Set your calendar to January 7th! Happily Ever After will be unveiling the NEW 2011 Tonner Collection!!! Because we are "Ambassadors" we get to show the new line earlier than most retailers. Sign up for our Newsletter today!!Go to heastore@aol.com
Friday, December 31, 2010
2011 Tonner Collection
Set your calendar to January 7th! Happily Ever After will be unveiling the NEW 2011 Tonner Collection!!! Because we are "Ambassadors" we get to show the new line earlier than most retailers. Sign up for our Newsletter today!!Go to heastore@aol.com
Wednesday, December 29, 2010
Tuesday, December 28, 2010
Friday, December 24, 2010
Black Girls and White Dolls
It was Christmas 1984. Like all little girls, I had my heart set on one thing – a Cabbage Patch Doll. After opening a series of small gifts on Christmas morning, my mom presented me with the box I had been waiting for all year. As I tore through the wrapping paper, my excitement immediately turned to disappointment when I discovered that the doll of my dreams was brown.
I was just five at the time, so I took no pains to hide my displeasure with Santa’s choice. In fact, the painful moment is caught on VHS, when I turn to my mom and ask “Why Didn’t I Get the White One?” Although it was nearly forty years later, it was an episode straight out of the famous Kenneth Clark experiment form the late 1940s, when an overwhelming number of black children were found to show preference for white baby dolls.
Despite the fact that I was raised by a strong black woman and grew up on the West Side of Detroit, media and other outside forces had a powerful influence on my perceptions of beauty.
In 2005, Mattel, Inc.’s Caucasian holiday Barbie doll sold out so fast that the company had to issue rainchecks to those who were not lucky enough to get their hands on one. Meanwhile, the African-American holiday Barbie doll stayed on the shelves for most of the holiday season. Brenda Wade, a family psychologist, says its not completely surprising that black girls still favor white Barbie as study after study has shown that a significant number of young black girls still associate white dolls with beauty, purity, and goodness.
The fact that the African-American dolls bear little or no resemblance to the target market serves to further complicate matters. Many buyers often complain that black dolls appear to be nothing more than white dolls with brown skin or too ethnic, to the point of not resembling black children.
This year, I have had the opportunity to travel all over the country and to parts of Africa promoting my new book Thank God I’m Natural: The Ultimate Guide to Caring for and Maintaining Natural Hair, and yet I still find that many of our black and Latina daughters, mothers, and grandmothers have not come to grips with the fact that their brown or black is beautiful. This holiday season, my message to you regardless of how old you are, is that you are beautiful just the way you are.
I was just five at the time, so I took no pains to hide my displeasure with Santa’s choice. In fact, the painful moment is caught on VHS, when I turn to my mom and ask “Why Didn’t I Get the White One?” Although it was nearly forty years later, it was an episode straight out of the famous Kenneth Clark experiment form the late 1940s, when an overwhelming number of black children were found to show preference for white baby dolls.
Despite the fact that I was raised by a strong black woman and grew up on the West Side of Detroit, media and other outside forces had a powerful influence on my perceptions of beauty.
In 2005, Mattel, Inc.’s Caucasian holiday Barbie doll sold out so fast that the company had to issue rainchecks to those who were not lucky enough to get their hands on one. Meanwhile, the African-American holiday Barbie doll stayed on the shelves for most of the holiday season. Brenda Wade, a family psychologist, says its not completely surprising that black girls still favor white Barbie as study after study has shown that a significant number of young black girls still associate white dolls with beauty, purity, and goodness.
The fact that the African-American dolls bear little or no resemblance to the target market serves to further complicate matters. Many buyers often complain that black dolls appear to be nothing more than white dolls with brown skin or too ethnic, to the point of not resembling black children.
This year, I have had the opportunity to travel all over the country and to parts of Africa promoting my new book Thank God I’m Natural: The Ultimate Guide to Caring for and Maintaining Natural Hair, and yet I still find that many of our black and Latina daughters, mothers, and grandmothers have not come to grips with the fact that their brown or black is beautiful. This holiday season, my message to you regardless of how old you are, is that you are beautiful just the way you are.
Thursday, December 23, 2010
Hello Dolly
Parents may have noticed there's no new version of Tickle Me Elmo this year, but that doesn't mean popular dolls are lacking this holiday season. In fact, they're among the scarcest toys on store shelves.Mattel Inc.'s $24.99 Monster High dolls — the poseable offspring of famous vampires, werewolves and more — are hard to find, analysts say.
Other popular dolls include MGA Entertainment's $29.99 Lalaloopsy with button eyes and brightly colored hair; the $49.99 Disney Princess dolls, and Fisher-Price's Dance Star Mickey, a $69.99 Mickey Mouse that dances and sings.
Most of these dolls sold out during the busy Thanksgiving Day weekend a note to investors, BMO Capital Markets analyst Gerrick Johnson said, despite the fact that most of them weren't on sale.
"The increase in sell-outs should be considered a good sign for overall toy demand," Johnson said.
Wednesday, December 22, 2010
Chimps and Dolls
In a fashion similar to human girls, some young chimpanzees seem to play with sticks as if they were dolls.
The findings, reported in the Dec. 21 Current Biology, are the first documented evidence of boy and girl primates in the wild playing differently with their toys. Though these patterns’ origins will surely be argued, they add to the constellation of behaviors shared by humans with our closest living relative.
“We find that juveniles tend to carry sticks in a manner suggestive of rudimentary doll play and, as in children and captive monkeys, this behavior is more common in females than in males,” wrote anthropologists Richard Wrangham of Harvard University and Sonya Kahlenberg of Bates College.
Wrangham’s group has studied chimpanzees in Uganda’s Kibale National Park since the late 1980s, following in the methodological steps of his mentor, Jane Goodall, whose exhaustive, patient fieldwork first revealed that chimpanzees use tools and are more like humans than once thought.
The Current Biology paper is based on observations made between 1993 and 2006, and represents hundreds of thousands of hours spent trailing individual chimpanzees from dawn to dusk, recording their use of sticks.
Kibale’s chimps used sticks to probe holes containing water and honey. They used sticks to hit and threaten each other. They played with them. And, finally, they carried sticks — holding them under their arms or in their laps, for hours at a time, even while walking and climbing and feeding and resting.
“Regular stick-carrying has no discernible function,” wrote Wrangham and Kahlenberg, yet it accounted for more than one-third of all stick use.
Carried sticks were shaped differently than sticks used as weapons or probes, and “unlike other types of stick use, carried sticks were regularly taken into day-nests … where individuals rested and were sometimes seen to play casually with the stick in a manner that evoked maternal play,” wrote the researchers.
Stick-carrying was also most frequent in juveniles, particularly juvenile females. With parenthood it invariably ceased.
Wrangham, best known for proposing that cooking meat jump-started hominid evolution, thinks the stick-carrying habits resemble how human children play: Regardless of culture, girls seem to play more with dolls.
Explanations for this invoke both sociology and biology. Wrangham sees the latest findings favoring the biological. “We suggest that sex differences in stick-carrying are related to a greater female interest in infant care, with stick-carrying being a form of play-mothering,” they wrote.
The study’s implications may, however, defy easy analysis. Though a few anecdotal reports exist of captive chimpanzees treating sticks like dolls, the behavior has never before been reported in the wild. For now, Kibale’s chimps are unique in their invention and culture.
It’s also tempting to think of chimpanzees as snapshots of an earlier stage in human development. But chimps have also evolved, culturally and biologically, in the 3.7 million years since our branch of the primate tree split.
Maybe the Kibale chimp dolls don’t represent an echo of ourselves, but an example of cultural convergence, with two species separately developing the same behavior, just as biological features like wings and eyes have evolved in similar but independent ways.
Whatever the origins of playing with dolls, it seems to be — along with tools, grief, love and warfare — one more thing that humans and chimps have in common.
The findings, reported in the Dec. 21 Current Biology, are the first documented evidence of boy and girl primates in the wild playing differently with their toys. Though these patterns’ origins will surely be argued, they add to the constellation of behaviors shared by humans with our closest living relative.
“We find that juveniles tend to carry sticks in a manner suggestive of rudimentary doll play and, as in children and captive monkeys, this behavior is more common in females than in males,” wrote anthropologists Richard Wrangham of Harvard University and Sonya Kahlenberg of Bates College.
Wrangham’s group has studied chimpanzees in Uganda’s Kibale National Park since the late 1980s, following in the methodological steps of his mentor, Jane Goodall, whose exhaustive, patient fieldwork first revealed that chimpanzees use tools and are more like humans than once thought.
The Current Biology paper is based on observations made between 1993 and 2006, and represents hundreds of thousands of hours spent trailing individual chimpanzees from dawn to dusk, recording their use of sticks.
Kibale’s chimps used sticks to probe holes containing water and honey. They used sticks to hit and threaten each other. They played with them. And, finally, they carried sticks — holding them under their arms or in their laps, for hours at a time, even while walking and climbing and feeding and resting.
“Regular stick-carrying has no discernible function,” wrote Wrangham and Kahlenberg, yet it accounted for more than one-third of all stick use.
Carried sticks were shaped differently than sticks used as weapons or probes, and “unlike other types of stick use, carried sticks were regularly taken into day-nests … where individuals rested and were sometimes seen to play casually with the stick in a manner that evoked maternal play,” wrote the researchers.
Stick-carrying was also most frequent in juveniles, particularly juvenile females. With parenthood it invariably ceased.
Wrangham, best known for proposing that cooking meat jump-started hominid evolution, thinks the stick-carrying habits resemble how human children play: Regardless of culture, girls seem to play more with dolls.
Explanations for this invoke both sociology and biology. Wrangham sees the latest findings favoring the biological. “We suggest that sex differences in stick-carrying are related to a greater female interest in infant care, with stick-carrying being a form of play-mothering,” they wrote.
The study’s implications may, however, defy easy analysis. Though a few anecdotal reports exist of captive chimpanzees treating sticks like dolls, the behavior has never before been reported in the wild. For now, Kibale’s chimps are unique in their invention and culture.
It’s also tempting to think of chimpanzees as snapshots of an earlier stage in human development. But chimps have also evolved, culturally and biologically, in the 3.7 million years since our branch of the primate tree split.
Maybe the Kibale chimp dolls don’t represent an echo of ourselves, but an example of cultural convergence, with two species separately developing the same behavior, just as biological features like wings and eyes have evolved in similar but independent ways.
Whatever the origins of playing with dolls, it seems to be — along with tools, grief, love and warfare — one more thing that humans and chimps have in common.
Tuesday, December 21, 2010
Barbie - A Rare Beauty
For more than 50 years, the Barbie doll has been a beloved toy and fashion icon. The leggy blonde debuted at the American International Toy Fair in New York on March 9, 1959, and has come a long way, traveling to over 150 countries and becoming a nearly $2 billion brand. The book, from doll expert and collector Sandi Holder, is a guide to everything Barbie, showcasing photos of vintage dolls, fashion sets, prototypes, and many never before seen items.Monday, December 20, 2010
Dolls Grow Up A Little - NPR
Follow this link:http://www.npr.org/2010/12/09/131853392/dolls-grow-up-a-little-for-the-holidays
for a nice Holiday message.
Thursday, December 16, 2010
W Club Exclusive!
We are super-excited to introduce the second Fashion Royalty 2010 W Club Exclusive Doll available only to W Club members... Presenting Anja "Regal Solstice":Making her first appearance at the 2010 Dark Romance Convention in Pittsburgh, new collector favorite Anja makes her debut in the regular FR collection as the W Club Exclusive Doll!Wearing "the grand finale gown" of the Von Weiss 2010 fashion show, Anja is elegantly dressed in one of Giselle's most regal creations to date and is composed of multi-layered, intricately embroidered chartreuse organza and navy blue tulle. The gown is accented with navy blue satin for a total dramatic effect. Anja sports a refined fiery red hairstyle and comes complete with a delicate beaded necklace and earring set, gorgeous hot pink and navy strappy pumps, doll stand and certificate of authenticity.Marvel at Tonner
RENOWNED TONNER DOLL COMPANY IS SET TO RELEASE TONNER CHARACTER FIGURES BASED ON MARVEL SUPER HEROES Tonner Doll Company, Inc. has just been granted the license to create collectibles based on iconic MARVEL characters.
KINGSTON, NY- 12/15/10- Tonner Doll Company, an award-winning designer and manufacturer of high-end collectible dolls and figures, will team up with MARVEL to create character figures based on classic MARVEL characters.
"We were fortunate enough to work with Marvel a few years ago and I am thrilled to be back working with them," Robert Tonner, CEO of Tonner Doll said. "We are looking at all of the classic characters like Captain America, Storm and Jean Grey," he added.
Tonner Doll Company, best known for its unique ¼ scale, will offer MARVEL characters that are approximately 16"-17" tall with multiple articulated joints for expressive movement and mobility. In the wide world of collectibles, the ¼ scale is highly sought after for it's unmatched distinction and posing ability.
In keeping with the fine detail and high-end quality of Tonner's other popular product lines, they will feature hand-painted facial features, rooted hair; and authentic costuming inspired by the character's life from origin, and secret identity to hero.
Thursday, December 9, 2010
Join us at IDEX!
Join us at IDEX Premiere 2011, January in Orlando, FL- IDEX Premiere is the ultimate trade show for the doll and bear industry! For Exhibiting information, please contact Kathy Dolly at KDolly@madavor.com or visit www.idexshows.com
Sign up for DR monthly newsletter:
newsletter@dollreader.com
Sign up for DR monthly newsletter:
newsletter@dollreader.com
Wednesday, December 8, 2010
NEw Fairy by R. John Wright
We are pleased to introduce the Lavender Fairy™
from the exciting Flower Fairies™, Collection! She measures a
diminutive 11 1/2" tall and is fully jointed and shoulders, hips and neck
with new ball and socket jointing system with internal wood mechanism.
The Lavender Fairy has delicately hand-painted features and a wig of the
finest imported mohair. She has a sculptural molded felt body
and limbs and her graceful hands are sewn with individual fingers.
Her lovely fairy wings are sewn, molded and hand-painted out of fine organza.
This Garden Flower Fairy comes holding a detailed, realistic stalkof lavender made out of felt and silk crepe fabrics. Alighting on theblossoms is a tiny white butterfly made of organdy and felt.
Retail Price: $795
LE 250
ESTIMATED SHIP DATE: December, 2010. Call 215-627-5790 or email heastore@aol.com to place your order.
Tuesday, November 30, 2010
Ken To Turn 50 in 2011
Following his famous ex-girlfriend, Barbie, who turned fifty in 2009, Ken is finally celebrating the big 50 himself. With a new movie and a new twitter page, the world’s most famous boy toy remains on top and shows no signs of slowing down!Ken Carson, named after his creator’s son, was first introduced to the world at the American International Toy Fair as Barbie doll’s boyfriend March 11,1961. The Wisconsin native was donning plastic hair and a red bathing suit but that wouldn’t last. Just like Barbie, Ken became a style icon, adapting to the times with fabulous looks. By the 70’s Ken’s hair was rooted and he was sporting a golden tan. Ken’s ever-changing look took many more turns. Some of his most memorable styles include Rapping Rocking Ken, Cutie Ken and in 2006 when famous stylist Phillip Bloch gave him a Hollywood makeover!
Stylish and smart, Ken has taken on so many roles throughout his years including businessman, Olympian and pilot. It doesn’t look like Ken will retire anytime soon because he has just taken on a new title: movie star. In Toy Story 3, Ken starred as himself and true to character had a total of 50 costume changes!
With so much going for him, this Pisces man has the ability to charm any doll. But Ken still holds one lady close to his heart, Barbie. The couple that first met in 1961 on a commercial set had a love affair that lasted more than four decades. It wasn’t until Valentines Day, 2004 that Ken and Barbie announced they were going separate ways and Aussie Blaine took Ken’s famous spot on Barbie’s arm. No need to worry, rumor has it that this famous couple may be rekindling their romance after being spotted during New York Fashion Week in 2009.
Ken is turning fifty and he’s as fabulous as ever. He’s definitely a far cry away from his $3.50 original version that was available in blonde or brunette. Just this year he has launched his own Facebook page and is making appearances at fashion events like Fashion’s Night Out in September. With so much going on what more could Ken wish for this birthday except Barbie back!
Thursday, November 18, 2010
Colliii Award Winners
2010 Colliii Awards Winners Announced!The winners of the world’s largest online dollmaking competition, the 2010 Colliii Awards, have been announced. This year saw 300 registered participants and new OOAK fantasy and adult, reborn and doll kit categories. Click here to read moreWednesday, November 17, 2010
There's a New Man In Town
"Sebastian" by Doug James
He's 18" of manly resin. Holds a pose like a dream!
Saturday, November 13, 2010
Holiday Guide
It’s Finally Here…
The 2010 Holiday Gift Guide
Doll Reader and Teddy Bear & Friends partnered to bring you the best holiday gifts of the 2010 season. With stocking stuffer ideas to the latest creations from your favorite teddy bear and doll artists and even crafting projects, this 60-page resource has something for everyone—and just in time for the holidays!
Categories include:
• Dolls on the Smaller Side
• Bear Friends
• Dolls for Artist Collectors
• Bears in Limited Editions
• Do It Yourself
• Stocking Stuffers
• Dolls & Bears for Kids
Click here to view the Holiday Gift Guide or visit dollreader.com
Human Dolls by Alex Sandwell Kliszynski
Alex is a wedding photgrapher with a twist…when asked about his work, he had this to say:My work deals with aesthetic, personal and social themes. Recently I have been exploring, amongst other subjects, notions of sexual fantasy and the objectification of the body.
Well,ever which way you look at it. Great work Alex, would love to see some more of these!
Friday, November 12, 2010
Robots
Sideshow Collectibles has a few good . . .robots! http://www.sideshowtoy.com/?page_id=4489&sku=900932&source=111110news&utm_source=newsletter-pers-111110news&utm_medium=email
Thursday, November 11, 2010
Dolls Magazine
Dear DOLLS subscriber,
Your December 2010 issue of DOLLS is now available. Click here to get instant access.
Turn to page 20 to read about and see the stunning beauty soul survivor Joe MacPhale creates from listening to the whispers of his heart.
Keep flipping to page 26 to key into the debate about what is and isn't doll art.
And be sure to check out the far-out art of Jill Penney on page 36. You won't believe your eyes.
Hope you enjoy the latest issue of DOLLS!
Sincerely,
Carie FergAssociate Publisher/Editor DOLLS
Wednesday, November 10, 2010
Rothman Doll Show This Weekend!
http://www.jmkshows.com/20101114_dollshow_fdu.htmlFollow the link above for discount into the
Rothman Doll Show
Sunday, November 14th from 10am to 4pm.
Saturday, November 6, 2010
Creepy Porcelain Dolls
This will be an irregular feature . . . a creepy porcelain doll of the week.Artist Jessica Harrison made a macabre series of porcelain dolls that will make a great Christmas present for your nightmares. If “Pride and Prejudice and Zombies” had action figures, they'd probably look like this.
Friday, November 5, 2010
New Tonner Releases
Jacqueline Frost
Andromeda
Perseus from "Clash of the Titans".
Tiny Betsy Wicked Witch
Tiny Betsy as Glinda!
Call 215-627-5790 or email heastore@aol.com for info. We're offering 15% off and free shipping within the continental US!
Thursday, November 4, 2010
Wednesday, November 3, 2010
Fashion Royalty Convention Dolls
For those of us who were unable to attend the fabulous convention by Integrity TOys, here are the convention dolls to drool over!
Ask Any Girl Poppy Parker Gift Set
Shadow Of Your Smile Poppy Parker
Tears Go By Poppy Parker
Wild At Heart Lillith and Eden Gift Set
Scarlet Woman Adele Makeda
Provocatrice Anja
Night Vision Count Adrian von Lamberg
Fine Romance Eugenia Perrin Frost
Always Polished Dasha
Tuesday, November 2, 2010
Paper Dolls
Meet Violaine, dark-hearted heroine and one of 20 misfit characters in Emily Martin's "The Black Apple's Paper Doll Primer," due out Tuesday from Potter Craft books.Martin's 160-page paper-doll extravaganza is loaded with tongue-in-cheek figures such as the conjoined twins Hazel and Olive and the mysterious Tom, who "might vanish for days at a time and then suddenly appear at the very diner where you just so happen to be having a cup of coffee and a piece of pie."
"All of these characters are facets of my own personality," the illustrator said from her studio in Portland, Ore., this week. "Violaine represents a time in my life when I was holed up in my darkroom, listening to the Cure and crying about no one understanding me."
An obsessive crafter who is a top seller on Etsy, Martin wanted to create a book unlike any other. "The thing that attracted me to making the book was that it was such an excessive idea," she said. "The average picture book is 32 pages long."
Included in the mix: apparel and accessories, beautifully painted scenes to use with the Black Paper Theater, a flip book and stationery.
Obsessive? Perhaps. Fun? Definitely. The book inspired my 12-year-old daughter to invent her own cast of misfits.
"I hope people are drawn in by how different it is," Martin said.
Curious to see what a character like Violaine might wear? Keep reading ...
Saturday, October 30, 2010
Ken Gets Own Web Series
Mattel is about to put the spotlight on Ken, the former beau of Barbie, giving the doll his own online reality series, "Genuine Ken: The Search for the Great American Boyfriend," to be hosted by "The Hills" and "The City's" Whitney Port.
The series, which bows exclusively on Hulu starting Jan. 18, will become the latest media property that showcases Ken after his high-profile role in Pixar and Disney's "Toy Story 3," this summer and now on DVD, and leads into next year's 50th anniversary of the character.
A redesign of the Ken doll is in the works to go along with the recent launch of his Facebook page and Twitter feed, and he'll have a bolstered presence in upcoming animated DVD movies. All of the activity is the first big push for the character since he broke up with Barbie on Valentine's Day in 2004.
"He's getting a makeover to make sure he's still as culturally and visually relevant as Barbie is," said Stephanie Cota, senior VP of Mattel Girls' brands. "He's getting a little work done to get ready for his 50th anniversary."
Hudsun Media (Bravo's "Pregnant in Heels") is producing the reality show, which will unspool over eight 22-minute episodes. Once Hulu runs through the episodes, it will eventually be distributed to other dot-coms.
Hudsun CEO Michael Rourke and Max Benator, VP of digital for the shingle, exec produce with Lauren Stevens.
In the reality show, eight men between the ages of 21 and 30 will compete in a series of elimination challenges to prove that they possess Ken's qualities in order to be "the ultimate boyfriend for every occasion," including being able to surf, design, have a sense of fashion and show a romantic side.
Mattel said creating original content for the Internet is the latest entertainment effort, outside the TV shows, made-for-DVD features, videogames and events to get the Barbie brand in front of more consumers.
In this particular case, Mattel hopes to attract older auds to Barbie.
"With a 50-year history, you have people who have been embracing (Barbie and Ken) from day one," Cota said. While those consumers may never buy another doll, they may buy a T-shirt with Barbie on it or a Ken-themed bow tie.
The digital series "is a great way for us is to have grownup girls and boys stay connected to the brand," Cota added. Read more: http://www.variety.com/article/VR1118026504.html?categoryid=1009&cs=1#ixzz13qxqHDAr Visit Variety.com to become a Variety subscriber.
Friday, October 29, 2010
Japanese Robot - So Real
Follow this link:http://www.buzzfeed.com/ashleybaccam/creepy-realistic-robot
to see a video of an incredibly realistic robot. Will our dolls ever achieve this?
Thursday, October 28, 2010
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