Lola is one of the most sentimental dolls in my collection, and arguably one of the least collectible. She’s a clone/knock-off/fake of a Neo-Blythe doll made by a company called Cutebee that I bought on Amazon for arguably a relatively steep price for a fake at £42.
There aren’t many doll communities that are as accepting of knock-off dolls as the Blythe community, but in this case I’m very glad I was able to buy myself a fake doll to test the waters without hassle. I’m not sure if I’d even call Lola a fake as she was never sold as or described as an office Blythe doll on her Amazon listing. But then she’s not really distinct enough to be considered anything other than a knock-off because she’s even got a fake trademark on the back of her noggin. However, they did always put “like Neo-Blythe” in the description and title. Which led me to start asking, “What’s a Neo-Blythe?”
And then I fell down the rabbit hole.
I’m planning on writing some dolly profiles on the different types of dolls in my collection at some point so I won’t go into the whole history of Blythe here. But Neo-Blythe dolls are basically a modern Hasbro product, currently produced by TakaraTomy but soon to be manufactured by the Good Smile Company as of July 2021, based on a discontinued doll made by Kenner in 1972. The dolls have a giant head in proportion to their 1/6th scale body, and huge round eyes that change colour and direction with a pull string that comes out of the back of their head.
The full history of Blythe dolls is fascinating and the community have dug up some truly cool stuff about the doll’s creation, design and manufacturing over the years. But I’m here to talk about Lola.
So I when I came across Blythe for the first time it was because I was looking for LOL Surprise dolls online a lot after finding the second-hand market for these dolls totally fascinating. Someone could probably write an entire economic treatise on the effects of surprise unboxing and manufactured scarcity in the second-hand toy market. Watching the market value of certain dolls rise and fall is like watching the stock market. On top of that you also have the whole scam market that then springs up around the high demand and it’s just a whole thing…
But one day, as I was looking for LOL dolls, Amazon decided to advertise one of these “CUTEBEE 1/6 doll similar to Neo-Blythe” dolls at me and she looked kind of different and kind of cute. But at the time ~£40 was too rich for my blood. I was in a job that I’d started off loving but had basically spiralled into unfulfilling work and unrelenting office drama. I was deep diving on the toy market because I was searching for that collector’s dopamine hit. I had been collecting Jakks Pacific vinyl Tsum Tsums but I’d basically got nearly all the character sets I wanted that it was possible for me to get in the UK before they were discontinued, so my anti-stress coping well was starting to run dry. LOL dolls seemed like they might be a fun replacement.
The only problem with LOL dolls was that they lacked much playability. Their articulation was limited. They had too much disposable plastic packaging, and the surprise element meant I’d have to try my luck with the second-hand market if I didn’t want to risk duplicates. So that cute-looking “Neo-Blythe like” doll kept popping back into my head.
She had 14 points of articulation, her eyes changing meant she had different ranges of expression, people seemed to collect her so getting clothes and accessories instead of continually buying tiny second-hand dolls would be fun, and it looked like there was lots of information on customisation of the doll and how her eye mechanism worked. I also really liked her face. There’s something about the fact that Blythe dolls don’t smile that I really really like. Combined with their ginormous head and eyes they looked very cute, but in a kind of sullen/disinterested way that just kept growing on me.
Eventually, Amazon sent me a discount voucher and I bought Lola.
When she first arrived she looked like some kind of weird alien crammed into a small cardboard box. I genuinely had a moment of “Oh dear… what have I got myself into here?” when I took her out of her box. She arrived without any clothing or accessories and her wide eyes made her look perpetually shocked at her circumstances. I set about crocheting her a little blue dress right away as she really did not seem happy to be sat on my windowsill in her birthday suit. The whole time I had Barry Manilow’s song Lola stuck in my head somehow. It felt extra odd as it’s definitely not a song that would end up in any playlist of mine. So that’s how she got her name, by psychically projecting it into my brain 🙃
Once I’d fixed her hair and she had something to wear the “did I just bring a cursed doll into my home?” feeling finally disappeared and I was hooked.
I had so much fun buying her outfits and accessories, setting her up in poses for my Instagram, even taking her to work with me to sit on my desk and join me in boring meetings. I was also really lucky that BlytheCon UK 2019 happened to be in Bristol near where I lived at the time so I was able to go to a fantastic event, talk to and learn from other dolly nerds, and see amazing showcases of the work of super talented doll-world artists from around the world.
I was worried that people would be weird about Lola being a knock-off doll, but people were actually super nice and understanding. I guess I was still at an event spending to support artists in the Blythe community so they were probably just hoping to keep me hooked on the community. It definitely worked. It was one of the most chill and also most fun events I’ve been to in a long time and I spent waaaaaay more on clothes and accessories for Lola than I’d planned to. There were just so many gorgeous options!
They were raising money for bee conservation with a raffle and I only bought 5 tickets because I had already gone over budget. To my surprise I actually won not only a super cute little knitted dress, but an actual custom doll too! I was in a total daze about it for the rest of the week!
Lola’s new sister was (and still is) called Charlie. Suddenly choosing outfits and mini slice of life stories to put on Instagram was double the fun. Everything kind of snow-balled from there. As any doll collector knows, telling yourself “I’ll just get X number of dolls and then leave it at that” never actually works out. One of the doll groups I’m in on Facebook posted a page from a manga called Phantom Seer describing how the dolls use their owner to collect them together… I’d say that feels pretty accurate!
I definitely see Lola as the beginning of seeing myself as a doll collector, and I absolutely love this hobby. I genuinely don’t think anything has held my attention for this long in… maybe ever? Lola was also such a needed outlet of expression for myself when I felt fragile and empty. She was like a mini mascot for my inner life. She couldn’t fake smile, she didn’t have to function in the world when she didn’t want to like I did, and often she made other people feel as uncomfortable as I felt in the world at the time. Lola brought me a sense of play, joy, and solidarity that was just for me just when I needed it most. She also gave me a new outlook on creativity and art that I’ve found really wholesome and fulfilling. Not something I ever expected from an impulsive doll purchase!
