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Note: My first Blythe! Originally a doll from 1972 from the States, Blythe has had a tough life, creeping out kids of the 70's but delighting fans of today. While a lot of people still find her huge head and eyes on the scary side, just like the 70's weren't quite "ready" for her yet, the Japanese company Takara was confident the unusual doll can make a great new start if given another chance. She was no longer in production for a mere year like before... 2001 marked her return and the extremely enthusiastic welcome by the Japanese fans. Blythe is now a doll phenomenon with an ever-growing fan base, and is capturing the hearts of doll fans worldwide. It proves people do like unique-looking dollies!
When I got into Licca dolls, I also noticed other dolls that people seemed to like a lot online, and much has been said about the wide-eyed Blythe, the new "it" doll with a huge, disproportionate head and a Licca-sized body. When I first saw pictures of her, I wasn't that interested myself. She didn't pull me in right away, though granted that happens rarely to me when it comes to dolls. Her head was just too large for me to like (it took me a while before I noticed it isn't actually THAT big, when compared to the size of one's palm, for instance). She's using a Licca-sized body - and is made by the same company as Licca - but the addition of her head makes her Barbie size.
For months I'd observe the growing Blythe fandom and the beautiful handmade fashions the fans make for her. After a while I started looking past the trendy clothes. It's her *face*, her charisma and charm that makes her who she is. It's not just the fashions. Once you keep staring at her face, taking in all the details, you can just feel that pull... And this is coming from someone who didn't find her interesting at ALL at first. It happened gradually. Her expressive face, the fact you can switch eyes or turn them left, right, and straight forward, and the mass of hair on her head, really made me love her! It slowly crept up on me unawares. It wouldn't be long before I desperately wanted my own. eBay, Yahoo!Japan, online stores... Blythe is everywhere. On Y!J the especially pretty ones go for high prices, quite a few in the Super Dollfie range! O__O A good deal of "beautified" Blythes is selling around $350 and some are going for as high as $600 and more. I've seen one sell for over $1300! There's always demand for customs. My Blythe was done by a Japanese customizer on Y!J. Her previous works haven't been in the $350 range, nor has she been customizing for long. This is only her 2nd custom Blythe. I liked the simpler, natural looks she gave her dolls and decided to bid on one. It was the hair color and the carved lips that sealed it and the fact there weren't any extreme modifications done. She did such beautiful job on the carving, she even made the lips' corners tilt slightly upwards in a smile. She sanded them off to give them a gentler and rounder look, same with the face, especially the jaw and chin. The doll's eyelashes have been exchanged with fake eyelashes for women. The face was then sprayed on with a matte paint sealer. The doll has her default eyechips - blue, pink, green, and orange. More on that below. Originally she was a Birdie Blue (BB), at the time of my purchase (September '06) not a recent doll on the market in the least. A Japan Toys 'R' Us exclusive, she was released on August 10, 2004. Since then and up till Sept '06, 25 new Blythes hit the market!
Inside Blythe's head there is an ingenious eye mechanism. To change the doll's eyes, you don't replace the entire eyeballs but the eye chips (they look like disks) that come in different colors. These removable chips are part of the white eyeballs that stay inside her head and inside the mechanism. 4 different pairs of eye chips can be put into the eye mech. When you pull the string in the back of her head, she closes her eyes and there's a loud "crack" sound. Pull the string again to open her eyes and her eye position has changed! The mechanism is pretty loud! She can look left, right and straight forward. The straight forward look has two eye "slots" available, so you can switch between two different eye colors. My Blythe has blue eyes when looking left, green when looking right, and pink and orange when looking straight at you. ^_^ You can toy with custom color eye chips and switch them as you wish. I'd like to try out light blue, turquoise, violet and grey eyes sometime. The customizer added another string in the back of Blythe's head, just for the "sleep eyes". That pull string is used to make Blythe's eyes open again. The default pull string is for the eye mechanism/switching eye position, which happens once she closes her eyes. The additional pullstring is great because you can decide just how open her eyes should be. You can give her a half-sleepy look, as if she's tired, or a very alert look (the eyes open really wide, thanks to the custom eyelid lifting), or an almost closed look, like she's just looking under her eyelashes... Fun, fun! She also has pierced ears (few Blythes have them, I think?) and a lovely manicure – the nailpolish is orange like her original eyeshadow, blush and lips. Blythe was shipped to me in Birdie Blue's box wearing her stock outfit. The clothes she's wearing in this photo shoot are mix & match. I got them especially for her first shoot. ^_^ The moment I laid my eyes on her lying there in the box looking so expectant and curious, I fell for her all over again! She took my breath away... I knew she's a gorgeous doll but the beauty really HIT ME when I saw her in person. To say I was amazed would be an understatement. It was a very powerful emotion and we instantly bonded. Duke, my Super Dollfie, took her under his wing and introduced her to the Licca gang and other dolls. She didn't have to worry we're not going to love her because of her different looks, aww! Liccas have befriended her on the spot and pointed out her new wardrobe. I actually have another Blythe on the way now ^o^, she doesn't have to fear she's going to be the only Blythe in my collection. I've named her Happy. It was how I felt when I first held her in my arms. | back | |
This is BB's official pic, Copyright © Takara, on the left. The original Birdie Blue has has long, wavy brown hair. The customizer cut it to a shorter length and gave her bangs. She wiped off her default make-up and re-painted the previously orange lips with salmon pink and added rosy blush to the cheeks (previously orange), and light green and blue eyeshadow around the eyes (also orange before). The "sleepy eye" effect was reduced, making her eyes more open and attentive. The procedure is called "Eyelid Lifting" in the Blythe world. These are pretty much standard Blythe customizations. Lip carving isn't that common among Western Blythe customizers and isn't everyone's cup of tea but the Japanese fans have turned it into an art! ^o^ As long as it's not overdone, I love it!