How to differentiate an original Blythe, from a prototype or a factory?
To differentiate an original Blythe form Factory Blythe / Prototype, is a complicated task, since the Factory dolls have an exact mold of the original RBL Blythe. When buying a doll, therefore, if we don't plan to enter into the world of the Factory, the best is to go to stores like http://juniemoonshop.com/, http://www.hlj.com /,
http://www.cc-toys.com.hk/. Another good option is to hit Mandarake if we are looking for an older model or second hand doll:
http://ekizo.mandarake.co.jp/shop/en/
Have you found a nude doll on eBay or in forums with a second hand market and want to make sure what kind of doll it is? Don't worry, there is another way to differentiate them. The Factory Blythe / Prototype keep so far a hallmark that distinguishes them from the originals and it is that prototypes are the same in appearance, but do not wear the ring in the hole where the pullring string passes.
This is when I introduce you to Anneke. Anekke has a Blythe scalp of Ribonetta Wish, as you can see at first glance, it looks the same as any other Blythe, except that there is no official editions for that combination of makeup, color of eyes and scalp. Anneke came home wearing a dress and jacket of a Ribonetta, but she is not an original Ribonetta, she is a prototype, and if you look at the hole through which the rope passes, there is no metal ring that embellishes the hole in the backplate .
This is a very important point in differentiating the stock dolls and customized ones especially, wich will be the ones that we mostly will doubt about . We know the value of customization is more about the work it takes than the base doll being an original Blythe or a Factory Blythe, but it's nice to know what we buy when we adopt a customized doll.
Besides RBL prototypes in the market, there as well, although to a lesser extent, some prototypes of FBL mold dolls. Although these are more rare, there are some interesting variations for collectors, such as translucent FBL (which have not yet officially been released by Takara).
Clarified the main difference between Blythe and Factory / Prototype, let's proceed to:
Differentiate the original Blythefrom Fake Blythes:
The fake blythes are forgery and are not exact replicas of the mold of Blythe. It is important that we learn to distinguish them at first glance to not be fooled. As I said in my previous post, counterfeits
are poor quality dolls and while we can pay for a prototype similar prices to those of some blythe because we like their hair color or skin, paying the same amount for a poor quality copy, I'm sure many of us must find it unfair and abusive.
I never had a fake doll in the hand, so to distinguish them I had to resort to pictures of the network and Taobao to perform comparisons.
In the picture above you can see a picture of a RBL Fake (1), a doll Takara RBL (2) and a Prototype RBL (3). As you can see, there are no differences between the mold of Casual Affair original (2) and the mold of Alexis Emerald Factory (3). But if you look at the picture of the Fake (1), there are slight differences in the eye socket.
When you look at the fake, we note that in the left and right sides of the eye sockets, there is a gap far greater than in the faceplates of the original blythe. This is because the eye socket is a little more oval and allows to see the mechanism easier, I think that makes them a sadder look. Some people who have had one in their hands also say that when they look straight ahead, his gaze is inward and makes a very strange effect. Also, another point that differences them is that the fake blythe have the nose slightly wider than the original Blythe. Since this difference is almost negligible at a glance, when we have concerns with a doll, we need to look at the holes in the sides, which, if any, will confirm our suspicions that it is a fake.
The fakes, unlike the prototypes do bring a bezel / ring in the hole of the backplate, but this ring in most cases is rusty, because of the low quality of the materials used in the copies.
In this picture you can also see that the stock eyechips have a different color, the greens are brighter in the fake (right doll). And I also appreciated that orange eyechips are much more yellow-orange in the fakes.
In the next picture you can see that the color of the special eyechips from last kiss is an apple green color, which differs from the original dark green.
Last Kiss fake
Last kiss fake Last Kiss original
Besides fake models of Simply Mango Simply Guava, Urban Cowgirl and Last Kiss, fakes of unknown models are distributed too. Apparently they may be prototypes, but if you look at the eye sockets, we see that these dolls are forgeries.
We must be careful with the appearance of translucent fakes. These dolls are more difficult to differentiate, because they often do not keep common traits and makeup and this can lead us to think that it's a new mold or that the differences are simply due to the makeup.
But if you look once more into the eye sockets, you will see that they keep the proportions and spaces on either side that characterizes fakes.
I hope this post will be useful to resolve the doubts you have in your future purchases.
I recommend you stopping by the following groups where you will find more useful information.
Flickr groups where you can see pictures of prototypes:
Flickr group where you can see pictures of fakes:
Thank you so much for your help!
