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The Lolita Complex: - Scholarly Commons Home

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<strong>The</strong> leading companies that cater to <strong>Lolita</strong> doll collectors are Groove Inc.<br />

(Korea); Takara (Japan); and Volks, Inc. (Japan). <strong>The</strong> most popular Gothloli<br />

dolls are produced in certain ranges of types known as Pullip (Figs 10, 63, 64<br />

& 74), Dal, Byul and Isul; and as male counterparts, “boyfriends” to Pullip<br />

and fashioned in a Gothic Visual-kei style, called Namu and Taeyang (Fig. 74);<br />

now made by Groove Inc. since 2009, and distributed by Jun Planning (USA),<br />

Inc., but previously, between 2003 and 2008, created by South Korean<br />

manufacturers Cheonsang Cheonha and Jun Planning, Inc. (Japan). <strong>The</strong> dolls<br />

released between 2003 and 2008, before this original collaboration went<br />

under, were limited to very small quantities of about 300 – 500 and, as such,<br />

are now very valuable.<br />

<strong>The</strong> competition for Pullip is Blythe, and collectors can be quite specific<br />

about their preference for either type. Blythe, who with the tug of a string,<br />

can be made to change eye colours from blue to pink, to orange or green,<br />

was first sold in 1972 by US brand Kenner for just one year. This vintage toy<br />

has become a desired collectible worldwide, especially due to her limited<br />

production, but particularly so in Japan, where there is a great attraction to<br />

wide-eyed imagery of cute little girls and to “big-eye” dolls, of which both<br />

Pullip and Blythe are categorised. Like the earlier Pullip dolls, a 1972 Blythe can<br />

fetch thousands of dollars on the internet trade market. <strong>The</strong> reasoning for<br />

this and the psychology behind it is not really something I have investigated,<br />

but it can be linked, I would argue, to the growing trend for young Japanese<br />

women to go to the lengths of seeking plastic surgery in order to create<br />

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