Robert Tonner Revives Evangeline Ghastly and Ellowyne

I was pondering whether or not to put a question mark at the end of the title for this post. This is a surprising announcement by the Tonner Doll Co. I thought the TDC was finished and had been replaced by Phynn & Aero.

Released yesterday was one gorgeous Evangeline, dressed all in red and two Ellowynes.

Drop Dead Red Evangeline @ $235. Limited Edition 175. 
Her head is a new mold and she has a new body as well.  I think she's pretty fabulous looking.

Two Ellowyne Wilde dressed dolls made a debut.

Ruffled Up Ellowyne @ $225. LE 150

Wistful Rose Ellowyne @ $225. LE 150

She has a newly molded head and the RTB101 body. I have no idea what that body looks like. 

Some other dolls I found on the Phyn & Aero website:

Nancy Ann Abbott, UFDC Meal Event Exclusive Companion $225 LE 75

 Nancy Ann Abbott was, in real life, an actress and dress designer. She started the Nancy Ann Storybood Company in 1938 and was extremely successful. 

http://www.phynandaero.com/Nancy-Ann_c_19.html

American Beauty $235. LE200

This is Annora. I'd like to see her close up.  She, too, is on the RTB-101.

The dress does not impress me. It's been done over and over. The doll's face looks pretty. 

Apparently body sizes have been standardized. That's pretty great for those collectors who like to switch clothes between dolls but it's a major change. Evangeline is now 16.5" tall. 

RTB-101 Body Measurements:

Bust - 7 1/4

Waist - 4 7/8"

Hip at Top Joint - 6 1/2"

Hip at widest part of thigh - 7 1/4"

Waist to Knee - 5 1/8"

Waist to Floor - 10 3/8"

Divot to Waist - 3 1/4"

Shoulder Across Back - 3 1/4"

Arm to Wrist Joint - 5"

Overall - 16 1/2"

Surprise Announcement! New Tulabelle Collection

They weren't going to say the reason Tullabelle got a new sculpt was because she had ridiculous duck lips.

Before

After

So they said she needed to age a bit as it would give them more fashion options and choices.

The face lift was not as much of a surprise as was the entire announcement. I'm somewhat out of the loop and rarely read the W Club stuff. However, I did notice that there was a teaser post recently.  It was posted the day after an entire thread concerning Veronique's polka dot gown was deleted by the W Club police. Good diversion. Did it work?

  If not, perhaps this will work:  

Starting with this totally radical collection, Tulabelle is ready to face the world like never before with a new, more mature look, created especially for you!

That's really nice of them. Makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside.

The new sculpt is a huge improvement and the entire collection is interesting, varied and contains unusual accessories.

___________________________
There are four different dressed dolls each sporting a $150. price tag.

Idol Thoughts

Love the shoes!
This version would have been cool as a basic doll for a lower price...no jacket, no ill-fitting pants...
_________________________________________

Fashion Saga

Very interesting fabric treatment on jacket and skirt. Again, I love the shoes! She's got a Katy Keene hairstyle.

_________________________________________

Sweet Tartan

When I first saw this outfit I wanted it. It's very cute. The veil and the silver envelope clutch, meh. But the boots, the sweater and the navy top are definitely keepers. I'd have to see the tights in person before deciding.
_________________________________________
Mod*ern Love

This outfit leaves me cold except for the shoes (again) and the wonderful purse. I love them! 
The rest is Barbie-Poppy Parker super-sized.
_________________________________________
Wicked & Divine

Fun! Her hair is delightful. It's the same hair style that a Jamieshow doll sported a few years ago. I like seeing these unusual non-hair-bump styles especially when they're done properly. It remains to be seen as to whether the workers will be able to reproduce this look correctly. 
A problem I see is the ill-fitting shorts. This same bad fit is seen above on the Idol Thoughts doll. Someone has to redraft the pattern for a proper fit.

Didn't Tulabelle have her own body previously or was she on the teen Poppy body all along?

Reminder:
*Please note that the dolls unveiled today are prototypes and the final production dolls, colors and fabrics may vary slightly. Note that these are all 16-inch tall fashion dolls and are not in 1/6 scale.

Will the Real Vanessa Please Stand Up?

The movement is afoot to get Integrity Toys to stop production of the redesigned Vanessa head mold. Hopefully the designers will listen and make collectors happy.

I have decided to join with those petitioning IT. Vanessa is my favorite mold after all and although I didn't see that much difference, I'd rather no changes at all.

There have been 22 versions of Vanessa manufactured since the beginning.  There have been 15 Agnes dolls. Does that mean that Agnes will also get restyled soon? She's wildly popular among collectors as Vanessa has always been.

Restyling a product that is loved 

is not good business. 

All a doll needs is different facial screening, different hair styling and a great outfit to change her appearance.  Make light, medium and dark versions. Discontinue or reduce her production.
You don't change an icon's appearance.  Who is making these decisions?

These are all Vanessa. Most are IT's own promotional photos. Of these, five were not terribly popular but sold out fast nevertheless. All except Aerodynamic are hunted by collectors. The prices for these dolls can be extraordinarily high.

I ought to just dig up my protests against the restyling of Veronique or my comments about the restyling of Natalia. That was ridiculous. It stopped being Natalia. I am quite sure that sales have not improved as a result of these changes. Isn't that why IT is in business? Is someone with an out-of-control ego loose in the boardroom? 

When In Bloom Vanessa, the W Club doll from 2007 was shown there was a very negative reaction to her appearance and it was changed because of that. 

While most unhappy collectors are busy protesting on the W Board and other boards, I have suggested they write directly to the designers at Integrity Toys. At the last convention, Vaughn said he wanted to hear what collectors think. Is he paying attention? Is anyone?

This Is Not the Miss Revlon Doll I Remember!

I am so bummed about the new Miss Revlon doll. I keep hoping that each time I look at her I will find something pretty about her face but it's not working. I wanted to adore this doll because I had a Little Miss Revlon doll as a child. I found these images on the web:This is what the fashion dolls of the 50's looked like. I thought she was truly something special. She wore high heels, had a developed chest, wore lipstick and jewelry! Her clothes were lovely. - Like Cissy dolls, an immature, baby face on a maturing body was the accepted style.

Beautiful vintage Miss Revlon dolls from the past were pictured in an article written by Robert Tonner for a special edition of Dolls Magazine and distributed to Tonner convention atttendees. Here is one of the pictures from that piece:This is the new doll. No matter which way I turned her head, it looked wrong.
There is something very 'off' about the sculpt. Her head is too large and she has no ankles. The vintage doll has a big head and big jaw but it works on her baby face. It does not work with this face in the least. I was hoping for a vintage reproduction doll that resembled the original in some way. Boy, was I mistaken. I think my doll may be defective due to the strange spots of black paint on her eyelids.

I pre-ordered her from a convention-goer who got to go to the event. She cost me more than $160. Ugh. What a waste of money.

And what's up with the scraggly, crunchy long hair?This is a WWTT moment. Maybe it was a mistake and too late for the factory to change it. One can hope that the future releases are 100% better. If not, there won't be another one in this house. I'm not even sure what to do with this one.

Bring Tiny Kitty back. That's another story.

An amazing website about Miss Revlon and Little Miss Revlon dolls is here:
http://my.pclink.com/~jjdow/default.htm