AG 35th Anniversary dolls, trivia, and newish books.

[impy]

It feels weird not doing a round-up on the anniversary dolls, so let's DO THIS.


Since I'm a little late on doing an actual post, I do get to point out things that have cropped up since the release. Truly, where would anyone be without my absolutely useless trivia? I mean sure, possibly better off, but would you be as entertained? Mm, debatable. Anyway.

BEHOLD.



Not gonna lie, little!me still tears up when looking at Sam. I guess, if you're an AG person in any way, you've got that one that gets you in the heart every time. Dammit, Parkington.




Molly McIntire 35th Anniversary Collection // $150
Item#GPM84
Molly was one of the first six dolls introduced by Pleasant Company, now American Girl. We’re celebrating the 35th anniversary of her launch with this special collection, which includes:
A Molly doll that’s almost just like the original doll from 1986—she even has a neck string! She has long, wavy dark-brown hair with bangs, and gray eyes.
A navy-blue wool skirt that reaches her knees
A navy-blue knit sweater with a blue, red, and green argyle pattern on the front
A dickey with a white woven collar and rickrack trim that Molly wears under her sweater in place of a full shirt
A pair of white bloomers with an elastic waist
A pair of white ankle socks
A pair of black Mary Jane shoes
Two red hairbows that tie on the ends of her braids
A pair of round-frame silver metal glasses with a red felt glasses case
A navy blue felt beret
A shiny red purse with a shoulder strap
A woven white hankie with her name embroidered on it in red
A silver heart necklace
A reproduction steel penny in a paper envelope
A Meet Molly paperback book with the original book design

  Aw, Molly. I will forever have a soft spot for her because I'm a glasses wearing, pigtail/braid loving dork and Mom would actually perk up when we got to the Molly section in the catalog because her stuff was familiar to Mums.
   As far as repros go, I think Molly's pretty solid. That's not her '86 book art (Molly's original art is uh, interesting and one of the few art changes I definitely consider a win in almost every way though I do like one piece particularly) and if they're going to change things, I wish like fuck they'd changed her shoes because those shoes are traaaaaaaaaaaaaaash when you compare them to almost any other PC pair of shoes. But for authenticity's sake, here we are. Her necklace is apparently no longer a locket, though I do think that change happened in her Mattel days and I believe people have commented that her eyes are a slightly different shade of gray but that could be lighting or something.

I won't be snagging Molly because I have a Molly I love very much and I'm quite happy with her. Also, Molly was the first to dip out of availability the night they launched and while she did come back into stock, she's apparently been selling really well. She's currently on backorder until 5/21/21.




Samantha Parkington 35th Anniversary Collection // $150
Item#GPM82
Samantha was one of the first six dolls introduced by Pleasant Company, now American Girl. We’re celebrating the 35th anniversary of her launch with this special collection, which includes:
A Samantha doll almost just like the original doll from 1986—she even has a neck string! She has light-brown eyes and wavy dark-brown hair with bangs
A checked taffeta dress with a pleated front, puff sleeves, and a ribbon belt with a buckle at the waist
A pair of white cotton bloomers with an elastic waist
A pair of black rib-knit tights
A pair of black Mary Jane shoes
A wide hairbow made of the same taffeta as her dress
A plush burgundy hat trimmed with ribbon
A pink velvet purse with a gold clasp and chain
A white lace-trimmed hankie embroidered with flowers
A golden metal bow-shaped brooch with a heart pendant
A reproduction penny from her time in a paper envelope
A Meet Samantha paperback book with the original book design

  Oh, my heart. ♥ I will forever love Samantha and forever have my breath momentarily taken away when I see her. Kid!me fell hard and she fell forever, apparently. I think Sam's 35th anniversary shot is the prettiest but I am completely biased.
   Like Molly, I wish they'd ditched ye olden shoes and her locket no longer opens. A shame since half the appeal of said locket pin was that her locket contained pictures of her parents. Unlike Molly she does get the original artwork back and this is fantastic because Samantha's redone art is not great. Sales wise, I gather Sam is doing quite well which is kind of awesome since she's available, cheaper, still from AG.

Can we take a moment to discuss something I feel gets overlooked all too often in AG world? For eons, Samantha was the AG icon to the degree that fans of other dolls (Molls, I'm lookin' at you, kid) would get ticked about it. But if you hang out in doll forums long enough, you'll hear just how popular and how well the blonds are and how they fly off the shelf and yet until Julie appeared, Samantha reigned supreme. I know part of that has to be that she had the girly collection but dude. Kirsten was right there for people to just yoink her stuff and hand it over. And they didn't. All hail Queen Samantha.




Addy Walker 35th Anniversary Collection // $150
Item#HBG62
Addy was one of the first six dolls introduced by Pleasant Company, now American Girl. We’re celebrating our 35th anniversary with this special collection, which includes:
An Addy™ doll that’s almost exactly like the one fans fell in love with in 1993! She has gold hoop earrings and brown eyes and comes with her hair in braids.
A cinnamon-pink dress with wavy white stripes and buttons down the front
A pair of white cotton drawers (what we now call underwear) trimmed with lace
A straw bonnet with a calico print blue ribbon
A blue hair ribbon that comes tied around her braid
A pair of black stockings that go up to her knees
A pair of black lace-up boots
A printed kerchief she uses to hold her belongings
A pretend water gourd
A faux cowrie shell necklace
A reproduction half dime in a paper envelope
A Meet Addy paperback book with the original book design

  Hey, Addy. Looking pretty. ♥ Addy's been dancing in and out of backorder since the release and has been showing a "surprising amount of interest". Not my words, btw. So that's good. I stand corrected in my original thought that like Sam, she got her artwork back. She did not. The cover art, yes, but the interior stuff is the watered down version. Boo. Also, apparently they tweaked the looking back section a bit so if you're an absolute completionist for the books, there's that.




Kirsten Larson 35th Anniversary // $150
Item#G Kirsten was one of the first six dolls introduced by Pleasant Company, now American Girl. We’re celebrating the 35th anniversary of her launch with this special collection, which includes:
A Kirsten doll almost just like the original doll from 1986—she even has a neck string! She has light-blue eyes and straight blond hair with bangs that comes styled in two looped-up braids.
A blue calico dress with tiny red flowers, full sleeves, and a “grow stripe” at the bottom hem that could be let out as Kirsten got taller
A red striped apron with a pocket
A pair of white pantalettes with lace trim at the bottom and an elastic waist
A pair of striped knit socks
A pair of brown faux-leather boots
Two blue hairbows that are tied around her braids
A red-and-white-checked bonnet that ties under her chin
An embroidered fabric spoon bag with a strap so Kirsten can tie it around her waist
A wooden spoon she carries with her to eat
A white embroidered hankie
A faux-amber heart-shaped necklace
A Meet Kirsten paperback book with the original book designPM80

  I love that for the others, AG's hedging their bets on how similar they are to the original but on Kirsten they're all "IDENTICAL!" Oh, AG. Honey. No. Close though. Kirsten's eyes are a different color of blue and are darker now (if you want to go insane, wade into a discussion over the shades of Kirsten's eyes over the years. The world blue will lose all meaning for you.) and those braids are far too loosey goosey. There are apparently over color variances (her dress and stocking are both darker) but that's more accurate to the later Mattel runs anyway so it's not wrong, just not quite right for matching the original. Oh, and they kept her weird floppy boots.

That said, Kirsten is really well done. I haven't seen much if anything in the way of wonk for the new ones and people have been going gaga for her. Probably because of all the dolls, Kirsten's the only one who hasn't be re-released/refreshed in the last decade. She's been gone for more than ten years at this point and people have missed her. And given how lackluster her archival was when compared to the wailing going on over Samageddon, my heart sings for her. Get that nostalgic love, Kirsten.




Josefina Montoya 35th Anniversary Collection // $150
Item#HBG63
Josefina was one of the first six dolls introduced by Pleasant Company, now American Girl. We’re celebrating our 35th anniversary with this special collection, which includes:
A Josefina™ doll that’s almost exactly like the one fans fell in love with in 1997! She has gold hoop earrings and brown eyes and her mahogany-colored hair comes in a side braid style.
A white camisa with short puffed sleeves edged with lace
A colorful red skirt with a black flower print and a white lace hem
A woven brown sash that ties in the back
A pair of white knee-length cotton drawers (what we now call underwear)
A blue hair ribbon to tie around the end of her braid
A sprig of three pretend yellow primrose she wears in her hair
A pair of faux-leather lace-up moccasins
A rebozo, which is a woven shawl she can wear to cover herself from the sun, to carry items, or to wrap around her body
A metal pendant necklace with a faux garnet gemstone
A white hanky with an embroidered flower
A faux metal jola coin in a paper envelope
A Meet Josefina paperback book with the original book design

  Josefina! Man, seeing this reminds me that her original Meet was way prettier than her BF Meet and it's not like the two were wildly different. Still, this is classic and it's good to see her. I gather the only real difference anyone's pointed out is her rebozo is a repro of the later run of her dolls and not her 1997 self but still.
Alas, of all the girls re-released, Josefina has garnered the least amount of attention. I won't say the least amount of love though because people who went for her went hard and didn't look back.





Felicity Merriman 35th Anniversary Collection // $150
Item#HBG64
Felicity was one of the first six dolls introduced by Pleasant Company, now American Girl. We’re celebrating our 35th anniversary with this special collection, which includes:
A Felicity™ doll that’s almost exactly like the one fans fell in love with in 1991! She has green eyes, and her red hair comes styled in a ponytail with pin curls at the sides.
A woven printed gown with a rose print and ruffle trim
A white cap with a satin ribbon
An ivory satin hair ribbon she ties around her ponytail
A white cotton shift she wears under her dress
A pair of ivory woolen stockings
A pair of woven ribbon garters that tie around her stockings
A pair of black shoes with faux-brass buckles
A red brocade purse with a drawstring
A white cotton handkerchief with a lace edge
A coral beaded necklace
A reproduction colonial bit worth 12.5 cents on a paper card
A Meet Felicity paperback book with the original book design

  Felicity, the cover star of my first AG catalog. Swoon. She's either been incredibly popular or is having issues because her backorder date is all the way in September. People have been grumbling about how the lines on the front of her dress don't line up and I have laughed at each and every "well, a real girl of Felicity's time wouldn't have them line up anyway so it's not Mattel being cheap, it's them being historically accurate!" that gets a "uh, my original Felicity has her dress lines meet in the front" and there's always a picture and I always, always laugh. Anyway, other differences seem to be the sleeves being different which I didn't notice until peeking at the wiki, and her hair isn't as bright as the first go round of Lissies. To be fair, I've never seen a first edition Lissie whose hair does not look like it's about to break off and spontaneously combust so there's that. Oh, and her shoes aren't the fun can be worn on either foot kind. Boo.
   I love that AG keeps trying to get rid of Lissie since I gather her sales haven't been great over the years and she keeps popping back up because they're not savvy enough to realize that she's iconic and will not go down without a fight.
They phased her to the website back in the day when this was basically the toy equivalent to being a TV show moved to Saturday night and left her to languish before Julia Roberts said fuck that noise, I'm doing a Lissie movie. They archived her finally but brought her back to open the DC store and then Hamilton hit it big and people just spent their Lissie money on ebay. They pulled her back for BF but didn't give her a collection and then got rid of her when they got rid of the BF marketing and people noticed to the degree they had to bring her back... and then quietly get rid of her again, only to bring her back YET AGAIN.

Felicity Merriman is no horse girl. She's a goddamn phoenix.


Oh, and one other thing: each of the repro outfits has the little plastic American Girl logo thing sewn on somewhere, which'll make it very easy to tell those outfits apart from the originals.


In other AG news, might I interest you in the cutest damn books you might've seen in say, the last forever?
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0593381858/
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0593381874/
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0593381912/
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0593381963/


And no pics yet, but let's include it anyway
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0593381947/

Comments

[impy]

For me, Sam being brunette was a selling point but I do wonder what the AU in which she's a blonde would be like. I didn't have a lot of AG types around that I knew when I was a kid. The girl I found out about AG from had Kirsten though I'd bet anything that if Felicity had been an option when whichever adult did the buying, they'd have gone with Felicity because she was absolutely a horse girl. And I knew someone who got Addy as soon as she came out. Someone else got Samantha after I did but that was about it, I think.

Yay! It sounds like people who ordered when she was initially backordered til tomorrow wound up pushed back to the September date so you got in just in time.

Those books are adorable and I'd wondered if you'd seen them. Yay to be helpful!