Premium Quality--A Pre-2016 Poppet Buying Guide

Most noticeably since 2016, American Girl has been slowly, steadily, stealthily, and disappointingly cheapening the materials and manufacturing of its 18" doll line. Eyes, wigs, torso fabric, neck attachments, factory part markings on limbs, and even the vinyl have all been drastically changed for the worse!

Nostalgic for the magical experience of welcoming a new and premium quality American Girl poppet into the family I recently searched the secondary market to purchase a New in Box (NIB) doll made in the pre-2016 era.

Even before purchasing the doll, the above lavender box packaging has several indications that the doll inside was likely made pre-2016.

Rebranded and launched in May 2015, the Truly Me doll originally came in the lavender box with a small round doll # identification sticker in the lower right hand corner. Later boxes would come with a much larger sticker.

When this lavender box design first launched it also came with an Activity Set which was then later discontinued, another indication this is from an earlier, pre-2016 run.

And of course, the Lavender Dress is the outfit worn by the dolls in the first two years of the new Truly Me branded line.

While this early Truly Me doll box configuration does not guarantee a pre-2016 premium quality era AG doll inside, it does raise the possibility to a high likelihood.

When my new poppet did arrive, a TM 22, she indeed was a dream!

What I found inside was a doll of the premium quality I so adore:

*Cotton neck strings

*Original broadcloth torso construction and no perma panties

*Gorgeous eyes with original pinwheel design (not the new faux-pinwheel) that are quality weighted, close entirely, and have no visible side posts

*Beautiful vinyl, not too squishy or too hard

*A full wig that provides the proper coverage of the wig cap

*Unmarked underarm joints (no factory marking number-and-letters "tattoo")

It is all sunshine and happiness here today, though I am wistful for AG to return to an actual premium quality doll. Until then, secondary market is now our first go-to for new poppets!

The Backside of the Story

Remember the "B" side of vinyl albums?

With all the rolling changes in the cloth torso construction and design it is now the new normal to take a look at the backside of the dolls to note any changes.

For my Tenney and Logan dolls it was not so much the construction or design of the torso that changed but for one doll, the fabric itself.

My Tenney doll, bought on debut day, features the familiar classic cloth torso with backside horizontal darts for a rounded firm shape. Her cloth is the familiar course weave.

My Logan doll, also bought on debut day, features the classic torso design with horizontal darts--but the fabric seems slightly different. The end of the dart (the furthest point from the vertical center seam) actually puckers and is more pointy with the new fabric and gives Logan's side-cheeks a less rounded shape and transition around the side. 

Upon inspection, the Logan fabric seems slicker and closer to a polyester feel as well as potentially thinner though I make no claims on the comparative strength or longevity between the two fabrics. (Note the color variation in the two photos is more due to camera lighting issues.)

Most noticeable is that instead of the clearly defined cross-hatched weave of Tenney's torso (left) Logan's weave is much tighter.

I did a quick comparison between Tenney and one of my more recent dolls, Samantha who was bought in 2013. Tenney's fabric weave and weight matches my Samantha doll's torso fabric. Logan's fabric is something new.

Late addition: Several people on other boards are identifying the new fabric being used as polished cotton broadcloth which is what OG seems to use. Consensus is that this fabric is less durable.

AGPSF Flash: Peeking for Perma-Panties

While I need to write a few longer posts on PantyGate, for tonight I want to give a short update on American Girl Place San Francisco and the presence or non-presence of perma-panties.

In brief, as of this Monday evening, AGPSF seems to still be primarily stocked with the older versions of the 18" dolls--no obvious signs of perma-panty dolls. I was only able to open a few boxes, such as the TM 55 pictured above and below.

It was surprising how happy I was to see the removable panties on the TM doll!

I peeked in a few more boxes in the TM area and then opened one Julie box and was pleased to see she was still sporting removable panties as well.

So now a on worrying note--the store was quiet, there were plenty of assistants doing what looked like stocking and arranging--but the # of doll boxes on the shelves in the BeForever area seemed extremely sparse. 

Where I might normally see BeForever doll boxes lined up in each character kiosk area at least 2 deep and all the way across I now saw boxes only 1 deep and not all the way across. My (irrational?) fear is that for the big debut of Tenney & Logan on Thursday that AG is also planning to pull, re-box, and "debut "the BeForever girls in some new atrocious full-window style box.

Note that AG has been known to pull out and re-box store-stock dolls in the past. For the big Truly Me debut launch in May 2015 the Visual Department at AGPSF took ALL the modern dolls out of their old boxes, redressed them in what we know as the current Lilac Dress, and then re-box them in the new Truly Me box. (I overheard some of this while in the store the morning of the Truly Me debut in 2015 and also managed to get a few behind the scenes tidbits of info when I found a chatty employee who told me that Visual hd been up until 4am making those very changes the night before.)

TL;DR

*AGPSF still has older dolls with removable underwear in stock. Go soon to avoid perma-panties.

*The BeForever box could change without warning and Thursday's debut is one possible (but not confirmed) switch-a-roo point.