SPOTLIGHT/OVERVIEW: Maudlynne Macabre

Today's spotlight is on Maudlynne Macabre. This 15.25" doll was made by Tonner, through their short-lived Tonner Toys brand. The original Tonner Toys line was Little Miss Matched, and Maudlynne uses the same body. The Prettie Girls Tween Scene dolls also use this body.

I'm definitely a fan of the body, as it's quite poseable, but not too poseable for the style of the dolls. I think they do fine without articulated wrists like my Ellowyne dolls have.

Maudlynne has long black hair held back with a slim ribbon headband. Under her bangs are what I call "worried" eyebrows (think Rochelle from Monster High), which I don't think fit her that well, so I'm glad her bangs cover them. Her eyes are a gorgeous purple.

I really love the headmold used for this doll, which is distinctly different than the other lines with the same body. She's got such personality!

Maudlynne wears an absolutely lovely dress. The quality of the dress is higher than any Little Miss Matched or Prettie Girls piece. She was meant to be a little fancier than LMM. Her dark purple fishnet gloves are adorable and she wears dark purple stockings with black Mary Janes. Because such dark colors were used, there are occasional staining issues with Maudlynnes.

The Maudlynne line was meant to continue, but none of the pieces shown were ever released. Toy Fair 2013 showed a black and white striped dress, as well as the prototype for Victoria, Maudlynne's ghost friend. She was basically a Maudlynne in a pale blonde wig with an ivory dress. Toy Fair 2014 showed slight progress. The same Victoria was shown, but she had an additional lavender outfit. Maudlynne herself had lost the striped dress, but gained cute pajamas, a fancy red and black dress, and a fancy darker pink and black dress. She also had a plaid top paired with a short white skirt over striped capris. To be honest, the only one of these outfits that ever felt right for Maudlynne was the PJs, so I'm not really sad they never made it out. And Victoria I think died (ha ha, because she's a ghost) mired in design problems. They wanted her to look ghostly, not like a blonde Maudlynne, but I don't think they ever figured out how to do it, or Maudlynne's sales just didn't merit whatever it would have cost to produce Victoria.

Whatever the reason, the Maudlynne line never took off and Maudlynne herself remains the only piece produced. But then again, that happened with every Tonner Toys line. Both Little Miss Matched and City Girls only had one release apiece.

I think Maudlynne's a great doll and she's still available on the Tonner website for a great price of $30!

PHOTO CREDITS: All mine.

RECOMMENDED LINKS:

http://www.tonnerdoll.com/tonner/maudlynne-macabre
Buy your own Maudlynne.

http://dolldiaries.com/toy-fair-2013-report-tonner-toys/
See Victoria and the black and white striped dress. That dress was more fitting for the line.

http://dolldiaries.com/toy-fair-report-2014-tonner-toys/
See the other outfits planned.