DolLApalooza 2014
Good Day Everyone,
This year was our fourth doll meet in California known as DolLApalooza. It turned out to be another epic meet that started out a bit contrarily with my rental Sienna mini van deciding to relieve itself of the transmission all over the highway. This all happened in San Bernardino at 9:00 at night. Half way from San Diego, where I picked up the vehicle, and Glendale where we were staying. Fortunately Polaroid was kind enough to pick me up and bring me to the hotel. It also seems I was not alone with car troubles. Z-dr, who I was roommates with, got a flat tire which we had to fix the next morning before going to get a new rental. At least this car was a Ford Crown Vic so we had plenty of room with no problems.
Thursday was the start of the meet, and the shopping day. After getting the new ride Z and I headed to Sinthetics to meet up with Gisele & Ilia and the rest of the guys, and headed to the Garment District. The Garment District is very much like a Bazaar with a lot of small garage type clothing shops that sell everything very good prices. After lots of walking/shopping we decided to head to ‘Little Tokyo’ for some Cosplay and figurine shopping. We were getting hungry by that time, and Matt knew of a place that had Bratwurst of all sorts so we went there for dinner.
Friday is the big ‘meet the manufacturers day.’ Abyss was our first stop, and boy were we all in for a big surprise. Matt McMullen and his team was so kind to show us around and answer questions. After getting a behind the scenes looks of Abyss’ operation we all gathered in the showroom for sandwiches, cookies & drinks. Each one of us was also generously treated with goody bags full of swag, and everyone was entered into a raffle to win a $500 credit, a free head of choice, and surprisingly a showroom doll (Realdoll RD2 Body A). Congratulations to Ace for winning the $500.00 & Polaroid for winning the face of his choice. And the huge congratulation goes out to SXPanthur for winning the doll Realdoll RD2 Body A! I would like to thank Matt McMullen and his team for being such gregarious hosts, and letting me feel, I mean lift a body D.
Ruby13 was next on the list. We were met by the Has brothers who make the dolls. Jim, the owner, was there in the morning, but couldn’t stay. Jim handles the makeup work, and the final shipping to the customers. They had a number of dolls in various stages of completion, and it was interesting to see the eye blanks in the dolls. It gave them an eery appearance. We didn’t stay very long there, but it was great seeing the brothers and the shop. Hopefully we can meet Jim next year.
Our final stop of the day was at Mechadoll. Yves greeted us first, and then Ron, their doll
engineer, and finally Matt showed up. We then went into the shop to see plenty of dolls
in progress being worked on. It was interesting to see the new frames and new techniques in assembling the dolls. After seeing everything there was to see, Ron treated all of us to dinner. It was very interesting to hear how Ron and company make the dolls, and what Ives’ is up to these days. We all want to thank them for their hospitality also.
Saturday is up next. We had some time to kill in the morning so we made the annual trek to Trashy Lingerie. I had ordered a School Girl uniform on line, and picked it up there. It was good to see the folks there again, and to see some new designs as well as the old favorites. SxPanther got a School Girl outfit as well for his dolls. Around noon time it was off to Sinthetics to see what is new and the crew.
This is also Sinthetics open house so there were other people besides the ODC crowd. It was interesting to see newbies reactions to the dolls especially the ladies looking down in William’s trousers. Sinthetics had four dolls on display; William, Gabriel, Celeste, and the new Belinda face. After taking a few pictures of the dolls in their street clothes it was time to try out the School Girl uniforms on the girls. Good thing the one for Myffy was stretchy because it fit the B2D deliciously.
In the development area Matt has been working on some new heads, and they are in different stages from concept to completion. The most interesting is work on a new body 3 that will be shorter and curvier. Also she will be made opposite to the other bodies. They were made big boobed then reduced. This doll will start small the work up in size. Matt said it is easier to add on then take away. Speaking of bodies the new Body 2A was just about done. We saw the mold and a test cast. While eating all day there we weren’t all that hungry, but we all had to leave there around 8:00 so we headed to Freida’s for Mexican food.
We all want to thank the manufacturers for opening their doors to us. They are all very gracious hosts. It is very helpful to see new developments with the dolls. It gives potential buyers the chance to actually see and touch the dolls so they can pick which is best for them. So we will see them again next year for what is new.
Enjoy.