Blythe Float Away Dream by Good Smile Company

This review is getting close to four years overdue!  That could be a new record for me.  You might remember that way back in 2022, I started a Blythe series that was meant to have three parts: an analysis of the imitation Blythe world, a review of a Takara/TOMY Blythe doll, and a review of a Good Smile Company Blythe doll.  But I haven't done the Good Smile Company review...until now.  I got the idea for this series in 2022 because Good Smile Company had recently taken over the manufacturing of Blythe dolls from Takara/TOMY, and there was some concern about whether the new dolls would be as good as the old ones.  That's not really a pressing question anymore.  However, I still wanted to see one of the newer dolls for myself, and I don't like leaving things unfinished.  So I'm going to wrap up the series today.  Better late than never, right?

I was reminded of this series last week because I got a fresh round of threats from This is Blythe, the shop where I purchased my first imitation Blythe doll.  They're back to their email harassment tactics, threatening to sue me for factually relaying my experience.  As far as I know, the First Amendment is still a thing, so I'll hold firm.  But it's depressing because I have never, in my 20+ years of blogging and collecting, encountered such a nasty, vindictive person in the doll world.  Nothing even close.  It's just not who we are as a community.

But I don't want to dwell on that unpleasantness right now.  Dolls are meant to bring joy and amusement--not anger and frustration.  And you've already waited long enough to meet my turquoise-haired Blythe beauty from Good Smile Company, so here she is:

Blythe "Float Away Dream" by Good Smile Company, ~$120.

Nendoroid Doll: Little Red Riding Hood (Rose), by Good Smile Company

I have to start with a little piece of business this time because I've heard from many people that it's become difficult to know when I've posted a new review.  I'm really sorry about that!  Blogger changed their set-up last summer so that email notifications are no longer being sent.  I don't have a great workaround yet, but I always post a quick link on Twitter (@TBP_emily) when there's a new review, so that's one option if you're interested in getting a heads-up.  If Twitter's not your thing, my kids are encouraging me to get a TikTok account, which is tempting.  We'll see what happens there.

Thank you so much for the fun and informative comments on the previous Nendoroid review!  I found it really interesting to hear more about the brand and learn how your Nendos compare to Link.  I'm suddenly very caught up in the whole chibi figure world and am excited by Rachael's suggestion to compare the Nendoroids to a similar type of figure called Cu-Poche.  I also got very caught up in the Legend of Zelda world again, and had to hold myself back from spending the rest of the week playing Breath of the Wild.  I galloped around Hyrule for a little while, I'll admit, but then got right back to work because I'm very excited to talk about this next doll!

Most Nendoroids on the market right now are 4-inch tall PVC figures like Link.  However, there's a newer line of Nendoroid Dolls, and these have some important differences to the standard figures.  First of all, they're taller (about 5.5 inches tall), and they also have different articulation with not quite as many removable parts.  I think one of the best things about these dolls is that they come dressed in removable, fabric clothing, and so they can easily change outfits and adapt to a variety of different styles.  The selection of Nendoroid Dolls is nowhere near as extensive as the array of standard figures, but there are several cute options available.  I chose Little Red Riding Hood: Rose, who was easy to find and cost well under $100:

Nendoroid Doll Little Red Riding Hood: Rose, ($65.99).

Nendoroid Figures by Good Smile Company

I was chatting about various dolls with my friend L last month, and when Calico Critters and Li'l Woodzeez came up, L mentioned that some of the furniture and accessories for those fuzzies can work for Nendoroid figures, too.  I had only a vague idea about what Nendoroid figures were at that point, so I did a deep-dive into the brand to see if it might be a fun topic for the blog; it most certainly is!

Nendoroids are popular four-inch tall hard vinyl figures with a Japanese chibi design.  The brand includes a wide range of characters that tend to be based on video games or anime series.  There are a lot of Disney-related figures, too, for those who aren't into anime or video games.  The Nendoroid interpretation of Rapunzel from Tangled is especially sweet.  Nendoroids are made by Good Smile Company, and since I'd just been talking about Good Smile in reference to the newest Blythe dolls, I figured this would be an interesting time to review something from this company.

Nendoroids are pricey--especially for such a small toy.  Most newly-released figures cost about $60, although some models are more expensive.  Characters that have sold out can go for well over $100 on the secondary market.  Because of this popularity and demand, there's an insidious supply of fake Nendoroids out there, tricking people left and right on platforms like Amazon and eBay.  In this review I'll take a look at one of my favorite characters--Link from The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild--and compare him to a fake version that I found on eBay.  Here's Link:

Nendoroid DX Edition Link from Breath of the Wild, ¥6,600 (~$55).