My 5th spot goes more to a group of dolls than an individually packaged one. I've been a doll collector my entire life. I started when I was a little girl and am still enjoying this fickle and exciting hobby decades later; I've seen more than a few changes!
Pretty much gone are the days of purchasing a doll and leaving it displayed NRFB. I'm not saying I don't have a few of those still, but the vast majority of my doll collection is taken out and handled. I believe Integrity Toys was truly a leader in this shift in collecting mindset, and it started primarily with the articulated dolls of 2004/2005. The posability of these articulated limbs were based on the taller ball-jointed dolls found in the Asian marketplace (which in turn were based on the antique composition bodies of the 1890's). When collectors started handling these dolls and redressing them, it allowed adults to experience the joy of play from their childhoods. Mattel later followed suit with their Made To Move dolls and earlier less-articulated bodies.
With so many articulated doll lines now on the market, the competition for a collector's money has gotten quite stiff. Designer's must be creative. It is hard to beat the team of David Buttry and Alain Tremblay when it comes to creativity.
Poppy Parker is an imaginary doll character that is a young adult in the 1960's. Integrity Toys collaborated with Hasbro to combine Poppy Parker and the vintage board game Mystery Date. I reviewed these dolls earlier this year Poppy Parker Loves Mystery Date Review. What a creative concept!
It would be difficult to put into a blog just exactly how impressive the packaging is (photo property of Integrity Toys).
Talk about a lot of fun! For the retail price of $240, you got a female doll, her date, and wonderful accessories. What more could you ask for? The only problem was in the packaging. It was too elaborate to translate well to production. First, it was difficult to open the door to the date. Also, the thin cardboard liners required a lot of folding which got multiple tears when the factory workers started assembling them. Many of the boxes arrived with taped places in the liners. Integrity Toys/The W Club has an amazing customer service department that sprung into action and sent replacements to collectors who reported this problem.
Here is Integrity Toys' promo photo of all the dolls:
