Best of 2020 - Number 8: Little Day Ensemble Veronique Perrin

2020 was riddled with so much anxiety and stress related to the COVID19 pandemic.  Unfortunately, this stress sometimes poured over into my hobby.

This year Integrity Toys (IT) released a mini capsule, Maison FR Paris Collection, sold directly through dealers.  There were only two dolls.  At first I wasn't that impressed and wasn't planning on ordering either of them.   The more I looked at them, I decided I should take the plunge and just "go for it".  After all, there weren't a lot of new dolls being released this year.  

It turned out that it wasn't difficult to find Siren Silhouette Korinne Dimas.  (Photo property of IT)

This character had never appeared on the FR2 body and hadn't even been produced since 2012.  There were 1100 in the edition size and the price was $175.   Collectors were a little shy about buying her.  I think she will be an interesting addition to my collection, and I believe I will really like the ensemble.  She is already paid for but hasn't been shipped yet to IT.

The other doll was Veronique Perrin, mold 1.0.  If you follow my blog, I had just thinned out my Veronique collection and had even gone on to eliminating doll versions with blonde ponytails!   After all that work, did I really want to stir things up again?   Apparently, the answer was "yes"!

Now, this is where the stress comes in.   Many IT dealers take preorders of dolls following promotion, and it is a total feeding frenzy when new dolls are released.  Some dealers just list the dolls on their website at "first come, first served".   Because I couldn't make up my mind, I had to act quickly when websites starting posting her.

I waited around on the internet for the Couture Dolls site to go live with these dolls.   I completed the checkout process immediately and even got an e-mail confirmation from PayPal at 1:02 that my payment went through (the site went live at 1:00).  That was followed by a a confirmation e-mail from Couture Dolls at 1:16 p.m. that my order was processed.  I was ecstatic!   Done and Done! 

Then at 2:38 p.m., I got a cancellation e-mail from Couture Dolls.  It stated that they didn't have enough dolls to fill the orders.  ... But I was in and out by 1:02 p.m.?  This was the second time this year that I was told I missed out on something by seconds.  (Remember Alain's e-mail about the Legendary Convention ticket?)

Here's where the stress comes in.  It seems Couture Dolls did not have enough allotment to process their online orders, but they got enough to sell the dolls on their website for $300 (that's almost double her retail price).  The sad thing is that dealers can get away with doing this because IT does not police this type of behavior or prohibit it.  Since IT keeps the edition sizes low, there is more demand than supply, so many collectors go to secondary market and pay the inflated prices.  Several dealers are actually guilty of doing this.  It should be stopped, but I guess it will continue as long as collectors allow it.

I had decided that I did not need this doll in my collection and had decided to ignore her completely.  Unfortunately for me, actual photos of the doll captured how beautiful she was.  I had to break one of my collecting rules and purchase the doll secondary market.  

Although Veronique has appeared in my countdown previously:  

2011 - Breaking the Mold was #3

2014 - Full Spectrum was #7

2018 - Fetish Fatale was #9

all of these were mold 2.0 versions.  This is the first time Veronique Perrin, mold 1.0, got into my countdown.  I always claimed that mold 1.0 suffered from poor screening choices after IT switched to the taller bodies.  Here is an example (Onyx Veronique)

The designers refused to believe it could be their choices for screenings and blamed the mold itself.  This was ridiculous reasoning since prior to 2006, there were some amazing versions like Diamond Dusted 

and Sheer Goddess

2020 proved that mold 1.0 could produce beautiful, highly sought after dolls, with the right screening.  This year we go Velvet Rouge Fragrance, Cover Story, and Little Day Ensemble.  All of these were countdown-worthy!

Here is Little Day Ensemble in box.

Full length in box ...

One thing I need to mention is that there is an inconsistency in quality control this year.   With all that is going on globally, it probably should be expected, but it does affect these dolls since they are hand-screened and rooted.  I watched e-bay until an example came up with great eyes and hair.  Here she is out of box.

Full length with jewelry, shoes, sunglasses, and purse (she also came with two additional sets of hands, one of them being a lovely rose colored gloved hand).

If it hadn't been for my bad experience obtaining her, she could've easily been much higher on my countdown.  In any other year, she could've easily been a Number 1 doll.   The ensemble looks a little bulky, but the fabric is very soft.  Her hair is luxurious without a hint of product.  This doll is everything Veronique stands for: exquisite taste and class!  One of my very favorite dolls added to my collection in 2020. 

Number 8 in my Best of 2020 Countdown (and number 31 added to my 2020 collection) is Little Day Ensemble Veronique Perrin (mold 1.0).