Saturday, September 8, 2018

Can Anyone's Luck Be This Bad?

I remember a few short years ago when Integrity Toys (IT) was experiencing growing pains and there were several dolls released with flaws.  IT was very proactive and replaced defective dolls, clothing, and/or accessories.  They even gave all W Club members a one-time special credit to use on future purchases.  That's the way a company should respond to factory problems; it's why collectors remained loyal to this brand.

Things straightened out and collectors no longer hand to hold their breath when opening a new doll.  It was bliss!  Unfortunately, I seem to be having a run of bad luck lately.  I purchased Just a Tease Mme Jolie from a dealer.   I tend to participate on the doll boards, the W Club, flickr, and Facebook.  Other collectors started posting photos of the sewing mistakes on this doll's lingerie.
Yep, mine was crooked as well.  I contacted patient care and waited almost 8 weeks for a replacement.  When it arrived, it came without stockings attached.  (I know the stockings weren't damaged on the original, but I have arthritis and it takes me a lot of time and frustration to snap those little things in the right places.)  I'm not sure those little stockings cost that much to produce, and it would've been very nice to open the package and have every thing just ready to put on the doll.  I mean I could've been super picky and asked for a new head since the right eye's iris seems lower than the left, but I decided it was so much that I couldn't live with it.

I recently blogged about Time of The Season Poppy Parker.  She was my Doll Number 10 of 2018.  Like many other collectors, I had to report that the lower legs had been stained by the hose.
I am still waiting on the replacement parts from China ...

Apparently, I was one of the more lucky collectors with Fame & Fortune Vanessa Perrin.  Many collectors have reported "wonky" eye with this version.  I love mine.   Faces of Adele Makeda was also a home run hit for me.  I recently received the W Club upgrade dolls, Eye Candy Rayna and Modernist Eugenia Frost.

Many collectors are in a frenzy over the use of "grayish" paint for the sclera of the eyes.  I hadn't noticed this in Fame & Fortune Vanessa (where it apparently started, but isn't too obvious).  I can tell the difference in Eye Candy Rayna; she will be getting her own review in the near future.  I think this is a lovely version.
However, I also have Go Home Rayna from 2011.  I think Go Home Rayna is one of the most perfect dolls, head-to-toe, produced.
I am faced with deciding which may stay; however, they are so different in style I think there is room for both.  Rayna is one of a few doll molds where I have every version ever produced.
When I opened Modernist Eugenia Frost, I knew her eyes were off.  I mean I haven't even gotten the replacement legs back for Poppy and I am sending off another defective head for replacement.   (The gray in her sclera is more obvious in this doll.  I'm not sure if it is the skin tone color or the fact that the sclera is almost the same color as the dress, but I don't like it in this doll.  Maybe it's just all the grays in the eyeshadow.  And then it may just be a combination of these things.)

I thought about selling her NRFB, but I can't sell a defective head to another collector.  I'll have to wait a couple months for the replacement to arrive.  First, I have to remove the torso and head and send it to CANADA; from there, they will order me another torso and head from China.  Wait time:  2 months at least.  Then I have to reassemble the doll.  If I decide to sell it, it won't be NRFB anymore.  This doll cost me $135 with shipping.  I shouldn't have to go to all this trouble.

Fortunately, I have amassed a lovely collection over the past 13 years I have been collecting IT dolls. If I never purchased another doll, I should be happy with those residing here.  But, as we all know, I seem to be forever desperately seeking dolls.



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