Team Building

The membership of the Peace Operation and Strategic Espionage Reserve (POSER) is slowly growing. The newest agent is Angel. She is a tech expert.

 

Agent Angel

The ranks are filled by a meticulous screening conducted by Edeline. Knowing the abilities and weaknesses of each agent, she is also in charge of building a team for each mission.

 

Agent Edeline

Peace Clone

It's like one of those moments you exhale, "Finally!" 

I accidentally came across a clone with a body similar to the Barbie Fashionista earlier this year. What is unique to this clone is its color. It is compatible to Edeline, one of the 12 dancing princesses. Her skin tone is similar to Fan Bingbing's, "Peace" skin tone as Mattel calls it. (I have something to say about the political correctness of the name but then again, Mattel has little concern for correctness compared to profit-making, so why bother?) Below is the comparison photo. 

Since I didn't know that it was a good match when I bought it, I only bought one. (From now on, let's call it the Peace clone.) I decided to buy another when I saw that it works. The second one will be for Fan Bingbing. When I returned to the toy store I got it from, they were sold out!

At the last toy convention, I chance upon a doll that looked like the Peace clone--same packaging, same character, same dress. I decided to buy two, knowing that I might never get the chance to buy again. When I got home, I learned that it was a different doll. It looked like the older Barbie Fashionista. Let's call it clone 2 and a comparison photo is shown below.

I figured that these toy stores could have sourced these clones from another city, the locally famous marketplace of clones, Divisoria. I went there and, as expected, I was able find a clone that looked like the Peace clone (clone 4). I was also able to find another clone (clone 3) that I initially thought to have the same skin tone as Raquelle's. I bought 2 of each since Divisoria is too out of the way to come back for seconds. Unfortunately, the clone 2 was not a match. Fortunately, clone 3 was a good match for other dolls. My customized Lois Lane Barbie got rebodied using clone 3. The other clone 3 body went to Audrey (not in photo). Comparison photos below.

I got 4 dolls (2 each of clones 2 & 4) that are too pale for any doll head I appreciate. I felt that it's a lot of wasted money. I decided to stop hunting for the Peace clone and just appreciate the only one I had.

Yesterday, I was in an obscure section of an old forgotten mall to buy some supplies. I saw two dolls on sale that looked like the Peace clone. I was tempted to buy both but previous experiences made me buy just one. I was glad to find out that it was the Peace clone I was looking for. It is the headless doll on the first photo.

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Update (2015):

The Peace Clones are no longer available in any store that I know of.

Words To Live By

Trust

I don't trust doll people who post nothing but raves on collector dolls. They sound like paid advertisers or doll resellers.

Generally, I don't trust people who don't express any dislike. It's in the expression of dislike that shows deeper character.

Hurray For Competition

I finally got myself one of the pioneer members of the Avengers, Ant-man. No thanks to the local distributor of Hasbro. As can be seen in the photos, this was sourced from another country. English is an official language in my country so there is no need to add what seems like Chinese labels on the packaging.

Based on another toy blog, these toys are already out in Singapore. A lot of online sellers have this posted on eBay. What is interesting is the price. Despite additional shipping charges and profit margin for the local reseller, some are being offered at competitive prices compared to those in major toy stores. I got my Ant-man at SRP. Other characters are below SRP while "rarer" characters are being sold at a higher price.

Pricing is so unlike the local distributor and major toy stores. All characters are priced equally, villain or hero, popular or not. Other sellers' prices are based on assumed demand. I'm glad that the demand for this figure is not that high. If the demand was high, the stocks should have run out weeks ago but I was able to buy one.

This figure is from the 3rd wave. There are still a lot of peg warmers from the 1st wave and some from the 2nd wave. I don't know if the major local distributor is still interested in distributing the rest of the series. It is the distributor's fault if they don't sell well. They increased the price just because of the re-branding. It's the same old marvel universe figure. I hope they learn from competition.

I also noticed that collectors of these figures are no longer as active in a local toy forum. A lot has stopped collecting these figures for two main reason--first, the increase in price; second, others decided to focus on the better articulated line, the Marvel Legends. This is good for me (less competition in buying). In case the demand eventually died down, and Hasbro decided to stop this line, I can just buy from those who quit collecting and customize the figures to the characters I want.