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The WellieWishers are 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 four and up who may be too young for handling the mainline 18" dolls, but feel too mature for the preschool style clothing and infant focus of the Bitty Baby line.

Overview[]

The line started with five main characters: Willa, Kendall, Ashlyn, Emerson, and Camille. In 2022 the first boy character, Bryant, was introduced to the group. The children are early elementary aged and ranging from around six to seven years old. They all meet to play together in a large backyard garden that is owned by and supervised by Willa's Aunt Miranda, and this is where they store their wellies when they aren't using them. While the children each have unique personalities, feelings, and interests and sometimes have interpersonal conflicts, 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, as well as a silly and sweet group of children.

Doll Anatomy[]

WellieWishersGroup

The first five WellieWishers dolls (2016-2021). Left to Right: Emerson, Ashlyn, Willa, Kendall, and Camille.

The WellieWishers dolls are fourteen and a half inches tall (14.5"). Their overall shape is smaller than 18" American Girl dolls. The light skin tone of WellieWishers is lighter than the Pale Light tone used on 18" dolls and the medium tone is a unique tone that is more bronze-toned than either medium or dark tone.

Dolls have fixed set plastic eyes with no attached lashes (though lashes and eyebrows are painted on) and wigged mod-acrylic hair. The face molds, like most of the 18" dolls, have two visible front teeth which are painted along with the lips and slight blushing on cheeks. The face molds vary slightly (Willa/Camille, Ashlyn/Kendall/Bryant, and Emerson), but are overall designed to resemble a young early elementary school aged child. Ears are visible and simply molded. The heads turn on the neck and can be slightly tilted but do not tilt dramatically on rotating flange joints. 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 fingers are curved slightly to hold items and have small unpainted fingernails; the feet are flat soled and have unpainted toenails.

Older dolls are a mix of vinyl and plastic, with vinyl limbs and head and harder plastic torsos. They have a harder plastic torso with a molded navel, slight torso shaping with a waistline, and molded skin-tone underpants with a raised WellieWishers W logo over the right hip. For a time, Welliewishers had fragile hip joints that often resulted in the top part of the hip joint in the torso cracking and shattering and the legs (and sometimes arms) detaching from the doll easily if overmanipulated, due to the variance between the hard plastic and softer vinyl. American Girl could be contacted for replacement dolls for the defective joints for a time.

In May 2021, redesigned dolls were released with softer vinyl torsos more similar to the limbs rather than the harder original plastic and reinforced hip joints to better withstand the more physically demanding play of younger children. The newer bodies (which include the body of the Gwynn doll) have a sunken in W logo rather than the raised one on the older plastic bodies and a more subtle line for the underpants on the body molds.

Meet Outfits[]

From launch until 2021, each doll came in a unique meet 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 with white mesh to prevent staining doll's legs.

In 2021, the meet outfits were changed significantly. Every character's outfit now consists of a leotard, pull on skirt, and a plastic headband; Kendall's also comes with additional wings. The wellie boot designs did not change, but are no longer lined. Rather than individual themed meet accessories, they all now share the Magical Llamacorn Accessories.

Bryant comes with a t-shirt, shorts, and long brief underpants similar to 18" boy dolls; he also has additional shoulder wings and an felt tail. He can be bundled with Crisella the Dragon as an accessory.

Outfits and Accessories[]

See List of WellieWishers Outfits; List of WellieWishers Accessories and Furniture

The characters overall share items, clothing, and accessories as they have the same body shape. Clothes, accessories, and items are not titled by character name, though several early items and outfits could be stongly associated with a particular character as they were illustrated in the books (e.g. Ashlyn was illustrated in the Daisy Princess Costume in Ashlyn's Unsurprise Party). Many playsets are themed to help flesh out the world for all the characters. Outfits frequently come with solid plastic shoes.

Starting in 2018, WellieWisher dolls can have their ears pierced. The posts are the same size as 18" doll earrings with the Bright Blooms Earring Set the default earrings for the line. Also starting in 2018, select outfits coordinated with outfits in the Truly Me line (and later the Bitty Baby line); these have mostly been limited to holiday clothing and pajamas.

Starting in 2021, new items took on a more fantasy, imaginative-play design rather than the previous realistic clothing and play items; no items were associated with any specific character other than the meet sets, which each are themed towards a specific fantasy creature.

Children's Items[]

See List of Children's WellieWishers Items

Matching children's items were released at launch with outfits similar to the standard outfits for the main five characters. The boots were modified into socks sold as a five-pair set, the WellieWishers Sock Set; a pair of see-through wellies, the Peek-A-Boo Wellies, were sold alongside. While the matching outfits were later retired, the boots and socks remain available, and additional new sets of socks have been released. Unique child sized items for the line continued to be released, including a charm bracelet with additional charms sold separately, Carrot-themed items, and other matching outfits.

Currently most matching outfits only consist of holiday wear and pajamas that are coordinated to the modern line and Bitty Baby sets; the smaller Bitty baby set is often the set chosen to pair with the WellieWishers outfits.

Availability[]

Unlike most lines by American Girl, WellieWishers have been available in multiple retail stores. These have included Target, Toys R Us, Kohl's, Costco, and Barnes and Noble. Some items have also been available on Amazon (generally prior to other lines such as Historicals and Truly Me) and have reliably remained available through the online retailer. However, any items purchased through these locations do not qualify for AG Rewards points.

Some outfits, such as the Flower Fun Outfit and Stripes and Scales PJs, were initially only available through secondary retailers.

Media[]

Books[]

The books are written by Valerie Tripp and illustrated by Thui Tai. These are short-chapter books with full illustrations.

The first three books were released in late summer 2016, with the next set in late winter 2017; books continue to be released. The first six books were also sold in three-book discounted box sets starting in 2017, with the first three books and the second three books grouped together.

Books in 2022 started showing the characters in the newer design of meet outfits and focus on imaginative play, with the characters portrayed in fantasy realms.

Books with ★ after them are no longer available directly through American Girl.

Seven books by Scholastic are recaps of or information from the animated series. They include:

  • Willa's Butterfly Ballet by Judy Katschke
  • Emerson Is Mighty Girl! by Meredith Rusu
  • Ashlyn's Fall Fiesta by Meredith Rusu
  • Kendall's Snow Fort by Meredith Rusu
  • Meet the WellieWishers by Judy Katschke
  • Sunny Day Scavenger Hunt by Meredith Rusu
  • Pony Surprise by Meredith Rusu

Animated Series[]

See: List of WellieWishers Animated Episodes

An animated series based on the WellieWishers debuted on Amazon Video on October 14, 2016. The show was produced by Mattel Creations and animated by Submarine B.V. (Submarine Studio in Amsterdam) and Jam Filled Entertainment. Character designs were done by Edson Williams who was lead designer of the characters and made sketches and turnarounds for the outfits and critters seen; the lead art director was Denise Van Leeuwen.[1]

The series was 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; The first episode, The Bothersome Bird, is free to watch on Amazon Video without a Prime account. The series also aired on Tiny Pop in the UK and Televisa in Mexico. There were two seasons with thirteen episodes each.

Starting in Sept 2019, the episodes became available for free viewing on the WellieWishers channel and were later removed from Amazon Prime with the exception of the first episode. They were later integrated into the American Girl YouTube channel, on their own playlist. Each episode averages a run time of ten to eleven minutes.

In 2022 a new animated music video to the song "Go WellieWishers!" was released. The video is computer animated and included Bryant; the girls are in the newer meet outfits and the video leans into the more fantastical direction of the line.

Apps[]

A free app, WellieWishers was made available exclusively for iOS devices soon after the line's release, exclusively for iOS systems. The app was later discontinued and removed.

A freemium app entitled WellieWishers Garden Fun was released for both iOS and Android in Fall 2017. Developed by xcube Games, Garden Fun shares more or less the same basic premise as the previous game, but is distributed as a free-to-play app, with additional items and games to be purchased separately.

Promotional Images[]

WWDolls

Promotional image, from left to right, of Camille, Ashlyn, Emerson, Kendall, and Willa.[2]

See Also[]

External links[]

References[]

  1. Art direction and character design for The Wellie Wishers animated series. Accessed 10/17/2022.
  2. This image shows the characters before the outfits were redesigned for the widespread line.
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