The Amazing Disappearing Pullip Lady

[tikistitch]

Been meaning to comment about this. The first official day of Comic Con, whist Tikistitch was wandering to and fro with igrrl and Kittybert, still reeling from the effects the World's Nastiest Migraine Headache, we stumbled upon a small display of our beloved Pullip dolls. These included Rovam, the pirrrrrate; the upcoming ram girl, whose name escapes us; and the Ai and Aki twins; as well as some minis.



The Jun Planning lady, who we took to be Japanese, was extremely sweet, and provided us with the above catalog/Pullip Poetry volume. She also administered a short survey regarding two shelves full of prototype Pullip dolls, which we weren't supposed to photograph. She proudly explained that Jun Planning now has a headquarters in the U.S., and that Pullips for the American market are in the offing. The shelves full of "forbidden" dolls were potentials for U.S. customers.

The consensus of our threesome of doll fanatics, and Tania and KB can correct me if they'd like, was that the proto Pullips dolls looked, to a one, exactly like Bleeding Edge goth dolls. In other words, nothing like the Pullips we know and love, and just one more instance of goth-sploitation. We tried to explain our concerns to Nice Pullip Lady, and we wrote a couple of sentences saying the same on our copy of the survey.

Oddly, during the later days of the con, when the ice pick had finally dislodged itself from our aching cranium, we searched the Con floor numerous times for Nice Pullip Lady, hoping to sneak some forbidden photographs. (Naughty Tikistitch!) Unfortunately, like a vision from a waking dream, she had somehow disappeared.

Comments

[mmymoon.livejournal.com]

Heh, I wondered if they were tailoring the display to American audiences, hence all the goth stuff. Hey, look at it this way -- if they make an ENTIRELY NEW SEPARATE LINE of "American Pullips" that are all gothtastic, that only means they'll be making twice as many Pullips. So one could buy sweet ickle Asian pirates AND BDSM Goffpullips. I mean, that's not really something I'd complain about... mostly because there is NO WAY they could be as bad as Bleeding Edge Goth dolls, because they didn't have little Xes and radioactive symbols for eyes, right?

I have to admit, I do like goth style (WHY HAVEN'T THERE BEEN ANY GOTHIC LOLITA DOLLS SINCE NOIR?! Black with white lace! And a tea set! C'mon!) very much, so I wouldn't mind, if they were prettily done. I hate the "OMG DRIPPING BLOOD AND PEIRCINGS AND CrraZzzZy CONTACTS!!!!" crap, though, because tha't just ugly. Seriously. God.

Since we could always buy whatever one's coming out in Aisa, anyway. But, I am saddened because twotone said she didn't recall any black/dark-skinned Pullips at SDCC -- whereas there were several from the last convention.

Please to be scanning in more of the Poetry book.

[tikistitch.livejournal.com]

*Wish* I'd gotten pictures, because this is difficult to explain. A couple things. One is, though I love and adore the goth look, one of the things I like about Pullip is that she has so many different wild and wacky looks. One day she's a goth, but the next she's a skate punk, and then on Tuesday, she's all dresed up like a panda bear. Though Noir is one of my favorite dolls, and I'd love it if they tried more dolls in that vein, it would bore me to death to have a shelf full of Noir variations. Why bother?

The other thing is, there's designers who draw inspiration from the goth look, and then there's a corporation's idea of what goth kids will like so they'll spend money. The latter was like those little girls you saw at Comic Con who were all wearing the exact same off-the-shelf goth loli dress they'd just bought at Hot Topic. Those girls all wanna be unique, together??? Huh??? That was *also* the vibe I was getting from those rows of gothy Pullip dolls. Somehow, it just didn't look organic. I know Pullip is a product, and Jun Planning's intention is to make money, but I've also had the idea so far that someone, somewhere is having a whole barrel of fun designing different "looks" for her. I'd really rather not buy something because someone told a designer "use lots of black so the stupid Americans will buy it."

Does this make any sense? It's after lunch, so I'm probably babbling again... :-P

[mmymoon.livejournal.com]

Oh yeah, I get you! I think my reply was a little um, completely scattered, because I'm in the midst of packing/cleaning/doom so yeah, no brains either. ;9

I think we allllllll wish you had gotten pictures. (Cell phone cameras! Dude! My friend has taken soooo many "illegal" pics for me with her cell phone camera. Booyeah.)

Anyway, I totally get what you're saying. That's my big problem with things like BEG or LDD -- "OMG TEH GOFFIEZ!!!!!!!!! WITH BLOOD N STUFF!!!!!!!" -- and it works. It sells to all the mallgoth kiddies. And again, yeah, we've all been 14 and fashionably stupid/stupidly fashionable, but just... no. Goths don't look like that. I've sampled many and much goth sceneage, and NO ONE HAS XES FOR EYES. (I've seen crazy contacts ONCE in my long goth life, and they were on a teenaged girl. In the mall.) Heck, even in big scenes, the people with lots of piercings tend to be the teenagers -- adults generally have to have jobs and such. So. Blah. BEG is innovative enough... sort of/within their specified parameters. Their take on gothic lolita was pretty horrible. I think they're branching out a bit... but really, I just wish they'd stop with the effing eyes -- leave the piercings in, fine, but ENOUGH WITH THE EYES.

So enough on BEG, on to Pullips... I agree about them all being very individual -- I can't think of a Pullip that's been really dowdy or plain. Maybe Arietta or Vivien, but I think they were both going for certain stereotypical looks. (Pullip does tend to trsde in stereotypes, heh.) A whole shelf full of, say, gothic lolita releases would be a lot less colorful (pun intended) than the current crazy mix.

Although I do think they could stand to do a good handful more of gothic releases -- even/especially gothic lolita. If you look through the Gothic & Lolita Bibles, there's a lot of variation within the genre... and they certainly haven't released enough to satisfy the fanbase fully. Princi, Fanatica, and Lan are all related... but as much as people still lust after Noir, I think it'd be kind to the newer fans to release another more traditional gothic lolita doll -- if out a flat-out rerelease. (I've noticed the advent of the mini Pullips are satisfying some of the OMG MOON AND NOIR!!! sentiment, which is nice.) If there've been 7+ animal-suit wearin' Pullips, there could stand to be a few more goths and lolitas, as both animal suits and gothic cutieness are pretty sought-after. (Moon, Mitzi, Leprotto, Panda, Paja, Wolf, new Sheep Girl... am I missing anyone?)

Some random part of my brain feels obliged to note that a lot of Japanese street fashion is being individual all in the same way, and the only difference between Victorian Maiden and Hot Topic is a level of price/haughtiness, but hey. I get what you're saying about Pullips -- Pullip is all these crazy things, she's not just one street fashion's model doll. (Although, of course, the gothic/lolita/sweet/street fashion scene does tend to encourage dollies a lot more than, say, athletic kids would. ;)

But yeah, la la la, if anything, I wish they were more creative... look at their past prototypes! Fairies and Charlie Chaplin and those godawful clowns -- I want more zaniness! I also hope someone in the wide world of collecting snapped a shot of the SDCC booth, because now I'm wicked curious.

And apparently, I have lots of very important opinions about Pullip releases -- probably because I don't wanna clean. ;9

[tikistitch.livejournal.com]

But yeah, la la la, if anything, I wish they were more creative... look at their past prototypes! Fairies and Charlie Chaplin and those godawful clowns -- I want more zaniness!

Totally! Or dress 'em up like zombies. The space girls, Mercu and Jupi, are among my faves.

[igrrl.livejournal.com]

Yup, the dolls looked good but they weren't quite right. Somehow they didn't fit the Pullip image. Quite a few of them looked like they should be at the Bleeding Edge booth. Others reminded me of later Jim Henson projects.

Speaking of goth-sploitation, the BBI booth showcased a new line of goth inspired dolls. The booth adjacent to it had goth Pinky St. rip-offs. We originally thought they were customs, they had the same head plugs, but they had a "coming soon" card next to them.

Thanks for posting your thoughts! I'm not in the mood to do the usual write up, It's much easier to add on to your entries ;)

[tikistitch.livejournal.com]

I know I'm being kind of scattered, possibly because I was feeling ill for part of the time, and off the net for a couple days (until I found out Days Inn had WiFi).

In regards to gothy Pullips, I know you and I have discussed before Volks' opening a shop in the U.S., and how we're afraid it isn't going to go very well, and I'm kind of worried that now we'll have crappy American Pullips that won't sell, and no one in Japan will ever sell us toys ever again!!

[igrrl.livejournal.com]

In order for Jun Planning to succeed in the US market, they must make some changes. Regardless of how popular the dolls are on-line, they have to try to reach a broader and much different demographic. I would love to look at their their marketing strategies.

It will be interesting to see how it all pans out, for all the Japanese doll lines coming over.

[avalonjones.livejournal.com]

Pullips for the US market? I predict they'll retool the headmolds to have big, swollen, puffy lips just like Bratz dolls. And then they'll have hip-hop-inspired outfits (which is every bit as lame as fake goth), and they'll have to be "safe", i.e. sanitized so as not to frighten the white moms n' dads who'll be buying 'em for their li'l darlings.

Or do you think they're aiming at the collector market and not at the "TOYS FOR GIRLZ!!!!!" market? I mean, collectors rather than play items?

[tikistitch.livejournal.com]

Or do you think they're aiming at the collector market and not at the "TOYS FOR GIRLZ!!!!!" market? I mean, collectors rather than play items?

It wasn't clear, but my guess, from the designs, is the collector market.

Have you seen those "Lisa" dolls? The Licca-chan dolls Takara made for the American market? Brrrrrr.....