Store Hours: Tuesday through Wednesday
10:00 A.M. to 5:00 P.M. Thursday through Saturdays
10:00 A.M. to 6:00 P.M. Sundays Noon to 5:00 P.M. Closed Mondays
CLEARANCE SALE NOW IN
PROGRESS BeGoth Dolls
by Bleeding Edge
Founded on Friday the 13th, 2003,
Bleeding Edge Inc. has remained true to the spirit of its
birthday by introducing a singular line of Goth fashion dolls
and figures-called BeGoths.
All springing from the fertile and intensely creative mind of
company founder Steve Varner, the artist behind the design of a
host of celebrated action figures, from some of the original
(and extremely valuable) Star Wars characters, to the Teenage
Mutant Ninja Turtles, to Simpsons
characters, to Strawberry Shortcake, to the foul-mouthed third
graders from South Park, Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Laura
Croft, among others. Early in his career, while working in
the
film industry, his achievements included being one of the
artists who sculpted a 40-foot King Kong for producer Dino de Laurentiis's 1976 remake of Merian C. Cooper's classic 1933
movie (more recently re-imagined yet again, this time by
director Peter Jackson).
Bleeding Edge is an independent outgrowth of Varner Studios,
which Steve launched in 1979, after leaving his native
Minneapolis, MN, for Los Angeles. In addition to the above
mentioned projects, he served a stint at Mattel, where he worked
on "a lot of Barbie dolls" among other creations and gained an
invaluable education in a specific method of production that
demanded "you sculpt things so they looked fantastic, but you
had to engineer them so that they could come out of steel molds.
There were all the technical requirements; it was like having to
do jigsaw puzzles for a living. I enjoyed working like that, but
finally I wanted to do something on my own."
The artistry Varner and his crew bring to each BeGoths doll is
stunning in its attention to the precise details of, well,
everything from body types to facial structure, to eyebrows
shaping, to hairstyles and hair colorings, and especially
to footwear, fashion and accessories-the care and precision that
go into crafting the tiniest, most subtle aspects of Goth
couture and attitude show a respect for the audience that is not
always apparent in more mainstream products.
"That's really important to me. What I want to do is have fun
with people, not have fun at somebody's expense," Varner says.
"People tend to think of Goth people as having no sense of
humor, but they certainly do."
And the craft apparent in the figures' design and production?
"It's my training. That's what we do. And that's the way I train
my people too. It comes from a long history of doing this."
The Bleeding Edge commitment to excellence in its designs and
respect for the Goth subculture is evident in the BeGoths mien
has not been lost on the marketplace. Collectors are flocking to
the BeGoths; and even though "it's not the kind of high volume
business that Barbie dolls and some mass market items are,"
sales are picking up, even beyond the first initial surge upon
the dolls' introduction three years ago. "So that says
something. A lot of people doing these type of things may start
off doing really well, because they're new and different, but
then they fall off and go away. But our business isn't falling
off at all. We've got the same collectors who keep collecting
them, and then we've got new collectors that are brought in all
the time. And we have a certain amount of kids who like them
too."
IVANA Full name: Ivanna Scream
Favorite colors: Black, electric blue
Pet: Bearded dragon, "Munch"
Likes: Entomology, thunderstorms, snow cones, vintage hearses,
crowd surfing, Rimbaud, Turbonegro, LOTR, dice, Boris Karloff,
vintage art books, skateboarding & playing drums
PHONE
Store: 585-394-5450
Toll Free 1-800-860-9934 Outside of New
York
Store
Business Hours
Opening July 4th Weekend
After Hours
TOLL FREE
1-800-860-9934
7 days a week 10:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m. Eastern Std. Time e-fax: 786-524-0998
EMAIL:
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