It's hard to believe I have been collecting dolls for more than half a century! When I was a little girl, my cousin introduced me to Barbie back in the 1960's. I still own one of my original dolls from my childhood and she holds a very special place in my collection.
As an adult, I collected "vintage" Barbies and "collectible" Barbies. Siltstones came alone and changed the game for me. They were my "gateway drug" to Integrity Toys dolls. I added Jamieshow/Owensu Muses to my collection in 2021.
I have also owned many 16" dolls. I owned several Gene dolls, Robert Tonner dolls, and even the 16" Integrity Avant Gard girls. The only 16" line that has managed to stick around are my dozen or so favorite Ellowyne Wilde versions.
Since I live in a suburban area outside a big city, I don't have convenient access to a doll collecting group. Social media is the only available way I have to connect with other collectors, and I have made some wonderful friends that I hope to meet some day when conventions are once again organized.
One of these friends showed me some photos of his personal favorite doll line, Dominion Doll. The more I saw of his beautiful Dominion Doll collection, the more I wanted one. These dolls are the brain child of Russian doll designer Petr Tishkov and his business partner Elena Kostina. Each doll is carefully created by hand at the direction of the collector!
Dominion Doll started with one mold character in 2017. It has grown into nine female dolls in the mainline. These are presented as "blanks" without any makeup.
There is also a "curvy" doll with an original sculpt called "Posh", and a male line was introduced this past spring called "Dominion Kings" with three character sculpts. All of these are offered in 9 skin tone options.
There are 27 "stock" makeup versions to choose from. You can also combine different aspects from different photos to get a unique look or send Petr a photograph to use as inspiration, essentially creating a one-of-a-kind doll.
 |
So, that's nine female character molds, nine skin tone colors, and 27 stock makeup versions. Are you comprehending the possibilities here?
Now for the articulation. What is not to like here?
Dominion Dolls are very similar in size and shape to Jamieshow/Owensu Muses and Integrity Toys Fashion Royalty/Nuface. They can share the same clothes and shoes!
As anticipated, these dolls are not cheap! They are resin "ball-jointed" strung dolls. Everything is offered a la carte. The blank body and character head costs $510 for the lighter five skin tones. If you want a doll in one of the four darker skin tones, it is an extra $35. The makeup choice adds $80. If you want the body blushed that runs between $30 - $50. The manicure/pedicure is another $30 - $45. Then there is a selection of wonderful wigs on the website priced from $60 - $110. If you've been running a calculation, you can see that the most basic of Dominion Dolls will run you between $700 - $850 with a wig. But the doll is completely finished by hand and the quality is actually quite exceptional.
I started saving my money from doll sales last year and placed an order this past January. I decided that I wanted my first doll to use the Aura mold. I wanted it in the Caramel skin color. Dear follower, you cannot imagine the hours I spent looking over the makeup options! I wound up choosing makeup #2 with several changes: 1. Lips from makeup #13 (I wanted more natural lips rather than pink since the skin tone was caramel), 2. Brown eyes (also influenced by the skin tone color), 3. White sclera, and 4. Added small lower lashes. I e-mail Petr and asked his opinion. I got thumbs up.
There was a delay in production of my doll. Somehow I misunderstood how Petr creates the dolls. It seems that he has two deadlines each year. He has a January deadline for dolls produced the first half of the year and a summer deadline for dolls produced the second half. When I contacted him, he offered to produce a second doll to save on shipping costs and produce both dolls together! So I placed a second order - this time for a Rei (his Asian mold and one of the best Asian characters on the 12" doll market). There were several unforeseen problems with getting the body in the skin tone I ordered, so he offered me any blank he had in stock. One of those was my second choice, Nika in cream skin color. I found a photo for the makeup.
Here is how the Dominion Dolls were packaged:
It was just like Christmas here! Here is my Aura wearing the wig I selected for her. She is wearing a dress from the Jamieshow/Muses enchanted line. I am truly blown away. The bodies are quite substantial, even heavier than Muses. They feel quite sturdy.
Number 40 of my 2023 Collecting Cycle is Dominion Doll Aura in Caramel Skin Tone.
And here is Nika! I really wanted a doll with freckles! I had originally planned on her being a redhead, but this blonde wig just totally suits.
Number 41 of my 2023 Collecting Cycle is Dominion Doll Nika in Cream Skin Tone.
Once I got these dolls in hand I was able to make an educated comparison. The articulation is just beyond anything I could've imagined. Dominion Dolls' joints actually "glide" smoothly. There is no pulling or pushing necessary. You don't feel like you are forcing a pose. As far as my personal experience with 12" dolls goes, this is the best body on the market for posing.
The areas in which Jamieshow and Integrity Toys have an edge would be interchangeability at the wrists and ankles/lower legs. You can change out Jamieshow Muses' hands and feet. You can also put on dressing paddles for hands to get the doll's arms through sleeves. Integrity Toys allows you to change out the lower legs to flat feet and the hands come out of the wrist socket so you can put on sleeves. The hands and feet on Dominion Dolls, although quite graceful, are permanent. They are actually riveted into place.
The wigs sold at Dominion Doll can be worn with Jamieshow Muses, but they fit better with a silicone wig cap. The Dominion Dolls wigs are expensive but are very well constructed. They don't look the way cheaper stretch cap wigs look. I actually prefer the magnetic wig caps of Jamieshow since they just snap in and out and are actually rooted onto the skull cap.
One other very slight difference of note is that the Dominion Dolls have natural earlobes. They are like a human's earlobes in that they stick out from the head. This causes a problem with earrings since the posts can't just stick into the head like Muses and IT dolls. Dominion Doll earrings have to be looped which is a little complicated to achieve.
Overall, Dominion Dolls are quite amazing and actually merit their price point. I will be purchasing more and have even started planning for my January order!
No comments:
Post a Comment