Out of the four main characters of Struts: Step Into Fashion collection, Sydney is the one that has experienced the most changes compared to the promo art. But were the changes for better or for worse?
In the art, Sydney is blonde. That is the first thing that pops out and the braided hair does not match the final product either due to straight hair of Struts. While the decision to swap blonde hair to dark brown can be understood, the complete change of skin-tone is also noticeable. 
While the artwork depicts a grey skinned horse, the doll itself came out as chocolate brown. Thus, bright and light blonde hair as replaced by dark and grey skintone was replaced for a darker alternative. So, what happened?
In my opinion, the original design of Sydney lacked variation or big distinction from mother horses. Yellow hair was the sme as Sierra’s and lighter skin, although not matching, was similar to Rio. Darker colours allowed Sydney to stand out, like the rest of the Struts. The vokour changes may be the most easy to notice differences between the art and the doll, but they are not the only ones.
Harder to notice, but the outfit of Sydney doesn’t match the art in multiple aspects. For once, the pattern on the skirt is not linear. Furthermore, the grey flower is presented on the right shoulder when in reality, it’s on the left. So although many changes were made and the art does not match the final product in any way, I still consider the final release Sydney an improvement from the original concept. Not only did she allow for more diversity in skin-tones, she also made her pink colours pop more.
Interesting fact: Although final release of Sydney didn’t have any braided hair or extensions, in Tropical Shoot, the unreleased Series 3 of Struts, braided extensions were planned as an accessory.
Source: https://www.instagram.com/p/CegtIDSJRpE/?igshid=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==