The animations cover familiar topics like the high school prom or the first day of school but also explore serious issues like online bullying and drink driving. For Alexis, who runs the AGsmiless channel, the videos are a potential route into a career in filmmaking. For others the pastime is less career-oriented, but no less obsessive. As photographer Ilona Szwarc's portraits show, the dolls are often customised to look like their owners, and many of the girls continue making animations well into adulthood.
