Wellie Wishers vs. Hearts 4 Hearts Dolls

Yes, I caved and bought some Wellie Wishers.  As in plural.  More than one.  I just couldn't decide between the two I liked best, so I got them both!

Meet Emmerson and Willa!

As stated before, I love Asian dolls, so Emmerson was a must.  But I also love red-heads, so I couldn't leave Willa behind.

Willa has a light sprinkling of freckles and beautiful, hazel eyes.  She is supposed to be the animal lover of the group, which is why she's wearing bunny ears and a hedgehog printed skirt. 

Her boots are adorable ladybugs!

Emmerson is so pretty.  She loves to be in the spotlight, which is why she wears a dance outfit.

Check out her ballet-themed wellies!

Back view.  I was a little concerned about their hair...they are wearing what appears to be nice quality wigs, but Willa's hair has so many short hairs along the part line that I wasn't sure if the rest of her hair could come out of the pony tails without looking funny.  But I decided to try:

Not bad!  I had to spend a little time, finger-combing the longer hair strands over the short parts, but I finally got it looking presentable.  I think it would look even better if I used a comb, but I didn't have one handy at this point.

Very cute with her hair down.

Here they are, with one of my favorite Hearts 4 Hearts dolls, Lilian.  I turned her into "Alice" by making her an Alice in Wonderland outfit.    As you can see in the picture, Lilian is just 1/2" shorter than the Wellie Wishers.

Here they are with the rest of my Hearts 4 Hearts girls.

Top row, left to right:  Dell, Consuelo (replaced wig), Tipi

Bottom row:  Lauryce, Emmerson, Lilian, Willa, and Shola

I love the Hearts 4 Hearts dolls.  I was sad when they were discontinued, especially since I had only found about them shortly before that happened.  I think they were an awesome doll for the money.  I bought all of mine at Target, and I think they were somewhere around $25.

Here is a shot to show how similar their body construction is.  Wellie Wishers are about 1/4" bigger around in their waist and chest measurements.  As a result, they can share clothes (and even shoes!)with the Hearts 4 Hearts girls!

While they both have the standard 5 joints, Hearts 4 Hearts dolls can move their head at different angles, while Wellie Wishers are more limited with just side to side movement.  The photo above shows Tipi looking up to her right...

...then down...

...and up...

...and then up to her left.  This small feature gives them so much more posability.  I wish the Wellie Wishers had this feature.

In this photo I was trying to show how far their legs must spread in order for them to sit--pretty close to the same, but the Wellies have a slightly bigger spread than the Hearts 4 Hearts.

So...would I recommend these dolls?  Yes.  I do like the Wellie Wishers--I think they have adorable faces and darling outfits.  Will I buy another one?  Probably not.  I think their price point ($60) is rather high for this type of doll.  But it's American Girl, so what did we expect?  Considering that the very similar Hearts 4 Hearts dolls were only $25 and have more articulation in the neck joint, I think that American Girl could have done better.  That said, I'm glad I got the two I did, but I don't feel a burning desire to add any more to my collection. 

But have you heard???  Hearts 4 Hearts dolls have been licensed to a new company and will be relaunched in time for the 2016 holiday season.  I can't wait!  I've read that the first four to be reintroduced will be Dell, Rahel, Nahji, and Consuelo.  Yay!  I never got a chance to get Nahji and Rahel, so I suppose those will be the first ones I get.  I'm excited to see how the new ones will compare to the originals.  Will they have the same outfits?  Will the quality be the same?  Will they introduce new dolls?  Oh, the doll world is so exciting, don't you think?!