American Girl through the years

Hey! Today I will be talking about the changes to the American Girl dolls body through the years. In 1986 the dolls Molly, Kirsten, and Samantha were released with plain white, cotton torsos with thick white shoelaces for neck strings, these were manufactured in Germany. For a limited time, for an extra 10$ you could choose to get a signed doll, Which go for astronomical  prices on eBay. The first change made to the dolls was sometime in 1991 with the release of Felicity Merriman. Due to the low-cut necklines of her clothes, she would look weird with a white body. (If you know when Felicity was released, feel free to tell me! this would really help my blog if you tell me something I missed in a post) The cloth of Felicity's body was a dark tan, as with most dolls released through 2000.  
In 2000, when the company's were changing from Pleasant Company factories to Mattel, some manufacturing defects are present from 2000 dolls to 2003 dolls, such as Green/Grey/Pale skin, Made in China for "American Gril" tags, or wonky eye placement. American Girl will fix these free at their Doll Hospital (except for Lindsey), all you have to pay for is shipping there. ($7.95 U.S) Along with those bad things, there are also good things, such as the internal body tag, which tells you the year AND month your doll was made from 2000-2009. But in these years, some dolls were returned from the doll hospital and SOLD with zip ties. Due to fan Backlash, dolls were again sold with the infamous neck strings. Things were going pretty smoothly for AG until 2016, when Lea Clark got a sewn off zip tie. A sewn off zip tie is like a doll with a zip tie, but instead of the end poking out, the fabric "tunnel" is pulled over it and sewn closed. This puts an end to customization and neck posing... or does it? you could cut the thread holding it closed, cut the zip tie , and put in neck strings, but with this years GOTY Gabriela McBride, it is more professionally sewn closed.
The most recent changes to the cloth body are a thinner, smoother material, and... perma-panties. People fought long and hard with Mattel, and even started a petition, and Mattel listened. They stopped the perma-panties, to many peoples delight. I hope you found this useful, and if you still have a question, feel free to ask! It can be anything (within the world of dolls) and I am pretty good at basically anything Barbie and American Girl, so feel free to ask away!        'til next time     - JCole

#1 Ponytail Reproduction

Hello! Today we will be talking about the 1990's reproduction of the original 1959 teenage fashion model (Barbie). I think they did a pretty good job, considering it was the first reproduction Mattel had made. She features the iconic Zebra swimsuit Barbie debuted in, white cat-eye sunglasses with blue lenses and black open-toed heels. I was never very clear about those, as the original shoes had holes in the bottom to go with the holes in the feet for the stand (below) where the reproduction legs have the holes, but they are hollow, but do the repro shoes? I found this funny, the box said: not intended for use with original 1959 stand.

This reproduction was available in 2 hair colors, Blonde or Brunette, as the original did. The doll came with the accessories I mentioned earlier, plus a Genuine Barbie reproduction tag like the original did (but the original didn't say reproduction) and a reproduction box and booklet (the original booklet showed off other outfits you could buy for Barbie). There was also a gift set that came with Easter Parade and Roman Holiday.  'Til Next time!  - JCole

American Girl Doll Hospital Info

Hello again! Today I will be talking about the American Girl Doll Hospital. The Doll Hospital was opened by Pleasant Company in 1988 or 1986, I've heard both. Originally, they sent your doll back repaired, but nude. After about two years, the doll was returned with a hospital gown, certificate of good health, and a get well soon balloon. Later, the gown was changed and a band-aid sticker was added. The hospital gown has changed 3 times, though the accessories have been added to and taken away from several times over the years. (gown 1 shown right)

Hospital gown 2 (shown below)

Hospital gown 3 (shown right)



Dolls accepted at the Doll Hospital are 18", Bitty Baby, Bitty Twins, and Wellie Wishers. the first 2 gowns tied in the back, while the current one has Velcro tabs. Now I will state what the current prices are for dolls (U.S currency)
New Head/Body 18" 44$ Bitty's 22$
New Torso/Limbs 18" 34$
Eye Replacement 18" 18$ Bitty's 18$
Reattachment of Head/Limbs 18" 32$ Bitty's 16$  Wellness visit 18" 28$ Bitty's 18$ 
Wellie Wishers: Wellness visit 18$ Head and Body (New Doll due to Doll body) 44$
 I hope you found this useful. Canadian prices http://www.americangirl.com/wcsstore/AG/images/CustomerService/DollHospital/DollHospitalCanada.pdf
US prices http://www.americangirl.com/wcsstore/AG/images/CustomerService/DollHospital/DollHospitalUSA.pdf   'Til next time!
 - JCole       (this post was created on a computer so, Blue: 1, Purple: 2, Pink: 3 and if doll was sent in for perma-panties, they will come with a see-through lilac gown with pink heart and is knotted in the back, exposing the underwear)

Welcome to my blog!

Hello! This is my blog. Here I will be posting about dolls mostly (if not completely). I will talk about new releases, comparisons, and doll related stuff (such as the American Girl Doll Hospital, customer service, etc.) and possibly hauls. Occasionally I may post videos at a thrift store, or store in general, or photos of a find or a doll fixer-upper. Well, this is my blog, more posts coming soon. 

                                                        'Til next time!
                                                                         - JCole