Friday, July 29, 2022

Gwynn Tan by American Girl

I got a little nostalgic about the blog this week.  As I was writing today's review, which features Gywnn Tan, a 14-inch American Girl doll, I thought to myself, "I should reference the WellieWishers review I wrote not so long ago."  Well, "not so long ago" turns out to be six years ago.  I was struck by my commentary at that time; I mentioned being caught up in our town's high school musical, which was, indeed, a big part of my life back then.  But both of my kids were in high school six years ago...and now they're done with college and interviewing for jobs.  Ack!  And I know from the wonderful letters that I've gotten over the years that many of you were little when you first started reading this blog (some of you even wrote guest reviews!) and are now in college or working at jobs of your own.  It's crazy.  The doll world can slow time in funny ways (the WellieWisher kids are the same age they were six years ago, after all) but real life forges ahead.

Enough about that, though.  Let me tell you a little bit about why I'm bothering to revisit this style of doll six years later.  The first reason is simply that I'm excited about Corinne, American Girl's Girl of the Year for 2022.  I'm excited about Corinne because she's the first Chinese Girl of the Year, and I'm also excited because she has doll siblings--like Gwynn!  Corinne herself will make an appearance on the blog at some point in the future, but for now I'm focusing my attention on her little sister.

I'm focused on Gwynn because of the larger purpose of this review.  I've noticed a variety of 14-inch dolls on the market over the past few months, and, because I tend to get obsessive about certain ideas or styles of doll, I bought five of those different varieties.  These five dolls aren't different enough to each need long, complicated reviews, so I had the idea to run a series of shorter, interconnected reviews that will take a more comparative look at the five brands.  Every comparison series needs to start somewhere, and with some benchmark, so I figured where better to start than with one of America's most popular doll brands?  With all of that in mind, here's Miss Gwynn Tan to kick off this 14-inch doll extravaganza:

Gwynn Tan by American Girl, $65.

Gwynn's list price is $65, but I was fortunate enough to find her on sale last month for $52.  I didn't realize American Girl had sales that good, so I need to pay more attention!  Of course with shipping and tax, I still ended up paying around $65 in total.

Gwynn arrived in a simple cardboard box that has the same basic concept as the WellieWishers boxes, but is less fanciful:


I miss the whimsy of the WellieWisher's box:


But it's neat to see the Girl of the Year designation on a 14-inch doll!


The back of the box is plain white cardboard, with some safety warnings and recycling information:


Gwynn was secured in the box with a few stretchy plastic ties, and also a molded plastic shell behind her head:


For the most part, the packaging is wonderfully simple and easy to deal with.  It is also almost completely recyclable.

Here's little Gwynn on her own:

She's adorable.
She balances pretty well, but I noticed right away that her head tips to one side:


The left head tilt is endearing, and I like it, but I'm not sure it's intentional.  The Gwynn in the box photo has a straight head:


It's hard to find a photo of Gwynn facing straight forward on the American Girl website, but this one is pretty close...and her head doesn't look tipped to the side at all:

Corinne's brother Blix is adorable, too!
In addition to tipping to the left, Gwynn's head tilts upwards quite a bit, and this is something I noticed in photos of other Gwynn dolls.

Here's a straightened-out look at Gwynn's sweet face:


As far as I can tell without having both dolls side by side, Gwynn has the same face mold as the current WellieWisher Emerson.  Emerson has a different skin tone, though, which can make her features look slightly different:

I love her unicorn outfit!
There are two other WellieWisher face molds at the moment, both of which were in my older review.  Willa has one of those faces:


And Kendall has the other:


I like Willa's smile the best out of these three, but all of the faces are very cute.

The WellieWishers on the American Girl website right now say that they're "new and improved," so I suspect there might have been some modifications to these faces over the years.  But the older dolls look fairly similar to the current versions:

Here's the current Willa:


And here's Kendall:


I can't really tell any difference between the old dolls and the new dolls--at least from these photos.

Gwynn's wigged hair comes tied into two braids:


There's no center part in the back, but there are short hairs in the wig that help conceal the wig cap:

That looks pretty good!
In profile, Gwynn has a small nose and chin, and simplified ears:


Here's a closer look:

You can choose to get her ears pierced, but it costs $16.
I like Gwynn's half-profile a lot.  She looks very inquisitive.  I think the head tilt contributes to that!



Gwynn has heavy bangs, so I clipped those to the side to get a peek at her eyebrows:


Those eyebrows are super-cute!  I wish they weren't covered up all of the time.  They have more of an arch to them than either Willa or Kendall's brows.  Here's a shot of Willa's eyebrows for comparison:


Gwynn has fewer eyelashes than Willa, too.  She only has lashes on the top of her eyes, and these are made up of six short hair lines:


Anyway, the eyes themselves are dark brown and have some nice, realistic iris detail.  The iris pattern looks slightly blurry to me--not perfectly crisp and clear.  As if the iris is out of focus.

I remember being worried that Kendall's eyes would fade over time, but of course I no longer have her so I don't know the fate of those eyes.  All I can say is that for some reason, these eyes make me nervous.  Maybe I've just seen too many faded doll eyes in my life!

Gwynn has a pretty mouth, with a full upper lip and the classic American Girl front teeth:

My husband calls these "gopher teeth."
Here are real gopher teeth, for your information:

Haters gonna hate.
But seriously, I like the shape of Gwynn's mouth more than many of the full-sized American Girl face molds!

To me, one of the best things about the WellieWishers is their creative, colorful outfits and wonderful namesake boots.  There's no reason for Gwynn to share this aesthetic since she's not technically a WellieWisher, but I still feel disappointed that her outfit is missing that Wellie whimsy.

Gwynn's outfit includes a purple sweater, a pink sherpa skirt, white leggings, and purple boots:


Here's the outfit from the back:


The sweater comes tucked into the skirt, so let's look at the skirt first:


The design of this skirt is very simple, with a single metal button at the top of the stitched fly.  The skirt has an elastic waist and no velcro in the back.


The stitching on this skirt looks very robust, but the pink fuzzy fabric feels thin to me.  I find myself worrying that I will stretch the fabric out of shape as I'm maneuvering the skirt over Gwynn's legs and hips.


Also, the lack of a velcro or snap closure in back makes this skirt a bit hard to manage.  It's easy to remove, but putting it back on again takes some work and puts a lot of stress on the waistband.

Gwynn's purple sweater has a lot of detail and looks good...but it also looks like something that the popular kids wore in the 1980s.  Are puffed-sleeve sweaters popular again?  I guess so.


I have to say, the shape of this sweater reminds me a little of ice skating outfits from the 80s, which fits with Gwynn's character--from what I understand.

The sleeves were a little flat right out of the box, but they can be puffed up a little more, like this:


The sweater also has an indentation in the middle where the waistband of the skirt cut in.  Maybe this could be ironed or washed out, but it didn't relax on its own throughout the short time I was interacting with Gwynn.

The construction of the sweater is really nice.  It's not all one knitted piece, of course, but the knitted parts are beautifully assembled, with a delicate ribbed collar and evenly-spaced gathers along the puffed part of the sleeves.  


There's also a velcro seam in back for easy dressing:


The internal seams are very neat and well-enforced:


Gwynn's boots coordinate nicely with her sweater:


These are made out of purple imitation leather, and have multicolored fur around the top: 


The outer edges of the boots wrap around and meet in an overlapping area that creates a bit of a slit that allows the boots to slide easily on and off.


Gwynn's leggings seem like a dismissible item of clothing at first glance, but they're actually quite nice.  The fabric is thick and has some shine, and they feel durable:

They're easier to use than the skirt.
Under the leggings, Gwynn is wearing pink underwear:


The pink underwear is the same as what came with both of my older WellieWishers, but it was clear right away that there have been some changes to this body over the last six years.  

Here's Gwynn next to Willa so you can see what I mean:


First of all, in the comparison pictures, above, Gwynn's legs looks skinnier than Willa's, but I think that's a result of the fact that I had to photograph Gwynn from above looking down--so that her upward-facing head was looking at the camera.

The biggest difference I can see is that Willa's torso is made out of hollow plastic, but Gwynn's torso is vinyl.  It's not solid, but it feels heavy and substantial.  Also, the color of the torso matches the limbs perfectly since everything is made out of the same material.

Another nice feature of the vinyl torso is that while Willa has an obvious seam along her side...

That looks a little cheap.
Gwynn does not have this seam:

Seamless.
Gwynn's body has five simple points of articulation:


And she has molded underwear with the WellieWisher "W:"


On her back, she has a large American Girl copyright mark:


Here's a closer look:


There's not a lot to say about Gwynn's articulation, but I'll take a moment to run through all of her joints.

Gwynn's neck joint has only simple rotation.  This is disappointing.  A simple neck works well for the cloth-bodied American Girl dolls, since there's flexibility in the stuffed chest, but for an all-vinyl doll, this type of neck joint is restricting.  I'm starting to sound like a broken record, I know, but I feel strongly that a highly-movable head makes a big difference in a doll's personality.

Like so many dolls, Gwynn's upwards-glancing head turns ever more upwards as she rotates it to the side:


The upward glancing poses are cute, for sure, but this doll cannot look straight forward if her head is at all turned.

What are you looking for, Gwynn?
Head in the clouds.
When she's facing backwards, Gwynn's head looks all of the way up to the ceiling!


That pose allowed me to appreciate the detail in her chin mold, though.  Pretty cute, right?


Gwynn's arms also have only simple rotation, so she can raise them straight up, but can't lift them out to the sides or away from her body at all.


She can sit on the ground, but only in this exact position:


Gwynn's legs do not angle apart as much as Willa's do, which is interesting:


Gwynn can also do solid front-to-back splits.  In this next picture, it looks like she needs the support of her left arm to stay upright, but she does not:


Willa's splits look almost identical, but her back foot rotates a bit more into a flat position:


Gwynn has the same hand mold as Willa, and this is basically a scaled-down version of the regular American Girl hand:



Gwynn's feet are the same as Willa's, too:


Once I'd taken a look at Gwynn's joints, I let down her braided hair.  The braids looked really sweet, but they made it hard to evaluate the texture of the hair:


It's hard to tell in pictures, but this is wonderful hair.  It's extremely silky and smooth, and the braid crimps disappeared mere moments after I'd taken the braids out:


The hair doesn't even need to be brushed very often--it hangs beautifully.


I love the color of the hair, too.  It's not just pure black, but has subtle highlights of medium brown that make it look very realistic:


While her hair was still down, I put Gwynn back into her full outfit.  At first, I left the sweater untucked to see how it would look:

Who tucks their sweater in?
I had high hopes that the untucked sweater would look nice and a bit less formal, but it doesn't look great.  First of all, the fit is too tight for it to lay nicely over the bulky skirt, and also that crease across the middle is distracting.


So I tucked the sweater back into the skirt:


I'm conflicted about this outfit.  The pieces are well-made and have nice textures and details, but it just looks uncomfortable to me.  The tucked in sweater, the puffy sleeves, the extreme shortness of the skirt...and does the color of the skirt even go with that sweater??  I don't know.  It's not my favorite doll outfit, but I can appreciate its originality.

I also suspect that it's fun for kids to use Gwynn's wardrobe to give a new style of clothing to their WellieWishers.  As much as I love the fantasy theme of the WellieWisher clothing, it's not very accurate to what a real little girl would wear every day.  I'm not sure Gwynn's outfit is any more accurate, honestly, but it's certainly different.

I'm curious what this little cutie would look like wearing a different outfit or with a different color palette.  I don't have any other 14-inch clothing available to try right at the moment, but I'll have at least four more outfits by the time this series of reviews is over!



Before I forget, I should give you some size comparisons.  It's quite easy to find photos of Gwynn with Corinne, so you can see how tall she is in relationship to a standard 18-inch doll, but here she is with Paola Reina's Las Amigas doll and my Barbie assistant, Lina:

From left: Paola Reina Las Amigas doll, American Girl Gwynn, Barbie Lina.
The last thing I wanted to do with Gwynn was to see how easy it is to re-braid her hair.  

It's very easy:


However, as you can see, I wasn't able to get all of the short wig hairs to tuck in as neatly as they were in the original style:

A few chunks sticking out there on the left.
I think I slightly prefer Gwynn with her hair down, but that might just be because the hair feels so nice!  It's a shame to have it braided:




As usual, I wanted to get a few photos of Gwynn outside in the natural light, but this part of the review definitely made me feel nostalgic!  New Jersey is beautiful, but the shore is a bit harder to reach than it was in Maine.  I remember very fondly the day I took Willa and Kendall to the beach.  It was a super-fun adventure--and only 20 minutes from my house:

We had a really good day together.
I probably could have found a better setting for Gwynn than my backyard, but it's been pushing 100 degrees here lately, and I didn't want to wander too far from the air conditioning.


The outdoor setting enhances the appearance Gwynn's hair, but it makes her eyes look faded:


Gwynn was a little overdressed for the extreme heat...

Okay, a lot overdressed.
But she wanted to explore around the yard anyway.


All of my dolls seem to like this big gum tree--maybe because they can hide from the large rabbits that have taken over the place?


Actually, I think Gwynn finds the bunnies rather cute, and is--like me--secretly hoping to get close to one of them someday.


Gwynn is the first girl who's ever attempted to climb this gum tree!  She made it about three feet up:


But I told her that I didn't think the new branches were thick enough to hold her weight for very long.

Before we retreated back inside to the cooler air, Gwynn insisted on walking the perimeter of the yard in one last attempt for a rabbit sighting...


And she found one!


Bottom line?  I feel mostly the same about Gwynn as I did about the WellieWishers that I reviewed in 2016.  However, a few things that I remember about Willa and Kendall are not true of Gwynn.  For one, I remember not being completely happy with the WellieWisher's hair--mostly because there were some bare patches, and the shorter strands of hair in the wigs limited my styling options.  In contrast, Gwynn's hair is lovely.  I could do without the bangs (they hide those expressive eyebrows!) but it still might be her best feature.  There are short stands of hair in the wig, but these don't disrupt the sleek appearance when the hair is let down, and they do a pretty good job of concealing the wig cap when the hair is up.  I had a bit of trouble making everything look neat when I re-did the braids, but overall the hair feels amazing and is easy to work with.

Another thing that's different between the WellieWishers and Gwynn is the clothing.  All of the outfits are very well-made--no question about that.  But the WellieWisher clothing felt really special and fun to me, with adorable boots and lots of mix and match potential.  In contrast, Gwynn's outfit is a little strange. It's not super-flattering, with the tight, tucked-in, puff-sleeved sweater.  Also, the skirt is really short (she can't sit in it).  That's all personal taste, though.  What might be more relevant is that the skirt is hard to use.  It does not have velcro closure in the back, and so it has to be tugged on over Gwynn's legs and hips--while also trying to tuck in the sweater--and it's all just unnecessarily hard.  With that said, Gwynn's outfits add nice diversity to the otherwise cutesy, fantastical lineup of WellieWisher clothing.

I'm also annoyed by Gwynn's head articulation, and I don't remember being too hung up on that back in 2016.  Not only does Gwynn have a permanent head tilt (which I'll admit is pretty cute) but she's always looking up.  Furthermore, with only rotational movement in her neck, she can only look from side to side, and her gaze drifts more and more upwards as her head turns.  The rest of Gwynn's articulation is fine, although it's very basic and I was often left feeling that she looked stiff and unnatural in her poses.  I've read online about some problems with WellieWisher legs falling off, but I obviously didn't have that experience with Gwynn.  On the contrary, her all-vinyl body feels solid and durable to me, and I prefer the new torso to the hollow plastic of the earlier dolls.  However, I didn't manipulate Gwynn for very long or with the vigor she might experience with a young child's play style.

I'm charmed by Gwynn's cute face (especially her mouth), I love her hair, her body feels sturdy, and her outfit--while it might not be my style--is really well-made and original.  Furthermore, she has the added magic of being a part of the American Girl world.  As a character in Corinne's story (which I can't wait to read!) she brings with her a whole personality and background, and she has a slew of appealing outfits and accessories available to her.  With five 14-inch dolls queued up in this series, I can already tell you that Gwynn is the most expensive of the bunch--by more than a factor of two in most cases.  One of the questions that we'll look at over the next few weeks is whether or not all of her good qualities--and there are many--are enough to justify this difference in price.

27 comments:

  1. I remember in one of your reviews when a Wellie Wisher came up that you said they have an “expectant” expression, which I think is the perfect word for their faces. It looks to me like the new dolls have a rounder face/head than the older ones, otherwise about the same. I had the little blonde WW for a while; she now lives in Ann Arbor and is very happy there.
    Anyway, I tripped on over to the American Girl site, and In those pictures, Gwynn has a hat and mittens as part of her outfit, and the whole get-up Makes more sense. You didn’t get those pieces?
    So I’m a little confused....is Gwynn a WW or some sort of little sister? She has the W on her undies, but the presentation (box) is nowhere as charming as the WWs before—or will they all be packaged in those boring maroon boxes now? My impression is she’s being marketed as something else, along the lines of “Ruby Red Siblies” rather than a more separate line. I can’t wait to see more of your 14” reviews as they are my favorite size!

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    1. Hi Minnesotagirl! The faces do look expectant, don't they? It's cute. :) And the hat and mitten set is great, but I didn't get that because it costs extra ($27). But I agree that it pulls the whole outfit together!

      Gwynn is a WellieWisher in that she has the same face mold and body as those dolls, but she's technically part of the GOTY collection. She's the little sister of the 18-inch GOTY, Corinne. Sorry if that wasn't clear. :) A Siblie is a good analogy.

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    2. 27$?! For a little hat and mittens?!

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    3. clearly, anonymous, you have never purchased anything from American Girl. X`D

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  2. It was funny reading the first part of the review, because I'm one of the ones that started reading this blog as a kid and now I'm a junior in college and back into dolls. It really is disorienting how much time flies!

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    1. Hi Starnation! Congrats on being a junior in college! I absolutely LOVE that this hobby can transcend time and age. I'm glad you still stop by the blog. :)

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  3. I'm so out of touch with AG pricing. All throughout the review I kept wondering whether the 16$ piercing fee means adding really fancy earrings or the simple act of putting holes in the ears? Both of which can be accomplished with a smalll drill and a trip to the dollar store.

    Anyway, I wanted to point out that the corner eyelashes are probably painted like that to simulate a monolid hiding most of them.

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    1. You get a pair of earrings with the $16 piercing fee, but they don't look super fancy. I didn't even consider it as an option. Good point about the eyelashes, too! Perhaps they also thought lower lashes would look silly with the scant upper lashes?

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  4. I believe the "revised" designation was due to changes specifically addressing the leg issue. Maybe switching the torso to vinyl was the fix?

    I don't care for Gwynn's skirt either but she is a cutie. I've seen other reviews online mentioning her cloudy eyes, be which is why I've held off so far.

    And I can't wait to see your other 14" reviews! It's a fun size.

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    1. Interesting. I definitely think the torso change was a good idea! I hope it also fixed the leg issue. I'm not sure why the eyes make me nervous, perhaps they're fine, but I always feel like my vision is out-of-focus when I look at them up close. They're not sparkling and clear like some eyes are. But they look quite nice in real life, so I hope they hold up. I'm really enjoying the 14" size! Everybody is so cute and portable. :)

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    2. I very much prefer the 14" size. I had Gwynn. But my daughter chose to send her to our sponsored child in backpack so off she went. However there are plenty of seamstresses selling great clothes for this size. So we were able to send more normal kid clothes with her.

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    3. @Emily This is for one of your older posts I can't comment on (Teen Hermione Granger Tonner). Here is the question, do tonner doll clothes fit Barbies? I haven't seen all of your posts just Hermione and Frozen, which I'm interested in. What other related posts are their?

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  5. I saw a Gwynn doll online whose eyes had faded to lilac...just like the eyes of eighteen-inch My Twinns. The little gal had been used as a window display, if my memory serves me right, but best keep an eye on your girl's eyes (LOL). Gwynn is too stinkin' cute!

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    1. Oh, dear! I know that exposure to sun can accelerate the eye fading, so maybe that was what happened? I'd better keep Gwynn in the dark basement. ;)

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  6. What a cute little doll! She has such a sweet face and her hair looks amazing. I agree that the style of the outfit is questionable, but I actually quite like the color combination and the quality seems great as well. 14-inch dolls are not my expertise at all so I'm really looking forward to the review series, and I'm curious to see how the other brands stack up against the goliath that is American Girl, haha!

    Also, how amazing that you have wild rabbits in your backyard! :O That's so incredibly cute!!

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    1. Hi Tali! The neighbors hate the rabbits because they eat stuff in the garden, but I find them so special. We didn't have wild rabbits in Maine (and I always wanted one as a pet) so it's a real treat for me--and Gwynn! :D

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    2. Ahw, I get that but I honestly wouldn't be able to get mad at them since they're just so adorable! I'd probably start feeding them on purpose, which might not be the best idea either hahaha. Glad you (and Gwynn) are able to enjoy them!!

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  7. It's interesting they changed the bodies of the Welliewishers - I kind of figured "new and improved" just referred to the new, simpler outfits - most of which I consider a drastic step down from the originals, but then again, I'm not a child and wouldn't struggle with or destroy an intricate ensemble. But maybe the simpler outfits are a counterpoint to the better bodies and hair. I will say, though, it's absurd that a $60 vinyl doll would only have simple rotational joints. I'm reminded of the I'm A Girly dolls, with their all-vinyl bodies, who have the same number of joints but so many degrees of freedom that it's not frustrating. Then again, I'm still waiting for American Girl to put actual joints in their dolls... or some other entrepreneuring company to come out with cloth-bodied 18" dolls with jointed limbs. (I expect I'll be waiting forever...)

    I'm a huge sucker for sweaters, so I like the outfit. I also prefer her subtler, more realistic facepaint to that of the Welliewishers. Like someone else mentioned, I've heard that Gwynn dolls have (in just one year!) acquired a reputation for turning purple, so... maybe brace yourself? But, hey, then her eyes will match her outfit! ;P

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  8. This post made me so nostalgic! And funnily enough your wellie wisher review was the first of yours I read! Ever since then I have been reading and rereading your reviews. Your blog has really truly made a difference in my life. It told me that it was ok to still love dolls and it brought a little magic back from my childhood.

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    1. Oh, that's such a cool coincidence! I'm so happy to hear that you still love dolls. I could not agree with you more that it keeps the magic alive; my feelings exactly. Thank you for such a nice message. :)

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  9. Also I believe that the “new and improved” refers to the fact that the original wellie wishers always had complaints about legs falling off.

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  10. Wow, I have a lot of thoughts about this one. First of all, upon seeing Gwynn's outfit, I didn't like the puffed-ish sleeves--they should've either comitted and gone full puff or just have made the sleeves straight (which I think would look better). I'm pretty sure puffed sweater sleeves are NOT back in style [citation needed]. Also, while the outfit's color scheme may be realistic to what a 7- or 8-year-old girl would pick, I find it a tad sickly sweet. I love Corinne's color scheme with the bolder purple and teal--especially the teal in her hair!--and I wish they'd made Gwynn to match. Speaking of matching, what is up the Tan family's naming scheme? Corinne is a bit odd, but ok. Gwynn seems like a misspelling of a nickname, not as a full name, and it's too similar-sounding to Corinne. And Blix? It does have the ingredients that give it potential for popularity, but I've never heard of it. It's trying a bit too hard to be modern/radical. Of course, I will note that given the siblings have a split family in their story due to their parents' divorce, so "Blix" might be explained by a difference in parental preference.

    Anyway, after all that ranting, I do find Gwynn to be a very cute doll. In the "new and improved" WellieWishers, I see the main update is that the face molds now look more naturally about-to-break-into-a-smile than the sometime blank-faced, generic smiles of the old molds. I like the change! And Corinne is a very beautiful and unique doll herself, with the colorful hair and her use of a less-common face mold. She might just break me down into buying her... All in all, I see a doll breaking the mold (pun intended!) of the last several generic GOTYs with cute siblings, appealing clothes and an important storyline exploring both the Asian racism from the pandemic and navigating a split family. Plus, she's training a search/rescue dog!

    --Hazel

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  11. I love the little nod to the side :) And I‘m really looking forward to this series :) It‘s a great size (and I have hope that the Siblies will be part of it 🥰)

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  12. Oh my Gosh little Gwynn looks like my daughter 😍. Even the smile looks same!

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  13. I can't tell you how excited I am for this series! Before Wellie Wishers came out, I was buying 14-15" Effanbee and Horsman dolls to act as little sisters for my 18" dolls. I've hit a point in my doll collecting where I'm satisfied with what I have, but if I got another doll I'd probably get a Wellie Wisher. I really love the character designs they've come out with and their whimsical little outfits - I also love that AG apparently now has babies, too. Little kid me would've gone nuts for baby Blix in his carrier! Great and thorough review, happy as always to see your updates.

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  14. Yes, the "new and improved" was due to the leg issue. For a short time 2-3 years ago, Wellies were actually pulled off the market while they reworked the bodies to fix the legs. The plastic was brittle and just breaking off and because of how they're constructed, it's not like the 18 inch AG where you can just replace it with a new leg or something...you kinda have to replace the whole doll.
    The vinyl torso does fix the issue - I have an older plastic bodied Willa I picked up second hand who still has both legs, but I can see where the body plastic feels more fragile than Gwynn's vinyl would be.

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  15. I was reading your reviews when I was probably in fifth-sixth grade, now I’m twenty! It’s bonkers

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