About two years ago when I was first heavily starting to get into collecting the Dynamite Girls which my dear friend (whom I love and adore) David Buttry is the designer of at Integrity Toys, I asked him in his livingroom,"David do you think there will ever be any Dynamite Boys?" To which he quickly replied,"NO! Never! For some reason our boys don't sell as well as the girls." Oh, what a difference a couple of years make. Now, every time I get to see David I remind him of that conversation and we laugh.
The Dynamite Boys have taken the world by storm and are one of the hottest collectible on the Integrity Toys line. I for one, was thrilled but immediately didn't jump onto the "calling a dealer the afternoon they were announced" frenzy because I figured that history would repeat itself again with the boy dolls and they would be plentiful. Big mistake. That silly little mistake has caused me sleepless nights for a year now and will NEVER happen to me again (I think I was the first call that Brooke from Marlbe.com received after the In The City Cruz was announced...of course I got the whole set....but Cruz just stole my heart. See below in previous posts to see production pics of Cruz. Whom by the way, I'm insisting is Cuban like me!lol)
When Auden came up on the screen during our clubs viewing of the online IT Toyfare evnt...a HUSH came over the crowd. I should have known then that Auden had stole everyone's heart and I need to run - not walk, to the nearest laptop to preorder him. Luckily I was able to pre-order the other new boy on the block in the set (again thanks to Brookie at Marlbe.com) so it wasn't a total disaster. I told myself,"I will probably be able to find my precious Auden a the convention." And low and behold - I DID! Not only did I find Auden, but at an incredible price just slightly over original MSRP. That thanks goes out to Lisa from Chelsea's Collectibles who was serious lovely, sweet and kind to me and I bough many things from her room at this years FR Convention in Chicago!
With my platinum Auden in hand, I was contented. I figured,"I found the one item I was looking for. What more could I ask for?" To my surprise, Alain Tremblay was planning a re-do of his famous hair flocking seminar and the doll that he was going to be flocking as the special workshop upgrade doll was AUDEN himself with raven black flocking and a combed over edgy faux hauk. I swear I almost hyper ventilated. Once I had him in hand (at 8am after a long night of imbibing one too many adult beverages the night before...thanks Frank Villa for letting me sleep on your strong muscular shoulder that morning!) I thought to myself,"My search is complete...I have all the Dynamite Boys out in existance....so far. Exhale!"
On the last night of the convention after the amazing dinner (they always have great food and entertainment at the FR Convention) I happened to see Alain carrying two raven Auden's in their boxes under his arm and I was brave enough to ask him,"Are you selling those?" To which he replied,"They are damaged and were returned by some of the conventioneers." I then quickly thought,"Can you reflock them (he really is the BEST at flocking) in different color and sell them to me." He cheerfully and sweetly said,"Sure! I'll invoice you once I get home." My heart stopped.
When I got home, I wrote a thank you note to the staff at IT for the incredible job they had done on the convention...I was truly impressed with every last detail and was blessed to be their with all my friends.
On the note I wrote Alain, I added a "post script" note that read..."Can't wait to see my reflocked Audens!" I didn't want to be pushy...but at the same time I REALLY WANTED THOSE AUDENS! LOL! After a couple of weeks I heard back from Alain....my Auden's were ready and he was putting them in the mail for me before he went off on a much deserved vacation to Hawaii! I counted the day for them to get to my doorstep. It took exactly 10 days....BUT HERE THEY ARE! I call them the twins. One has raven flocking with a silver and black faux hauk...super sexy! I call him Alain, after his creator! The other is an auburn flocked boy with a faux hawk as well - his new name is Adrian. Now I have all three - Auden, Adrian and Alain (like the Kardashian's but using "A" names instead...lol)
So I pose this question out there now to all my blog readers: What's the sudden interest in the boys?
Is it the price point? The edgy young style? The new character molds? What gives?
And for that matter why don't their FR counterparts - The HOMMES fly off the shelves as quickly.
I'd love to hear your feedback, and I'm sure the peeps at IT would appreciate it too!
Well, that's my story! Don't you love a happy ending! Tee-hee!
Now, if only Cruz would get her before my birthday on December 30th...2011 would be a "red letter stellar" year!
xoxo,
Frank
What's the sudden interest in the boys?
ReplyDeleteIn my opinion it's that they come across as younger and more modern then say the FR boys, who generally are released in suits (do we need yet another black suit? or in undies, lol)
Is it the price point?
The price doesn't hurt at all, and it's shocking cause a headless body generally sells for $45, and a head usually goes for $20-25 (based on general resell for the girls) so to get a doll with the exact body as an FR homme, dressed for $60-65 is great
The edgy young style?
as i mentioned, a total plus
The new character molds?
Though it looks like they all share the same mold so far, they seem to each have distinct personalities of their own, which is great. I missed out on all of them so far, and kicking myself especially on Cruz
What gives?
Lower price point, great modern styling
And for that matter why don't their FR counterparts - The HOMMES fly off the shelves as quickly?
at $110 a pop (they always end up getting marked down mid-year so there's never a rush to get one) it's a lot and there usually isn't anything that really makes them pop. The new W Club Romain is great with his styling, but again, just wearing a black suit. I of course pre-ordered him along with the 2 girls. It was marketed in a great way as a set, there was a discount for ordering the entire set, and the storyline was included, which i really missed. Just my 2 cents... lol
-Marti Ballvoeras
big24mac
a.k.a. The Hot Mess
Marti! OMG that was awesome...I think you said exactly what we all were thinking! I TOTALLY AGREE! Although, I thought they had 3 seperate face molds? Auden, Remi and Kyu are all different right? I know that Cruz will be the Auden mold with tan skin though..but he looks completely different!
ReplyDeletethanks for putting in your 2 cents!
i know remi, auden and cruz all share the same mold, so i'm assuming kyu does as well. The screenings are different enough to make them look like different molds
ReplyDeleteno...i know that Kyu is different for sure. I'm not so sure about Remi...but i'll look into it and report back! xoxo, F
ReplyDelete