american girl knockoffs all the same?

[jacksmom2009]

my 6 yr old has been asking for a american girl for 2 xmases not including this one coming up. she has shown me every time near xmas the knock offs at target and walmart. so tonite when making a tru purchase using my paypal. i bought a tru version of the american doll. she also wants the pony. but i am like hmmm are these worth it? what do u all think. ps she was never into baby dolls. and ocassionally plays with barbies. but 3 yrs of asking makes me say hmmm should do i.

[KrisM]

DD has the Our Generation (Target) Pony and likes it. She got it last Christmas and it's held up and gives her dolls rides.

Can't help on the actual dolls, as hers is a Corolle.

[infomama]

We got dd1 an OG doll and it's fine except for the hair....kind of frizzed out. I would go AG or Gotz if I had to do over.

[groundhog74]

We have a Madame Alexander doll from Costco that looks a lot like AG to me. I can't really tell you how it holds up because DD hasn't played with it much. I like it though.

[Rainbows&Roses]

The Target doll hair is crap - out of the box - crap. I was ready to throw it in the trash within about 5 minutes of opening the package.

The Costco Madame Alexander dolls are MUCH better than the Target dolls though definitely not as nice as American Girl. We have had one for 3 years and though it does not get played with nearly as much as the AG dolls, it has held up well. I got it closer to Christmas when Costco had marked it down considerably.

We have an American Girl horse and it is very nice, but I have read good reviews of the Target horse so you can probably substitute that for AG, just be sure to get one with all 4 legs on the ground as the horses with one leg up tend to have balance issues.

[KrisM]

Have you seen the Today's Girl dolls (http://www.cptoy.com/cgi-bin/constplay_cgi.sh/WService=constplay/2.0/dept.htm?parent_id=Doll Play&dept_id=Todays Girl)at Constructive Playthings? I found a review (http://www.thenotsoblog.com/2010/11/constructive-playthings-todays-girl-doll-and-kitchen-review-and-giveaway/). There are a lot of clothes, etc. I've only seen them in their catalog, so can't talk about how the hair is, etc.

[brittone2]

DD has a Gotz doll (Precious Day collection) and the quality is very nice. I got hers on super sale. They aren't inexpensive normally, but you can save a little bit of money vs. an AG. Gotz made the AG dolls at one time.