If you have not noticed that this entry is late, it is because I am on a semi-hiatus from doing web stuff. So the entries, may be closer to once every two weeks vs weekly. This is only temporary, and the weekly entries will resume later this summer.
Now that the notice is out of the way, today I will be doing a comparison of the three available Jess mold dolls from the My American Girl line. Some may say that they just have different hair styles. But in face, there are more subtle differences than you may realize.
Here I have #30 and #54 side-by-side. Off hand there is not too much difference. Obviously, one has no bangs and layered hair while the other has bangs and a straight hair cut.
Now AG’s descriptions of #30, #40 and #54 are as follows:
#30: Light skin, layered black-brown hair, brown eyes
#40: Light skin, short dark brown hair, brown eyes
#54: Light skin, black-brown hair with bangs, brown eyes
So based on those descriptions, you would expect all three to have the same color eyes, and at least #30 and #54 to have the same color hair. However, that is not the case at all.
While the following photo is not great, the two actually also have different color eyes. American Girl actually have four different shades of brown in their lineup: decal brown (Samantha, Ivy), pinwheel amber (#26), pinwheel brown (#30, #40, and others), and pinwheel dark brown (#25, #54, and others). American Girl does not distinguish “brown eyes” from these four shades, and unless you have a store nearby you to compare the dolls in person, one would not realize the difference, as the stock photos particularly do not distinguish pinwheel brown from pinwheel dark brown all that well.
While the picture does not show it due to poor lighting, #30 in fact had the pinwheel brown eyes while #54 has the pinwheel dark brown eyes. #40 also has brown pinwheel eyes, like #30. In good lighting, this gives quite a drastic difference when comparing the dolls, and can also make a world of difference when you are looking for brown eyes for customization purposes. My poor Rebecca has had all three pinwheel brown eyes swapped in, and the pinwheel brown looks decidedly better than the pinwheel dark brown, which looked flat with her honey brown hair. Now this is not to say pinwheel dark brown is not a good color – but I personally have found it looks best in girls with dark brown to black-brown hair. Any lighter hair color, and it looks too flat.
Next we are going to compare the hair colors. Now #30 and #54 are stated to have black-brown hair, so you expect the same color. #40 clearly states dark brown, so we expect a slightly lighter shade than the other two.
As you can see, the shades are all distinct from each other. For a better compaison, here is a pic of #30, #54 and #40s wig side-by-side:
In person, #40 has the lightest hair – clearly dark brown with medium brown hairs mixed in. Overall, it gives a distinct brown shade to her wig. #30 is in the middle – her wig is mainly made up of only one shade of hair, the same dark brown that #40 has, but no lighter brown hairs thrown in. #54 has the darkest, with a mix of dark brown and black hairs. So despite the supposed same hair color #30 and #54 have, they are distinctly different from each other. The dolls were approximately purchased around the same time as well (along with #60, which the reason I mention will come in a moment), so it is not that AG changed their definition of “black-brown” over the years. So depending on your preference for obvious highlights vs a more overall even colored hair, I certainly would keep that in mind.
Why did I mention #60? Well #60 is also stated to have black-brown hair. Comparing her in the mix, she most resembles #54, with distinct dark brown and black strands of hair dispersed throughout her wig. Again, this doll was purchased around the same time as #30 and #54.
On a brief aside, regarding the hair style – the blunt cut will be even all around. While #30 and #60 both have layered hair, #30’s layering is much more drastic than #60. #30’s hair is longer, but she has starker layering which makes it thinner overall (if you are East Asian and get your hair cut by any East Asian styler, I think you know what I mean, and how much we appreciate the thinning and layering). #60 has minor layering framing her face, but in the back, her hair is all the same length. The shortest layer on #30 reaches her elbows when pulled straight while the shortest layer on #60 is about 1/2 inch to 1 inch above her elbows. The heavier layering on #30 does leave more bounce and flip to her wig, while #60’s tends to stay quite flat. I know some prefer thicker hair and dismiss #30’s thin wig, but as an Asian, this is exactly how I keep my hair, and appreciate that AG has a doll with a similar hair cut.
For comparison of wig make-up, I think we can think of two other dolls: Saige and Marie-Grace. Saige pretty much lacks highlights, so to speak, of distinctly different colored hairs in her wig. Overall, her wig is made of hairs all of the same color. With Marie-Grace, there are noticeably different colored strands of hair in her wig – ranging from blonde to light brown to a maroon-tinted brown.
Is one better than another in terms of eyes or wigs? Not really. It is all more of a personal preference, as we as human beings can have a lot of variance in eye color and the natural coloring of our hair. Between a friend and I, our coloring is covered between #30 and #54. He has evenly colored black-brown hair that is undoubtedly brown in the sun, and medium brown eyes (#30), while I have the dark brown streaks in my hair mixed in the almost black hair and dark brown eyes (#54). If anything, I have to applaud AG for truly hitting real-life phenotypes.
So there you have it – the differences between #30, #40 and #54. If you are looking at the three, those are a few untold differences you may not catch otherwise. I should have #25 in a couple weeks as well to throw into the comparison. (I do not have an unhealthy obsession with dark haired dolls – there is only a distinct lack of dark haired dolls in the Historical and GOTY lines, so I need to make it up somehow.)
Hope you enjoyed this entry.