Pullips and Junk

Groove Report at AnimeJapan

Posted on April 4, 2017 by Klein

Groove recently attended AnimeJapan at Tokyo Big Sight, the event celebrates animation in Japan. Groove recently wrote about their experience of exhibiting at AnimeJapan for the first time via their blog. With how many different collaboration dolls based on different anime/manga characters that have been released over the years I was kind of surprised to hear that it was that their first year attending the event, I have a list of all the collaboration Pullip family dolls that Jun Planning/Groove here that I believe is complete. I hope that Groove’s exhibit at the event helped to introduce Pullip to many new fans!

Looking at all these photos of AnimeJapan makes me kind of regret not attending Anime Boston this past weekend, normally it’s the one anime convention I do attend every year but a combination of bad timing and still feeling under the weather (complications from dental surgery). Hopefully I will be able to attend next year!
Groove’s booth at the event, it’s really amazing to see all of their dolls on display like this it is especially nice that we were able to get a closer look at the upcoming collaboration releases the Disney Cinderella doll and Touken Ranbu Isul Yagen Toushirou.
I’m so excited for the release of Isul Yagen Toushirou, I didn’t think it was possible but he looks even better here than he does in his promotional photos.
Disney Doll Collection Cinderella looks quite magical here.
I absolutely love this giant promotional posters/standees (whatever they are), I can only imagine what seeing these in person and being able to see the dolls in such great detail is like.

The top shelf consists of Kuroshitsuji Taeyang Sebastian ~Book of Circus~ Version, Isul Ciel ~Book of Circus~ Version and Taeyang Sebastian are on display on one side while non-collaboration dolls Premium Pullip Romantic Alice Monochrome Version and Pullip Lunatic Queen are displayed on the other. The newer Rozen Maiden collaboration series that was released from 2014-2015 is displayed on the bottom two shelves. Pullip twins Suiseiseki and Souseiseki are displayed together and Pullips Shinku and Suigintou are displayed on the shelf alongside them on the middle shelf. The bottom shelf features Pullips Kirakishou and Keikujyaku on display on one side and Pullips Hina Ichigo and Pullip Kanaria on display on the other side.
The Puella Magi Madoka Magica dolls Pullip Akemi Homura, Dal Kaname Madoka and Pullip Tomoe Mami are displayed on the top shelf. To this day it still saddens me that Groove never completed the Puella Magi Madoka Magica series, I had always hoped that they would release a version of Sayaka Miki and Kyoko Sakura. On the bottom shelf are last year’s very popular Petit Prince releases Pullip Rose, Isul Petit Prince and Pullip Fox.
Alice in Wonderland has served as the inspiration for many different Pullips over the years so even though technically they are not an anime collaboration series I’m not surprised that Groove would take this opportunity to showcase some of them. The top row consists of Pullip Alice and Pullip Cheshire Cat from the Alice in Steampunk World series as well as the three Rose of Versailles collaboration dolls Pullip Marie Antoinette, Pullip Oscar Francios and Taeyang Andre Grandier. Below them on the middle shelf is Pullip Optical Alice and Regeneration Pullip Alice on one side and Pullip Romantic Alice Pink and Blue versions. On the bottom shelf Pullip Classical Alice Sepia Version and Pullip Classical Alice are displayed on one side while Pullip Alice du Jardin and Pullip Alice du Jardin Mint are display on the other side.
Sailor Moon was definitely one of Groove’s largest collaboration series but I think that I had forgotten just how many dolls were released as a part of the series until I saw this picture with all twenty three of them together, I think this might be the first time I have seen a photo of all of them together like this. Partially cut off in this picture in the top row of this picture is Pullip Sailor Moon and Pullip Sailor Moon. The second row consists of Pullip Sailor Neptune, Pullip Sailor Venus, Pullip Sailor Uranus, Pullip Sailor Pluto, Pullip Sailor Mercury. The third row consists of Dal Sailor Chibi-Moon, Dal Sailor Saturn, Pullip Sailor Mars, Pullip Sailor Jupiter and Taeyang Tuxedo Mask. The fourth row consists of Pullip Luna Moon Lover’s Version, Pullip Sailor V, Pullip Queen Serenity, Pullip Princess Serenity, Dal Small Lady Serenity. The bottom row consists of Pullip Mistress 9, Pullip Black Lady, Pullip Sailor Star Maker, Pullip Sailor Star Fighter and Sailor Star Healer.

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged 2017 groove, akemi homura, anime collaboration, animejapan, asian fashion doll, bishoujo senshi sailor moon, ciel phantomhive, cinderella, disney, Disney Cinderella, fashion doll, groove, groove x disney, hina ichigo pullip, isul, isul ciel phantomhive, Isul Yagen Toushirou, kaname madoka, kanaria pullip, Keikujyaku, kirakishou pullip, kuroshitsuji, kuroshitsuji book of circus, lunatic queen, lunatic queen pullip, madoka dal, mami pullip, premium pullip, premium pullip romantic alice monochrome version, Puella Magi Madoka Magica, pullip homura, pullip x rozen maiden, pullip x sailor moon, pullip x vocaloid, rozen maiden, sailor jupiter pullip, sailor mars pullip, sailor mercury pullip, sailor moon, sailor moon pullip, sailor v pullip, sailor venus pullip, shinku pullip, souseiseki pullip, suigintou pullip, suiseiseki pullip, super sailor moon pullip, taeyang, taeyang sebastian, tomoe mami, touken ranbu, touken ranbu online, tuxedo kamen taeyang, tuxedo mask taeyang, vocaloid, Yagen Toushirou | Leave a comment

Groove attends AnimeJapan

Posted on March 25, 2017 by Klein

Groove is attending AnimeJapan this weekend at Tokyo Big Sight, the event celebrates animation in Japan. This year in particular is really special because 2017 marks the 100th year anniversary of animation in Japan. They wrote about their upcoming attendance at the event via their blog recently.
This is the first year that Groove has exhibited at AnimeJapan this event allows them the perfect opportunity to show off some of their collaboration dolls including exciting upcoming releases as well as some of their recent past collaboration series like Rozen Maiden and Sailor Moon. Groove posted a few photos of their exhibit at the event via their twitter account earlier today.
I absolutely love the giant posters/cardboard cutouts of Disney Doll Collection Cinderella and Touken Ranbu -Online- Isul Yagen Toushirou that Groove used to decorate their exhibit. Groove definitely seems to be hyping their upcoming releases which is smart as they want to attract as much attention to them as possible but I’m happy to see some of the older collaboration series such as the various Rozen Maiden Pullips and Sailor Moon Pullips on display in the background as well. These pictures are also kind of interesting because this is the first time we have seen Cinderella or Yagen Toushirou in box.
I zoomed in on the above shot to try to get a closer look at Cinderella’s box, it looks like there is the Disney Cinderella logo as well as a small picture of Disney’s Cinderella on the box. Cinderella is supposed to be the first doll in a new Doll Collection collaboration series with Disney.
It’s also nice to see the first doll in the Touken Ranbu -Online- series, I was hoping that maybe future dolls in the series might make an appearance at this event as well but no such luck yet anyway (or maybe Groove just won’t post those photos).

Posted in Doll, Pullip | Tagged asian fashion doll, cinderella, disney, doll collection, fashion doll, groove, isul, Pullip, touken ranbu online, Yagen Toushirou | Leave a comment

Touken Ranbu -online- Isul Yagen Toushirou

Posted on March 23, 2017 by Klein

Groove announced a Touken Ranbu -Online- collaboration series earlier this year as well as the first doll as a part of the new series Isul Yagen Toushirou. Touken Ranbu -Online- is a Japanese online card game that allows the player to bring various swords to life which are all depicted as good looking boys. The game is so popular that it has gone on to inspire two diffferent anime series. The first doll in the series, Yagen Toushirou will be released in April and has a MSRP of 26000 yen which makes him one of the most expensive Groove dolls released to date but he is also one of the most elaborately detailed collaboration dolls released to date.
In addition to announcing the expansion of preorders of their new Disney collaboration Cinderella doll, Groove made a similar announcement regarding Isul Yagen Toushirou via their blog last night. Until now Isul Yagen Toushirou had only been available for preorder via Bandai Premium’s website but now preorders have been opened via Groove’s official store as well as other Japanese retailer’s websites such as Amiami and Hobbysearch (both of which ship worldwide!). I will try to update as Yagen Toushirou becomes available for preorder via more retailers.

Posted in Doll, isul | Tagged 2017 groove, 2017 isul, isul, touken ranbu, touken ranbu online, Yagen Toushirou | Leave a comment

Groove Doll Collection Disney Cinderella

Posted on March 23, 2017 by Klein

Groove announced via their blog that expanded preorders have now been opened for their upcoming Disney collaboration Cinderella doll, up until now preorders for Cinderella had only been available via Bandai’s shop. Now preorders have opened for Cinderella via Groove’s official store. It is still unclear at this time if Cinderella will be distributed within the US or how she will be distributed if so it is important to note that in addition to Groove’s official store Japanese hobby retailers Amiami and Hobbysearch have also opened preorders and both of which ship worldwide.
Cinderella is the first doll in a new line of Disney collaboration dolls. Groove has referred to her as being a part of the “Doll Collection” line rather than actually referring to her as a Pullip though the name may be different she definitely appears to the same Pullip that we have all come to know and love over the past fourteen years. I hope that her release will will introduce lots of new fans to the world of Pullip. Cinderella is set to be released in April of this year and has a MSRP of 18,500 yen.

I will try to keep this post updated as Cinderella becomes available for preorder in more places!

Posted in Doll | Tagged 2017 groove, cinderella, disney, doll collection, groove, Pullip | Leave a comment

Pullips invade Little World stores in Japan!

Posted on March 15, 2017 by Klein

Someday I would love to visit Japan, it’s been something I have been wanting to do for a long time now but that just hasn’t been possible for me due to my living a somewhat complicated life with far too many responsibilities that make even taking a few days off to go to the US Pullip convention PUDDLE nearly impossible nevermind spending a few weeks on the other side of the world. In the US, Pullip is rarely seen in physical stores most of the major US retailers are online only so it’s always fascinating to me when Groove posts photos of various store displays featuring prominently featuring Pullip in various stores in Japan. Several years ago now, there was a store called Animadness that sold anime figures and had a really nice selection of Pullip, they were a few hours away from me. Animadness unfortunately closed but I remember how nice it was to actually be able to see a variety of the dolls up close…
This picture was from one of my last trips up to Animadness, so many dolls in it were common then but have since become pretty hard to find. All these years later, I still miss Animadness T_T.

Groove recently shared photos on their blog of three Japanese stores who carry Pullip. I know seeing Pullips at stores shouldn’t be such a surreal concept to me because I have seen them at Animadness in the past but I nevertheless get very excited about this type of thing. I really need to start making a list of all these stores that Groove has featured so I know where to visit when/if I ever do make it to Japan.

Little World Gear Store Osaka (Address: Osaka prefecture Osaka city Chuo-ku Chuo Ward 7-7)
Photo of the entrance, I love the giant billboard!
I feel like I could probably spend hours here looking at all the different doll stuff, all the great doll clothing options and I even see 1/3 scale Azone dolls underneath the Pullips.
They seem to have a nice selection of Pullips available for purchase including Pullip Harley Quinn Dress Version, Pullip Wonder Woman Dress Version, Creator’s Label Pullip Lupinus, Pullip Sweet Eve, Pullip Bonnie, Taeyang Dodo in Steampunk World, Dal Alpin as well as a Creator’s Label Quince mostly hidden behind her, Dal Cherry Sweet, Dal Alice in Steampunk World, Isul White Rabbit in Steampunk World and Isul Eder.
Pullip Eve Sweet and Isul White Rabbit in Steampunk World are an unlikely duo but I must say they look quite nice on display together here!

Little World G-Store Fukuoka Store (Address: Fukuoka Prefecture Fukuoka-shi Chuo-ku Chuo Ward 3-16-21 Nakamura Family Building 1F 2F)
Photo of the entrance!

While the store may not be very large they have a lot of variety and a nice range of products.
Creator’s Label Pullip Lupinus and Dal Quince are prominently featured in the display case. This store has a nice selection of dolls including SDCC Pullips Wonder Woman and Harley Quinn (these seem to be the original versions not the newer releases), Dal Alpin, Creator’s Label Dal Quince, Dal Cherry Sweet, Dal Dana, Pullip Optical Alice, Angelic Pretty Pullip Marie, Creator’s Label Pullip Lupinus, Isul Caros, Isul Eder, Pullip Eve Sweet, Pullip Bonnie, Dal Alice in Steampunk World, Isul White Rabbit in Steampunk World & Taeyang Dodo in Steampunk world.

Little World G – Store Sendai store (Address: Miyagi ken Sendai shi Aoba-ku Central 3-8-3 Peace Building Sendai Ekimae 2F)
Photo of the entrance.
The store appears to have a nice selection of different brands and products including azone clothing/dolls as well as cu-poche from Kotobukiya.
Lots of great dolls on display here including Dal Dana, Isul Caros, Pullip Optical Alice, Creator’s Label Dal Quince, Creator’s Label Pullip Lupinus, Dal Cherry Sweet, Pullip Eve Sweet, Dal Alpin, Isul Eder, Pullip Bonnie, Angelic Pretty Pullip Marie and on the bottom shelf an unknown Dal, Pullip Katina, Taeyang ReonHARDT, what I believe are the SDCC Pullips Wonder Woman Dress Version and Harley Quinn Dress Version. I love that they displayed small promotional pictures of the dolls on their respective boxes.
Dal Alpin & Isul Eder were released in November of last year, I really need to get Isul Eder to go with my Alpin ^^;.

Posted in Doll, Pullip | Tagged 2017 groove, 2017 pullip, asian fashion doll, Dal, dal alpin, eve sweet, fashion doll, groove, isul, isul eder, isul white rabbit in steampunk world, Pullip, pullip eve sweet, pullip japan, white rabbit in steampunk world | 1 Comment

JPGroove Sample Sale & New Pullipstyle Coupon Code

Posted on March 15, 2017 by Klein

There are a couple of noteworthy Pullip sales/specials within the US going on right now so I thought that I should share!

JPGroove Sample Sale JPGroove is currently running another Sample Sale. For those of you who are unfamiliar with their Sample Sales, the dolls featured as a part of the sale were previously used as display models either at an event such as SDCC or in stores. Since all of the dolls were previously used as display models they do not come with their boxes or stands and it’s possible they may be missing an accessory or two as things can get misplaced over time. It’s a great opportunity to get a doll you want for a great price if you are willing to take the chance on maybe missing an accessory or two or if you don’t mind the absence of box, stand or card.

Here is just a small sampling of the dolls currently available via the Sample Sale, the whole selection can be seen here
JPGroove offers free shipping for orders within the US totalling over $175. I’ve placed a few orders and so far all of the dolls I have purchased from this round of the Sample Sale have arrived in really nice condition with no major issues. I think one of my favorite new acquisitions from this round of the Sample Sale is Dal Alice in Steampunk World who I had been wanting for a long while and is oh so cute in person!
I’m still waiting for Pullip ha-ha and Taeyang Grell, I’m trying mostly in vain to ignore the Sample Sale now and pretend that it doesn’t exist anymore so I don’t cave and buy Taeyang Sebastian ~Book of Circus~ Version and/or Undertaker.

Pullipstyle Coupon Event Pullipstyle has posted the following coupon codes via their facebook page:
10off250
15off350
20off450
The codes are pretty self explanatory 10off250 will give you a $10 discount off of an order $250 or more, etc. It’s a great opportunity to order a couple of dolls off of your wishlist and get a nice bit of a discount. It is unknown how long this coupon event will be good for so I would not delay ordering for too long if you intend to utilize the codes. Don’t forget to input the coupon code in the discount code box!

Posted in byul, Dal, isul, Pullip, pullipstyle, Taeyang/ Namu | Tagged byul, Dal, isul, jpgroove, Pullip, pullip sale, pullipstyle, taeyang | Leave a comment

Dal Silane

Posted on February 23, 2017 by Klein

The memory chip in my camera recently developed issues, it was a bit frustrating but I knew that surely I must have had a spare memory chip somewhere. I did eventually find an old memory chip and much to my surprise it had a bunch of photos on it that I had never uploaded, the photos had been taken immediately before my car accident last year. Among the photos on the memory chip were some photos of Dal Silane, she had been my newest arrival before the car accident. Most of these pictures had kind of gotten lost in the shuffle and Silane never properly got a chance to shine.

I remember when Dal Silane was first announced all I could think of was how much of a sugary sweet confection she was. Dal Silane was released in May of 2014. Only two Dals were released in 2014, Silane and Tokidoki Dal Vendettina the two of which could not be more different than day and night the sweet lolita Silane and the dark edgy Vendettina. There is such a stark difference between the two Dals, Silane was designed to be a very safe release with broad appeal while Vendettina was much more of a risky release they counterbalance each other well. I’m glad that Dal has since made a regular return to release schedule since the dark, mostly Dal-free days of 2014 and that we are seeing a variety of releases. Dal Silane had a MSRP of 15000 yen at the time of release. I purchased my Dal Silane from Pullipstyle in late April of last year.
I am off to the tea room with my mom… Wearing a soft, white outfit…
I am a proper Lady!!
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Posted in Dal, Doll | Tagged 2014 Dal, 2014 Groove, asian fashion doll, Dal, fashion doll, groove, Pullip, silane | Leave a comment

Pullip veryBerryPOP

Posted on February 12, 2017 by Klein

Today as another snowstorm strikes, I decided that what I needed to do was to focus on something really bright and colorful in effort to bring some cheer to an otherwise dreary day. My intention had been to write about Dal Alpin next but she is more of a winter themed doll and considering it has snowed here for the last four days in a row, I’ve had my fill of winter at the moment so as fantasies of spring dance in my head Pullip veryBerryPOP will be featured here today instead.

Pullip veryBerryPOP was released in June of 2016, she had a MSRP of 18,000 yen. She kind of stood out to me because she was one of the rare releases last year that was not a collaboration, a recolored version of a previous release or part of the Creator’s Label line she was an original release and a bit unique because of that. Her name veryBerryPOP is also quite unique with it’s odd capitalizations, I think it suits her though as I can totally picture her in my head introducing herself with unbridled enthusiasm really emphasizing the POP at the end of her name.

I’ve been very interested in veryBerryPOP ever since she announced but for one reason or another I hadn’t purchased her yet, a contributing factor was that there were a lot of great doll releases last year and only so much paycheck to go around especially since I do have collecting interests outside of Pullip as well. I pounced on the opportunity to get veryBerryPOP when I saw that she was featured as part of JPGroove‘s recent Sample Sale. For those of you aren’t familiar with their Sample Sales the dolls featured as a part of the sale are dolls previously used for display so they don’t come with their stands/boxes/cards and they may have little issues or be missing some accessories but they are generally priced very reasonably. VeryBerryPOP arrived a few weeks ago in wonderful condition and I believe she even came with all of her stock items, I’m very happy I had the chance to add her to my collection as she is just the little ray of sunshine I needed today!
A bright Red Berry and full lace are sign of cuteness…. Am I Sweetest?….. Feel Like So.
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Posted in 2016 Groove | Tagged 2016 Groove, 2016 pullip, asian fashion doll, fashion doll, groove, Pullip, pullip veryBerryPOP, veryBerryPOP | Leave a comment

Disney Pullip Cinderella Announced

Posted on February 10, 2017 by Klein

Groove just announced the start of a new collaboration series with Disney via their blog tonight. Previously, Groove partnered with Disney in 2009 to release dolls based on different Disney properties such as Peter Pan (Pullip Peter Pan, Byul Tiger Lily, Taeyang Captain Hook & Dal Tinker Bell), Dumbo (Byul Dumbo) and Pinocchio (Dal Pinocchio) while I think Disney was a great choice for Groove to collaborate with, I always kind of questioned their choice of characters to turn into dolls personally I think dolls based off of the various Disney princesses would have been more popular and sold better…

The new collaboration series is being called the Doll Collection series, the first doll in this series will be Pullip Cinderella based off of the titular character from Cinderella from the classic Disney film which came out in 1950. Pullip Cinderella will be available for purchase via Bandai Premium Shop starting on February 10th (link) it is not clear at this time if Pullip Cinderella will be exclusive to Bandai Premium Shop or not at this time if or when more information becomes available I will update.

Pullip Cinderella’s MSRP will be 18,000 yen, which honestly I was kind of surprised by how reasonably priced she was especially compared to the other doll that was recently announced Isul Yagen Toshiro’s price tag of more than 28,000 yen. She will be released in March in Japan, it is not clear at this time if she will be released outside of Japan at this time.

Continue reading →

Posted in Doll, Pullip | Tagged 2017 groove, 2017 pullip, asian fashion doll, cinderella, disney, fashion doll, groove, princess cinderella, Pullip | 4 Comments

Rose of Versailles Pullip Collaboration Series, Again?

Posted on February 10, 2017 by Klein

In a surprising move today Groove just announced that they would be re-releasing the Rose of Versailles collaboration series of dolls via their blog. The dolls are being re-released in honor of the 45th anniversary of the debut of the Rose of Versailles manga series, in addition to it being 45th anniversary of the debut of her most popular manga 2017 also marks the 50th anniversary of the debut of it’s creator Riyoko Ikeda. The Rose of Versailles manga was so popular it has spawned an anime series, films as well as musicals.

The Rose of Versailles Pullip collaboration series was originally released back in May of 2013, the re-released versions will be released in mid-February. Groove has stated that the new versions of the dolls will come with a special seal or sticker on their boxes which I am assuming is the new circular 45th anniversary logo seen in the revised promotional photos. Taeyang André Grandier and Pullip Oscar François will have MSRP of 15000 yen each while Pullip Marie Antoinette has a MSRP of 18000 yen (she is a queen after all ie. significantly fancier than the other two dolls) which is the same MSRP they had when they were originally released.

The re-release is great for fans of Rose of Versailles or people who missed out on the original dolls as both of the Pullips are becoming somewhat harder to find these days, fortunately the Taeyang André Grandier is still somewhat easier to find. I own both of the Pullips both of which are currently NRFB perhaps this will be the inspiration I needed to finally open them.