Dollieh Sanctuary

I did not doubt what others had said about how Tonner intended to continue the DeeAnna Denton line. I simply could scarcely believe it. So Now that I can see it with my own eyes, I have to believe.

what a horrible, terrible shame. What has happened at Tonner? Do they no longer care at all for their collectors?

DeeAnna Denton was this exotic, voluptuous, sexy well build fashion model of a figure. She was different, she had curves and form. She had a real sense of swagger and style precisely because of the curve of her body, not simply the size of her chest.

The only DeeAnna Denton release in the last 14 or so months - Bye Bye Baby was very aptly named, because that was indeed the end of the DeeAnna Denton doll line.

What is called Deeanna Denton now, doesn't even come close to a pale imitation.

A shrunken head sculpt on a hacked together conversion of the Tyler body with big boobs. Really, that was how you intended to woo the collectors paying premium prices for the former 17-inch curvacious glamor girl?

Look at this - old


compared to this - new


This is the 'new' collection....

http://www.tonnerdoll.com/deeanna-denton/">http://www.tonnerdoll.com/deeanna-denton/

notice how much of it works with the *real* DeeAnna Denton, oh, yeah, none.

Sorry, but that is not how you treat loyal customers, it sends the wrong message (exchanging curvey for a stick with boobs), and to be honest, it's really not that nice to look at either.

You can't even look up the original DeeAnna collections on their website any more, the closest you get is - inevitably - Bye Bye Baby.

Thank you Mr Tonner for at least making it easy for me to close a chapter in my collecting life. A sad close to a once great chapter. Good bye DeeAnna.

Looks like they never heard the saying "If it's not broken, don't fix it."

You know I used to really covet a lot of Tonner's dolls. I used to get really excited when the new collections would come out. Now and again I still see one I'd really like but between the soaring price tags and the fact that a lot of my favorite sculpts are just not being used at all I'm not nearly as keen on buying as I once was. I do plan on getting a City Girl when they come out depending upon what they're priced at. But most of his collection for Spring and Summer just didn't do much for me and there's no way I'm spending and average of $150-200 for one doll all the time. His outfits, lovely, but $100? I can't afford them anymore. His basic dolls most of them are near or over $100 now. His wigs are $40. His shoes are running $30-40. You can't hardly buy a skirt for less than that. I mean COME ON. He's totally lost sight of the lower end collector's level. Me, I'm strictly into clearance sales and secondary market for his stuff now.

I actually liked Denton but I kind of figured she wouldn't last for long as a full figured gal. The same thing happened with Emme. She was great but I guess that body just didn't sell as many as he would have liked and so they discontinued her. I think it's also a question of how much material they need to use for a bigger body. When they do the DC girls/guys with an athletic body it always costs more. But I don't like this transition he's making to 13" character figures at all. I mean look at where he's been going with the Potter dolls and similar. 13" what the heck do we need a 13" Harry Potter for? A 13" Wonder Woman? It's kind of bizarre.

I can handle 13" for a cheap doll like a Moxie Teen but Tonner half the reason I like his stuff is that it's not Barbie sized. 13" I might as well just buy a Barbie most of the time. It's a heck of a lot cheaper. His 13" dolls are almost at the same price points as his 16/18" ones were. Why would I want a 13" doll for that price when I could get a 16" or an 18" doll? To be fair it's not just Tonner though. All the 16" doll makers I like are becoming so expensive I really can't afford to collect them anymore and all the newer people with dolls coming out are just as much if not more. It's all become very high end lately.

I'm glad I am learning to sew and so forth now. Pretty soon I think making new things for the dolls I have is going to be my only major expenditure in terms of doll collecting. I'll always have room for a new Barbie or two on my shelf but I think I'm getting towards the end of my adventures into collecting the 16" Tonner type dolls. Barring a major sale like the one they just had where I snagged 3 $150 dolls for $35 a pop I won't be indulging that big doll habit very often anymore.

As for Denton she's still on my "want" list actually. I guess I'll have to go secondary market but that's okay. I will at some point. I do like her. I don't care if she's not popular enough I want one anyway, NOT a skinny one, and I'll just do what I always do, buy a cheap nude, then make my own outfits for her to wear.

Huh. I thought I had already commented on this, so my apologies if my original comment shows up later. I've never really noticed the Tonner dolls before, but now that they've really come to my attention I'm fascinated. The old DeeAnna was a knockout, it's a shame I didn't know about her sooner. I would have been far more interested in her than the other girls, and that new version does nothing for me.

Part of my sadness is that one of my first larger dolls was a DeeAnna Denton. I love pretty faces, and hers stole a corner of my heart. But overall she has a style and form that nothing else from the fashion doll world had. The doll that got me into the quarter scale ones was actually an R&D Angel called Emma, but about the same time as I got her, I got a dark red haired DeeAnna. I think she was one of the original basics. I've lost count of the R&D Angels I and my wife (Peytondoll) have, and probably a similar number of DeeAnna Dentons too. But when the Bye Bye Baby edition was announce and didn't ship for almost months and months I knew something was up. Fortunately (or unfortunately) I have stumbled into the 60cm world and find them even more fascinating than the quarter scale girls.

Even so, there is a sadness, frustration and anger at the passing of the original DeeAnna Denton line.