Sister Agnes Dreary - Tonner Doll Company

I think I'm in love. Yesterday Sister Agnes Dreary arrived in all her gorgeous blackness. Upon seeing her, Hubby asked if she was going to a funeral. Tonner hit the mark because if the DH gets it, it's got to be verrrry clear.

Here is the description from the Tonner website:

Sister Dreary is approximately 16” tall, and she is a vinyl and hard plastic doll with rooted saran hair and hand-detailed, painted eyes. With 15 points of articulated movement, Sister can assume even drearier poses than her younger siblings. Sister Dreary is a NEW head sculpt on a smaller bustline 'Geisha' torso, featuring the SUPERGIRL flat-feet with jointed ankles...

She is absolutely beautiful. Her sculpt is the most sophisticated of all the Tonner modern dolls yet. Her cheekbones do it for her. I had to trim her hair because the bangs were cut in an odd way.

When the prices of her outfits go down, they're mine! List price ranges from about $80. to $95. That's a lot of green for a lot of black. I love Covered in Darkness (top below) with that crazy hat and the long coat. I think the Tea at the Morgue (2nd photo below) would look better with different shoes. Dying to Meet You (last below) is beautiful. Imagine an entire wardrobe of black and navy blue! Wonderful!

Below are pictures from the Tonner site. (No, I don't have permission to use them but I hope to get it.)

Covered in Darkness

Tea At The Morgue

Dying to Meet You

Tonner's Louise Devereaux

She is not a classically pretty doll. Her face is unattractive and the dark makeup under her eyes contributes to the gaunt look. Not being able to decide to keep her or not, I attempted to re-dress Louise last night. Unfortunately that did not work out for me or Louise and she's gotta go. I will keep one of the two I purchased just because it's the first of the new line.

I did photograph her a few days ago and those pictures are posted here.

Juicy Couture Beverly Hills G&P Barbie® Dolls by Mattel

Why do I even try? Again and again I am reminded that Mattel's products are inferior yet they look so cute in the pictures. Now I know why so many Barbie collectors keep everything in the boxes. Once you take it out, the stuff looks like crap.

This episode of "Nightmare on Mattel Street" stars the Juicy Couture Beverly Hills G&P Barbie doll set.
The dolls are tiny replicas of Pamela Skaist-Levy and Gela Nash-Taylor, the designers and co-founders of the Juicy Couture fashion empire. List price is $110. I used one of my coupons and got free shipping so I thought I did OK because it was less expensive than I could find anywhere else. I wanted the dresses for my Fashion Royalty or Model Behavior dolls. I knew in advance that they were sewn on.
I pre-ordered and approximately 2 months later a crushed UPS box arrives. I am not exaggerating when I say that every single side - that's 6 sides - was bashed and/or punctured to a degree. The box actually looked as if it had been put in a compressor. The tape had begun to pop and the contents were visible!

There was no protective padding around the doll box and so it echoed the damage.

Upon writing to customer service I received a RA from Mattel with a return shipping label. Then several weeks went by and I didn't get my new dolls. I wrote to Mattel and as if they had been waiting for my letter, I was told that they received my return and would ship out the new dolls to me.
The new set arrived in a pristine box and it still looked really pretty.

The first doll I undressed was the blonde. There was cello-wrap around her body to keep the black dress from contacting the vinyl. Unfortunately they didn't wrap her arms and they are seriously stained. I was going to sell the dolls but instead she has Oxy 10 all over her arms right now. Her hair has so much product on it that it looks like chunky straw. The brunette, who is much prettier, had no staining at all.

One improvement to note is that all the jewelry was removable and replaceable. The rings and earrings popped right out. The bracelets had hook fasteners as did the necklaces. The shoes are very cute. The packaging is very attractive and the set comes with a miniature perfume bottle. As usual, one needs a hacksaw to get the dolls out of the packaging. I'd love to watch the assembly of these items for sale.

I do not recommend this set unless you intend to keep the dolls in the box.