The Saturday gala is always a bittersweet event: while everyone is anticipating the presentation of the convention doll and lots of other reveals and gifts of the night, it is also time to say goodbye and marks the end of the convention. The Integrity Toys design team conducted the highly anticipated OOAK and complete collection raffles, unveiled the final dolls of the weekend and announced that next year's convention would take place in Chicago (the theme, dates, registration information and other details will be revealed approximately in the Spring of 2016). They also announced the winner of the design contest, Jason Kramer, who was attending his first convention and won both categories, the advanced with his 12" entry (which will be made into a doll from Integrity next year) and the intermediate with his 16" entry. Here are photos taken from the flickr profile of Crystal.

Jason Kramer - winner of the advanced category in the design contest

This is Jason Kramer's 16" entry that won the intermediate category. It is actually portraying model Shalom Harlow at the finale of the Spring Summer 1999 Alexander McQueen collection, where her dress was spray-painted by industrial robots live on the runway.

Of course the final two dolls of the weekend were revealed: Elyse Jolie was the centerpiece (the designers mentioned that the change in her name's spelling was requested by her and they had being writing it wrong for years!) and a new character was introduced in the Nu. Face collection, Ms. Karolin Stone, a model and actress. Everyone in attendance received the gorgeous Karolin doll who is the official convention doll. Not everyone was pleased, as Elyse or Vero were expected to be convention dolls. The fact that Jason Wu did not make an appearance during the convention and no doll was wearing one of his real life outfits in miniature was also much discussed and speculated upon.

I'm not a fan of this Elyse. She looks a lot like previous releases of her (On The Rise was the first that came to mind), while the dress is too transparent  - shouldn't it be lined? I really like the fabric buy maybe it needs a different design to look its best.

The face looks familiar. She could be using the Ayumi 2.0 (more likely, as it is out of use now) ot 3.0 sculpt. Her severe look and simplicity did not go down well with some attendees - I read somewhere that when she was announced, everyone was silent for a few moments. She looks modern and strong but I would not try to get her.

Note: The dolls shown are prototypes and final versions may vary slightly. All doll photos and information contained herein is copyrighted Integrity Toys, Inc. and Intercap Merchant Partners, LLC 2015 and may not be reprinted or disseminated without express written permission.

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