Redressing in Franklin Mint

Tonner's Wonder Woman 52 wearing a Franklin Mint Marilyn Monroe outfit.

Years ago, I discovered a couple of stores that were getting rid of their Franklin Mint dolls and clothing.  Just giving them away for practically nothing on eBay.  I decided the time was right to get a Marilyn Monroe and a bunch of her clothes.  I got a dressed doll and eight of her outfits for a fraction of their original costs.  The outfits were around $15 apiece at the time!  I was looking at prices on eBay recently, and they're now going for between $50 and $100 per outfit!  Mine are all deboxed and played with now, of course.  In fact, I discovered I had to make repairs on two of them because a rhinestone brooch was falling off of one, and the sleeves were coming apart on this white gown, pictured below.

I also got an FM Princess Diana dress at the same time. ... I wish I hadn't.  I'd left Marilyn in a doll trunk with all those clothes, and for years she sat in my closet untouched in the trunk.  When I opened her up, I discovered stains all over her from the dark blue velvet Princess Diana dress, and from one of her own dresses.  Yes, I was stupid enough to leave her in her famous gold lame dress all that time.  (Sorry, I don't know how to do accent symbols over the "e" for the word "lame" in this program.)  Ack! 

Franklin Mint clothes stain like crazy.  She wasn't even WEARING the blue Diana dress.   It had merely pressed up against her shoulder while she was stuck in the trunk, and now her shoulder is blue.  Sigh.  Her gold lame dress left marks ALL OVER her, even on her shoulders and around her neck.  I'm attempting to treat Marilyn with Twin Pines of Maine's "Remove-Zit" now.  I saved an Antoinette with blue feet with it once, so hopefully it'll work on Mary.

Above is the dark blue velvet Princess Diana gown.  It's too bad it stains so badly, because it's an absolutely beautiful dress. Ya better believe I stripped it off Mera right after I took this picture!  (And don't you love Franklin Mint jewelry?  That necklace is amazing!)

I'm so glad I kept these clothes all these years, though, because I just discovered they are a PERFECT fit for the 16" Tonner Heroic body.  Seriously perfect.  I wanted to show you pictures of my Mera and Wonder Woman wearing them, because they're absolutely fabulous.  I just won't ever trap them in a trunk with the clothes like I did to poor Marilyn.  And they aren't allowed to wear any of the dark clothes for more than three seconds at a time.  LOL!  The evil blue velvet Diana dress is now sealed in a plastic bag so it can't hurt anyone ever again.

The outfit with the red jacket over the white blouse, and black skirt (above) is not Franklin Mint.  That's actually a Tonner outfit made for HIS version of Marilyn Monroe, called "The Problem With Rose."  It fits the Heroic body nicely, although I did have to tug a bit to get that jacket snapped over those giant bosums.  Tonner's Marilyn has a slightly smaller bust than the FM version, but apparently a similar waist and hip size.

Here's "The Problem With Rose" on Wonder Woman 52.  It looks like it was made for her!  The shoes don't quite fit right, though.  Mera here is dressed in a Tyler outfit. I've found a lot of Tyler skirts fit the Heroic body, but the skirt from this outfit was too tight and won't snap in the back.  Regular Tyler pants won't fit over the bodacious Heroic butt. 

Liz Taylor and Ann-Margret?

Some more Franklin Mint Marilyn outfits:

I just realized I have a LOT of red doll clothes.

My poor, stained Marilyn seemed happy about getting some face time after being stuck inside a trunk for the past 10 years.  I couldn't leave this post without showing at least ONE picture of her, after those other bitches stole all her clothes.   LOL!

"Why do you not love me any more?"

Mera 52 by Tonner

I love Tonner factory sales!  They had one recently, and I saw they'd reduced the price of this red-haired bombshell I'd been eyeing all year long.  She was less than half price!  I figured I'd never see her that cheap again, so I grabbed her. 

She is the DC Comics character Mera, Queen of Atlantis.  Now, I'm not really a comic book fan.  I like them, but they aren't really my thing.  I grew up in the '70s on TV versions of DC Comics characters.  I watched the Super Friends cartoon, and was a huge fan of the Wonder Woman TV series with Linda Carter.  I've read some Wonder Woman comics, but never kept up with them.

But Mera Queen of Atlantis was never on my radar, even though I was pretty well-versed in the other DC characters.  I think if the doll had been in an elaborate gown I would have bought her sooner, but of course, the green skin-tight bodysuit is accurate to the current comic books.

I have to say, they did a fantastic job on the crown and arm guards!  They aren't faux leather like the arm guards on my Wonder Woman 52.  They're high-quality, hard plastic and have a shine to them.  I love the crown!  There is a thin string of clear elastic that you loop under her chin to keep the crown on, but it doesn't look bad. 

Her hair is amazing.  I get such an Ann-Margret vibe from her, between the hair color and her va-va-voom body.  She has the "Heroic" Tonner body like Wonder Woman 52, which I'm thrilled about. 

She's now sold out on the Tonner site, but still available from some of their dealers.

Redressed, she's pretty amazing (click on the pics to make them bigger):

And her original costume is fun.  (Please note:  Wonder Woman and Mera are NOT friends!)

Her face paint is really lovely.

I'd like to come back later and talk about the clothes that will fit this body, so I'll be doing another post about them soon.

*Hugs*