Factory and “TBL”
Please note: This page frankly discusses fakes and factory dolls. Please do not be offended by the terminology. This is meant to educate, not insult. Some fans do not like the word fake, however, some counterfeit or fake dolls do exist and will be discussed below.
Factory, fake, TBL, etc. can be a difficult topic among Blythe collectors. It has often spouted debates online among collectors. So, let’s talk about the history of these dolls.
An example of an early “factory” doll. This one looks like a Nostalgic Pop face plate with Tailor Gibson eyes. However, this cannot be confirmed.
The first “factory” dolls began to appear on the market in roughly 2008. These dolls seemed to be made up from factory parts and put together in a variety of combinations. When these dolls first appeared, they were sold on eBay and the history of the dolls was unknown. Later, it appeared that these dolls were made up of stolen factory parts that did not pass quality testing. Regardless of their origin, these dolls are not official releases and many label them as fake or counterfeit.
Takara moved factories and the “factory” dolls began to disappear. However, new dolls being labelled as factory dolls began to pop up. These dolls were not the same quality and seemed a bit different. These dolls, which are typically found on auction and sale sites, are often labelled as factory or TBL. These dolls are not made up from any factory parts and are counterfeit or fake Blythe dolls.
The term TBL was coined by a collector and Blythe artist called Dr. Blythenstein. Blythe doll face molds typically start with a letter then “BL”. As many fake factory dolls began to appear on a site called Taobao (similar to eBay, this site sells many things from China; most are counterfeit), this term was coined to be very tongue in cheek, as it calls them Taobao Blythe. This term has become very popular in the community, eBay, etc. however the origins are that it was created in jest. TBL dolls are not authentic releases and TBL is a not a genuine Takara Blythe face mold.
For a variety of photos comparing fakes, including some very well done fakes with copycat boxes, please see the Flickr groups below:
https://www.flickr.com/groups/1648247@N22/pool/
https://www.flickr.com/photos/arcane-17/albums/72157641684560885
https://www.flickr.com/photos/noituudenaika/albums/72157628057471243
There is some controversy about the new “factory”/fake dolls. Some collectors have theorized that these are produced by Takara. Takara has not confirmed this and Junko Wong spoke out against the fake dolls in a video to BlytheCon Europe 2012, as seen below.
However, there are also other dolls that can be classified as knock off or clones of Blythe dolls. These dolls can clearly be differentiated from Blythe and many were produced prior to the TBL/”factory”/fake dolls. Some of these include Icy, Blybe, Blyh, etc. They are not direct copies of the molds but do feature the same big head, large changing eyes look. In terms of other fashion dolls, I believe these would be labeled as clones. They are not direct copies. The makers of these dolls clearly did not recast a Blythe face mold as the fake/counterfeit dolls creators have.
Many photos of this type of doll can be seen in the following Flickr groups:
https://www.flickr.com/groups/1315975@N22/
https://www.flickr.com/groups/2021067@N20/