Last Thursday my roommate went to the Seattle store to see the new release items, and was so angry upon discovering that Tenney and Logan had taken over half of Gabriela's display that she bought not only a Gabriela of her own, but also a #58.
As you may recall, I had been planning to buy Gabriela. However, now that my roommate has one it felt like having two in the house would be too many (especially since we've begun more or less seeing our collections as one giant overlapping collection) and I was able to compare her more extensively to Melody and realized that having two dolls who so closely resembled each other would be less fun for me than the chance to add a more unique doll to my collection.
It sent me back to the drawing board: I had more tax refund money than anticipated, so I could afford another doll, and while I'm very upset about the fallout from the revelations about American Girl's upcoming permapanties bodies I'm also very upset about this Tenney and Logan nonsense. I'm a believer in voting with my dollars, so if Tenney and Logan dolls are going to be flying off the shelves then by goodness I wanted to be responsible for at least one doll of color finding a home at the same time. But which one?
I've always been incredibly drawn to #62, but that would make a third Sonali mold in my collection and I didn't want to have another modern who seemed too old to fit in with my much-beloved Youngji and Winifred. I've also liked #53 for a long time, but so does my roommate's three-year-old daughter, so we already have plans to get her one a few years down the road, when she is ready to own and take care of a full-sized AG doll. (She's really good when it comes to leaving our dolls alone when she's not supervised, and playing gently with them when she is, but we don't want to have a doll that we know she really, really wants around to tempt her when she isn't ready to have it herself yet. It seems unfair.)
My third option was #31, who I've always thought was cute in store displays but only recently began to seriously consider buying. Other points in her favor were that she's an Addy mold doll, and I love the Addy mold, and she looked like she would fit in well with Winifred and Youngji.
So I went to the store last Saturday and considered my options...
I also took Youngji along for the ride! I've been wanting to get her ears pierced, especially now that American Girl actually made bird earrings that I might be able to get for Youngji one day so that she can show her Ahgase pride.
It was a really interesting experience: the woman who pierced her ears commented that she had never seen a doll who looked like Youngji before, and that even Youngji's ear shape was different from other dolls, which I had never noticed before!
I also brought Youngji so that I could see which #31 in the store she looked the most Right with. There were three at the store to choose from, including one who still had neck strings AND arrived in a box with the activity set. (Pictured in the middle)
And she was the one I went with!
Meet Bree Coulby-Agyeman! Names in honor of Bree Newsome (the woman who took down the Confederate flag in South Carolina), Angel Coulby (the actress who played Guinevere in BBC's Merlin), and Freema Agyeman (the actress who played Martha Jones on Doctor Who). I haven't had a lot of time to sit down and flesh out her character yet, but current interests I'm considering her having include sewing, photography, and political activism.
I have thought about her wardrobe's color palatte: a lesser consideration I kept in mind with her was that I wanted her to be able to wear clothes and colors that Winifred and Youngji can't, so I'm thinking she's going to end up wearing a lot of vivid greens, oranges, and yellows. I've already picked up several fabrics for her, and I can't wait until I have the time and focus required to make her some things.
I think she'll be a good fit with Winifred and Youngji! Though I admit, I already have my fingers crossed that American Girl will relent on the permapanties front and release some Zs with regular bodies so that I can buy one to be Bree's best friend...
I also lined up all of my and my roommate's modern dolls and took a picture! Well, her #58 is probably going to be a 30s doll since she looks so nice in Kit's dress, but we're counting her in with the moderns for now.
What about you? Are you going to buy any more dolls before the company switches over to the permapanties bodies, or have you already? Are you hunting dolls down on the secondary market instead? Or are you avoiding the line entirely for a while?
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