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The collector scene that treats big-eyed dolls like custom gaming PCs
07.04.2024 - 06:07 / polygon.com
With eyes as round as grapes and lips too small to do anything but pout, Blythe dolls look like sullen angels. Those haunted stares work to their advantage in a crowded market; Blythes have spent the past 23 years charming a dedicated group of primarily female fans, many of whom pour thousands of dollars into customizing their toys.
Blythe, with toothpick legs and stormy eyes that change color with the yank of a string at the back of her head, was once the weird girl at the lunch table. Though skyrocketing Google searches for “blythe doll” attest to her current popularity among fashion brands and collectors, American manufacturer Kenner originally discontinued her in 1973 after only one year on the market.
Still, some were left mesmerized. In 2000, photographer Gina Garan released a romantic photobook, This Is Blythe, which presents Kenner’s serious doll as the perfect model, posing in oversized sweaters, then while topless, looking demurely through a veil of eyelashes. Junko Wong, president of Japanese ad agency CWC, saw these gauzy photos, hazy as if coated in vanilla lip balm, and “could sense the potential of [Blythe] as a cultural icon,” she told website Plastic and Plush in 2005.
Wong relaunched her “neo-Blythe” through CWC in 2001, and the doll has been expertly implementing hypnosis ever since. “I learned about them on YouTube videos [about four years ago],” 66-year-old Marna Kazmaier, who runs the informational website Whimsical Blythe, tells Polygon. “They were not appealing to me at first. But then one day — I don’t know why — they just were very appealing. Right then, I went and bought one online.”
Kazmaier now owns tons of custom and as-sold Blythes. Her collection includes a few original Kenner dolls (these have a resale value of up to around $1,000), dolls manufactured by companies Ashton Drake and Takara (both worth about $300), and one doll made by Good Smile Company, which currently produces $160 dolls for Blythe’s official online shop, Junie Moon.
Kazmaier’s motley collection represents the typical retail experience for a Blythe enthusiast. Like gaming PCs, Magic: The Gathering cards, fancy headphones, and other geek fare, Blythe dolls enjoy a niche but thriving online marketplace. A prospective buyer can pluck genuine Blythes straight off of Junie Moon’s vine — now produced in limited quantities, and only in Japan — or they can buy one of several iterations from a vintage reseller for around $200. But the world of custom Blythes allows fans’ imaginations to go well beyond what can be found on Junie Moon’s straightforward online shop. Meticulously scanning eBay, Etsy, and Instagram reveals purchasable dolls with airbrushed, sensual faces, four sets of bespoke blinking eyes,
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