AG Showdown: Mini-Samantha vs. Mini Samantha

"She's right behind me, isn't she?"

As followers of the American Girl dolls know, their historical character doll line was revamped earlier this year, and rebranded "BeForever".  Part of that revamp involved both a new style of mini-dolls and a re-release of my personal favourite, the 1904-set Samantha, so naturally the new mini-doll was the first thing I picked up.

I'd originally wanted to get some photos of them fighting it out, but sadly they're too cute, and those fight photos all turned out looking friendly instead.  Ah well, it was a funny idea while it lasted!


I've posted about the old style dolls before, so I won't go into too much detail about them on their own.
The new minis still come in miniature versions of the full-sized doll boxes, which now include a window that shows of the included mini book.  The new books are a fair bit smaller than the old ones, and are paperback rather than hardcover.  Unfortunately old Samantha's book is M.I.A. after my recent move, so I'll save that comparison for later.

In the box.

The new Samantha has an entirely new wardrobe, so in terms of clothing, these two are quite distinct:  the new lace-heavy and very pink dress seems a world away from the muted plaid of the original (although of course the old full-size Samantha did have a pink-and-lacey birthday ensemble - it just didn't exist in the mini size).

New vs. old.
They do have similar shoes though.

Undressed, we can see the biggest change in the mini line: The old dolls were miniaturized versions of the full-sized dolls, complete with the soft bodies and tied-on heads, while the new ones have vinyl bodies and simpler joints.

Body comparison: front view.

Body comparison: side view

This change in body styles has been a source for quite a bit of complaining amongst fans who liked the idea of a perfect miniture of the larger dolls, but I have to say that as dolls on their own, I actually like the new minis.  For one thing, their bodies are significanly more stable, so they can stand more securely on their own. More subjectively, I prefer the way the clothes fit their narrower bodies - some of the clothes aren't quite the same quality (I also picked up the 2015 Girl of the Year mini, who I'll discuss in a later post, but whose outfit was very weak), but they hang better on the new bodies than the old.

Old Samantha almost looks hunched over by comparison.

One change that I thought was a bit odd was a detail of the eye paint: Old Samantha has brown eyes, while new Samantha appears to have eyes with a bit of a purple tint.  The larger doll hasn't gotten a new eye colour, so I don't have an explanation for what they were trying to do with the minis, but the new doll does seem to have a brighter face, although to be fair, my old Samantha is actually old in years, so it may be a factor of age more than anything else.  Along similar lines, I don't feel comfortable comparing the quality of their hair, just because my old Samantha's has probably been damaged over time.

BeForever Samantha, with her purple eyes

The brown-eyed old Samantha

In summary, I have to say that I'm fairly impressed with the BeForever mini doll release: the doll is attractive, and while it's not to everyone's taste, I think the new body may actually be an improvement.  And the new dolls still clearly go with the old, so that's nice to see:

My current group of AG minis.

ETA: Barb of My Little Doll Corner asked how the two Samanthas fit in each other's clothing, so this morning I tried it out, and the results are in: BeForever Samantha can wear old Samantha's dress with ease, while old Samantha is just a little to plush in the body for the new dress to fit her - it goes on, but it can't quite close:

Old doll/new dress, new doll/old dress.

The new dress can't quite close on the soft-bodied Samantha.