The Birdman

Soom has released the new version of the male body (Gneiss was the new female body). "Tremo" (Who sounds Italian, maybe it's a kind of marble?) is styled to be a Firebird/Phoenix. He's very splendid except for his wings, which provoked an almost universal wtf in the comments below his release photos, except for the brave souls that confessed they were going to use the wings for crab claws (they are molded in resin as realistic naked chicken wings, with real feathers added--something that no doubt solves some engineering problems.)

Tremo's sales page

Note staggering intital release price, and don't read the "Legend" as the ad copy will make your head explode..though Tremo's isn't quite as absurd as Sphaler's was (Sphaler has episodes where his brain "turns to stone", which I can both relate to and I think there may be a translation problem). Amphibel's resin angel wings were so heavy she tipped over backwards, and no one was really happy with Galena's arm wings, since it meant she had no hands, plus it was a casting challenge to get the feathers to come out cleanly.

In any case, his wings got a "thumbs-down"-- so Soom did something unprecedented--it let people buy the fantasy parts a la carte. I had originally planned to buy him as a set with Gneiss, but his initial release cost plus shipping made me change my mind...as well as my conviction I would break those delicate foot claws. But after a lot of hesitation I ordered him in the stripped-down, human version with just the flaming ears and head crests. I really wanted both the male and female new bodies as a set, and where the releases fell (both right after big events where people were able to order the older, limited molds again) meant that not many people had the funds to buy these new releases (I am guessing less than 20 of Gneiss were sold worldwide, and I am thinking maybe less than 50 of Tremo will be purchased) Compare that to the Unicorn male Heliot, who had something like 300 sold in the original release. Since my bank account is earning no interest, a gain of 10% on my doll purchases looks pretty good. The problem is..I like them! And playing with them decreases the value...I suspect my Sirocco is probably worth all of 450.00 now, though her initial release as a fullset(clothes, eyes, wigs, makeup) was around 1K with shipping. Check out the bat feets:

Migma's sale page
It's very hard to guess what will be valuable. My little avatar doll has gone up almost double from when I bought her, because the company stopped making Delf Lishes, and there is still a demand for them, so I have sadly boxed her up in acid-free tissue so I won't damage her. One of the things I enjoyed about her was that originally she was about as valuable as a designer Barbie, so I didn't worry about dragging her around for photos. I should sell her now in case the lawsuit between Luts and Fairyland gets settled and they start producing them again, but I just can't quite bring myself to do it. I did sell one of the Lishe heads and a spare body to help fund the Birdman.