New dolls, a photoshoot, and being a nerd

Hey guys! I'm so happy to be getting to make this post today because of what it means to me outside of the AG realm. I mentioned in my last two previous posts that, if I reached my goal ACT score, I would get two new American Girl dolls. My most recent scores came out on 3/20, and I reached my goal!

Don't mind the nude dolls in the background of this picture please

So, of course, going straight into things, the two dolls I received are Truly Me 16 and Truly Me 28. They were both purchased individually at the MCM Benefit Sales in 2022 and 2023. My mom had intended to gift or donate them, but the opportunity never really came up, and she wanted them out of her closet. Thus, they were promised to me if I could raise my ACT. Since they were BS dolls, they were practically new, and that was very exciting. 

I did take an unboxing video for the fun of it, but I have no desire to edit that.

So instead, I've done what I do best and did a photoshoot to introduce these two lovelies. There is a bit of lore behind this shoot. Let's get into it!

The girlie in focus is Miss 28, and the blurry one is 16! Neither of them are dolls I would have picked out for myself, but I'm not one to say no to an AG doll I don't have to pay for. I think they're very cute. I've seen a lot more pictures of Marisol lately, and I've started to think she's pretty cute, and obviously, 28 is quite similar to Marisol, so I'm happy with that. And if I haven't said it before, I LOVE dolls with bangs, so there's no convincing needed to like 16. 

I've honestly put this post off for all of my spring break. Not because I didn't know how to show off my new dolls, but because I'm kind of stumped on what to name them. I can already tell you they're stepsisters. 16's character is older than 28's by no more than 2 years. There's a really clear image in my mind of her vibe, but I just cannot get her character actually on paper. 28 is even harder. I feel like I've only ever seen 28 as a sporty or outdoorsy doll, and I don't think that's how I want my 28 to be. 

A quick side note to address the lore I mentioned for this photoshoot. My dear best friend has been trying to get me into Marvel since we became friends in seventh grade. She's finally made some form of progress on me, which I think she's pretty thrilled about. To make a long story about my relationship with Marvel very short, my bestie and I decided to binge the 2015-2018 Daredevil series. It is SO good. I've been advised that my blog's audience may be young, so this is my obligatory disclaimer that Daredevil is rated MA (audiences 17+). I generally hate sitting down to watch things, but we made it through 7 hour-long episodes with only one major break, and I can't wait to see the rest of the show. One of the things that really stuck out to me, outside of the writing and the characters, was the way the show looks. I know NOTHING about filmmaking, but the way they did the lighting and color grading captivated me. 

All that to say, I've done some more experimental things with my pictures lately, so I wanted to try to do something reminiscent of Daredevil. I'm very happy with it!

As is becoming the usual around here, these were taken on manual focus, and it was impossible to get them both in focus. But! It was still a lot of fun to play around with the angles and focus. 

I really wish I had taken some behind the scenes photos of this set, because it was the most DIY studio setup possible. The goals for lighting were very specific (which was such a fun part of this) since I was trying to mimic a show. The backdrop was a navy-colored blanket I pulled off my bed and draped over my desk. There's a red light motif in the Daredevil show, so I knew my pink string lights were going to be the closest I could get to that. The rest of the lighting in the show is very saturated green and yellow, so I used my Chromebook and my iPad to reflect those colors onto the dolls, while relying on the lights from my bathroom, lamp, and phone to light up the rest of the shot. 

The aperture for these shots was 2.8, the shutter speed was 1/80, and the ISO was 8000. 

I'm honestly trying to come up with things for these dolls as I write this. I think I'm going to call 28 Marcy. Her filler name was Mallory, and that name actually does fit her pretty well, but I'm not really feeling it. I found the name Marcy written down on a Google Doc I made a long time ago with doll name ideas, and it's cute. Google told me Marcy can occasionally be short for Marisol, which I think makes a nice, subtle nod to the fact that she's fairly similar to AG's Marisol. I'll probably make her name short for something, and the spelling is up in the air. 

This is going back to my friend's attempts to get me into Marvel, but to me, 16 looks a lot like Kate Bishop from the Hawkeye comics. My bestie got me to buy one of the collections of the Matt Fraction Hawkeye comics, and I loved it. So, honestly, in my head, I've been calling 16 "Kate." It's not what I wanted to call her, but it really is sticking more than any other name I've thrown out for her. It almost seems pointless to fight it.

Maybe 16 will also end up being into archery. That's a cool sport that I don't have represented in my dollhouse yet. 

I mean, look at her. She really does look like a Kate...

28 is definitely an "M" name girl. The challenge is finding a name that I don't have any previous associations with. We're going with Marcy unless that decides not to stick. Yes, I'm genuinely figuring things out as I write this post. 

They're so cute! I don't do many duo photoshoots, but I think these two photograph well together.

If not Daredevil, this shoot kind of gives me Halloween vibes. Not sure why.

Also I really want to pierce their ears. Both of them would be really cute with pierced ears. That's kind of a random sidenote.

If anyone's super curious about my ACT score (and because I feel like I should brag a little, you know?), my goal was a 32 composite! I reached 32 composite with perfect 36s in Reading and Science, a 35 in English, and a 24 in Math.

I love a good Josefina mold doll. Marcy looks very adventurous and cool in these shots.

Kate looks a lot like Samantha, but luckily, both of my Samanthas are Pleasant Company. I compared her to my "childhood" Sam (who's most likely a '95), and the difference is stark. I have, despite owning two PC Sams, always loved the faces on Beforever Samantha. I think that era had a really cute cast of the Classic Mold, and Kate is definitely from that era, which feels like a win. 

Marcy came in the lavender meet dress and Kate came in the floral one, but they're both great dolls in terms of quality control. They both have zip ties, but they don't have the lower quality eyes or permapanties. I'd probably say Marcy is a 2016 and Kate is a 2019 because she came with the Friends: Making Them and Keeping Them book. Both 16 and 28 were retired in 2020.

My Blogger's acting really weird right now and not autosaving, so I'm going to wrap up this post quickly before I lose any of what I've written.

Here's the last photo!

Have a great week and remember to eat your veggies! Bye! <3