AG GOTY 2021 stuff
Nov. 16th, 2020 01:36 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
impyI'm getting real tired of the Sunday headache. This one is probably due to the weather going from summer-lite to "ohshit, it's November!" and the rain but JFC, my face hurts.
With that whinge out of the way, earlier in the week the lady who leaks info on FB said that next year's GOTY will be:
GOTY is blonde hair, green eyes, her story is based on the Australia fires of 2020, with koala pjs and a wild animal vet clinic.
Other people, possibly even the same person, have 'confirmed' the face mold is Josefina, though I've yet to actually find that confirmation- just people saying it was.
I... have conflicted thoughts. On the one hand, people have flipped numerous tables over this leak. There's the "wait, if they can do the Australian wildfires so fast, why can't they do __anything else with a faster turnaround__", "ugh, another white blonde on the heels of Courtney?", "ugh, another white GOTY, really?" and "UGH, another Josefina mold?"
Anyone who truly thought Kira (the name most often floated around as being tied to GOTY:2021) was going to be not white was living in a fantasy world. Maybe those holding out hope for an Asian GOTY were a little less out of their gourds, but everyone else was asking for a letdown. If Kira were anything other than white (or mebbe Asian), they wouldn't have made the announcement that next fall would see the release of a group of most decidely not white dolls debut when every company in the country was making their Black Lives (and dollars) Matter stand over the summer. There'd be no need as Kira would descend in January and BAM.
So that's on all those idiots for that hope.
I simply cannot even with people acting like Australia burning the way it did at the end of 2019 and the start of 2020 wasn't absolutely a thing that in ANY OTHER YEAR would have been a good reason to do what I hope/assume will be a charity tie-in, especially with the way kids love koalas and them being on the brink of extinction. Seriously, wtf. Throw in the fact that this isn't a one time thing and it's really not a good look for so many grown-ass adults with kids to not realize that fact. They have a goddamn brushfire season for crying out loud. The specificity of calling it a tie in to the 2020 fires is really the only "fast" turnaround. And that's not really that fucking fast, given when those fires starting burning anyway. UGH.
I do laugh at people worrying one way or the other about AG mentioning climate change in reference to the fire storyline. "What if they do it and the far right people flip their shit?" Those assholes don't read the books. Hell, most of the people buying these dolls don't read the goddamn books. Maryellen flat out calls anti-vaxers dumb as shit (not in those exact words, obviously) and yet you know who sells like hotcakes? Maryellen. So long as they don't run Kira on a campaign of climate change, no one's going to fucking know. Which is sad as hell, but that's another thing altogether.
Besides, to the real root of that issue, we've seen what happens when AG rushes to launch a doll well ahead of schedule. Gabi was, and I love her dearly, a disaster. Let us not repeat those sins, ok?
I agree that going with another blonde on the heels of Courtney is certainly a choice, but if people keep fucking buying the blondes while everyone else languishes, then a company on the verge of going under is absolutely going to reach for the closest lifeline.
Josefina mold is prettier than classic any day of the week (and twice on Sundays) so there's that. Yes, I'd hoped in some distant part of my soul that they'd finally wake up and realize MG failed not due to the mold but due to the shitty muttonchops they gave her. Did I truly think we'd get that mold used again? No. And I didn't see them reusing Joss's mold again so soon for another GOTY so that left the Josefina mold.
And I absolutely agree on the ugh, another white girl thing, btw. Just remember this for the next however many dolls it'll be needed for and assume my annoyance is registered.
With that grievance noted, I do have to say that um, wavy blonde hair, green eyes, and Josefina mold? You have my interest, AG. You shouldn't, but you absolutely do. Gimme brighter green than poor Blaire's muddy brown. GOTY frequently has her own eye color or nifty wig, so lemme see whatcha got.
Also, if you get AG catalogs, keep an eye out as the wishbooks started going out!
With that whinge out of the way, earlier in the week the lady who leaks info on FB said that next year's GOTY will be:
GOTY is blonde hair, green eyes, her story is based on the Australia fires of 2020, with koala pjs and a wild animal vet clinic.
Other people, possibly even the same person, have 'confirmed' the face mold is Josefina, though I've yet to actually find that confirmation- just people saying it was.
I... have conflicted thoughts. On the one hand, people have flipped numerous tables over this leak. There's the "wait, if they can do the Australian wildfires so fast, why can't they do __anything else with a faster turnaround__", "ugh, another white blonde on the heels of Courtney?", "ugh, another white GOTY, really?" and "UGH, another Josefina mold?"
Anyone who truly thought Kira (the name most often floated around as being tied to GOTY:2021) was going to be not white was living in a fantasy world. Maybe those holding out hope for an Asian GOTY were a little less out of their gourds, but everyone else was asking for a letdown. If Kira were anything other than white (or mebbe Asian), they wouldn't have made the announcement that next fall would see the release of a group of most decidely not white dolls debut when every company in the country was making their Black Lives (and dollars) Matter stand over the summer. There'd be no need as Kira would descend in January and BAM.
So that's on all those idiots for that hope.
I simply cannot even with people acting like Australia burning the way it did at the end of 2019 and the start of 2020 wasn't absolutely a thing that in ANY OTHER YEAR would have been a good reason to do what I hope/assume will be a charity tie-in, especially with the way kids love koalas and them being on the brink of extinction. Seriously, wtf. Throw in the fact that this isn't a one time thing and it's really not a good look for so many grown-ass adults with kids to not realize that fact. They have a goddamn brushfire season for crying out loud. The specificity of calling it a tie in to the 2020 fires is really the only "fast" turnaround. And that's not really that fucking fast, given when those fires starting burning anyway. UGH.
I do laugh at people worrying one way or the other about AG mentioning climate change in reference to the fire storyline. "What if they do it and the far right people flip their shit?" Those assholes don't read the books. Hell, most of the people buying these dolls don't read the goddamn books. Maryellen flat out calls anti-vaxers dumb as shit (not in those exact words, obviously) and yet you know who sells like hotcakes? Maryellen. So long as they don't run Kira on a campaign of climate change, no one's going to fucking know. Which is sad as hell, but that's another thing altogether.
Besides, to the real root of that issue, we've seen what happens when AG rushes to launch a doll well ahead of schedule. Gabi was, and I love her dearly, a disaster. Let us not repeat those sins, ok?
I agree that going with another blonde on the heels of Courtney is certainly a choice, but if people keep fucking buying the blondes while everyone else languishes, then a company on the verge of going under is absolutely going to reach for the closest lifeline.
Josefina mold is prettier than classic any day of the week (and twice on Sundays) so there's that. Yes, I'd hoped in some distant part of my soul that they'd finally wake up and realize MG failed not due to the mold but due to the shitty muttonchops they gave her. Did I truly think we'd get that mold used again? No. And I didn't see them reusing Joss's mold again so soon for another GOTY so that left the Josefina mold.
And I absolutely agree on the ugh, another white girl thing, btw. Just remember this for the next however many dolls it'll be needed for and assume my annoyance is registered.
With that grievance noted, I do have to say that um, wavy blonde hair, green eyes, and Josefina mold? You have my interest, AG. You shouldn't, but you absolutely do. Gimme brighter green than poor Blaire's muddy brown. GOTY frequently has her own eye color or nifty wig, so lemme see whatcha got.
Also, if you get AG catalogs, keep an eye out as the wishbooks started going out!
(no subject)
Date: 2020-11-16 09:06 pm (UTC)Kira would have made me think of the Asian Barbie character.
But what's this about them talking about a not-white doll line?
(no subject)
Date: 2020-11-17 05:04 am (UTC)Yup, each time I see Kira in connection with dolls, I think of Barbie's friend and my favorite Barbie type doll when I was little little.
I've spent entirely too long trying to track down the screenshots of the non-white doll line but I have failed.
So we go on my faulty memory!Or we remember there's a site that collects all the rumors and we break down and visit it. :P“We’re pleased to share that we’re currently developing a new line that includes a contemporary lead Black character, as well as other contemporary characters of color, to debut in late fall 2021.”
Maritza, Bryant, Makena, Fahari, and Aracely were all trademarked recently-ish and the general consensus is that they're likely being used for the new CC line. There's always the possibility of Corinne (another name trademarked earlier) being part of the line though AG has trademarked many a name only to let it drop without use.
(no subject)
Date: 2020-11-17 05:27 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2020-11-17 05:35 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2020-11-16 09:26 pm (UTC)"Kira" strikes me as an Asiatic name, and having an Asian doll would definitely be different than the usual same ol' same ol', but if AG is in financial trouble it does make sense that they'd continue pumping out dolls that they know will sell. I hate to say it, but a lot of people who bitch and moan about there not being enough "different" choices never seem to actually support those choices when they are available. Lots of hot air, like much social media activism 🙄 Plus, "perfect is the enemy of good" seems to be a concept that these people don't understand.
(no subject)
Date: 2020-11-17 05:20 am (UTC)Kira reminds me of Barbie's friend, who happened to be Asian, so that might be why.
I have also noticed that a lot of people who shriek for diversity still... don't buy them when they appear. Which I understand if it's a financial thing or a space thing (though in the latter case, I do side-eye the shit out of them if they're giving AG gifts and still going all in on say, Julie's stuff) but it doesn't encourage AG to do more than they absolutely have to. Of course, it's still pretty telling that poor Melody's been marked down to bargain basement prices at their various charity type sales and um, even with limits removed or her not counting against their total limit, people still don't buy her. So maybe AG's broader fanbase just has a very, very long way to go when it comes to non-blondes.