herself is gorgeous. As pretty as her promo photos, easily, in my opinion. The sheath dress is cotton, and IT did a great job with the fabric print. (I have a daughter whose favorite color is yellow, and who also happens to have a small fascination with owls.) In my personal opinion, the owls could have been just a teeny bit smaller, but I don't think their size is a big deal.

As you can see, she also includes a detailed denim jacket with buttons and pockets, though it only closes at the bottom with a hook and loop. I think this will be a fun layering piece, though, and it's very nicely done.

Her accessories are a great clutch, bangle bracelets, simple hoop earrings, and stunning tiny espadrilles.

Her hair is pretty wild out of the box--so long and curly--but super soft, too. It lends itself well to styling, so she's pretty versatile. I think the style suits her very well, and she's an absolutely adorable little doll for her price point--I think retail was $70. You really can't beat that!

Integrity Toys new release: The Dynamite Girls Love Revolution

Dynamite Girls Love Revolution collection

Unfortunately, I was out and about during the W Club's unveiling this time around, but the Dynamite Girls new collection Love Revolution is really sweet. It features six new dolls--four girls and two boys, including one exclusive Susie available through R&D Collectibles.

The Dynamite Girls' style is inspired by an indie music festival, though I'd call it thrift store chic. I see lots of primary colors, mix and match pieces, and a brand new character, Tooka--an African American skin tone Sooki head sculpt. She happens to be my favorite--mostly because of her adorable owl print dress and espadrille wedges.

I'm noticing all kinds of fun details on these girls: check out their bright nail art--Tooka has yellow, Jett has blue. Plus, check out the fantastic jewelry in this collection. Many include rings (even Cruz!), bangles, necklaces, and I even see a watch for Auden.

Additionally, IT has kept the retail price at just $70 per doll, which is fantastic. The girls are limited to 300 and 400, and the boys are limited to 750 each, which should hopefully make them a bit more reasonable. The dolls will ship in early May.

Free Spirit Jett
LE400

Own The Moment Aria
LE400

Natural Beauty Tooka
(Sooki head sculpt)
LE300

All American Auden
LE750

Take It Easy Cruz
(Auden head sculpt)
LE750

Sweet Freedom Susie
LE300
exclusive to R&D Collectibles - order directly from them or IT Direct if you're a W Club member

Photos property of Integrity Toys.

Rufus' Travel Tips

This past fall, my husband, Chris & I flew back to his home state of Maine to attend his high school buddy's wedding. After being inspired by fellow FDR writer Carolyn and her adventures with Collette, I decided I would bring Dynamite Girl Rufus along on our trip. She was pretty quiet and subdued the whole week; in fact, it didn't seem like she was enjoying herself much. However, when we returned home, she had apparently had gathered many opinions about traveling that she felt compelled to share with all of the other dolls out there who read this blog.

Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of Rufus and do not necessarily reflect the views and opinions of the author or Fashion Doll Review.

London Calling - the Dynamite GIrls

The Dynamite Girls have taken over London. This collection is London Calling, and features higher edition sizes, bright colors, wonderful shoes, and lots of layered pieces. I'm noticing a lack of jewelry and purses for this collection. All dolls retail for $65 with an estimated delivery date of March and are available to order now.

These first four dolls are limited to 800 each. There is a new girl in the collection, Holland, with an estimated ship date of late March 2013. She is wearing an orange turtleneck under her belted jumper.

Dani has made a return appearance to the collection in green brocade slacks, a black shirt, lace sweater and hot pink jacket. Again--the shoes--they remind me a little of Posh Girl (FR:Nippon collection) some years ago, only with buckles instead of laces.

Two boys are in this collection as well. My favorite is Cruz, in a fabulous electric blue shit, lime shirt with black buttons, collar and cuffs, orange sweater vest, and amazing shoes.

Kyu makes his appearance in a teal coat, patched jeans, red collared shirt, mustard chunky knit sweater and brown and red boots.

It's good to see TJ back in the collection. She is limited to 600 dolls. She's wearing a white jacket, lime blouse, pink chenille sweater, patterned brocade skirt, lace tights and great boots.

Also limited to 600, Dayle returns to the collection as well. She is dressed in brocade shorts, lime tights and brown boots, a pink blouse, white sweater and oversized blue jacket.

Photos are property of Integrity Toys.

Jolly Jett - retro!

Jolly Jett, a photo by alington on Flickr.

This is Jolly Jett, a Dynamite Girl by Integrity Toys, owned by Carolyn. She's sporting a brand new hairdo, a retro bubble cut, by Roberta Marino.

She's dressed in Poppy Parker's Sweet Confection fashion.

Isn't she just adorable?

W Club Lottery Doll - Summer

W Club members were treated to a lottery ordering opportunity earlier this week with the release of Summer, a new Dynamite Girl IT Direct Exclusive. She's scheduled for a June 11 delivery date (that is soon!) and she's limited to just 250 dolls. She retails for $50.

She's a brown-eyed raven-haired girl (who also looks like Jasper, the same sculpt used for Spring), with soft pink facial screening, and is dressed in a yellow cocktail sheath.

These dolls are limited to W Club members only, which will be drawn by lottery on June 11. Members have till June 20th to pay.

Two more dolls are still scheduled for release - Fall and Winter of this year. What a great set these four dolls would make for your collection! (I'm maybe wishing I had held onto Spring now, LOL!)

 Photos are property of Integrity Toys.

Dynamite Girls are going back to Brooklyn

Back to Brooklyn is the the of this release of the Dynamite Girls line:

Jasper Back to Brooklyn
LE 450
Late may
$65

Neve Back to Brooklyn
LE 450
Late may
$65

Gavin Back to Brooklyn
LE 450
Late May
 $65

Auden Back to Brooklyn
LE 450
Late May
$65

Remi Back to Brooklyn
LE 450
Late May
$65
Photos property of Integrity Toys.

New release from IT Direct

Just for members of the W Club, Integrity Toys has announced the release of a brand new IT Direct exclusive dressed doll, Spring. She's limited to 250, retails for $50, and is scheduled to ship the week of March 19, 2012.

Spring is the first in a series of four IT Direct dolls, designed for the redressing and restyling doll collector. She features a Dynamite Girl body with rooted auburn hair, and applied lashes. She will ship in a clear acetate container, without a stand. (She looks a little like Jasper to me, but I don't have the official word on her sculpt.)

As you might have guessed, the remaining three dolls will be released throughout the year, corresponding to the season.

To purchase this doll, you must be a W Club member, and you have a chance to win the opportunity to purchase her via lottery.

New Dynamite Girls announced - In the City collection

Convention attendees were given a chance to preview the new Dynamite Girl collection, "In The City." These dolls will be shipping in early January 2012, and may be available for preorder from your dealers. They are limited to 350 each and retail for $60. The fashions are inspired by 1970s fashion. I love the color! They've introduced another new character, too.

First up is Good Times Dayle. (I don't recall seeing a platinum Dayle before!) She's wearing a sun visor, color mesh shirt, satin miniskirt, sleeveless hoodie, blue ankle socks and purple pumps.

Next up is You Sexy Thing Jasper. This gorgeous girl has qua eye shadow and bubblegum pink lips. She's wearing teal hot pants and a graphic printed blouse. Her accessories include a silver bag, aqua platform wedges, pink beaded necklace and a a pink woven hat.

Next is the Mighty Real Reese. She's got a lovely facial screening, super soft, and her dark hair pulled behind her. (She reminds me of one of my favorite Steffie-faced Barbie--African American Magic Curl

from 1980, I think.) She's wearing salmon short-alls with a pink blazer, gold platform peep-toes, a flower choker, and carries a purple bag.

Meet the new boy in town, Hot Stuff Cruz. He's dressed in dark jeans, a blue New York t-shirt, a yellow leather jacket. I think he's pretty cute, "faux-hawk" and all.

Items for sale at the DollPage Show & Sell site

If you aren't familiar with the DollPage, it's a great place to sale your dolls--for free!

I've started with my NRFB items, including some recent additions to my Steffie collection, due to a lack of space. I've also got a never-removed-from-box Monster High 5-doll set, which includes an exclusive Gloom Beach Ghoulia Yelps (in addition to Cleo, Draculaura, Clawdeen and Frankie) listed, as well as a Target exclusive Barbie Basic Model 03 from this year's Collection red.

For the eclectic collector in all of us, check out Birthday Party Barbie from 1998. She's also NRFB, and I swear, you won't find another doll like her. (In our house, we call her Blow Up Barbie.) She's kind of everything I love about dolls, all rolled into one.

But I realized recently that I don't really do well with NRFB items. And I'm in the process of rearranging my display space. I'll have more items listed later on. Thanks for looking!

Aqua Bella Jett

Well the newest Dynamite Girls collection called "CheckMates" is shipping right now and today I got Aqua Bella Jett.  I'm totally thrilled with this doll!  She's got a gorgeous sweet face and a load of luscious brown hair.  I was quick to redress her and she looks just fabulous.  


Her original outfit was a green checked bathing suit, little sandals (plastic), straw sun hat with flowers, sunglasses, silver metal hoop earrings, silver chain bracelet plus a white metal bracelet.  

Rock Candy Rufus Blue and Downtown Darling Jett on eBay!

Rock Candy Rufus Blue

Only one hour left on these fun auctions - $66 for Downtown Darling Jett and just over $77 for Rock Candy Rufus Blue at the time of this post!

These are gorgeous dolls, and it's your chance to pick them up at a good price and support us here at the Fashion Doll Review. The auctions are bid-style, so go set your maximum bid--and good luck!

The Dynamite Girls (and Boys) @ IFDC

Summer Daze, a photo by alington on Flickr.

Fantastically detailed this year, the Dynamite Girls (and boys!) did not disappoint. Click here for the Flickr photo album.

Korean pop singer Kyu was a personal favorite (he's pictured above), and is part of the Checkmates collection. I can see another Auden mark-up in the making. Remi is pretty cute, too, though I'm not overly fond of the paint splotches on his jacket. (I'm probably just not couture enough.)

Both Aria and Jett appear twice in this year's collection--once each in Plastic Inevitable and Checkmates. Heart of Glass is a nice change for Aria with a darker hair color, and Heat Wave is a sweet blonde version. Jett as brunette Aqua Bella makes me sad I didn't pre-order this doll--she is super cute!--and the blonde 1980s inspired Downtown Darling is nicely done.

I shouldn't forget Rufus Blue--we've already heard how fantastic she is. Beach Bunny Sooki is cute with her raven braids.

Overall, even if you don't lean towards the DG girl line, this year may make you look twice. The quality is really good--the facial screenings are excellent and even less cartoony than last year's. I can't wait to see how this line progresses. I'd personally love to see larger edition sizes, just to limit the craziness.

More goodies on eBay...

I've just spent most of the day listing a ton of auctions on eBay at Buy-It-Now or Best Offer list prices. Come check out my listings!

I've had most of my IFDC souvenirs sell already, but I do have some other special dolls on there, just waiting to come to your home, including the adorable Rock Candy Rufus Blue, pictured here. So come check them out and see if you need anything.

Additionally, I have some Ball-Jointed Dolls for Beginners books in stock at my home. If you haven't received your copy yet, now is the time. I'll even autograph it for you, if you like. The shipping is on me (for US orders), and I've marked it down to just $30.

Thanks for looking!

Teresa, Dynamite Girls Sooki and Neve

I know I haven't posted in a while, and now I am happy to post again. I was just waiting for some interesting dolls to come, if you know what I mean. This time it is a 1980s Teresa and some Dynamite Girls, Neve and Sooki. Neve is not wearing her Chill Factor outfit in these photos, so you may not recognize her.

Teresa is wearing a leopard print dress that I made (I just took a piece of random fabric and pinned it. She didn't have any clothes!) and I forgot to put her shoes on. She has very long golden brown hair which is braided but at some point I will show you what she looks like with her hair down.


Sooki is a Vintage Vinyl dolls. She is not wearing her violet satin dress but she is wearing a Barbie clothing item. You may have seen pictures of her in past posts.


Neve is a Chill Factor doll. She is one of the new Dynamite Girls. I've forgotten her name once or twice and I kept thinking that she was Jett.

Now hopefully I will be posting more often because I will have some new things to share!

Happy fourth of July!

Plastic Inevitable

The newest line of Dynamite Girls from Integrity has been shipping out to customers.  The line includese 3 girls (Rufus Blue, Aria & Jett) and 2 new boys (Auden & Remi).  I personally have the 3 girls, so I'll just be posting pics of them here today, but you can see the boys on flickr from plenty of members if you're interested.

So the Dynamite Girls were upgraded last year with new legs, so they no longer have the knobby knees and in this collection they got new hands (they are they same as Misaki dolls).  The changes to this line over the past year have been very impressive and this line is becoming a force in the doll community.  The fashions are of very high quality, fabulously designed and now come with metal accessories.  The upgrade in this area along with the doll itself has brought in new collectors.

The fashions on these particular girls are just fabulous! The jackets are done beautifully, have great detail and are fully lined.  Aria's jeans are really cool with the gold flaking in the fabric, Rufus' printed top is such fun and Jett's little bustier with decorative stitching is really beautiful.

Dynamite Girls: Downtown Darling Jett

Thanks to my one of my doll club meets on Sunday, I got to see Carolyn's brand new Dynamite Girl, Downtown Darling Jett, from the Plastic Inevitable collection yesterday. I took a few photos of her, and you can check out the rest (and larger sizes) on Flickr.

I have this doll on order--I think mine is on its way via UPS ground--and I'm really excited. I pre-ordered her because I adore her overall look. She looks like a 1980s era Madonna wanna-be. In fact, the entire Plastic Inevitable collection looks 80s-inspired to me.

I know there was a little fuss about the price increase of the Dynamite Girls line--okay, a lot of fuss about the price increases of the entire Integrity Toys collection, if I'm going to be precise. I'm sure some of the increase was due to the performance of the dollar, the overseas production costs, and marketing strategy. But I'm going to go out on a limb and say that, in the case of the Dynamite Girls at least, I'm willing to pay it.

Compared to the 2010 collection--the basic dolls (Vintage Vinyl) were $40 and the limited edition (Chill Factor) $54.99 retail--this year the dolls have increased by $5 each: basics (Check Mate) retail at $44.99 and Plastic Inevitable are $59.99.

After seeing Downtown Darling in person, her quality is very good. She includes a multi-stand necklace and hoop earrings, a distressed denim skirt, hose, bustier, and jacket. Jett's facial screening, usually quite cartoony, is much more detailed than in past editions. This is fun and gorgeous doll--high quality, yet playable and still affordable.

I would pay an extra $5 just for the stand included with Jett. It's a new style with two holes, so you can display two dolls on a single stand if you wish. You have the option of a saddle style or a waist gripper, which screws onto the metal stand, which fits onto the base. It's sturdier. Plus, being able to display two dolls on a single stand is really going to de-clutter my display. I can't wait!

Compared to what else is on the market in the $45-60 range, I don't think you'll find many other 11-12" doll with this much articulation, this quality of clothing and accessories, and this type of versatility. They appeal to box-collectors and redressers (they are so easy to dress!) alike, and they are definitely affordable.

My one problem with this line is the edition size. Each doll was made in an edition of 300. Especially for the premier of boys to the Dynamite Girls line, 300 is not enough. In fact, I did a search on eBay this morning, and I saw three Auden dolls listed for between $450 and $550. That is simply crazy. And OMG--they are actually selling with an average price of $370. Congratulations to those of you making that kind of return on your purchases!