✨HOW TO PICK OUT THE PERFECT AG DOLL!✨
Hello, everyone! I thought this would be a helpful post! If you are going to an AG store in person, and are trying to find a perfect doll with no defects, this is the post for you! This process can also work when choosing a used doll on a selling site like eBay or Mercari!
Since I live very close to an AG store, about half of my dolls were picked out in person at the store. These are all the things that I look at when choosing a new doll because I am VERY picky! Happy doll hunting! ✨
On the left is a truly me 92 doll with a lowly-placed wig. On the right is my 92, Delphinium James. This picture was taken at the AG Place Columbus in April 2022.
Though this isn’t something I look at too often, wig placement can vary between even two of the same exact doll! After a gentile push of the left doll’s wig, I realized that it was not glued onto her head all the way. This is a problem because her wig is probably more likely to come off without you wanting it to! Also, make sure the wig is exactly where you want it when picking out your doll!
Fortunately, AG does not have much of a problem with their eyes anymore, but if you are buying a used doll from the years 2017-2019, you could be getting a doll with the “new eyes!” Also, this could be likely when buying a “retired” truly me doll in the blue jacket outfit from a Canadian AG store!
Picture 1: On the left is a truly me 13 doll with the old eyes. On the right is a truly me 13 doll with the “new eyes.”
Picture 2: On the left is a truly me 39 doll with the “new eyes.” On the right is a truly me 39 doll from 2013, who had been displayed since the store first opened. Obviously, she has the old eyes. Both pictures were taken in 2018 in the AG Columbus store.
Though AG decided to get rid of this style of eyes in mid 2019, Here are the characteristics that define it:
-A different, less realistic, pinwheel pattern
-The ability to see the plastic in the back
-The weight on the back of the eye is so heavy that the dolls appear to be looking downwards
-The whites of the eyes are abnormally bright
-Sometimes, dolls with these eyes have weird looking eyebrows (ex: Josefina molds sometimes look “sad”)
This photo was posted by user @/amcangrl on Instagram. Pictured is one of the new truly me dolls with brown eyes, and it shows off her eyelashes. This picture was taken at the AG LA pop-up store in 2022.
There are a couple of problems with this doll, as well as MANY others in the AG store!
-The eyelashes do not fully go into the eye, so it doesn’t look realistic
-There is what appears to be a sticker around the eye that is a lighter color than the doll’s actual skin tone
-On this doll specially, you can easily see the screen printing that they used to put the eyelashes on the doll (especially on top!) *Not all dolls will have this, though, and it is most visible in Joss molds
Perfect dolls will have eyelashes that go all the way into the eye (usually the very last one won’t look like it does), the screen printing will not be visible, and try to pick out a doll that doesn’t seem to have two lighter colored skin-toned circles around the eyes. Removing the eyelashes yourself is also an option!
Somewhere around 2022, AG purposely stopped using their tool that makes the dolls’ faces “100%” symmetrical. However, this problem has been seen even before then, since a lot of Jess mold dolls tend to have one eye that is larger than the other. In fact, one of my own Kanani Akina dolls has this problem!
Today, this problem is not limited to Jess molds, but it has become even harder to find the perfect Jess mold doll. Every single truly me 110 or 111 I see has one eye that’s bigger than the other! This defect is also not limited to just the dolls’ eyes, but it can also affect how certain facial features are placed, such as the eyebrows or painted on eyelashes. My 2017 truly me 67, Barbados, has one eyebrow that is spaced out further than the other, and I did not notice this when I bought her.
With the truly me rebrand in 2022, AG has gotten a lot better at painting the dolls lips a full, pink color. However, starting in about 2018, and continuing into 2022, a lot of the dolls had very pale lips. This can be an easy defect that might affect a used doll! In addition, there are also some problems with the teeth that you have to look at!
Picture 1: This is a truly me 78 doll from 2018. She has the “new eyes” and very pale lips that almost blend in with her skin! This picture was taken at AG Columbus in May 2022.
Picture 2: Shown is a Maritza Ochoa doll, and you can barely see her teeth! This picture was taken at AG Columbus in October 2021.
Even though a doll’s pale lips can easily be fixed, I most definitely prefer the full lips! Here are a couple problems that are associated with the doll’s teeth:
-You cannot see them from certain angles (Only occurs in Joss and later Marie-Grace molds like 115,116,117,and Kavi)
-The teeth can be unevenly placed
-The teeth can be crooked
This next picture is of another problem that can occur with a doll’s lips:
This picture is a VERY close up image on Blakely, my Blaire Wilson doll. She has interesting eyebrows, as well as the “new eyes” and something is wrong with her lips.
The problem with her lips is that they are not painted all the way! It looks like she should have more of a lip, but she doesn’t. In fact, it looks like she’s missing half of her lips! I’ve also seen a very small amount of AG Sonali mold dolls who have had their lips painted with the template of a classic mold! This problem is very very common, and it is almost unavoidable in modern dolls.
These are all the problems that can (most commonly) be spotted in new dolls. Now… it’s time to go over some problems/defects that can be present in a doll one may get used:
Just before Tenney and Logan were released in 2017, American Girl changed the body cloth that they used on their dolls. Instead of the premium quality that consumers were used to, the fabric they used became much more scratchy. Also, it felt a lot cheaper and it puckers a lot at the dolls’ neckline. This body fabric is found on every single doll with the “new eyes,” as well as some of their predecessors.
On the left is Elizabeth Cole, (≈2005) who has the old body cloth. On the right is truly me 24 Arlo Grunt, (2018) who has the new body cloth. (She also used to have the new eyes but they were replaced.)
*Note that Elizabeth’s body shape makes her taller than the average doll. (Dolls made from between 2024-2007 usually have this feature.)
*There is also something called the “Claudie body,” that all dolls from August 2022 to the present have. This is UNAVOIDABLE when picking out a brand new doll today, but their bodies are 0.5 of an inch slimmer than older dolls! This feature is called the “Claudie body” because Claudie Wells was the first doll to possess this difference.
Nicknamed “permapanties” by AG fans and collectors, American Girl announced towards the end of 2016 that they would be sewing the underwear onto all the bodies of dolls that came with removable underwear (not bloomers).
The dolls effected were every truly me doll who was available at the time, (13,16,19,21,22,23,24,25,26,27,28,29,31,33,35,39,40,42,44,47,49,51,52,53,54,55,56,57,58,59,60,61,62,63,64,65,66,67,68,69) Tenney Grant, Z Yang, Gabriela McBride (I think), Maryellen Larkin, Melody Ellison, and Julie Albright. Some versions of these dolls from 2017 have a very skinny body with a gray band under the waist that says “American Girl” all the way around. The permanent underwear are a baby pink color.
Picture 1: Willow, truly me 40, in her permanent underwear facing frontwards.
Picture 2: Willow, truly me 40, in her permanent underwear facing backwards.
-You are ALLOWED to take the top off of a doll box while at the AG store! By all means, please do this when picking out dolls because it makes it so much easier to look at their features!
-By all means, HIDE THE GOOD DOLLS BEHIND THE LESS POPULAR ONES! When truly me 16 was still available, she was really unpopular leading up to her retirement, so I would always hide the best looking dolls behind all of the 16’s if I couldn’t get them the same day.🤭
-Go to a quiet area to pick out your doll where there is no one else around. Recently, I made the mistake of plopping down right in front of the Nicki and Isabel display to pick out my dolls and there was this girl and her mom behind me who started to get really annoyed with me just sitting there.
-Don’t stress yourself out! Sometimes picking out a doll actually brings me stress. That sounds really weird but, especially when there’s a lot of the same doll available, I feel the need to analyze every single one. These dolls should bring us joy! Remember to pick out a doll that makes YOU happy, regardless of what they look like.
These are just the tips I use when buying my dolls. You do not have to follow everything that is listed here! These are just things that I look for when buying my own dolls because I’m very particular when it comes to the way they look. As much as I love these dolls, you’d think I hate them when it comes to me examining every little feature and critiquing them. 😭
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