Boy Doll

A Boy Doll, as a term among fans, is an American Girl doll that is customized to appear as a young boy.

Details and Reasons for Customization
The major reason collectors create boy dolls is that it is highly unlikely, given the target of the company (and the very name, "American Girl"), that the company will ever release wide scale male characters. Thus, characters such as Kit Kittredge's close friend, Stirling Howard or Julie Albright's friend T.J. will never be released. Currently the only official boy dolls sold by American Girl are boy Bitty Twins, though initially Our New Baby dolls were sold with the option to purchase either boy or girl clothing.

However, because the dolls are very gender-neutral in shape for a prepubescent child, practically any doll can be modified to another gender presentation.

Methods of Customization
The easiest way to modify a doll to appear male is to trim a long wig short, as many boys in modern Western society are expected to keep hair shorter than a girl's. However, since the original wigs are draped and designed for longer hair, there will likely be prominent bald spots on the back of the head or around the bangs. Rewigging is slightly more complex, but a short-haired wig will appear more natural on the doll's head.

A head swap to place a boy Bitty Twin's head on a full 18" body is possible. However, this will likely appear misaligned or out of proportion as a Bitty Twin's head is designed with the face of a toddler and older children do not have the same round cheeks, level of "baby fat" and larger-appearing eyes of a toddler.

Clothing Options
Most outfits are designed to be very feminine, and a collector may prefer their male dolls to appear in more masculine clothing, such as t-shirts and jeans or shorts. Many collectors choose to purchase off-brand or specially commissioned outfits

However, some older My American Girl outfits are considered gender-neutral enough to present on a male-presenting doll, such as the Cargo Outfit or either set of the Blue Jeans Basics.

Bitty Twin outfits are an option but pants will appear short on the longer legs.

Customizing and the American Girl Hospital
A doll with a hair cut on their original wig can be sent in to the hospital, but if any repairs are needed that require full head replacement, the head will then return with long hair.

As with any other highly customized doll, a rewigged male doll will not be repaired by American Girl.