I Just Can't Walk Away

Summer launched September 12, 2024 on GMA and I've been a lazy ass and just got around to finishing up my roundup now. Sorry? Sorry. Plus side, because my ass is late, I do also have previews of the holiday dress and the new Janie and Jack collection, both of which should be coming by the end of the month.

First up, Summer!
( My glasses, my glasses. I can't see anything without my glasses! )



Overall, I think Summer lands pretty squarely where a lot of the GOTY dolls have landed for me. Love the doll, kinda meh on the collection. I love the rainbow theme and I really, really love the doll though, so I'm hoping I love the character as well.




From this shot, I'm more into the kid size than the doll size, but we'll see. I definitely get the Sam inspired vibes though.


Curious as to how this will play out. Cautiously optimistic.

So last Thursday AG dropped their monthly release. We're gonna talk about that and then probably loop back around and discuss their sales and stuff at the end, but they do currently have a fair chunk of newer (last month's release) stuff on the monthly sale AND there's a new extra points sale going on so if that's your jam or you see something you need, well, it's on sale in some form or another I think. Also, they've changed something on their website (they've gone full Shopify) so pictures are gonna be weird mebbe?

( The theme is camping unless you're Blix. )
Overall, for this release, it's not bad it's just got various issues. Why didn't Gwynn get anything? She's not even pictured with Blix and it's not like she wasn't billed as a co-GOTY doll soooooooo...
I'll probably cave at some point on the TM camping outfit, Blix, and maybe Corinne's outfit should it go on sale when I have money.


Speaking of sales:
If you're interested in Courtney's older stuff (including her Care Bear stuff), it's on sale.
A good chunk of Kira's stuff is on sale and surprisingly, so is Corinne's and Gwynn's stuff. :/ I suppose it sort of makes sense in that almost all of their stuff is geared for winter but also... dude.
If you were interested in the LoveShackFancy stuff, it's there.
But most vexing of all is Kira's brand new outfit is on sale for 30% off. This thing went on sale before a lot of people got their orders in, or right after they got them in. WTF, AG? (That said, uh, highly recommend if it's your thing.)

With Mom home, I'm hoping to be able to sneak in some time to work on this. I'm not sure how long it'll take me to cover all the new stuff, so I thought we'd begin officially with Kira. Please keep in mind that all this gibberish will be strung together over various breaks in my day, instead of the one or two big crunches I normally do them in, and also I am still very, very much not awake properly. So if I'm not making sense, just poke me and I'll fix it.

I'm going to try not to spoil anything for the Kira books, but I have read them and might accidentally say something more than I should.

( Pics and gibberish ahoy! )

Let's talk about Joss.

I'm not entirely sure how she'll come across in photos to other people, but in person Joss is definitely a chameleon. It's kind of fascinating watching her shift between various face molds with just the tiniest angle change or lighting flicker. It's also slightly unnerving and a right royal pain in the ass if you're attempting to capture one in particular.

I should say that I haven't held her up to (and clearly haven't photographed her with) the other molds because I'm lazy and also I want to enjoy her on her own without direct comparisons just yet. Fine, mostly it's being lazy.

She really does give off a Marie Grace mold vibe, but I've seen pictures of them side by side and as soon as they're next to one another, she looks nothing like MG. But there's something about the tweaks they made to Josefina (or classic, but my money is on Josefina) that evoke MG. Without holding her up to a Josefina mold or classic, I think of her overall as a prettier classic mold, (the nose, however, is sadly classic) but if you pay closer attention to the face mold, it still screams modified Josefina to me. So.. yeah. She shifts, a lot.

All of that aside, or perhaps because of that, I really like Joss. I think she's cute as a button and I won't be upset at all if Courtney (upcoming 80's historical) uses the same mold. I've been pretty hardcore anti-classic mold in the last *checks* 12 years but this is just different enough that I wouldn't mind it being used again so soon.

Wig wise, it's thin. I would have kept to my plan to not order Joss until later in the year if not for the extra points sale and the worry that pretty soon AG's backorders are going to be much, much longer due to their factories being affected by the various shutdowns. So thin wig but color wise it's very pretty (this might actually be MG's color) and I'm hopeful that whenever I decide to take it out of the Meet style, it'll style well enough. I will say that during the however long it took for me to cycle through these outfits, it didn't really shed too much. However, it did have some ridiculously long pieces that had to be removed. She's not the first nor will she be the last to have that problem I'm sure. Frequently with the GOTY wigs later shipments will change the wig. Sometimes this means that a thick, spectacular wig becomes nothing special but usually it means that thinner wigs are fixed or short hairs are added if they weren't there to begin with.

My Joss has a head tilt and while I think it adds character, I know some people are super against that. *shrug* It also means that sometimes my failtography combined with that results in Joss looking very o_0 in pictures even though in person she's fine.

Hearing aid: I was prepared for it to fall out a fair bit but uh, I put it in shortly after deboxing her last week and yesterday I changed her outfit a bunch of times and only once did it shift and that was when I found myself holding her ear and pushing for whatever reason. Maybe when putting on the strawberry shorts? I do know it wasn't until the end and I think that's pretty secure. I wouldn't recommend letting a little kid cart her around an airport or mall or something, but visiting Grandma's or around the house? If the kid isn't part kangaroo and hopping around or shaking things, again, it should be okay. I do love Joss's color scheme extends to the hearing aid, too.


So. Let's get down to pictures, shall we?
( Surf's up. )

Overall? Would recommend if you're at all interested. I know a fair number of people used MG to be Rebecca's cousin, but I think with MG being harder to find now, Joss would fill in just fine.

Next we'll look at Joss in various other outfits.

( Why hello there, Joss. )

Oh, and the reason she has a key to her brother's VW van? That's coming this spring. It's rumored to be $650.

At the moment, my list seems to be Joss herself, Murph, the cheer jacket, and probably her accessories and cheer practice outfit.

First of the year, you know what that means. GOTY roundup post.

( In which I both fangirl and mock. Sorry? )

Blaire's on ebay. I can't believe people are spending $200 to get her early but I guess it's not that much more than getting her direct from AG after shipping and taxes. I think she's likely to be adorable but the ebay pics kinda suck so I'm not really basing too much on them.

So Blaire's book cover appeared in a Scholastic Book Club flier. Redhead confirmed. Now the real question remains: classic or ANYTHING ELSE?

Happy New Year! Later I might get off my duff and post something more personal (oh, self, stop, it's too early in the year for funny) but for now, let's peruse AG's goodies for the year. Are you ready? I'm not sure I am; there's a lot going on here.

We begin with Luciana Vega, the Girl of the Year for 2018.
( A little complaining out of the way first. )


( Luciana! )


Here I was, back in the fall, ready to say this would be another collection where I wanted the doll but not the collection and I was so very, very wrong. I think this is the first in awhile where I've wanted both. I think Grace was the last where I bought a good chunk of the actual collection (big pieces aside) as well as the doll. *thinks* She might also have been the first. Luci, I guess, is going to be the second since most of this is a bunch of "I waaaaaaaant" repeated over and over.


For those who like reality to intersect with their doll worlds, Luci has a lot in common with Alyssa Carson.








If you're feeling lucky, there are 20% off coupons floating around on catalogs again. AG. Love. We gotta talk about your terrible ideas. We really, really do. You want to improve sales? Maybe don't make it obvious in this day and age that you're so busy courting 'new' customers with sales that your best offer for regular, repeat, spend far too much customers is the right to buy a $75 outfit. Free shipping. That 20% off coupon. Something. Anything decent. Also, your die-hards have proven (look at your sales, they suck) that if they know someone else is getting a better deal (hello, 20% off), they will not buy. For a lot of them, this has turned into they will not buy at all. This is kinda the opposite of what you want.

Well hello, Gabby. (It's Gabby in the books and thus it shall be Gabby 'round here.) Welcome to the AG lineup, ignore the jerks as there are plenty.

( Gabby! )

Annnnnnnnnd I'm gonna need some food and possibly some sleep before I can even begin to work myself up to being ready to discuss the mix and match options they just unleashed. Gods, my eyes. I... I don't understand. I keep trying and my brain just keeps screaming nonononononoooooooooo and then I have to toggle on over to the new PJs and soothe myself because those are cute. I think. Oh, god, my eyes need to be cleansed.