Doll & Teddy Bear Expo, Washington, DC, August 9, 2008

(Originally written on August 12, 2008)

I've been feeling pretty down with my health issues lately. I decided to get my mind off my problems by doing something totally fun for a change.

So I decided to go to the Doll & Teddy Bear Expo. The last time I went to that expo was in 2006 and I remember that it was way smaller than Otakon. Heck, I remembered that the 2006 expo was way smaller than it was in the late 1990's when I attended it each year for a few years until I grew tired of the event. I went in 2006 because someone had organized an Asian ball-jointed doll meetup through the Den of Angels forum. This year no one had organized a similar meetup (that's probably because so many people had decided to organize/attend the meetups at this year's Otakon instead) so I left my Asian ball-jointed dolls at home.

I wrote about attending the 2006 expo where I mentioned how much smaller that expo was compared to the late 1990's when that expo was so big that it took over several large conference rooms and a few smaller meeting rooms. I thought that the 2006 event was a pale shadow of its former self. Well, it saddens me to admit this but the 2008 expo made the 2006 expo seem large by comparison.

In 2006 I thumbed through a few tables devoted to selling books about dolls and teddy bears and I even purchased a book that I still use for ideas while I'm converting used thrift shop Barbies into fairy dolls (Tina Casey's Fabulous Fashion Doll Clothing You Can Make). I had looked forward to perusing the book tables in the hopes of purchasing a book or two. Well, this year there were no doll and teddy bear book dealers at all. Some dealers sold one or two books but there were no tables devoted exclusively to books, which was a total letdown.

In 2006 there were tables by Jun Planning (the company responsible for Pullips, Hestia, J-Dolls, and Ai ball-jointed dolls), Tonner, and Wilde Imaginations (the company responsible for Ellowyne Wilde). All three companies were no-shows for this year's event. There was also a dealer that sold the ultra-cute Dolleceana dolls (tiny five-inch anime-looking dolls dressed up in Disney outfits) in 2006 who also was a no-show this year.

In 2006 Marie Osmond showed up in person promoting her line of dolls and giving out autographs. This year there was no big-name celebrity around.

In my entry on the 2006 expo, I speculated whether the current bad state of the U.S. economy and the rise of Internet selling in recent years had an impact on the quality of the expo. This year I think the fact that the economy had gone from bad to worse (the adjustable rate mortgage crisis, the increasing prices of oil, the rise in food prices, etc.) has had an impact on this show. Not only did the expo seem smaller, it also seemed less crowded than other years. These days I think people are too focused on making ends meet to worry about such luxury items as dolls and teddy bears.

Despite my disappointments with this year's expo, I was still determined to enjoy all the eye candy around me. Acutally the eye candy began for me before I even made it to the expo. As I was walking in the Metro parking lot on my way to boarding the subway, I saw this cool motorcycle with a teddy bear in the back. (Click on any of the photos on this page to see a larger version open in a new window.)

Despite the fact that the expo was much smaller than in 2006, there was still plenty of eye candy to see, such as these ball-jointed Goodreau Dolls.

Having seen the Goodreau Doll ball-jointed doll line in person, I can say that they look far better in person than the official publicity photos that have been posted on various dealer sites. In fact, I fell in love with one of their dolls--a cute little ball-jointed pig doll that the company has named "Wiggles". At $160 for a 9-inch resin ball-jointed pig doll, Wiggles was more affordable than other companies that have come out with resin animal dolls. (For example, Elf Doll sells a pig doll known as Alice Cherry Blossom that stands at 14 cm tall and costs $290.) So I not only bought Wiggles but I also purchased an extra outfit for her because I loved the punk look. The outfit costs $35, which seems extravagant for a 9-inch doll, but I was in a frame of mind where I wanted to treat myself because I have been putting up with so much bad stuff this year.

Wiggles and the extra outfit were the only purchases I made at the expo. There were other dolls that I fell in love with as well but I had resolved to use cash for all purchases at the expo so I didn't have enough cash in my wallet to buy everything I fell in love with. Instead I took out my camera and took photos of the dolls and teddy bears that stood out in my mind.

Berdine Creedy is another U.S.-based company that sells resin ball-jointed dolls that are customizable. I've seen their publicity photos posted on various dealer sites and I wasn't impressed with them. It wasn't until I saw the Creedy dolls in person that I realized that they are far cuter in person than their official photos suggest. I especially loved their outfits

Kimberly Lasher is known for selling reborn baby dolls but the company has recently branched out into making resin ball-jointed dolls of its own. These dolls are pretty cute in their own way even if some of the dolls look like they are in the process of sucking on a very sour lemon.

But of all the dolls I saw, my absolute favorite is a line of wooden ball-jointed dolls by a company called Xenis.

Here's a display of the carved dolls after they have been put together but before they have been painted. You can easily see the ball joints in the photos. I wasn't allowed to touch the dolls so I have no idea if they are strung on the inside or if they are put together in some other way. If Xenis had sold unpainted dolls that you finish yourself, I would've bought one. Unfortunately, as of this writing, Xenis doesn't sell do-it-yourself doll kits.

Here is what the Xenis dolls look like after they are painted and dressed. The majority of them are based on characters from children's books.

Here are Xenis dolls based on the characters in Pinocchio. They are absolutely stunning.

Alice stands next to fellow Wonderland characters the Dodo Bird and Cheshire Cat as well as Snow White. I seriously thought about buying one of these dolls until I saw the $800 price tag on most of them. (The cheapest doll was a tiny Jiminy Cricket that cost around $200-$300.) I can understand why they are priced so much. The attention to detail is stunning and one can't deny that it's a lot of work to carve doll parts out of wood. I'm hoping that one day Xenis will sell unfinished wooden doll kits so I can own a wooden ball-jointed doll for less.

Rini Dolls are a line of poseable dolls that are supposed to harken back to the dolls of the 1950's (such as Cissy). I love how these dolls pose. In fact I think they have much tighter posing than many of the resin ball-jointed dolls currently on the market. Their faces are a bit too much like Betty Boop for my taste, though.

Among the more memorable displays is this one of a teddy bear re-enacting the famous painting The Scream.

Here's the re-release of a line of dolls from the 1950's known as Penny Brite.

Here are a couple of dolls based on Alice in Wonderland. While the Alice doll didn't impress me that much, I was very enthralled with the Mad Hatter doll. He looks awesome with his oversized head and large hat.

While Tonner itself was a no-show at this year's expo, there were a few authorized Tonner retailers who were displaying and selling those dolls. This group of Tonner dolls were patterned after The Wizard of Oz.

Here is Edith and a few teddy bears that are based on the children's book clasic The Lonely Doll.

The most stunning doll display was this one featuring a fairy in the woods. In fact, this display played music as the fairy moved up and down. This display was not for sale, it was there as an attention getter for a small doll business known as Ancient Whispers.

You may look at this photo and think "Awwww, what a cute pair of babies." Well would you believe that they are not real babies? Yes, they are those reborn baby dolls that have become popular among older women in the last few years. Personally I'm creeped out by these realistic baby dolls because real babies tend to move their joints and make noises at all times while these dolls are totally still. Sometimes they remind me of dead stillborn babies. I was especially creeped out at the expo by seeing numerous women holding these dolls like they were real babies and I saw one woman pushing a stroller with one of those dolls. I kept on thinking that they were holding dead babies. Personally I prefer dolls that are not so realistic looking. No one will ever confuse any of my own dolls for real people and I like it that way.

The only thing that was stranger than reborn babies are these baby elephants that are done up like newborn human babies (complete with clothes) yet they resemble elephant fetuses. They would make interesting Halloween decorations (I can imagine trick or treaters taking one look at one of these dolls and say "WHAT IS THAT THING?!?") but, other than that, I can't think of a good use for them.

This one had me going "WTF?!?" The label said that it's a bear but this guy reminded me of those illustrations from the old Little Black Sambo book that has since fallen out of favor because of its racist caricatures of African-Americans. His black skin and white lips also remind me of the blackface that Al Jolson wore in the film The Jazz Singer when he was performing in a ministrel show. Heck, that critter could easily have performed in a ministrel show back in the early part of the last century.

In addition to the previous photos, I also took a bunch of miscellaneous doll and teddy bear shots of the kind that were pretty or cute to look at but I would never purchase any of them because they weren't THAT pretty or cute enough for me to open my wallet.

Doll & Teddy Bear Expo, Washington, DC, August 9, 2008

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