Z Yang Doll & Meet Outfit

[Laura Isabella]

The 18" Z doll has warm brown eyes that open and close, and a beauty mark on her left cheek. Her dark-brown hair can be brushed and styled. She has a huggable cloth body, and her movable head and limbs are made of smooth vinyl. She comes with The Real Z paperback book, plus a fun camera-ready outfit:

A crewneck printed tee with a camera graphic
A gray twill skirt with a turned-up hem
Soft and stretchy indigo leggings
Casual shoes with a bit of sparkle



Z as a character is fantastic! A+

Her face and face paint subtle and charming! A

Her meet is darling! A-

Her wig, torso, and limbs all have issues... C, D, and D

But first what works.

She's cute. I love her face.



Her meet is nice and about the quality I would expect these days. The jeans skirt seems prone to snagging, but the tee and leggings are great.



Her shoes are identical to the sparkle shoes that were part of the generic TM line all last year.



However, when we turn to the doll construction itself, there are many issues to note. First, her zip-tie neck combined with the new thinner material forms considerable puckering.

I also note her wig is rather thin--reluctantly adequate. There is not enough short hairs or long hairs to do the original hair style with justice and the wig cap shows through in the back. Even when out of pigtails and combed out, I found the wig to be on the thin side and had to work it a bit to make she she did not have bald streaks in the back of her head.



Perma-panty construction issues are real. The front looks okay if one looks past the issue of permanently attached underwear.



Her back side looks terrible and lumpy. Not a fan!

The Z doll also came with squishy vinyl arms and a squishy vinyl face. I don't think she is going to melt away because of a thinner or different vinyl formulation, but I do have concerns about how it will hold up over time. It is an unknown in a sea of other changes that have been mostly unwanted and unpleasant.

Overall grade: C

[piglet]

I checked out Z at the Vancouver store today. Here are some pictures of the display Z that I looked at.


I find her and her clothes much more appealing in person than in pictures.



This Z seems to have a thicker wig than the Z in the review above, although that might just be wishful thinking. It didn't occur to me to pull it all the way into pigtails.




How the hair laid after being brought back from having it parted (if that makes sense).

This Z had mildly squishy arms but a good face. Another display Z had a very squishy face - the squishiest of all the display dolls I tested, which included a Gabby and a few Tenney dolls. I don't feel like I should rate the doll because I didn't buy her, but I thought people might be interested in some more photos.

[Candace]

I ended up caving - got me a Z from Amazon. I’ll post a photobucket album this weekend.

I’ll start with the outfit.

t-shirt: this is 100% unique to Z. It is cute and I love it, no complaints. It has the camera logo with Smile! written on it.

skirt: this is about 80% similar to McKenna’s set from a few years go. Instead of purple stitching it has black stitching. It does not have the McKenna logo; instead there is a brag tag. The color is also slightly more grey than McKenna’s set. The pockets are non-functioning.

leggings: I’ve seen these somewhere but can’t place where. They’re nice and basic, and since I don’t have the older version of them, I’m fine with the ones that come with this set.

shoes: These are 100% identical to the mix-and-match shoes from the TM line, the sparkly slip-ons. I love the first set, and don’t mind the duplicate set. They do shed glitter a little, both the TM set and Z’s set.

And now Z herself.

My Z has normal vinyl. It is not squishy at all. I’m the owner of a very squishy Maryellen, and Z is not at all like her in terms of squishiness. I’d say Z’s vinyl is like my Lea doll from last year.

Z’s face is cute, not garish looking. Mine has normal thickness for AG hair - not scary thin like some of the Tenney dolls out there, and some of the Kailey, Jess, and Julie dolls I’ve handled over the years. No complaints here either.

And now the torso. Z does have permapanties. Mine does not have the weird butt issues or muffin top. She actually has more of a normal looking AG doll posterior. In her middle, my Z is actually fatter than many of my other dolls. The new torso design is awful. I’m thinking at some point I will end up with a fixer upper Kit or Julie from eBay and get Z a new torso. The torso fabric and new design is actually worse than the permapanties. The fabric is so thin I can see all the seams and the serged ends of the top of the permapanties through the torso itself. It is thin and scratchy and after one outfit change the torso, particularly the upper part, the non-permapanty part - began to pill. It is very noticeable and obvious. It is awful. I’ve never seen a cloth doll with a pilling torso, and I’ve handled OG dolls. The new fabric seems to be the reason for the poopy butt problem, the muffin top problem, the weird bunching of the neck area where the zip tie goes, and all the other weird torso issues. My Z doesn’t have all the bunching around the neck from the cheap fabric + ziptie but she does have weird bunching where the polyfill has settled. While I can move the polyfill around a bit, sometimes it moves back and sometimes it will shift. The cheaper torso also seems to encourage the polyfill to settle - something I’ve only seen on old AG dolls before now. The back seem - the seam that goes up and down the back of the torso -is buckling horribly. The polyfill has settled around my Z’s shoulders giving her a linebacker look. There is a notable gap between the head and the cloth torso - the base of the head, where there is no polyfill within the torso, and you can feel the whole hard plastic base of the doll’s head. There are just so many issues beyond permapanties with the new torso fabric that it is annoying. I’m fairly certain that barring some exceptions, Z may be my last new from AG or it’s partners AG doll. The issues with the new torso are just awful. They don’t readily show up in photographs but handling one of these newer dolls with the issues shows just how far AG has dropped the quality on their new dolls.

What is really, really annoying most of all is that AG chose Z to be the first doll to get this awful new body type 100%. For this reason I can’t give Z more than a C grade. . Cute doll, great collection. Lousy quality on the doll.

[islandgirls]

I am more excited about Z than I have been about any doll in a long time. My purchase was very spontaneous and I'm completely smitten. I can't believe it took me so long to get her (I have her pending retirement to thank for thinking of her at all). There is just something really special about this doll. She feels so... dollish, for lack of a better word. She's substantial with an absolutely precious expression. I adore her. I will say that I gave her a body swap right away, so I won't bother with any comments about the horrid permapanty body she came with.

My Z has a perfect face with straight eyes (hers were the straightest of the five left in the store), soft eyelashes, nice soft coloring, and of course her cute little beauty mark. Her hair is lovely--silky and long. It is adequately thick; I'd prefer it a little thicker, but it covers the wig cap and is really fun to play with. The hair itself is a black-brown (definitely reads as black not dark brown as her description says) with reddish highlights. The cut is slightly layered. The fiber is fairly substantial, not the super fine or soft fiber AG uses for some dolls. Mine came with some crimps and bends caused by the pigtails she arrives wearing. I'll probably try some steam to fix that.

I love her meet outfit! Yes, I already have the shoes (LOVE them) and the leggings are basically what has already been offered previously in the Mix & Match collection. But the tee is adorable and a lovely violet blue color and the skirt is nice and sturdy. I wish it had real pockets and a snap closure, but you can't have everything. Altogether the ensemble has a fun, artsy, street-smart vibe that I'm all over. :)

Overall, Z has a cheerful, sunny, charming demeanor. She is a beautiful doll. Photos do not do her justice. Get her while she's still available!

Grade: A+ (not considering the permapanties)

[Emma]

I don't have Z, but I did buy her outfit on Ebay because who would not want that shirt? I keep seeing that her shoes are the same as the TM shoes, but the TM shoes are plastic and nearly white, while Z's shoes are are a medium dark silver gray and not plastic so they fit better and are smaller and look better, in my opinion. You can see them quite clearly on Laura Isabella's post.

[islandgirls]

Aug 19, 2018 6:34:36 GMT -5 Emma said:

I don't have Z, but I did buy her outfit on Ebay because who would not want that shirt? I keep seeing that her shoes are the same as the TM shoes, but the TM shoes are plastic and nearly white, while Z's shoes are are a medium dark silver gray and not plastic so they fit better and are smaller and look better, in my opinion. You can see them quite clearly on Laura Isabella's post.

The shoes are exactly the same as the sparkly silver Truly Me shoes that came out a year or so before Z arrived. They are not the same as the white plastic shoes the Truly Me dolls now come in. :)