Another My Twinn Update and Some Random Things

I've been making a bit of progress in clearing out my dolls.  So far, I've focused mostly on larger play dolls because they take up a lot of space.  It's really hard to figure out who to keep and who to sell, though.  They all seem to be special to me for one reason or another.

So far, the dolls in this size range who are the most difficult for me to think about selling are the My Twinns.  This is partly because I had so much fun fixing several of them up (the My Twinn Project series was one of my favorite things to write about on this blog) but also because I'm really impressed with the quality and charm of the older Denver dolls.  I love the diversity of face molds, the poseable bodies, and of course the beautiful eyes.

Today, I'll mostly be catching you up on what I've been doing with a few My Twinn dolls, but I also have two other tangentially-related things to chat about briefly.  I'll start by tying up a loose end.  Do you remember the girl I showed you at the very end of the My Twinn Project?  She's a bedraggled Denver-era Caitie doll who I re-named Phoebe:

Well-loved My Twinn Caitie doll from the Denver era.

Extra Special Dolls

There has been a lot of talk lately about the new Girl of the Year from American Girl.  Isabelle is a fair-skinned, blonde, hazel-eyed ballerina who likes to design clothing.  There's certainly nothing wrong with any of these traits (or with the doll--she's very cute), but there's also nothing at all exciting or new about Isabelle.  At first glance, she seems an awful lot like McKenna.  As a consumer, this doesn't bother me.  Since I only have one American Girl doll, I'm not relying on the Girl of the Year to add something new to my collection.  As an impassioned observer of the doll world, however, Isabelle is disappointing.  The Girl of the Year series seems like a wonderful opportunity to introduce a character that is surprising, timely or unique in some way.  Mattel could have done something to represent the incredible diversity of this country--while keeping the popular ballet theme.  I mean, just watch the wonderful documentary, First Position, and pick almost any of those amazing young women as an inspiration.

Anyway, I am bringing up this topic not because I want to upset people or spark a debate, but simply because I want to draw a contrast and explain my rationale for this review.  Discussions about the lack of diversity in the Girl of the Year series made me think about doll diversity on a larger scale.  This thought process led me to discover a new 18 inch play doll that represents a minority I have never seen portrayed in the doll world before.

Meet Gracie, a doll designed to resemble a child with Down syndrome:

"Grace" by Extra Special Dolls.