WellieWishers is a line of all-vinyl dolls released by American Girl in June 2016. The line is named after wellies, a term for Wellington boots/rubber rain boots that was popularized in the United Kingdom. They are, as a line, designated to cover the span of elementary-aged children five and up who may be too young for handling the mainline American Girls, but feel too mature for the preschool style clothing and infant focus of the Bitty Baby line.
Overview
The line has five main characters: Willa, Kendall, Ashlyn, Emerson, and Camille. They are all characterized as young girls of about early elementary age (5-7) who meet together in a backyard garden (supervised by Aunt Miranda, who is Willa's aunt) to play with each other. While they each have unique personalities and interests, they play together freely and enjoy each other's company; the line characterizes them as all wanting the same overall goal of being a good friend and taking a step in each other's "wellies" to understand each other.
Doll Anatomy
The WellieWishers dolls are all vinyl: vinyl limbs and head and harder plastic torsos. At fourteen and a half inches tall, their overall shape is smaller than standard sized American Girl Dolls. They have fixed set eyes that do not close with no lashes (though lashes and eyebrows are painted on) and wigged Kaneklon hair. The face molds, like most of the 18" dolls, have two visible front teeth; the face molds vary slightly, but are overall designed to resemble a young early elementary school aged child. Ears are visible. The heads turn on the neck but do not tilt dramatically, and the arms and legs are set to the torso on rotating flange joints; the arms and legs are slightly poseable but not to the strung-style degree of the 18" dolls. The plastic torso has a molded navel, slight torso shape, and molded underpants of the doll's skin tone with the WellieWishers "W" logo over the right hip. The hands have small unpainted fingernails and the feet have unpainted toenails.
Each doll comes in a meet-style outfit consisting of a short sleeved tee, gathered-waist skirt, pink knit panties, and rubber/plastic wellies that are slit up the back to facilitate removal. The wellies are also lined inside to prevent staining doll's legs.
Outfits and Accessories
The characters overall share items, clothing, and accessories; most accessories and items are not titled by character name, though it appears that several items are strongly associated with a particular character. Others are intended by design to help flesh out the world and serve as playsets for all the characters. Outfits frequently come with plastic shoes.
Books
The books are written by Valerie Tripp and illustrated by Thui Tai. They are written as short-chapter books with full illustrations on each page.
The first three books were released in late summer 2016, with the next set in late winter 2017.
- Ashlyn's Unsurprise Party
- The Muddily-Puddily Show
- The Riddle of the Robin
- Camille's Mermaid Tale
- The Rainstorm Brainstorm
- The Mystery of Mr. E
Animated Series
An animated series based on the WellieWishers debuted on Amazon Video in October 2016, with each episode averaging a run time of 10-11 minutes. The series is free for Amazon Prime members to watch, while non-Prime members can purchase an individual episode at $1.99 in standard-definition format, or $2.99 for high-definition formats.
Episodes
- The Bothersome Bird (free on Amazon Video)
- Little Tree
- Snow-flaking
- Copy Cat
- Butterfly Ballet
- Glowing in the Dark
- I Do, You Do, Hair Do
- Now You See It, Now You Don't
- It Takes Two to See Saw
App
A free app through the Apple Store is available.
Promotional Images
Promotional image, from left to right, of Camille, Ashlyn, Emerson, Kendall, and Willa.[1]
See Also
- Hopscotch Hill School, a prior all-vinyl line by American Girl for elementary aged children
Links
- Official Website
- WellieWishers ⭐️ American Girl on Instagram
- WellieWishers on Amazon Prime Video
References
- ↑ This image shows the characters before the outfits were designed for the widespread line.