4119.4: American Girl
LOL TOM PETTY
So, here's a thing. I'm still looking for a miniature tuba for that "reenact a panel of wondermark" project even though at this point it's pretty much entirely just to see if I can do it, so I checked out American Girl while at Tysons. I kinda figured from the lack of one on the website that I wouldn't find the tuba [or even, say, a sousaphone*], but I figured it'd at least be interesting to check out what the store was like, especially since they actually would regularly buy from Caketown and it had me curious.
*Joke: Ctrl-F or scroll to "is too offended to give you stuffs"
It is HUGE. D= I mean, this is obvious from the layout [two stories, each floor taking up what would've been THREE stores before], but actually being in there makes it seem even bigger on the inside.
This is the key thing to take away from going in there: the base doll is $105. D= D= D= This is just the doll with plain outfit and no frills! [or tax/shipping, for that matter] There are some 6" "mini-dolls" as well, but those start at $24 D= Hell, a 3" pet bunny with basket is $20! (a 4" cat w/o anything is also $20)
Granted, the justification for being so expensive is they're a little more life-like than... oh... Barbie or Cabbage Patch Kids, certainly, or whatever the current equivalent is, and they're customizeable with so many outfits and accessories [including crutches and wheelchairs!] basically to create a girl version of Build-a-Bear. Or, I guess there are boys, too, but primarily in newborn size--every 3-to-7yo-size is a girl.
I guess the main problem I have is they're all the same face, even though you can choose different skin, eye, and hair colour. The only different physical face [including teeth] is on specialty non-customizeable [as far as I can tell] models. I guess it'd be difficult to do in-shop work if I wanted one with, say, a heart- or oval-shaped face vs. a circle/square, or one that's thinner or fatter[!] than the other models, but by that point I guess I'd be hiring a custom dollmaker.
Still kinda tempted to get one [not necessarily American Girl, but a life-like doll] to see if that satisfies my absolutely minor "I want a baby" craving. Certainly don't trust myself to do well with the real thing, and I'd hate to condemn someone to having ME as Mom for life just 'cause I was "curious." And even American Girl would be a bargain over the live version =p
[also still scared of pregnancy complications--I guess that's fantastic that OTHER people are confident that all human pregnancies are healthy and perfectly trouble-free for mother and child(ren), but even one pregnancy-related death makes me afraid mine would be the next one]
So... uh... yeah! No tubas =( I guess I'll have to order Internet-direct--which isn't so bad, but I really don't have a good idea of if it's the correct size if it's not in person, and too big/small [actually more likely to be too small than too big] isn't going to be worth getting, which is why I was hoping to find a localish one.
So, here's a thing. I'm still looking for a miniature tuba for that "reenact a panel of wondermark" project even though at this point it's pretty much entirely just to see if I can do it, so I checked out American Girl while at Tysons. I kinda figured from the lack of one on the website that I wouldn't find the tuba [or even, say, a sousaphone*], but I figured it'd at least be interesting to check out what the store was like, especially since they actually would regularly buy from Caketown and it had me curious.
*Joke: Ctrl-F or scroll to "is too offended to give you stuffs"
It is HUGE. D= I mean, this is obvious from the layout [two stories, each floor taking up what would've been THREE stores before], but actually being in there makes it seem even bigger on the inside.
This is the key thing to take away from going in there: the base doll is $105. D= D= D= This is just the doll with plain outfit and no frills! [or tax/shipping, for that matter] There are some 6" "mini-dolls" as well, but those start at $24 D= Hell, a 3" pet bunny with basket is $20! (a 4" cat w/o anything is also $20)
Granted, the justification for being so expensive is they're a little more life-like than... oh... Barbie or Cabbage Patch Kids, certainly, or whatever the current equivalent is, and they're customizeable with so many outfits and accessories [including crutches and wheelchairs!] basically to create a girl version of Build-a-Bear. Or, I guess there are boys, too, but primarily in newborn size--every 3-to-7yo-size is a girl.
I guess the main problem I have is they're all the same face, even though you can choose different skin, eye, and hair colour. The only different physical face [including teeth] is on specialty non-customizeable [as far as I can tell] models. I guess it'd be difficult to do in-shop work if I wanted one with, say, a heart- or oval-shaped face vs. a circle/square, or one that's thinner or fatter[!] than the other models, but by that point I guess I'd be hiring a custom dollmaker.
Still kinda tempted to get one [not necessarily American Girl, but a life-like doll] to see if that satisfies my absolutely minor "I want a baby" craving. Certainly don't trust myself to do well with the real thing, and I'd hate to condemn someone to having ME as Mom for life just 'cause I was "curious." And even American Girl would be a bargain over the live version =p
[also still scared of pregnancy complications--I guess that's fantastic that OTHER people are confident that all human pregnancies are healthy and perfectly trouble-free for mother and child(ren), but even one pregnancy-related death makes me afraid mine would be the next one]
So... uh... yeah! No tubas =( I guess I'll have to order Internet-direct--which isn't so bad, but I really don't have a good idea of if it's the correct size if it's not in person, and too big/small [actually more likely to be too small than too big] isn't going to be worth getting, which is why I was hoping to find a localish one.