It is hard to believe that 2025 is just 10 short days away! A quarter of the twenty-first century almost behind us! Dang, I feel old!
Unless you attended the Integrity Toys (IT) Stilettos Out doll convention, it was slim pickings for items to add to your collection without going to secondary market. Personally, it takes a very special doll for me to pursue marked-up prices these days. I still managed to add 29 dolls to my collection this year, but I only re-homed five dolls. My collection still found a way to increase!
FINE PRINT: I always feel compelled to explain my reasoning when choosing my favorite 10 dolls of the previous year. First, I only include dolls/items that made it into my personal collection during the past twelve months. That often leaves out dolls that were extremely popular or very limited in production that I was unable to acquire at retail price. I simply refuse to pay double or more for a doll unless I fall head-over-heels in love with it. I didn't attend the Stilettos Out Convention this year, so many of those wonderful dolls will not appear in my countdown. Collectors may argue some of these are better than dolls I included, but I only judge those I own. Second, since I only include dolls that physically are in my personal collection, dolls advertised this year but not yet produced will not be included either. In converse, there will be dolls that were advertised in 2023 that didn't get sent to collectors until 2024 that will appear in my countdown. My countdown only includes dolls that were shipped to collectors during the past twelve months.
Now, on with the show.
I really struggled with where to put this line in 2024. It's fair to say that David Buttry knows what he is doing and is very good at it. Poppy Parker is like a "gateway drug" for collectors. There are many members of the W Club that only collect Poppy Parker. Older versions of this doll can sell in the thousands of dollars on secondary market. Somehow David manages to keep a line that has popular for fifteen years fresh and exciting.
Collectors received two 2023 W Club Exclusives this year: Suited for Travel and When In Paris. The 2023 Neutral Code Collection also came out in 2024 with four dolls: Travel Togs Poppy, Checkmates Poppy, Chain Reaction Ginger Gilroy and Op Art Opening Jolie James. The W Club Upgrade Poppy was Angel Eyes. There were four versions in the Poppy At Home Collection: Blue Skies, Lazy Daze, It's My Party, and Snoozeroo. Plus the five Stilettos Out Girls: Apres-Ski Asset, Illusive Beauty, Bird of Prey, Gold Season, and Swiss Miss Behave. If were a completist Poppy collector, you added 18 dolls in 2024! That's a lot for one line of dolls. I don't consider Poppy Parker a cornerstone in my collection, and I still managed to add six of these to my own collection!
So the task at hand was which Poppy Parker to include in my countdown and where to put her. The primary criteria in my countdown is "playability/redress" of the doll. That is followed by artistic vision for dolls that may be displayed in original stock because they are just so perfect. The Neutral Code collection definitely falls into the latter category because I plan to leave them in their original ensembles and displayed together with the 2006 Mod Misaki girls. Although I appreciate each of these girls immensely, they remind me of other dolls I already own, so I felt comfortable choosing a different version for this countdown.
The doll I did choose was a combination of ideas previously released. The faceup and hair are from the 2012 Sabrina lineup, the dress is a black version of the 2019 Friend of Foe giftset, and the slacks ensemble is similar to People Do Fall in Love giftset from 2011. Even though many of the elements were not novel or relatively creative, the final product was fantastic. It was a giftset with lots of play options!
And here is the closeup photo. (I added different earrings.)
My Number 10 of 2024 is When In Paris Poppy Parker!
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