Showing posts with label Evangeline Ghastly. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Evangeline Ghastly. Show all posts

Sunday, December 29, 2013

"Ahoy Patience" by Wilde Imagination

Patience is a new 14" hard plastic and vinyl child doll from Wilde Imagination.  Patience is sweet and upbeat compared to Wilde Imagination's more established characters like the elegantly melancholy Ellowyne Wilde and the fashionably creepy Evangeline Ghastly.

The debut Patience doll, Garden Patience, was a gorgeous little redhead with bright green eyes and an amazing, romantic dress.  When this doll was announced, I was so wrapped up in other things that I missed the beginning of pre-orders.  I want to kick myself now, because this gorgeous little doll sold out in a flash.  Unwilling to pay the high secondary market prices for Garden Patience, I had to be, ah, patient and wait for the new dolls to arrive.  I was thrilled when a trio of Patience dolls was released for pre-order before Christmas.  All of these newer dolls are still available on the Wilde Imagination site, and so I figured that this could be a good time for a review.

The Patience dolls are limited to 300 pieces each and cost over $150.  The available dolls are called "Wonderland Patience" (an Alice in Wonderland doll, $169), "Tokyo Patience" (a lovely brown-eyed Japanese girl, $199) and "Ahoy Patience," the doll whose platinum blonde bob and sailor dress tempted me the most:

Tonner's Ahoy Patience
"Ahoy Patience" by Wilde Imagination, $169.

Sunday, October 14, 2012

Evangeline Ghastly "Dark Angel" by Wilde Imagination

Evangeline Ghastly is an 18.5" ball jointed fashion doll designed by Joe Petrollese and sculpted by Robert Tonner.  Evangeline is marketed through Tonner's company, Wilde Imagination, which is also home to the popular 16" vinyl doll, Ellowyne Wilde.  Evangeline Ghastly made her first appearance in 2007 as a resin doll.  Back in 2007, my doll collecting tastes were much narrower than they are today.  At that time, dazzled by Tonner's beautiful new Cinderella sculpt, I had little interest for the bizarre, dark-themed, and relatively expensive Evangeline.  When I saw her bug-eyed, lanky-limbed promotional pictures, I pretty much laughed and shook my head, grateful that I wasn't going to be tempted into collecting a new line.

Evangeline's exaggerated features fit well with her over-the top back story.  She is a mortician's assistant, lives in an attic, dresses with a flamboyant Victorian style and has a humanoid pet skunk.  The Wilde Imagination website says that Evangeline was inspired by Tim Burton's Corpse Bride, among other quirky icons.  This is a fun fact for me because seeing the Tim Burton line of Tonner dolls in person (during my trip to the FAO Schwarz store in Manhattan in June) was a big contributor to my new-found appreciation for the darker, stranger dolls in Tonner's diverse lineup.  If it weren't for this new perspective, I don't think I ever would have given Evangeline any serious consideration.  Two other things contributed to my willingness to acquire an Evangeline doll.  First, in 2009, Wilde Imagination added a vinyl version of this doll to their regular collection.  This dropped the price considerably, and also eliminated the concerns about yellowing and breakage that come with most resin dolls.  Also, I recently found a collector who was willing to take a doll I didn't want anymore in exchange for this intriguing Tonner Con vinyl exclusive Evangeline, "Dark Angel:"

Evangeline Ghastly "Dark Angel" by Wilde Imagination,
LE 200.