Tonner City Girls - Houston

So, City girls.

It's been a while since these were released so technically I suppose this is a "retro review" because it's a line that's a few years old now... but let's pretend like it's shiny and new and exciting or something.

So, the Tonner City Girls were released in 2012 by Tonner toys, a subdivision of Tonner dolls who deal with all the cheaper lines intended as gateway collector dolls.
Their early attempts were things like Maudline Macabre and the Little Miss Matched dolls with their strange troll faces, but the City Girls were the first to go for a more standard fashion doll sort of aesthetic while remaining within that "gateway" price point.

The dolls retailed at between $39:99 and $49:99 and were even sold in stores like toys r us. They attempted to fill a niche as a mid price point doll that slotted neatly between cheap playline and super eye-wateringly expensive collector.
It was a fair point, as this was a niche that hadn't really been looked at previously. The jump between the price of playline dolls and collector dolls can be a bit startling.

Anyway, I first saw the City Girls shortly after they were released and thought they were quite cute looking, but I couldn't justify the price of importing all the way from the USA. they weren't sold in overseas stores and Tonner's shipping is a bit painful. So I held off and waited... and waited...



They went on sale but still shipping was prohibitive.
Finally Tonner released Sindy, and finally I had an excuse. If I was going to order Sindy anyway, I may as well order a City Girl too.
 Unfortunately by this point all the rest of the characters had sold out, leaving only Houston.
Now don't get me wrong, I like Houston because she's gorgeous, but she also comes in the most uninteresting outfit.
Due to the unusual size of the dolls, I wasn't totally certain I would have anything she could actually wear and I think I wasn't alone in that. The girls in full casual outfits sold out at full price, leaving only a handful to go on clearance, including the formal wear one and the one in her underwear (Houston). The thing is, people want a doll they don't have to find new clothes for. They want a dressed doll. Particularly when the doll is an unusual size and the consumer is unlikely to have clothes in that scale.

Why they never released a version of Houston with an actual proper outfit I do not know, poor girl. But she was very cheap (about $20) and so I ordered her and decided worst come to worst, I could try to sew her something.

So postage took forever, it was getting a bit anxiety inducing but finally my parcel arrived, with a "lovely" customs ransom fee attached. *sigh*
I eagerly opened my box of goodies and after examining Sindy and discovering she had dodgy eyelashes (whole other story, we'll get to that in my review of her later this month) I decided to cheer myself up by opening the City Girl.
After all, i couldn't be SO unlucky that both my dolls would be damaged right?

right?

Oohhh ho ho. We'll get to that.

So each of the City Girls has a backstory of some sort.
The Tonner website actually gives each a short blurb bio.
Here's Houston's:

Few people have the style and eye for fashion that Houston does.  She started her Personal Shopping business in college and since graduating, her client base has grown exponentially.  She's a smart and graceful business woman who is also incredibly socially minded.

For a girl with a supposed eye for fashion, she sure does have an iffy outfit doesn't she? A bathrobe and heels? Darling, what are you doing?

The other girls are all equally as business orientated.
There's the redhead Astor who suffered a mystery illness but overcame it and is now a... triathlete and fitness model or something?
Then there's black haired, green eyed Billy who runs a bakery.
And finally Brook-Lynn (what a dumb name) a blonde girl who's an events organiser.

They're friends or... something. I don't know.

anyway,

Astor was the only one to get two dolls, getting a formal doll and a casual one. Meanwhile Brook-lynn was exclusive to FAO Shwartz and came in the same outfit as Houston here. Oh dear, matching undies? what a fashion faux pas. But as she was exclusive to one random webstore, let's ignore her existence beh.

let's talk about HOUSTON and why my joy soon turned to horror as I opened her.

Houston comes in a tube box. There's a ribbon at the top, the backing card has a lot of uh.. places and buzz words and then there's the bottom border, a card insert shaped like a city skyline with the City Girl logo  (oh look, a high heeled shoe as the logo... how... uh.. .girly? Girls love shoes right? yeah, shoes. )
The slogan reads "If you can dream it, you can be it." which sounds fairly aspirational... unless you're like me and dream you're a freaking dinosaur or something. Maaan Tonner, why am I not a dinosaur? I dreamed it! 

Anyway,

The back of the box features Billy, which strikes me as a bit odd not to have the character IN the box pictured... but eh. I assume they all used the same backing card and for some reason Billy got "main character" billing despite it being clear Astor was the protagonist, getting two dolls and all that.

there's also smaller photos of the dolls and fashion packs. I wish i'd had a chance to get some of the fashions, they look really nice.

Houston's inner box slides out of the tube easily, but this lulled me into a false sense of easy deboxing. Oh foolish fool me! I should have learned by now never to take for granted that a doll will come out of the box without me hurting myself!

First thing I checked was eye wonk, and while Houston's eyes aren't exactly even, they're acceptable.
Her eyes are actually really pretty, they look to have been hand painted, there's brush strokes and it makes her feel pretty special.
she has a slightly more angled brow on one side giving her a sorta quizzical expression.
I like asymetrical brows, they give personality.

She has quite a lot of blush on her cheeks, a teeny little nose, full red lips with a bit of tooth showing and these huge green eyes. She's striking to say the least.

I'm not sure why she's holding her arm like that though, looks like she's hurt herself.

I spent a while trying to figure out how to get her OFF the backing card and finally realised she was held in with twisty ties... which were fastened inside the folded and GLUED card.

I pried the card open, tearing it in the process because this is impossible to do without causing damage damnit.. and untwisted the stupid ties.

It was at this point I started to notice the smell. A strange medicinal smell wafting from the box. I assumed it was the glue or something and ignored it.

Free from her box Houston was a bit wobbly.
Her knees are pretty weak and designed much like the Bratzillaz. Hard plastic at the top, soft rubbery plastic at the bottom. As a result, she suffers the same problems they do. Weak wobbly knees, a propensity to fall over like a drunk and bow legs.

She has long very soft hair tied into a high ponytail with a piece wound around to cover the elastic. Very retro.

She wears pink heels that looked to me like a nightmare to get on and off. And a satiny pink bathrobe.

She still smelled. In fact, I checked, and the smell was no longer in the box, it was coming from the DOLL herself.
A strong smell of medicinal oil, eucalyptus or tea tree or something. It wasn't unpleasent, just really overwhelmingly strong.

her robe felt strange to touch. Greasy without being wet, if that makes any sense. i didn't much care to handle it for a prolonged amount of time.

Under the robe, Houston has lacy um... this.

It's a lacey tank top thing and lace shorts worn over painted on pants. Interesting...

the construction of the items is rather nice, but they're see through and really not at all appropriate attire.

Ignoring the smell I decided to check her articulation.

The City Girls have articulated knees, hips, under bust, shoulders, elbows and wrists.
She has a decent range of motion in her arms ( though her wrists are super stiff and very difficult to pose without a degree of force. Quite the opposite of her floppy legs.)

and a fantastic range in her knees. She can actually kneel, something very few of my dolls can do.
She can cross her lower legs but she'll never be able to sit like a proper lady (though i'm yet to encounter a doll who CAN). She cannot stand unsupported half because her knees buckle and half because her high heeled feet throw her centre of balance waaaay off. She has to lean against a wall all casual like.
She won't hold raised leg poses very well, the weight of the lower leg and the weakness of the joints is not at all helpful.

Anyway,

That outfit had to go, and not just because it stank and was starting to give me a headache. It's just ugly too.

I actually had to put the doll away for a week or so purely because having her in the same room was making my head spin. I contacted Tonner who had no clue what it could be but were great after I was a bit um... assertive? lol.

They suggested I air her out and see what happened. Which I did.
I left her a while, then went back to examine her and give her a good sniff test.

Her body didn't smell. Her hair smelled faintly. her clothing.. the robe particularly REEKED. I suspect the robe is the source of the smell, and the odd texture is related.
I shoved them back into the box never to see the light of day and sat Houston on a shelf away from me and my desk so she could air.

After a few days her hair stopped smelling so bad. There's still a faint aroma but you have to really stick your face into her hair to smell it. I considered washing her hair but decided against it because the smell was no longer offensive and worrying my health, and because I didn't want to mess up the style too much.

I felt like I could have her in the house now.

So, nude the City Girl body is very strangely proportioned. she has really narrow shoulders, a small waist and a very very long torso. Her hip attachments are pretty ugly but functional, she has shapely but slim legs and really quite pretty hands. She has a fairly straight up and down figure, not much booty there.

Her feet are SUPER tiptoed and her toe nails are painted! cute.

I don't think she can share shoes with any of my other dolls though.

Closest doll in size to Houston I own are the 14" tall Moxie Teenz. Here Tristan shows how different the two body shapes are.
Tristian's shoulders are about as wide, and her head slightly larger, but everything else is a lot shorter, except her hips which seem to be a little wider... go figure.

Officially City Girls stand just under 16 inches tall, but that's not very helpful for people like me who can't visualise numbers.
So here she is alongside the standard Barbie (11.5 inches), Moxie Teenz (14 inches) and Lorifina (20 inches)

Because her body shape is so similar to the Moxie Teenz, I figured i'd try Tristan's outfit on her.
It does actually fit. The shorts pull up and the top is a little baggy in places and too short in the body, but on the whole, it does actually fit her. interesting...
Jeans are way too short though, and most of the tops are too short in the torso.

This stretchy Barbie dress was sinfully short I felt.

Ken shirts fit really quite nice. The modern Ken body is long and very slender and while they come up perhaps a little shorter than i'd personally wear a shirt, they look fine.
don't look like menswear either.

Now the Moxie teenz could wear some TY Girlz clothing, so I figured i'd try that too. The jacket fitted nicely.
the jeans also fitted.

and emphasised her butt! lol.

Ken pants also fit perfectly. Though the pink heels are a bit incongruous.

I did get them off and actually they weren't as rigid and awful as i thought they'd be. They were a bit fiddly to get back on but nothing on the nightmare I was anticipating. So yay?

I also discovered her hands pop off, which made dressing her a lot easier once I figured that out. I love removable hands, they're the greatest idea ever. Trying to struggle sleeves over splayed dolly hands has been a frustration of many a parent and child for decades, so whoever came up with the idea, thank you... thank you.

In the end, Houston got given this Cody Simpson outfit. The pants make excellent capris and actually fit really nice around her hips. The top is TY Girlz, the glasses are Moxie Teenz and the jacket is Cody's as well.
the green really brings out her eyes.

I kinda dig her like this. I'm delighted to find that Ken sized clothing fits so well, I didn't expect that at all. Given how androgynous or outright effeminate a lot of modern Ken stuff is, I don't think this girl's gonna be too short of wardrobe pieces.

So, overall? How do I feel about Houston?

Initially I was really quite upset about her being coated in something that gave me a headache, but goodness she's pretty.
I personally really love her face. It's simple but there's something in her eyes that appeals to me. She has an almost... old fashioned look about her. As in, she looks like a much older style of doll.
The hand painted eyes really add to that retro sort of feel there, I haven't seen brush strokes on a store bought doll since my 60s Sindy dolls. It adds a sort of hand made sort of feel, gives her a little more of a sense of being special or something.

Her skin tone is a lovely rich brown which is quite appealing set against those big green eyes.
I' m a sucker for dark skinned dolls and while Houston is more the sort of "ambiguous brown" of most playline dolls, it's still a pretty colour and I like it.
there's slight variation between her upper leg and lower, and upper and lower arm as a result of the different plastic but it's not too noticeable and the Bratzillaz have the same problem. I do however wonder if one plastic will be prone to discolouring more than the other over time. It'd suck to have a doll with like yellowing lower extremities, and a lot of older dolls made of mixed plastics do suffer colour variation over time.
Hopefully she'll age gracefully.

She does feel a bit fragile, a little wobbly, her joints are rather loose, except her wrists which are really hard to move at all. She somewhat rattles, much like the Bratzillaz do. For the price point, she feels a bit cheap and that's a real shame.

She has lovely hair once it's brushed, it's soft and very manageable, but her joints and crappy lame outfit don't make her feel like a deluxe gateway collector doll. In fact, if anything, the only thing that makes her feel anything beyond just regular playline is her size. I'm not convinced that's enough.

She's a big doll and an interesting introduction into the larger scale dolls, but I can't help but wish she'd been a little more polished in her construction. Her joints a little tighter, her outfit way more appealing...

For what I paid? yes, worth it. (of course ignoring the stink issue which seems to have been just plain bad luck and a mystery)
I do like her and she's my first doll that's such a size. She towers over the rest of my dolls and it somewhat amuses me.
Yet despite towering, her face is such that she sort of fits in as well. She's like the bigger sister of the Moxie Teenz or something, and that's quite fun.

With Ken clothing and TY Girlz and Moxie Teenz stuff mostly fitting (some tweaks may be necessary for certain pieces) she has a far more varied wardrobe than I anticipated and that's a good thing. It means there are options for people beyond just buying the fashion packs for the doll. I do like when a line has comparability with other readily available lines. Mixing and matching is part of the fun of dolls, so variety is excellent.
I do wish she had more shoe options though...or that her shoes just hadn't been pink. Why oh why do doll companies keep giving their dolls coloured shoes? they limit outfits SO much. Black, brown... a nice neutral tone please! Neutral shoes are great, you can wear anything with them! pink shoes are bad, you have to wear pink to tie it all together and that's a pain in the butt.
I still haven't found any shoes she could even consider wearing. Her feet are rather large but the biggest issue is the shape of them, nothing will match that bizarre L shaped foot.

So, all in all, and ignoring stink... can I recommend the City Girls? Yes and no. Yes if you can get one for less than retail, no to full price.
the quality I just don't feel is there to justify a £40 price point. As a doll for a child, I just am not convinced she's robust enough. The knees particularly feel like at any moment her whole lower leg will just fall off.
hmmm..

Overall I give the City Girls a rather floppy 6 out of 10. Just a little above average.

Pretty face and unusual body, but really weak joints and an absolutely dreadful outfit.

I don't think i'd buy a second, there isn't enough uniqueness to each character's face. they all use the same face and almost identical screenings, in fact, all three of the ones Tonner sold had green eyes! Now I love green eyes and all that, but really? all three?
Even Bratz with their identical face moulds had more variation in their character faces, changing the way they painted the eyes or the mouth made a huge difference in differentiating (not that I could tell one blonde blue eyed character from another but that's besides the point). The problem with the City Girls is aside from skin and hair colour, they all look exactly the same and that's a shame. They didn't need different face moulds, but slightly differently shaped eyes would have made SO much difference to make them each stand out as a unique individual rather than a palette swapped clone.

So while I do really like Houston, I don't feel the NEED to buy her a friend. But that's probably a good thing as the City Girl section of Tonner's website has disappeared. The line has been discontinued and the dolls clearanced, so that's the last we'll likely see of them. My only regret is I never got any of the fashion packs, they looked nice and very good for mixing and matching. Also, non pink shoes.

Now she's destinked, Houston's a lovely addition but I can't say i'll miss her gross robe and silly underwear.