The American Girl Doll Zombie Apocalypse
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- čas přidán 25. 09. 2023
- Like Samantha Parkington, I have emerged from the grave with CONTENT for you as I enter my American Girl era. Don your bonnets and clutch your pearls as we dive into a thing that’s DIFFERENT NOW and I don’t LIKE it.
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All my links are here: babbitykate.squarespace.com
Tiktoks on AG and much more: / babbity.kate
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Most images are from the American Girl website, either today’s or through the wayback machine. The catalog pictures are fan-posted, some by the blog americangirlfan.com or doll ightful dolls. The book illustrations are taken from the paperback books I purchased for myself for this project. Many are from the excellent American Girl Wiki, from which I took most of the dates I used to put together the timeline. I am grateful for the work of AG fans that kept these meticulous and detailed records; any mistakes are my own. Probably. I mean, it’s still a fan wiki.
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There’s a truly tremendous amount to discuss when it comes to American Girl.
I realize that my rosy, nostalgic view of the brand can appear as dismissal of the brand’s issues, but as I allude to, the brand embodies a simplistic, outdated, and privileged worldview in many respects. And there have been a lot of mistakes.
The brand has a complicated history of representing race, which I briefly allude to but is outside the scope of this video. Here are a couple places to start to learn more:
If you read nothing else about AG, read Aisha Harris’ amazing piece on the development of Addy Walker: slate.com/culture/2016/09/the...
Smithsonian mag with lots of quotes on Claudie’s launch: www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-...
Some videos with deep dives on topics covered:
Video on AG history: • A Deep Dive into the A...
Referenced video on the Beforever rebrand: • Revisiting American Gi...
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Many of my subscribers followed me for Disney Princess content. I am currently choosing to take a break from discussing anything Disney, as well as movies and TV in general, in solidarity with WGA and SAG-AFTRA workers striking for fair contracts from the AMPTP. I have hope for a positive resolution to the strikes soon, and you can expect more Princess content then. In the meantime, you can support the workers who make some of your favorite media possible here: give.actorsfund.org/site/Donat...
The unions have said that voicing your support on social media also helps their cause.
I can’t wait to take you all on a journey into the world of Kirsten Larson. Look for that video (which will be… long. Not like this video is long. I’m talking multiple hours) in a couple weeks. Thank you for your support! - Zábava
Nothing in my life has matched the high of obsessing over the American Girl catalogue everytime it came in the mail
There truly aren’t words. The way every page was precious
Hours of stating fr
This is the one
When I was younger, I loved looking at it and showimg my mom what I wnayed.
What I hated was they followed me to my new address every time we moved. We didn’t tell you anything. How did you follow me here?
absolutely. Those were literally the best days of my life. LOL (Only kinda kidding...😂)
I brought felicity to Williamsburg as a kid. Some of my best memories. All the actors knew her stories and addressed her as miss Merryweather. I was little so it was a blast.
That's so precious 💞
That sounds so mega fun
Merryweather? Do you mean Merriman?
Awwww that's so cute
I brought Samantha to Holland, Michigan and got her a cute Dutch inspired outfit, complete with adorable little clogs.
I think something that speaks to the way that you were meant to love one doll and keep her as your special thing was that the American Girl Doll Hospital was something they were very open about having available. For a price, you could have your doll fixed up and repaired if anything happened to her. It wasn't "just get a new one" it was "send us your damaged doll and some money and we'll send you a fixed up girl in hospital gown with a little bracelet and everything. Hell, they'd even send your Kirsten back with her braids!
I have always wanted to send my first doll to the AG hospital. I messed up her hair and it got all weird. But I always wanted her hair to be new again
This is literally the cutest concept to care for a well loved doll
One weird detail that always bugs me is that the year each girl was from always ended in 4, and at some point they just ignored that pattern for no good reason.
YES. While I understand it would be difficult to cover the War of 1812, that pattern was an essential thing about the line.
@@TrekBeatTK I mean to be fair, The War of 1812 went through 1815, so it was totally possible.
BRO EXACTLY!! When i was a kid i thought AG had a theme going.... until they didn't lol
not to join you too much in the conspiracy theory pattern connection corner, but it's also a little bit suspicious to me that the chronological timeline includes no yellow stripes when the united states 1) existed as a country and 2) had legalized slavery. 100% the "always ends in 4" was a favored pattern of mine, but, like, while we're on the subject of connecting our weird little nostalgia dots on our little obsessive pin-and-yarn boards about this whole affair, it seems like erasure (including parts of the books being literally erased from re-releases) of the US historical record of human trafficking on Mattel's part, or at least erasure of the way the old books made some of the most horrifying parts of american history accessible for kids the way it was when we were younger. i occasionally work as a paraprofessional for this age group, and those books were SO popular in my class and my friends' classes when i was that age. for all genders. and there's no replacement for it now! there's just no historical fiction that fills the same niche! it feels deeply fucked up and like an actual perfomative activism conspiracy to me. representation and education is important even when it's flawed and i'm not saying the books weren't (occasionally deeply) flawed but they were so so so so vital to my early understanding of US and world history
Yes
"Catalog star" is a perfect descriptor. Could my family afford a doll? Nope. Did I tear that catalog form out of a library book, mail it, and gaze at every catalog that came to my house? Heck yeah
YES MEE
SO REAL
I remember thinking they were so generous because the card said one year of free catalogs but they kept sending them for longer than a year!
SAME
I lived near a secondhand/dollar store and I got really old, really pretty china dolls from there. Probably haunted, but I loved them.
The Pleasant company used to do their research to make the girls as historically accurate as possible. With Kaya, for example, they actually collaborated with the Nez Perce tribe to make a character that could realistically be from their tribe. Her dolls are the only dolls(to the best of my knowledge) to have a closed-mouth smile for this reason.
When I was 10-12 my cousin gave me her boxed set of all six Samantha books. I read all of them at least a handful of times, and each time I felt the pains of being orphaned, the fear of her best friend potentially traveling across the country to work, as a child, for complete strangers, and the dire necessity of activism that still remains needed today. She wasn't just a character to me. I saw her as a portal to a time period that seemingly got glossed over in all my history classes. I may not have been lucky enough to have Samantha's doll, but the books were enough to solidify her as "my one girl."
I'm still kicking myself for allowing my mom to essentially bully me into letting her sell the boxed set in a garage sale. My only shot of finding it again is the secondhand resale market, and who knows where it could be by now?
The historical AG dolls are a shell of their former selves. I miss what they were, even if i was never able to afford it.
How long does it take for one of these dolls to get produced? On the timeline it says that Kaya was released after the Mattel buyout, so I don’t know if she would have been researched and in production when Pleasant Company was still in charge.
@one-onessadhalf3393 the person that made the video said that Kaya wad one of the dolls who had been finished before the Mattel buyout, so the went along with producing her as the Pleasant Company saw fit
@@one-onessadhalf3393Kaya was originally released as a pleasant company doll
When I was really little (like 6 or 7)I didn’t realize they weren’t real people and when my teacher asked for an example of non fiction books, I said American Girl Books and my teacher yelled at me 😂
Molly was released at a time where a kid could bring their doll to their parents or grandparents and ask them "did you have a victory garden too?" and grandma show them pictures of great-great grandma dressed like Samantha.
I never played with dolls like this, but I would have LOVED to have something like that to share with my grandmother, as a tool to understand her and the past better. It's such a pity they've given up on everything that made the dolls educational and special. Especially now that the kids who grew up with these dolls could be buying them for their children.
“American Girls are first and foremost catalog stars that sometimes manifest in the real world as real items if you were lucky enough to have been born into a particular tax bracket” describes my childhood relationship with AG so perfectly. 😂
As a Swede, I obviously never had or knew about American girl dolls as a child, but it's so exciting to see Kirsten have an accurate Lucia dress and even a tray of lussekatter (Lucia is still celebrated that way in Sweden), you can just tell that all her acessories were done with a passion for culture and knowledge.
If I want to give kid a doll with modern fashion in garish colors, why pay hundreds of dollars for an American girl doll when you could just give them a Barbie instead?
Oh yeah totally. I wasn’t around in the 90s (nor sure my parents were even together yet tbh) but even in the 2000s they still had a lot of that research and care behind it. Though they were moving towards lower quality with it. It is sad what it’s become but I wouldn’t mind replacing the Mia doll I left behind when I moved. She wasn’t actually a historical one funnily enough
Kirsten looks in a way that honestly made me nostalgic for astrid lindgren
My dad was Norwegian and he used Kirsten to connect with me and his family. While different it had similar features. I miss that about the new dolls.
I had a Kirsten doll as a kid, and I read all the American girl dolls about every historical doll, and was so excited each time a new one came out. I so wanted all the clothes and accessories for Kirsten, and would gaze over the magazines for hours, longingly thinking of all the things I wanted to get for her, and all the other dolls and clothes I wanted to get.
Of course, I never got anything other than the Kirsten doll - that was a huge Christmas present in itself! But a little girl could dream, and I voraciously read the books. When the magazines began coming out with all the modern stuff, I became disillusioned with the dolls and the whole company, and I was getting a little older then anyway, so the two things coincided at once, and American Girl and I parted ways. The modern stuff didn’t interest me. The historical stuff did.
Exactly!
As a mom, lower middle class, my dream was to be able to get Samantha for my daughter, as she poured over the catalogs and begged to get one. Finally, 1991, I could afford it, AND get Felicity for myself. That was the best Christmas of our memory.
I still have those dolls, and original accessories collected until Mattel killed the company.
Thank you for clearing up the facade that is Mattel’s version.
I think the best Christmas present I've ever gotten was my Samantha doll. My older sister already had Molly and I was so desperate to have my own that wasn't a knockoff but a real AG doll. It was such a special day and we played with our dolls together all the time!
That made me cry. My mom struggled and she got me Samantha in 1991 also. It meant the world to me.
This made me tear up. There’s something so beautiful about your both getting the dolls together. What a special thing this was.
This is so sweet, I bet you two had a lot of fun with your dolls. ❤ Old AG was the best.
My parents also struggled. One Christmas I got my Josephina doll, and she was magical. My family isn't Mexican, but my mom is from Spain and my Dad grew up in New Mexico, and the Christmas book was my favorite. So many of our Christmas traditions were so similar to hers! When I saw her beautiful lace mantilla and my mom told me stories of going to church and having to wear one, I felt closer to my personal family history, as well as closer to the American history of Texan/Mexican friends.
i saved chore money for TWO YEARS to pay HALF of what a doll cost in 2008 and my parents agreed to pay the rest. it was both my birthday and christmas present and they even drove me to nyc to buy kit in person. it's still my favorite childhood memory, so you're definitely correct about the price being a huge part of the love/mystique of the brand. i remember the paper catalogue every year and i still have all the original books/covers/etc of the six girls + kit that are worth some serious money now, which is wild!
That is interesting. I believe I donated the books when it became pretty obvious I would not have grandchildren and obviously I can’t keep everything. I hope some little girl is enjoying them now.
@@lilolmecjwhy aren’t you having grandkids?
@@Abril-1234 only one of my three children have any desire to have children. And she has not , at thirty four, found a stable and loving relationship, nor enough earning power to really try the whole single mom route. I do have a young family that I am building connections with who don’t have grandparents close, and have three young children. I would be pleased to .
@@lilolmecj thank you for replying. I’m so happy you’re able to find connection in a non traditional way.
PLUS, because of this personal connection that they encouraged you to make with YOUR doll, it felt like a huge, offensive slap across the face when they discontinued YOUR BEST FRIEND. My doll was Kirsten, and they didn't retire her until I was in high school and nearly grown out of playing with her altogether, but I remember that when I heard the news, I bawled like a baby. It felt like my best friend had died. I never really went back to American Girl after that. I felt betrayed. It felt like the company had personally murdered her.
I got to model one of Josephina's outfits at one of her launch events and had a blast. They are missing the opportunity to sell millennials the original doll stuff we couldn't afford when we were kids.
FACTS. I would shell out my grown-up money for Felicity and her riding habit in an instant, and the full set of books.
They are really missing out. We couldn't afford one when I was a kid. I can now. Oh well.
Lady Rebecca Fashion on CZcams has been expanding her American Girl collection through auctions, etc. and has videoed her new additions!
Agreed. I’m Gen-X so have no nostalgia for the dolls as a play item but my daughter got hers (also Josephina) from her grandmother. As I stated in my own comment on this video I think Mattel is marketing to grandmothers nostalgic for their own childhood as the most likely to open their pocketbooks for what are extremely expensive dolls for most families but I definitely am hearing the understandable Millennial nostalgia coming through in both the video and comments that the company isn’t trying to meet in any way. That’s the part I don’t understand as from a corporate standpoint they are leaving money on the table or that will go to the secondary market for “collectors” items.
@@leaj3799agreed. American Girl are still primarily focused on older girls 7-12 with regards to the 18” dolls, adult collectors are very much secondary for them but that doesn’t make sense as the adults have money to spend on themselves, especially as the middle and upper classes (their target market) are having less children these days. I think they’re starting to understand if you look at how many collector dolls they’ve come out with this past couple of years, but they’re still not taking advantage of it from a historical character side…
I think you opened my head, yanked out all my inchoate rage about Mattel's treatment of this brand, and said it way more eloquently than I could ever have managed, and for that service I will adore you eternally. The shriek I let out when you mentioned doing deep dives into the girls was positively inhuman and I can't WAIT.
this!!!!
@@beefar0ni This. 😂
I learned a new word today, thanks!
As a little boy who spent hours poring over my sister's American Girl catalogues (they were just way more interesting than the Boy's Life magazines that I got!), the memory of looking through those dolls and all their beautiful furniture and accessories and fantasizing about which ones I would buy is a pretty core memory for me.
That's so cool to hear. I could never afford the dolls but I have great memories of the books-- Samantha and Molly specifically. This makes me wanna go back and read them.
It’s not just nostalgia fueling this. It’s the value placed on children learning how to see from the perspective of someone different than them - and learning through that that people from the past aren’t as different from us as we might think. That’s an important idea. Cutting off the line from history is a loss. It’s not just a complaint that something changed.
I don’t have kids yet, nor do I plan on having any in the next 10 years. But I have started to have such an urge to hoard all the things from my childhood that are disappearing for my future children. Not because old is always better, but because the new versions seem to be so much more disposable and low quality. I never had a historical girl, but they really inspired my love for history through all the other things of theirs I did consume.
The biggest comfort I have is that at least I am crafty, so when the time comes, I will try to recreate that magic for my kids myself. Hand written books, hand sewn little dresses, decorated doll stuff that looks historical. But it is a general fear that the next generation will have no toys and media franchises that they connect with the way we did, as flawed and problematic as our faves are. And that is a very weird thing to be reminiscing about as a student in a one room apartment, having somehow still see so many things change rapidly.
@@Guineapigsreadingbooks I love that, what a great idea to create worlds and books and clothing for them! I agree with you, things are always changing, sometimes for better and sometimes for worse. We have to set aside what’s “current” and what’s “outdated” and assess: is it good? Even if you disagree with the handling of a difficult topic, introducing those topics to children through stories is such a great way to get them started with critical thinking and considering the perspectives of others.
I have two girls, a baby and a toddler and have some American Girl toys and books saved for them. I’m sooo excited to get to those years!
Exactly, it's so important! Most of what we hear in school doesn't stick, but learning like this does. Not just history, but empathy and understanding others.
Yes!! I wasnt “born into that particular tax bracket” so I couldn’t get the dolls or the books, but my elementary school library had a couple of the books that told the history and culture of the time. I particularly really loved “Addy’s World” and “Samantha’s World.” I’m pretty sure I learned about the triangle shirtwaist factory fire from samantha’s book. This line offered so much learning to children that I would love to be able to give my future kids
A Kirsten doll, sans accessories, was my sole birthday present the year I turned 8. I was over the moon. Felicity wasn’t even out yet, or I would’ve been in a choice crisis. Browsing a new catalog was, as you describe, akin to a religious experience. My own daughter is 8 now, and just became interested in 18” dolls. I pulled Kirsten out of a (non AG) wooden trunk, along with all her possessions, and solemnly explained that she was a special doll that I loved and was so happy to give her to my own girl to play with. We ooohed and aahhed over all the detailed dresses, and I showed her how to put the little kerchief on. Later that day I received a note “from” Kirsten, explaining how happy she was in her new home, and that I could visit any time. It’s just such a bummer that her collection isn’t available anymore. I would gladly buy her the St. Lucia and summer outfits, and the gorgeous blue stenciled furniture that I never got as a child. Don’t get me started on the rest of the historical line. I would be such a sucker for AG if they would just let me! If they’re selling plastic contemporary stuff without continuity, why wouldn’t I just go to Target and pay half as much for twice the stuff with Our Generation?
My story is almost identical! I got Samantha for Christmas when I was 7 and over the next several years I gathered accessories. Now my five year old plays with my Samantha ❤❤❤
That is such a beautiful story! I’m so glad that this experience can be inter generational! Thankfully we still have some of those craft books, so maybe there’s something to cling to there. The St Lucia dress might be one of the easiest ones for you to recreate with an old fashioned nightgown, so don’t lose hope!
Wow I had no idea there was an American Girl doll about the Swedish emigration, that's so cool! And even though St Lucia's eve is so widely celebrated here in Sweden I don't think I've ever seen a doll dressed up for the occasion, and with such detail! So unfortunate that it's archived. My great great grandparents traveled to America three times for work, but ultimately decided to settle in Sweden again.
I also got Kirsten when I was 8 (for Christmas) and I want to give a major shoutout to Pleasant Company at that time. A couple years later, her arm came off, and I sent her back to the “doll hospital” advertised in the catalog for repair. They returned her with her arm restored. A couple weeks later, the same arm came off again, and I sent her back with a note complaining about the fact she had just been repaired; a month later they sent me back a new doll and a note agreeing with me.
As a kid I was limited to 3 presents on my list to Santa and that was usually the only way I got new stuff for my doll.
I was lucky enough to acquire four dolls over the years that I played with them. Three of them are still in very good condition. And I kept almost all over the boxes for their things that I packed them away in when I was in high school. I am keeping them in hopes that I'll have a daughter some day that wants to play with them and I can pass them on to her.
I think Rebecca is maybe one of the best dolls to show the change from historical accuracy to not even CLOSE. She was released in 2009, and when she first came out, her clothing was appropriate for her culture, class status, personality, and time period. And then as soon as the BeForever hit, it was all gutted. It's such a stark and quick change. The change from her original Hanukkah dress to the BeForever version is particularly painful
oh as a rebecca stan, it makes me so so so angry. and nobody wants to get me started on her shabbat set. i will commit a crime.
@@mmtittle REAL! Get rid of the candles and add rugalach? wow! those are definitely equally important items on shabbat!!
i was such a rebecca stan and so sad with the be forever change
Rebecca was my girl as a kid, even though I never had her doll. (Dumb kid me got a lookalike doll instead). She had an effect on me as a Jewish character, and I'm forever grateful for her positive and demystifying influence while I was growing up in an environment which had some very nasty antisemitic undertones
As a jewish girl who's fave color is purple, i have a horrid bias towards Rebecca's new outfit, but as I age I hate it more and more LOL
The illustrations of the original american girl books were so captivating, particularly the work of renee graef (who illustrated for kirsten's original series) and dan andreason (who did felicity and samantha). coincidentally, both of them did illustrations for runs of the little house series and other very memorable children's books from the late 90s and early 2000s.
Yes! I follow her on Instagram
interesting, thanks for sharing 🥰
Some speculation as to why Kaya is still available even if she falls onto the "older" end of the scale.
1. She adds some diversity to the lineup. Let's not kid ourselves, the majority of AG dolls are white, and it would set a bad look to remove the only first nations girl from purchase since, ya know, they were here first.
2. Kaya's line was limited because of her time period, for sure, but one thing she was really supplemented with almost right away was by making her various outfits that were modern powwow regalia that were, as far as I am aware as a very white girl, fairly well researched and carefully made. It would not surprise me if she was kept around as one of very few dolls on the market that actually fills the niche of having these significant outfits to her culture that had more than just a Halloween costume level of care put into them. I could see her being very special to girls who see both their past and their present reflected in her collection.
Yeah, they just don't want the political backslash of discontinuing her. They clearly don't care about the love and care that was put into the historical dolls.
I had a Kit doll as a kid (probably about 2007-08), and I can't overestimate how much she shaped my personality while I had her. She was basically like a Nancy Drew - a character I was already obsessed with - for little girls. I had my hair cut like hers, I had one of the full-size nightgowns from the catalog, and I begged my poor parents for a typewriter for Christmas for YEARS. I think I even went as her for Halloween once. It's really disappointing that young girls these days don't get the opportunity to connect with these dolls like we used to.
Also, I feel the need to set the record straight: the Kit movie got a wide release in movie theaters, not on TV, and you bet I saw it with my doll when it premiered.
oml you sound like me as a kid. i found two typewriters at garage sales and begged for them, always had a little bob and loveedd my matching kit nightgown. we got the kit doll and nightgown as super special christmas gifts (before the recession). our family were hit hard in 2008/2009 and i think i only understood parts of it because of the doll and her story.
Same!! I wanted a typewriter so bad, she was so great and lovely!
I had a typewriter from a garage sale… i think my parents were amused by how much struggling with it kept me entertained…. I’m trying to imagine a modern 12 year old playing with a broken typewriter…. I’m not sure we are instilling that kind of creativity in them - but maybe if they had access to the entire “Kit-verse” instead of today’s catalog….
Ohmygosh i also got my hair cut like hers as a kid for such a long time!
Omg same, I'm much younger but I did everything I could to get my hands on everything Kit. She's amazing!!!
Who else was so embedded in the AGU that you learned about puberty via The Care and Keeping of You? 🙋🏽♀️
It was an absolute wonder when our daughter hit puberty, and was an excellent starting point for a number of important conversations.
Oh my goodness I’d forgotten about this book! I used to love it
I remember that!
Me (but it was honestly to my detriment)
that book was so helpful!
I'm a Swede who's family immigrated to the USA during the 90's, Kirsten helped tremendously at making me feel less "weird" for being Swedish and practicing Swedish customs while dealing with the feelings of always being "othered" by white Americans for having a different culture. I always hoped to buy a Kirsten doll as an adult but it's been a real bummer to find that all the historical dolls and items are just gone. I also really wanted to get Josefina but yeah. really sucky that they're fully gone and the company is refusing to admit they got rid of them.
You can always get a Kirsten second hand, that’s how I got my Kirsten (my older cousin gave me her doll) some go for pretty cheap (compared to the original prices)
I have a Kristen doll I’m willing to give you.
This is one of the best and most honest meditations on brand loyalty and nostalgia I've seen on the internet and also I was today years old when I found out that the exact Y2K outfit I got for Christmas in December 1999 for my Just Like Me doll is currently being marketed as an outfit for an American Girl doll like that's what anyone was actually wearing in December 1999 and not a limited edition outfit designed for dolls and I'm gonna have to sit with that for a MINUTE
The fact that they have dolls from the 1990s as part of their historical lineup offended me when I first heard about it. Like come on, give it at least like 50 years or so. Let all of the people born in the '90s grow up a little more before you start calling them old. Although the '90s historical girls could well have technically been born in the '80s but still.
But that's probably how my parents felt when they released Julie in the 2010s lol
Before covid I went to the flagship store in Chicago for the first time since i was 10 with a friend who had never gone. I was so heartbroken to see what the brand had become. It was nothing but a sea of plastic toy sets. I remember how intricate and well made the toys were. I TREASURED my tiny little fake brass Samantha bed i got for charismas/ my birthday one year with my doll. I vividly remember how well made the few things I had from American Girl were and still to this day wish I could have some of the things like Samantha's birthday lunch set with those tiny glasses or Kit's chenille bedspread. I remember pouring over the catalogues and dreaming of what I would ask for for gifts or what I would buy if I ever suddenly became rich and got a $100. So to step in the store and see that now the furniture and sets are all mostly plastic like a Barbie dream house was so sad and it made me weirdly angry for all the kids who will never know the wonder of the small details of the old American Girl. I know they wont know the difference but those small details and extra care made it feel all the more magical.
I wonder if there's a correlation between all the plastic and the recency of the current girls' eras. It's a lot easier to mass produce stuff in plastic and stay committed to "historical accuracy" in materials and construction when your "history" is 30 years ago....
Other factors in the change have been due to the lead laws around childrens’ toys as well as more kids getting the dolls at younger ages than the intended 8 years and up.
Honestly, I still crave Samantha's brass bed set with the frilly white and pink bedding :( And I never even had Samantha the doll!
Honestly I feel like my childhood dream has been trampled on. I used to beg my parents in literal tears for an American Girl doll because I loved their stories so much and some of my friends/relatives had them, and they would always refuse because of how expensive they were. I always thought, when I grow up, I'm going to buy whatever American Girl doll I want. Ever since I found out about the BeForever rebrand, I've given up on ever getting anything other than a mini doll since resellers online often sell the original dolls for ludicrous prices. Dropping even $100 on a toy is kind of nuts (so I totally understand where my parents were coming from, especially with some of the financial troubles we had when I was a kid) but up to $300 or more for a doll and $70 for clothes? That's absolutely absurd. Maybe I'll finally give a good home to a Rebecca or Samantha someday, but man, it's a bummer.
@@neko7606the fashionista playline should just be ignored, IMHO.
The Made to Move dolls are incredible. They've been coming out with some truly incredible Barbies, the BMR 1959 line and the Looks Collection are top notch. I wish they could bring some of that energy to the AG brand
I still remember Molly struggling to knit a sock, and I recently made a sock as one of my first knitted objects. I just had to because of the books I loved as a child 😊
These books are so meaningful.
Aww… and when they all put their squares together to make a blanket. 😭❤
Every time I embroider I think of Felicity's neighbor who needed glasses.
@@AstraeaAntiopeFelicity is why I can hand sew 20 stitches to an inch when I want to. :-)
I used to write out everything from the American Girl catalogue, adding up all the prices, and calculating tax... in calligraphy.
It was this that convinced my parents that I would be an accountant someday.
They were right.
My grandma recently passed away and one of my fondest memories was bonding with her over my Molly doll. I was super into singing and dancing and I always thought me and my grandma didn’t have much in common until Molly. My grandma told me how much she loved to tap dance like Molly. I also loved and still love tap more than any other type of dance but at the time I didn’t even know my grandma had danced in her childhood, I thought I was the first one bc my mom didn’t. I had never pictured her being young before that moment and it changed a lot for me. Flash forward to now, My last conversation with my grandma 2 days before she passed away was about tap. I thank Molly and her story for opening up that relationship for me.
When Matel bought AG, I was in college, but it still broke my heart. I knew what was going to happen, and it did. My parents saved to get me Molly for Christmas 1989, and I still have her. Every Christmas I would get things related to her. My child could never form a connection with the dolls the way I did, because the model was destroyed. And for what? Quantity over quality, profit over substance. This essay is so very, very validating to me, and so, so sad. I have become the repository for AG dolls my kid's generation couldn't connect with, and I'm in the process of making them a space to exist in my attic, where the kind of girlhood I had and Pleasant Roland dreamed of can be glimpsed. And I know that sounds indulgent and weird, but frankly, the world is on fire, so I'm going to do what brings me joy.
There are many adult AG collectors 😊. I’m one.
My Molly shaped who I am as a person, and I know others who had that deep connection to their dolls feel the same. My Molly lives in my office , I work with kids, so I've been able to introduce many a child to the AG books
I got my doll in 1989 too and I still have her. I love the idea of a special space for them!
PLEASE IN THE MOST NON CREEPY WAY POSSIBLE CAN I VISIT YOUR ATTIC
My local library as a kid had konthly american girl doll teas. The library got the supplies for 30 girls to all do one of the crafts. Each month was a different girl with a special themed snack related to the books and a craft and. A grown up who read a chapter of the meet book for that girl. I xant explain how special those memories are
I want to go to one of those now
@@babbity_kate it was a truly magical experience.
Our Girl Scout camp actually had Am Girl dolls camp for a week!
Wow, where was this wonderful library located?!
I went to a library tea with my doll and I was the oldest kid there at 14 years old 😂
The old American girl doll stores were like adorable little museums 😊
i lived in minnesota and was able to experience the huge one they had in the mall of america, where they had an attached restaurant. core memory.
@@UCVWnuJnz0LguhAS_MYI3fewsame! They closed that location a few years ago and I am sad about it!!
Definitely! I wasn’t even that actively aware that you could buy the things there, and I never bought anything (except for a pair of sunglasses) from the stores. But I loved going to the store in NYC when my parents have to go there. The six - nine year old history nerd that I was ate that shit up. I collected the little tags in front of the displays, and basically made the whole stories out of them. I loved the historical books, and would often day dream about having a doll of my own. I really wanted Kaya, but also loved Felicity and Josefina. Every year I toyed with the idea of asking for one of them for my birthday, knowing it would be the only gift for the whole year, but I couldn’t decide which one was best, so I never did. Instead, I kept collecting all the cards, and imagining life like they lived it.
@@UCVWnuJnz0LguhAS_MYI3fewomg yes I had my birthday there with my best friend. Neither of us had real American girl dolls but we desperately wanted one. Such a core memory
The one thing I do appreciate about the line is that 18" doll models and patterns are very easy to comeby, so my grandma made a ton of clothes for them, including some cultural dresses that I still treasure today. It also added to the allure, because I had Kit, and I was a kid facing the woes of the 08 economic recession, so handmade clothes helped me connect even more, and feel better abt my situation.
EDIT: Totally forgot to mention, I knew one of those gazillionaires, and that girl treated her american girl dolls like barbies, but they were all weird barbie, all shoved in a 3' cardboard box. Horrifying. It was the first time my child brain felt loathing.
Speaking of rich kids disrespecting American Girl Dolls
I have this very vivid memory from my childhood of realizing just how rich someone was by the way they treated their dolls.
At some point when I was a child, we got invited over to my father’s old boss‘s house for dinner. There were many signs of their wealth everywhere, from the driveway longer than my neighborhood to the personal gym with as much equipment (it felt like) as the public one my dad went to, to the two expensive cars, to the garden that felt like it could fit my whole school in it and give us a bigger playground than we had. As a kid, none of these things were the most obvious signs that they were wealthy though. The most obvious sign that they were filthy rich was the playroom. They had a huge playroom, and it was unkept. Those fancy, expensive accessories we weren’t gonna to spend my parents‘ hard earned money on were strewn across the carpeted floor, in a sign of such disrespect that there was only one thing that could top it. The dolls. Their two daughters each had a custom doll, and they were laying naked in the floor, hair matted, face down, a way I didn’t even consider leaving anything laying ever.
I didn’t have one of their American girls, but my sister and I had itty bitty twins (a boy and a girl), and a similarly formatted normal doll. These dolls each had a bed, they had Pyjamas I believe my mom sewed, fancy dresses from the neighbors (their daughters were about 5 years older than we were, so we inherited their large doll clothing collection and Barbie collection), and their normal clothes. I braided my doll’s hair and put her in Pyjamas before bed, tucked her in and left her really tidy. One year, I sewed the twins sleeping sacks when I learned how to sew, and we celebrated Christmas. Those dolls were loved. So trust me, I was offended by the treatment of those poor dolls by their rich brats.
Fun note about the clothing collection, by the time my sister and I were finished playing with dolls, the collection was essentially the product of probably over a decade of four girls (first the two neighbors, then my sister and I) collecting all the clothing we could afford to treat our dolls. So if you imagine, ten years, an average of probably two outfits added per year, we had a big collection. We ended up giving the whole collection to my mother‘s friend’s granddaughter, who exclaimed „now my doll has more clothes than I do!“. It was really sweet, and I was so glad to see our love for dolls live on in the next little girl. Maybe one day, she will pass the whole collection of then 5 girl’s collection on to the next little girl.
My mom made several dresses for my dolls (Samantha and Felicity) and I loved getting to decide what we were going to make for my dolls and picking up the fabric and even discussing how different making clothing would be with a sewing machine while she made my doll clothes.
@@Guineapigsreadingbooks I loved ur reply, and I can relate so hard! When I was a little kid my dad actually had a pretty well paying job, but we had a small house closer to the city (hence the $$$) and the suburb we lived in wasn't the nicest (esp after the recession), however literally 15 minutes away were some of the most opulent suburbs you've ever seen. My mom went to the local Nice Gym and naturally became friends with some wealthier moms. Lemme tell you those play dates were nuts! One of the houses I regularly visited can only be compared to an English Countryside Georgian Manor. Acres of lawn. The fanciest line of trees and shrubbery imaginable. And the playroom was a DISASTER. A layer of baseball cards on top of ruined, stained, EXPENSIVE carpet, piles upon piles of discarded trashed toys. NGL I probably stole shit to go to a better home. Another house cordoned off the entire basement as the play room. Observing some of that housing bubble wealth was absolutely wild. Also same in that I didn't know it was possible to get a dolls hair that mat that bad.
I'm also really glad your doll stuff went to a good home :,) I have no clue if my Felicity and Julie are okay wherever they went after that garage sale lol. My mom had a horror story about gifting all of her very carefully kept Barbies (like OG 1960s barbies) to her niece who just absolutely destroyed them. She visited her shortly after gifting to find a graveyard of barbie parts. :(
*_MATTEL, PLEASE TAKE NOTE._*
I was in high school when American Girls first hit the market; so I was just a bit old for the target audience- but I do remember hearing even my peers talking about them. I related to them primarily as dolls, the period and historical component had no particular appeal to me personally, though I appreciated the concept and regret its loss for those to who did or now would have connected with it.
I did get a #4 Asian doll from the “Just Like You” line- whom I treasure- and my own biggest gripe is that the current clothes do not fit on my OG Pleasant company doll, because (on top of everything else), Mattel also subtly slimmed the doll model when they took over.
The actual doll body size is still the exact same... They are just slightly less stuffed. Or the stuffing is a little less dense. You can remove a small amount of stuffing from your doll to get a better fit. I have dolls from every age in clothes from every age - without any real issues.
@@CraftyMagicDollz
OK, good to know;
only, I like the dolls the size they originally _were… _
I was one of those girls who rarely got something new for my Addy doll as a kid because it was just too expensive for my parents but they did what they could and got me an Addy, her Christmas outfit, and then a couple of years later a Josefina doll. I had no concept that the catalog was super expensive as a kid. I just knew I wanted everything in the catalog. Fast forward 25 years and I'm thinking I can just go to American Girl with my middle-class income and buy all those outfits and accessories I wanted as a kid for the Addy my mom put in storage for me. Nope!!! Nada!! Mattel is hurting itself, I can't be the only 30-something willing to drop coin on the original items we longed for as kids to give to our own children?!!?!
Yes. My first doll was the GOTY from 2007, and some of her stuff is a little wonky now. I would pay pretty good money to be able to get new versions of some of her stuff. Which I know is kind of beside the point of the GOTY, but like, I clearly own the doll, can I get a new pair of her flip flops bc I broke mine.
They need to monetize NOSTALGIA
Yes! I've resorted to hunting for play condition items on the secondhand market for my daughter who now has and loves my childhood Samantha from the 90s. You're not alone, AG is missing out on a market that would love to share the original heart of Pleasant Company with their own children!
I think that one of the things that gets left out of the catalog discussion, and that might be lost to those that didn't experience it, is that the original item descriptions also provided historical information. So, even as you looked at Felicity's bed, it told you what a warming pan was, what it was made out of, what it was used for - you'd absorb all this information about the time period without necessarily realizing it.
And all the crafting projects! You could sew your own historical dresses for the doll! So, even if you couldn't afford more from the catalog, if you (or a crafty family member) could sew you had endless wardrobe possibilities.
The Matel version has always felt disposable to me. It's not that new eras or current girls are worse. It's that now they're just expensive, but not special. It's like going from wood to plastic, and from keepsakes to something meant to be discarded. They've embraced planned obsolescence.
I was a fiend for historical fiction as a kid, and finding the massive AG shelf at my library kicked off an obsession. I convinced my parents to order one catalogue and yes, every year I would pore over it and marvel at the tiny tools and kitchen sets, the miniscule food, the bed and carriage and the pet dolls. I only ever got a "she looks like me" doll but I remember AG so fondly BECAUSE of the book series. I haven't paid attention to AG in ages but this was a fantastic rundown and I'm also really sad that Mattel has taken a venture capital view of AG. Whenever a company is making stupid decisions, you can be sure there's some business bro in the back convincing the company that growth is the only answer, and a stable consumer base happy with consistent value and quality is like, whatever.
I'm assuming based on your user name we are the same age- Do you remember the book series that were all diaries ? They were historical fiction and written from the perspective of young girls and women. I remember loving those books, but can't find anything about them
Yes! Those were the Dear America and The Royal Diaries series. They had beautiful covers that looked like paintings. @@margaretworley1116
@@margaretworley1116 I know what you're talking about. I think they were called the "dear america" series! I think one of the wildest ones was from the perspective of Thomas Jefferson's enslaved daughters! That was the first time I had learned about that.
@@anomalily YES! Thank you! I've been trying to find these books for almost a decade.
The historical line is dead, long live the historical line
You get it
I think Claudie is a good omen. Her clothes and accessories feel so real, and I read her first book and it felt just like the classic AG stories. However it is interesting that after Caroline, every single new historical doll has been a 20th century doll. This is definitely Mattel playing less into history like the original dolls were meant to, and more leaning towards nostalgia. Like maybe you didn’t grow up in the 50s, but you’ve seen Grease and Back to the Future so you’ll get your kid a Mary Ellen doll since you as a parent can explain that history maybe a bit more than a doll from an earlier period. And nostalgia is more aesthetically pleasing than history. You only know the cute trendy stuff. It’s why Mary Ellen has a poodle skirt (which was a trend for like, 1 year, not the huge 50s thing we think it was) and why Courtney has a jacket with shoulder pads (a jacket no actual child would have worn). These nostalgia based aesthetic choices make for cute dolls, but not historically accurate ones. So the 20th century dolls are absolutely part of the Barbie-fication of AG.
With Claudie and the 90s twins, AG has released at least one doll for every decade of the 20th century. They have run out, so it’ll be interesting to see what decade they choose next. If they’re still trying for aesthetics, it’ll be interesting to see what era they deem to be the most aesthetically pleasing, but if they continue down the same path they’re going with Claudie, we may get some more historically accurate dolls again!
I grew up in the 50s and most certainly had a poodle skirt, dear. They were a thing for several years in the 50s.
Uh...
I don't know a single kid who didn't wear a shoulder padded jacket for picture day.
All through the mid 90s.
My American Girl "phase" as a child was essentially from 2007-2013 which gives me a unique nostalgia for the brand since I wasn't around for the Pleasant Company days but I was pre-Beforevever (in fact I remember being like 12-13 years old, still loving my American Girls even though I'd "outgrown" the rest of my dolls, and throwing an absolute FIT when Beforever was announced because they ruined all my girls' outfits and stories). Apologies in advance for writing an essay in your comments, but I wanted to add my thoughts since I grew up with a different American Girl from both the 80s/90s kids and the modern kids.
My favorite was Samantha, an older cousin had her doll and I read all the books and longed to get her as my first AG doll, but the exact age when I saved up all my money to buy her was the literal same month when she was "retired." I got a similar-looking JLY doll and named her Samantha anyway.
Since I was "born too late to be a Samantha girl" I still wanted a true historical doll of my own and I picked Julie. Now, I understand why people group Julie in with Courtney and the twins as contemporary-historical-dolls and I'm not sure exactly how she's being treated currently (judging by her new meet outfit, not great), but the Julie of the pre-beforever era was actually such a wonderful character imo. Sure, she was very current, but the time period was a nice way to bond with my mom who had lived through the same year her stories took place but as a much younger kid. There was a sense of nostalgia for her in Julie's world but it was "accurate nostalgia", highlighting the more average parts of her world rather than the hippie-Halloween-costume you see today. And while her story wasn't as life-and-death as the earlier girls, she dealt with sexism and Title IX in a way I could relate to.
I wanted an Ivy doll as a kid, but my family couldn't afford more than 2 dolls and a few accessories, so I decided the Julie I played with wasn't exactly like the Julie from the books and made her and "Sam" sisters, with their accessories being pulled from both Julie's era and the modern day (and any other AG accessory I thought looked cool - the only Kit item I had was the desk but I loved it so much)
I definitely agree with the point about the "decades dolls" being in the past hundred years making their stories less impactful, but I also think if Mattel wanted to keep this more modern approach there are ways to do it that would be so much more resonant. This is probably because of my experience with Julie as connecting to my Mom's childhood - sure, some kids today being raised by millennial parents might see their moms in Courtney or the twins, but what really made Julie powerful for me was the accuracy and the fact that it wasn't trying to pander to 70s kids and took her world seriously.
I also think telling these more well-known historical stories from an overlooked perspective could be very powerful. Nanea's story is a great example, covering a similar time period to our beloved Molly, but while Molly's experience of WWII is as a midwestern white girl, Nanea is from a blended family with Hawaiian heritage and directly experiences the impacts of the attack on Pearl Harbor, a piece of history I was never taught at the age I'd be into American Girl. And while I love Kaya, I also very much wish they'd make another more contemporary indigenous American Girl, even as GOTY, especially with how much more emphasis they place on modern girls. A lot of times even acts of attempted allyship often view Indigenous people and communities as exclusively confined to pre-revolutionary-war history when there is so much more to their diverse cultural histories that should be emphasized. I think having an Indigenous girl represent American Girl's brand for 2025, or having her be the next "historical" character from any time period would be a huge step in representation. (Plus, it's honestly kind of infuriating that even though Kaya's face mold was developed specifically to respect her tribe's customs about not showing teeth, Mattel has gone on to exclusively use that face for their male dolls.)
As it stands, the AG "historical" line has a diversity problem, and a quality/historical accuracy problem. The diversity problem has always been here, but I probably would be more forgiving of the problems you brought up here if it meant more girls were being exposed to the stories of marginalized girls in times they'd already been taught about.
In any case, thank you for this video, I very much enjoyed it. Apologies for the essay, but if you've read this far, thank you, and I very much look forward to hearing your deep dives on each individual doll. I know it will be a while before I hear your thoughts on my girl Julie, but considering her two lives (pre- and post-Beforever) often get blurred for people who didn't grow up with her, I'm excited to see your opinions on her world.
Me too!! and while I had a Just like me doll I always wanted and begged for ANY of the historical dolls! I was a historical fiend as a kid (mostly ancient Egypt) and read a very similar book series called The Royal Diaries so the American Girl dolls were my thing. I used to skim and read every issue of the catalog I got in the mail and even remember a lot of the late 2000s dolls being released! It was something I could even WISH for and coming from a slightly mid class family (and a couple more months of begging) my grandparents got me a just like me doll.
Sadly I dont have a longer journey like you did, around 2013 I got into more unique doll lines like Generation 1 Monster High and Ever After High and gave away my Just Like Me Doll at a garage sale. I still loved Molly (who was my favorite historical doll, still even got her ornament!) but I knew that my time with this brand was kinda over. I didn't indulged into the books like I should have but I kinda grew out of my historical phase as well. But I for sure left before the whole Beforever bs! Its funny to see someone who had a similar experience with American Girl like me, even if was a short period in my life.
The historical section at the flagship store in NYC was heaven. They felt like museums for the characters that I would read about in the books. It’s so sad that little kids these days won’t get to experience that same magic
I explain to people if you experienced American Girl in the 80s it was basically a homeschool unit study, my friends parents would count it as curriculum. I also remember there being a lot of middle grade novels based on historical characters in general back then, are those still being published at all? Are 3rd graders reading historical fiction? Maybe it has more to do with kids not being familiar with the entire concept? That is a lot of heavy lifting for one toy company to do.
Back in the late 80s early 90s, My school had the Kirsten and Samantha’s books and I loved them. I thought the “Looking Back” section at the end was fascinating. My mom would occasionally bring home the catalog from work. (I think they came from her boss) I spent HOURS pouring over those huge gorgeous glossy pages. I don’t think I can express how much my soul loved them…it was like the fascination of archaeological artifacts mixed with the beauty of fine art.
The idea of owning any of it was beyond my imagination. I couldn’t imagine being that rich. Now as an adult, I do collect the mini dolls and the books, I love them so much but I hate that the newest dolls don’t have mini dolls. Particularly Claudie she is such a beautiful character at such an interesting time period.
Everything you said was INSANELY spot on. I'm a nineties girl from a non well off family, so one birthday i was floored to receive my Samantha doll. I knew that my family would probably never get any of the other accessories or dolls, so leafing through the iconic catalog every once in a while was still such a wonderfully entertaining and engaging experience. My imagination took flight and i could picture myself exploring throughout history with these "friends" of mine.
When they discontinued Samantha I was in my early 20s. Hadn't played with my Samantha doll in years. I still went to the website and bought the Clara/Nutcracker doll. It was the thing I had always longed for from the catalogue. That's how deep the relationship ran for me.
FINALLY! Someone who really understands the true travesty that has occurred with AG. This video is incredibly thoughtful and so well done! Thank you! I’ll tell you, it’s not just us OG girls who can relate. I passed down my childhood Kirsten, Samantha, and Felicity, along with their books, to my niece when she was 5 (she’s 10 now). She FAR Prefers the original crew over the newer dolls. Kirsten is her fave (as well as mine).
I grew up with the books because my parents refused to get me a doll (I think in part because my dad really pushed for me to have Kirsten and I wanted Molly because she was so similar to me-- down to the glasses and the brown, stick straight hair that won't hold a curl.) That said, I had all the Kirsten books. I had her craft book and I made nearly every craft in there. I even still have some of them stored away because they were part of what pushed me to really get into arts and crafts. I had read every single girl's entire series by the time Kit came out. The only reason I didn't finish Kit was honestly because I'd far surpassed the reading level by then and the story was essentially too simple/short for someone who was reading 300 page fantasy novels by then. I still loved the idea of her though and Kit is part of what made me realize how cool Amelia Earhart was. The new dolls, while I like the idea of slowly including the more modern history... it's not really that expansive. And the sad thing is I think this is a self-fulfilling prophesy of sorts. "Little girls now aren't into history. So we'll just keep it to recent stuff." Kids never learn more because of that which makes it less real and less relatable and leaves it at a set of dates they have to learn in school. Kids are not interested in history thus they don't want the historical dolls... which makes it so they don't make more. But it fails to realize that of course they're not into this historical dolls if you fail to make them interesting to them. Without the historical depth, of course they're boring. And it also low key reveals the issue with how we present and teach history as a whole: we make it dry dates rather than focusing on the how it is the story of our ancestors and how we got to this point. Which is what American Girl was trying to do: make it real and make it relatable through the medium of story both in the books and in the dolls themselves... which made them and the history interesting and actually taught children.
You're SOOO right about this being a self fulfilling prophecy. Mattel had a wonderful business model handed to them and they just didn't get it. Well let's be honest even if they got it, profit was always going to come first.
@@therobotdevil2284 I get the need for profits, but I also just... shake my head because they've done similar things with their own brands and franchises that were profitable. *cough*MonsterHigh*cough*
But so often I see so many companies hand things off to people who clearly do not get something and then watch them miss the point. Like Disney live action remakes that drop the ball on the main themes of the stories because they're so busy trying to "fix" the story. Which to be frank, is actually terrible when you look into the history of fairy tales and realize that these stories were mainly created by women to create a world where they had agency as the fairies/supernatural beings, while also giving the human women the things they wanted but couldn't have. So the remakes that fix some of the issues are actively going "I know this is what you said you wanted, dead oppressed woman of the past, but no. You're wrong. You wanted this thing that I'm changing it too and your desires are bad." Which is what Mattel kinda did here too. "I know you, our customers for the American Girl line, express your interest in these historical dolls and their historical context... but you don't really want those girls. They're out of fashion and so unprogressive. You want these girls from post-first wave feminism onwards. You don't want those oppressed girls." But this mindset ignores that technically the first wave of feminism started in the mid-1800s. And had such fascinating things like... Boston marriages. You want to be inclusive and progressive? Let's remind people that lesbians were a thing even in the 1800s. We didn't just... spring out of nowhere and you can show that if you do the hard work of research. But let's be real. They don't want to do research which is part of why they're sticking to the 20th century. It requires less research. Which is another factor to be fair, but just... I have thought about this too much and now I've got a need to go draw Victorian era lesbians.
I was raised by my grandparents. My grandma never had any dolls, but she use to make doll clothes and sell them at swap meets. She had so many sewing patterns, including a few American Girl ones. So even as a guy, American Girl had a part in my childhood since I remember helping grandma put together those dresses or just keeping her company while she worked.
As a girl who was a lifeguard for years yet won't go more than knee-deep in lakes, rivers, and oceans, that American Girl story hits close to home.
As someone who got back into collecting American Girl within the last couple of years, its really assuring to see someone outside of doll collecting circles voicing the same concerns as a lot of us have about the quality of the brand (especially the Historical Line).
weird tidbit of info: When an AG character is still sold, but has no collection other than the doll like Josefina or Addy, its called "cubed" amongst doll collectors. I have no clue if this is a term Mattel or AG has ever actually used or if it originated from the community, but it has been such a common occurence in recent years we have a word for it now lol
This really cleared up my confusion about the American Girl dolls. Reaching adulthood and finally having financial stability, I looked into buying one of the original six dolls, the furniture and outfits but I found nothing on the websites. The original historical dolls seemed to be referenced however trying to buy the doll and accessories were impossible. The dolls that were supposed to be customized to look like yourself however were pushed and easily purchased on the website. That's not what I wanted though. I am definitely one of those customers that had my relationship with the dolls cultivated since the catalog and ready to buy later on in my life but apparently all that relationship building was for naught.
I'm a middle aged white woman who has never bought an American Girl doll or any merchandise (wrong tax bracket) for it but i am watching HOURS and HOURS of zombie stuff for October. CZcams was like 'here have this essay you LOVE zombies.' Thank you algorithm. It was surprisingly entertaining.
I used to babysit during the the height of the American Girl era and was much sought after and paid extra because I helped fix doll problems with hair, clothes, accessories or anything. I also helped a lot if the girls set up exchanges so that they could temporarily trade outfits, accessories and sometimes dolls. It helped them make the most of their collections by avoiding duplicates for the most part.
That's actually kind of cool. I would've loved having an older friend/family member/acquaintance who was into AG
I know I’m one of the oldest AG girlies (my Molly dates to 1988), because when I heard “original six” I thought, no “original three” 😂
And as a point of clarification (since I saw Alexandra Petri’s name amongst the article bylines and decided to check): most of the whinging about the historical dolls was by my fellow geriatric Millenials. GenX was slightly too old for even the earliest years of the Pleasant Company. There’s a grey zone, but the complainers were mostly 34-38.
I'm right there with you; when I started getting the catalogs, there was only Kirsten, Samantha, and Molly, and I think I got my Molly doll shortly before Felicity made her first appearance! That said, I was already "getting too old for dolls" (by my parents' viewpoint, not mine) by the time Addy came along, and definitely past the point where I could ask for such things by Josefina's, or I would have _adored_ having her. The idea of a Latina doll pleases me so much, because when I was little, you didn't _have_ Latina dolls. You had Barbie and your other white dolls, and maybe a Black variant/friend character, but never a Latina.
The trials and tribulations of being a Xennial.
I got Samantha in 1989!
The latest Gen Xers were NOT too old for the earliest years of the Pleasant Company - what a positively shocking thing to say!! I was born in 79 and got my doll at the age of 9. I poured over those catalogs into my early teens. They released the first catalog in 1986, so I know girls several years older than I had them too - at the peak age to get an AG doll. Young enough to play but old enough to take care of such an expensive doll, brush her hair carefully so not to rip it out, sew clothes for her, etc. My elder millennial sister didn’t get one until Felicity was released. I’m not a fan of the term Xennial, but this may be a case where it fits. I’ll grant you that older GenX were not into AG, but it was huge for the girls born in the late 70s.
As an autistic teenager whose special interest has been American Girl for as long as I can remember, you're amazing. I needed this. Thank you.
Thank you. You are absolutely correct. I had … and still have, an OG Samantha doll (like, from Pleasant Company, pre-Mattel.) my stepdaughter had a Just Like You doll from the late 1990’s when she was about 11 herself (when she came to live with us.) She/we owned an actual Addy “dress like your doll” school suit which she wore TO DICKENS FAIR. The clothes and dolls were passed down to her younger sister (my daughter), born in 1997. We bought so many items from the catalogs in the early 2000’s, and had that exact experience you detail. We went to the Molly movie in the theaters, and talked about her grandmother’s (my mother’s) experience of life growing up in the 30’s and 40’s. It was THE BEST bonding experience she had with her grandma. She took a sewing class (while visiting her grandma) to make clothes for her dolls, and later learned to sew for herself. For a history project she researched and made a renaissance era outfit for her doll! We owned the cookbooks, and we made recipes from the magazines, and planned parties around the dolls and the magazines. It was some of the very best time I had with my daughter and stepdaughter.
I am gutted to hear what they have done in the last decade. It is a true tragedy. And it is just completely depressing that EVERYTHING we feared out of Pleasant Company being sold to Mattel has ultimately, and perhaps inevitably, come true.
In 2017 I had to sell my house, and in the process, I had to let go of the vast majority of the collection we’d built over the years. And now I have even more reason to mourn the loss of those dolls, and what they meant to all of us. I am truly, deeply sad.
I'm a bit older than the AG brand; it actually came out when my much-younger sister was the age to enjoy them. Now I'm a museum curator, and I collect French and German bisque dolls, so here's my take. AG was the "modern" form of the French Fashion doll combined with the late 19th century "bebe" (a bisque child-like doll.) In fact, I thought it was a French Bru that inspired Pleasant. The French Fashions and some of the bebes had extensive wardrobes and the bebes were to help a girl role-play being a young woman. The dollmaker Jumeau even marketed his dolls with "parties" etc. like Pleasant Company later would. Anyway, Samantha was the iconic "person" for this, living at a time of both femininity and increasing technology. She, with all her accessories, was the type of doll a wealthy and rather conservative mother, grandmother, or aunt would WANT to buy for a child. Like the fictional Lettie Lane paper doll from Ladies' Home Journal, Samantha was upper-class, refined, and had beautiful (and more-or-less authentic) accessories and clothes. Kirsten was similar, and charming, with more of the "Little House on the Prairie" vibe. I was honestly amazed at ALL of the historical dolls, especially the earlier ones, and they way they tried to draw girls into history, EVEN IF that history was by necessity a little romanticized. I disagree that any of them were outdated. Part of the study of history is to introduce the idea that people in the past had different mindsets and beliefs about things, right or wrong, and that our current worldview isn't necessarily correct or eternal. Of course, PC had other dolls as well and started making the custom modern dolls, as were other companies at the time. I don't know why, but these were just lack-luster to me. The dolls just seemed to have less personality; of course the "custom" ones had no personality at all. I couldn't believe it when the company dropped their core historical dolls (for all practical purposes). It's hard for me to believe anyone now would buy their dolls at all. Years ago we bought my daughter's friends one of the historical dolls. It was delightful to give a child such a high-quality and educational toy. I wouldn't spend that money on a modern AG now. Honestly, I'd give a child a Madame Alexander long before an AG.
How can kids today alarm their parents by asking "What's cholera?" Thanks "Meet Kirsten" 😂😂😂 (so yes, I am excited to see your Deep Dive!)
Thanks for reviewing this history with such depth and compassion.
Reminds me of the scene in Meet Addy with the tobacco hornworms. Hell of a way to teach kids about the horrors of slavery and the evils of big tobacco simultaneously...
I learned about 18th century instruments of torture and saw graphic depictions of smallpox from the 1999 classic, “Welcome to Felicity’s World: 1774”, and honestly, I really appreciate that AG didn’t shy away from depicting a version of history that wasn’t entirely rosy, albeit at an approachable level of challenge that might simply inspire a sense of gravitas (or in my case, grim fascination) for a child rather than fear. I’d say I hope the newer dolls haven’t lost that, but based on the video, I’d wager it’s likely they have, which would be a real loss for instilling a genuine curiosity for probing further into historical education. Maybe I’m wrong though, maybe poor Courtney has to like, process the trauma of having inadvertently witnessed the Challenger Shuttle explosion on CNN with her classmates or something (a thing which actual children in the eighties went through).
I hate what's happened to American Girl dolls. I got a Samantha doll when I was seven in 1989. The dolls, clothing and accessories were so well made then! I had Samantha's school supplies and the notebook was made of actual paper and the little pencil had real lead in it (I remember because I used the little pencil to actually write in the little notebook). The level of detail on the food that came in her little metal lunchbox was also amazing. I read all of Kirsten, Samantha, Molly and Felicity's books and still have quite a few of them.
I went into an American Girl store about ten years ago when my eldest (a girl) was born and was horrified at how the quality had dropped. You can tell that the dolls aren't as well made and there was hardly anything for the historical dolls. The fact that Mattel turned the brand from a fun, engaging way for girls to learn about history into some vapid cash grab is just gross. I feel that at this point, they're just cashing in on nostalgia that parents have for the dolls and also trying to appeal to adult doll collectors with all their "limited edition" dolls. I hate when big companies buy indie brands (whether it be toys, makeup, etc) because they always stamp out whatever was unique/creative about the indie product in the first place and turn it into whatever run of the mill product the big company was already making.
All of it leaves such a bad taste in my mouth that I don't really have any interest in buying anything from American Girl anymore. I still have my Samantha doll and if any of my kids want a different doll, I'll just buy a much cheaper Our Generation doll.
I got a beforever Samantha for my 11th birthday in 2017. She's the most recent product of theirs that I own. I have definitely noticed a difference in the quality. There's so much more plastic and the outfits are split into different pieces. Some of the stuff is cute but then you get the RC cars and the $800 premade dollhouse.
As a side note: I'm pretty sure the historical dolls who's stories are set in the 80s and 90s are some kind of nostalgic cash grab. The one from the 80s includes a miniature Molly as part of her holiday set.
I had an Our Generation doll as a kid (AG was too expensive to get two of, I have a twin and we both wanted our own AG dolls), and we loved our Our Generation dolls. To us, it was like we had an American Girl doll, and we could pretend they were the girls from the books.
Our Generation really is nice
Our daughter was introduced to the American Girls by the books, that I got at a yard sale. It was quite a shock to learn about the extended shopping universe. We were not in a tax bracket that allowed us to purchase anything for our girl. Her grandparents decided that, since one of our daughters favorite American Girl was Josefina, which was the name of my husband's grandmother, who was raised on a sheep ranch, and was 90 when our daughter was born and with whom our daughter was very close until she.passed when our daughter was 9. Her grandparents took our daughter to the store in California and she got the doll and several of her outfits.
We loved the movies, and the music. We had to go to new York for a wedding, and grandparents to the rescue again, she got to go to the New York store and pick out her Samantha doll and outfits.
We were so sad when you could no longer get anything from their collections.
My sisters and I sold candy for a full summer and managed to get money to spend 1200 dollars on dolls and accessories in 2000. The lantern in Kit's collection was our families favorite flashlight camping. It was a huge deal, because we were NOT in the tax bracket that usually had American Girl dolls. Even the knockoff target or walmart versions were usually out of our family price range.
This is so interesting! As someone who was already starting to age out of AG when Beforever hit (and HATED the redesigns because they were ugly!) but always loved the original historical characters (I was a Molly girl through and through), it is so nice to see someone really explain WHY this felt wrong! American Girl was one of the aspects of my childhood (along with Magic Treehouse probably) that encouraged my love of learning and history and has definitely contributed to my decision to study History in college. I am currently working on my undergrad thesis where I am attempting to write an American Girl-like book about Ancient Greek childhood (as that is my specialty as a Classicist) in order to encourage young kids to get interested in history, this was a very interesting look into what made them such compelling characters with fully developed stories, and I will definitely keep some of that in mind in my writing, even if I'm not creating a doll collection to go along with it! So thank you so much for this perspective! (also, I've loved following along with the Kirsten Saga on TikTok!)
Magic treehouse was my thing as a kid was so mad my treehouse wouldn’t travel through time
Best of luck on your thesis that sounds like such a cool concept! Seriously, so many kids became history fans partially or entirely because AG books made them excited about it and I think it's so sad how they've watered down the books and their collections.
Oh that’s so fun, I always wanted an ancient history collection from AG growing up (though Middle Egypt and Akkadia are more my specific interests haha), I wish you a lot of luck with your book!!
As an aside, I have a small art business. I don’t normally do dolls specifically, but I can definitely help put together some accompanying items for your book in the og AG spirit if you’d like:) if absolutely nothing else, we could at least do up some fun sticker packs and whatnot 😊 just lmk if you’re interested and we can chat about it
This is such a jenny nicholson-core video 😌
LITERALLY
The stupidest part is that the kids who grew up with these dolls now have enough money to actually buy all of their items! My mom wouldn’t let me as a kid, but I would LOVE to have Molly and Emily now and I can’t. I would pay them money and they won’t take it 😂
I literally want Addy's little abacus so badly 😩
I'm a Gen Xer and never heard of AG until adulthood, and I got my kids a doll each (Kit and Felicity); they were a big deal to get and I mostly sewed clothes for them instead of buying the accessories. We all pored over those catalogs though! This has been a fascinating piece to watch.
I never noticed the red white and blue colour scheme before! 🤯
Edited to add: I totally forgot about the Premiere CD-ROM! It's been so long since I've felt proper nostalgia for something that was so long ago I'd forgotten about it. Whew!
Truly I never noticed either! I kept seeing people reference it in my research as though this were something obvious we all noticed lol
I'm so glad this video was recommended to me! I read the Addy books about 30 years ago when I was 9, and was blessed to get an Addy doll when I was 11. My parents couldn't get me a ton of accessories, but I had an extra dress and a few accessories. Even though we couldn't afford to get a lot more, I loved looking through the catalog. Now going to the AG store and seeing what they've done to Addy is heartbreaking.
When i said i needed to send my doll in to the doll hospital because her eyes turned silver, and I wanted her to have more hair, an AG store employee told me to make sure i marked it as wanting new eyes only and to not request new hair, which had started coming out. He informed me that my doll was Pleasant Company, and her head would be replaced with a Mattel product. He strongly encouraged me to only get the eyes replaced so i could still have a PC doll. I appreciated the honesty, but it says something when a store employee admits the quality will be lower if it's replaced.
I have a nine year old daughter, and since I was a Samantha girl back in the 90s, I asked my daughter to read the original Samantha books this summer. She got into them (which secretly delights me). My daughter has found and read a few Samantha mystery books at the library (I didn't realize mystery books existed). She's since moved onto reading the Molly books, and she told me that when she asked her school librarian for the Molly books, the librarian had to go to a cupboard and pull them out. The librarian said the books hadn't been checked out in so long that they actually removed them from circulation. 😢
(As a kid in the 90s, I LOVED the American Girls brand. Never had a doll, but I read all the books of the first six girls, had the paper dolls and the computer game, and spent tons of time looking at the catalog.)
This Christmas, my daughter is getting a Samantha doll. I found a local seller on Facebook marketplace selling her original Samantha doll. I paid $220 for it, and consider it money well spent.
Love this video! Thanks for diving deep into the timeline. I forgot to say that I ordered my daughter this year's AG catalog, in hopes of her having the same imaginative experience I had as a kid. She and her brothers enjoyed looking at the catalog, but it's a very different, more modern feel to the whole thing.
This is such a good fucking video. You have perfectly explained the culture and spirit behind the giant world of dolls and their accessories (which everyone coveted, but rarely had, and yet somehow it was a business model that worked) as well as the inherent SPECIALNESS of the high-quality dolls. They truly truly were the perfect doll for the girl who was too old for baby dolls, but still had a youthful curiosity and imagination. My mom tells the story often of how I opened my first AG doll on my birthday (Josefina) and in an awe-struck voice whispered, "She's the most beautiful thing I've ever seen." Girls, even young ones, RECOGNIZE special things and crave to be a part of it. I credit AG wholeheartedly with opening up my passion for history as a young girl (which I now do for a living!)
People like to be, I think, unnecessarily harsh on AG for its consumerism model - everyone wanted dozens of Barbies, hundreds of outfits, the Dream House, the car, the tour bus, etc. but Barbie is rarely resented in the same way as AG (if anything, Barbie is usually more resented for its unrealistic body representation and beauty-focus). You could EASILY spend hundreds on Barbie stuff over a few years, but the idea of a $150 one-time purchase of a quality doll (with corresponding EDUCATIONAL BOOKS, mind you) always got scoffed and sneered at as something for the rich kids.
As someone who was born as a girl in 2005, was a horse girl, and has struggled with ADHD his whole life- after watching Gabby Douglas win gold at the olympics, I wanted to be like her and started taking gymnastics lessons. So when I read in the AGD catalog about a doll who was almost exactly like me, I was OBSESSED. I knew of the other dolls, and I had a lot of the historical books, but McKenna was by far my favorite. And I think a lot of other little girls had the same experience, just with other dolls. I remember liking Kit and Julie, but I don’t think I was really able to connect the similarities between their experiences and my own because I was just a kid. So I think Mattel realized that the target demographic they were best at appealing to preferred a doll they could easily relate to over a sort of historical collectible. I know they probably made this change to make more money, and I get that girls generally like/see themselves in the Girls of the Year more; but it is kinda sad and unnecessary that they basically just got rid of the historical dolls when that was the concept the whole original company was centered around
PS Sorry for the essay lmao
I just wanted to add that while I liked learning about the cultures of the historical dolls, my friends and I enjoyed the modern dolls more because it felt like it was more for fun and less for educational purposes. But like we were still fascinated by the historical dolls and really enjoyed learning about history through them!! *Just because something isn’t making a ton of money doesn’t mean it’s not of significant cultural value.*
Don’t be sorry for the essay! I appreciate your thoughts- I think that speaks to why I’m unwilling to write off the contemporary girls, even though I care about the historical sway more personally. Reflecting the lives of actual kids directly IS important even if it isn’t impressive.
It's really interesting to read that the concept of direct relatability was/is so important for a lot of people in their childhoods! I was born in 1988 and never really thought of American Girls as specifically educational, even if they were, and even though I genuinely enjoyed educational media, etc. The only thing I related to in Samantha's story was liking her pretty clothes, but I absolutely adored her. Her being so unlike me and her life in a totally different time and world was a big part of the appeal. I used to wonder if this disconnect between me and others had to do with my being neurodivergent, but you have ADHD too and didn't feel that way. Sorry for rambling lol, I just think it's fascinating!
This is interesting! I was born 1998 and Kit was my girl. Loved her more than anything. I was (and still am) a bit of a history nerd, so I liked all the girls’ books and learning about different experiences, but I didn’t fixate on any of them like I did Kit. Probably because I actually related to Kit most. My family fell into poverty when I was young, which was an experience I’d never seen reflected in a doll/kid’s book. She also had short hair and in one of the books dressed as a boy, which for some reason I was super into (the reason was transgender related LOL). I was uninterested in any of the modern dolls because, aside from thinking their stories weren’t as interesting as the historical fiction ones, I actually related to them way less than a Great Depression era doll. Funny how that works!
i actually liked kit a lot as a kid, but mainly bc we both had a bob and freckles lmao
My family was never wealthy enough to buy me an American Girl, but the catalogs were so fun to look through. I had a friend growing up who had ALL the classic girls and ALL the accessories/outfits/furniture, so when I visited I lived through her lol.
Justice for Marie-Grace and Cécile!!! I only ever had one doll, but I read almost all of the books. Marie-Grace and Cécile were my favorites, because they were the only girls remotedly close to where I was from (the American Deep South). I read and re-read the books so much, and it was so cool for me to read about places I knew of in New Orleans and got me really interested in the history! Kids in the South don't get to see their homes often, and it was really special to me
As someone who did not grow up in the US, and consequently just heard about these dolls through this video for the first time, their history is truly fascinating and heartbreaking
These dolls were very quality. I think they even had some type of warranty where if the doll got damaged they'd fix it. I never had to send my doll in, but I think I remember glancing at that section in the catalog. Those catalogs were so great, I'd spend hours looking at the pictures. I didn't realize that the dolls went through so many changes after 2010, what they've done recently is kind of disappointing. The accessories for the dolls were such great quality too.
The doll hospital!!!!! You have to pay a little I believe but it's pretty inexpensive, and they'd fix or replace literally any part of the doll. The catalogue made it look like so much fun because she'd come back in a little hospital gown with a bracelet.
I think at one point they sold casts and crutches too. I think that was also part of the pictures promoting the hospital.@@babbity_kate
Yes! And it wasn’t even a warranty really, not like a if she’s damaged within a year well fix her kind of thing but rather anytime, ever. If you got a doll 10 years ago and then she was damaged you could send her into the hospital and they would repair or replace the broken part. And they did it like a whole experience which is adorable, I think she’d come back with a hospital bracelet, sometimes a little cast and a little certificate thing saying she was all better now. How cute is that honestly. I’m mot sure if it was expensive though
Everything they made was high quality! I still have two Felicity dresses they made for kids to match the dolls (her regular dress, and her beautiful blue gown) and they've been through the washer and dryer many times, and still look great.
The outfits always looked good in the photos! The clothes the dolls came in were definitely quality, I never got more than the dresses they came in, my parents got other doll clothes for mine. I got a few of the item accessories though, Josefina's goat was sort of heavy and the fur was soft, and I think Kaya's doll (I think all the dolls had little dolls) was real leather. @@zxyatiywariii8
As someone who never owned an American Girl Doll, but spent an ample amount of time in my childhood pouring over the magazines, reading the books, and watching the movies, this video meant a lot to me, and for some reason made me sort of emotional. Your delivery and research is amazing. Great job. I can't wait to see your upcoming videos. Definitely subbed. ❤
The way you talked about the Historical Girls and the relationships little girls forged with them, and the way they brought generations closer together, was wonderful. I'm very sad that little girls will miss out on that.
Thank you for putting my feelings into words! As a 90s American Girl girl I WISH I could share the magic of the catalogs and collections with my own daughters. I’m thankful my own mom saved my dolls that have jump-started my girl’s historical collections!
THIS!! This is exactly how I've felt seeing the website the last few years! The temporary-ness of what used to be a stable and consistent line, how the older dolls are basically zombies, and how un-interactive the line is in general is heartbreaking. They used to put so much effort into creating an entire interactive world for each girl that you could be a part of, and now they're more like a picture on the wall at a museum, you can look, but you can't understand and experience their lives. I honestly think the only reason they've even left addy on the website is because it would cause an absolute RIOT and possibly world War 3 if they were to actually pull her off, so they leave her on as a "look Addy's still available" even though you can't interact with her world at all anymore. They're pulling all the actual learning away from the line by condensing the books to basically nothing, and not letting you actually interact with the characters. They keep Making characters that are so recent in our history, but there's plenty of history further back that they could have focused on, like the gold rush, or the trains reaching across America, or they could have done a white character from the Civil War to give a perspective from another side, like maybe a character who helps slaves on the underground railroad, or who learns why slavery is bad, the Oregon trail, how many of the native Americans were forced to give up their cultures and land, the Salam witch trials, heck they haven't even done a pilgrim girl yet. I mean there's so much of history that they've not even touched yet. The fact that they've taken away so much of what made the brand unique from all the other brands is so sad, and makes them fall into the crowd Rather than stand out. I was one of the many who couldn't afford an American Girl Doll growing up, but I borrowed the books from my local library every week, and I basically lived in the catalog just daydreaming what it would be like to own one. I poured over every single catalog just making up imaginary lists of what'd I'd get, and every time a new one came in my imaginary list had to be revised. Even as a child I focused on the historical dolls because they were different than all the other doll lines out there, and they had many books that went to them so they felt more alive. I pretended my barbies were American Girl dolls and dressed them up and acted out the stories I'd read. As an adult I'm the proud owner of 5 American Girl dolls now, all of whom are second hand rescues, and I make their clothes for them, all historical of course. I love those sewing patterns they used to make, and those have been exceedingly helpful in making my dolls their clothes. If American Girl would go back to creating the entire worlds for each character like they used to, they'd make so many people happier, and that feeling of bonding over the dolls and characters would come back to families, rather than just more temporary dolls that last for a few weeks and then are gotten rid of because the kid is tired of them and they want to newest temporarily available doll.
Edit: Also I totally can't wait to see a deep dive into each of the historical girls! I'm definitely subscribing and waiting for those to come out! 💜💜
I was a mom of a little girl born in 1985. I got her a Felicity doll. We couldn't afford much, but I got her the books for the first 4 characters, their craft books, cookbooks, and clothing patterns. The thing is, nostalgia would be a big money maker, if companies would only realize that. I work for a cosmetics company, that is over 100 years old. Newer was always better. They rarely looked back, to capture the nostalgia, and now they too, are owned by another company that doesn't "get it".
I had Samantha and Addy growing up, along with a handful of dresses and accessories for each of them. My family was below middle class growing up and my sisters and I knew the value of these dolls and how long my parents saved so we could have them. My sisters and I played with them well into our teen years. I still have mine and all their stuff and I’m almost 40! Thanks for this thoughtful analysis. It brought my joy of the dolls back and wicked nostalgia!
So looking forward to the in depth long form videos! I didn’t realize how much I’d missed my historical girls 🥰
Thank you! I’m super excited. I really fell in love with Kirsten this month 🥲
I'm an Aussie and we didn't have American girls but I find them pretty interesting because of the historical part of them. I think it would have been pretty cool if they had made international historical girls. Like having girls from England, Japan, India, Australia and China. Giving them historcal outfit's and stories then selling them to the world
They kind of did actually! They were called the Girls of Many Lands, and you can read about them on the American Girl Wiki. But I don't think they were as popular, and they really only had the books and then a(mini?) doll for each character. I remember liking those books, but I also became a professional archaeologist, so basically, I was an easy sell for anything historical
I would have been obsessed
They actually did! In different eras too!!
My sister and I had all of the books for Felicity, Samantha, and Molly but we couldn't ever afford the dolls. What we loved more than anything was Samantha's activity book that had recipes we would try and we especially loved learning how to make pin curls with bobby pins or strips of fabric. Loved it.
Found this and subscribed a quarter of the way through. I had no idea Mattel was systematically culling my childhood, but now I'm positively indignant about it. So glad you're covering Kirsten first. She was always my favorite, most especially her St Lucia story.
Watching this video, all I can think of is the big collection I have of beautiful hardcover, gold-edged, sleeve-covered books each containing all of the classic books from each of the original historical girls, and how suddenly lucky I feel to have those still to this day.
As someone who spent hours as a young kid browsing through the catalogues of my dad's company, grew up without much money for a later chunk of my childhood, fell in love with collector dolls as a teen when I couldn't afford them, loves collecting things in general and loves history as a tangible thing to interact with, the section from 30:25 onwards made my heart flutter.
The mere knowledge of an item existing - even outside of my ownership - brings me joy. It's something not everyone understands, but you just put that feeling into words so perfectly and really made me feel...a lot more seen and a lot less lonely by doing so.
Thank you!
I've started learning to appreciate that feeling! There are many things I see that, at first, I get such an intense desire to have for myself and am ready to spend whatever on it. But then I think to myself if I really need it, and usually I tell myself no, but I still enjoy the fact that somewhere that thing exists and makes somebody else happy. A lot better for me financially but also emotionally.
That early website… the first online order my mom ever made was from AG one Christmas on a dial up connection. What a time to be alive.
It makes me so sad to see the current American girl stock when I think about how it was back in the day. As a bonafide history girlie, these dolls were like a dream for me and it was a magical experience when I could fill out my favorite historical eras with *high quality items*. I was lucky to have a grandma who could afford to get my sister and I this stuff!
I found pleasant company dolls, when there were only three dolls in the collection. Addie was the first doll I purchased. I passed her on to my daughter. My daughter found joy in learning about people from the past how family lived and how children grew up. Thank you for making this video. It’s exactly how I feel.✨
Claudie is so insanely well done that I actually sat down and read her book! I haven't done that since 2012!! That was back when I was in primary school when I first received Samantha. Claudie feels like how the brand felt to me back when I was a child. I hope AG really tries to bring more stories and collections to the table like Claudie.
Watching this video helped me progress from the depression to acceptance stages of grief.
I wasn't even that into American Girl as a kid, but this still made me super nostalgic. I never had a doll myself, but I had a friend who did and I engaged with it through the books. I read Addie's books over and over again and I remember bits of Molly's books too. I'm looking forward to deep diving into the characters more in your future videos :)
Dude you’re such an engaging speaker! The sheer amount of passion you invoke just about talking about popular doll brands. I’ve seen some of your tiktoks and it really doesn’t surprise me the amount of love in care you put into all of your video content. As a guy who grew up with some American girl products, this really tickled the nostalgia. I hope you keep creating because I will keep watching!
This was a great explanation of what's wrong with the brand. I have my own little girl and I've opted to just give her my vintage stuff instead of getting her the new items. We have the story books, craft books, even my paper dolls. As much as I wanted to start her on her own doll journey, the dolls and the experience are NOT the same. Thank you for putting my thoughts to words!
I have literally never heard of American girl dolls before the internet (mostly because I'm from Switzerland and we just... don't have them) but for some reason you managed to absolutely capture me - I'm so invested in this universe now lol
I just shared this on my ag Tumblr. As someone who has collected every main historical doll and then some, has kept up with the brand and with the girls all this time, everything you said was so on point.
I'm not American and therefore only know of American Girls by virtue of being into doll collecting. I've found them interesting for a while but it's you who really made me understand why they're so beloved and I think you made your point on how the brand went downhill incredibly well. Really enjoyed this video!
In Canada we had a similar book series (although no dolls) to the “American Girl” series, it was called “Dear Canada” they were fictitious but very informative about a lot of historical hardships and tragedies. As a child it can be hard to connect to victims just from facts but giving a face and a life to those who went through it really helped me empathize.
We actually had the Dear America book series here in the US. American Girl books were similar in theme but much less dense.
What are you doing today, Shannon? I don’t know I figured I would just listen to a 50-minute long CZcams video about a series of dolls I never played with as a child. I was completely enthralled the entire time and love your passion and enthusiasm!
I was born into the Mattel era and I always get super jealous digging thru older catalogs and looking at old items. Especially addy she deserves better
Infinitely grateful this was in my recommended videos! I’m a Felicity girl who got into the brand at perhaps the last good moment and it was everything. Nothing compares to learning about historical dress through a literal undergarments set. Nothing compares to learning the conflict of the American revolution by performing a PLAY starring your fav girl and featuring a character named “Angry Man.” The “Felicity’s World” book, which was all about her historical context was a big favorite too. My family belonged to the now mythical middle class, so I was lucky to receive a few Felicity items each Christmas and I cherished each and every one. And YES you could participate in the world without a single item. Every girl was reading the American Girl books in my elementary school library. The de emphasis and discontinuation of the stories is a huge loss.