REVIEWING THE AG X BARBIE COLLAB DOLL

Hey everyone! I'm back as promised with a review / more photos of the Barbie collector doll! I've had her for a little more than a week at this point, and I can go ahead and say that I'm still as excited about her as I was in my unboxing video last week. Mostly, I thought you guys would be interested in seeing more pictures because I didn't go very in-depth in my video, and I haven't seen a lot of people go in-depth about this doll online. 

So, here she is! I don't think there's a ton for me to say about this photo right now, but this is how I've had her set up on my display shelf. Super simple and out-of-box. What can I say? I'm an out-of-box collector. (I've tried to keep dolls in-box before but I just connect to them so much better out-of-box. That and boxes aren't super convenient for conserving the little space I have.) Also to quickly address the video last week, yes she fell at the end. 😭 She fell face first on carpet so she's completely fine. No shine marks or anything and it was only like a 2-foot fall. (unlike the time Toni fell 6 feet off a retention wall onto concrete...) 

One of the biggest criticisms I've seen of this doll is her face paint. I'm not super sure why that's such a big concern on this doll, because her eye paint is honestly more minimal than a lot of AG's recent dolls. She doesn't have bottom lashes and I don't think her eyeliner is too extreme. A lot of people don't like her eyebrows, which yes, I agree they're very arched, but two things: First, her eyebrows are nowhere near as mean-looking as they were in the promo photos. Second, the first wave of Barbies had the MEANEST looking face ever. They had the meanest eyebrows and a super judgey side eye. It sounds unappealing, but I find it so charming for some reason. I know. I'm weird. 

This is my classic Barbie. She's a bubblecut instead of a ponytail, which just means she has a different hairstyle than the first Barbies that were sold, but they have the same faces and bodies. They were sold basically the same way, with the same outfit and packaging, just different hair. Mine was made in 1962, about 3 years after the first Barbie hit shelves. There are differences in the face paint between mine and even earlier Barbies, but it's the same idea. All of this to say that I think AG did a really good job transferring this look of early Barbies to an American Girl doll!  

Here's another angle of her face. Mine seems to have symmetrical face paint, which I'm grateful for. That was a mild concern of mine with this doll being final sale. Her bangs were asymmetrical-looking when I got her out of the box, but I fluffed them up and now they look just fine. She has a noticeable head tilt, which is my favorite little quirk of AG dolls. 

Here's a photo of her sunglasses. They're hard to get on her head if you're being super overly careful like me, which is one slight complaint I have, but I've always had a hard time with doll sunglasses. I have a pair of vintage Barbie sunglasses (not these white ones, unfortunately), and they're just as hard to get on... 

I know this photo's a little blurry, but here's the stand! It's not too special, but at least it's better than a saddle stand. (If you only collect AG, you probably haven't had to deal with saddle stands. Lucky.) This part is such a cool easter egg, because the stand is something that helps to identify a 1st wave Barbie. #1 Barbie stands had rods that would stick in little holes in the dolls' feet, essentially making the doll look like she was standing unassisted. Later stands had a different design, which held the doll under their arms. (I have two of these versions of the stands- one for Ken and one for Barbie. They're not great, if I'm going to be honest.) This stand resembles the first Barbie stands, which I love because it's classy.  

And look!! It says "Barbie by Mattel" which I'm literally obsessed with. It's so sleek. Also her little painted toenails!! Her painted nails are probably one of my favorite details about this doll. I remember when I got my 60s Barbie, I was excited to see that she still had her nail color. The color they used for this doll is more of a coral-pink than the cherry red on vintage Barbies. 

Here you can see the polish on her hand, as well as her wrist tag. The tag is a vinyl piece that velcros, so it is removable. This is another fun Easter egg. None of my vintage Barbies came to me with this tag still on, unfortunately, but they would have originally. The little details on this doll like that make her feel more extravagant. I think she would otherwise feel too minimal and underwhelming. 

Her earrings are everything. I'm obsessed. I love gold hoop earrings more than I should. Like genuinely, I have my own pair of gold hoop earrings and it makes me so happy when I wear them. 

I wanted to get a good side profile so you could see her hair! This meet hairstyle is super impressive (and done exactly like vintage ponytail Barbies...) I am worried because it's done very loosely and I really don't want to have to redo it. It already has flyaways. 

Look at how the hair is wrapped around the ponytail!! (I can't redo that!!) Her wig is super nice though. It's soft and more yellow-y than the typical blonde color AG uses. 

This was an attempt of a picture... oh well. The swimsuit is definitely the piece AG took the most creative liberty on, which I think was probably wise. The design is quite a bit different than the actual Barbie zebra-striped swimsuits. (Which I unfortunately do not have to compare with. My bubblecut Barbie came from the year they stopped selling Barbies in that outfit for a while.) I know the AG community doesn't really like that AG uses Swarovski crystals, but I am glad they did on this doll because, like I mentioned, she has a more minimalist design. The sparkles add an aesthetic appeal that makes her feel more "collector" worthy. 

The crystals only cover the front of the swimsuit. 

She also has a super light skin tone, which I didn't have in my collection before. I think it might be the same as Cinderella's skin tone, but I don't have Cinderella to compare. Eden (as well as Blaire) was previously my lightest doll, and I also have her pictured next to Isabel because Isabel has the more standard light vinyl skin tone. I really do not know the numbers for the skin tones and that is an issue I should probably fix. Anyway, my theory on why they did this is because the vinyl in #1 Barbies discolors over time so they all have very pale ivory-colored vinyl now. 

And we have another picture of my bubblecut as I make my closing remarks! Overall, I'm super glad I bought the Classic Barbie collector doll. She was $300, but I feel like I got my money's worth. A lot of it is sentimental value, as Barbie became a big interest of mine after the movie came out last year. Barbie has a lot of fascinating history that reflects the cultural shifts of society since she came out 65 years ago, and the history buff in me finds it all so interesting. I frequently hear about the "barbiefication" of AG used in a way to describe a decrease in quality and a stray from their original company goal, but as much as some AG collectors tend to look down on Barbie, I think it's fitting that they would highlight the history of a different doll that revolutionized the toy industry. Without Barbie, we likely wouldn't have American Girl.

Thanks for reading my thoughts! As always, have a wonderful week and remember to eat your veggies! Bye! <3