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u/EnterprisingGent1701

Image 1 — Decision Made! (Re: my accidentally-emotional post asking for advice about making a custom doll vs. purchasing the one I had as a boy. Also, huge THANK YOU / LOVE to this community! <3)
Image 2 — Decision Made! (Re: my accidentally-emotional post asking for advice about making a custom doll vs. purchasing the one I had as a boy. Also, huge THANK YOU / LOVE to this community! <3)
Image 3 — Decision Made! (Re: my accidentally-emotional post asking for advice about making a custom doll vs. purchasing the one I had as a boy. Also, huge THANK YOU / LOVE to this community! <3)
Image 4 — Decision Made! (Re: my accidentally-emotional post asking for advice about making a custom doll vs. purchasing the one I had as a boy. Also, huge THANK YOU / LOVE to this community! <3)
Image 5 — Decision Made! (Re: my accidentally-emotional post asking for advice about making a custom doll vs. purchasing the one I had as a boy. Also, huge THANK YOU / LOVE to this community! <3)
▲ 45 r/americangirl

Decision Made! (Re: my accidentally-emotional post asking for advice about making a custom doll vs. purchasing the one I had as a boy. Also, huge THANK YOU / LOVE to this community! <3)

Hello there, friends! I hope this post finds everybody well!

This is a follow-up to a post I made a couple of days ago asking for advice about whether to make a custom doll or look for a Kirsten, just like I had as a kid: https://www.reddit.com/r/americangirl/comments/1tfclq6/advice_please_tldr_torn_between_nostalgia/

First, I want to thank everybody who responded from the bottom of my heart. Your comments, compassion, shared stories, and everybody's two cents that they chipped in mean a great deal to me. Writing that post ended up being unexpectedly emotional; Kirsten had frankly sat in the dusty confines of the attic in my mind for a very long time. I genuinely hadn't thought about her in decades. But when I sat down to write the post, which basically ended up being a free-association emotional barf, all those memories and love and the loss came flooding back.

Anyway, I just wanted to share my decision with you all. <3

I ended up getting Kirsten because I got to thinking that a custom doll will ultimately just be a reflection of this time in my life. One year, five, ten, twenty--I'll look at that doll and only see something born out of this moment.

But Kirsten is forever.

Twenty years from now I'll look at her and still have all those childhood memories and love, plus all the new.

And to answer one of my fears from the original post: I ultimately don't think it's going to matter that she's not my original childhood Kirsten. Because when she gets here, I'm going to give her a hug (many hugs!), and play with her hair, and still sleep with her just like I did when I was a kid. I will probably also stow her incognito in my backpack when I have to go to appointments and the like. (Or maybe I'll get brave enough to open carry her someday!)

But anyway, this Kirsten will be there for me just like my original. And the more I think about it and shake off the logical impulse, the more I believe that the spirit of my old Kirsten--who was my comfort and confidant and best friend and witness and secret keeper--will reside in this new doll, too.

In addition to Kirsten, and just to scratch the artsy fartsy color itch which would have been central to the custom I was thinking of, creatingI picked up the 1996 Girl of Today First Day outfit as well. (This was also done for little me, because I drooled over this outfit in the catalogue for ages, but never got it.)

I also got a brush. As a kid I totally just used a regular hairbrush, lol.

Finally, I got Kirsten her beautiful skating coat and scarf, because it gets hella cold here in Wisconsin.

Needless to say, I completely blew my budget and threw about half of this on my credit card, but frankly that's okay. It's more than worth it, and I will be deleting my well-loved eBay account after everything rolls in, sooo. ;) What a fitting swan-song.

Once I finish my current book and Kirsten arrives, I'm also going to scoop up her book series on Kindle as well. I can't wait to reread them! Now that I've got Kirsten on the brain, so many details have been coming back.

Anyway, that's all I've got for now. I'll be sure to post once she arrives!

On that note, I hope you all have a beautiful rest of your day. Thank you again so much to everybody who shared such love and support with me! I appreciate you all! <3

u/EnterprisingGent1701 — 2 days ago
▲ 94 r/buildabear

Tygah's New Outfit &lt;3

Hello there, friends! I hope this post finds everybody well!

I decided to get Tygah a new outfit, because although I loved her other one, it frankly wasn't very cuddle compatible. So I got this stuff instead! I'm sure it clashes, but it's soooo comfy to cuddle. That vintage camo fleece is to die for. So soft.

I threw a butterfly patch on the shirt, and the big bead in the necklace was given to me by a pen pal in Germany. <3 I added a sparkly heart to the jeans as well, which ended up crooked, but oh well.

Since I was getting her new clothes, I also decided to restuff Tygah as well. I even paid money on eBay to get a heart that says "I love you," so between that and the "hug me" boxers, Tygah's giving off all kinds of sweet little secret vibes.

I added a photo of her as a stow-away in my backpack at an appointment yesterday, and a photo of the jeans to highlight their quality. Vintage, baby! Those are real functioning pockets and real functioning belt loops. :D

(I was actually kind of sad; I had found these beautiful ombre jeans that I wanted her to wear, but she was too plump for them. I forgot to check the tags, but I'm pretty sure they were modern and intended for the smaller-bodied modern friends. Alas. If it's any consolation to anybody else who is having this problem, the same thing is true for American Girl clothes as well. The modern / Mattel dolls are slimmer than the vintage Pleasant Company ones. It sucks, but at least in a way I'm glad that it's not just Build-A-Bear. Arguably, the same logic applies to Build-A-Bear and American Girl in terms of clothing quality as well: frankly the vintage stuff is much better than the modern, at least in my opinion. :P)

Anyway, that's all I've got! Thank you so much for reading! Tygah and I both hope you have a beautiful rest of your day! <3

u/EnterprisingGent1701 — 2 days ago
▲ 98 r/Dolls

Grail Find: G1 My Little Pony Megan in her Country Jamboree Outfit

Hello there, friends! I hope this post finds everybody well!

After seeing somebody's grail post the other day, I got inspired to share my own grail find!

Pretty much just what it says on the tin! I had been looking for the Country Jamboree outfit for aaaaages, because it's the closest screen-accurate thing Hasbro ever made to how Megan looks in the original My Little Pony cartoon. Then one day, my eBay saved searches email popped up with not only the outfit, but Megan as well, whom I didn't have yet because I was holding out. I snagged her for an absolutely fantastic price, too, which I wasn't really expecting.

Wind Whistler and Fizzy are very grateful to have their friend back with them again! <3

Anyway, that's all! Thank you so much for reading, and I hope you have a beautiful rest of your day! <3

u/EnterprisingGent1701 — 2 days ago
▲ 22 r/CabbagePatchKids

Complete Magic Meadow Ponies &lt;3

Hello there, friends! I hope this post finds everybody well!

I just wanted to share my collection of the Cabbage Patch Magic Meadow ponies. <3 I grew up with the cheap fakies when I was a kid, which were sort of mishmashes between the Magic Meadow ponies (scales-down head) and G1 My Little Pony (body). As an homage to these humble playmates, I have enshrined my favorite childhood fakie as the Queen of all my Magic Meadow ladies.

I am indebted to the Toy Sisters' website for giving me a comprehensive guide to follow: https://www.toysisters.com/toy-guides/cabbage-patch-magic-meadow-ponies/

("I have also seen them listed as cows and hippos on Ebay, which I find highly amusing" had me rolling. Their whole website is a treasure trove of nostalgia; I highly recommend taking a look around.)

Anyway, please excuse the garbage photo quality. This corner of my little studio apartment never gets very good light, and I gave up trying to take straight photos after a while. You'd think the shelves would help as a guideline, but no.

Also, I was very annoyed with Hasbro for making an odd number of ponies when I had an even number of shelves. It was difficult to figure out how to arrange them, because I didn't really want to mix ponies from separate groups . . . So here we are.

Finally, I apologize in advance for the state of their hair. I did my best with shampoo, conditioner, and combing, but I don't have a hair straightener and really didn't want to risk using heat on them, even though I know people have done this with My Little Ponies without any problem.

Anyway, as follows, my pet names for each of the different groups / lineups:

Shelf 1: Glitter Girlies. (That magenta one has clearly Seen Some Shiz. Those eyes . . . )

Shelf 2: Pretty Pearly Girlies. I think these ones are my favorite.

Shelf 3: Crimpy Curly Girls.

Shelf 4: An Interlude of Lipstick Ladies, followed by the last of the Crimpy Curly Girls.

Thank you so much for reading! :) I hope you have a beautiful rest of your day! <3

u/EnterprisingGent1701 — 3 days ago
▲ 7 r/americangirl

Advice, Please? (TL;DR: torn between nostalgia, something new, and knowing that "you can't go back again . . . ")

Hello there, friends! I hope this post finds everybody well!

I've been lurking on this sub for a while, soaking up all the sweet nostalgia from you good folks. <3 But now I'm posting because I don't have any friends to bounce this off of. Any advice, thoughts, tips . . . really anything . . . would be greatly appreciated.

I could also have tagged this as "Nostalgic AG Stories," I think, but at its heart, it is a decision. :) Nonetheless, I'll start with context / nostalgia.

I'm a 35-year-old autistic gay man. I grew up with the 1990s American Girl dolls / clothes because my parents didn't believe in gender-splitting toys. My childhood doll was donated (if not thrown away) when I moved out for university and my dad moved house, back in 2008.

In 1996, my Grammie gave me a copy of the Pleasant Company catalogue, and I absolutely DIED. I drooled over the dolls. I memorized their descriptions and the clothing and everything. I even asked Grammie to read the catalogue to me as a "bedtime" story, bless her heart.

Grammie said that if I saved up $68, she and Grampie Joe would give me the other $20 so I could get the "basic" historical doll + hardcover book of my choice. I zoomed right over to my Goofy bank and anxiously began counting all my singles and coins. From then on, I saved up all my birthday money, Christmas money, "Can I do extra chores around the house for an extra buck?" money.

And, in 1997, I finally got Kirsten.

She was my everything. I was bullied in school and led a very isolated childhood, made worse by my undiagnosed autism, legal blindness, and living situation (alcoholic / abusive mother and well-intentioned, hardworking-to-the-point-of-not-being-there-much father). And so Kirsten became my friend.

I played with her for hours and dragged her everywhere with me. Naturally her braid-loops came undone. Her hair became frizzy from over-love. Her once firm body became squishy because I hugged and squeezed her so much. I rolled her in the grass because I loved rolling in the grass. I rubbed her with dandelions. Her limbs became loose and floppy, but she could still strike a pose.

I bought her outfits when I could--mostly the American Girl of Today stuff, although I did buy Kirsten's birthday dress because pink, flower crown, and that pinafore was adorable). I even got her Baxter the Bunny, because I, too, had a beloved pet bunny growing up. (RIP, Fergus, you old madame.)

Kirsten became "real," like the Velveteen Rabbit or Edward Tulane. (And if you haven't read The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane--please, please do.)

I did have one friend in grade school, and she also had an American Girl (Samantha--whom she took very good care of!). I will forever cherish memories of playing with our dolls together. <3 As these things go, Megan and I grew apart at the end of grade school, but Kirsten was still there.

Until I moved off to university, Dad moved houses, and Kirsten wasn't there.

Fast forward to today. Over the last six months, my life has utterly fallen apart (not that it had much holding it together to begin with). I have coped by swaddling myself in every "good" thing that brought me a modicum of comfort from my childhood: the 1980s My Little Pony cartoon; re-assembling my long-lost collection of Breyer model horses; and stuffties.

In many ways, I feel like that isolated little boy again. And as I've been recklessly riding this nostalgia train, Kirsten keeps coming to my mind.

My first thought, however, wasn't to go looking for Kirsten. Instead, I thought, "Why don't I make a custom doll?"

On the surface level, I think I want a doll because I need a human . . . something. I think it would do "little me" (ergo, present-me) a lot of good. And I want an AG doll because I want something that I can still hug, cuddle, etc., unlike, say, a Barbie. And I first thought of a custom because:

  1. I need something artistic to do. Because my visual impairment has recently worsened, I can no longer draw, paint, or sculpt--so something "to do" would be good, even if it's brief (eye swap, wig swap, and clothes shopping).

I wanted to make an artsy-fartsy, color clash'n'mash, hodgepodge, long-haired, hippie-dippy boy . . . ha.

  1. Deep down, I'm scared to get a new Kirsten because she won't be my old one. She won't be the doll who kept all my secrets, who was witness to everything and knew what the "trusted adults" (teachers, etc.) didn't believe. The doll who was, in many ways, my most steadfast comfort, besides my Grammie and my bunny.

Of course, perhaps that won't matter. Maybe as soon as I see those lovely light-blue eyes and ashe-blonde bangs and goofy, two-toothed smile, I won't care. Maybe I'll pick her up and it will just be like my Kirsten was reincarnated.

And yet I do worry that I'll get a new Kirsten and realize that what I wanted is forever gone . . .

So if I were to make a custom doll, I can bypass that "But the doll won't be my Kirsten" issue altogether.

  1. And yet I'm also nervous that I'll make the custom and think "Well you were cool to make, I guess," but realize that he's not what I really wanted (Kirsten, ahem). Of course, it's not that I couldn't grow to love him, but in the back of my head, I think the "disappointment" would still be there.

I only have the budget to pursue one path or the other, and I genuinely don't know which one to take. Every day I think I've made up my mind. For a solid week I didn't even give getting Kirsten a thought, and busied myself looking at clothes and wigs and eyes on Etsy. But then Kirsten squiggled back into my thoughts again . . .

Anyway, bless whoever's made it this far. Like I said, I don't have any friends whom I can bounce this off of. If you've got any advice, thoughts, tips, "Have you considered"s, etc. . . . I would love to hear from you. <3

Thank you all so much for reading this textual barf. I appreciate you, and I hope you have a beautiful rest of your day! <3

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u/EnterprisingGent1701 — 5 days ago
▲ 51 r/plushies

Hello there, friends! I hope this post finds everybody well!

I fell in love with this guy a few weeks ago via eBay, and finally sat down to share him with you all! He is a Gund Cozy Bear from 1985, and he is just the softest, sweetest looking thing.

One thing I tried to capture in a photo is that he's actually looking up--kind of like Gund's Snuffles. Also, the curve in his back isn't his arm; ​Gund actually designed a little hump into his pattern. He reminds me a lot of the original Winnie the Pooh, and I think that's why I fell in love with him so much. ​My only lament is that he does not have a tail.

He's also a little smaller than I like my bears, but he's so soft and ergonomic that he's amazing to cuddle, regardless.

Anyway, that is my new friend Butterbutt!! <3 We wish you all a beautiful rest of your day!

u/EnterprisingGent1701 — 16 days ago
▲ 120 r/Teddybears

Hello there, friends! I hope this post finds everybody well!

I fell in love with this guy a few weeks ago via eBay, and finally sat down to share him with you all! He is a Gund Cozy Bear from 1985, and he is just the softest, sweetest looking thing.

One thing I tried to capture in a photo is that he's actually looking up--kind of like Gund's Snuffles. Also, the curve in his back isn't his arm; ​Gund actually designed a little hump into his pattern. He reminds me a lot of the original Winnie the Pooh, and I think that's why I fell in love with him so much. ​My only lament is that he does not have a tail.

He's also a little smaller than I like my bears, but he's so soft and ergonomic that he's amazing to cuddle, regardless.

Anyway, that is my new friend Butterbutt! <3 We wish you all a beautiful rest of your day!

u/EnterprisingGent1701 — 16 days ago
▲ 33 r/buildabear

Hello there, friends! I hope this post finds everybody well!

Tygah came with me to the cardiologist today, and basked in the 60° and sunny we have going on at the moment. :3 I did some basking, too. I don't like summer, and prefer fall, and winter can be nice as well, but there's also something very special about spring. The birds are arriving, and we have lots of daffodils and tulips popping up around the neighborhood.

Finally, I'll close with a gentle PSA and reminder that it is totally okay to carry your Build-A-Bear with you in public. I have given up shoving Tygah in my backpack anytime she goes somewhere with me. She's now out and proud lol.

On that note, we both wish you a beautiful rest of your day! <3

u/EnterprisingGent1701 — 23 days ago