OVERVIEW: Bleeding Edge Goths

Series 4 Hypnotica Gaze and Fiona Fatale variants

Bleeding Edge Goths, or BEGoths as many call them, are a line that I don't have a good enough record of to go chronologically with my purchases. Instead, I'm going to talk about them by series and mention who I own and used to own from each one.

I remember first seeing BEGoths in Spencer's when Series 1 came out. I thought they were over the top and rather ugly, so I never bought any. I did get the Morbida figure though. She's very cute.

I don't remember seeing anything about Series 2. Series 3 was when they came back onto my radar, because someone was talking about or perhaps owned Divinity. I thought Divinity was really pretty, but I think it was pretty close to Series 4 then and I learned about the pair that would eventually be my first two: Fiona Fatale and Hypnotica Gaze. You see, one of the things I didn't like was the constant mismatched eyes with ridiculous contacts. While both Fiona and Hypnotica have the contacts, Fiona's match and Hypnotica's came close enough for my liking. I ended up buying the variants for each. The regular Hypnotica is red, not purple, and regular Fiona has a white skirt, not purple. When they arrived, it was love and many others soon followed.

Both Divinitys, Red Riding Storm, 1st Storm and Pandora

To the right is my only photo of a first edition doll that I have on hand. My collection is packed on a shelf and I'm too lazy to dig them all out. I can't load this piece with pics either, because I have a lot of photos to include as it is! But it is funny that Storm, who I actually did pick up when she first came out and I thought she was kinda cute but then ultimately passed, is from the first series, but was my last BEGoth.

Series 1 consisted of Storm and Raven, who were the two more normal-looking ones; Lillian, who looks sort of like a goth superhero; Malice, whose makeup is pretty over the top; and Sinstress, who has solid black eyes. There were a few variants, red bangs for Malice and I think different colored outfits for Lillian. Maybe a Sinstress, too? It's impossible for me to remember all the variants. There were also four 6" solid vinyl figures: Morbida, Belladonna, and two boys, Dagger and Wormwood. As mentioned, I do own Storm now, but I actually own the whole series. I bought Raven fairly early on, but Lillian, Malice and Sinstress were much later additions, then came Storm just a couple years ago. I still have the Morbida figure and used to have her red variant.

Series 2 Abcynthia Chaser

When Series 2 came out, I got two of the vinyls again: Trinity Tortura and Hysteria Venom. I still have those. Dru Id was the final boy to ever be seen in the line and Ophelia Pain rounded out the vinyl line this time. The five dolls were Abcynthia Chaser, Angelina Blasphemina, Victoria Creeper, Suzisin Ful, and "Casual" Storm. Storm would put in an appearance in every line but one.

As my collection grew after Fiona and Hypnotica arrived, Abcynthia was my only Series 2 must have. I do have the red Suzisin Ful variant now and she's pretty awesome, and I did have Angelina, but I ended up selling her years ago. I never got Casual Storm, though she was pretty cute, and never got Victoria, who I really like except for her horrible bloodshot eyes and I just can't get past those. Not even for the pink-haired variant.

I believe it was around here that Lolita Sun, the pink-haired exclusive, came out and she's part of my collection.

Series 3 Divinity burgundy variant

Series 3 came with some changes. The first two series had very simple, Barbie-type bodies. With Series 3, the girls got a new body. They got bigger breasts and more definition on the torso. You can see the difference between Abcynthia above and Divinity to the right. Just look at the collarbones (or where Divinity has that and Abcynthia does not). There was always a waist joint, but the movement increased with the new body. This unfortunately would pose a problem as time passed, because the plastic there became brittle and pieces would break off. They also got molded and painted black panties with the new body, where there was nothing before. While the design of the new body was improved, time would not be kind to either Series 3 or Series 4. I don't know what the problem was, but these are the two bad series. I mentioned the waist joint issue. That's mainly a Series 3 thing. None of my Series 4s have had broken waist pieces. However, both series have the most obviously problem in the entire line: yellowing heads. Material oozes from the vinyl and makes the entire head appear yellowish. You can see it on Divinity here and if you look up to the group photo, you can see how yellow her head is compared to Red Riding Storm beside her. Thankfully, there is a way to work with this, which I will go over at the end of this article.

Series 4 Evening Storm

Well, that was a wall of text! Heh. The problems with these two series are sad, because they produced some of my favorite dolls of the line.

Series 3 was Divinity, both the black dress regular and burgundy variant; Julia Doom, who's main look was lime green, but she also had a hot pink variant; Scorpio Vixen, who was very popular both in regular red and variant violet; Serpentina Maria Sangria, who had dress color variants; and Back to School Storm, now with white hair. The four figures were Eva Destruction, Nurse Hypochondrianna, Veronika Despair and Autumn von Sanguine. I got the Autumn figure before getting into the dolls. Never got the other three. But after I started buying the dolls, I got both versions of Divinity, green Julia Doom, red Scorpio, and Back to School Storm. Serpentina would come years later and she one of my only ones that's been redressed. I still have everyone except Scorpio. She never lived up to the hype for me.

Series 5 Esperanza de Muerte

Series 4 was my precious beginning. As I said, I got Fiona Fatale and Hypnotica Gaze, both the purple variants. Evening Storm came next and she's still my favorite Storm. She's just so elegant! Devastatia and Infinity A Byss round out the doll line. I have the black dress Devastatia variant and the variant Infinity with dark green hair. I'm a sucker for green hair. The four figures were Angelica Noir, Cyberella D Nile, Lunabella Whispers, and Malice Looming in Wonderland. Yes, Malice the doll from the first line got a figure! I had all four but sold them all, even the Egyptian one and beautiful Angela. I should rebuy those two.

Series 5 was the first set I bought in entirety right off the bat. Esperanza was my favorite then and she still is my favorite now. She doesn't have the matching eyes I like, but she's just exquisitely beautiful. Thankfully, whatever was wrong with the plastics was fixed with Series 5. From Series 5 on out, there are no aging problems.

Series 5 Annabelle Lee

Along with Esperanza, came her best friend Annabelle Lee. Very beautiful also. Plus, Leda Swanson, who had three color variations. The main one was pale blue, but there was also a purple and a silver. I have both the blue and purple. Ivanna Scream is excellent and I have her in the regular black and variant purple. The purple one is especially wonderful. And Storm this time is Red Riding Storm, my second fave Storm.

The figures were Delilah Blackheart, Jacqueline Le Spades, Joani Rotten and Mina Immortale. These four were another amazing set that I had and sold. I miss them, too. Dangit, I need to rebuy some of these. I even had the hot pink Jacqueline variant.

Series 5 Ivanna Scream purple variant

This would be the last set of figures, though we collectors didn't know it yet. The company showed Series 6, but they never got made, to the disappointment of many.

Atara Inferno prototype figure

The stunning baby dragon-cradling Atara Inferno was my favorite. I saved some photos of the prototypes so I can share them here. I loved her because she was gorgeous on her own, but she also reminded me of Darcy from Winx Club, one of my fave cartoon characters ever.

Katerina prototype

Cat-themed Katerina was another popular design. Can't really go wrong with goths and black cats!

The third one was Olivia O'Lantern, a beautiful goth fairy! I believe the detail on these four far surpassed the previous lines and likely was not cost efficient. I'm not sure how well the figures ever did compared to the dolls, but I would guess they didn't sell nearly as well. The fourth was Dinah Loneliness, a nautical pin-up girl that I didn't save a photo of, but she's readily available if you Google.

Olivia prototype

So as we were learning about the Series 6 dolls, we would be told that the figures would not be produced any longer.

Series 6 also shrank from the usual five dolls down to three.

Series 6 Pandora variant

The three dolls were Storm, now in a vampire-hunting guise as Slayer Storm; ethereal Pandora; and Penelope Fabrique. I ordered all three, plus the blue variant of the normally purple Pandora, and they came to my home while I was away at school. I had my mom send me blue Pandora and Penelope. Well, I was very disappointed in their hair! It had weird sticky gel all over it, something they'd never done before. I tried washing it out, but that somehow made it worse. Both Pandora and Penelope received haircuts. When I got home, I saw that Storm didn't have any issues, because she had her typical braids, while purple Pandora fared a bit better. So my blue Pandora has short hair and her purple twin has longer. Pandora is the standout of this line by far. I think she's one of the most beautiful BEGoths there is.

Series 7 Katerina

We weren't sure what to expect from Series 7, but we ended up getting some familiar faces! Yep, Atara, Katerina and Olivia, three of the cancelled figures, were now becoming dolls. Poor Dinah didn't make the cut and this would be the first and only series without a Storm.

The fans had a lot of say in the design process for these girls. I remember getting to vote on variant hair colors and such. I know Katerina got a red variant and I think Atara had at least two black-haired variants. I was glad the black-haired Katerina and the red-haired Atara got the standard release, but Olivia got a switcheroo pulled on her. She was supposed to be black-haired with a green and black outfit and the variant would be purple instead of green and have a rather ugly light streak in her hair. Well, the green one turned into the exclusive and I believe it was a UK exclusive at that. I was not pleased.

Series 7 Olivia green variant in signed box

Somehow I lucked into having a good rapport with one of the BEGoths team and she sent me a signed green Olivia. I deboxed Olivia, but kept the box, since it was an awesome gesture of hers. Olivia is a very beautiful doll and she even has pointed ears!

Katerina came out cuter than her figure and she's one of the most fun to photograph. Sadly, Atara, who was my fave figure, didn't translate as well into doll form. I'm not sure why exactly, but it's probably the fault of how much I loved the figure.

Series 8 Gloria Phobia 

Unfortunately, rising costs and lower sales would end the BEGoths after just one more series. Series 8 consisted of three beautiful dolls. Gloria Phobia had the shortest hair of the entire line. She's definitely high on my list. I adore her. Silent Storm, marking Storm's final appearance ever, came in regular black, variant blue and variant white. And the very sexy Greta Vendetta was the third. These girls were the end of a very fun era of collecting. BEGoths collecting was mostly easy. The biggest problem was being able to afford an overseas exclusive. 

Series 8 Greta Vendetta

I miss these girls and seeing what new ideas would come out next. I think I'm going to get some of the vinyl figures back in my collection!

This is by no means a complete list of BEGoths. There were many, many, MANY exclusive dolls like Anarchy Annie and Lolita Sun, plus color variants like crazy, both on figures and dolls. But I hope I've helped a bit with my ramblings about my collecting experiences.

YELLOWING MAINTENANCE: All it takes is a little dish soap! I use Dawn, but for those that don't have that in their area, pick a liquid soap that's meant to fight grease. I managed to catch my yellowed heads a bit earlier on, so this may not work on very yellow heads. All I do is soak the doll's head in the dish soap. Slather it all over the head. Let her sit for a little, then rinse it off. This should remove stickiness and the yellow is an oozing substance rather than a color change in the vinyl itself, so a lot of it should come off, too. I do this once every couple years or so and it's kept my poor Series 3 and 4 girls looking pretty good. Their heads are still a creamier color than the later series, but they're much better than what they were. I probably last did this 2 years ago and they're all still fine, so hopefully there's some point where the oozing will stop and I won't have to keep it up. But it's certainly not difficult maintenance and these girls are worth it.

PHOTO CREDITS: All mine, except the three unproduced figure shots. Two of those are Figures.com and Katerina is an official BEGoths promo.