Broken Jianidi Hands

It just broke. This should answer questions about the quality or durability.

So, I liked the movie

...and no new sewing projects maybe until June.

Hero Business

Disney is popular for creating female hero characters unwitting people look up to. Whether or not that company is in the business of empowering women is being questioned with the lack of female characters in their Avengers merchandise. (
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/disney/11552960/Are-Disney-ignoring-Marvels-female-fans.html)




Barbie has also entered the hero business with mask, cape and all. This time Mattel honored real life people who some of us can consider as a hero or shero, as they call it. I was just pleased that, at least, there was an Asian looking doll in the mix.

Articulated Feet Comparison

Jianidi doll versus Barbie Style doll (Raquelle)

Ax-essorize

Razyera, isn't that hoarding?

The Wasp action doll has been a peg warmer that is why it has been offered for  a reduced price of PhP500 locally. Unlike other characters, the Wasp toy sold out after the price reduction. I thought it was normal because it can be used as base for a customized female character since there are few female characters. When I saw an online seller (Razyera) posted a lot of Wasp toys, I figured that it was possible that the toy was hoarded. The ad posted above is only for local buyers who could have bought the toys themselves locally had the toy not been hoarded.

Hoarding is different from reselling as the latter helps in the distribution. We know that toy manufacturers can't reach everybody. Resellers help alleviate the distribution problems. If a well distributed toy is hoarded, it prevents others from accessing what should have been an accessible toy.

Yes, I know a lot of people do it. I don't mean to single out this specific seller but I figured I needed an example. More than hating on possible hoarders, I'm curious on how to deal with them. Sure, ignoring them is an easy thing to do but it feels like a big cop out. It's not something we learn from the superheroes that inspire us.

Is the collecting community a society that allows opportunistic people to propagate? I know we have no right to keep them from doing what they are doing. I guess we can just talk about them and serve as warning to others, make a blacklist of sorts on which people to avoid even if they are offering some good deals. This blog will be my blacklist.

Mattel goes Quirky

...I mean goes to Quirky for help. They probably are looking for the next big thing in toys and I guess it can have nothing to do with the Barbie toy line.

Source: http://money.cnn.com/2015/04/17/smallbusiness/mattel-toy-inventions/

As for me, I'll pass.

Store Math OR Predicting some toy store will rightfully close down soon

If a toy kiosk owner pays 10,000+pesos per month for the store space that has 200 boxed dolls in their inventory, a monthly cost of 50+pesos per month is added to cost of the doll. The store owner pays 600+pesos a year just for keeping a doll on display.

A Holiday Barbie from 2011 could be had for 1,500+pesos. The small toy store is still trying so hard to sell it for 3,000pesos since 2012. Three years have passed so that means the owner has already spent about 1,800+pesos just by displaying the doll for that long. The total cost so far is 3,300+pesos and is still increasing as long as it doesn't sell.

If some misinformed collector buys it for 3,000pesos, the seller still has a net loss of 300+pesos.

The figures above are just rough estimates. The loss in one toy can be covered by a profit from another toy. That explains the high markup in the prices. But it doesn't explain why they can't cut their losses early on by offering discounts after a year of not being sold like what normal toy stores do.

This old thing

The doll is old and so is the dress. My mom made it.

The Death of Barbie

Barbie's popularity is waning even if her price is increasing. If I were to think of a gimmick to promote Barbie, I would kill her first. Superman, the Lion from Narnia and Jean Grey all did it. I guess that is why Barbie is entering the superhero business, to die.

Imagine 5 years without Barbie. Trap her soul in the Cloud, no tangible toy, just some android game, like "Clash with the Clones" where she fights clone Barbie dolls who have taken over the world because they are more reasonably priced.

Barbie collectors will cherish all their dolls because they probably are going to be their last. The demand may build up. The dolls prices might increase in the secondary market knowing that there is no more supply. The amount people are willing to pay for a doll will increase.

And then she does a grand resurrection! Immaculate. Better than ever in all aspect--high fashion, better articulation, more durable with a god-like status.

OK, fine. Maybe it's no big deal if she remains dead.

Going Through Something

For three straight years, Barbie is still on a losing streak. On the 1st quarter of 2015, sales were up in the US but international sales pulled it down.

I wish they don't have a sole distributor locally. Richwell, the local sole distributor marks up the Barbie dolls way too high. If they only had a competition, the prices will be more reasonable and maybe, the dolls will sell more (unless the new distributor agrees with Richwell's price scheme, then let them suffer the same fate).

I wonder how it is in other international market.

Store Story

I went toy store hopping yesterday. Nothing is worth buying at the moment. Sale season is over. I did notice little interesting things.

First stop, Cool Republic Toy in Greenhills. I had a good experience buying from this store before. They allow customers to haggle. The store owner was ranting when I walked in. He was ranting about another customer who was driving a hard bargain. The owner said that if someone wants a toy, they should be willing to pay the price. That makes sense, right? But he sounded like he meant that if someone wants a toy, they should be willing to pay the price no matter how unreasonable.

I went out that toy store immediately. I don't like to patronize sellers who speak ill of their customer in public, no matter how unreasonable the customer is. Yeah, sure they can rant all they want in private but when they do it in public, it speaks a lot about how bad sales people they are. And sales is not just about the quality of product. Customers also pay for the buying experience.

I went around other toy stores in Greenhills. It is interesting to note that they are selling Marvel Infinite Series figures for more than US$10 even if major toy stores have a more competitive price. Major toy stores have more resources so they can offer these figures at lower prices. Small time sellers in Greenhills buy it in foreign retails stores so they don't get bulk discounts. I love a healthy competition. It's good for the consumer. I won't buy the new figures from Greenhills because they are more expensive there than in major toy stores (except for the Blue Beast which is offered by some Greenhills stores cheaper). Old figures that are no longer available in major toys stores are great buys in Greenhills when it comes to Marvel Universe figures.

I also visited the major toy stores. I wasn't interested in picking up any more Barbie Style Resort/Glam Vacation so I wasn't really looking at them after I bought Grace. Yesterday, I was reconsidering getting another with the hat. I immediately dismissed getting another after I saw the price. It has increased by more than 50% in less than a month! That makes me really glad that I bought Grace earlier. That makes my wallet happy, too.

I know someone who works in retail. He told me that they usually double the price so that when they offer it at 10 to 30% off the original price, they still get a profit. When I bought Grace, it's safe to assume that they already have a big enough profit margin. Increasing her price by 50% makes their margin a lot bigger and unreasonable if you ask me. So I'm taking down my blog entry where I promoted those dolls.

I keep telling that we pay for these people's (the store owner, sales person, toy designer etc) salary. We are their boss. We should teach them how they do their business.

Research

Sometimes I'm too tired to spoon feed people. I say what I want to say. I don't say what I don't want to say. If that leaves questions, then maybe the point is to leave questions.

Support System

A "stand" is used to help a doll stand. What do we call something to help a doll seem to fly, float or levitate? A fly, like the insect? Float, like with the root beer? Levitate? Let's just call it the support system, for now.

I have been seeing these in toy blogs I follow and I have been wanting to have some. It would be nice to use these in a toy tableu for the flying, high-jumping or levitating characters. I was lucky to find one at a secondary market.

The packaging comes in a completely foreign Asian language as shown above. I have no idea about the manufacturer nor is there any readable instructions on how to use it. I guess part of the fun is making sense of the parts and customize the assembly based on your needs.

I was able to set it up to support two action dolls, with a few parts to spare. Although the support system is made of light plastic, it can carry the weight of the figures without moving at the hinges even if I left the setup for a couple of days.

A pack of the support system costs about US$5 locally. It's about the same price as a Kaiser doll stand for playscale dolls. While the Kaiser stand is durable since it is made of metal, this clear plastic support system is more versatile. I just wish that it came in a resealable box or plastic bag. There are too many small part that one can easily lose.

Resurrection

I was supposed to gather all my action figures characters that supposedly died and came back to life and take a group photo but that takes a lot of setup and cleanup time. I settled with Spider-Woman instead.

Almost Forgotten

When we have dolls that we have almost forgotten, does that mean we shouldn't have bought them in the first place?

Yeah, sure, we can always have an excuse that we enjoyed them when they were new and that they gave us happiness and that made it worth it. That was then. What about now?

Or we tell ourselves that maybe, just a big maybe, we can use the doll in our future projects. Maybe our interest in that doll will be resurrected someday. You can never tell, right?

No matter how we delude ourselves, the doll is there and you don't want it now.

Organization

This how I organize my patterns.



I got the idea from a doctor. She said I should organize my medical records this way so that whoever will examine me will have some sort of history.

Two Princesses

If you want to call me baby



Just go ahead now