First Day At Toy Fair 2004: Daring Designs and Cuddly Fun

I spent a full 10 hours at Toy Fair today and I feel like I've barely seen a thing! I took extensive tours of the new dolls being offered by Barbie Collectibles, Madame Alexander, Ashton Drake, Corolle, Jan McLean, and Zapf, and many doll artists, plus I found some new dolls from new manufacturers and also some books and related products. The fashion dolls were excitng with many daring designs, and the baby dolls are getting cuddlier and cuddlier, with many manufacturers turning to ultra-soft vinyls for the dolls faces and limbs.

I'll have some individual reports tomorrow. To whet your appetite, here's just one brief report on one of the exhibitors. I'm going to follow this with some additional news from more manufacturers and artists.

The photo at left are of two new Lollipop Girls from Jan McLean. The Lollipop Girls are going to be produced in house by Jan now, with new packaging, sold only at specialty retailers. The girls look fantastic, and separate outfits will be available.