2016 BFC Membership Renewal Open to Current Members…
…and I am honestly conflicted about it. I went ahead and purchased a membership ( and had difficulties doing it see story below) but I am conflicted as to whether this is something I would really recommend to a new or even seasoned collector at this point.
Here is what I am liking about this years club.
1) AA Silkstone in a blue suit looks scrumptious!! She will be a BFC exclusive so only available to the club. This may be worth the $25 alone and is perhaps the main reason I signed back up this year. Mr. Best, you get my vote…your tech department does not.
2) Soda Shop Barbie ( part of the Willows, WI line) is ADORABLE. Love the poodle skirt and love where Bill Greening has taken and seems to be taking this line. Well done Mr. Greening.
3) The Free gift is a chair! And it seems to be the same pattern as the gilt chairs in the dioramas we all love so much from BFMC. But…it’s black and not gold or gilt. Hmmmmm… see more on this below.
Here is what I am not liking about this years club:
1) The chair is black and not gilt or gold. I mean we can spray paint…no problem … but there is some work involved with that one. You need to make sure it’s the right gold…and does that white seat cover come off? Is it cloth or is it plastic? It’s totally doable…just wish they had sprung the extra buck and had them sprayed gold is all. I was kind of primed for the gold based on what was said in the promotional video about the articulated silkstone’s. But…free is free so guess I really can’t complain. Will take it and say “Thank you!”
2) The free gift doesn’t come until March? Why the three month delay? Yes, I say three months because I suspect this puppy won’t be mailed until late March. Oh and read the fine print people…in order to get said chair, you need to have signed up by 03/31/16.
3) NOT liking the troubles I experienced on the “improved” website. I had to sign in multiple times to get my account to recognize me as a BFC member and therefore allowed to purchase a membership today. Once that hurdle was jumped, I experienced the “waiting room” and once I made it out of the waiting room and had the item in my cart, I attempted to actually pay for my membership. Here is what I got
What!! My response to the screen was “ You have got to be kidding me! This was supposed to be the “improved system”. Do you want my business and money or not Mattel?!!
After about 4 minutes, I went back in and was able to re-enter all my payment info and successfully complete my transaction but for 4 minutes I contemplated whether or not it was worth it. This BC website is seriously affecting my love of Barbie and my collecting mojo. I am just not feeling the love from Mattel when stuff like this happens and the more it happens, it makes me question why I am giving my money to them. I hate to say it but there it is. Just expressing my concern and sadness. Oh and the graphic you see above…the nice one with the pictures and explanation of the club…it’s only visible if you sign out of your membership account and are looking at the BC site as a non -member. What?!! So members were not able to actually see the free gift chair on the product page when they paid for their membership but people who are thinking about signing up for the first time can see it? Can someone please, please explain this one to me?!!
So…here I am….conflicted because I am in essence advertising the Barbie Fan Club and including links in this blog post for people if they are interested and yet…I am really disappointed at how the roll out of this club has played out. Is this a harbinger for tough times ahead? Will I continually have problems purchasing? Will I have to log in and out of the website to see content that I am interested in? Will I ever be able to search the BC website and find what I am looking for? I remain hopeful but guarded. Mattel, are you hearing any of this?
I guess what I will leave potential buyers with is a big fat CAVEAT EMPTOR .
Caveat Emptor – let the buyer beware
If you are a current BFC member, you can sign up for the club now. If you are a new member, you can start signing up a week from now on 1/19/2016.
Homecoming and The Wizard of OZ
The title sounds like an interesting Indie movie doesn’t it? Mattel finally released photos for two new offerings coming soon to Barbiecollector. First up is the 2nd edition to Bill Greening’s popular Willows, WI. collection….a frothy homecoming queen.
Homecoming Queen™ Barbie® Doll
Designed by: Bill Greening
Release Date: 7/8/2015
Product Code: CJF57
No more than 5500 units produced worldwide.
Retail: $75.00
BFC exclusive! This means you have to be in the BFC to get one. You can join the BFC here.
She is cute! Love the Silkie face on this collection as well. Beautifully done Mr. Greening.
Next up is the annual installment of Mattel’s Wizard of Oz obsession. I never thought of WOZ dolls as “cash cows” but apparently they are. If you ever missed out on these no worries, just wait until next year’s installment. Don’t get me wrong, I like the Wizard of OZ….just not THIS much. That being said, this one I would put in the higher end as far as concept and design. She is very nice.
THE WIZARD OF OZ™ Fantasy Glamour GLINDA™ Doll
Release Date: 6/11/2015
Product Code: CJF31
No more than 5500 units produced worldwide.
Retail: Wait for it….$100.00
You can buy her now but she won’t ship until 8/6/2015. This one is a direct exclusive which means she is only available through www.barbiecollector.com
She is pretty…just don’t know if she is $100 pretty. If I collected fantasy dolls…I might be considering this one.
2015 BFMC Revealed to BFC
Wow!!! Today the Barbie Fan Club released a video of the 2015 Barbie Fashion Model Collection. Real life photos of 5 dolls are shown. If you are a BFC member, sign in and go to link below to get access to the video. You have to be a BFC member to see this. If you are not a member, you will not be asked to join to see content. Note**If you are a BFC member, please do not share the Youtube link with non members as it is disrespectful to the paying members of the club and in violation of your contract to do so.**
http://www.barbiecollector.com/news/2015-bfmc-collection-debut
Fashionably Floral and Boucle Beauty photos have been released.
source: www.barbiecollector.com
source: www.barbiecollector.com
The remaining dolls in the collection are a ball gown, an AA doll and the pink beauty we saw in a sketch with BFC membership signup.
source: www.barbiecollector.com
Now…all I need are some release dates, some Mattel sanctioned photos and some prices and I can start budgeting. 
Cupid’s Kisses has Arrived…
…And her hair is the big story. I won’t lie to you folks…it’s a bit of a fixer upper. Let me start by saying, her box is cute. It is streamlined and classic. I like it.
Here is Ms. C.Kisses in her box. Pardon the crappy cell phone pictures…they were all I could manage whens she arrived.
And here was mine and pretty much everyone else’s question….where is the cute little curl that goes on her forehead?? Here is the promo shot
No need to panic folks. The curl is there..you just have to coax it down a bit.
She comes with some adorable accessories
The dress is adequate though I have to be honest…I did not buy her for this dress. I have other fashions in mind for her. It is not Silkstone quality but it works well on her. There is a Velcro closure in the back so there is some room to make the fit better if it isn’t working on your doll. I think the velvet embossing on the dress is cute and appears to be applied correctly. The hair though…was some work. The ponytail does not have a hard curl at the end . Therein lies part of the problem. Mine came out of the box looking a bit like someone took a pair of scissors to the end of the ponytail. I will put a better curl in it when I have some time to hard set it. For now, I am content with getting the curl to come down on her forehead. Want to see how I did it? I figured….so I included pictures
The handy dandy pin trick! I keep these small silk or applique pins in my deboxing kit. They can solve a whole manner of hat and hair dilemmas.
Push the curl down on the forehead to where you would like it. Hold it down and insert a pin. Make sure you are putting the pin into hair and not into the dolls forehead ( that would be bad…especially if you want to move the hair off the forehead later…you would have a lobotomy scar to deal with and nobody wants that LOL). You can try weaving the pin in and out a little so it is catching different pieces of hair as it goes in. It will hold better this way. Be gentle with handling the hair on this one. It gets messy very easily so don’t overwork it.
Push the pin in. On a vinyl head it is so easy. You can do it with your finger. DON’T try this on a Silkstone. You will end up with a hole in your finger {ouch!}. You need a thimble for Silkstone heads.
You can leave it like this if you want. You can barely see the pin unless you are looking straight down at the curl. I photograph from different angles and since I try to avoid photoshopping when I can, I just ever so slightly move the hair over the pin so it is invisible.
Easy peasy right?!
Sneak Peeks: A Right or a Privilege?
Here we are again folks…about to enter the sticky wicket of debate over Barbie Fan Club (BFC) copyright infringement.
Rant beginning….again.
As we begin a brand new year in the Barbie Fan Club, I want to bring up the issue of sneak peeks. This is something that is currently being discussed in a few doll forums and I have been talking to fellow collectors and bloggers about it. Here is the specific issue….we have not seen as many sneak peeks in the last year as in previous years and it is concerning BFC members. The question is, why the decline? For those who are not a part of the BFC, and may not be aware of what a “sneak peek” is, let me explain. A BFC sneak peek is a first look at an upcoming product at Mattel. These sneak peeks are protected under the rules of the BFC and should not be shared outside of the BFC. You can recognize these sneak peeks by the huge BARBIE COLLECTOR water mark that runs through the middle of them. I would show you what I mean but then I would be in violation of that copyright I am talking about. You can’t miss them though. If a picture has “Barbie Collector” splashed all over it, IT IS A SNEAK PEEK.
The rules of the BFC are very, very clear. When you sign up for the BFC, you agree not to distribute BFC watermarked photos outside the BFC. This is protected content that people in the BFC have paid extra for. If you want access to the content, PAY THE FEE. Here is where the question of “right vs. privilege” comes in. It would appear that some members feel that once they pay that fee, they now have the “right” to post these photos wherever they want. Every time a sneak peek is released …every time…we see these Barbie Collector watermarked photos show up on Facebook, Pinterest and even on some blogs. Once it is out there it is like a virus and proliferates.…especially if it shows up on a blog that is viewed by a sizable collector population. I have a particular problem with bloggers who post these photos. In my opinion, they are disrespecting the fee-paying, rule-following members of a community they claim to represent. They are biting the hand that feeds them! Yes they are providing content but at what price? They have essentially stolen money from these members by posting images that were intended for members only. If you are a member of the BFC and are copying and sending these “sneak peek” photos to people outside of the club….STOP! You are stealing from your fellow members. You just reached into the purse of the BFC member next to you and took a buck or two out of their wallet. Ewwww!
In my mind and that of many others, these sneak peeks are a privilege of membership. They are a privilege we paid extra money for. I don’t know about you but I usually like to get the full value out of something I buy. When these watermarked photos show up outside of the BFC, they devalue the membership and ultimately the club. Let’s say you just went to a movie and paid the exorbitant $15 bucks they charge for first run movie tickets these days. Now let’s say someone sits down next to you, pulls out their fantastically enabled camera recording cell phone and proceeds to videotape the entire movie. You just paid $15 bucks for something many others are going to enjoy for free as soon as rude cell phone recorder gets home and uploads. It is totally against the law to do this. Do you report it? Do you hold that person accountable? If you just let it go without action, are you not becoming part of the problem? Not judging…just asking the question.
So…lets get back to the original question….we are not seeing as many sneak peeks. Why not? Well, isn’t it conceivable that this is Mattel’s way of dealing with the problem of the sneak peek copyright infringement issue? They simply won’t release as many or any sneak peeks in advance of product availability. This could be the direct result of the few who choose, against the rules and the integrity of the club, to post these photos outside of the BFC. Now all the members who choose to follow the rules and respect the integrity of the club get less because of the actions of a select few. How do we feel about that? I don’t know about you but as you have no doubt guessed by now… I feel like I just got royally ripped off.
So, if you are a member of the BFC, do you enjoy the privilege of these “sneak peeks” that are a part of your paid membership? Do you want to try to increase the frequency of, and protect the integrity of, these sneak peeks? If so, I suggest a call to action. If you see a watermarked sneak peek on the internet, report it. Call them out. Make it public that this is protected content and should not be posted. When I have done this, I have been told by some of these copyright violators that because I am not a Mattel lawyer, I have no right to tell them what to do. My response: ”As a paying member of the club you just ripped off by posting these photos, I have every right to tell you to remove it.”
Okay….rant over.
{And if your guess of how many times I used the phrase “sneak peek” in this post was 16….you get a cookie!}
image source: wordpress
Get Your Valium Ready….
…There is a platinum release Barbie available for purchase to BFC members next week.
** Photo credit: Mattel Inc. **
Her name is Beaded Gown Barbie® Doll and she is the first in a new series of black and white themed Barbies®. Linda Kyaw is taking over the drivers seat for the platinum editions and I would say she did a beautiful job with her first in a series design. This elegant lady was designed exclusively for the BFC and at $85 she will go on sale online Wednesday, May 22nd, at 9:00am Pacific Time. BFC exclusive means you have to be a member of the BFC to purchase her and platinum edition means there will only be 999 available for purchase. Typically these are extremely hot sellers and they have been known to sell out within minutes.
I swore that Pinch of Platinum was my last platinum purchase because I needed a bucket o’ valium after fighting to purchase her online. I am hoping that for those who are going to try for this beauty the phrase o’ the day won’t be “SERVER ERROR”.
Have the tums and the valium ready for this one folks…it’s going to be crazy at 9AM on May 22nd.
Hope everyone’s experience is this…
rather than this….
Barbie Fan Club 2012 Registration Begins 2/8
We just finished the registration for Integrity Toy’s WClub so now it is Mattel’s turn. The Barbie Fan Club has many perks and another active forum of collectors to participate in but…and you know the drill by now…you have to be a member. One of the lovely things about the BFC is that there is no time limit to sign up. There is , however, a membership limit. Their literature states that they will sell 7500 memberships and that is all. The club doll will also be limited to a specific number and the club doll has sold out the last couple of years. This year, the BFC has a wonderful lineup of club exclusive dolls. The highlight for me is the club doll itself “Afternoon Suit” Barbie. She is a Silkstone and her suit looks to have been inspired by Dior. If you are at all interested in the BFC, I would recommend joining early. My prediction is that this lady will sell out.
** photos are property of Mattel Inc. **
Inspiration? Dior Haute Couture Fall/Winter 2009
Other dolls in the works for the club are: “Rush of Gold ” and “Holiday Hostess”
Rush of gold is listed as a platinum doll ( get your valium ready!)
Whoever inspired the club doll, my hat is off to them. LOVE this lady!!! Will I be buying? Yep! As fast as my little keys can hit the keyboard. Not sure about the doll with her pageboy and bangs hairstyle. In my experience, this hairstyle on the Silkies rarely comes out as nice as the promo photos but I will be more than happy to be wrong on this. She has the look of Anna Wintour don’t you think? Mattel will be releasing additional information on 02/01/2012. For information now , feel free to go to the Barbie Collector sight or just click on the picture bellow.
Inside the Fashion Doll Studio 