First, she's wearing the TM #61 wig:
Playing with Evette and all these red wigs have been a lot of fun. I was de-wigging a doll for someone today, and it turned out to be a TM #61 (which has a long red wig) -- making a perfect opportunity to compare that wig with the long red wig from Girl of the Year Blaire Wilson. I thought that #61 was slightly longer, but it's actually not. In fact, these wigs look to be the exact same. Allowing for having been made for different dolls, they really look the same! In these two photos (taken with camera flash, which is why the color is a bit funky), Blaire's wig is on the left and #61's wig is on the right. And to show how similar they are on a doll, here is Evette modelling both of them. First, she's wearing the TM #61 wig: And now some photos of Evette wearing the Blaire wig: I know that my Blaire wig has never been brushed (just released from the original hair style), and I'm pretty sure that this #61 wig has never been brushed either! I would recommend either wig.
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Next up in the continuing fun with the new World By Us doll trio are some photos showing Evette modelling a variety of wigs. She's the classic/normal medium vinyl skin tone (#20 in CYO generator), so she can really wear a variety of hair colors -- especially since this medium tone seems to have changed a bit in the last couple of years (more on that later). We've been dealing with a broken lawn mower, so it's taken a lot more time to get these photos done than I thought. However, Evette is finally getting a chance to show off her cuteness (and a lot more photos were also added to Maritza's wig slideshow)! This is one amazing doll! I totally did not expect to be so crazy about her -- complete with original wig. In fact, the cutie above is staying here just as she is. We decided to keep a second Evette for customizing, and she did a great job modelling for all the wig photos below. This doll looks amazing in everything! A few photos and thoughts on Evette's original wig before moving on to other options -- This is a very nice wig. Unlike the AG wigs from TM #44 or #26, or Gabriela or the CYO "medium tight/natural curly" option, this is a soft wig. It does not feel coated or hard in any way. While it photographs to look curly, it's really more like a perm. They're not ringlets at all. I haven't done anything to the original wig yet, so I'm not sure on the level of care needed. The color is the golden dark blonde two-tone of GOTY Lea's hair (with Evette having just a few more highlights). AG listed this as Caramel, which matches the wig of TM #81. Yes, that dark blonde/caramel color is the base, but this has the more highlighted two-tone look of Lea. Here are some photos in this slideshow that (hopefully) show the highlights and style of this wig. There are comparisons of Evette's wig to Lea's wig -- taken with and without flash, since it's hard to capture the amazingly beautiful color. (If the doll is wearing a grey/black striped sleeveless shirt, it's an Evette doll. If it's wearing Lea's dress, then it's a custom #82 with Lea's eyes and wig.) Something that I noticed about Evette while trying wigs on was the difference in her skin tone. She's sold and listed by AG as having the #20-tone classic/normal medium tone that has been used on dolls like Josefina, TM #26, Lea, Luciana, etc. What has surprised me since opening these three World By Us dolls, though, is that it's very hard to photograph her appearing with that tone. Well, when I tried on the red wigs, I realized that something was different. She looked very good in the red wigs, which is unusual for most AG dolls (it can be hard to get the tones matched well for the dark red wigs). That prompted me to pull out another #20-tone medium doll to compare. Photos here show Evette with my Bethany (a 2016 TM #62 head on a Lea body). In order for the camera to pick up the tonal difference, I have them both wearing dark red CYO wigs. Note how much redder and darker in tone Bethany (right) is from Evette. And these two dolls are sold as the same skin tone. I pulled out the Nanea doll that we purchased in May 2021 to compare, and it does seem as if the #20-tone medium skin vinyl has changed in tone this year. It's definitely lighter than previous dolls and with less red in it. This means that these dolls actually wear the lighter wig colors very well -- but in the same way, they look much paler in the dark wigs than I'm used to when modelling on a medium-tone doll. Okay, now it's on to the fun stuff -- wig photos! (If you've never changed wigs on a doll, now is a great time to start. It's addictive, and you'll never look at a doll the same way again.) I've got a LOT of photos showing Evette modelling various wigs, now uploaded into a slideshow album on the Customizing with Wigs page here (scroll about 3/4 of the way down the page, she's the 17th slideshow). But here are a few samples of the different wigs included on the wig page . . . TM #27 Wig Knock-off Nellie Wig CYO Dark Red "Medium Tight/Natural Curly" Wig Girl of the Year Grace Wig AG Ruthie Wig TM #82 Wig I hope these photos are helpful, and be sure to check out the Wig Photos page to more. If you have any questions, don't hesitate to send them via the contact form or leave a comment on this entry.
Stay tuned for more fun with the World By Us dolls! Photos coming showing some fun customizing options using the three World By Us wigs. A quick addition to the previous posts about Maritza -- Sis is keeping the Maritza doll we've used in all the photos so far, and we were actually planning on keeping a second one that we brought home (Sis was having trouble picking out which one she wanted, because a Columbus store employee was so rude while we were there) to use them for Jill and Silver. This first Maritza came with a bit of an unstuffed shoulder, causing a head tilt. No big deal, because Sis has fixed a lot of those, and this was the face she really liked. Well, she decided to fix the stuffing in hers while I unboxed and dewigged the second. I took the second one out of her box and undressed it and noticed that it's body is so crooked that the shoulders were facing off to the side when the feet and head look straight ahead. At the same time, Sis got the stuffing fixed up in hers, and it now has the same exact body issue. They are quite crooked, and Sis found where the sewn seams are actually cut and sewn crooked on the body. We've got an extra medium-skin torso, so she's going to string her doll onto that. We actually brought home three Maritza dolls (one of whom is staying), and all three have this issue. We plan on returning the second doll as a defect next time we go back to Columbus. I would definitely unbox a Maritza at the store, if possible, because for all three of these to have the same exact defect in the body means there was a production issue somewhere. The photo above shows the doll when her head and feet face straight ahead to the camera. And this photo shows the doll when her shoulders are positioned to face the camera (which shows how her feet and head then face to the side). Click images above to view at full size. The two photos above show the crooked body seam and how the hips and shoulders are not even when the body is fully stuffed. Now for one more quick note about Marita's head when compared to a Joss doll -- This turned out to be very interesting! I was playing around with Jill and Silver's wigs on Maritza's head and noticed that the trimmed Joss wig did not fit on quite the same way. Not only did it feel a bit smaller (which I attributed to the glue residue on the stretchy part of the wig cap), but the trim appeared quite a bit shorter on Maritza than on Joss. As it turns out, the Joss face mold used on Maritza was definitely enlarged from the original Joss head. I hadn't noticed it really, because the only thing that I measured were the eye sockets -- which are the same, really. But the back of the head even changed shape from Joss to Maritza. Notice the size different in these photos. The head is longer and wider. The hearing aid from Joss did fit, but it's interesting that wigs are very different from one head to the other. The Joss dolls have much more of the Marie-Grace look about them, mixed with Josefina. This new Joss-mold used on Maritza (while still being the same face) definitely has a more Josefina feel to it. I would guess that they needed a larger head to support the very long full wig of Maritza, because the smaller heads like Joss, MG and Nanea don't always wear the larger wigs well.
Maritza does not need a new wig size, though -- the usual 10-11" AG size fits perfectly. She actually feels like re-wigging a Josefina doll, so anything that you would put on a Josefina doll would fit her without a problem. I have an untrimmed Joss wig (which is what I used for the photos modelling the hearing aid) that came off with virtually no glue residue at all. It stretched to fit onto Maritza without an noticeable difference. However, the one trimmed wig that I was playing with has a decent amount of glue residue on it, and between that and the fact that the hair is short, I noticed that something was up with the size of the head. I would say that Joss' head is more in line with re-wigging a Marie-Grace, Nanea or Sonali head. Maritza is more comparable to re-wigging a Josefina or Classic head. Stay tuned for more World By Us photos. Pics of Evette coming soon! Currently, we have all the AG face molds (except for JLY #4), so here are some photos showing the new Makena face mold with the others. I included the #77 (modified Addy boy mold) but none of the other boys. If anyone would like to see Makena with the other boys, just let me know via a comment here. There are comments comparing mold features and photos of wigless heads in the previous entry. Also, be sure to check out the extra photos at the end of this entry showing Makena with a variety of Addy-mold dolls (some in all the different dark skin tones). Another quick reminder that Makena is the newest dark skin tone. Sometimes, the camera has trouble staying true to the darker colors, so a few of these aren't quite exactly as seen in real life. I'm starting with the photo of Makena standing with a customized Nanea doll, because the color there is extremely good. A lot of the dolls shown here have been customized, so I'm just putting a title above the photos that says which face mold is standing with Makena. Classic Face MoldJosefina Face MoldAddy Face MoldJess Face MoldKaya Face MoldSonali Face MoldMarie-Grace Face MoldTM #77 (Modified Addy Boy Mold)Nanea Face MoldJoss Face MoldAnd these are some bonus photos showing Makena with several different Addy-mold dolls! The doll in the striped shirt is a TM #85. The doll in the seafoam green sleeveless top is an Anniversary Addy wearing a black CYO wig. The doll in Lea's Meet dress is a BeForever Addy with #77's wig. Stay tuned from some Maritza and Evette photos -- hoping to start posting them later today!
Finally, here's the last installment of the skin-tone comparisons! This follows the previous Dark Vinyl Tone Comparison and the Light Vinyl Tone Comparison blog entries. Until three years ago, AG offered five skin tones -- light, medium, dark and two unique "dark" tones only available on Kaya and Beforever Addy dolls. Then, three more tones were released in Summer 2018. There is now a very light (available on a variety of dolls, including Blaire, #81, #83 and #88), a new medium (TM #79 and #82) and the new dark of (TM #80, #85 and #91). World By Us Dolls: Maritza - 25 Tone (new medium) Evette - 20 Tone (old medium) Makena - 35 Tone (new very dark) Six of the tones (not including Kaya and Beforever Addy) are available as options in the AG CYO Create Your Own doll generator, and sorting out which is which can be very tricky. Here's a chart to show which option is which. When deciding on a doll it can be hard to pick between all the options, so let's compare the medium skin tones available on AG dolls. Being vinyl, the tone has changed over the years due to factory and manufacturing differences -- not to mention aging differently and changing hues in the process. This can vary from doll to doll and conditions the doll has endured. The image below shows a line of dolls representing all the different medium tones (either intentionally different or tones which have now aged to their own hue). I've also included a Kaya doll for comparison in the line. While Kaya is considered a dark tone, it's really in between the medium and dark tones -- so, this illustrates where that falls. First image was taken with a flash: And this second image was taken without a flash: Left to Right (name of doll shown in parentheses):
It's interesting to see how different some of the tones have aged, making a difference in production date a big deal if you're looking at customizing. The rewigged #28 and #26 dolls above are both on bodies with the #2008 body tags and were only purchased a year or two apart. However, the #26 has lost a lot of her red tones and now has a very "Care au Lait" complexion. The amount of fading certainly depends on each doll, so when you're customizing be sure to pay attention to the age of the doll you're using and your preference in tone. Different tones will look more stunning with different shades of eye color and hair color. The new medium is #25-tone in the CYO generator. While this implies that it's darker than the classic medium (#20-tone), it's actually visually lighter. After comparing it to so many different dolls, it is definitely a unique tone and not like any of the others we've had. Personally, I don't care for it. It gives a real "tanning bed" feel when seen with other dolls and is a bit too "in between" the classic light and medium tones. If you're looking for a "sun tanned" look, then this is good. I'm including comparison photos at the bottom of this entry showing the #82 with a Ruthie doll and a new 10-tone light skin CYO doll. You can see that this new medium looks rather like the 10-tone with a sun tan. I used a Luciana wig on the #82 doll for these photos, because the dark hair helps the camera capture the skin tone. I'll be working on adding pictures of her in the "Customizing with Wigs" section to show her with various hair colors. Her skin tone is very reddish, which makes for an odd like (in my opinion) when combined with the olive under-tones of AG's brown-haired wigs. Different hair tones definitely affect this vinyl tone. To help compare certain dolls, here are some photos showing the new medium tone of TM #82 with other dolls close-up. For the purpose of illustrating how very difficult it is to judge the tone of a doll from photos, I'm including each photo twice -- taken once with a flash and once without. Notice what a huge difference it has in some cases!
AGOT #11 and TM #82 (customized)Click on images to enlarge. Comparing these images on my monitor to the dolls, the red tones in the vinyl are truer in the photos taken with flash (top two). However, the differences seen in the photos without flash are more of what your eye sees in the natural light. JLY #28 (rewigged) and TM #82 (customized)Click on images to enlarge. Comparing these photos on my monitor to the real dolls, it's hard to pick the best. The medium tones definitely vary from room to room, depending on the type of lighting, etc. Color tones are probably truest with the flash. JLY #26 (rewigged) and TM #82 (customized)Click on images to enlarge. This was a tough one. The photos with flash are truer to the color tones, and practically perfect for #82 -- however, the "Cafe au Lait" tone of the #26 doesn't show as washed out as it appears to the eye. But the tonal difference between the two dolls shows pretty well. TM #62 (customized) and TM #82 (customized)Click on images to enlarge. Comparing the photos to the real dolls, the tone in the full-body shot is truer without flash, though the close-up on the arms is better with flash. I'm including the following face shot which is very true, just showing the #82 slightly darker than she appears in real life. Nanea (rewigged) and TM #82 (customized)Click on images to enlarge. This was definitely a hard one to get the color tones to show up on. (It probably didn't help that Nanea is wearing such an orange outfit, since that makes her appear rosier than normal.) The color is very true in the photo showing the dolls' arms taken with a flash. Kaya (rewigged) and TM #82 (customized)Click on images to enlarge. While the red under tones are truer in the flash photos here, the general feeling and look seems better in the photos without flash. Ruthie and TM #82 (customized)Click on images to enlarge. This compares the new medium tone to the older Mattel classic light skin tone. I would say that the photos taken without flash are generally truer in this case. As a bonus, here's a close-up that really shows both dolls quite well. It's interesting to note that the new medium tone seems to cause the #10-tone light skin to appear a bit greenish. Obviously a visual thing, because this is a very rosy doll. CYO (10-tone Light Skin) and TM #82 (customized)Click on images to enlarge. And these images show the new medium tone with a normal light (10-tone) skin CYO doll. The color differences really show up better on this pair in the photos without flash. And here's a face shot that is very true to their looks in real life. I hope this helps when choosing your doll, whether you're customizing an older doll or picking out a CYO doll. Feel free to post any questions as a comment here.
Since so many of you have appreciated the blog post from last year which compared the dark vinyl tones of AG dolls, I've had a lot of requests for the same type of entry for the light and medium tones. So . . . here is a comparison of some light vinyl tones. Medium tones can now be seen here. Until three years ago, AG offered five skin tones -- light, medium, dark and two unique "dark" tones only available on Kaya and Beforever Addy dolls. Then, three more tones were released in Summer 2018. There is now a very light (available on a variety of dolls, including Blaire, #81, #83 and #88), a new medium (TM #79 and #82) and the new dark of (TM #80, #85 and #91). Six of the tones (not including Kaya and Beforever Addy) are available as options in the AG CYO doll generator, and sorting out which is which can be very tricky. Here's a chart to show which option is which. When deciding on a doll it can be hard to pick between all the options, so I hope the photos here will help out. I decided not to feature a lot of older dolls, because (being vinyl) the tone has changed over the years due to factory and manufacturing differences -- not to mention aging differently and changing hues in the process. There are a lot of choices out there when it comes to the #10 light skin tone, and the light dolls aged at slightly different tones. This comparison will feature dolls dating from 2014 and forward. There are two acknowledged light skin vinyl tones, but first -- a quick note on that. The first doll to be released as having the "05" light tone was TM #74, one of the boy dolls. He's still listed that way, but his tone definitely does not match the "05" girl dolls available in the Truly Me or character lines -- or the "05" dolls produced in the Create Your Own (aka CYO) line. That said, some of the photos below will compare all three options. The image above shows a line of dolls representing different light tones as follows: Left to right (name of doll shown in parentheses):
In our experience (having handled hundreds of AG dolls), the light skin tone dating before 2014 has aged in a variety of ways, though usually with a loss of the red tones. You can see a bit of that already happening with the customized 2014 Julie doll in the line-up above. While she has a very nice, creamy tone -- compared to the newer dolls, you can already see some of the red disappearing. This is something to keep in mind when you're customizing, because the different tones lend themselves (or not) to certain hair colors. There's also been quite a change in quality/type of vinyl used on these dolls, and that may well have quite a bit to do with the variety in tone. [Random Note: It doesn't appear that the shade of the eyelids change when you purchase either of these light skin tones. Each one that we've compared appears the same. We thought there may have been a slight difference in the eyelids of GOTY Blaire, but the 05-tone CYO dolls have the same lids as the 10-tone CYOs.] To help compare the tones, here are some photos showing closer shots. It's very difficult to get the variances of tone to show correctly in photos, but on my screen these came out pretty close. I did have to use a flash, which makes the dolls' eyes look a bit strange sometimes!
Customized TM #74, CYO (10 tone) and CYO (05 tone)Customized Joss, Customized TM #74 and CYO (05 tone)Customized TM #74 and CYO (05 tone)While both of these dolls are classified as the 05 one by AG, they're definitely different. We have three TM #74 dolls, and we've had five different CYO/TM/Character dolls with the 05 tone -- and all the #74s have their own unique tone when compared to any of the other 05-tone dolls. The #74 has a rosier, "peachier" tone that's not quite so pale. It's also interesting to note that the #74 dolls have a bit of color in their cheeks. Not one of the 05-tone dolls (being Blaire, #81 and CYOs) that we've had over the past couple of years have had enough cheek paint to even mention. They also have a very different lip paint color than any other AG dolls. You can see the tonal different here in their arms. The 05-tone of the CYO doll lacks the rosy undertones of the TM #74. And a few notes here about photographing these tones that may help you in your decision -- When the 05-tone was first released, it seemed like a great thing to me, and I couldn't wait to have a doll with it. Being partial to red haired dolls, this seemed great, because some of the older AG dolls (who have lost the red tones due to age) can look pretty green when you put a red wig on them. N.B. Case in point, I tried to customize a Rebecca (dating from about 2010) with a red CYO wig, and that doll just looked green no matter what we did. So, there I was "needing" a good option for a red-head doll, and the release of GOTY Blaire seemed like the perfect answer. We then added TM #81 to the crew, etc. Over the years there have been several 05-tone dolls here, and it's interesting that this subject has come up so much in messages to me over the past couple of months -- because I decided earlier this year that I just didn't care for the 05-tone, aside from the rosier hue of TM #74. My reason being that the extreme paleness and lack of a rosy hue (not to mention the lack of cheek paint) makes them quite tricky to photograph with other dolls. If you light it so that the 05-tone doll looks beautiful, then the 10-tone dolls look odd. And it works the same the other way. Doing the photos for last year's Wool Week made it very obvious to me that I don't care for the mix. In the photo below, you can see customized TM #81 and Blaire (05-tones) on each side of a Maryellen (10-tone), and the 05-tones end up with a bit of a washed out look, while the Maryellen starts to have a greenish tint about her (only in photos, she's got a gorgeous complexion in real life). And in the following photos, you can see a similar problem. In real life, the difference is not so remarkable, because we're used to seeing differences in colors and shading. But it makes photographing very difficult, and neither doll ends up looking her best. That said, if you're photographing two 05-tone dolls together, without adding other tones in, they can look great -- as evidenced by the following couple of photos: But then again, the lack of any rosy color (as well as cheek paint) can really make these girls hard to get in a good light -- as can be seen by this photo, which really shows the lack of rosy hues. And if you're really wanting the dark red wigs, it's possible to get a good match with the 10-tone vinyl -- just stick away from the much older dolls who have faded. Here are a couple samples of 10-tone dolls wearing CYO dark red wigs . . . Well, I hope that this helps you decide what tone is the perfect choice for the doll you're planning -- whether it's a customizing project or a CYO order. If anyone has questions, don't hesitate to send a message through the contact form or leave a comment on this entry. Thanks!
Well, I decided to take the AG Rewards certificate this month to pick out another Nanea doll. I'd like it to appear in blog stories as some various "friend" dolls, so it'll wear a couple different wigs depending on who I need it to be in the photo story. But a big bonus here is the idea that I'll have a "spare" one . . . just in case the unthinkable should ever happen to my favorite doll!! It didn't take long to pick out one that looked about as similar as you can get when choosing a doll three years later, etc. Here are pictures of them both in the same exact outfit. I've been working at uploading a bunch more photos on the 'Customizing with Wigs' photo gallery page, so decided to use the new Nanea today for some photos. Here she is trying several different styles. This is the CYO black "medium curly with bangs" that is in the photos above: A Ruthie wig: Anniversary Addy wig: CYO dark brown "medium wavy" wig: CYO dark brown "medium straight with bangs" wig: JLY #30 wig: TM #66 wig: Unknown 12/13" wig that is usually on Mom's Nautilus (custom #77):
After a bit of waiting on FedEx, Mom's new 35th Anniversary Addy doll has arrived! This was a fun set of photos to take, because Addy was my very first American Girl doll back in 1995. My original Addy doesn't get many chances to pose for photos these days, so she was excited to volunteer for this review. While we did order a couple of Anniversary Addy dolls in order to have multiples to choose from, we hadn't planned on ending up with quite this many. Due to a shipping mess up, we ended up with six of them! Here they are in their boxes and PC Addy saying 'hello': When you see them all lined up like this, they look remarkably similar -- but to anyone who likes to pay attention to every little detail when picking a doll (we tend to analyze everything), there were a lot of cute choices here with various personalities. Here are close-ups of each doll, going from left to right. Because of the boxes, I had to use the flash, so that makes the appearance a little harsh. Unboxing the DollThis is a close-up of the doll that my Mom chose to keep. Can you figure out which one of the dolls above she chose? The slideshow of photos above shows the unboxing process, as well as all-around photos of Addy in her meet dress and nude. She has the good quality eyes (clear posts), body fabric and even neck strings! While the strings are a bit short compared to the original Pleasant Company strings, they are a very nice quality soft cord. Her body tag is the 2017 version. Later in this entry, there will be photos specifically comparing her meet outfit to the 1995 PC version. Book, Bonnet and AccessoriesI never had Addy's accessories from the 1990s, so I'm not able to compare those. However, I tried to take a lot of pictures of the bonnet (in particular) for others to use as comparison. It seems very nice and fits the doll well. The tie ribbon is a thin cotton fabric. A sheet of foam comes inside the bonnet to protect the doll's hair while in the box. The slideshow below shows many images of the book as well. The gourd is plastic, as is the shell necklace. 1995 PC Addy vs. 35th Anniversary AddyNow it's time to move on to the two sweet dolls here! In the comparison photos below, 1995 PC Addy is always on the left, while Anniversary Addy is on the right. My PC Addy was ordered in Summer 1995. She's still wearing her orignal hair style (though the net has been replaced) and her complete meet -- now slightly faded with time. Anniversary Addy definitely has her own unique skin tone which appears to be Mattel's very successful effort to simulate the vinyl tone of the old PC Addy dolls. While it's not exactly the same, it's very similar. It's redder and darker in tone than the classic AG dark vinyl (think Melody or TM #58, etc.), but not as deep as the new dark tone available on CYO dolls, TM #80 or 85. It's always difficult to get accurate photos of vinyl tones, but here are multiple shots of the two dolls that will, hopefully, show the difference. The first and third photos above are taken without a camera flash. They show the general tone well, but the red is drained a bit. The second and fourth photos are taken with a camera flash, and while the dolls appear darker than when seen in real life, the red tones are more visible. Anniversary Addy has the new modified Addy face mold, so I tried to capture some close-ups to show the difference that gives. Personally, I think both dolls are precious while being very different. First is PC Addy, second picture is Anniversary Addy. PC Addy has the old "light brown" eye color (same as the original AGOT #18 dolls), while Anniversary Addy has the current dark brown pinwheel eyes. The mouth area is quite different in both mold style and paint (though PC Addy's face paint has mostly faded now over the years). The teeth on Anniversary Addy are definitely larger than the PC mold. [Note: This photo makes Anniversary Addy's face look very round, but it's definitely on the thin side. In fact, all six of the Anniversary dolls we have here are very thin-faced dolls.] Both dolls have the non-removable gold hoop earrings. Anniversary Addy's earrings seem to be slightly larger than PC Addy's, and they do not come up quite as close behind the ear. Color is pretty much the exact same. While the hairstyle is similar, I am guessing that Anniversary Addy looks more like the early Mattel Addy dolls, because her braid is a lower braid that is more folded up in the back than tucked into a tighter, shorter bun like PC Addy's hair. It's also interesting that Anniversary Addy's braid is done in a way that leaves the hair along the front of her face much flatter against the head than either PC or Beforever Addy (whose hairstyles pull the hair up from the temples). This give Anniversary Addy a completely different look that resembles Josefina from the front. It quite suits the texture of the new wig. There is quite a difference in hair texture between the two dolls. PC Addy's hair is much coarser with a very noticeable textured effect. It feels a bit drier than I remember it being in the 1990s, but it was never soft hair. Anniversary Addy has slightly darker, shiner hair (though the color difference may be due to some age fading, not sure) that is definitely not as coarse or textured. This is soft like the textured hair of TM #80 and the newer dolls. It almost looks a bit softer than BeForever Addy's hair. Comparing Meet OutfitsThe meet outfit on Anniversary Addy looks so precious, and I'm rather partial to this particular outfit anyway. However, there are quite a few differences, if you're specifically wanting a Pleasant Company style outfit. The dress on Anniversary Addy is slightly longer than PC Addy, so you don't see the lace edging on the bloomers peeking below the hemline like you do on the original. While the dress itself is not skimpy in the least and fits the new Addy very well, it certainly is not the size of PC Addy's original. Now, my 1995 Addy is a real tank, so it's not surprising that the new dress doesn't fit her -- it may fit some PC dolls, but I wouldn't necessarily count on it. The fabric design and feel is as close to a perfect match as you can get. My PC Addy's dress is slightly faded with time, but the color would have been an exact match. Design is the same. Also, the buttons down the front appear the same, as do the velcro closures on the back of the dress and the cuffs. The bloomers are very similar. Photos in the slideshow above show both pairs front and back, as well as showing close-ups of the waistbands and the lace trim on the bottom of the legs. The waistband is a Princess-style non-elastic front with elastic at the back. Anniversary Addy's bloomers are quite a bit smaller than the old PC style. The lace trim on the leg bottoms is practically the very same on both. The black socks are the extra-tall above-the-knee style and remarkably similar. The only different is at the top of the sock, but the elasticity has stretched out of PC Addy's original socks, so they were probably pretty similar back in 1995. The boots on Anniversary Addy give the same general "feel", but they are quite different from the original pair. All of the photos in the slideshow above show the PC boot(s) on the left and Anniversary on the right. The vinyl of the boot is a very similar thickness and feel, though the newer boots almost appear to the eye as a dark navy blue, rather than the very black tone of the PC pair. I think the new boots would be accurately described as a "blue black". The laces on PC Addy's boots are about half-again as long as the new ones, and the lace wholes have grommets rather than the new embroidered holes of the Anniversary edition. For design and solde differences, I think the photos do a pretty good job. The new boots are quite a bit shorter than the old Pleasant Company boots. I was able to put the new ones onto PC Addy's foot with the knee sock on, but it only just managed to fit. Vinyl Skin Tone ComparisonsTo end the comparisons, here are some photos showing Anniversary Addy's skin tone compared to PC Addy and other dark AG dolls. While it's definitely a unique skin tone, it is almost like a cross between the two dark tones offered by American Girl right now. The photo above shows PC Addy (left) and Anniversary Addy (right) in natural light. They're a very similar tone, though my PC Addy is slightly lighter. The natural lighting does not do full justice to the tones, though, as the red is not really showing fully. This photo shows the same arms under the camera flash, which is perhaps a little truer to the slight difference despite being washed out in tone. And the slideshow above shows comparison (with and without camera flash) between TM #85 (left) and Anniversary Addy (right). They are very similar in tone. Depending on the lighting, they can look almost the same -- however, TM #85 is certainly redder in tone than Addy. She also has darker, browner lip paint -- where Addy's is lighter and more on the red side. An interesting note here is Anniversary Addy's eyelids. They are the color used on TM #85, so while they are not a bad match, they certainly are not a perfect one -- being on the red side as seen above. Compared to Beforever Addy's uniquely reddish tone (personally, one of my favorite Addy types), this new Addy is much more on the classic dark brown side. When the two stand side-by-side you get the feeling that Anniversary Addy is almost lacking in the red tones, though the following photos will show that it's just a visual thing. The first three pictures in the slideshow above are taken without a flash and are pretty true to color. The last three have flash and do a better job of showing the difference in red undertones. Another small note here -- we have two Beforever Addy dolls, and their eye sockets are definitely smaller than the sockets on Anniversary Addy or TM #85. And to finish up, here are a couple of shots showing a variety of AG Addy-mold dark skin dolls. This really helps to see the differences between the various tones. Top photo taken without flash, bottom one taken with flash. Dolls left to right: JLY #1 (c. 2002), TM #85, customized TM #58 with Melody wig (c. 2017), Anniversary Addy, JLY #45 (c. 2010), Beforever Addy, 1995 PC Addy Well, I hope this helps anyone trying to decide which Addy is perfect for them. We were very pleased with Anniversary Addy, and she's definitely a beautiful doll. If you've always dreamed of having an original Pleasant Company Addy doll, then she's not a replacement for that. But if you'd always wanted a beautiful Addy with her original style meet outfit, then she's a perfect choice. It was also interesting to see six of them all at once like this, because there is very little difference between dolls. Quality control on this run seems to be much higher than some other AG dolls.
If anyone has any questions, don't hesitate to contact me through the contact form or by leaving a comment. With the release of Truly Me dolls #80 and #85, it is now possible to choose two different dolls from the case with American Girl's newest dark vinyl tone. Until two years ago, they offered five tones -- light, medium, dark and two unique "dark" tones only available on Kaya and Beforever Addy dolls. Then, three more tones were released in Summer 2018. There is now a very light (available on a variety of dolls, including Blaire, #81 and #88), a new medium (TM #79) and the new dark of #80 and #85. Six of the tones (not including Kaya and Beforever Addy) are available as options in the AG CYO doll generator, and sorting out which is which can be very tricky. Here's a chart to show which option is which. When deciding on a doll it can be hard to pick between all the options, so let's compare the dark skin tones available on AG dolls. Being vinyl, the tone has changed over the years due to factory and manufacturing differences -- not to mention aging differently and changing hues in the process. The image below shows a line of dolls representing all the different dark tones (either intentionally different or tones which have now aged to their own hue). Left to Right (name of doll shown in parentheses):
It's interesting to see how different some of the tones have aged, making a difference in production date a big deal if you're looking at customizing. Melody and Sonali are technically the same exact skin tone! But just look at what a difference there is looking at them. The red has certainly faded from Sonali, making a much different tone. Reds seem to fade often from vinyl (and that varies from doll to doll -- someone else may have a Sonali with most of her original red tones in tact), creating some big differences. Just take a look at the JLY #1 from about 2004 and notice how different her tone is! In the collecting world, this complete lack of red is often referred to as "eggplant", with counterparts in the medium (referred to as "Cafe au Lait") and light (often downright a greenish shade) vinyl. Some cases of this, I believe, were considered actual defects by AG. If I had to compare TM #85's skin tone (#35 in the CYO generator) to one of the other dolls, I would say that it is definitely closest to my original 1995 PC Addy. Addy has just lost some of her red over the years, which accounts for the slight difference -- but tonally, the dolls are very close. If you're selecting #30 in the generator, your doll will arrive looking like the Melody in above photos. To help compare certain dolls, here are some photos showing the new dark tone of TM #85 with other dolls close-up. For the purpose of illustrating how very difficult it is to judge the tone of a doll from photos, I'm including each photo twice -- taken once with a flash and once without. Notice what a huge difference it has in some cases!
Sonali, TM #85 and PC AddyComparing the two photos on my monitor, the second photo is truer to the color, though it's enhanced the red tones in TM #85 a bit more than the naked eye notices. Beforever Addy, TM #85 and MelodyThere's a big difference between all of these dolls, and the more realistic color (on my screen) is probably the second photo. If you're customizing and choosing between these three tones, then you want to take the tone of your wig into consideration here. My custom Beforever Addy on the left is wearing a highlighted wig that has a lot of mahogany in it. It looks really cool on her, but when I tried it on a Melody, the combination was terrible -- it made the wig appear almost purple and the doll appear very green. AGOT #18, TM #85 and JLY #1This is an interesting trio, and the JLY #1 has lost so much of her red that she appears to be a totally separate tone -- never mind that she's just a newer version of the same on AGOT #18. On my screen, the more realistic tone for these three is definitely the first photo. Kaya, Melody and TM #85Kaya's tone is very different from anyone else and looks medium when with the dark tones or dark when with the medium tones. The truer picture here on my screen is the first one. Sonali, Melody and TM #85And, finally, the "normal dark" tones of the last decade with the "new dark" tone of TM #85. Sonali definitely lost her reddish tones when compared with Melody who is still very rosy. The second photo here really does a good job of showing the difference between the CYO options of #30 and #35. I hope this helps when choosing your doll, whether you're customizing an older doll or picking out a CYO doll. Feel free to post any questions as a comment here.
[Added September 2021: There is now a similar entry comparing the Light Skin vinyl tones. You can view that by clicking here. And there is a similar entry comparing the Medium Skin vinyl tones. You can view that by clicking here.] Now that I've gotten pictures and blog entries up with comments about Joss' collection and debut, and about the different things to look at when selecting your doll, it's time to get the photos posted of Joss standing beside other American Girl doll face molds. I realized that I missed taking her with a Jess mold -- argh! But I got all of the other girl face molds. We do have Jess mold dolls and the modified boy faces, so if anyone particularly wants to see that, just leave a comment and ask. Looking at Joss with all the molds, She is definitely a Josefina base with Nanea eye sockets and a Nanea chin and lips (though the lip paint itself is shaded and shaped differently, so it gives some variety). Her ears really just look like modified Josefina ears. She is definitely one of the most photogenic AG dolls I've ever worked with. Where it can be very hard to get the Josefina molds to look right due to angles, this doll looks perfect in almost every snap! The slideshow below shows the various comparison photos, and the photos have captions to mention what doll is with Joss. NB: Joss' eyes do not appear as white in real life as they have photographed in some of these photos. She has the beautiful old-quality brown pinwheel eyes. We are just in a stretch of dark, rainy weather, so getting good photos is very difficult. Ignore the whites of the eyes. :) We also compared some of the hair colours . . . and Joss definitely has Marie-Grace's two-toned brown. Allowing for the production differences (both of our Joss dolls have slightly different highlights, and the four MG wigs we have vary the same way), it's the same hair. The pictures in the slideshow below show hair comparisons with a number of brown-haired dolls. Someone had mentioned to me that the newer American Girl dolls have smaller faces -- GOTY Lea having been the first very noticeable change over. So, Mom and I spent some time and measured some doll faces. What an interesting experiment! We measured from the front of the ear indentation, around the cheek, over the very tip of the nose, around the other cheek and right to the front of the other ear indentation. Here are the results (if the doll is either a thin or round faced variety of the mold, that is noted):
Having compared Joss to other face molds, I thought it'd be interesting to post some more photos of our two Joss dolls together and add a few more notes . . . now that we've had them here for four days. My Mom and sister and I have agreed that we're all surprised how much we really like the Joss face. I definitely like her a LOT more than I thought I would. She gives you a real Marie-Grace impression, and my sister plans to actually replace her MG custom with a Joss custom. The wig on my sister's doll is very nice. Silky, shiny, evenly layered. My doll has one of the craziest wigs you've ever seen. It came with dried ends and the layering was a chopped job that had really long hair on the bottom half and medium hair on the top half. It didn't look like layers at all -- just two different lengths of hair in the same wig. Here's a picture showing them out of the box after twenty-four hours (my doll is on the left). I didn't really care about the wig, as I was choosing the doll for a certain face and the idea of customizing. But this was a pretty bad wig as mentioned already and in the previous blog entry. The ends of the hair looked so bad, that my Mom wanted to give a try at trimming off the bad stuff -- to see if there would be a way to salvage the wig for later use. It's easier to do that while the wig is attached to a doll, so she did it the other night before I was planning on removing the wig. I was totally surprised how much I liked it when she was done! It's a more normal "long hair" length for a little girl, and the dried ends being gone makes it quite cute (the strand of hair that curls down to the front was fine and didn't need any change). I re-did the original hair style in a way that hides the small bare spot over the right ear, and she looks so cute. (Actually, my sister and I were kind of shocked at how much these dolls -- particularly with the trimmed hair -- look like us. We're identical twins, and we actually noticed that the two dolls have the same differences to each other as we do!) Having lived with her this way for almost two days now, we've decided to keep these two dolls as they are (going to trim the hair on my sister's to match mine) and make them twins. The hair colour, eyes, etc., are about as close to us as you could get. Not to mention the sort of "nothingness" about the hair -- being that it isn't straight and it isn't really wavy, which is just like us. Here they are after mine had the trim (she's on the right in these pictures). One other thing to mention here -- Joss looks adorable in glasses! Here she is in a pair of older Sophia's plastic glasses. I haven't tried other varieties on her, because these are so cute. Mine is definitely going to keep this look (the photos in her meet outfit show her before the hair trim). We're hoping to find another Joss towards the end of the month to bring home and customize as a replacement for Elizabeth's MG custom. There will be wig photos coming with the brown eyes, and we're planning on changing her to Saige's blue eyes after.
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