The latest addition to Nanea's collection features a new outfit and the great Luau table and food.
The table and food look very appealing, but the price tag seems a bit high, compared to other items, at $85.00. In all fairness, it has been pointed out that the table is made for pressed wood, so you don't have to settle for plastic on this one! The dolls can sit at the table (see photos 6-10), which is really cute. If you're at all able to make your own table (or know someone who can), it would be nice if it was slightly bigger. However, this is a cute set . . . and the food items are adorable. Looking up those types of items on eBay (as it was suggested that you could buy the same items pieced out of discontinued sets), this is not a bad price, as it is very expensive to buy these individual things. The coconut drinks are adorable!
Nanea's new dress doesn't appeal to me. It's not Hawaiian looking or 1940s, but since a lot of people have complained about those two aspects of her collection --- this dress may do well. The shoes don't seen quite AG standard.
Rebecca's Movie Premier Outfit
I'm sorry to say that this outfit doesn't look better in the displays than it does in the photos. The colors are horrendous, and it doesn't flatter a gorgeous doll like Rebecca. Poor girl. She's beautiful with such sad clothes. There is no model of this outfit out to be seen from behind the glass, so I didn't get to feel it or anything.
Kit's Garden Stand, Outfit and Accessories
This stand appears to be one of the outstanding buys at American Girl. It looks fabulous, has adorable accessories and looks like something that every little girl would love to play with (and boys, too, for that matter)! And the $100.00 price tag seems great for what you get. The scale is perfect, and the doll fits in the area inside that stand, even on her own display stand. The accessories set (including canning jars) is also really cute, though a bit pricey for the few pieces. Nice addition, though, so worth getting if you have the stand already.
The gardening outfit is very appealing, looking like feed sack material. The pants look a bit short, so if you have a tall doll (my 1997 Josefina stands 18-3/4" tall), they wouldn't fit. But they are really cute and a great look for the stand!
Normal black tights and some shiny purple-pink pumps, topped by a little headband with a huge glitter pom-pom on top.
The accessory set features a purse and some jewelry. I like the bracelet (reminiscent of Grace's Paris charm bracelet), but the ring is a bit hunky, in my opinion. There are some accessories inside the purse (including a passport), but I realize that I forgot to photograph those. If I can get a picture tomorrow, I'll add it in!
#79 is a "not Kanani" Jess mold with medium skin. She's very pretty and quite a nice choice. She's similar to Kanani but not the same. Her skin tone is also a new shade like no one else, so we posed one of the display models next to a Nanea doll. #79 is a little yellower in tone than Nanea.
#78 is the new blond doll. We took a lot of photos of her, because she's hard to photograph and to even see her color in the very pink store! She has sold dark green eyes, which I don't think are very realistic looking or a typical green color. It is very vibrant and dark green but with no gradient or variation in color. Her hair is pretty classic blond colored and curly. The most different thing about her, though, is the face paint. She is painted very pale, rather like the old PM dolls have faded now. This is a good option if you don't like the lips of Tenney and some of the newer dolls.
The Xbox Gaming set is quality. Looks great. Fits great. And every little girl in the place liked it, because it "looks just like my brother!" I would imagine this will do really well!
The pizza and sushi sets are adorable. Personally, the pizza is one of the cutest sets they have made in the food line. The scale is amazing, and the pizza in box is perfect! The dolls can hold different pieces from both sets, thanks to little clear plastic handles. Very nice.
The Pictionary, Uno and Checkers sets are fabulous. They look nice and they fit the dolls very well.
The new bunk bed does not look very quality. It looks like a toy, but for all it's worth, every kid loved it.
The 3-in-1 Game table is one of the most quality items in the place. It may be plastic, but it's quality. My Dad sat with a display model and turned it all around, tried each game and inspected the whole thing. He was really impressed. Definitely great and worth the price of $75.00.
I don't really know anything about skateboarding and ramps, but I took a bunch of photos. It looks fine but plastic. It didn't seem to appeal to the little kids in the store, but if this is your thing --- it's probably really cool!
These are pictures of the new outfits and pets. People were interested in photos of the different wheat colored dogs, so there are some at the end of the slideshow. We bought the new Wheaten Terrier, so I've also included some photos of it with a couple of our boy dolls. It is very cute and quality!
Just a few quick comments on the new TM outfits. The fabrics on this release are really poor. They are thin and the colors and textures within outfits often do not match. The pieces are made as small and tight as possible, so that the pants and shorts don't actually fit the back bottom of the doll (several photos show how the back of the pants cannot pull up all the way) --- something that is also a real problem on the meet outfits of the TM boys. If the pants have back pockets, those pockets actually hang on the back of the doll's thigh, instead of sit on their bottom.
Another thing that my sister and I really noticed is the fact that the shirts have short pieces of velcro that only come about half way down the back of the doll. This leaves the bottom of the shirt hanging open to show the body fabric of the doll and the ill-fitting pants or shorts. See photos above of many.
Well, this should be everything for the new release. More photos of some of our new dolls to come soon, plus a big-time comparison of the old and new eyes.