W Club Membership Window Is Officially Open

In case anyone is hiding under a rock ...

The W Club has officially opened its membership window for 2020.  If you collect products from Integrity Toys, you really should join.

Each membership costs $50, but you get $25 of that back as a coupon to use on a future purchase of $99 or more.  I'm not aware of anyone being unable to use their coupons!

There are several reasons to join the W Club:

1.  W Club members get informed of future releases prior to the general public.  Many dolls sell out before the general public even become aware they will be produced.  Many of the retailers actually announce on W Club forums when the dolls will be listed live on their websites, so W Club members are poised and ready to hit those "BUY NOW" buttons!

2.  W Club members are the first to be notified of the IT convention and are given the link to register before the general public.  In the past, the convention sells out within minutes; the link never even makes it to the general public except as a wait-list.

3.  W Club exclusive lottery dolls!  Every year there are several limited edition dolls only available to W Club members through a lottery system.  16 dolls were offered in 2019 alone!  Many collectors purchase more than one membership to improve their chances of winning.  (Personally, I've always kept two memberships in case my husband should ever travel with me to convention because only W Club members can attend the W Club luncheon.)  With two memberships, I've actually had pretty good luck.

In addition, exclusive dolls are sometimes offered to W Club members through the same lottery system.  There is always a small amount of IFDC dolls, IT Convention dolls that did not sell out, and sometimes Retail Exclusives.

4.  Exclusive W Club purchase opportunities.  When you join the W Club, they guarantee at least five exclusive W Club dolls.  

5.  W Club "Upgrade Dolls".   When you join the W Club, you are given the opportunity to upgrade your membership with three different doll choices (you can buy one, two, or all three with each membership).   There is a deposit requirement of $25 per doll with the balance of $110 due when the dolls are ready to ship.  This year's choices are (all photos property of IT):

Le Tuxedo Eugenia Frost
(An obvious re-imagination of Going Public)

Mademoiselle Lilith Blair
(The companion to twin Mademoiselle Eden Blair - the 4th W Club Exclusive Doll of 2019)

Pretty Bird Poppy Parker

The deadline to join is February 28.  Here is the link:
W Club 2020 Membership

2020 - Reset and Doll #1 of 2020

How miserably I failed on my guidelines in 2019!   Upon reflection, I can come up with many excuses but the facts are the facts!

I only sold 10 dolls in 2019 (compared to 74 in 2018)!  I have been reluctant to sell some of my older FR2 girls because I like the hip joint for posing my dolls; however, I prefer the body without the hip joint for photographing or displaying dolls in swimwear or lingerie.  It's almost like I need both bodies.  It finally hit me that I could use the hip-jointed FR2 bodies that pull apart and keep one lower torso without the hip joint in each skin tone (or vice-versa)!  I could just replace the lower torso for whatever photo session I was working on!  Problem solved.   It felt really good to figure this out (too bad it took so long), and now it will be easier to let go some of my older FR2 dolls that need new homes.

FR has really saturated the 12" collecting market over the past few years.  A lot of collectors are trying to refine their collections.  This caused some great deals on older dolls to show up.  Since I find it hard to resist great deals, paired with the fact that I sold several grails in 2018 and had a tidy sum in my Paypal account, I shamelessly lost my ever-loving collecting mind on the secondary market.  In addition, I attended my second doll convention this year which added 26 dolls to my collection at one time!  I wound up adding 85 dolls to my collection in 2019 (compared to 45 in 2018).  I feel sick at my stomach.  

... But there is simply no use living in the past!  It's time to move forward, learn from previous mistakes, and try to do better.  

If I am to do better, I need to stay away from any website where dolls can be purchased.  Who am I kidding!?  All the websites where doll collectors gather sell dolls!  I just need to be more selective.

An example of this was when someone posted a MIB Complete Prosperous Complexity Kyori Sato for $110.   Just the ensemble sells for almost that price on e-bay.  I rationalized that, if I didn't like the doll, the ensemble and body were easily worth $110.  

#1 of 2020 is Prosperous Complexity Kyori Sato.