Two Great Deals at Tonner Doll and the Demise of Tiny Kitty

If you're on the Tonner Doll mailing list, you are used to the constant barrage of sales week after week. It seems to me that the prices don't really move much. Today I thought I'd give it a glance and IMO there are two excellent deals .

This is "Classical." She is a 16" doll with the Tyler head sculpt in a cameo skin tone. She comes with changeable feet - ballerina and high heel. That makes her incredibly useful. Any dressed Tyler doll for $50. is a great deal because the Tyler BW replacement bodies themselves go for $39 apiece.
http://www.tonnerdoll.com/ballet/classical-special-pricing

I never collected Tonner's Ballet series. although I've loved most every one of them.  I don't see them as 'play-with-me' dolls. I visualize them being displayed on a stage, permanently doing their ballerina thing.

http://www.tonnercollectibles.com/nycb.htm
http://www.tonnerdoll.com/ballet/1


The next is a doll that I purchased when she first went on sale a long time ago. The price I paid was way higher than the current $75.00 which is incredibly ridiculous considering that she was first offered for $229.99.  Is there a lesson here on the markup of these dolls?

This is "Glamorous #75" from the Theatre De La Mode collection.
Sadly the photograph is awful and does her no justice which may be a contributing factor to her unpopularity.
This Gina is a beautiful doll using the Antoinette body.  The dress is lovely. The shoes do nothing for the fashion but are useful never-the-less. It's a very good buy!
http://www.tonnerdoll.com/theatre-de-la-mode/glamorous-75-special-pricing

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On another topic...
Poor Tiny Kitty. They can't seem to get rid of her this time around. No wonder. The outfits were designed with such a heavy hand it looks as though they were meant for a larger doll. It also looks as though they've made her head bigger.
If you're going to bring back a popular doll, why would you enlarge her head? It's not cuter. It doesn't fit. And what's with the strange lower lashes?

This has to be one of the worst outfits and hairstyles ever:

Most collectors do not want glitter covered dresses:

Sweet little Kitty of the past has flown the coop.

Has another company you collect ever brought back a doll with changes that you don't like?

My Collection: The Best of 2014

For this post, I basically showcase my own collection and some of what I have added this past year.  I've made some wonderful purchases, some so-so-average buys and a few mistakes.  My goal was to limit the adding of 12" dolls and concentrate on high-quality resin BJD 1/4 scale dolls, fashions and wigs

Resin BJDs accounted for nearly 1/2 of my expenditures. Integrity Toys got about 1/4 of the total. The rest went to Gene (and a convention), Tonner and another assorted dolly miscellany.

In looking back I could have eliminated everything Gene-related except for two custom fashions made by Matisse, Madra's dogs and an older Ashton-Drake Violet outfit (shown below.)  I'm just not into Gene any longer. I have sold all my Jamieshow Gene (and Madra, Violet) dolls except for one. They are lovely but not where I want to be.

JS Madra in AD Violet "Special Appearance"

The worst eBay purchase was several pairs of shoes from paul_zhangby and Zhang_young, whom I assume is the same seller, which purported to fit Sybarites. They don't come close. Many of their products claim to fit a wide range of dolls who have different-sized feet. What was I thinking to trust this type of advertising? He's still listing doll shoes like this: Brand New Pumps/Shoes /16" Doll Sybarite V3 JamieShow /Ficon /NUMINA /AG. Don't believe it! His shoes are gorgeous and edgy but won't do any good if you can't use them.


Most of the dolls on this 2014 list were discussed on my blog when I got them and not all of them are actually new releases, but they are new to my collection.

I'll begin with my first and only (so far) Deva Doll, Angelo. He has blown away all the competition from the rest of the big guys who live here. I'll let the photograph do the talking as he's already been introduced in prior posts. His face was painted by Chewin who also designed the fashion and wig.

Brunel from Kingdom Dolls hasn't been here very long and I want to play with her. It's a problem when I have too many 'new' dolls. No doll gets the time it deserves.  She is perfect.

Poor Angelo has been trying to date her but she's not having any of it.

Ficon Bonita in a Cheryl Wood wig.
I have quite a few wigs made by the talented Ms. Wood but this is my absolute favorite!
Bonita is a gorgeous doll with great posing ability.

I added two gorgeous Sybarites this past year and several Superdoll outfits.

-a repaint of Dionysis by Yian.  (Chewin wig)

-Fidele wearing Bitter Fern. I removed the pink bow which was at the waist. 

The outfit from Langtry and Madra's Dogs (Ashton-Drake) modeled by Toxica.

The outfit from Masque modeled by Neurotica. Mohair wig by Ilaria.

The outfit from Gateau modeled by Domina.

I never tire of looking at my Sybarites and their gorgeous fashions.

Moving over to Integrity Toys, their FR16 dolls, at first, didn't impress me. Once I started collecting their outfits however, the dolls began to grow on me. Their bodies pose beautifully.
This is Tyler head on a Tulabelle body wearing a FR16 Platinum Society. It's a favorite.

As far as their 12" dolls issued during the year, nothing made the cut except three from the convention.

Going off the track here for Gloss' "Evening Siren" Ayumi who is such an improvement over the original Ayumi I felt it deserved mention and images from her spotty past. :-)
It's a fact that the face-up makes or breaks the sculpt.

This is the After:

Here are the Befores:

If at first you don't succeed...

I always felt that Natalia's original and more ethnic sculpt was beautiful and should have been preserved.  She was gorgeous.  The "refreshed" sculpt looked just like all the other dolls with their pointy little noses and pucker lips. They're OK but this Natalia was special. "Femme du Monde" 2006.

However, Grandiose Natalia was a surprise. I actually like her a lot and added her to my collection. What is it about this particular doll? It's not the pointy eyebrows. She's just stunning.

And then there's Elise. She has become my favorite FR sculpt. I've given up on Vanessa and although two were added to my collection this year, they are not favorites.

In the following photo, one of the 2014 convention centerpieces, Elise Jolie "Intrigue," is shown with Adrian Von Lamberg "Night Vision" from the 2010 Dark Romance Collection. That was the last FR convention I attended and I had him at that time but I was not collecting male dolls. That changed this year as I sought to add some special Hommes to the tribe.

About two months ago I swapped with someone for an Avantguard which had been repainted. It was pretty awful once I saw it in person. My dear friend, Vin Trapani, rescued this doll from a dark drawer with his inspired re-repaint.
She is currently on a Tulabelle body and looking great.

Memorable 1/6 scale fashions:

Poppy "Glamorous Darling" and "IT Girl" adorn one of my mini Avantguard dolls and a Monogram doll.

This dress was created by V.Jhon. It is modeled by Tropicalia Vanessa.

So there you have it.

I haven't determined my goals with doll collecting for 2015. What I do know is that I spend way too much time where they are concerned. I want to put together a book showcasing my black and white NYC-era photography. That will take a long, dedicated piece of time.

I've had so much fun with dolls and doll people over the last decade or so but I have to bring back the joy that my creativity gave me and let it out of its holding cell.

2014 Integrity's Surprisingly Great FR16 Dolls

To be sure, there are various interpretations of the word great.  In this case, I'm calling them great as compared to other 16" modern vinyl dolls. For example, Tonner dolls generally retail in the range of $99.-$250 for a dressed doll these days.  The less expensive ones will be dressed in more basic styles. The FR16 SRP was $175. That price has dropped a good deal for some of the newer ones.
The fashions are beautifully made and come with excellent accessories.
As far as articulation goes, the FR16 win the vinyl race, their only drawback being their awful articulated toes and awkward feet. Neither the ankle nor the toe joint add anything to the doll and should be eliminated in favor of a sleek fashion foot.

I don't know whether or not it's a good thing that the current IT designer keeps bringing back altered versions of Jason Wu's designs. In one way it speaks volumes about his creativity and on the other hand, Jason's beautiful fashions always work.

Except for Afterhours Hanne, I purchased the dolls and fashions separately. Once I found that I liked them, they started showing up.

For this post I show the original Jason Wu doll promo photo, a photo of my own 1/6 scale original and the new 16" version.

Red Blooded Woman Kyori has grown to become Hot Blooded Woman.
By the time I decided that I loved the outfit, I couldn't get Elsa Lin at a reasonable price. I will continue to look for her. Modeling the FR16 fashion is  "On Edge." Avantguard. She is wearing her own shoes as the FR16 shoes do not fit. The wig is by Ilaria.
Pretty gorgeous!

Cosmetic Takeover Natalia is now Cosmetic Surrender. This Natalia was the first Natalia ever produced. She was on a straight arm body. Mine became so brittle that even though I was very careful, her neck cracked when I first gave her a new tall body. (Not shown.)  My model for the FR16 fashion is Platinum Society Hanne whose outfit follows.

Silver Society Veronique's big sister is Platinum Society. Silver Society was also a straight arm doll. Mine is now on an FR2 body and I still love her as much as the day I first got her.
My model for Platinum Society's fashion is a Tyler head on a Tulabelle body. The head switch was easy and the body is perfect for the FR16 outfits. The feet, like those of the FR16 dolls are unnecessarily articulated. She looks like she has tumors of the ankle (whatever that is.) Do not click here for a Google search on ankle tumors. You will be sorry.
I love Tyler and I always will. She needs a body like this to bring her into the 21st Century.
Anyway, this outfit is a thin pleather-like fabric with wonderful embellishment. I like everything about the fashion and I'd rather have a ring instead of doll gloves any day!
The last picture shows how I've 'repurposed' my FR outfits from the early days to adorn Silkstone dolls. The fit is perfection-even the shoes.

Purple Factor Adele has grown up to become Amethyst Factor. Again, we have a straight arm, early Jason design. This was an amazingly detailed and sexy sheath with ruching, princess seams and a lace inset at the top of the bodice. The fur had beads between the stole and the tails. Everything about it was beautifully designed and executed. My model for Amethyst Factor is Afterhours Hanne Erikson. Her hair was a frizzy mess and still needs work.

Obsidian Society Vanessa's FR16 version is Obsidian Culture.  This was a wildly popular Vanessa; they all were until they started multiplying like rabbits. Vanessa's black suit looks nothing like the new Culture version; it is so much more stylish. My model is the brunette Obsidian Culture in the "Bijou" Avantguard gown.  It's nice to know that the Avantguard, FR16 and Tulabelle bodies can share fashions.

Barely...

This is, in my opinion, the prettiest of all the Obsidian Hannes. Unfortunately, her hair was an overdone, frizzy mess. I have one side pinned back to hide the crimped, frizzed ends. Such a shame. I'll fix it one of these days. The fur is from the Hot Blooded outfit and the earrings and bracelet are from other sources.

Surprisingly great? Yes! Look back at the original 4 FR16 dolls. Three out of the four fashions are uninspired. One of the dolls looks like a corpse and another looks terrified.

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I have the blond Obsidian Culture NRFB doll for sale at a very good price on the Show & Sell pages.
While you are there, take a look at my other listings. You should definitely buy something!