I like to explore different brands of dolls, especially ones in the 18-19" little girl series just to see what is out there and it seems like reviews on sites these days don't really give the information we all need as collectors, so here is my review.

Tonner Penny and Friends pleasantly surprised me. I bought a little blonde beauty in a ballet costume, to try out as Tonner being a former clothing designer, I felt the ballet costume would be top notch. The dolls don't appear to be named although in some eBay listings I've seen a doll name attached. Penny refers to JCPenny as apparently this doll line was featured in JCPenny in 2000 for a very short time. There didn't seem to be a lot of models blonde with blue eyes, blonde with green eyes, blonde and brown eyes, red hair with green eyes, and a darker skin model with brown eyes. Most of the models feature a red leatherette jumper dress and the red hair girl with glasses which kind of reminded me of Molly from American Girl. I'm not sure if the ballet girl was a special holiday doll, but I haven't seen other dolls in other outfits.

I'd list it in the category of slim 18" dolls even though she is technically 19" tall from head to toe. All vinyl from head to toe (no cloth body at all) makes all fashions look good without having to worry about joints and seams. The body is not jointed so you really have the motion range of up and down and out for arms, sitting or standing for legs and head rotation and tilt for the head. I haven't looked inside, but it's likely that this doll is strung to give her movement which means repairable if she gets broken or a little one tugs too hard. Neck is very slender, so it's likely that eye changes are going to be through the front of the face with a hair dryer rather than a boiling method. Stationary eyes. The stock eyes are a pinwheel design in blue on my doll with center black pupil. They don't give off super stare eyes, but they are just kind of basic, so I'd really like to see what she looks like with a more realistic eye. Her face shape is adorable. She has a pronounced chin rather poutycupid bow lips and her line from her chin to cheek is more v shaped rather than chubby or round like a younger child. Her skin tone is very pale and more pink in tone than an American Girl fair skin tone which has a lot of yellow and brown in it. She has an almond shaped eye that is a little larger than proportionate to her facial features. Her stock makeup has a pink blush on the cheeks, almost a coral pink on the lips, and drawn eye lashes at the corners of her eyes. She has very thinly drawn eyebrows in blonde that are very light I almost didn't notice them. Around her eyes there are indentations for a lid and under the eye like a real person, I notice they skip that detail on many dolls.

I don't know what it is about her legs but they are shaped really adorable. She has a little bit of chubbiness in the thigh that indents down to the knee and then curved down for the calf to the feet. Her feet are slimmer and longer but American Girl shoes would swim on her. I'll have to try maybe another slim 18" shoe on her, maybe Carpatina?

Measurements:

Feet: 2.75" x 1.25" wide

Leg Length: 9"

Calf: 4.75"

Thigh: 5.75"

Arm Length to fingertip: 7.25"

Sleeve Length: 6"

Bicep: 3.5"

Wrist: 3"

Hip: 11"

Waist: 10"

Chest: 11.25"

Neck: 5"

Head Size: 10.5" (Wig Size 10-11")

Eye Size: TBD

Eye Type: Stationary

My overall opinion is that this is a very quality made doll. She is strung, which means she is repairable if a child tugs too hard, and an all vinyl body means she's easy to clean when dirty. Her ballet costume is very beautiful, Tonner did great work on it, it's just what I would want if looking for a ballerina doll. It has beaded and sequin detail, fluffy pink tulle and ornate lace. She had a matching pink tulle hair accessory and a brush that came with her. She has full tights and the costume was lined. My only complaint is the shoes.

They are pretty made of a pink velveteen and decorated with beaded and sequin lace flowers, but mostly it's paper on the bottom sole. The person who previously had this doll didn't damage the shoes, but I could see in the hands of a child those shoes getting crushed or wet and then they would be a gonner. I have a love hate relationship with bows on ballet shoes. Mostly they are done with ribbon, but it is almost impossible to lace them up the leg and have them stay there. These are the same, once I criss crossed to the end and tied the bow, it just sunk to her ankle in a pile. She's a wigged doll. Her hair was rather dry, almost reminded me of a 90's Kirsten with dry hair, but wig replacement was easy and fast to a newer wig, so very easy to restore.