Skyline Blue Marley Wentworth by Tonner

This girl was great to photograph. When I first took her out of the box, I thought she looked a bit blank-faced, which I blame on her eyes being so dead-center forward-facing. I was thinking a bit of a side-glance might have given her more personality. However, when I photographed her, her personality came out a bit and she doesn't look blank-faced to me any longer. In fact, if you position her so she's looking directly into the camera, she has quite an intense stare. 

 

I like her sculpt very much. The sculpt was new for the grown-up Marley Wentworth line, so I thought I'd post photos so people can see her.  There aren't many owner pics of Marley online, particularly Skyline Blue. Her profile is lovely.

 

I'm a big fan of basic sheath dresses, and really love this royal blue. The fabric is a nice quality. It has four snaps in the back, and is lined with white to prevent the doll from getting stained. Her shoes are purple and fun, and fit perfectly. (And SHINY!)

I didn't take pictures of her oversized matching coat, since every promotional picture of this doll shows it. There's not a whole lot to her outfit, but she was definitely worth the price I paid. I grabbed her when Tonner recently had a 30% off plus free shipping offer. Since she was already on sale before that, I ended up getting her at roughly half off her original price. Sweet! So worth it. What's funny is I was thinking if I didn't like her in person, I would use her body for one of my older Tyler heads. I might not do that, now. She's growing on me.

Later.

Breit Nights Ann Estelle by Tonner Doll Company

This is another doll from the 2016 Tonner 25th Anniversary Convention, "Breit Nights" Ann Estelle.  She's a limited edition of 200.  I love her unique look.  I've worn glasses since I was seven years old, so I adore dolls with glasses! 

Her wig is removable.  The photo up top is her original look, but I tried a couple more size 6-7" wigs on her ...

... with pretty good results.  That last one is a Monique "Red" wig in the color "carrot red."  The name of the wig is actually "Red," no matter what color the wig is.  Very confusing.  It's a super nice wig, though.  Click on the pictures to make them bigger.

The first wig (long, curly red hair) is one I got from eBay.  It's not a Monique wig.  I believe I bought it from the seller Paul Zhangby in China, listed as an Evangeline Ghastly wig.  I love that one on her.  It's actually nicer than the similar-looking Monique "Ellowyne Rose" wigs, which look great in the promo pics, but in person, they tend to frizz.

Anyway, she came in this knee-length, embroidered black velveteen outfit that was based on a picture by artist Mary Engelbreit.

It fits all the Ellowyne Wilde line dolls, because she has the same body.  It came with some super awesome shoes with buckles.  I would seriously buy these shoes in EVERY COLOR.

Her face sculpt is brand new.  I think her facial expression is so endearing.  I'll show you her face from a few different angles, with her glasses off. 

 

 

 I'll follow this up with a few random pictures.  See ya!

 

Royal Miette

This is Royal Miette, from Wilde Imagination's fairy tale-themed Miette line. I think she looks like a queen from an animated Disney movie, like maybe she lives in the same world as Rapunzel, Elsa and Anna.

I had to post these pictures so I could show you her costume. Not only is the fabric sublime, with raised feather detailing, there are so many ornate and interesting things about the outfit, and nothing looks shoddy or cheap. 

 The red velvet cloak actually came separate, but of course I had to get it to complete the costume. Whoever designed this lady just did an amazing job. I know she was sculpted by Robert Tonner, but I don't know if he designed the gown as well, or if it was someone else.

 She comes with scarlet red pumps, nice if you wanted to redress the doll in a modern style. I was really happy to see this type of shoe, instead of some old-fashioned style I'd never use.

 The crown has a clear elastic band to keep it on. I looped it under the chin and behind the ears. I've seen some mixed reactions to this crown on the forums. I think it looks pretty neat, but I'm also tempted to leave it in the box and replace it with a tiara. A tiara would show her elaborate hairstyle a bit better, anyway. 

Before I got her, I was toying with the idea of taking her hair down. Her hair is so elaborately done, though, that I'll be leaving it as is. It's not just a simple bun. I don't think I could even explain in words what the hair is like, so I'll have to show you from a few different angles. It's so cool. I can imagine that this queen had a team of hairdressers that spent a couple of hours doing all these twists and knots. 

The earrings are simple, but nice. I managed to bend the post on one trying to get it in the ear. Ack! The posts are a little flimsier than they should be. I have some 16" doll-sized jewelry that came with a Franklin Mint Marilyn Monroe doll that I'd LOVE to try on Miette. I think it'd look amazing on her. 

I took some pictures of Royal Miette without the neck ruff, cloak and crown. I like her even better this way. A more relaxed queen.

 I'll finish by posting more photos of this wonderful costume.  Enjoy the pictures!

As always, click on the photos to make them bigger. 

 

Empire dolls from Tonner-One World

The first sketches of the upcoming dolls based on the TV show Empire were just released.  The dolls will be produced by the newly-formed Tonner-One World as a joint effort from designers Stacey McBride-Irby and Robert Tonner.  The fashions should be stunning!

You can find a little more info about them from these links, although there aren't any pictures of the actual dolls yet:

USA Today article
VH1 article

New 2015 Tonner releases!

The main 2015 doll line was announced today at the Tonner Doll Company.  I thought I'd just show a few of the dolls that I find personally interesting.  To see the entire lineup, please click the link at the bottom of this post.  Right now, they all say "sold out," but it's because they aren't actually available for sale yet. 

It was kind of a fun coincidence that they've brought two new 8" Patsyettes to the line, since I spent last weekend photographing the three I have right now.  I was planning to post the pictures some time this week.  So I'll start off by showing you the two new Patsyettes.  I absolutely LOVE LOVE LOVE the black-haired one in the white dress!  ("Sweet and Simple" Patsyette.)  Alice is OK.  I'm not crazy about her hair, but the dress is wonderful.  If I got Alice, I'd want to re-wig her with cuter hair. 

Anyway, here are the two new ones.  I hope they do a tan-skinned Patsyette some day.  She'd look so cute as a Latina or Native American child with big dark eyes. 

Tonner also debuted a new 18" play doll line called "My Imagination," which seem to be around the same size as American Girl, Journey Girl or Kidz N Cats.  It seems that only one has bending knees (My Imagination Deluxe Basic, not shown here).  The others don't, I'm guessing to keep the prices down.  I was thrilled to see they're offering separate outfits for these dolls.  I'd love to try one of the outfits on my Kidz N Cats.   Just from eyeballing it, it looks like these have a slightly slimmer body than American Girl, so perhaps their torso size is more in step with the slimmer Kidz N Cats.  Hmmmm.   Nice for redressing possibilities.

*EDIT:  Apparently the My Imagination line fits into American Girl clothes and shoes exactly, so they can wear AG clothes, and visa-versa. 

The new grown up Marley Wentworth looks intriguing, but I'm going to wait until I can see a live pic before I decide whether I'm going to get one.  The production dolls might look a little different from these promo shots.  Tonner dolls sometimes look better than their promo pics, so I have a lot of hope that Marley will be amazing.  It's hard to believe all four of these are the same sculpt!  My favorite is the one in lingerie, but unfortunately for me, that one is a wigged doll.  (I prefer rooted.)

And I just had to comment on this little girl.  She's so cute!  I like the new Trixie sculpt in their Patsy line, and this one, called "Autumn Days," is precious.  Just last week I picked up a couple of Patsy outfits I found on sale from one of the Tonner dealers, so I'll actually have a change of clothes for Trixie if I get her.  The hat is really charming.

EDIT:  I had to edit this post to add in one more girlie that was added to the Tonner page late.  It's this really nice Patsy, called "Lacy Summer Day."  The dress is so pretty!  I might have to get this one, too, as soon as my mythical money tree blooms.

Anyway, there are more dolls and outfits in the new release than I can post here, so please refer to the Tonner Doll Company web site for more new dolls.

Summer Swing Cami by the Tonner Doll Company

A weird thing happened this year.  My birthday came and went, and I didn't buy myself a doll.  This is unheard of.  This is sacrilege.  I didn't buy myself anything, actually.  I humbly ate some birthday ice cream cake, picked out by my 7-year-old (she liked the cake with the big blue and pink flowers) and sat doll-less but happy.  I was completely surrounded by NO NEW DOLLS whatsoever. 

But then a couple of weeks after, Cherished Friends put this lovely 2013 doll on sale.  She wasn't just on sale, in fact ... the price was so low, I'm sure they were losing money selling her so cheap.  Making room for 2015 stock, I guess.

Her original outfit and shoulder bag.

She's the under-appreciated "Summer Swing" Cami by Tonner, still available at a lot of dealers.  The thing is, her face is really quite lovely, but you'd never know it from her promo pics, which show her face covered in sunglasses and ... that's it.  They never showed her on the web site without those dang sunglasses.  She has pretty eyes, people!  Her eyes are the best thing about her, and the promo pics covered them up.  I really think that affected sales.  I know I'd never buy a doll unless I can see the whole face first.  Luckily, this doll had been out long enough that I was able to look up some owner pics of her, so I could see her eyes before buying.  I love the big brown eyes, and she has nicely-painted eyelashes that give her a pleasant expression. 

Not sure pink is her color.  I thought she needed to be redressed in some neutral shades of brown to tone down that vivid hair.  So, the pink dress is her original one, and the brown outfit is where I redressed her into an older, wonderful Tyler Wentworth fashion called "City Tweed."  I think she looks gorgeous in it!  The skirt fits her, but it's very tight on her.  The shoes from this outfit unfortunately are a little too small.  (She wears shoes sized for the Cami/Antoinette body type, a little larger than the Tyler foot.) 

Another reason I think she hasn't sold so well (compared to other Camis, at least), is the dress is underwhelming.  Her original price was $169(!!!) and there's no way that pink dress is worth that much.  Or even half that much.  She doesn't even come with jewelry.  However, she is SO WORTH buying at a cheaper price.  The dress is actually adorable, but it's very simple, and made from an inexpensive knit.  It has snaps in the back.

Her shoes are super cute!  They're the best thing about the outfit.  A really delicious pink, in a style I like, that's easy to put on the foot and stay on.  Her bag is cute, too.  It's casual, but not Walmart, ya know?  And the bag has two working zippers.  That extra zipper on the side opens to an extra pocket, just like a real bag.  I suppose you could keep her sunglasses and shoes in there, if you wanted.

My mother loves these types of bags in real life.  She has about four or five like this in her closet.  I know she does, because she keeps wanting to give me her extras.  My mother is obsessed with giving me shoulder bags.  I think it's because she enjoys buying them, but then feels guilty she has so many, and decides to gift them to family.  LOL.

I need doll shoes like this in EVERY COLOR.

Anyway, I wanted to share this sweet but much-overlooked Cami with all of you.  Cheers!

Click on the pictures to make them bigger.

Happy Holidays!

Attempted to take some Christmasy-themed pictures for the blog.  They all stink.  This one stinks slightly less than the others, so I guess it's the winner.   Merry Christmas everybody!  And happy Hanukkah to all our Jewish friends.  Love you all!

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?"