Welcome back to my personal rankings of the previous Girls of the Year. Keep in mind, these are just my personal opinions, and if any of you feel differently about these dolls, have these dolls or love these dolls for whatever reason, feel free to share your own opinions. In case you missed any of my previous posts, here are the following links: Lindsey and Kailey, Marisol, Jess, Nicki, Mia, Chrissa, Lanie, Kanani, McKenna, Saige, Isabelle, Grace, Lea, Gabriela, Luciana, Blaire.

For this post, I will be reviewing 2020 Girl of the Year, Joss Kendrick.

Name: I'm not a huge fan of the name Joss (I know it's a nickname for Jocelyn, which I'm also not a fan of) and it also does sound and look very similar to Jess. I do like the last name Kendrick however, and I think the two names together sound pretty good, so I think I'd give her name about a 7/10.

Appearance: I think Joss is extremely cute, I love that she introduced a new face mold, and I really like her face mold. Her face mold does at times look a bit like the Josefina and classic mold, but it's still very pretty and unique enough for me to love it. I absolutely adore her face mold, and I hope AG will use her face mold on other dolls in the future. Now moving on from her face mold, she also has long brown wavy hair which is fun to style and has these pretty sun-kissed highlights, however, a common complaint I've heard about her hair (and many recent dolls sadly) is that her hair is very thin, and this obviously isn't Joss' fault, but it's a problem that AG has been having with many of their dolls, which is a shame, because I really love everything else about Joss' appearance. 9/10

Meet Outfit: I really love Joss' meet outfit, and as someone who grew up going to the beach, and loves going to the beach, this is absolutely something I would wear. During the summer, I basically live in high-waist denim shorts, flip-flops and bathing suits, and the sweatshirt is also very cute. The colors in the outfit are fun, vibrant, and extremely cute. I give her meet outfit a 9/10.

Collection: Moving on to Joss' collection, starting with her beach vibes outfit, I think this is a cute outfit, looks like a casual outfit someone could wear to the beach, I'm not a fan of the hat (at least not with this outfit), but the top is cute and the pants are cute. Next is her cheer practice outfit, and I really like this, it looks like a typical workout-type outfit, but I like the colors (I like that they aren't overly bright but they have those nice blue and green colors in there), and I like that it comes with two tops that you can either layer or wear individually. The next outfit is her cheer competition outfit, and I know this looks like a typical cheer outfit, but I just absolute hate the colors in here. The pink, purple, orange, the sparkles, it seems like there's too much going on at once here. Another common complaint I've seen is that because of the design it's hard to put the doll's arms up, so that wasn't thought out very well. Then we have her shine bright PJs, and these are okay, they don't exactly look like pajamas, especially the bottoms, and the slippers are cute but they don't really go with the rest of it, I do like the top though, and it's an okay outfit, but not my favorite GOTY pajamas set. The next is her cheer team jacket, and this was something that was only available to AG Rewards members, and I really do not like the idea of exclusive items that only certain "members" can buy (unless it's a Members Only Jacket, which this is not! hahah), but another complaint I have of this is that the colors in it are so similar to Joss' sweatshirt, so if you have that already, I don't exactly see the point in getting this as well. Next we have her surf and swim set, and I think this is very cute, I love the colors and prints, and the matching sandals are very cute too, out of all the GOTY swimsuit sets, this is one of my favorites. The next is her wetsuit, which was another AG rewards exclusive, and that's a shame, because I think this item is cute, and once again, I don't like the idea of having items only certain "members" can buy, and this item especially seems pretty essential for her surfing storyline, so I don't see the reason why this would be an "exclusive", unlike the cheer jacket which seems more like an accessory. The last outfit is her beach jumper, and this is okay, it looks like a cute, casual dress, but I don't love it, and it does look a bit toddler-ish with the style and all.

Moving onto Joss' accessories, I really love the bag, the key and the woven bracelet (which her 'surf sister' Sophia gave to her) I think those are all very cute, but the other items look to be just paper and plastic, the sunglasses especially look very cheap, and the smartphone is cute, but again, plastic. I suppose you can get these, but I don't think most of it is really needed. Next we have her surfboard set which was $50, and I think the price is a bit much, but I do really love the surfboard and the look of it, the towel is okay, and I like that the surfboard has a little camera on it, that's a cool idea. It's a cute set. The next is her bulldog, Murph, with life vest who I think is precious, and I think the life vest is a very cute idea. Then we have her nfinity cheer backpack set and I think the bag is very cute, I like the little socks and the bow, but the rest looks looks to just be more hairties and bobby pins and pretend makeup, which I don't think are really necessary, but the hair curler/straightener is a fun idea to play with. Next we have her cheer practice equipment, which is very cute and I can see tons of ways to play with this. The next item is the sea lion pup, and although it's very cute, I don't really see the point in this, cause I don't recall sea lions being part of her story, so perhaps one of you can correct me, but I don't really see the point in getting this. Finally, we have what you've all been waiting for, the big-ticket item, Joss' Volkswagen surf bus which was $650. This is the most expensive item ever released by American Girl, and this thing weighs forty pounds and is made of metal. It's a beautiful bus (I've always loved Volkswagen buses), it comes with tons of accessories including pillows, blankets, towel, sleeping bag, an extra surf board, skateboard, laptop, cooler, first-aid items and food items. I like that it comes with so much stuff, especially at that price you're getting what you pay for, but it's just SO expensive, and I wish a lot of those items were available separately, especially the blankets and sleeping bag type items if someone wants to build Joss a room in a dollhouse without having to buy the bus, or if someone wanted to buy just the bus and put their own things into it, I think that would be a better idea. The last is her beach grill set for $55, which is a much more reasonable price than the VW bus, however it just looks all plastic and not necessary to own. Overall, I really do love most of Joss' collection, I think there's a lot of fun items in there, I love all the colors in her collection, and I like that she has both surf stuff and cheer stuff to choose from, so I really love her collection. 8.5/10

Story: Joss is surfer in Huntington Beach, California (love California beaches, so props to that), and she has two older brothers, Liam and Dylan who also surf. Her idol is Tina Hart, a professional surfer. Joss was born fully deaf in her left ear, and she is hearing impaired in her right ear, for which she wears a hearing aid (props to AG for disability diversity!) and often communicates with American Sign Language. She has a best friend, Sophia, who she calls her "surf sister". After hearing about a video contest where the winner gets to meet Tina Hart and win an autographed surfboard, Joss wants to enter with her brother Dylan (a videographer)'s help, but he dares her to try out for the cheerleading team, something Joss thought she would never do. However, Joss ends up liking the sport, causing a bit of a rift between Sophia and her new cheer friends, but everything works out in the end of course. Overall, I think Joss' story is very cute, I like the idea of trying new things, not letting one's disability get in the way, and the idea that you can have multiple hobbies. Some people don't really like the cheer aspect of her story, or they question the idea of "why would a surfer suddenly become a cheerleader" but I feel that's kind of the point? So I think Joss' story is one of my favorite GOTY stories. 8.5/10

Overall: This averages Joss' score to an 8.4/10, which is a very high score and I think she deserved it. She's absolutely one of my favorite Girls of the Year, I love her story, I love that she brought diversity to the GOTY line with her unique face mold and her having a disability, I love her collection, Joss is an amazing Girl of the Year and a tough act to follow.