As much as I love collecting dolls, there’s usually a good reason when I quit. Here are 4 examples! #agtube #americangirl #livingdeaddolls #disneyprincess #rainbowhigh #integritytoys
It took me a while to get into Rainbow high because I didn't love their feet for some reason LOL but then I got a few really really cute ones, and then the quality just went down and I haven't found any I like anymore. Same with OMG Surprise dolls, they were really great for a while, and now I just don't care about them.
I remember seeing Living Dead dolls as a kid and thinking they were oh so cool. Like a horror version of Madame Alexander dolls. Never had one though. I didn’t know Integrity Toys was so hard to collect! I’m similar to you, if buying something makes you go through hurdles, I’m like nah no thanks. 😅 I think it’s Volks that has a lottery like that as well. And some bjd companies are only sold in Japan and require proxies. So I’ll likely never bother, unless second-hand. Do you think you’ll ever get into ball jointed dolls? That’s practically its own category of doll collecting 😂 there’s so many companies and doll sizes! There’s something for everyone.
@@HryPotrFreak that’s a good way to describe living dead dolls! They became hit or miss in later series, but those first few 😍🤯 Integrity has made to order dolls for club members - and the rest of the dolls are lottery or sold through “dealers” but if you don’t have a relationship with one (I was very lucky I had a local dealer!) you weren’t getting any at retail! A lot of LDD collectors switched to BJD, but they don’t suit my style of collecting. I want to see multiple dolls on display together - and even selling my Integrity dolls couldn’t afford me a bjd collection like that lol! Same with smart dolls (which I guess are probably bjd too lol)
I love hearing about your collecting journey. I was into AG folks in 2009 and we were on discussion boards, Proboards. I’m still a member of 2 boards and they’re still around. They can get very nasty though and some of that has carried into Facebook groups. It’s funny about RH. I always admired them in target, but passed because I was an AG collector and didn’t want another scale of dolls. Shadow High sucked me in. Glitch was my first. You’ll note that Glitch is SH series 2. I collected through this year, but gave up after SH series 3 and RH series 5. The aged down folks and the gimmicks were too much. I’ll enjoy the few I have and maybe try to collect a few that I missed that u still want (Georgia Peach and Delilah Fields). The Toybox Philosopher blog was the first place that I heard of Living Dead Dolls. Can’t wait to see your collection.
@@melangellperry5984 that’s why I’m very quiet on forums and fb groups now. If they’re small, I’ll post. But other than that, I’ll buy what I want and get out 😝 Sometimes I wish I had kept a few more of my Rh dolls - ESPECIALLY my SH dolls, but I don’t even know what I’d do with them aside from pop them in a vide every now and then lol! They are cute tho aren’t they? Ahhh memories. That’s what they’ll remain 🤓
@@melangellperry5984 oh and yes Glitch was amazing! Sadly I forgot SH made it to s3. I never got a single one despite loving them. It was already too late
Great video! I get so excited when I see you have uploaded a new video. I get the doll collecting journey. I went from Barbie to Integrity to American Girl. I have dabbled in Rainbow High and of course Disney Princess. I don’t get the concept that black dolls don’t sell because I have the hardest time finding them and the second hand market jacks up the price. If they make them I will buy 😂
@@luvlyleo2836 what a relief! I almost didn’t go through with this one because it felt so deviant from my other vids. I’m glad you liked it! Barbie->Integrity->AG is surprisingly similar to my journey, because mattel had the Disney license when I first started, so they were very Barbie 🤣 Ughhhhh don’t get me started on the black dolls thing!! It will daunt me for the rest of my collecting life!! I have the same experience: try to buy the black character, it’s not available because they didn’t make enough. They don’t sell, so they make less. Try to find that doll on the secondary market, and it’s triple the price of the others. I often wonder if that’s the intended scam all along… 😩
Hi I when to a doll show in usa 🇺🇸 and I ask the american girl doll collectors wich you tuber do you want to meet and they all said your you ❤❤❤ I hope one day you can come to Chicago american girl doll store so we all can meet you God bless you
@@marylopezoficial1260 well I hope if I ever do run into anyone in the wild they say hi. Chances are I wouldn’t recognize anyone I talk to on here because they don’t usually have pics in their avatar. I went to Chicago once - I loved it! They say Chicago and Toronto are sister cities, and I can see why. This was before I collected AG but I walked through the store almost every day (because, dolls!)
I’ve been following you for years over on instagram and I remember your amazing Small World Disney store doll collection!!! Did you get rid of that collection as well?? I, a thousand percent agree with you about so much from the toxicity in fandoms to quality going down and prices going up. I’ve been taking a step back from the Disney store dolls because the quality and overall creativity is so mediocre at this point. Especially as a person that was there from the beginning, with Snow White and the first set of designer princesses, what an era🙌🏻🙌🏻🙌🏻🙌🏻 I miss those days honestly. I’m not an American Girl collector but I love seeing your collection and hearing your thoughts. I wish they made Barbie size accessories with the details AG gets. The way you feel about integrity is the way I feel about the D23 expo exclusives. When it gets to be such an ordeal to obtain the dolls, it takes the fun away from it. And as a fellow Princess and the Frog collector, I was so disappointed that she didn’t get a platinum edition doll set of her and Naveen. This is the 15th anniversary so I’m hoping Disney Store will do something for it. I love Charlotte and she’s completely forgotten about as well. PATF has so many amazing characters.
@@thatsforgurls SHAWNTEL!!! The way you started that comment as if we haven’t had dozens of conversations over the years 🤣🤣🤣 You know, I started to sell some of my small world dolls. I didn’t want to have anymore doubles / triples. I had to stop because parting with them was hard. Then when I moved here I put them in my storage locker, which was way too full, so I brought them up to sell the rest of them. One look at their cute little faces, and I cleared out a spot in my coat closet for them 🤣🤣🤣 Such a good point about d23! Things like that really take the fun out of collecting. But… if they had made more Tiana exclusives this year, I would’ve paid whatever fortune necessary on eBay 🤡 I’m not sure they’ll ever give her a platinum set. Do they even do those anymore? It’s her 15th anniversary. They need to give us something that screams milestone.
@@NightwingAquaman aren’t we awful?? I can’t be left alone for 2 months. Same with you? You should’ve seen his face on the video call when I showed him ☠️🤣
Funny thing is I wasn't a fan of Rainbow High dolls, in fact I loathed them, for the longest time. Then last year, my friend told me she was interested in the clothing, and I learned how much detail and quality went into RH clothing (putting Barbie to shame). But then I discovered Shadow High and found them to be much more my vibe and ended up loving them. My collection has only ever consisted of 6 dolls (7 counting one I recently found at a discount store but I haven't opened her because I'm having second thoughts and I'm not sure she fits with my collection.) However, very quickly MGA decided to make them more appealing for kids and less fashionable so needless to say, I don't collect them anymore. But I don't need to. I'm very content with my small collection. I never knew that IT was a Black-owned company, thanks for sharing that info. My relationship with Barbie is getting rough. Like I'm always perplexed and disappointed with them (though I just got the Sapphire Anniversary Barbie as my first Silkstone and I do like her a lot.) But IT does seem very involved to me.
@@Amber-se7qq haha yes the inhuman proportions take some adjusting with RH. SH realllllly brings it all together tho. I could no longer avoid the obsession… so I was glad they took that turn within the last year. I wish I didn’t gloss over important details, like how the owner of integrity toys started the company because no one was making dolls that looked like his daughters. I really hope they can get their quality back to where it was. It’s in fact gotten worse since I quit 💔
@@DisBlaine Yeah you're right. I didn't take to them right away, but I just needed the right ones that appealed to me. I actually like them because they feel more substantial, like a BJD almost. I have the Storm Twins, Glitch, Kim (who is RH but she totally fits), Uma and Demi Batista. I'm really sorry to hear that. It feels like a lot of things in the world are declining in quality. If I ever do get into IT dolls (they seem so exclusive) I don't see myself going crazy with collecting them. I'm very picky and I only collect what I really resonate with.
If you are interested, IT isn’t that complicated if you join the W Club, which has membership open once a year (I think it’s February). If you go to their website and put your name on the email list, they will send you information when enrolment time comes. However, I have been collecting for 3 years, and the quality is definitely not what it used to be before the pandemic, and the prices have gone up. I have only been buying a few dolls a year, which is fine because they cost around $300 CAD by the time I pay for exchange rate, shipping, and taxes.
Mainly a Barbie collector. I, too, got the Sapphire as my first Silkstone. I have a good collection of Rainbow High dolls. I just picked up the ones I liked when they would go on sale. I also collect My Little Pony G1 but I cooled down on them.
@@iamsoverybored878 I like MLP G1 as well. I got rid of my childhood ponies when I went through my minimalism phase years ago. Probably one of the very few things I felt regret about parting with. So I began to collect some of the reproductions but haven’t really looked into collecting the actual vintage ponies. I don’t have many ponies either. I still try to be very selective about what I collect. I’m not a completionist at all.
@@melissabazile I don’t know why I brought it up and then gave ZERO background. Mattel has been going after 18” doll clothes makers on Etsy who use Jess Mold dolls (so far) in their pics and getting the listings removed. And they can’t even relist those particular items! And then 2 days later they released Summer, their GotY small business starter. Like… what? I don’t buy much handmade stuff myself, but they really filled a need for many adult collectors by offering things Mattel refuses to make. AND! Many collectors actually bought dolls thanks to the clothes, so really it was creating business. Such a silly thing for Mattel to do. Also… I combed the internet looking for pics of my customs, but it was way too long ago. I’m actually piroud of a couple of them, so I wish I could lol.
I started collecting again 4 years ago after a long absence from Barbie collecting. Now I collect many different lines and price ranges, and I haven't really quit any totally. I feel similarly about current Rainbow High and Integrity as you do, but I am still interested in a few new offerings and will occasionally buy one. I think the line I am most disillusioned with is the $100+ collector Barbies because they are poor value in comparison to play line like Monster High, and they pale in comparison to earlier decades. I had to laugh at your Net-a-Porter Aymeline story because I was also trying to get one, and that was my first Integrity doll. After much online stalking of the website, I managed to get the Nubian-skinned one. I like her, but she cost around $400 CAD once delivered, and I don't think she was worth that. Also, despite there only being 500 of each skin tone, they both generally now sell for less than original retail. I think it was a small group of people who had really big FOMO and were hunting her down. That whole episode taught me some important lessons about collecting, so I guess there is some added value and sentimentally around her from that standpoint.
@@c.w.2000 I’ve never collected Barbie (or MH despite his much it suits my taste) but I’ve always heard collectors go back and forth, I guess with the yoyo quality. Ugh! Those NAP dolls!!! I got the midnight garden one really easily a couple years earlier, so I wasn’t prepared for the lunacy of lilac and plum. Lilac was okay but someone had to help me get plum (my fave in pics of the two but lilac was nicer in person). That was definitely the beginning of the end for me. It was the stupidest release I’ve ever experienced with anything I’ve collected. Nubian poppy sucked me back in… but not for long 💔 And you’re totally right about that small group - they started a WhatsApp chat (which i joined) only furthering the fervor and paranoia lol. NEVER AGAIN! I feel the same as you: lesson learned
Your dolls are so beautiful! Even the one you hate, that was supposed to look like Leonardo DiCaprio. He reminds me of Edward the vampire in the Twilight series. Also who is the Rainbow High doll with the white skin, blue eyes, and long black hair? I've never seen her before.
@@crystalbluepersuasion3897 hahaha I don’t know what it is about that doll!! I had such a visceral reaction I could only guess he reminded me of someone hateful I can’t put my finger on 🤣🤣 That’s Ainsley. She started in Rainbow High then moved to Shadow High in a later season. She’s not wearing her iconic outift here (she came with a bunch of extra outfits) so she’s probably harder to recognize.
You are so true with finding joy with one's collection. If it starts to cause more stress... It's good to re think of it. I love integrity toys but at this point, I only get the ones that resonate with my joy. Thank you for this video
@@braynroquero2918 collecting dolls can be so addictive it becomes similar to an abusive relationship at some points 😝 It’s a shame because IT dolls are so beautiful, but opening them became more stressful than exciting. Like, ooooh I hope I got a good one! At the price point there should never he a question
Blaine, great reasons to stop collecting/buying these lines off dolls. I collected Mattel Barbie vintage modern and BFMC that was loosely similar to the integrity toys line. At the end of the BFMC line it was pure garbage. I also stopped collecting Barbie at that point. I have only collected American Girl for about a year now. It’s fun and I don’t take it as serious as BFMC.
Yeah integrity has a line called East 59, which is a lot like the silkstones. But for some reason, those collectors took more to Poppy Parker. She’s the integrity it girl. I can’t believe I didn’t show her 😝 I can’t believe I’ve never been into Barbie! As a kid she looked too plain to me (I was blond and blue eyed until my hair darkened in the 4th grade). And maybe I didn’t like the body shape because I preferred Jem as a kid and they were chunkier. Did everyone take bfmc seriously? I guess that’s true about AG: it’s more fun than dolls like integrity.
It is sad about BFMC, especially for me because I didn't start collecting Barbie until BFMC ended in 2020. I only managed to get a few of the last ones at retail price, and then the prices on eBay skyrocketed in 2021, so I have fewer than 10. I do have some Integrity dolls to fill in the gap left in the market. The reboot of BFMC falls far short of the original dolls. I do still like some modern Barbies, though, like the Looks line, so I haven't completely quit Barbie.
@@c.w.2000 Yes the collectors of BFMC were sold a high quality high fashion line and a unique line for so many years designed by Robert Best when he left, these levels fell to low quality cheap fashion and zero uniqueness. BFMC collectors were very picky about their dolls , detail stitching of clothes, hair and face make up and even the outer boxes Had to be perfect.
@@c.w.2000 I had been collecting BFMC since its launch day. I have a huge collection. My only regret at the time was that I could not afford all the big ball gown. I’m ready to let go of it. 90% of my collectionc is mint in box never removed and it’s been decades since I have seen them as they have been put away and stored.
Blaine, I noticed you changed your profile picture here on RU-vid. It’s lovely. I also chose a picture of my own AG for a medical patient portal that I’m using. The receptionist said, “Uh, Ms. Haley…why do we have a picture of your daughter on here?” 😂
@@Zombiecupcake157 wait… what doll is your profile pic, and how human does she look that someone really thought it was your daughter?? And what they think when you said it was a doll? And why did they ask in the first place? So many questions 🤣
@@DisBlaine I chose a picture of Lea dressed in some cute 90s clothes. She doesn’t look very realistic at all. When I told the receptionist it was a doll from my doll collection, he just shrugged it off. 😅
This will be fascinating. Making a tea while I listen. I hope you dumped the same ones I did lol! I just saw ten living dead dolls on fb marketplace for 40 each, in box. I was tempted, but honestly…they’re too ugly. If they had one endearing quality I would have done it, I think, but I just couldn’t find anything I loved about them, other than the price! I don’t bother with Integrity. I don’t pay for a chance to buy a product. Never will. I think those dolls are overrated, anyway. I mainly collect Barbie 1999 and under, and some mermaid lines of other dolls. But I do admire the 18” collectors. I just have to stop somewhere! I’ve already taken over an entire spare bedroom in our home!
@@alijane6675 you didn’t tell me what dolls you quit!! Any of the same ones? It doesn’t sound like it. 😆 Haha why were you tempted to buy the living dead dolls?
@@DisBlaine I’m Gen X. The Exorcist seriously did some damage. I thought I’d exert control over the fear, you know? So I saw the dolls, and the price was great, and I could see their detail. They’re gorgeous in their ugliness. And the juxtaposition of them against Barbie’s sickly sweetness really appealed to me! They’re still on fb…I may just do it…. One of the doll lines I cancelled was Disney. I bought maybe ten or so, mostly 90s, and I opened a few whose boxes were wrecked. The quality was awful. Just cheap feeling, and cheap looking next to Barbie of the same era. So I opened them all, which in my house is equivalent to sending them to dolly purgatory, and put them in my grandkids’ playroom. I’m fairly new to this, about a year in, and so the only way I know if I like a doll is to buy it. I don’t have much experience with them myself.
Well I have to say I am now into my second month (yes) of collecting AG dolls. I use to collect Barbie when I was a girl, teen, and young woman. I stopped because people would make a big deal of it. I just became an empty nester and took up AG dolls when I was deciding what to do with my daughter's AG doll house. I have not been this happy in so long. I am also glad I found your RU-vid because I was going to give it all up when everyone gave me such a hard time. Your story inspired me to do what I wanted and not care what anyone thought. Well, most everyone has come around seeing me happily putting my doll outfits together. I now have my husband's full support as he watches me arrange them. Any how I probably mentioned it before, but thanks again. And yes, those dolls are spooky. LOL
I have been an AG fan and customer since 1995 when I started by buying a Bitty Baby for my daughter when her brother was born in '96. I bought her and made a complete layette for her including diaper bag, carrier, bassinette and what have you. When my son was born she got the doll (aged 4) and she and i changed and fed our babies together. Then when she was she was 7 she got Molly and eventually, (aged12) she was embarrassed to play with her now numerous dolls and I took over for her and I now have more than I dare count and a multitude of outfits along with some accessories. No dollhouse so not very many really large pieces. Neither she nor I were never tempted by any of the other types of dolls. None of them stole oir hearts like they did and still do. None.
I adore Living Dead Dolls. My Jason Voorhees one is honestly the pride of my whole doll collection and the only one I keep in box. I dunno if he's rare of expensive but I got him from my parents on my 16th birthday and he's so special to me. I never did get involved in any communities back then. Never appealed to me.
@@kayleighbrown459 what a cool bday gift!! I was obsessed when they released that doll. I remember watching my DVD box set every night in anticipation 🤓🤡 Before the drama I had a nice time in the LDD community. I won series 12 (all 5 dolls!) in a contest and a few other things too. I made some nice friendships-but unhinged people are everywhere, just waiting to ruin all the fun 🤣🤣🤣 Idk if Jason is rare either. They stopped making them until these deluxe dolls, so I’d assume the demand for them dropped some-but I wouldn’t know. He’s THE best presents doll regardless
@@DisBlaine He totally is. The detail on his head skulpt and mask and clothes is insane. I don't even know how my parents got it cause we live in the UK. I think it was through a store called forbidden planet. Oh, and hey. If you like horror, have you ever heard of Little Apple dolls?
@@kayleighbrown459 haha yes a lot of LDD collectors were into LAD too! They never got to me at all tho, because it was just the same doll in a different outift as far as I could tell.
@@DisBlaine Yeah, pretty much. They don't even differ in terms of hair. I was properly obsessed with them as a kid. They were the perfect combination of spooky and adorable. The clothes were so intricate and they all came with stories and names and had these little foam apples that you could stick pins into. Loved them so much.
