Le Smoking Adele Makeda

The latest doll to join my collection is the 2014 Fashion Royalty Gloss Convention Le Smoking Adele Makeda.

I had been wanting an Adele with this face sculpt for years, and when I saw this doll, I knew that she would be the one.

She is wearing an ivory satin pant suit. She comes with gold earrings, a gold watch, a pair of gold high-heeled shoes, a white fur stole, and an extra set of hands. Her long black hair is pulled back into a thick ponytail. She has rooted lashes. She can stand without assistance in her shoes.

Here's a look at her articulation. She is jointed at the wrists, elbows, and knees. Her torso has two points of articulation, and she can both bend and rotate. Her legs rotate slightly at the hip. Her hands are fairly easy to remove, which is quite convenient when removing her clothing and redressing her.

Adele is tall. She towers over most of the 1/6 scale male dolls and action figures in my collection. In her heels, she is nearly as tall as Darius Reid, who has shown immediate interest in her.

She can cross her legs at the ankle when seated.

I think that she and Darius are going to have a relationship. I suspect that things will go better for Darius with this Adele than they did with the previous Adele.

Adele has made other friends here as well, and she is quite happy that there are music lovers such as herself here. Pictured in the photo below from left to right are Adele (#1), Janay (#1), RuPaul, Janay (#2), and Adele (#2).

These Integrity Toys/Fashion Royalty ladies take a few moments to jam. They are in a festive holiday spirit.

 

Overall, I am thrilled with this doll. She is beautiful, I am pleased with her articulation. I love it that she has an extra set of hands and that she can grasp and hold objects. I love it that she can stand and pose in her shoes, but I would love it if she could stand without shoes/wear various heel heights.

Pretty Lacy Frilly Things

Sometimes when shopping for one, the group benefits.  

When Janay arrived, she had a list of demands.  I will not comply with all (right away), but I thought that I could at least look around and see if I could find some pretty lacy frilly things for her.  I found the items below on eBay for $7.99.  That's $7.99 for all 6 ensembles!  Free shipping!

The seller describes these as handmade and 100% new.  The quality on these is good.  There are a few flaws here and there, but nothing substantial.  These fit normal sized fashion dolls really well, and are stretchy enough that Pregnant Midge can wear them, as demonstrated in my previous post.

The models are from left to right:  Dance 'n Flex Christie, Fashion Royalty Adele, Artsy Fashionista Barbie, Kenya body with Milan Barbie head, Jam 'n Glam Christie, and Janay.

All items have velcro closures in the back.

So I couldn't leave out my curvier ladies.  Previously, I did not have a bra that would fit my action figure ladies, so when I was shopping for a suit (that Zalika wore in a previous episode of Grown Folks Business), I chose one that came with a bra.

I bought some panties for my curvier ladies as well.  The suit came with stockings, also.

The suit has splits up both sides which expose the thigh, so the stockings above didn't look right with the suit.  I bought a different pair of stockings, but they don't fit quite right.  They look okay under a suit, though.

The ladies are all prepared to look cute under their clothes, sleep well in comfortable sleepwear, or whatever.

Fragile and Fabulous Figure Comparisons

They are not all fragile.  Some are dainty but sturdy.  Some are hefty but breakable.  Some I talked myself out of posing, but then talked myself back into it.  Here are more ladies ready for another round of figure comparisons.

From left to right:  Triad Otaku Tan, Phicen "Hindu", CY Girl Ebony, AA Nutcracker Barbie, Fashion Royalty Adele, and Alvin Ailey Barbie.

I must tell you that 3 of these figures have issues.  The Otaku has a broken left arm which no longer rotates (because I glued it back in place).  The Phicen has a broken left hip.  The Nutcracker Barbie was my first doll that is jointed at both the elbows and knees, and she was my only jointed doll for years, so she has been posed A LOT over the years.  As a result, her knees are very floppy.  But these ladies are all troopers and they are ready to pose.  Just keep in mind that these 3 would pose a lot better if they were not damaged.

The Otaku, Phicen, and Ebony can all stand on their own.  Perhaps I could get Nutcracker Barbie to stand on her own if her knees weren't so loose.

Here they are showing their elbow articulation.  The Otaku has double-joined elbows, and therefore has the best range of motion here.  I have to tell you, I was sweating bullets when posing the Otaku.  Before posing her, I got out my hairdryer and heated her joints for about 60 seconds to loosen them.  I have had her for years, but after breaking her and reading about the breakage problems that others have had, I have had her sitting on a shelf most of the time.  At this point, she moves really well at the elbows and knees, but her shoulders and hips are still a little stiff, and I hesitate to do much posing that would put these areas at risk for breakage.

The Otaku and Phicen figures have standard size action figure feet.  Ebony has boot feet.  I would have to unscrew her boots at the bottom in order to get them off, and I think that I would be left with these big white things at the end of her legs that have little resemblance to actual feet.  I probably have some other action figure feet around here somewhere that would be a close enough skin tone match for her, but that's a project for another day.  For now, she keeps her boots.  The Nutcracker Barbie has molded-on ballet slippers, but I sometimes put other shoes on her.  Adele has standard size doll feet for Fashion Royalty and Barbie dolls.  The Alvin Ailey Barbie has hyper extended pointy feet and can not wear all Barbie shoes.  She crosses her arms the best.

 Here they are doing a side stretch.  The Otaku has no torso articulation, but the others all do.  Nutcracker Barbie has the best range of motion here, but the Phicen looks the best.

Here they are walking like an Egyptian.  Nutcracker Barbie has no wrist articulation, and can not support her own weight with bended knees at this point.

  Here they are doing kneeling back bends.  The Barbies do this the best.

Here they are showing off their hands. The Otaku, Phicen, and Ebony are all shown with relaxed hands, but they all came with extra hands that are able to grip objects.

Here they are attempting to sit cross-legged on the floor.  Alvin Ailey Barbie comes the closest.

Here they are attempting to do middle splits.  Alvin Ailey Barbie does this the best.  Click here to see the Phicen doll attempting this pose before I broke her hip.

Here they are attempting to do front splits.  Nutcracker Barbie does this the best.

 Here they are doing a leg lift.  Nutcracker Barbie does this the best.

 Here they are sitting down.  I think that Alvin Ailey Barbie looks the best in a seated position.  Click here to see the Phicen doll in a seated position prior to me breaking her hip.

Do you have a favorite among these dolls?  Which dolls pose the best?  Which dolls look the best?  Which dolls are the most realistic?

Tense Ride

The ride to Morristown was long and tension filled the air inside the limo.  Darius and Adele barely spoke to one another - they mainly chatted nervously with their dates.  But they were keenly aware of every word and every gesture that the other made.  Adele allowed Palmer to put his arm around her, and when Darius saw that, he grabbed his date's hand and held it.  Every time one of them made a move, the other one felt like they had to make one as well.  Their relationship had been somewhat competitive, and now it seems that their break-up was competitive as well.

Darius touched his date's hair and complimented her on how nice it looked.  He told her that he was glad that she had worn it down, and said that he loved how spontaneous and fun she was.  Adele was seething inside when she heard this.  She felt that Darius was putting her down when he said this, because Darius knew that  Adele would NEVER wear her hair down to an event such as this.  Adele had spent 4 hours at the beauty shop the day before, and had meticulously wrapped her hair the night before to preserve her style.  She even slept sitting up to make sure that she would not have a single hair out of place for this occasion.

Adele complimented Palmer on his suit, and questioned him about where he got it and the designer.  She went on and on about how she loved that particular designer, how the suit fit Palmer so nicely, and how the material felt so good against her skin.  The more she spoke, the more furious Darius became.  Adele was well aware that Darius could not simply walk into a shop and buy a suit off of the rack because of his height. If he were to buy such a suit, he would invariably have to have the suit altered to fit him, which did not always yield the best results.  He would never dream of shopping at a "big and tall" shop, because those places simply did not fit his fashion sensibilities.  He always had his suits tailor made.  He would not give Adele the satisfaction of showing any response.  Instead, he turned his attention to his date and showered her with more compliments. The more Darius complimented his date, the more Adele complimented hers, and the more angry they both became.

None of the passengers can pinpoint exactly when the fight began, but what a fight it was...

Rebounding to Morristown

Darius and Adele were invited to attend the wedding of Rod and Danielle, but broke up prior to the big event.  While devastated by the break-up, Adele wanted to go to the wedding to support her friends.  Although she would not admit it, she also wanted to impress all of the guests, so that word would get back to Darius that she has moved on and that she is doing (and looking) great.  She invited Palmer to be her date for the event.

Darius heard about Adele bringing a date and, not to be outdone, decided to bring a date of his own.

Darius and Adele had already paid for a limousine to transport them to Morristown for the wedding.  The couples agreed to share the limo and ride together.  This should prove to be a very interesting ride!

She Got Game

Basketball is my favorite sport. I love the way they dribble up and down the court.