Nicki's Skateboarding Outfit

[bingandnelsonfan]

Released February 2023.

Nicki builds confidence in her skateboarding skills and tries new tricks as she practices in her signature skater gear.
Includes: A knit T-shirt, wide-leg overalls with silver buckles, a multicolored puffer vest with a collar, and cotton slip-on sneakers. A skateboard with a graphic on the bottom and movable wheels.


Nicki's Skateboarding Outfit
Price: $40.00
SKU#: HNR79

Thumbs down from us! The overalls have the usual small velcro tabs on the waist sides and come with a short knit t-shirt. The cotton boat-type shoes look nice but may not fit with socks (just a thought, since they don’t come with any and resemble recent releases that are too small to wear with socks). The “puffer” vest has no closure, just hangs open in the front. The skateboard is identical to the one in the big-ticket item in the Twins collection.













Mom, Sis and I all had the same opinion, once we got up close to the doll in the store that was wearing the Skateboard outfit. It was unanimous that this outfit is not worth any amount of money TO US. The fabric on the overalls is this cheap thin cotton that doesn’t resemble duck or denim in any way. Because it was so thin, it didn’t seem to hang right on any of the dolls in the store. The buckles are not adjustable, and we thought that AG didn’t give quite enough fabric for them to fit very well. And if you like short t-shirts, then this is just what you’re looking for. The shoes were cute, but the vest was a huge letdown to Sis and me. We (and our friends) wore a LOT of these puffer vests. But they had BIG zippers (BIG) that, when closed, made a visual stripe all the way up the front of the vest. AG’s vest doesn’t even puff, and the fronts are just plain straight-stitch hems, like the bottom of your sheet. Back to the old ’90s pieces we own. Bummer.





*I’d like to make a comment that is less review and more just thought. I’m really disgusted that American Girl photographed Nicki in this outfit with the helmet and knee/elbow pads on. There isn’t one single photo on their website of Nicki in just what you get in the outfit box. To get the missing pieces, you have to buy the $175 big-ticket item. Imagine sitting there looking through the catalog with your little girls and they get excited about the doll’s “outfit”. If the adult bothers to scroll down to read the disclaimer at the bottom of the page, what are they going to say? “Sorry, honey, that outfit costs $215. Let’s see if we can find something else.” For all the buyers who don’t read the fine print, I hope their kids aren’t too disappointed when they get the boxed outfit and it’s missing the helmet and pads. Why didn’t AG just offer the complete outfit as shown as a separate purchase? Or the skateboard, helmet and pads as a separate set? And AG’s main stock photo for the big-ticket set is just as deceptive, because they photoshopped it to look like you get two sports set-ups. In fact, you get one reversible floor, so you can only have one set-up going at a time. Unless you use the floor for the tennis court and just leave the plastic skateboard pieces sitting by themselves. Unfortunately, that’s not what AG implies in their photo. American Girl has stepped over all the limits for me with this deceptive advertising, and I’m really bothered by this growing lack of ethics.

[mamared]

While I agree with the previous review about some of the weaknesses of this outfit, my overall impression is much more favorable.

Here’s the website description, along with additional thoughts and photos of each piece:

Nicki builds confidence in her skateboarding skills and tries new tricks as she practices in her signature skater gear.

Includes:
A knit T-shirt, wide-leg overalls with silver buckles, a multicolored puffer vest with a collar, and cotton slip-on sneakers
A skateboard with a graphic on the bottom and movable wheels



The knit T-shirt is a bright pinkish red color. It’s a medium weight, not super thick but also not as thin as those city T-shirts that were sold for awhile. There’s a single strip of Velcro up the back, and a fabric tag on the inside seam. Grade: B



The wide-leg overalls, in my opinion, are pretty nice. Yes, the fabric is thin, but they hang well and the wide legs look very realistic for the time period. There is no Velcro on them. The waist and legs are roomy - I think they’d probably even fit my big PC doll, although I haven’t tried to confirm this yet. All of the pockets are real, including the divided bib pocket and the two side pockets, and the straps attach with silver buttons (unless your 90s girl decides to wear one of the straps undone)! Grade: A- (taking off just a bit for the lack of back pockets)



Side pockets (and the plastic oval tag):


From the back:


Bib pockets:


Another from the front:


With the bib pulled down, you can see the reverse side of the overall fabric, and also see that the T-shirt goes down to the doll’s hips:


The multicolored puffer vest has a base that is a slightly darker magenta color than the T-shirt. There’s a chevron design in the front with magenta on the bottom, topped with a thick stripe of golden yellow, a thick stripe of frost blue, and then the final stripe of navy blue on the top, and a navy blue collar all around. As mentioned in the previous review, there is no closure on the vest. I WANT to like this piece. The colors and design seem right to me, and I love the idea of it, but I just don’t love the way it looks on the doll. I don’t hate it either, but something about the fit and how it rides up and swallows her neck just seems a bit off to me. Grade: C



Puffy enough to stand up on its own:


The cotton slip-on sneakers are fine. They’re the same dark pinkish red as the T-shirt and they slip on easily and fit well. I don’t think the style is very cute, but I do appreciate the reinforced edges around the opening (which should help them last longer) AND that the shoes fit into the plastic bands of the skateboard. Grade: B





Fits in the skateboard:


Color matches the T-shirt:


The plastic skateboard has a smooth, black deck with two clear plastic straps to go over the doll’s feet. It’s light green around the edges, and it has a green and purple plaid design on the bottom (with smileys, yin and yang designs, alien heads, and other decorations). I don’t love the design on the bottom, but I really like the translucent yellow wheels and the silver colored trucks that allow the doll to carefully balance, steer, and skate on the board. Grade: B











Finally, since this outfit is for a historical doll, it comes with a pamphlet that helps put the outfit in context.





Overall, despite not loving the vest as much as I’d like and feeling kind of “meh” about the shoe style and board design, do think this is a nice set. I especially like the overalls and T-shirt, which I think are really versatile and have lots of mix-and-match possibilities. I also really appreciate the inclusion of the skateboard, and that buying the skateboard park would add a second board! (The helmet and pads being part of a separate set doesn’t really bother me either - in fact, I’m kind of glad not to have to devote the space to these - although I recognize that the stock photos could be confusing.) My overall grade for this outfit would be a B/B- if purchased at full retail price, but I would raise this to a B+ if purchased at a discount or with rewards.

[SarahK]

I got this and was pleasantly surprised! The overalls were better than I was expecting. They looked too short in all photos I saw but I think they must have just hiked up from being handled, or the knee pads, because they are plenty long. I like that they are not too thick, same probably as Blaire’s overalls in weight/thickness. I like the vest too, some snaps would have been nice, and I love the colors. It gives me Punky Brewster vibes. While one side of the vest is nicely stuffed the other is rather flat, so as usual some minor quality control issues. I don’t mind that there are no knee pads and helmet as I would not use them often and I never used them as a kid but different times and of course I make my daughter use them. I was happy to get the skateboard and not have to buy the skate park to get it. It is similar to some older ones we have but the wheels on this one are just a tad smaller. Nicki’s is also maybe an inch longer which is a plus. Definitely my favorite skateboard out of the ones I have because I like the design but it is just a sticker. Pretty sure the other ones just have decal stickers too and they have held up fine so I’m not worried about this one.

With where current prices are and have been, to me, the price is fair of course if you can snag it on a sale even better. I have no regrets purchasing this. I love the style and colors. All the pieces look nice together and it also has a lot of mix and match possibilities. Though I will say I remember having the wide leg overall in 94 and I had a nylon red pullover in the same shade of red as on the vest with a navy front pocket. I wore them together all the time, both from gap. So this outfit seems accurate for mid 90’s too.

[Fiora]

mamared or SarahK

As you own the outfit, would you know how the fabric for overalls compares to the shorts in the CYO outfit "Let's explore"?

I have this outfit so it would be easier to get an idea of the fabric.

At first I wasn't sure about this outfit but since I saw the pics without the knee pads, I really like it. I'm also glad that it only comes with the skateboard as it keeps the price down, especially when like you SarahK I don't care about the helmet and knee pads, but I do care about the skateboard!

Thanks for letting me know how the overalls compare to the Let's Explore shorts 😊

[SarahK]

Fiora I don’t have that outfit but they are probably similar, at least they look similar. I do have Blaire’s overalls, joss’s meet shorts and the good vibes skate outfit shorts and they are the same weight as all 3. The good vibes skate shorts look very much like yours.

[Fiora]

Mar 1, 2023 13:31:36 GMT -5 SarahK said:

Fiora I don’t have that outfit but they are probably similar, at least they look similar. I do have Blaire’s overalls, joss’s meet shorts and the good vibes skate outfit shorts and they are the same weight as all 3. The good vibes skate shorts look very much like yours.

Thanks Sarah! so I know what they must feel like. Yeah, it's thinner then Courtney's jeans but it's not bad. In a way, the fabric works out better than thick jeans which tends to be very stiff for a doll.

That outfit, is definitely on my "To Buy" list! 😊

[omar]

The overalls are a lightweight denim material, similar to shirting material or chambray. It works well with the doll and looks in scale.

Quick note that Nicki's meet accessories' baseball cap does Not match the overalls' denim.

http://instagram.com/p/CpO2uR_MEiM

For that matter, the denim doesn't match the color, weight, or thickness of the Truly Me denim jacket in the Feeling Artsy accessories.

Also, I like removing the plastic tags from the clothes, but when I did this, even though I cut the threads holding the tags to the overalls, not the denim material, there were still small frayed holes in the material where the threads tugged and pulled through the material. This tends to happen with chambray or denim shirting material as well due to the weave of the material.

[mamared]

In my earlier review, I talked about how roomy the overalls are in this set and speculated that they might even fit my big PC doll. I wanted to circle back around to this, since I recently tried them on my big-bodied early release Josefina from the late 1990s.

They do go on okay, although the fit is a bit snug. They’re particularly snug vertically on the torso (I don’t know what the measurement is called that goes under the crotch and around over the shoulder), but because there’s not a way to loosen the straps, there’s not a way to change this. In general, the overalls are fine for standing up in. Sitting down is possible but tricky, so they're probably not generally a good pick for these large bodied dolls if mobility is important. I still give the overalls a solid A/A-.



(In this photo, I paired the overalls with other contemporaneous 1999ish pieces - a white thermal top from the 2001 Camping Outfit and the boots from the 1998 Riding Outfit. In fairness, a thinner top might allow just a tiny bit more room to make sitting easier, but since Josefina is already going commando here, I don't think it would make a substantial difference. Evie, who's next to Josefina, is wearing the 1999 Plaid Skirt and Sweater Outfit, which makes her look equally as huge as PC Jpsefina ... but that's an illusion due to the bulky sweater and platform shoes.)