Wowsers! Such a flood of new RBL releases from the busy Blythe folks.

I have been a regular visitor to Saki Yamashita’s website for quite some time. Her soft toys, doll clothes and customised dolls have a charming and quite distinctive style. When CWC announced a collaboration with her I was extremely overexcited. The outfit turned out to be a little too pinky for my taste:

but the make up is so Kenner-ish:

It wasn’t until I saw out-of box photos until I realised just how Kenner-ish she is. And I missed out on the lottery. Bah!

Next off the blocks is Beatrice Vest, whose international lottery finished yesterday. I love the promo animation for this girl. Who could resist earmuffs made out of clouds? My favourite thing about this girl though is her super-blushy cheeks. I’m a sucker for a healthy complexion.

Nothing exciting about the eyechips – just the standard colours, but she does have new strappy boots that are pretty cute:

The latest promo photos to be released by CWC are of Urban Cowgirl. She has similar colouring to EBL favourite Tea for Two, but a side-part in that very long brown hair.

Again, she just has the standard eyechips and the regular soft make up. She’s very natural-looking and gently pretty, but no great excitement from me. Very cool hat though!

After Urban Cowgirl, we have Stella Savannah who is proving very popular on the WPWD forum already, even though we’ve only seen a cartoon so far:

She’s a writer of historical mystery novels and loves to go to the library. I was sold on that alone, but it’s a fantastic bonus that she also has pale pink hair and a fantastic outfit. I’m a sucker for hats, for tartan and for capes. She’s a Toys R Us exclusive, so fingers crossed her resale price on eBay isn’t enormous.

Another cartoon has been spotted floating around the internet, although it hasn’t been officially released by CWC yet.

The rumour is that she will be called Ice Rene. I’m not one for the blondes but I’m loving this wintry outfit. It’s about time a Blythe had ugg boots, wouldn’t you say?

Due out in the middle of November, the latest versions of Odeco and Nikki are soft, sweet and wintery in pastels.

For the first time, I’m absolutely crazy about Odeco. The colours of her hair, eyes and make up are great together, and great with her blue and lilac outfit. Nikki’s colouring looks a little harsh against the soft fluffy clothing, but I’m willing to bet she’ll be cute with an outfit change. Plus, you’ve got to love a hat with ear holes.

There are also doll show versions out on the 1st November:

The santa colours are classic, but pretty limited. I do like the golden nose on Nikki though – festive!

I have my fingers crossed for a pre-order – w00t!

In celebration of Hello Kitty’s 35th birthday, this could be the most perfect Blythe doll collaboration ever!

Blythedoll.com calls “Ribonetta Wish” a dream collaboration and I expect many Blythe fans are seconding that – the Blythe-focussed forums certainly seem to be alive with excitement.

Out in time for Xmas, there may well be fighting in the streets over these dolls, limited to 3000. Personally, I’m praying for an international lottery. Fingers and toes crossed. The thought of the prices they’ll be fetching on eBay scares me senseless. >_<

I think one of the sweetest things about this release is that she seems to have been styled after Hello Kitty's present designer, Yuko Yamaguchi:

Yamaguchi has done fantastic work since 1980 keeping Hello Kitty in the coolest, cutest fashions and masterminding her rise to popularity amongst adults. I hope she continues to design for Kitty for many years to come.