Willa and the WellieWishers from American Girl

I've gotten sidetracked by a lot of different things--good and bad--over the last few weeks and haven't had nearly enough time for dolls.  Most recently, the local high school's fall musical has taken a lot of my attention...in a good way.  Every year I'm awed by the range of talents that teenaged kids possess--not just their skill in singing, acting, dancing and playing instruments, but also their aptitude with the intricacies of set design, lighting effects and sound engineering.  It's amazing to watch.

Anyway, in the midst of this flurry of fall activity, I realized that American Girl had released a new line of play dolls: the WellieWishers.  Before this discovery, I'd been feeling like I was probably done with American Girl dolls.  My mini Kaya and my new diabetic Lea are wonderful, and I didn't feel the need for any new additions or reviews.  But then I saw Melody (a new character in the Historical line) and her Recording Studio.  Wow.  She's incredible.  Her introductory statement is, "Fairness and equality for all people sound like music to my ears."  Indeed.  Needless to say, Melody's 1960s world sucked me right back in.  All of a sudden I was pouring over the catalog and searching the online store again, wishing I could try out Melody's piano or play with her detailed studio.  And that's when I discovered the WellieWishers.

I would love to purchase Melody some day, although I'm not sure that a review of her would add much to what I've already said about American Girl dolls.  I knew immediately that I wanted to review the WellieWishers, though.  Why?  Well, first and foremost, the dolls are completely new.  They resemble regular American Girl dolls in some ways, but do not share any body components with them.  Also, there's a great mix of characters, all of whom are wearing colorful, quirky outfit pieces.  To top it off, the dolls cost $60--half as much as regular American Girls--and are available in stores like Toys R Us.  And, of course, they're irresistibly cute:

Wellie Wishers "Kendall" from American Girl ($60).

Doll Durability: American Girls, Journey Girls and Hearts for Hearts Dolls--A Guest Review!

My next guest reviewer, Emma, emailed to ask if she could write a piece on how some of her larger-scale dolls have weathered a few years of play.  I think this is a brilliant idea.  I am always reviewing new dolls right out of the box, but that's only the first step in determining quality.  I think that the durability of a play doll over time is the true test of its worth, and this is something that I would really like to learn more about.

Not only was Emma's review idea great, but I think you'll agree that she's done a nice job of summarizing her experience with three popular brands of doll: American Girl, Hearts for Hearts and Journey Girls.  I am very grateful to Emma for her hard work, creativity, and professionalism in bringing this new dimension to the blog.

This topic is so interesting to me that I hope many of you will contribute your own experiences in the comments section.  I am very curious to know how other well-loved dolls have stood the test of time.  In fact, I'd love to get some photographs of your older dolls (which you can email to toyboxphilosopher@gmail.com) so that I can add them to the bottom of this review.  If we keep this discussion limited to the 18" scale dolls that would be great, but I will think about ways to add "Doll Durability" posts as a recurring feature.  That's enough chatter from me--I am excited to sit back and hear what all of you have to say on this subject.  Take it away, Emma!

American Girl dolls of various ages.

American Girl Happy Meal Toys from McDonald's

I don't eat McDonald's food very much as an adult, but I have to admit that I have a shameless fascination with the Happy Meal toys--especially the dolls.  I think it all started when my kids were really young and we used to stop at McDonald's on our road trips.  I can remember one particular 13-hour trip to North Carolina during which I realized that the current Happy Meal toys were Madame Alexander mini dolls.  As a long-time collector of Madame Alexander (and a fan of miniatures in general) this started something of an obsession.  I asked my husband to stop at pretty much every McDonald's between New York and North Carolina, just to see if they had different dolls in the different locations.  At first, I would order a Happy Meal for my own lunch, or try to strike a toy trading bargain with my boys, but by the end of the trip I was just asking at the counter if I could pay for the doll and skip the meal.

By the time McDonald's released Liv mini dolls in 2011, I had figured out that I could simply go to eBay and purchase a complete set of Happy Meal dolls without having to set foot in a McDonald's at all.  This approach takes away the questing excitement of driving all over the place to try and find certain toys, but it also saves time and money...and cuts down on my French fry consumption.

When I saw that American Girl was doing a series of mini dolls for McDonald's, I was pretty excited.  American Girl already has 6 inch versions of their iconic 18 inch dolls, so I was really curious about the scale of the Happy Meal dolls.  At first I was hoping for recursive scaling, with the McDonald's dolls scaled to the minis in the same way that the minis are scaled to the full-sized dolls.  This would have made the Happy Meal dolls only about 2 inches tall, though, which is pretty tiny.  It turns out that the McDonald's dolls are about 3.25 inches tall, which is a nice size.

American Girl mini doll, "Kit," with a pile of American Girl Happy Meal toys.

American Girl Mini Dolls "Rebecca" and "Kit"

When I visited the American Girl store in Boston, I had every intention of buying the historical doll, Rebecca.  As you might recall, my shopping experience went a little differently than I'd planned, and I left with My American Girl #29...and a mini Rebecca.  

I love the idea of having a doll with a miniature replica.  When Annette Himstedt used to make vinyl dolls, her club characters had miniature "Kleine" versions of themselves, and this always made the club dolls more tempting to me than the regular line.  My other favorite miniature doll replicas include Lee Middleton's small versions of some of the older Artist Studio babies, the delightful collection of mini Pullip dolls, and the McDonald's Happy Meal miniatures of the Liv It's My Nature line. 

The American Girl minis are another example of a well-done, accurate replica of a larger doll:

American Girl Mini, "Rebecca."

My American Girl #29

I bought my very first American Girl doll at the beginning of the month when I visited the amazing American Girl store in Natick, Massachusetts--near Boston.  I went to the store with every intention of purchasing the historical girl, Rebecca, but the overwhelming array of options scrambled my brain and then led me to My American Girl #29.

The first order of business was that this doll needed a suitable name--something other than Number 29.  I love naming things, but can get hung up on the process because I need to pick a name that is just right.  I have been this way ever since I was a kid.  As a brief aside, if you like names as much as I do, check out the unbeatable Baby Name Wizard site, created by an incredibly neat friend of mine.  Anyway--I didn't need the Baby Name Wizard for this doll because I had Andrea.  Thank you, Andrea (and everyone else who had great name suggestions!) for helping me name Miss Keira:

My American Girl #29
Keira Sofia